Choosing a lot to build on

Choosing a lot to build may seem easy but living with a City Planner made this decision rather difficult. Dave was very cautious about how the lot drained (he insisted on a lot at the top of the hill), what was being developed around the lot we choose, major roads that would be developed near the lot and nice parks and trails within walking distance. We knew we wanted to be on the NW side of Ankeny so that did narrow it down a bit. After choosing our builder we were really narrowed down to the area that we could build in as the builder was also the developer of the subdivision.

After looking at open lots, we knew we either had to choose from a walkout or daylight basement. We choose the daylight windows because of the way the lot was graded and it was less expensive. Plus, when the kids get a bit older to room in the basement, we didn't want to worry about a walkout basement with them downstairs.

After our lot was chosen, we were excited about our new address, 3925 NW 6th Street!  Sounds good doesn't it - well we think so! Our new development is called Rock Creek Crossing!

Our new lot!

This neighborhood appealed to us, as it has been in development for the last couple of years, so all of the lots around us should be built on within the next year (or less) as there are currently five other houses under construction within a block of our house and only a few more lots left to build on.  NW 6th Street is a loop street, which should hopefully ensure that we don't have a lot of traffic, only those that live in the loop should be coming and going.  Unlike our currently street, which is a through street and we tend to see lots of speeding traffic, something we're much more sensitive to the last couple of years as Little-C (and R-man pretty soon) has learned to ride her bike down the driveway.  Our lot is also a corner lot, so Dave will have LOTS of sidewalk to snow blow, but the benefit is the lot is quite a bit larger than those around it leaving plenty of room for a garden, the swing set and lots of room for the kiddos to roam (including a little sledding hill in the winter).

The kids future sledding hill.

Since Dave works in land development every day, he did a lot of research on the lot, everything from easements, utility locations, setbacks, covenants, etc.  All of which was available from the City, and he strongly encourages anyone looking at a property to contact the local planning office and ask lots of questions.  They'll be happy to give you more information than you'll need, and then you'll be informed about what's planned around you, what might effect your property, etc.  He often hears, "the realtor told us that would always be a farm field" which usually isn't the case, especially in a growing City!  So do a little research and be informed, we're hoping to be in this house for a VERY long time, so we want to enjoy it!