Our uptown 41st Street block, in Des Monies, IA just held it's eighth annual block party.  I've been actively involved for a long time now, as one of the founders of the original organizing committee so I knew the value of a block party several years before I restarted my RE career. We've typically had at least 50% participation from the 40 households that are on the block.   Because we've done it so long now, this year's preparation was pretty much on autopilot -- the leadership team knows what roll they have played in the past and each member took simply a "same thing, different year" approach. We try to pull in new neighbors and this year our two new households (from Chicago and N.C.) attended and that's a nice testimony to the caliber of people we are attracting.  Then most of the n... 06/10/2007

Here is link to my favorite links page, and from there, if you select the entry for Des Moines Anti-Bubble Research,  you can open a PDF document published about RE values in Des Moines.   It's for the analytical types who want more info than what will be available in the local newspapers. I also keep very accurate info for an area I call my "Listing Prospect Farm" area -- from 34th to 48th, and from Hickman to the Freeway.  A big area of approximately 2000 homes but this gives me enough inputs so that my data is less skewed.   Good reliable data on local real estate trends is hard to find, but that's why I keep it, and usually use this to help me to provide an accurate "Maximum Market Value Report".  We never had a "bubble" in the Des Moines or Central Iowa Market, so it's highly impro... 05/12/2007