Cheapest Homes in Iowa
Iowa is another state you should be able to find cheap housing to buy. The Midwest has some of the lowest housing prices in the United States, while Iowa is adjacent to South Dakota, with probably the cheapest housing in the entire country.
I was recently looking at a list of the poorest counties in the continental United States and a good half of those counties could be found in South Dakota, specifically the southern and western section of counties. Since these counties butt up against Iowa, the prices in the farmlands of Iowa may not be quite as depressed (probably thankfully), but you should be able to find good bargains on the housing market.
Cheapest Homes in Des Moines
You can find quite inexpensive homes in the Des Moines area. For instance, on Seneca Avenue there's a little 1-bedroom, 1-bath home selling for $11,500. On 13th street, you'll find a 3-bed, 1-bath two-story home for $10,000. This house looks is spartan and blocky, but you won't find many three bedroom places for 10 grand.
45th Street in Des Moines has a $57,000 home with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, while East Bell Street has a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom residence selling for $32,000. Staying on the east side of Des Moines, you'll find a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom house on East 37th Avenue offered for $29,000.
Cheapest Homes in Cedar Rapids
The cheapest house for sell right now in Cedar Rapids is a 5-bed, 1.5 bath home on 16th Avenue which is selling for $58,950. You won't find many homes with five bedrooms selling for that low of a price, so do you due diligence when looking at the home to make certain nothing is wrong with the home. The two-story house looks beautiful from the outside. A three-bedroom, 1-bath home on East Avenue is being offered for $65,000.
Another 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom residence on the Rockford Road Southwestern Unit is available for $75,000. When you see a nice round figure like 75k, the person selling the home might not have given a lot of thought to what they will settle for, so you might be able to bargain them down somewhat.
If you're willing to drive a little, a 4-bedroom, 1-bathroom residence in nearby Walker, Iowa (also in Linn County) is available for $49,000 dollars. This house is found on Quasqueton Avenue in Walker.
Sioux City Houses
You can also find a 2 bed, 1 bath house on Myrtle Street in Sioux City which is being offered for $45,900. Yet another Sioux City residence can be bought for $70,000. This house has 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a car garage, and a driveway with basketball goal. HUD has a house in Sioux City on sale for $41,000. This is a 3-bedroom, 1 bath home which has an extended listing.
When searching for home in Sioux City, you'll find most searching in Woodbury County. But I've seen "part of" Sioux City listed as being in Plymouth County. While I'm not sure if that's possible, if you're searching for Sioux City homes, you can find nearby homes in Plymouth County databases.
Ames, Iowa Homes
Ames, Iowa is a 58,000 person community about 30 miles north of Des Moines. Many people who work in Des Moines prefer to live in Ames, which also happens to be where the Iowa State University is located. While few cheap houses from Ames are listed right now, I found a foreclosed house in nearby Zearing (approximately 10 miles) that is selling for $52,000. This is a nice two-story house with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Again, you'll be out from your probably workplace in Ames or Des Moines, but this sounds like a bargain.
Cheap Homes in Davenport
Davenport is the third largest city in Iowa and boasts a population of just over 100,000 people. Davenport is located on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River, which serves as the boundary between Iowa and Illinois. Davenport also happens to be roughly one-half of the distance between Des Moines and Chicago. Davenport, Iowa is one of the Quad Cities (with a combined population of around 389,000), including Bettendorf (Iowa), Moline and East Moline (Illinois), and Rock Island (Illinois). Davenport is a well-situated town that's near population centers and therefore job opportunities, but isn't too near a major city.
On West 8th Street is Davenport, you'll find a foreclosed 4 bed, 2 bath house selling for $16,000. You'll also find a foreclosure on East Denison, a 3 bed, 1 bath residence selling for $29,000. If you want something at another location, you can find a 4 bed, 2 bath home on Rockingham Road being offered for $69,000.
Cheap Homes in the Hawkeye State
When I think of Iowa, I think of the American Heartland. I think of farmsteads and wheat fields and, of course, Iowa Hawkeyes football. Iowa has a lot of things to offer a family: an All-American upbringing, proximity to one of America's great economic and cultural centers (Chicago), and a cheap housing prices. Iowa also has a big say in who gets nominated for president every four years, so citizens of Iowa have their hands on American democracy like few other Americans. You could do a lot worse than raising a family in the State of Iowa.