Quad Cities Nesties
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Relocation help!!!
Hi, I'm looking for info on the Quad cities. I've lived here in Pittsburgh all my life. My Dh may have a new job opportunity in Davenport. I would love some input on good neighborhoods and school districts in the Quad City areas. Schools are very important!!
We are expecting a new baby in just a few weeks and will probably come out and check things out sometime after that as we will probably move after the new year. Recommendations on hotels and such would be helpful for that trip too.
Thank you for your help!!
PS- I keep hearing how nice everyone out there is!!
Wife to Tim. Mommy toEmma,Noah,Caleb and Stella
Re: Relocation help!!!
I would suggest living on the Iowa side... the taxes/COL is a bit better in Iowa
There are some good pockets in Illinois if you are interested (I just personally don't know them).
Bettendorf is a great town and school district, BUT, you don't get as much for your money there (it gets pricey). Davenport is a great area... If I were to live in town, I'd go for somewhere around the 53rd Street area (lots of new development). If you are okay with staying 10-15 minutes from town, I'd check out Blue Grass (Davenport schools... although West High isn't as great as it used to be, but not horrible, better than some of the other D-port HSs) and Eldridge (I think that's Pleasant Valley schools, correct me if I am wrong). Very family friendly towns with good schools.
Hotels wise... there are a few at I-80 and Hwy 61 in Davenport. The Clarion on 53rd & Welcome way is okay (nothing special, but it's been 2 years since I slept there... the only hotel I ever slept at in the QC... no drunk driving after a wedding reception for me
).
It's good to see another East Coaster moving west!
It is so true about everyone being much nicer out in the midwest. And the pace of life is slower too.
Come back again... we don't mind answering questions and love new faces!
Hope all goes well with the baby and move.
I'll come back when I have more time but school districts will give you a starting place I think. IMO the best districts are North Scott (Eldridge area), Bettendorf and Pleasant Valley. I've heard United Township (on the Illinois side) is nice but I don't have any experience with it or the schools that lead up to it. Davenport schools are rough -- kids survive them but there isn't really one that is better than the others. They are all over crowded and have more negatives the positives. Of the Quad Cities, Rock Island is generally considered the bottom of the barrel.
I just wanted to add I saw your concern about the Quad Cities being the boonies. This part of Iowa is not as scary as it may seem (I have not found one place in Iowa that my Verizon cell phone can't get service). My in-laws live down the road from the boonies, and they have high speed internet. We've got a good amount of stores (BBB, Target, Pier One, Old Navy, Borders, Yonkers (Midwest Dept. Store chain), Best Buy, Petco, Lowe's, Home Depot, Sam's Club, etc.), a number of national food chains (Chick-Fil-A, Friday's, Texas Roadhouse, Ruby Tuesday's, Bennigan's, Biaggi's, Panera, Granite City, Carlos O'Kelly's, Outback, Hooter's (founder is from Iowa), Chili's, Applebee's, Chuck E Cheese, etc.), and of course great local places too! (Iowa Machine Shed restaurant, Village of East Davenport (cute boutique shopping), Symposium Cafe, our own minor league baseball team, IMAX, Figge Art Museum, a Children's Museum). And if you really need to, Chicago is 3 hours by car (can we say two Ikeas!!!), or 2 1/2 to Des Moines (the land of Cheesecake Factory and Jordan Creek Mall (biggest in Iowa and very comparable to many East Coast malls).The best concert of my life (Nickelback, last year, rockin' show!!) was in Moline, IL!
You won't be living in the middle of a cornfield (unless you choose to, but I still won't do that, and I've been transplanted for over 8 years now). Some of the newer houses are built on old cornfields, but they look just like suburbia of any metro area of the USA. We have a rush hour, it doesn't last as long (by far).
Our board may seem more "dead"... but you'll find that getting good information from mid-westerners comes the old fashioned neighborly way. Also keep in mind the size of the population- fewer people means not as much to share. I encourage you to post some more and you'll get more responses from people. There are a number of lurkers who don't post much, but will respond if they have something to share.
On behalf of those of us who do respond, we are happy to answer questions and calm your fears. The QCA (Quad City area) is a lovely place to be and has a number of pros going for it. I hope things work out for you and that the QC grows on you and treats you well.
Thank you both sooo much for your input!! Actually,I AM looking to move to the boonies so any somewhat rural suggestions are welcomed! I grew up in the city and my husband grew up in a cabin in the mountains. I love visiting his family because it's just so beautiful and quiet there.
I appreciate the heads up on Rock Island. Realtor.com shows a house there that seems to good to be true for the price.
As long as I have a Target,Aldi and somewhere decent to get Sushi I should be ok. A good contemporary Christian church is important to us as well.
I was excited to see the Imax in Davenport. I work for the local science center/Omnimax here. I don't plan on going back to work soon but if I do I'm excited to see something similar there.
Thank you again!! I'll be back!!
My Blog-Saving for a Rainy Day
Will your DH's job actually be in Davenport? Rural areas I would suggest looking into would be Le Claire, Eldridge/Long Grove/Parkview/Princeton areas. maybe Hampton or Silvis on the Illinois side because they are close to the river and just a quick hop to Iowa.
Blue Grass is nice and has some great rural homes, but it falls in the Davenport school district which would be enough to deter me from moving there unless you could open enroll to Muscatine once your kids reached high school age. Or, depending on how far your DH wants to commute, the outskirts of Muscatine/Wilton are nice too.
She could also get a Blue Grass address, but in Muscatine County (not Scott County). There are some new duplexes and SFH for rent and sale that you can see from Hwy 61 and I'm sure they sit right over in Muscatine County.
I would also suggest Durant, IA if you want something a little in the boonies. I agree that LeClaire/Long Grove/etc. are great options as well.
When you come out and drive around... you'll get a feel for which towns would or would not work for you
Gut instinct goes far. And ditto on Rock Island, IL is a no- too much crime and crappiness going on. If you were to ever drive around, you'd see how run down it has become.