Are you looking for an affordable rural Iowa town to buy some real estate?
If you said yes. Congratulations. You found a video that may suit your needs.
We've been doing a series of videos about great rural towns in the United
States. The problem is when a place is considered great, it's also expensive.
And that's just how the world is when something is good and most people want it.
It's expensive. Like a Tesla model, Y with all the safety features,
an autopilot costs about $80,000. Most people would want one,
a 2002 Pontiac Aztec with a piano wire seat belt and a couch cushion.
Instead of an airbag goes for about $73.
You gotta chase the possum out of the back yourself. Today.
We are looking at affordable rural towns in Iowa and why they're so cheap,
a couple things you should know. First of all,
it's really hard to find a really, really bad town in Iowa.
Most of this state is really nice and the people are wonderful. It's just,
you know, sometimes they're cheap,
but they're cheap for a reason as an added bonus,
I'll tell you about some government programs.
That'll help you buy some rural real estate. One of the programs can help you,
even if you have a really low income, get it. Got it. Good. Let's take a look.
Number five, Casey Iowa,
Casey sits about 45 minutes west of Des Moines in about an hour east of Omaha,
smack dab in the middle of what is known as nowhere.
There is nothing to do here, but mow your lawn, eat and watch world.
According Briggs videos. Not a lot of people live here.
There's only 391 residents and they have a thumbs down when it comes to their
crime rate, it's actually 23% above the national average,
their violent crime rate. Isn't horrible. It's 13% above the national average,
which like I've said before, places like Detroit and Chicago,
you got neighborhoods where it's 500% above the national average.
Their property crime kind of sucks though. It's 25% above the national average.
And that normally is a thing. When you have high poverty levels,
which Casey does, they get a big thumbs down for their poverty level.
They actually have 16.6% of their population living below the poverty line.
They're not making a lot of money here. The median household income,
that means the whole house on average makes $39,500 a year.
That is 29% lower than the national average.
Now the good things are they have good real estate prices, a low cost of living,
and they do get good internet.
Their real estate gets a faded thumbs up because they don't have anything right
now. But in recent months like April and March,
they sold quite a few homes for under $150,000.
These are nice livable homes that go for $150,000.
If you buy something for $250,000 in Casey, Iowa,
it's really a gem. So if this is some place you're thinking about,
keep an eye on Zillow, Redfin, whatever, something will pop up.
Real estate prices are on the rise through most of the country.
But when it's this low and in middle America, it's not climbing that fast,
especially in the rural town. So get in the cities might be a different story,
but rural real estate is not growing that fast in flyover states.
Casey gets a thumbs up when it comes to their cost of living.
It's actually 22% below the national average, which is pretty good. Like I said,
they get a thumbs up for their internet.
They have Casey mutual telephone company,
which offers 200 MVPs fiber for about 85% of the town.
Then they have like Coon valley co-op,
which also offers 200 MVPs or about 10% of the town.
They have like three other companies that cover about 5% of the town.
I like any town that has news like this. This is like their big news.
A Casey native veteran will be the keynote speaker of the 15th,
annual Vietnam veterans observance. His name is Colonel Jim McClung.
I think it's McClung. I hope I pronounced that right? If not, I'm sorry.
I apologize. He's a retired Marine Corps vet who served two tours in Vietnam.
He left Casey to go to Quantico, Virginia for training as a Marine.
I watched an interview with him and he said that was quite a big deal back in
the day because not a lot of people traveled outside of Casey and he was going
all the way to Virginia. Interesting. In fact,
most of the streets here are named after union army generals from the American
civil war.
They get a faded thumbs up for their healthcare because they don't have anything
in town. Not that I could find.
You're gonna have a little bit of a trip to one of the local communities that
might have a clinic or a hospital.
And it could be anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes away. Number four,
Chester, Iowa Chester, Iowa sits about two hours north of Cedar rapids.
It's right there on the Minnesota border. So, you know,
it's gonna be cold in the winter here. And that's with most the places in Iowa.
Now, a lot of people realize how cold it gets during the winter.
So that's a problem. If you got a problem with cold in the winter,
stay outta Iowa. I got a video coming up on Arizona. That's where you should go.
If you do decide to move to Chester, I'm sure they'd be happy to have you.
Other than this last census, 2020,
they had been losing population since the 1930s in the 1930s census.
They maxed out with 238 residents. In 2010,
they had 127 and in 2020, they went all the way up to 1 39.
So I'm sure they'd be happy to see you. They don't get many fresh faces. Uh,
other than the occasional truck driver that drops off a load and maybe someone
fell off their canoe and washed a shore in Chester off the upper Iowa river
Chester gets a thumbs down for their crime rate.
It's actually 31% below the national average,
their property crime rate is 33% below the national average.
When you only got 139 people living in the town, that's not hard to do,
but it is what it is. They get a thumbs down for their poverty rate.
Also it's actually 32% of their population lives in poverty.
The median household income in Chester is $29,375 a
year. That's 47% lower than the national average. When it comes to healthcare,
they're getting a thumbs down for that too.
They have nothing in town other than a fire department that looks like it's
being housed in a big aluminum shed. If you need an emergency room,
you're gonna have to do little traveling.
It's about 30 minutes away in a town called Cresco. I believe you pronounce it.
They gotta emergency room hospital the whole bit, but anything major.
You're probably gonna have to head up to Rochester, Minnesota,
which is to the north 45 minutes to an hour away.
They get a thumbs down when it comes to real estate. For one reason,
one reason only hardly anything's for sale. If it is for sale,
it's probably a lot and you'd have to build your own house on it.
But that lot may run you $15,000.
The last house they did sell was in February of 2021.
And it went for $20,000. That was three bedrooms and one bath.
And it didn't look horrible.
Chester gets a thumbs down when it comes to internet.
Now I've seen conflicting reports on two different websites.
CenturyLink offers internet here. One said that it was to 55% of the town.
The other one said it was 45% of the town. One also said it was only 10 MVPs,
which sucks. And the other one said they can get up to 50 MVPs,
which still kind of sucks. The good news is they, uh,
got a really cool water tower. It's nice. Blue says Chester on it.
That's the highlight of this town. Number three, Lindon, Iowa,
Lindon, Iowa is not a great place to live.
Especially if you're looking for things like excitement, nightlife,
dating options, don't move to Lindon for that.
Lindon doesn't have a lot going on. Matter of fact,
the last time they had any excitement was in 2014,
when a drunk driver led police on a chase and it ended in Linden,
they didn't quit talking about that until 2019,
they do have the raccoon valley Trailhead here, which is a nice bike path,
hiking path it's paved. And it goes 89 miles, which is kind of cool.
It's not like it's going through mountains or long cliffs.
It's just going through the fields of Iowa, but it's still kind of cool.
They also have the middle raccoon valley, not too far to the west of town.
That's kind of cool, but that's about it.
I don't think there's any legit businesses here. Like a restaurant, a diner,
nothing. I mean there's Corey's tire and auto repair. You can go down there,
pull up a lawn chair and cheer every time he changes a tire.
That sounds exciting. Other than that, there's nothing here in 1910,
Lydon maxed out its population with 315 residents in 2020, they had 200.
And right now it's estimated that they have 186 when it comes to their crime
rate, it's not terrible. So they're getting a faded, thumbs up.
Their crime rate is 6% higher than the national average.
Their property crime rate is 8% higher. So it's not the worst.
When it comes to poverty, they're getting a faded thumbs down.
It's not terrible, but it's not great. 11.5%.
This town lives below the poverty line. Nav an unemployment.
That's about 9% right now.
The median household income is $37,375 a year.
That's 32% lower than the national average.
Now the reason they get on this list, there is just nothing in this town.
You gotta go outside of town for everything, including hospitals,
emergency rooms, doctor's office, anything.
So their healthcare gets a thumbs down. If you need a real hospital,
big one with any specialist, anything like that,
you got about a 38 mile trip to Des Moines to the west.
They do have Guthrie county hospital, which is smaller, but it's a hospital,
24 hours of the emergency room, all that stuff. And that's about 15,
16 miles away to the west. When it comes to internet, they get a faded,
thumbs down. They only have Windstream in town,
which I've seen two different reports. One said that they can get up to 50 MVPs.
Another one said they can get up to 80 MVPs.
And one said that they covered 98% of the town.
The other one said they cover 89% of the town.
So my advice is definitely call ahead. If you do decide to buy a place here.
Now, let's talk about buying place here.
They get a thumbs down because there's nothing for sale here right now.
And when they do have something for sale,
it's really not the cheapest that you'd expect out here in the middle of Iowa.
They sold a couple homes here in may of 20 22,
1 for 246,001 for 270,000.
They got other newer homes that were sold for 370,000 4 68.
Yeah, two 20. This is the middle of Iowa. Your prices.
Aren't supposed to be that high,
but they get a big thumbs up for their cost living,
cuz it's actually 25% lower than the national average. I mean their cost.
Living's nice. Their housing prices are a little much. Number two ex IRA,
Iowa ex IRA seems like a nice place to be from I'm sure most high school seniors
start planning their escape sometime around their first homecoming dance.
When they realize there isn't even a hotel in town for the after party ex IRU
sits about an hour west of Des Moines and weeks away from day drinking because
there's nothing else to do.
And it shows ex IRA's been losing populations since 1950.
They've had a couple years where they went up a little bit,
but most years they've been losing population in 1950,
they maxed out with 1100 residents right now they're sitting on a population of
787 and they get a thumbs down for their crime rate.
Their total crime rate is 24% above the national average.
Their property crime rate is 26% above the national average.
When it comes to poverty, they get a faded thumbs down.
It's a little strange here.
16.6% of the population here lives below the poverty line.
There an employment rate though is 4%,
which is 20% lower than the us average currently here in may of
2022 and their median household income is
$39,444 a year, which is 29% lower than the national average. So they have jobs.
These jobs just aren't paying well. So those things aren't great.
They also get a thumbs down when it comes to their internet,
they don't have much to choose from. They have connect by Windstream,
which offers 200 MVPs,
but it only offers it to 75% of the town. When it comes to healthcare,
they get a faded thumbs up, cuz they have the IRA medical clinic in town.
So that's decent. It's kind of small. I'm sure they do great things.
But if you need to go to a hospital, you got Guthrie county hospital,
which is to the east, about half hour away. Anything major,
you got the long trip, which is over an hour into Des Moines.
Exi gets a big thumbs up when it comes to their cost living,
which is actually 25% lower than the national average when it comes to their
housing, uh, they're almost neutral,
but maybe it faded thumbs down cause they got nothing to offer right now.
But when they do which in March and April of this year,
they did sell some homes.
Most homes here sell for under 150,000 and they sold a bunch last year for
under a hundred thousand. Now these are livable homes ready to move in.
They're under 150,000. In most cases, if you buy anything,
that's above 250,000, you're living in a really nice place here,
but they got nothing for sale.
And if this is the type of place you're thinking about moving to yeah,
keep an eye on it on Zillow or Redfin, whatever you wanna do.
All right, before we get to number one, like I said,
there's some information I wanted to give you and there's a link down below for
this.
But the single family housing program is from the us department of agriculture
and they're helping people move to rural towns.
There's a big push for rural towns.
That's why I've been doing a lot of videos on it.
People that are remote workers,
retirees decided they don't wanna be anywhere near a city,
fixed income retirements.
Aren't getting you as far as they used to in Florida and Arizona and place like
that. So a lot of people are looking at places like Iowa, Nebraska, whatever,
to move to small rural towns, your money goes a lot further there,
but there's a couple different programs.
The first one is the single family housing direct loans,
which helps you purchase or build with no money down in eligible rural areas.
And this helps out low and very low income families.
You also have the single family housing guarantee loan program, again,
purchase or build with no money down in rural areas that are approved for
moderate household incomes. There is a link down below.
Make sure you check it out. See if you fit the bill on this,
you could be living in a rural town in a year or two,
just go through the programs. I don't think this is really handout.
If you're getting something like this from the government because you're helping
these communities stay alive.
So the government's helping you and you're helping out some small community
bringing some new blood in there, whether you're a remote worker, whatever.
All right on to number one. And number one, VGA,
Iowa VGA sits about an hour north of Cedar rapids,
not too far west of the Mississippi river, vulgar,
formally known as VGA city was laid out as a town in 1852.
And it was actually named after the river that flows through town called the
vulgar river,
which that river is actually named after the Russian river of the vulgar river.
Even though they changed the name from VGA city to just vulgar,
they got a lot of things in town that are still called VGA city like vulgar city
lumber, VGA city, opera house, and VGA city hall. Wait,
I don't know if VGA city hall is actually VGA city hall. I don't know who knows.
Moving on. VGA has lost population in all, but one census since 1940.
There's not a lot of things keeping people here and I'm sure they're gonna
continue to lose residents.
And that's why I think they're probably eager to get some new blood in town.
Maybe one of those programs we just talked about will help you move to VGA.
If you got any major medical issues, I wouldn't moved to VGA.
They get a thumbs down when it comes to healthcare because there is nothing in
town. At least nothing I could find.
The nearest thing is about nine miles to the Northeast.
And that's a small medical center.
Anything major you got about an hour drive into Cedar rapids.
VGA also gets a thumbs down when it comes to their crime rate.
It's 18% above the national average.
Their property crime rate is 25% above the national average, which isn't good.
They get a faded thumbs down. When it comes to poverty,
almost 9% of their population lives below the poverty line.
They're an employment rate currently is 6% and that's 39% higher than the
us average. Their median household income is only $36,042 a year.
That's 35% lower than the national average.
And I'm making a bunch of money here.
If they even have a job while I was researching this,
I found out that a 61 year old vulgar man decided to kidnap a teenage girl.
That was just last year. If convicted, he's going for the long trip,
which is life in prison. When it comes to internet,
vulgar gets a thumbs down because they don't have much to offer you.
They have a bunch of satellite things,
which we've learned on this channel kind of suck,
but they have Windstream that only offers 12 MVPs that's their fiber or their
DSL. And they only offer it to 64% of the town. That's not good.
You might be able to get Starlink here,
but I couldn't find any reports on how good it is in this area. So that's that.
Now let's talk about the good things about VGA.
VGA gets a big thumbs up for their cost living,
which is 25% lower than the national average outstanding VGA.
When it comes to real estate, they get a faded, thumbs up.
They probably get a thumbs up,
but they don't have anything for sale right now when they did last year,
they sold four different homes.
All of them under a hundred thousand and all of them looked livable.
Now I'm just going off of what Zillow showing me, but it looked pretty good.
A lot of their homes that go for sale are under 50,000 and they're decent.
Maybe need a coat of paint, little cleanup,
they're decent homes to live in like all five of the towns on this list.
They're not the greatest place to live. They got some crime,
they got some other issues, but they are inexpensive. And it's Iowa,
even though they got some problems,
it's still pretty good and like hot pizza verse cold pizza.
All right. That's today's video. Hope you guys enjoyed it.
Hope you got some information out of it. Now go out,
have a productive day and be nice to each other.