Earlier this week a new iPhone applications hit the app store, the new Zillow iPhone App that made its debut Tuesday night is truely amazing, especially if you are into real estate or looking to find a new place to call home downtown.

The free Zillow app displays a bunch of information about nearby condos, including their previous sales price, current property tax, Zillow’s estimate of their value and what the owners would take for the place, if they’ve listed a “make me move” price on Zillow.

It also displays a list of comparable properties nearby for comparison though I found this a little misleading when looking at the downtown Des Moines market.

Using the iPhone’s built in GPS, you can walk around downtown and instantly see what condos are available for sale, see pictures of them inside and even has the Realtor’s name and phone number. And since it’s an iPhone app, just click on the number and the phone will call the Realtor to request a showing.

There is brand new map-based housing search engine that covers downtown Des Moines. Housing shoppers can find long term rentals, homes for sale, and even hotels on HotPads.com map-based search.

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4th & Court Condominiums

119 4th Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309
Phone: 515-453-6604
Sales Agent: Jill Creveling, Iowa Realty

Website: www.desmoinesdowntownliving.com/projects-courtavecondos.html

Open House: Saturdays 1:00 – 4:00 PM, Sundays 1:00 – 4:00 PM.

Pricing: $178,000 to $330,000

Units in Project: 48 / 9 sold
Floors in Building: 5

Property Features:
• one and two bedroom condos
• 12-16 foot high ceilings
• unit areas from 985 sq. ft. to 1,606 sq. ft.
• balconies
• underground parking

Right in the middle of the Court Avenue Entertainment District, 4th & Court Condominiums provides easy access to restaurants, bars, festivals, even the Saturday morning Farmer’s Market can be viewed from your window. What a great location to be in.

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Sales have been a little slow the first quarter of 2009, only 8 units selling this year compared to the first quarter of 2008, but with the current economy and tighten lending policies, what can you expect. It does however look like 4th & Court Condominiums are the happening spot right now. The last four sales are theirs.

I’ve just completed compiling downtown housing sales results for 2008 and here’s some of the stats I was able to compile.

2008 Sales Totals

• Dollars Sold: $12,504,830
• Units Sold: 59
• Average Monthly Sales: $1,042,069 / 5 Units per Month
• Median Monthly Sales: $1,031,37 / 5 Units per Month
• Average Unit Sales Price: $211,946
• Median Unit Sales Price: $187,120

High-End / Low-End

Most Expensive Unit Sold in 2008 03-27-2008 $528,000 Brownstones on Grand

Most Affordable Unit Sold in 2008 06-13-2008 $96,500 Capitol Village Lofts

Best Selling Projects

First Place The Plaza 14 Units Sold

Second Place Midtown Heights 7 Units Sold

Third Place Park Place Condos  6 Units Sold

Fourth Place 4th & Court Condos 5 Units Sold

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A lot of recent studies show that a short commute is a major key to happiness. It’s not only about saving time, its about less social connections. Robert Putnam, a Harvard political scientist, said “There’s a simple rule of thumb: Every ten minutes of commuting results in ten per cent fewer social connections. Commuting is connected to social isolation, which causes unhappiness.”

Commuting to work has been reported to be the least enjoyable activity of one’s day. With so many housing options available downtown, there’s no reason not think seriously about moving downtown.

Just look at all the rental properties (with red balloons) and purchasing (with orange balloons) choices that are available downtown.

For more information on downtown housing, check out our Downtown Housing page which includes the latest real estate listings and news.

Let me begin with saying that I always try to be as positive as a person as possible, but I think in order for us to grow as a community, sometimes criticism is necessary. I will try to keep this story to just the facts as best as I can.

I had been looking forward to the advertised Historic East Village Holiday Home Tour for a couple of weeks. I convinced my friend Brian to come along since neither of us had really toured the housing opportunities in the East Village. The flyer for the event promised “Experience contemporary urban living as residents decorate their lofts for the Holidays.” I printed the map from their website, and at 2pm, the starting time indicated on the flyer, Brian and I set out to tour the six locations indicated on the map.

We parked our car at the corner of East Locust and East 4th, bundled up to brave the low 20s temperatures and started our tour at the SOHO Lofts. When walking down Locust Street we were looking for some Open House signs for the SOHO Lofts, but didn’t see any, but we found the entrance to the SOHO right down the block from the Village Bean. We were greeted at the elevator by a nice gentleman that explained we would be looking at 3 lofts today, two from residents and one unoccupied. So far so good. The first loft we looked at was one of the smaller ones with a nice resident, but I don’t really recall the unit being decorated for the Holidays. Then we went up a floor to a larger unit, this one was nice and included a Christmas tree. Then the tour continued to an unfinished unit out in the courtyard. Honestly, neither of us were that impressed with the SOHO project, but that’s why there is variety downtown, something for everyone.

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This weekend, ST Howard Development and the Historic East Village Association is hosting a a holiday home tour on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday’s event runs from 4pm to 6pm and Sunday’s event runs from 2pm to 4pm.

By visiting participating lofts you can not only experience contemporary urban living all decorated up for the holidays, up also register to win gifts and specials from East Village shops and restaurants.

Participating in the Home Tour are:

• East Village Square Apartments
• SOHO Lofts
• Capitol Village Lofts
• E5W Condos (Under Construction)
• East Village Court Condos
• and 540 E. Grand Ave

Thursday evening, Jake Christensen of Nelson Development and a resident of 418 Liberty Condos met with residents to share some really great news. The current unoccupied floors of the Liberty Building, floors four through eight, would become the new home to Hyatt Place Hotel. This would create the first condotel in Iowa where a building is part hotel-part condominiums. Personally, having lived in Florida, condotels were quite common and always some of the most desirable places to live. The residents were extremely happy with the news.

Construction on the new hotel would begin sometime this coming spring, with construction targeted for completion by the end of 2009. With just under 100 new hotel rooms for the downtown market, this would be Hyatt’s first entrance into the downtown Des Moines market and a first for Hyatt Place in Iowa. The hotel would feature a separate entrance than the current resident’s entrance, a first floor lobby, with small bar and food area. Condo residents would enjoy most of the amenities a hotel brings such as morning newspaper delivery, 24-hour concierge service and even a brand new swimming pool in the basement of the building.

Nelson Development would remain the owner of the building and hotel. Nelson currently owns other hotels, residential and commercial buildings both here in Iowa and other cities in the mid-west.

Here are some pictures of what a typical Hyatt Place looks like.

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The Plaza

300 Walnut Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309
Neighborhood: Downtown Core
Website: www.theplazadsm.com

Pricing: $99,500+

Units in Project: 192
Floors in Building: 25

Property Features:
• Built in 1984/1985
• Association dues are based on square footage
• 24-hour gym
• On-site tennis and basketball courts
• On-site sauna, jacuzzi, and tanning 
• Heated roof-top pool
• Community party-room
• Underground parking

The Plaza was one of the first downtown condo offerings and offers the ultimate urban lifestyle conveniently located in the heart of downtown with premier skywalk access. Balconies on most units offer supreme city skyline views, Nollen Plaza Park and its beautiful mature trees, the river, Wells Fargo Arena & much more. The Plaza offers a convenient living style with all the amenities.

The reason this property is being featured right now, is because so far this year, it’s been one of the most sought after downtown condo buildings, just look at the sales results below.

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