Welcome back Sam!  Check out Jasper County, we're just east of Polk County and prices are generally cheaper as are the property taxes.  Lots of old homes with character (ours is an 1883 Victorian that we'll be selling next year...no acreage but two lots and one is a corner) as well as farm homes with land as Newton is the largest town in the County and lots of rural/farm land.  Let me know when you'll be in the area and I'll try and help you out if you want.

Inspector we're in the same general area as we'll be moving into the MIL's house and acreage there in Mitchellville probably next year before/after we sell our house there in Colfax.  I agree that the water in Mitchellville isn't great but it tastes better than Colfax water.  I'll type more later.

ETA:  Our niece has been renting our BIL's house but she just a new built house there in Mitchellville on the NE side (only subdivision in town) and will be closing on it the end of this month.  Then we have to sell it as it's part of the BIL's estate and my wife doesn't want to deal with renting it out anymore.  Team 36 is a nice little bar/restaurant that has good food and didn't know about the other restaurant potentially opening/being built in Mitchellville.  As was mentioned before there's a Casey's, Dollar General, elevator as well as a small gun shop, library, nice little city park, American Legion Post, couple good body shops (for when you hit deer/other cars), Pumpkinville and Cornmaze that has a hay rack ride where you can go out and pick your own pumpkins (it's who I sell our Hedge Apples to ), right off I-80 but not so close that you can hear the road noise, Thomas Mitchell Park is just a few miles away (camping, hiking trail, picnics, fishing, creek and playground) and there's an elementary school in town that's part of the Southeast Polk School District (big).

There is about 200+ acres for sale between I-80 and the town which is surprising because the town is surrounded by farm land owned by large family farming operations and the Mitchellville Women's State Prison (forgot to mention that in the above paragraph ).  Mitchellville in general is a small sleepy little town that has not/cannot have the rapid growth of homes compared to it's neighbor to the West...Altoona.  

Feel free to contact me if you want a tour guide when you come down and check out the area as I'll IM you my #.

My grandparents lived in Nevada and its water SUCKED when we went up there as kids.  

Keep checking Jasper County Sam...one thing to remember when you live west of Des Moines is going in to work in the morning you're fighting traffic and the sun in your eyes and the same thing depending on how late you'd work.  The sound of nail guns will be heard anywhere west of Des Moines for quite some time to come.  

Where about in Ankeny are you Sam?  Graduated from Ankeny and grew up on the S/SW outskirts of town almost in Saylorville.  Our mom passed away in July and the tag sale is this coming weekend (23-25) for her estate...let me know if there's anything in particular that you may be needing to purchase like tools, generator, snow blower, kitchen stuff, etc...

I told him he should've wore a condom...  Strongarm's always good for spreading some kind of disease at least once a year.