Iowa Land for Sale

Every four years, the eyes of the nation are on Iowa as the site of the first Presidential caucus. But with its scenic countryside, historic sites, wealth of outdoor recreational opportunities, and consistently high quality of life, Iowa certainly deserves your attention all year round! Iowa Land for Sale is your passport to a wholesome and productive lifestyle in beautiful surroundings.

Agricultural crops cover 60% of the Hawkeye State, while another 30% are taken up with hay-producing grasslands and animal pastures. The gently rolling hills of northern central Iowa are famous for being the most productive cornfields in the United States, and possibly the world. Farther to the south are the flatter lands that were once the tallgrass prairie but are now mostly farms as well. A system of natural waterways in the central part of the state called the Iowa Great Lakes provides a wealth of recreational water sport opportunities. The two largest rivers running through Iowa are the Mississippi and the Missouri.

DeMoines, the state capital and most populous city, is a major center for financial services and the midwestern insurance industry. Forbes Magazine ranked it near the top of its annual list of “Best Places for Business” in 2007, looking at criteria such as the cost of doing .business, cost of living, educational attainment, and crime rate. A hundred miles to the east lies Cedar Rapids, a flourishing center for arts and culture, as well as the largest corn-processing center in the world. Davenport, located along the Mississippi, is a manufacturing center whose largest employer is a John Deere factory on the northern side of town; while Sioux City, located along the Missouri, is a retail and services center for residents of Nebraska and South Dakota, as well as of western Iowa. Iowa City is the home of the University of Iowa, a major public research university; graduates of UI’s famous Iowa Writers Workshop have include John Irving, Flannery O’Connor, T.C. Boyle and other prominent American authors.

Cold winters and hot summers are the norm in Iowa. Like other midwestern states, Iowa’s weather can be extreme. Winter blizzards and violent summer thunderstorms are common. Iowa is right in the middle of Tornado Alley, and the Hawkeye State averages over 35 twisters a year in the spring and summer months. 

Although farms are the most prominent feature of Iowa’s landscape, the state’s economy is quite diversified with manufacturing, biotechnology, finance and insurance services, and government services all contributing to Iowa’s economic profile. The result? Iowa entered the recession later than most other states and has weathered the current economic downturn substantially better, with an unemployment rate – now at 6.9% — that’s been consistently lower than that of the rest of the nation’s. An earlier real estate bubble in the 1980s based on agricultural land tempered the Midwest’s appetite for housing speculation. Throughout the most recent recession, Iowa’s housing prices have remained stable.

Iowa was not entirely immune to the recession of course. Rural areas have lagged behind urban centers, as agriculture-related exports have been an unstable market. Other industries that have felt recessionary effects include Iowa’s gaming industry which saw significant revenue declines between 2007 and 2009, and Iowa’s insurance industry which saw job losses as well as declining revenues. But Iowa companies are bullish on growth prospects in 2010, with positive outlooks for both sales and capital spending. The manufacturing sector is expected to lead the way with Iowa employers reporting more orders and increasing need for worker hours. Iowa Land for Sale is an investment in an economy where hard work and sensible planning pay big rewards.