You found a house, or you are moving here, and you want the real monthly number before you fall for it.

From the listing to the keys, in five steps.

1. Pre-approval first. A lender's letter, not a website estimate. It sets the ceiling and tells the seller you are real. If you don't have a lender, I give you three names.
2. The numbers on the house, in writing. What it would likely go for against asking, from what sold nearby in the last 90 days. The estimated monthly cost with taxes, insurance, utilities, and upkeep. What an inspection usually finds on a house of that age.
3. The offer. Price, earnest money, the inspection and financing contingencies, the closing date, and any seller concession you are asking for. I write it so the seller's agent can say yes to it.
4. Inspection, days 1 to 10. You get the report the same day. We ask for what matters and skip what doesn't. Anything about insurability, 1950s wiring, an old roof, a buried oil tank, goes to three licensed insurance producers, not to me.
5. Closing, day 30 to 45. Appraisal by day 20, the lender's final approval by day 40, walkthrough the day before, keys at the title company. Every date is on your portal page.

Where people are buying.

West Des MoinesAnkenyWaukeeJohnstonUrbandaleGrimesCliveDowntownAll neighborhoods

Each page has the 2026 median and the neighborhoods inside it. For any house on one of them, the written answer covers the monthly cost and the likely inspection findings.