Des Moines County, IA: Foreclosures, Tax Liens & Distressed Properties

Des Moines County, Iowa is scored end-to-end by DLRadar for property distress, drawn only from deterministic public records. Individual Des Moines County ZIPs score between 10 and 26 on the 0–100 composite. County-level credit and bank headwind reads 68/100 — elevated, a sign of lender stress locally. Coverage runs to 12 ZIPs across Des Moines County, a low 21/100 average.

In its peak phase, Des Moines County home prices rose 2.7% across the last year, a 21/100-confidence read. This late in the run, distress turns selective — the edge is parcel by parcel.

With Des Moines County flat at +2.7% YoY (21/100 confidence), the discount lives in outliers and a county-wide sweep stays on the shelf. An elevated 68/100 reading is a buyer tailwind: banks under pressure move REO faster.

Top distress by ZIP runs 52601 (26/100), 52637 (26/100), 52638 (26/100), 52650 (26/100), 52655 (26/100), 52660 (26/100), listed with every scored ZIP below. Further scored ZIPs: 52623, 52646, 52645, 52640, 52644, 52658.

By the numbers, the ZIPs DLRadar tracks across Des Moines County run home values averaging roughly $173,133, below the US, 81% of homes owner-occupied, vacancy near 6.7%, residents with a median age around 44.8, a 9.3% poverty rate, household income averaging about $62,952, below the national median. Numbers like these shape where pressure builds and how liquid the exit will be.

Des Moines County, Iowa's 21/100 average over 12 ZIPs says the opportunity hides below the average rather than a blanket buy. A DLRadar subscription opens every Des Moines County parcel: owner and contact detail, APN, its own score, the lender behind it and an exit read.

The distress read for Des Moines County, Iowa is refreshed as new public records post and uses the same methodology coast to coast, so Des Moines County stays directly comparable to any other market you track.

Treat Des Moines County, Iowa as a ranked list, not a single market: the spread between its strongest and weakest ZIPs is where the acquisition margin actually sits. Nothing in the Des Moines County read is modelled: recorder and court filings drive foreclosure and lien signals, FHFA sets the price cycle, FDIC the lender stress, and a thin source stays blank.

Drilling in, Des Moines County's highest-scoring ZIPs are 52601 (26/100), 52637 (26/100), 52638 (26/100), 52650 (26/100), 52655 (26/100), 52660 (26/100). DLRadar also scores 52623, 52646, 52645, 52640, 52644, 52658 across the county. Every one of these is scored independently — a ZIP's composite reflects its own recorded distress, which is why the county average alone hides where the real pressure sits.

DLRadar's composite for Des Moines County blends several independent signals — foreclosure and pre-foreclosure filings, mortgage stress, tax delinquency and liens, and the bank-stress headwind of the lenders operating locally — into one 0–100 score per ZIP, so a market can rank high on one axis and low on another.