Kathy Narum is living out her California dreams while keeping her values and real estate holdings planted in the Midwest.

An Iowa native who now serves on the Pleasanton, Calif., City Councill, Narum leads a family real estate business that has invested heavily in Greater Des Moines and elsewhere in the Midwest.

In the last month alone, Narum’s Forselles II Partners has invested a little more than $9 million in an Urbandale warehouse, a West Des Moines retail center and a McDonald’s restaurant in Ankeny. 

Her partners in the business, which was launched by her late father and named after an apartment building, are her brother Richard Reed and sister Ann Fagan.

Narum was born in Waterloo, her mother’s hometown. Her father was raised in the farming community of Veedersburg, Ind. The Reed family wound up in California by way of a job transfer.

When her father’s company wanted him to transfer back to the Midwest, his response was “Are you nuts,” she said. By that time, he had become a committed fan of the Oakland Raiders professional football team, and there was that rather significant difference in climate.

But Dale Reed’s thoughts remained in the Midwest. He invested in residential property in California, but his taste for those investments soured with advent of rent controls and other measures.

When the opportunity came along to buy some farmland, he did so. As he sold off the farmland, he invested in commercial property.

Forselles II Partners has holdings in Polk, Dallas, Jasper, Linn and Story counties, Narum said.

According to Polk County land records, Forselles II Partners’ first purchase in Polk County was in 2000 when it paid $2.7 million for an office medical building at 1200 University Ave. in Des Moines.

When Dale Reed began having health problems about 10 years ago, Narum, the oldest child, became CEO of the real estate company by default. Her dad was the chairman, she said. When his health improved, she wanted to turn operation of the business back to him.

“He said, ‘Nope you’re doing fine. I’m just going to tell you what to do,’ ” Narum said.

Narum said she also learned about the issues surrounding property ownership while serving on the Pleasanton planning and zoning commission. She later ran a city councilman’s successful campaign for mayor. She was elected to fill his spot and was recently re-elected, emerging as the top vote getter among all candidates.

“I had no aspirations to serve in an elected office,” Narum said. “But the fact of the matter is that I really enjoy it.”

She makes two to four trips to Iowa a year to make the final decision on properties that have been recommended by “our local eyes and ears,” she said.

The recent purchases reflect Forselles II Partners’ desire to diversify its holdings. For example, the Urbandale warehouse is the first such property that company has owned.

“We do have a strategy of what we will buy and what we won’t buy,” she said. “I look at a lot of properties from the car window and say nope, regardless of what the numbers say.”

Narum wouldn’t divulge any details about her property-buying strategy, but she does remain reluctant to own an office property.

Have there been any bad deals in Greater Des Moines?

“None that I’m aware of,” she said. In fact, Forselles II Partners is happy with its tenants, brokers and property managers in Greater Des Moines. It doesn’t have any property on the market.

“I’m very happy with what we have,” Narum said.

She also wanted to emphasize that with some family still in the Midwest, the company isn’t possessed with any stereotypical California goofiness.

“We have Midwest roots,” she said. “I think everybody expects me to show up in flip-flops and shorts. That’s more associated with the Southern California mentality. Our roots are there in the Midwest. … That’s important to us.”