When Iowa Realty opens its newest residential sales office in early December, customers using it can expect to do far less running around than they normally would to buy or sell a house.

That’s because all the services needed to complete a real estate transaction will be available under one roof, said Mike Knapp, Iowa Realty’s president and CEO.

The 11,000-square-foot office in West Des Moines is scheduled to open Dec. 5 in the Bridgewood Plaza at the corner of 74th Street and Jordan Creek Parkway across from Jordan Creek Town Center.

The office, which will initially house about 30 agents with the capacity for 70, will also be staffed with two loan originators from Iowa Realty’s mortgage brokerage affiliate, MidAmerican Home Services Mortgage. It’s the first new office Iowa Realty has opened in more than three years.

“We anticipate also having the escrow and closing function in the office as well,” Knapp said. “We’re really trying to have a facility where someone can do the complete process under one roof. The main difference would be that rather than having to deal with various entities at different locations, you can go to one place to buy and sell a home.”

Knapp said he expects the new approach will work well, and that after a test period it will likely be extended to other Iowa Realty sales offices.

The new office won’t look like a typical real estate office, either. It will feature an “urban” interior design, with a high ceiling, exposed ductwork and suspended lighting.

“The artsy motif will be reminiscent of a renovated warehouse with a techy edge,” said Jamie Buelt, a spokeswoman for the agency. Other features will include wireless Internet connections for use by customers, as well as a plasma television and other amenities.

The state’s largest residential real estate broker, Iowa Realty has 11 of its 16 company-owned sales offices in the Des Moines metropolitan area. As of the end of September, those offices completed more than $2.1 billion in residential sales in the Des Moines market, a 12 percent increase over the same period in 2004.

To keep up with the demand, Iowa Realty has added 42 agents this year and now has 738 Realtors on its staff. Its Jordan Grove office at 35th Street and E.P. True Parkway and its Valley West office across from Valley West Mall have each been over their capacity for some time. Its largest office, Valley West, has 149 agents but just 120 desks.

Larry Marvin, assistant manager of the company’s Jordan Grove office since 1994, will manage the new West Des Moines office with Jan Helland, a member of Iowa Realty’s legal department for the past five years.

Knapp said he expects it will take a year for the Jordan Creek office, which will be the company’s third-largest, to reach its capacity of 70 agents. Because its agents are allowed to choose which office they’ll work from, the other West Des Moines offices could possibly remain overstaffed, he said.

With the residential growth springing up around Jordan Creek Town Center and the employment growth from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and other companies, “I can’t think of a better place to have a real estate office than right where we’re going,” Knapp said.

Knapp said he’s confident the residential market in Iowa will continue to be as strong as it has been in the past several years.

“Interest rates are rising, but they’re still (near) historic lows,” he said. “What I see is that there are a number of people who are renting who could move into homes because of low interest rates. And we’re seeing a lot of new (housing) product that is very attractive to first-time home buyers, particularly singles who in the past have typically been candidates for apartments.”