Kansas City Area Lake Communities (Blue Springs, Jackson: real estate, homes, neighborhoods)

[elibry]

Possibly relocating to KC from New Jersey. Are there any upscale lake communities? If so, which ones.

[kcmo]

The Kansas City metro has quite a few residential lakes. They are mostly in eastern Jackson County (around Lee’s Summit) and in Platte County (around Parkville).

Jackson County, MO:
By far the largest and most developed and most affluent is Lakewood in Lee’s Summit. While that is a very upscale area, it’s not really a recreational type lake (the homes don’t have docks etc and few boats are allowed). That’s a nice area though with most of the shores lined with very expensive homes and nice neighborhoods away from the water. Lakewood is just across I-470 from one of the more active recreational lakes in the region, Flemming Park which includes Blue Springs Lake and Lake Jacomo. You can’t live on those lakes, but they are close by for fishing, water skiing, jet skiing etc.

Another upscale lake community that also doesn’t allow larger power boats and has no residential docks is Raintree Lake in Southern Lee’s Summit. Like Lakewood, Raintree has far more homes in neighborhoods near the water vs on it because, but it's a very nice area and affluent.

Raintree is near Longview Lake (a larger recreational lake for skiiing etc).

Also in the Lee’s Summit / Blue Springs area are some smaller more traditional residential lake communities (where the homes have docks etc). These lakes have a more diverse demographic of homes ranging from more modest to very affluent. But lake living is more of a lifestyle as walking out back to a boat is part of the chosen lifestyle.

Next to Raintree is Lake Winnebago which is its own town (not part of Lee’s Summit). That community has docks and water access from the waterfront homes and is pretty affluent, but it’s more about living on the lake then living in suburban sprawl near water like Raintree and Lakewood.

These Lakes have some very pricy homes but they also have more modest homes compared to the others above. They are smaller tight community where most know each other.

Lake Lotawana is pretty affluent and has lots of very expensive homes, but also a few less expensive ones.

Lake Tapawingo is probably the most modest, but even they have some pricy homes.

Platte County, MO
The Northland area of KC is the other area with several residential lakes.

Riss Lake is very upscale like Lakewood. It’s just upscale spraw near water. Not really a lake living “lifestyle”. Not saying there is anything wrong with that, but just that there is a difference.

Weatherby Lake has docks on waterfront homes and is also pretty affluent, but you can find smaller homes there.

Lake Waukomis also has docks and it seems to have a more diverse housing stock, but still like all the other lakes, there are some very expensive homes there.

Kansas:
The Kansas side is pretty limited, but there is Lake Quivira which is pretty small, but affluent. It's also isolated where the MO side lakes are near more built up areas for the most part. Homes there also have private docks so living there is defiantly a lifestyle choice as well.

Hope that helps.

[lifelongMOgal]

With the pull-back in real estate prices there are some really outstanding opportunities in the upscale lake communities right now. The OP's timing couldn't be better, IMO.

[brewcrew1000]

To bad you weren't moving to Milwaukee, there are tons of upscale lake communities in the West Suburbs