Liberty MO (Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit: lease, new house, buy)

[shortyV]

Can anyone tell me about Liberty Missouri? Is it a nice place to live? How about the drive to Kansas City? That's where I would have to work.

[aragx6]

Liberty is a safe community with good schools that has mostly grown up in the last couple of decades. As with most suburbs, the housing stock is typically newer and, in my opinion, quite bland. The commute to the city depends greatly on where in Liberty you'll be coming from (it's a large suburb) and to where in the city you'll be going. Downtown?

If you share a bit more about what you want in a place and a home and what you can spend, we'd be happy to offer more tailored suggestions!

[kcmo]

bascially what aragx6 said, but to add to it.

First off, Liberty is generally considered a further out suburb like Blue Springs, Lee's Summit or Olathe and while culturally it is an outer suburb, geographically it's about half the distance to downtown as those places. The commute from Liberty to Downtown KC is about as good as it gets if you want to live in a new construction suburban area. It's relatively un-congested compared to I-35 from the south and I-70 from the east and is much closer. It's also close to KCI airport and the huge Smithville Lake for recreation.

Although commuting to downtown is great, Liberty itself has some pretty nasty surface street traffic especially when you are trying to cross I-35 as there are not many overpasses and a commute to Overland Park or something could be downright brutal by Kansas City standards, but many people choose to do it every day. A friend of mine works at 135th and Metcalf and lives in Shoal Creek off 291. They bought a new house there knowing they would be stuck with the commute, but that would get old if you ask me.

Also, most of the newer and high growth areas of "Liberty" are not even in the city of Liberty but in Kansas City, MO. The Liberty area is bisected by I-35 and the half on the west side is actually Kansas City. That area is now probably more populated than Liberty itself even though nearly all if it is less than 10-15 years old. This area is often referred to as Liberty or Shoal Creek and will be in both the Liberty and North Kansas City school districts which are both very good districts, especially that far north. Staley is a brand new high school in the NKC district (very affluent demographics) and Liberty has just built a second high-school in that area as well. You know it's a fast growing area when two new high schools open years apart within five miles of each other.

While most of the new housing and commercial is on the Shoal Creek side, Liberty is growing too and there are some really nice new housing additions near the South Liberty Parkway and up near Liberty Hospital.

Downtown Liberty is vibrant and historic with shops and restaurants and the William Jewell College near downtown helps keep it that way. While Liberty does not have a large mall, Zona Rosa and Independence Center are within 20 minutes and a major new Zona Rosa type mall is being developed near Liberty in Shoal Creek.

The area is somewhat more blue collar than some area suburbs. The Ford assembly plant is in the area, there is almost no class A office space etc. But tons of people commute to the I-29 corridor, Downtown, Plaza, Johnson County etc from there so I would say it's still more white collar than blue. It's just very much a bedroom suburb.

Liberty comes across to me as being a bit more conservative and more "churchy" than most suburbs around KC as well. That could be just my observation though.

Overall it's a nice suburb and between Liberty and Shoal Creek you can find homes in any price bracket but often at lower prices than similar houses in other higher profile areas. People don't really buy a home in the Liberty area to say they live in Liberty. It doesn't have quite the status of Leawood or Lakewood or even Parkville. The people tend to be more down to earth and passive, but there is plenty of affluent people in the area and Liberty has some of the least amount of blight of any suburb in the metro. Even most of their older strip malls are leased and doing well (much like Lee's Summit).

Hope that helps

[MOKAN]

Originally Posted by shortyV

Can anyone tell me about Liberty Missouri? Is it a nice place to live? How about the drive to Kansas City? That's where I would have to work.

Liberty is a great community with everything one needs. The quality of people make up for the supposed "bland housing". Liberty's historic core offers some interesting options for those who don't like beige.

Are you not happy with having to work in Kansas City?