How do KC suburbs differ in their "feel"? (Kansas City: real estate, new home)

[FrankCapra]

We are considering a possible job transfer into the KC area. My employer is in KCMO near leawood. Can anyone describe the different suburbs of KC good for families with young kids in how they might feel in comparison to one another? Or are they mostly alike? Does your dollar go farther in some areas than others? Are people more liberal/conservative in certain areas? Dog friendly? More Neighborly? Single earner vs dual income families primarily? Ect... Any info helps!

[kcmo]

KC’s suburbs are all over the map in feel, culture, topography, cost etc. You really need to give more details on what you want in a suburb and then I think you will get more specific replies.

The fastest growing and currently most desirable suburbs in KC are Shoal Creek/Liberty, Overland Park, Lee’s Summit, Olathe, Parkville/Platte County, Shawnee, Lenexa and Raymore, but there are many more.

If you are going to be working in South Kansas City, MO near Leawood, then I would probably look at the southern suburbs in both MO and KS. The Northland has many really nice areas, but the commute would be unnecessary unless you just find something up there you love and are ok with a longer commute.

Leawood and Overland Park are very built up suburban areas and pretty pricy. The “feel” is strictly suburban and I would guess most are dual income white collar areas, but both would be very close to your job although working in one state and living in another can get annoying at tax time. The "feel" of Overland Park is pretty typical big city suburb with lots of office parks, big wide streets, high end suburban shopping etc.

Other suburbs in Kansas like Olathe, Lenexa, Shawnee etc are a bit more modest and have more room than most of Overland Park. They are all nice areas though. The further west you go, the more affluent and better topography.

The further south you go in places like Overland Park and Leawood, the less character and more “beige” it becomes and it also becomes very flat in that part of the metro. So if you want new construction and don’t need mature trees or diverse topography then look south.

Lee’s Summit is basically Overland Park with lakes and a lot more parks etc. It’s further out and it’s still a suburb, but it has a vibrant downtown and a more community feel vs just being a suburb that run into ten other suburbs. The tradeoff is the commute. It’s a large bedroom suburb, most people commute from there, but it’s a lifestyle choice. Lee’s Summit has a lot of interesting topography and some really nice lake communities. The far southeastern part of LS is very bland and flat with few trees though.

Cass County to the south has some more blue collar type suburbs and is more modest. So if you are looking for suburbs with a bit more “country” feel then look at Raymore, parts of Belton etc. You can get a lot more home for your money out there especially for new construction.

Red Bridge is a pretty diverse suburban area of KCMO south of the beltway. The closer you get to state line, the more affluent and the further east you go, the more modest. It's not the most desirable areas or the absolute best schools, but I think there are many areas worth looking at especially close to state line and down near Martin City.

Don’t overlook city neighborhoods. Brookside is essentially a suburb, it’s just older (historic). That area has awesome charming housing stock, great walkable areas and mature tree coverage and is so convenient to the best areas of KCMO for culture and entertainment and would be a 5-10 minute commute.
The tradeoff there is the city schools are a bit of a challenge to deal with although there are many options to the public schools and even the public city schools are doable and many families make it work.

You can find what I would call brookside lite just across the border like in Prairie Village, Fairway etc where there are far better public schools, but still great central location and mature trees and older homes. The tradeoff there is the homes are not quite as charming or historic as the MO side and you pay a premium (somewhat overpriced IMO) for being in the shawnee mission school district. But if a central location AND good “public” schools are very important then check those areas out.

Stay away from southeast KCMO at this time. I hate saying that, but I just don't see that area turning around. Southeast KCMO is suburban ghetto and just not very nice. Basically some of the areas of KCMO east of Holmes can get pretty sketchy and the areas east of 71 and south of Raytown are just bad news.

[FrankCapra]

What would you say would constitute "affluent" in the KC area for home values? We could look in the 300-400 range for homes.
In Denver, that doesnt buy More than average and definately not affluent. Obviously the less we have to spend on a home, the more spending cash! From the description, I think The Lee's Summit area sounds nice. How long would the commute be from there? Is rush hour traffic bad?

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by FrankCapra

What would you say would constitute "affluent" in the KC area for home values? We could look in the 300-400 range for homes.
In Denver, that doesnt buy More than average and definately not affluent. Obviously the less we have to spend on a home, the more spending cash! From the description, I think The Lee's Summit area sounds nice. How long would the commute be from there? Is rush hour traffic bad?

www.reeceandnichols.com - you can put in your search parameters or search by map or zip code or whatever you want. You can buy a whole lot more in Kansas City for $300-400 thousand than you can in Denver.

[brewcrew1000]

Leawood is pretty nice, i would probably just start looking in that area, its probably the most affluent Suburb in the metro

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by FrankCapra

What would you say would constitute "affluent" in the KC area for home values? We could look in the 300-400 range for homes.
In Denver, that doesnt buy More than average and definately not affluent. Obviously the less we have to spend on a home, the more spending cash! From the description, I think The Lee's Summit area sounds nice. How long would the commute be from there? Is rush hour traffic bad?

Yea, I think you are right there with 300-400k. They can go much higher, but that would be what most would call affluent or at least upper middle class in the KC area. I would say it's above average. There are many areas where homes average close to and well over a million, but you can get a very nice house for under 400k.

Trust me we are buying a 600k home in the DC area and it's about average price for a new home, but because it's a new urbanism development it's on a postage stamp lot and real estate is by far the most expensive part of a house out here, so we are getting a really nice house on a small lot which is perfect for our lifestyle anyway as I hate yard work. In kc the land is dirt cheap compared to most major metros (except those in texas).

All of these homes are within a mile of major bodies of water and county parkland (most new housing in Lee's Summit is). All these are 390-400k.


http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/14...09850177_zpid/


http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/44...90018313_zpid/


http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/42...61635988_zpid/


http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/72...66828090_zpid/


http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11...09860025_zpid/


http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/12...58620863_zpid/


http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/48...97048423_zpid/


This house is in New Longview, it's a new urbanism development, similar to Stapelton in Denver
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/31...80874779_zpid/



Here are some homes in Leawood for 390-400k. You can find some nice homes in Leawood that would be closer to work

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/49...75563322_zpid/


http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/37...75678910_zpid/


http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/45...75606896_zpid/


http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/14...75688154_zpid/

[FrankCapra]

Thank you so much for all of the information. It should be very helpful in narrowing things down. It is amazing how far a dollar goes in KC. I so much appreciate your time in putting together a very thoughtful response KCMO.