Possible move to KC Area (St. Louis, Florissant: best cities, new house, landscaping)

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Parkville not upscale? Are you freaking kidding me? Ever been to Riss Lake? The Cliffs? Tom Watson’s National Golf Course community? Parkville is just north of Briarcliff which is also very upscale 400k +. Most of Platte County is nice and most of Platte County is KCMO. Just drive up I-29 and get off any exit and you will find all sorts of nice subdivisions all the way up to KCI.

Shopping is plentiful too. Briarcliff Village, The Tulleries, Zona Rosa. Schools are good too. The Northland has great schools, even though much of it is in KCMO.

Clay County also has some very up and coming areas too along I-35 near Liberty and the entire 152 corridor has plenty of newer options of all housing types, including upscale.

The best thing about the Northland is Downtown is only minutes away. KCI is nearby, the casinos are nearby, the amusement parks are nearby. The plaza is easy and quick to get to.

Can’t say that about 135th and Nall in Kansas.

But even if you don’t go north, don’t go to JoCo, go to Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs or Independence. You will get much more house for the money and much less of the snobby attitude that hovers over the Kansas suburbs. You can live in an upscale area and not think you are better than the rest of the city.

If you work in Raytown and can afford a big home I would live in Lee’s Summit. Lakewood has everything from 275k to millions. There are also many very upscale neighborhoods south of 470 in Lee’s Summit. Raytown would be a 5-10 minute drive.

But don’t overlook the “city” either. KCMO has some very charming urban neighborhoods. Just take 435 to Holmes or Wornall and go north. Of course KCMO also offers all the “urban” choices too. If you want to live in a highrise (condo or loft) or lowrise rowhouse or single family home in any of KCMO’s urban neighborhoods like Valentine, Hyde Park etc.

If you must live in Kansas, then try NE JoCo, Prairie Village, North Leawood, Mission, Fairway etc. If you move to Southern or Western JoCo, you will become just another brainwashed KCMO hater that never goes north of 435. May as well live in Wichita.

Thanks for the update concerning Platte County. Obviously that area has become much more upscale over the past several years. Unfortunately, I have not been to the Parkville area itself in a number of years. I agree with most of your views concerning the suburbs in Missouri.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by kcmo

If you must live in Kansas, then try NE JoCo, Prairie Village, North Leawood, Mission, Fairway etc. If you move to Southern or Western JoCo, you will become just another brainwashed KCMO hater that never goes north of 435. May as well live in Wichita.

Kansas suburbs are good, especially the older inner ring suburbs in NE Johnson County. I am in complete agreement with that. Olathe and south Overland Park are very cookie cutter.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by 03psd

What a great resource this page is I am real glad I found it as I have learned more in 1 hour of just reading then I did speaking to 2 real estate agents for 4 hours

My wife and I may be relocating to the KC area. My company has an office in Raytown but I gather its not a great place to live. We have no kids so schools arent a huge factor other then good schools typically lead to higher property values. We are either looking for homes in the $300-$450k range or will build one to suit our needs. I do not want a cookie cutter house in what I call a "house farm" (clear cut land, no trees, houses stacked on top of each other). We are accustomed to a 30-45 minute commute so some distance is fine. We are not predisposed to either KS or MO so long as it is in a conservative, up scale area. If this means we are sort of "snobby" then so be it.

We would appreciate any input on established neighborhoods or growing areas where we could build.

Thanks

I would recommend:
Older areas of NE Johnson County including Fairway, Westwood, Prairie Village, and old Leawood.
Lee's Summit, MO
Liberty, MO
Blue Springs, MO
The northland suburbia areas of Clay and Platte counties.
Brookside neighborhood in KC, MO if you can afford the prices.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Parkville not upscale? Are you freaking kidding me? Ever been to Riss Lake? The Cliffs? Tom Watson’s National Golf Course community? Parkville is just north of Briarcliff which is also very upscale 400k +. Most of Platte County is nice and most of Platte County is KCMO. Just drive up I-29 and get off any exit and you will find all sorts of nice subdivisions all the way up to KCI.

I think I got Parkville confused with Platte City. Sorry about the confusion Parkville and southern areas of Platte County ARE upscale, and the latest C/D stats indicate the average home value in Parkville is in the 280-290K range.

[GraniteStater]

Here is some information on Platte County for the OP.
The total commute time between Parkville and the Raytown area would be about 30-35 minutes.
Welcome to Platte County, Missouri
Platte County Fair
Platte County Health Department
The Landmark - Platte County Newspaper - Covering Platte County, Missouri Weekly Since 1865
Platte County Taxes Missouri

[kcmo]

Plains10, sorry for being a bit of an ass. I assumed you were just another clueless JoCo resident who is clueless about what is on the MO side and pushes new residents to JoCo and everything else is hick and ghetto when nothing could be further from the truth. That is all over this forum in both the MO and KS forums.

There ARE areas in the MO suburbs that compare to the JoCo suburbs and there ARE great urban areas in the "city" of KCMO too, something Kansas does not have.

When people move to KC, many, if not most are not looking to live in a place like Lenexa, especially if they are younger or from another large city.

Every city in the country has places like Lee's Summit, Overland Park, Olathe, Liberty etc.

We need to start selling the CITY. It's ok to live in the city. It really is and thousands are moving back every year, just like they have been doing in every other larger urban city.

But if people do want a more suburban setting, the Northland or at least the MO side should be pushed, not Kansas.

We need people to move to KC that will have a vested interest in what goes on in KCMO, people that will vote and pay for things like the arenas, stadiums, zoo, museums, transit etc.

Not more people that sit over and Kansas and get a free ride and vote down metro wide taxes and tell their kids to stay out of KCMO.

So back to the topic. Look at Lakewood and any of the other high end subdivisions in Lee's Summit. Live in Jackson County (or the northland) where you will think of yourself as a Kansas Citian and not just a Kansan. But I say it again, give the urban living a chance. Look at urban KCMO. There is a ton of very cool and trendy places to live in the "city"...

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Plains10, sorry for being a bit of an ass. I assumed you were just another clueless JoCo resident who is clueless about what is on the MO side and pushes new residents to JoCo and everything else is hick and ghetto when nothing could be further from the truth. That is all over this forum in both the MO and KS forums.

There ARE areas in the MO suburbs that compare to the JoCo suburbs and there ARE great urban areas in the "city" of KCMO too, something Kansas does not have.

When people move to KC, many, if not most are not looking to live in a place like Lenexa, especially if they are younger or from another large city.

Every city in the country has places like Lee's Summit, Overland Park, Olathe, Liberty etc.

We need to start selling the CITY. It's ok to live in the city. It really is and thousands are moving back every year, just like they have been doing in every other larger urban city.

But if people do want a more suburban setting, the Northland or at least the MO side should be pushed, not Kansas.

We need people to move to KC that will have a vested interest in what goes on in KCMO, people that will vote and pay for things like the arenas, stadiums, zoo, museums, transit etc.

Not more people that sit over and Kansas and get a free ride and vote down metro wide taxes and tell their kids to stay out of KCMO.

So back to the topic. Look at Lakewood and any of the other high end subdivisions in Lee's Summit. Live in Jackson County (or the northland) where you will think of yourself as a Kansas Citian and not just a Kansan. But I say it again, give the urban living a chance. Look at urban KCMO. There is a ton of very cool and trendy places to live in the "city"...

I agree with most of your points. However, I think we can agree that very nice suburban cities exist on both sides of the state line. However, Missouri suburbs are "generally" more affordable. I think urban areas in KC, MO will get a boost due to the power and light district. I have not heard any news regarding what professional team they want to attract to the Sprint Center.

To the OP
I would highly recommend the neighborhoods south of the Plaza in KC, MO but the homes can be quite spendy based on your general price range. Brookside tends to be more of an urban "enclave" and is also upscale.

[ShellyT]

Here are some places I would recommend. We currently live in Kansas City (right by the liberty border) and we love this area. We built here 3 years ago but our house is one of those cookie cutter houses with no trees so we are looking to move. The places we have found that are still in this area but specialize in custom homes with treed larger lots are these:

shoalcreekvalley-community.com
copperleafkc.com
staleyfarms.com


Price range at the above communities seem to be about $400- $500+ but you can find some lower.

Now this isn't in the area but someone else mention it. It is in parkville and from what we can tell (we have been looking many times) it is a really nice upscale community.
risslakehomes.com

Hope this helps

[03psd]

All-

Thank you very much for the spirited responses. All opinions are very much appreciated. I have much work to do narrowing it down if the move comes to pass.

One question: Every house I see listed in my price range on just about any realestate website is stucco construction. Is this the norm? I hate stucco and where we live stucco is generally used as a less expensive alternative to brick. I know different areas of the country have different norms but does any one in that area have 4 sided brick homes?

Thanks again,

03psd

[christina0001]

I adore Parkville! And yes, there are definitely some upscale neighborhoods, and I am not an expert in Parkville, but I have not yet seen many neighborhoods that don't have the houses relatively close together, which the OP does not seem to like. Otherwise I would recommend Parkville whole heartedly. If my husband and I hadn't both found jobs so far south of the city, we'd be living there right now.

To 03psd's last post: they sure do love the stucco down here. You may very well have to do a custom build if it is not your style. I am from the east coast and I love brick and stone myself.