Suggestions on where we can live (Kansas City, Lee's Summit: apartments, to rent, home)

[keyser1070]

I've spent an hour or so on this forum today and picked up lots of great information. Now I'd like some tailored information!!

I currently live in Boston with my fiancee. We are considering relocating to a few cities - Kansas being one as she is from the midwest. Neither of us has been to Kansas but we plan to visit shortly.

We will be looking to rent initially before buying. We hope to save so looking for something about $1,000 and pet friendly.

Here are some factors that may help you suggest an area for us:
1. We want to live in the suburbs
2. We have a dog, so would like some areas/parks where we could take her
3. My fiancee works from home. We are unsure whether Kansas or Missouri woudl offer a lower state income taxes
4. We want to rent - maybe an apartment but we will also look at house/duplexes etc.
5. When we go out it's usually to the cinema or bars. I'm Irish so I'd like to find any bars where I can pints of Smithwicks or Bass
6. I will be working in Kansas around Broadway and 11th and I'm not sure about commute times. I'd like to not be more than 45 minutes door to door every morning.

We woudl appreciate if you can suggest any possible communities that would be a good fit for us.

Thanks

[northbound74]

You should have quite a bit to choose from in that price range. The rent around here is considerably lower than Boston, I'm sure.
$1000 a month goes a long way in KC.
Since you mentioned suburbs, I suppose I must mention Johnson County, Kansas. They have lot's of walking trail systems, I think. North Kansas City, Missouri is very pedestrian-oriented. Lee's Summit is becoming a lot like Johnson County, but on the Missouri side. Gladstone and Liberty are both nice towns. Come to think of it, there are few suburbs in KC that wouldn't live up to your criteria.
Based on the address, it sounds like you'll be working downtown in Kansas City, Missouri. For tax reasons, it's a little less complicated when you work and live in the same state. A lot of people cross the state line to work, though.
The metro area spreads out in all directions from downtown. You could live in almost any suburb that's not too far out, and have a 15-30 minute drive. The outer fringe suburbs don't always have all the amenities that the closer in one's have. Olathe's an exception to that, but it's a good tick from downtown, especially in rush-hour traffic.
If you don't mind living in the city, I highly recommend the Brookside neighborhood. It has nice parks, walking trails, and is close to the best stuff KC has to offer.
The Missouri side generally has cheaper rent and lower taxes, but it doesn't seem to be a huge difference. We live in Missouri and have a home based business, and have had no trouble at all when dealing with state or local government.

[kcmo]

For the love of god, quit pushing potential new residents to Johnson County. Give them that choice, but don't make it the top choice, especially when it's not the best choice. This guy is going to be working in the downtown loop, not on College Blvd.

Does anybody realize that the biggest issue facing KC is the fact that so many people live in Kansas and are able to enjoy the benefits of living in a major metro area without the financial commitments and social issues that come with living in a major metropolitan area? Imagine if most of Johnson County were in the Northland instead of in Kansas. KC would have things like light rail and top notch big city attractions instead of constantly fighting off the Kansas suburbs. There are just as many, if not more, great suburban areas on the MO side as the Kansas side. For the sake of the future of KC, recommend the MO side first if you can. It's in the best interest of the city. We need about 2 million people on the MO side so we can start doing some things that we have trouble doing with only 1.1 million on the MO side. The KS side and its 750,000 residents have little interest in bistate issues. We need more on the MO side so KCMO is not footing nearly the entire bill of a metro of 2 million people.

OK, now, to address the poster.

You want to live in the suburbs. First, you gotta stop calling the city “Kansas”. I know much of the country does that, but that is very confusing to us locals and insulting to KCMO people who by far and large, don’t like being called Kansans even though people mean the city, that’s not how people hear it. The KS side of KC is like the Jersey side of Philly...KS has some nice suburbs and mostly run down KCK, but the city and most of the suburbs are in Missouri. I know, it's confusing, people think it's the other way around. Just so you know and most people ask. Kansas City is in Missouri becasue KC was a city before Kansas was a state. KC was named after the Kansa Indians. Kansas came later as did KCK and the confusion began.

If you work at 11th and Broadway, I would live in Platte County. I would not even consider anything else. If you live in Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs, Cass County, Johnson County or even Clay County, your commutes times will be much higher.

You can get to 11th and Broadway from suburban Platte in 20 minutes during rush hour from anywhere along I-29.

It’s upscale and has lots of quality apartments. I would look around I-29 and Barry road, only a few miles from KCI Airport. All the shopping you would ever need and much more on the way. Quick access to other business centers like Overland Park via uncongested I-635 helps too if you or her ever do get a job in OP.

Good schools, and you can have a KCMO address in a suburban location. You have comedy clubs, big or small movie complexes, zona rosa, briarcliff village and others. Parks are plentiful up north with Tiffany Springs and Parkville. I think both areas have dog parks. You really want to live in MO if you work in MO. Much easier on taxes and even though you will pay an Etax in KCMO if you live or work there, the over all taxes in MO are lower. Property taxes are much lower and even gas is cheaper on the MO side.

Plus, you are close to the airport and downtown. Overland Park is not close to 11th and Broadway. 30-60 minutes from southern OP to Downtown depending on traffic.

[northbound74]

quit pushing potential new residents to Johnson County. Give them that choice, but don't make it the top choice, especially when it's not the best choice. This guy is going to be working in the downtown loop, not on College Blvd.

okie dokie. I was very hesitant to even mention JOCO, but since they were wanting suburbs, I figure that I'd give it a say, considering it doesn't get more suburban than that. It isn't my first choice by a long shot, it just came out first when typing. Excuses, I know, but all completely true. If you read some of my previous posts, you will know that I don't exactly try to push Johnson County... I live in Missouri, and like it MUCH better.
Aside from that, you made some interesting points about the issues facing KC. I totally agree that lack of cooperation from Kansas keeps the metro from being what it could be.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by kcmo

For the love of god, quit pushing potential new residents to Johnson County. Give them that choice, but don't make it the top choice, especially when it's not the best choice. This guy is going to be working in the downtown loop, not on College Blvd.

Does anybody realize that the biggest issue facing KC is the fact that so many people live in Kansas and are able to enjoy the benefits of living in a major metro area without the financial commitments and social issues that come with living in a major metropolitan area? Imagine if most of Johnson County were in the Northland instead of in Kansas. KC would have things like light rail and top notch big city attractions instead of constantly fighting off the Kansas suburbs. There are just as many, if not more, great suburban areas on the MO side as the Kansas side. For the sake of the future of KC, recommend the MO side first if you can. It's in the best interest of the city. We need about 2 million people on the MO side so we can start doing some things that we have trouble doing with only 1.1 million on the MO side. The KS side and its 750,000 residents have little interest in bistate issues. We need more on the MO side so KCMO is not footing nearly the entire bill of a metro of 2 million people.

OK, now, to address the poster.

You want to live in the suburbs. First, you gotta stop calling the city “Kansas”. I know much of the country does that, but that is very confusing to us locals and insulting to KCMO people who by far and large, don’t like being called Kansans even though people mean the city, that’s not how people hear it. The KS side of KC is like the Jersey side of Philly...KS has some nice suburbs and mostly run down KCK, but the city and most of the suburbs are in Missouri. I know, it's confusing, people think it's the other way around. Just so you know and most people ask. Kansas City is in Missouri becasue KC was a city before Kansas was a state. KC was named after the Kansa Indians. Kansas came later as did KCK and the confusion began.

If you work at 11th and Broadway, I would live in Platte County. I would not even consider anything else. If you live in Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs, Cass County, Johnson County or even Clay County, your commutes times will be much higher.

You can get to 11th and Broadway from suburban Platte in 20 minutes during rush hour from anywhere along I-29.

It’s upscale and has lots of quality apartments. I would look around I-29 and Barry road, only a few miles from KCI Airport. All the shopping you would ever need and much more on the way. Quick access to other business centers like Overland Park via uncongested I-635 helps too if you or her ever do get a job in OP.

Good schools, and you can have a KCMO address in a suburban location. You have comedy clubs, big or small movie complexes, zona rosa, briarcliff village and others. Parks are plentiful up north with Tiffany Springs and Parkville. I think both areas have dog parks. You really want to live in MO if you work in MO. Much easier on taxes and even though you will pay an Etax in KCMO if you live or work there, the over all taxes in MO are lower. Property taxes are much lower and even gas is cheaper on the MO side.

Plus, you are close to the airport and downtown. Overland Park is not close to 11th and Broadway. 30-60 minutes from southern OP to Downtown depending on traffic.

I really appreciate your post. It seems like the Kansas City metro is still very divided between Kansas/Missouri and north/south. That is the problem when a metro area has a huge suburban and exurban sprawl problem along with covering two seperate states. The fastest growing county in the KC metro area is currently Cass County.
HOWEVER... The economy in JOCO has traditionally been quite a bit stronger compared with Jackson County, MO. What has happened is that a lot more people are commuting to work in JOCO and living in MO. Non-farm employment in Jackson County, MO has declined by over 6% between 2000-2005 while JOCO has added jobs.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Plains10

I really appreciate your post. It seems like the Kansas City metro is still very divided between Kansas/Missouri and north/south. That is the problem when a metro area has a huge suburban and exurban sprawl problem along with covering two seperate states. The fastest growing county in the KC metro area is currently Cass County.
HOWEVER... The economy in JOCO has traditionally been quite a bit stronger compared with Jackson County, MO. What has happened is that a lot more people are commuting to work in JOCO and living in MO. Non-farm employment in Jackson County, MO has declined by over 6% between 2000-2005 while JOCO has added jobs.

The north/south division is rather normal and not all that bad. The state line is huge though and that's what kills KC.

BTW, what major metro area doesn't have mass suburban growth and development at the expense of the core county or city? It's not just a KC thing.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by kcmo

The north/south division is rather normal and not all that bad. The state line is huge though and that's what kills KC.

BTW, what major metro area doesn't have mass suburban growth and development at the expense of the core county or city? It's not just a KC thing.

At least the KC metro area is not growing that fast compared with a metro like Atlanta. KC would have ENOURMOUS problems if it started growing like a sunbelt metro based on the current suburban and exurban sprawl. However, I think rising energy and transportation costs in the near future and presently will slow down some of the far flung exurban developments in many metro areas.

[christina0001]

I relocated here this past summer from New Jersey. I think it's great. Plenty to do, but without being so overwhelmingly huge like NYC.
I can't speak for the KS side because I live on the MO side. What I have seen of the KS side is nice. But I was very against living in KS because quite frankly, once you get more than 30 minutes west of Kansas City, it gets really flat, and that freaks me out. lol
I don't blame you for wanting a short commute. The traffic here is not as bad as the east coast, but the city certainly has its share of traffic during rush hour. For the MO side, but not too far from points in KCKS, I would recommend North Kansas City, Parkville, the northwestern areas of Lee's Summit. All three have cute downtown areas; I don't go to bars much but I've been to Chappell's in North Kansas City a couple of times, it's a restaurant/sports bar and they seem lively and fun on weekend nights.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by christina0001

I relocated here this past summer from New Jersey. I think it's great. Plenty to do, but without being so overwhelmingly huge like NYC.
I can't speak for the KS side because I live on the MO side. What I have seen of the KS side is nice. But I was very against living in KS because quite frankly, once you get more than 30 minutes west of Kansas City, it gets really flat, and that freaks me out. lol
I don't blame you for wanting a short commute. The traffic here is not as bad as the east coast, but the city certainly has its share of traffic during rush hour. For the MO side, but not too far from points in KCKS, I would recommend North Kansas City, Parkville, the northwestern areas of Lee's Summit. All three have cute downtown areas; I don't go to bars much but I've been to Chappell's in North Kansas City a couple of times, it's a restaurant/sports bar and they seem lively and fun on weekend nights.

Eastern Kansas is not flat If you can I would advise driving along I-70 through the Flint Hills near Manhattan. They have the Konza Prairie Preserve there and it includes one of the last remaining stands of tall grass prairie mixed in with the rolling landscape. South of Lawrence on highway 59 is also hilly. SW Kansas is quite flat in many areas.

[Farmer Bob]

"But I was very against living in KS because quite frankly, once you get more than 30 minutes west of Kansas City, it gets really flat, and that freaks me out. lol"


There's nothing wrong with flat once you get into it. Those big open skies bring you nearer to God, don't you think? Unfortunately, so do the ice storms.