Relocating from IA (Lee's Summit, Blue Springs, Overland: apartments, renters, lofts)

[randal]

Hello I am sure this has been covered in length and I have searched through many different threads to try to find the answer I am looking for, but still have questions.

I am relocating to the KC area toward the end of this month with my girlfriend. We will both be working near the Midtown/Westport and Country Club Plaza area. We are looking for a reasonably priced rental, but not sure exactly where to look or where is a good place for us to be.

One thing I am sure we would like is a safe area/neighborhood. We love our dogs and like to take them to dog parks and on walks around the neighborhood. As much as we would like to rent one of those beautiful houses off of Ward Parkway, I just do not think it is in the cards at this time ha. We do not have kids, so schools is not of major concern at this time. It is desirable to have a small grassy area to take the dogs outside to potty, and that type of thing, but we do not require a large yard by any means.

I grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis so that type of environment is familiar to me. We like to have grocery stores, gas stations, etc close by. We are used to having to drive to most things, so walkability is not a necessity to us.

I have read that some areas are good, but then it seems like I read a conflicting post 10 minutes later. Areas that I have read about and am considering include: Overland park, Shawnee, Lees Summit, Leawood, Blue Springs, Prairie Village, Mission Hills, Brookside, River Market and the Country Club Plaza.

Now those areas are not the only areas we have considered, but are a few that I have read about that seem like they could be a fit for us.

Any suggestions for good, clean, safe areas and apartments, townhomes, lofts, houses etc. would be greatly appreciated as we are on a short schedule for finding a place. Thank you in advance!

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by randal

Hello I am sure this has been covered in length and I have searched through many different threads to try to find the answer I am looking for, but still have questions.

I am relocating to the KC area toward the end of this month with my girlfriend. We will both be working near the Midtown/Westport and Country Club Plaza area. We are looking for a reasonably priced rental, but not sure exactly where to look or where is a good place for us to be.

One thing I am sure we would like is a safe area/neighborhood. We love our dogs and like to take them to dog parks and on walks around the neighborhood. As much as we would like to rent one of those beautiful houses off of Ward Parkway, I just do not think it is in the cards at this time ha. We do not have kids, so schools is not of major concern at this time. It is desirable to have a small grassy area to take the dogs outside to potty, and that type of thing, but we do not require a large yard by any means.

I'm not sure a majority of the homes along Ward Parkway are rental properties, anyway (at least, until you get to the more modest ranches, etc. upwards of 75th Street-ish), but I've not really looked into it in a more than cursory manner. My husband's job is in more affluent end of this neighborhood, and it's overall fairly heavy on the owner-occupied side of things.

I grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis so that type of environment is familiar to me. We like to have grocery stores, gas stations, etc close by. We are used to having to drive to most things, so walkability is not a necessity to us.

Plaza's not enormously close to a grocery store at this point, but as long as you plan on maintaining a car (really a must in KC, regardless of what some will say), you're never prohibitively far from one, either. It's generally one of the more walkable areas, but a walkable grocery store is, currently, an area where there's a deficit

I have read that some areas are good, but then it seems like I read a conflicting post 10 minutes later. Areas that I have read about and am considering include: Overland park, Shawnee, Lees Summit, Leawood, Blue Springs, Prairie Village, Mission Hills, Brookside, River Market and the Country Club Plaza.

ALL of those suburbs and neighborhoods range from perfectly nice middle class communities to highly affluent suburbia. There aren't any that are going to be looked at as anything resembling unsafe or dreadfully blighted, and several you listed are moderately to very upscale. River Market is by far the most gritty, and it's not really gritty by true urban standards, to be honest.

Now those areas are not the only areas we have considered, but are a few that I have read about that seem like they could be a fit for us.

Any suggestions for good, clean, safe areas and apartments, townhomes, lofts, houses etc. would be greatly appreciated as we are on a short schedule for finding a place. Thank you in advance!

I'm a few years out of renting, myself, but I rented several places on the Plaza over a few years, and each was excellent and affordable (all were apartments). I also rented a house in Waldo that was very nice, but the particular area within the neighborhood was a touch more isolated than was ideal for me at the time and cut off from the more bustling parts of the area. One nice thing about renting stand-alone single family homes in KC is that lots are large compare to in a lot of urban areas, where one may not have a scrap of lawn at all to speak of. If you have a dog, this is a nice perk. Each single-family home I've lived in has had a large lawn.

Renting is going to be more easy for you, in all likelihood, in actual urban neighborhoods of KC proper, and in the more middle class of the suburbs you've listed. Areas such as Mission Hills, you'll find that renters are not so much going to be the norm.

[randal]

Thank you for responding with some food for thought. I must say, we are middle class people and not looking for a affluent area by any means. Mostly looking for somewhere that my girlfriend can take our dogs for a walk without worry.

Are there areas within those areas mentioned that I should shy away from? Any areas that I should focus on? We will both have a car and driving is not an issue. But we are both a bit hesitant to a half hour commute with no traffic (according to Google Maps) from Lees Summit, especially in winter weather conditions.

[TabulaRasa]

I did the Lee's Summit to KC commute for several years, both daily for work and for regular leisure activities (weekly rehearsals for music ensembles). It's not awful, by any means, but also has a propensity to be a pain in the butt and tiresome if most of your time is spent in midtown KC or thereabouts.

That said, I did find Lee's Summit to be an absolutely lovely community, at least in the part where I lived (old historic downtown). But it's a bit far out if most of your life is going to revolve around things in the central core of the city. Driving anywhere in the metro's not bad AT ALL, but there are certainly more convenient places you could live.

There isn't anywhere that you listed where things like dog walking are likely to represent serious safety concerns, as a rule. Not that crime can't happen anywhere.

[TabulaRasa]

Oh, also?

I attended undergrad south of Minneapolis/St. Paul (in St. Peter, FWIW). You are going to find the winters RIDICULOUSLY EASY, I promise. I've lived here since 2007, and have yet to have any real need for a "proper" winter coat, by MN standards. A thin, Target-quality peacoat has been fine. I see that you're now in Iowa...you'll likely find it at times even less wintry than Iowa, just being slightly further south...my home state is Illinois, and when I travel home for the holidays, I often go up 35 and across 80 in Iowa, and the difference in weather patterns from KC to there can be drastic in winter.

Which is not to say that a huge chunk of the locals won't squawk every time it snows. But you'll be like, "Really?!"

[pacificwhim]

If you want to be reasonably close to the Plaza and Westport amenities while being in a safe, pretty neighborhood, then I suggest looking at rental houses in Westwood Park and West Plaza, both on the MO side. They're really nice neighborhoods, and West Plaza has one of the most charming new traditions (if that's not an oxymoron) I've ever see: PorchFest, where people open their front porches to all kinds of musical acts every June and turn the neighborhood into a music festival.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

Oh, also?

I attended undergrad south of Minneapolis/St. Paul (in St. Peter, FWIW). You are going to find the winters RIDICULOUSLY EASY, I promise. I've lived here since 2007, and have yet to have any real need for a "proper" winter coat, by MN standards. A thin, Target-quality peacoat has been fine. I see that you're now in Iowa...you'll likely find it at times even less wintry than Iowa, just being slightly further south...my home state is Illinois, and when I travel home for the holidays, I often go up 35 and across 80 in Iowa, and the difference in weather patterns from KC to there can be drastic in winter.

Which is not to say that a huge chunk of the locals won't squawk every time it snows. But you'll be like, "Really?!"

Winter is not really even "winter," certainly not like the vast majority of the Midwest or any northern state. Summer, on the other hand, is far more horrid unless one has never lived in an area with "pleasant" summer temperatures.

[Moboy32]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Winter is not really even "winter," certainly not like the vast majority of the Midwest or any northern state. Summer, on the other hand, is far more horrid unless one has never lived in an area with "pleasant" summer temperatures.

Horrid summers? All subjective

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Moboy32

Horrid summers? All subjective

Yes. I lived in the Great Lakes region before. Summer temperatures were mostly in the 70s and 80s throughout the season.

[randal]

I imagine the summers are hot, but I love midwestern summers. Bring on the heat and I will enjoy every minute of it. Anyone else have any suggestions for good safe areas to live?