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Old 12-01-2016, 01:33 AM
 
Location: Tucson/Nogales
23,072 posts, read 28,799,187 times
Reputation: 32364

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I'm 66, 20 years here in Sinless City, 43 years in MN, and I've sometimes had my senior moments, of wanting to relocate back to the Midwest, more earthy people?, but wish for a different part of the Midwest, with a shorter winter.

I stumbled across a Reece Nichols RE site, and I shared it with a MN retiree living in Arkansas, and we could hardly believe the prices for RE, and those big old homes, we both love, built before A/C, with those living room size porches. And, yes, you get what you pay for, and I've never lived in a suburb, no desire to live in one. Best, an inner city older neighborhood.

The cold/snow in the winter I could easily deal with, as most people don't realize how frickin' cold it can get here in LV in the winter, sometimes below zero windchill in January. And it's dry cold, more painful, with no "blanket" in the sky: clouds. The 2 unknowns would be potential humidity levels in the summer, as I'm leaving humidity levels of 5-10%, and the bugs. It's too dry here for "terrorists" like mosquito's, gnats, woodticks or even flies, and no termites like which plague AZ! So the bug issue is paramount! I don't want to be relaxing, reading a book, in one of those big porches battling bugs!

I would think KC wouldn't be nearly as humid as the Deep South in the summer time, or FL, and looking at a site for humidity levels in KC, they give a morning level quite high and afternoon levels of around 60+%, which I could possibly deal with! The wind levels are rather high, I see, 10.4mph, but then LV averages 9.2mph.

I was all but set on Tucson, but I wish to go cash for cash, (will be lucky to get $80k for my townhouse here) no mortgage, and it would be idyllic to have money left over to buy a new car, which is not going to happen with Tucson. Proximity to Mexico, IMO, is the chief attraction and Tucson rec'd a Platinum Award for bike friendliness. And KC? Bike friendly?

A good bus system is also desirable.

I'm going to meet up with my friend from Hot Springs in KC sometime this winter for a reconnaissance mission, and we shall see and possibly decide, as her biggest complaint with Hot Springs is the enervating humidity. Will she get any more relief in KC?

And, yes, I hear conservative for KC, but it certainly can't be any more conservative than this Mormon-flavored city. If you google most conservative cities in the U.S., over 250k, you'll find Las Vegas among the more conservative, and the tourists fail to look under the neon and glitter to see that! And sheesh! This city of 2 million hasn't even gotten around to putting in its first light rail line. Congrats to KC for their first rail ine!
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Old 12-01-2016, 10:55 AM
 
13,721 posts, read 19,135,088 times
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It's really humid and really buggy (most notably mosquitoes) in Kansas City in the summer months - mainly July, August and beginning of September. But if you can tolerate that, and you can tolerate the cold, the rest isn't so bad fall is wonderful.

I was in Las Vegas in the summer of 2012 when it was extraordinarily hot in Kansas City. Well, it was just as hot and miserable, if not more so, in Las Vegas. And I don't usually mind the heat. I don't really remember any bugs in Las Vegas, though. You will need a screened in porch if you want to sit outside and read in the summer, especially in the evening, or you will get eaten alive by mosquitoes.

I love the Reece Nichols website. I "window shop" for houses there and daydream about houses I WISH I could buy all the time!
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Old 12-01-2016, 11:04 AM
 
Location: Alamogordo, NM
7,940 posts, read 9,417,601 times
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Hey, tijlover, my wife and I moved to Grandview, MO, a southern burb of Kansas City, MO, in mid-August of 2016. So far, so good, for us here. We are renting a 2 BD, 1 BA house with a basement and a front and back-fenced yard for $750 a month. Can't give you much on the real estate front, except that if I get the medical credential I'm studying for and continue to do well at my Lenexa, KS, Allied Healthcare job, we'll be looking to possibly buy a house when our lease is up in August of 2017.


It does get buggy, but a good spraying of yourself with this bug spray we bought at Whole Foods (natural product) has kept me from getting bit this past summer. What the worst bug here in Grandview is are oak mites. They are so small you can't see them, yet they land on you and bite. They are so itchy that I got a case of cellulitis a couple of months ago and had to go get some help from a doctor. Some antibiotics did the trick.


Other bugs are mosquitos, which were not as bad as some places I've lived. A bug-zapper in your sunroom might help, too. We are liking downtown Kansas City for concerts and also a fun place to walk and shop called The Country Club Plaza, or The Plaza. We spent about 4 hours one Saturday afternoon and loved the place. Shops, restaurants, bars, street musicians, street cruisers, et all. Had a ball, and everyone seems to be having fun there.


Others are going to have to chime in with more bug input, we're too new to KC! Hope ta see ya here - house prices are very reasonable, from what I've seen so far.
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Old 12-01-2016, 11:04 AM
 
Location: Tucson/Nogales
23,072 posts, read 28,799,187 times
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Thanks so much for the response. I know, to those accustomed to insects, it would seem to be a minor issue in relocating, but for someone who hasn't been bitten by a mosquito/gnat in 23 years, it is an issue, it comes from being spoiled. All else I could deal with more easily. I was thinking that KC was far enough west where it wouldn't be so much of a problem.
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Old 12-01-2016, 11:36 AM
 
13,721 posts, read 19,135,088 times
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There is a company called Mosquito Joe's that will spray your yard. I'm not sure how effective it is; I haven't tried it but some friends of ours used them last summer. I have noticed that usually if you go to an outdoor venue during the summer in Kansas City, you do not get bitten by mosquitoes. I'm not sure if that's because the venue sprays for them or if they're just so many other people that you aren't singled out by mosquitoes or if there is more concrete/less grass. But it doesn't seem to be a problem. I love to sit outside at night and it's my own porch where I notice mosquitoes the most.
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Old 12-01-2016, 11:42 AM
 
Location: Edmonds, WA
8,975 posts, read 10,119,296 times
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Mosquitos are more a problem in the suburbs and suburban parts of KC proper than in the urban areas, which seems to be what you're more interested in. I've lived in KC for three summers and have yet to be bit by a mosquito or even see one anywhere in the urban area. If there is a lot of concrete/pavement around and not a lot of forested areas or water you are less likely to see mosquitos because they don't have a habitat to live in.
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Old 12-01-2016, 11:52 AM
 
Location: Alamogordo, NM
7,940 posts, read 9,417,601 times
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Hey, tijlover, take a look at their posts above and see what you think! The Mrs. and I haven't noticed any at The Plaza or Crown Center or Crossroads concert venue, at all. And downtown is where you're most interested in buying - not in the suburbs. Ask more questions or check it out some more, if you want.
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Old 12-01-2016, 12:58 PM
 
Location: Cleverly concealed
1,198 posts, read 2,029,213 times
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Kansas City can be humid, but it's nowhere near as bad as the deep south or the eastern United States. In a place like Houston or Mobile or Orlando, I can sweat within five minutes of stepping outside in the summer. That doesn't happen in Kansas City. We have "corn" humidity in the central U.S., in August, when agricultural crops release their moisture, and that tends to be the worst time of the year.

We have mosquitoes. But this past year, oak mites were going crazy. Those bites itch, and itch hard. Oak mites weren't much of a problem in the past. I don't know what caused the explosion this year. Remove standing water from your property and you can eliminate mosquito breeding grounds.

You might think it's cold in Las Vegas, but in Kansas City, when it gets cold, it stays cold for a long time. Arctic air masses shoot down through the plains and nothing can really stop it. A typical January high temperature will be 25 degrees. But the wind is always blowing, so it feels a lot colder. Actual low temperatures below zero will happen a few times every winter. Typical snowfall is around 20", but the past couple of winters have been dry, leading to two years of moderate drought. The TV meteorologists are geeking out over "hints" that snowfall will be above normal this winter.
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Old 12-01-2016, 01:21 PM
 
Location: Tucson/Nogales
23,072 posts, read 28,799,187 times
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Thanks for all the food for thought! I think my guess is quite correct that the humidity could never match that of the Deep South or FL, where I spent one summer.

Oak mites, now that's a new one on me and they sound nasty. I once visited a friend in Austin, TX, and that was the first time I was rudely introduced to fire ants. Even in the house, I was bitten!

Elko suggested some herbal remedy, which might be of help, and I suppose you could always screen in those big porches, and it could very well be if I bought closer to the city center mosquito's would be less of a problem. When I lived in Minneapolis (City of Lakes and mosquito's), I lived within a couple miles of the downtown area and I was never bothered with mosquito's.

I do believe the cold in the winter wouldn't be a big issue, as I recall, back in Minnesota, for comparison, the 32 degrees with a cloudy sky felt much more comfortable than when it hits 32 degrees here in Las Vegas, with no clouds in the skies, and the dryness. In summer here, when it hits 110, with a humidity level of 5%, you automatically shave off 10 degrees or more for the heat index. So when it drops to even 80 at night, it becomes a comfortable 70. It works in reverse in winter, with our omnipresent clear blue skies, with no clouds, that 32 feels like 22. And it can even get down to the low to mid 20's at night in January, then shave the 10 degrees off and ouch! And, we can be subject to wind blasters that can rip through the valley at 40-50-60mph, and then you've got windchill!
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Old 12-01-2016, 01:28 PM
 
Location: Middle America
37,409 posts, read 53,284,073 times
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I've lived in Minnesota and KC, and it always makes me giggle when people in KC characterize their winters as cold. They're easy peasy, if you've been through any number of upper Midwest winters.

The bugs suck, but they're not tropical level bad, obviously. Chiggers were something I never dealt with prior to moving here. I personally really love the amount of greenspace and wooded land in the metro, though, so it's a tradeoff.
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