Kansas City Apartments (Union, Rea: best neighborhoods, renters, lofts)

[bosox15]

Hello all,

I've searched through this forum and read several previous threads about apartments in KC but most of them seem to be several years old. Since management and other things can change in this amount of time I am hoping to get some fresh advice.

I am a 29 year old single Male currently living in Southern CA. I'm looking to make a move to somewhere with a lower cost of living and less stress. After careful review KC is now at the top of my list. I fly out to KC tonight to check it out with the serious possibility of making the move.

I am a bartender by trade and am confident in my ability to land a job due to my extensive experience (I already have a few interviews set up).

Having never been to the area before I am hoping to get some specific advice on places/areas to visit, particularly apartment buildings. What apartments buildings would you recommend I check out (or avoid)?

My main areas of interest are the Plaza area, River Market and Westport but I can be persuaded to look in other areas as well.

What I'm looking for:
-Walkability (hoping to get a bar/restaurant job that I can walk to)
-Newer construction or recently remodeled. (I would prefer a smaller space with nicer amenities than a larger space that is not as updated)
-Income restricted units available (I am fairly certain I qualify for these, so might as well take advantage)
-Washer and Dryer in unit (Sounds silly but this is very important to me)
-Preferably a building popular among other young adults. (I literally don't know a single person living in the entire state so it would be nice to be able to meet people easily)
-Google Fiber is a big plus
-Obviously the normal things like safety, quality and affordability are important too.

Are there any realtors who specialize in rental properties that you can recommend?


I am going to be calling these places to set up tour appointments, so any advice you have to share is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

It might be a good idea to focus on Downtown (River Market, Downtown Loop, Crossroads) somewhere near the streetcar line. Those areas seem to have the most income restricted units, as well as more new construction/renovation units. Being by the streetcar should give you good walkability and there are a good amount of restaurants and bars in the area (the streetcar only runs until midnight on weekdays and 2am on weekends, so if you are working at a bar, you might not be able to take it home, but most restaurants hours would work).

I'm not sure if there is anywhere to find a list of all of the buildings with income restricted units, but a few that come to mind are Cold Storage Lofts, Grand Boulevard Lofts and Old Town Lofts. You might look at the Pickwick building. I don't think they have any income restricted units, but their pricing seems pretty good for Downtown.

I believe Google Fiber has a list of apartments where their service is available, although I don't know how complete it is.

Realtors who do rentals are not very common in KC, compared to cities that have a higher percentage renters (and higher rents). You might check with Boveri Realty. They started off focusing on Downtown condo sales, but when the market collapsed, they started doing more rentals.

[RadioSilence]

Individual buildings usually promote the fact they have Google Fiber.

If you look in Westport for work, you can also look in the nearby "39th St. West" neighborhood.

As mentioned above, check out the Crossroads district too (southern end of downtown). We have a small street car that connects Crossroads with River Market.

River Market is fairly self-contained. If you live and work there, you would hardly ever have to leave. I have a couple of younger co-workers who live in that neighborhood. Many of the buildings are remodeled.

[Bluefox]

If you can swing an income restricted apartment, that would be ideal. I've only seen those postings in the downtown area (River Market to Crossroads). Luckily, those are some of the best neighborhoods to live in the area. I've seen some really nice places that have very reasonable rent if you meet the income limits. I'm not sure how many have an in-unit W/D but I'm sure they exist. A lot of those income-restricted units are geared toward students so I'm sure most buildings will have a number of other young people. You'll also have late 20s-30s yuppies who are paying market-rate. It's definitely a younger crowd down there overall.

I'm not sure if parking is included in rent for those income-restricted units, but as someone else pointed out, River Market and to a lesser extent the Crossroads are among the select few areas where you could technically live car free. You may want a car anyway if you want to explore the area but there are a number of major bus stops downtown (such as 10th and Main) and the bus system is pretty decent and can get you into surrounding areas like JoCo pretty efficiently. You can also take the 129 bus directly to the airport but service isn't as great as I think it should be. There is a street car but service as of now is limited from River Market to Union Station which is a relatively small area. Eventually it will be extended to the Plaza which will be fantastic.

[lepoisson]

I really wanted to live in the River Market area, but almost all of the "loft" style apartments were income restricted.

Westport is walkable, as is the Plaza area, but the Plaza area can be expensive.

[katie45]

OP, you mentioned Google Fiber would be a plus. Here is their website showing the apartments with their fiber installed, or soon to be installed.

https://fiber.google.com/cities/kansascity/apartments/

[flaviator]

I'm also moving to Kansas City from SoCal, but probably will be after you move out there. I'll be interested in seeing where you decide to live and how you like it. I'm also looking at Plaza, Crossroads and other downtown locations. From my research in the downtown area, a W/D in unit is not that common; I'm looking for the same. Plaza is not only more expensive, but the options seem pretty limited right now. A big plus for the downtown lofts is that many include Google Fiber with the rent.

In terms of being less stressful, and cheaper, KC should be a great fit. I temporarily lived there over the summer and despite the humidity I really enjoyed it. Such a change of pace from SoCal.

[Mathguy]

If you don't have kids, the KC apartments tend to be a lot cheaper since there is significant demand from some families to get their kids in better school distiricts.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

If you don't have kids, the KC apartments tend to be a lot cheaper since there is significant demand from some families to get their kids in better school distiricts.

Might want to read the OP's posts. Like most people moving to the 1000's of new apartment units in urban kcmo, they don't care about schools and they are generally paying more for smaller units than you can get in Kansas because it's a more desirable area for that demographic.

If you do want to live in an apartment and have kids at the same time (this is not really even a thing in metro KC since most move on to single family homes when they have kids in the city or suburbs) then you have just as many choices in the MO suburbs.

Any more troll posts?

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by flaviator

I'm also moving to Kansas City from SoCal, but probably will be after you move out there. I'll be interested in seeing where you decide to live and how you like it. I'm also looking at Plaza, Crossroads and other downtown locations. From my research in the downtown area, a W/D in unit is not that common; I'm looking for the same. Plaza is not only more expensive, but the options seem pretty limited right now. A big plus for the downtown lofts is that many include Google Fiber with the rent.

In terms of being less stressful, and cheaper, KC should be a great fit. I temporarily lived there over the summer and despite the humidity I really enjoyed it. Such a change of pace from SoCal.

Yeah, that's the problem with the Plaza.... anything under $1k will probably be in an older building with no in-unit W/D and pretty basic amenities, likely no dishwasher either. The nicer apartments down there do tend to have all the bells and whistles but will be more in the $14-1500 range for 1BRs and they are pretty small at that. Anything in between seems to get snapped up pretty quickly. Downtown you seem to get more space for your $$ since it's mostly lofts, though you have to factor in parking as well.

Westport is a bit better but can still be on the pricey side. Greater Midtown/Hyde Park is definitely lower but you have to be careful there... there are nice areas intermixed with dicey areas, it's really block by block.