Family moving to KC from CA. Lee's Summit vs Johnson County? (Westwood: buyer, per square foot)

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Jayhawker434

Yeah Briarcliff and parts of Parkville are really great. Big hills, lots of trees, some small lakes, etc.

I have to disagree on Blue Springs though. Not sure when the last time you visited that part of the city but its pretty run down right around highway 7 and old 40. Even on I70 it looks like an area that has seen better days. There are a lot of empty strip malls, and it all looks dated. I do like the nicer areas of BSMO (south and east) and Lake Tapawingo but overall BSMO looks a LOT like more like Independence than LSMO. IMO that area of the city should be MUCH better than it is. They should have maximized their proximity to Lake Jacomo and BS Lake. To me anyway, the eastern end of the metro looks pretty dated and in overall decline compared to Liberty, LSMO, Parkville, JoCo.

First off I would agree, the entire I-70 suburban corridor east of 435 is pretty dated, I mean, east of Noland it's not run down or anything, actually it's growing quite bit, but it's not upscale and doesn't have a lot of class A office space or any of the new mixed use type development you now see in modern suburbs.

While the commercial corridors in Blue Springs are hit and miss and Highway 7 still looks like it's 1985, Blue Springs has a lot of really nice residential areas and a lot of really expensive homes too. Only the central part of Blue Springs has a run down feel and even that area is just modest 120-150k split levels. It fills a need in metro KC where starter homes in decent areas are rare.

Blue Springs is a very modest suburb. A good portion of the big money in the city are blue collar business owners such as contractors etc. That demographic doesn't care about having Crate and Barrel or Nordstroms.

The housing market there is extremely strong. I listed a home there in May near lake tapawingo and it sold in one day at more than we thought it would. Houses in Blue Springs sell as soon as they hit the market. So there is a demand to live there.

So yeah, if you can get past some of aesthetics of Blue Springs (dated strip malls, US 40 etc), then it really is a nice place to raise a family and the cost of living there is considerably lower for a similar home / school district elsewhere. It has excellent parks and lakes, tons of little leagues and top notch sports facilities.

For the record, most people in Blue Springs seem to travel the metro well too. They may only have basic big box retail, but they also have no problem making an occasional drive to Lee's Summit, JoCo, etc for more retail options. So they know what else is in the metro and are fine with it. They still like coming home to modest Blue Springs to live.

I lived there for 8 years and visit the city a few times a year. We are actually the ones that got the Woods Chapel corridor rebuilt south of 70. I started complaining about the city letting that area deteriorate the second we moved there and we got the neighborhood involved and the road is really nice now with sidewalks etc. I would have preferred to stay in Brookside, but you make the best of where ever you live and Blue Springs is overall a nice place to live. FYI, while 7 has a lot of strip malls and they are ugly, they are pretty much full. And they tore down the old shopping center at 40 and 7 and built a new price chopper. So even as dated as highway 7 is from an urban planning standpoint, it's doing quite well.

It was nice having season tickets to the Royals and being able to go to and from games so easily. The Events Center is nearby along with several indoor soccer and other sports facilities etc. Not to mention all the lakes and parks. You have a lot of suburban services in eastern Jackson county that are great for families that I don't think people in JoCo realize exist. There is a lot more to do in the eastern burbs for families than people would ever know just riving down 70.

Oh and Blue Springs has excellent Commuter bus service to downtown too.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by James Bond 007

The OP hasn't posted in nearly 2 months now.

Yes, but others considering relocation may find the thread of interest.

[Alpha_Dog]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

The densest tree cover in any developed suburban area of the metro is Leawood north to Mission Hills. High tree cover concentration is very often reflected in higher property values. No one wants a house scorching all year with little shade, not to mention energy bills.

Extensive tree canopy can definitely make a difference in extreme summer heat and ones overall outdoor comfort in the hot summer months.

Granite, you seem to have a great deal of insight and knowledge around the different weather patterns for the Midwest. Does KC have different microclimates for the various cities and towns? Are some areas of KC and JoCo cooler than others in a significant way, (plus or minus 5 degrees) in the heat of the summer time, or is it pretty much the same summer temps in the entire region. With little variation in KC's elevation and not having a large body of water nearby, it's harder to get a good read on the different microclimates.

Here in Southern California, it can be 77' degrees right on the beach at 3pm in July and 97-100F or hotter in the Valleys only 25 miles away from the Pacific.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Alpha_Dog

Extensive tree canopy can definitely make a difference in extreme summer heat and ones overall outdoor comfort in the hot summer months.

Granite, you seem to have a great deal of insight and knowledge around the different weather patterns for the Midwest. Does KC have different microclimates for the various cities and towns? Are some areas of KC and JoCo cooler than others in a significant way, (plus or minus 5 degrees) in the heat of the summer time, or is it pretty much the same summer temps in the entire region. With little variation in KC's elevation and not having a large body of water nearby, it's harder to get a good read on the different microclimates.

Here in Southern California, it can be 77' degrees right on the beach at 3pm in July and 97-100F or hotter in the Valleys only 25 miles away from the Pacific.

No microclimates in KC as differences in elevation between areas or water features are not factors. The main item is the urban heat island effect which comes into play, especially during hotter months. The temperature differences between urbanized city locations with plenty of asphalt and concrete compared to tree lined neighborhoods can often be 5-7F or more on a clear night. So, Downtown might have a low temperature of 80F during a heat wave in Summer while Leawood might "cool off" to 74F.

[Alpha_Dog]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

No microclimates in KC as differences in elevation between areas or water features are not factors. The main item is the urban heat island effect which comes into play, especially during hotter months. The temperature differences between urbanized city locations with plenty of asphalt and concrete compared to tree lined neighborhoods can often be 5-7F or more on a clear night. So, Downtown might have a low temperature of 80F during a heat wave in Summer while Leawood might "cool off" to 74F.

That's very helpful.

It looks like after some additional research of tree covering in the KC region of MO/KS, the area has about 249,450,000 trees with the tree canopy that covers 18.6 percent of the region, not exactly a urban forest, but slightly better than expected based on the geographic location. The combination of tree and shrub cover in KC region is estimated to cover 28 percent of land area. KC trees are estimated to reduce annual residential energy costs by over $13 million per year.

Assessing Urban Forest Effects and Values in Kansas City www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/rb/rb_nrs75.pdf

[bluwav]

Not sure if you’ll get this.. but is your family still in MO after moving from CA? We live in Escondido and are considering a move to the Lees Summit area. Curious your thoughts after sometime being there coming from San Diego.

[pavank0450]

where do you rank Gardner, KS.

[westender]

Wow -- old thread resurrected.

Gardner is a FAR suburb. Lees Summit is a moderately far suburb. If you are working in downtown KCMO or "The Plaza" area, near 47th and Broadway aka Wornall, then you probably will want to be closer to town than either Gardner or Lees Summit.

Prices have doubled since I last posted in this thread, so I'm not sure if my 2018 recommendation of Fairway or Westwood remains viable. However, Mission still has some bargains -- same with Roeland Park and Waldo. The Roanoke/ Volker area of KC is also good if you are urban-minded. Same with "South Hyde Park" formerly known as Sunny Slope.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by pavank0450

where do you rank Gardner, KS.

Gardner is very undesirable due to the massive BNSF intermodal facility that contributes large amounts of rail and truck traffic to the area. House prices are cheap for a number of reasons there…

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by bluwav

Not sure if you’ll get this.. but is your family still in MO after moving from CA? We live in Escondido and are considering a move to the Lees Summit area. Curious your thoughts after sometime being there coming from San Diego.

I lived in Johnson County, have friends that lived in Lee's Summit.

Both are nice areas and imo not that materially different.

I moved to the area from Chicago and it was nice to have almost all the large city amenities nearby, no crushing traffic, cheaper etc. etc.

The KC metro is really nice.