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Old 07-07-2009, 06:03 PM
 
Location: Milwaukee
37 posts, read 132,740 times
Reputation: 40

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Quote:
Originally Posted by zoomzoom02 View Post
Sorry for my extremely late response, I have been quite busy.



Tucson has a lot of Auto Theft, but Kansas City has a lot more violent crimes. Based on the crime data from this site, the crime index is 40% higher in Kansas City (598.9 - Tucson VS 839.1 - KC)



Thanks I will keep that in mind and check out the places you mentioned. One of my friends hooked us up with a rental agency, so hopefully we can find something when we head up there in a few weeks. I think we are leaning more towards a house now, but going to check all our options.

Thanks everyone for your input! I really appreciate it and it has been very helpful!
Tucson has more than auto theft. If you look at the 2002 FBI stats, the city is the most crime ridden of the top 100 metros.

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Although the murder rate is lower, robbery and rape is pretty close to KC rates. Larceny & Auto theft is very high in Tucson--the city has one of the highest property crime rates in the country.

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So that's why I'm surprised your worrying about crime in KC. I grew up in the desert southwest (Barstow, Ca). And the area is very beautiful. But I've always known that certain cities in the region (Tucson is one of them) have high crime rates. KC is my mom's hometown, and it's a nice place. Just use street sense in certain areas and you'll be fine.

Last edited by Yac; 09-29-2009 at 07:25 AM..
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Old 07-07-2009, 06:28 PM
 
Location: Milwaukee
37 posts, read 132,740 times
Reputation: 40
Quote:
Originally Posted by kcmo View Post
Don't get all worked up on crime in KC. KC is a big city and has some pretty nasty areas that produce 90% of those crime stats that effect the stats of the entire city. You will not be looking in any areas of the city that even have remote crime problems. There will be slightly higher crime rates in areas south of the river like the Plaza vs the Northland, but nothing out of the ordinary for a dense, urban, mixed use and busy area. The chances of anything happening are very slim.

Just don't sell crack at 39th and Jackson and don't pick up prostitutes on Indep Ave. and you will be fine.

One thing you will notice about KC is there is a lot of ghetto. Most large older midwestern cities (KC, StLouis, Memphis, Cincy, Cleveland, Detroit etc) have a lot of ghetto and blight because the cities tend to be more suburbanized and racially divided compared to large cities on the coasts or newer cities like Denver or Minneapolis.

Sprawl creates ghetto as it's cheaper in towns like KC to just leave property and let it rot and build on a farm field ten miles out than it is to redevelop an existing developed property. While many cities were rebuilding their urban cores in the 80’s and 90’s most people in KC wanted to live away from the city. KC is full of people that are only one generation from the farm. The city is full of people from rural towns that are intimidated by the city while places like Denver and Seattle tend to be populated with people from other large metro areas. This is by far KC’s biggest challenge. The general culture of the people that have migrated to KC over the past 40 years is primarily the rural states around KC. So many people in KC would just assume live in Salina, KS than a metro of 2 million, but KC is where the jobs are.

Compare that to Boston or Denver or San Diego or Seattle where real-estate is very valuable, traffic is bad and people want to live closer to the city. That's why those towns have very little ghetto and blight.

Having said that, most of the metro area is fine and in the past ten years, the urban core of KCMO has come back to life. It's still not on par with most large cities because so much of the city was in a state of decay, but very large portions of the city have come back and are giving the suburbs some competition.

KC is just now starting to compete with cities like Denver or Atlanta or Minneapolis for young professionals that want to live in a more urban and interesting city, not just some suburb, while for the past 20-30 years, you couldn’t get young people from other large cities to even consider KC.

Sorry about the rant, I just thought I would explain some of the reasons for the blight and crime in KC. It’s mostly attributed to low density sprawl, white flight etc.

I truly think KC has turned a corner and is ready to really compete with places like Denver, but then the city goes and elects a hillbilly mayor, won’t build a transit system etc and I really start to wonder if the city ever will reach its potential.

But it’s come a long way.

So, again, don’t worry about crime. The areas you will be looking at are fine.
You make very good points about the urban core being neglected in Midwestern cities. I live in Madison, so we don't have that problem because we have a very vibrant city center, yet that is not the case in nearby Milwaukee. But I would say downtown KC is changing, and attracting professionals to the city. Also, KC is not all ghetto--there is a sizable black middle-class (my family included-one of which is a famous retired city council woman) My relatives live in Linden Hills, Raytown, and other nice areas of KC I did not mention. Overall, KC is nice--good BBQ, Jazz, and 4th of July picnics. Just a little street smarts is all it takes to live in the city.
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Old 07-07-2009, 10:50 PM
 
Location: Liberty, Kansas City MO
1 posts, read 1,103 times
Reputation: 10
Default Moved to KC from Arizona 10 years ago and i love it here

I just wanted to give you my two cents; I grew up in Arizona/Scottsdale and moved to KC 10 years ago. I lived south and in Kansas for a while but am now up in Liberty and would not change anything (except for getting homesick every once in a while for the weather).

Really though, the market is GREAT for buying a home here in Liberty; and unlike Arizona you can get a lot of house for the money. Liberty schools are rated consistently top 10 in the state and you can't go wrong there if you are planning for a family sometime soon. The drive to the Cerner campus is 25 minutes tops; traffic is nothing like Arizona - you will enjoy it, people are actually polite on the highways.

I am more than happy to help a fellow transplant out with finding a home. You can email me if you like. C-
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Old 07-08-2009, 10:18 AM
 
Location: Tippecanoe County, Indiana
26,374 posts, read 46,227,302 times
Reputation: 19454
Quote:
Originally Posted by cbuffa View Post
Really though, the market is GREAT for buying a home here in Liberty; and unlike Arizona you can get a lot of house for the money. Liberty schools are rated consistently top 10 in the state and you can't go wrong there if you are planning for a family sometime soon. The drive to the Cerner campus is 25 minutes tops; traffic is nothing like Arizona - you will enjoy it, people are actually polite on the highways.

-
KC homes are cheap because of the oversupply in the market. They overbuilt during the past several years. House quality for newer construction is mostly GARBAGE, and future RE appreciation will be low in suburban areas. I considered staying in KC, but jobs in my career field paid much lower than other areas. COL in KC is low for a reason. KC does have a very good job market for engineers, though.
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Old 07-16-2009, 01:52 PM
 
24 posts, read 79,605 times
Reputation: 12
Quote:
Originally Posted by GraniteStater View Post
KC homes are cheap because of the oversupply in the market. They overbuilt during the past several years. House quality for newer construction is mostly GARBAGE, and future RE appreciation will be low in suburban areas. I considered staying in KC, but jobs in my career field paid much lower than other areas. COL in KC is low for a reason. KC does have a very good job market for engineers, though.
I completely agree with GraniteStater, My home is a new construction in a newish neighborhood, just completed last year. I looked at a lot of new, and some older homes when I was house shopping, and you really have to look closely to find a new construction under 300K that doesn't skimp on build quality, build materials, or both. I'd say the house I went with is above average in terms of build quality. They did keep costs down by going with linoleum in the bathrooms, and a laminate countertop in the kitchen, though I intend to redo those next year. I expect re appreciation to be slow as well, but I'm not overly concerned about that. Regardless of what happens to the market, owning my home now beats renting for 3 more years or so.
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Old 07-27-2009, 11:29 AM
 
Location: Tucson, AZ
22 posts, read 54,272 times
Reputation: 16
I just got back yesterday from Kansas City. We found a place off I-29/Barry. Man, it will take a little bit to get used to the narrow lanes up there and the crazy roads. I was surprised that traffic was not bad at all.

One thing I have yet to understand, is how the 3rd lane on Main all the sudden has cars parked in it. That gave me a good scare when I came over a hill to find a line of parked cars in my lane.

All in all it was a good trip. I got sick on the way back, but past that we had a great time. We went to all the plazas (Zona Rosa, Country Club Plaza, Crown Plaza) and went to the Power and Light district for a drink. We were going to see the Zoo, but ran out of time.

Again, thanks for all your help and advice!
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Old 07-29-2009, 12:38 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC area
11,108 posts, read 23,704,485 times
Reputation: 6412
KCMO does a horrible job of enforcing parking restrictions on major streets. There are always cars parked on Main, SW Trafficway etc that cars and buses have to dodge.

What do you mean by narrow lanes?
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Old 07-29-2009, 02:22 PM
 
Location: Tucson, AZ
22 posts, read 54,272 times
Reputation: 16
Quote:
Originally Posted by kcmo View Post

What do you mean by narrow lanes?
Compared to the fat lanes over here the lanes on some roads up there are extremely narrow. It makes sense, since they had to expand old roads with not much room to work with.
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