NOT moving to KC (Kansas City, St. Louis: sales, apartment, rent)

[Gibby3000]

Hey all, I started reading here almost a year ago when DH got a job in KC and I thought I would be moving. We like MN and didn't ever expect to relocate but he was offered a good job that he didn't think he should pass up - was really miserable at his previous one. We decided DH would go to KC and rent an apartment and we would not sell our house and I would not quit my job until we were sure things would work out. The economy was already shaky and it really hit the skids after he accepted the job. But he went anyway and I stayed in MN holding down the fort.
The longer he's been there and the more I've learned the more I kind of thought we would never really move from MN to KC.

So today we found out we are not moving which I think is ultimately good news. The bad news is he was informed that he's being laid off. Overall though we are just glad we approached this whole adventure prudently and didn't bail out of MN when he took the job.

So, I'm saying good-bye to you all - no more need to find out about KC. Best of luck to all of you - try to keep he KC/MO/Northland/JoCo feud under control!!

Bye - Gibby

[northbound74]

Thanks for the update.
You were fortunate to be in a position to be able to test the waters before making the complete plunge.
I often wish I had that same luxury 5 years ago. My wife and I probably wouldn't have moved to KC either. Some days, all I can think about is leaving.
Nice enough town, but there's just something about it...

[BostonToKC]

Originally Posted by northbound74

Nice enough town, but there's just something about it...

I agree with your last sentence 100%. Personally, though, the low cost-of-living outweighs the "something about it" factor.

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by BostonToKC

I agree with your last sentence 100%. Personally, though, the low cost-of-living outweighs the "something about it" factor.

I could be that I just have a terrible of case of the "grass being greener", but I'm convinced I could do better and still have the low cost of living.
The culture here is so normal on the surface, yet so strange once you settle in.

[Gibby3000]

I have to say I wasn't noticing an especially low cost of living when I was down there. I'm not sure what houses really end up selling for but I never felt like I saw one comparable to the one I have in the same price range or even close. Other things like gas, groceries, etc. were similar. Property taxes were very high in some areas - income taxes a little lower. Sales tax was similar. The only thing that seemed like a great deal was Nebraska Furniture Mart!

DH is on his way home tonight with our car. He will have to make a trip back with something else to pick up the few pieces of furniture we are keeping - sold most of it on Craig's List. Anyway, no offense to anyone in KS or MO but I have to say I'm happy to be staying in MN. Who was it that told me they didn't think I'd be happy moving from MN to MO? I think that was probably an accurate assessment. I liked the people though - everyone was very nice. People at DH's company were very nice to him - very sad to see him leave. I think he will be friends with some of them for a long time.

[TabulaRasa]

I haven't really noticed that the culture is strange (or really know what that means), and I'm a transplant. It makes me wonder what others see that I'm missing.

[BostonToKC]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

I haven't really noticed that the culture is strange (or really know what that means), and I'm a transplant. It makes me wonder what others see that I'm missing.

I wouldn't call the culture "strange"; in fact I would call the culture and people very normal for Middle America and perhaps a little on the bland side ("white bread"). Sameness and conformity seem to be highly valued here, but is this any different than St. Louis/Omaha/Des Moines/OKC or even DFW? I don't think so. Is the culture different from San Francisco or Miami? Definitely.

[TabulaRasa]

Must be that I'm a midwesterner. This is totally normal to me, even having lived in quite diverse neighborhoods of Chicago.

KC does seem VERY segregated to me. But I am originally from your standard HIGHLY white bread small midwestern town and spent the first 22 years of my life in that town and a comparable small liberal arts college town. We weren't segregated there, because, well, we were all white.

I have to say, though, I went to college in Minnesota, and Mpls/St. Paul seem absolutely as white bread as any small town Americana.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by BostonToKC

I wouldn't call the culture "strange"; in fact I would call the culture and people very normal for Middle America and perhaps a little on the bland side ("white bread"). Sameness and conformity seem to be highly valued here, but is this any different than St. Louis/Omaha/Des Moines/OKC or even DFW? I don't think so. Is the culture different from San Francisco or Miami? Definitely.

I would say Kansas City and many other metros in the Plains are much more socially conservative and conformist compared to other parts of the country. I would say the suburban areas of KS are more conservative than others in the Plains/Midwest. It seems like prevailing "rural culture" still exists in KC where people get married at a rather young age and settle down. This stems from the fact that so many residents of the metro come from small towns scattered throughout the region. My cousin lives in the KC metro and is marrying someone that comes from a family of nine other siblings. This is not that terribly unusual based on some of the experiences I had when I lived in the KC area.
Don't even get me started on Olathe...

[TabulaRasa]

It's not strange, then, at all, by those standards...it's just pretty typically Midwestern/rural in values, probably because the typical demographic tends to be Midwestern and rural in origin. There for sure are lifelong urbanites in KC, but I wonder if there aren't maybe even more who aren't lifelong urbanites ( just a suspicion, I have no data). There are many "non-city" people who come to Kansas City because as cities go, it's thoroughly unintimidating and generally affordable (talking city, overall, not select neighborhoods or certain 'burbs).