Overland Park or Olathe (Kansas City, Shawnee: for sale, real estate, houses)

[gabejen]

We are relocating from Denver to Kansas City. I have been directed to Overland Park as a good place to live. Being number 6 on the Best Places to Live list is a big plus. When researching houses in Overland Park, Olathe comes up quite a bit as well. Can someone give me comparable info on these two cities? Are they close to each other? Do they have the same amenities? Do they have new housing developments? Just a little background...I have two sons. One is in 2nd grade and one is in 7th grade. Also, they are avid baseball players. So, a good baseball club is absolutely necessary. I appreciate any info you could share with me. I'm sure you can imagine moving to a place you have never seen can be very scary.

[old_boy]

Overland Park and Olathe are very similar. Both are growing communities in Johnson County, which is probably the wealthiest county in Kansas. Historically, Overland Park was considered a bit more upscale than Olathe, although that has changed in recent years as Olathe has become one of the fastest growing communities in the area. Both communities have very good schools and are competitive in sports of all types. If you drove from Overland Park to Olathe, I doubt that you would know when you left one community and entered the other.

[debct]

Originally Posted by gabejen

We are relocating from Denver to Kansas City. I have been directed to Overland Park as a good place to live. Being number 6 on the Best Places to Live list is a big plus. When researching houses in Overland Park, Olathe comes up quite a bit as well. Can someone give me comparable info on these two cities? Are they close to each other? Do they have the same amenities? Do they have new housing developments? Just a little background...I have two sons. One is in 2nd grade and one is in 7th grade. Also, they are avid baseball players. So, a good baseball club is absolutely necessary. I appreciate any info you could share with me. I'm sure you can imagine moving to a place you have never seen can be very scary.

We are looking into the area too. www.greatschools.net isa very heldful website.

[SCL]

I would recommend Overland Park. We have three boys and the Park District is amazing!! We are walking distance to tons of fields. The school is amazing!! Harmony Elementary. They were rated nationally as the best. We have been here 6 years and are relocating to North Carolina this summer. Be careful about Olathe. There are good areas and bad areas. Are home is for sale if interested. Great neighborhood, pool, lake and playground. It is 5 bedrooms with finished basement. Only 6 years old. Excellent condition. Good luck with your move!

[4mom]

We had wanted to relo to Overland Park but my husband's employer is requiring we live in Wyandotte county. Any opinions on this area? We looked at "greatschools" and decided that Pike schools are the best. Any opinions on the pike school district? Any input would be really appreciated!

Thanks!

[JordanMackey]

Originally Posted by gabejen

We are relocating from Denver to Kansas City. I have been directed to Overland Park as a good place to live. Being number 6 on the Best Places to Live list is a big plus. When researching houses in Overland Park, Olathe comes up quite a bit as well. Can someone give me comparable info on these two cities? Are they close to each other? Do they have the same amenities? Do they have new housing developments? Just a little background...I have two sons. One is in 2nd grade and one is in 7th grade. Also, they are avid baseball players. So, a good baseball club is absolutely necessary. I appreciate any info you could share with me. I'm sure you can imagine moving to a place you have never seen can be very scary.

Gab don't know if you're still looking for some help or direct since I noticed you posted a while ago.

4Mom - Don't fret Wyandotte county will not be the death of you I'm going to need a little bit more information from you to fully help you. P.S I'm a local Realtor and Buyers Agent for the KC Metro Area. Piper is a great small yet growing town the average price range is anywhere from $150's on up to the $300k range for some of the newer developments coming in.

I don't know how flexable you company is but have you looked into Basehor-Linwood? It is located in Leavenworth county and the schools are comparable to Johnson County. I know the reviews don't show it on the school site I check, however I live in Wyandotte and I'm an agent in Overland Park (Johnson County). I've lived in the area all my life Moderator cut: soliciting

[gooch]

Basehor-Linwood schools comparable to Johnson County?

The only comparison is the four walls.

The school districts in Shawnee Mission, Olathe and Blue Valley are the best in the state. They have the test scores to prove it. If schools are important in a move, you would be remiss if you didn't choose one of the Big Three.

Basehor-Linwood doesn't provide the programs available in Johnson County. Sorry, but in this case, size does matter.

[GraniteStater]

If you can afford the real estate prices than central and southern areas of Overland Park would be a good place to live. The economy is decent compared with the rest of the state and the schools are quite good as well. The two school districts in Overland Park would be Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley. Also Overland Park has a variety of housing stock to choose from and much more architecural variety in the more established older neighborhoods. Olathe is mainly cookie cutter everything with horribly bland and ugly houses. A lot of the newer houses are not built quite as well compared with some of the older houses. So if you want to AVOID cookie cutter houses than Overland Park would have more variety too choose from and more established neighborhoods with many TREES and SIDEWALKS so that you can walk in the neighborhood itself.

[Hadassah59]

I live in Olathe, but it is a fast growing community. 20 years ago, it had population of about 80,000 and now it boomed to at least 110,000 (I lost track of it). Overland Park is still a upscale city. my personal opinion, I would rather live outside the metro city. Too many stop lights and congested traffic aren't exactly my favorites. If you can stand them, by all means move to either OP or Olathe, they are both good places with good schools, shopping centers and restaurant, for they are plenty.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Hadassah59

I live in Olathe, but it is a fast growing community. 20 years ago, it had population of about 80,000 and now it boomed to at least 110,000 (I lost track of it). Overland Park is still a upscale city. my personal opinion, I would rather live outside the metro city. Too many stop lights and congested traffic aren't exactly my favorites. If you can stand them, by all means move to either OP or Olathe, they are both good places with good schools, shopping centers and restaurant, for they are plenty.

Their are definitely consequences for all of this growth in Olathe. Traffic on Interstate 35 continues to get worse every year. The city thinks that any growth is good growth even if it means more ugly big box stores and strip malls EVERYWHERE. I would think Olathe has enough shopping on Santa Fe already compared with any other town in Kansas. Also the mill levy rates on the schools continue to increase as well as the property taxes. A lot of this is because of the crazy demographics in the area. According to the census bureau over 30% of the population in Olathe and Gardner is under the age of 18. The citizens have to pay for all these new schools, infrastructure, and other items with all the uncontrolled suburban sprawl. Another thing that I do not like about Olathe is that nearly all of the housing is cookie cutter. The last time I checked this was not Arizona, and I do not understand why everything has to have the stucco exterior look.
I much prefer the variety of housing stock and architectural styles that Overland Park has to offer. Their are plenty of neighborhoods that actually have shade trees, unlike most areas of Olathe that were built on corn fields. Real estate prices in central and northern areas of Overland Park are reasonable for a large metro area with 3-4 bedroom houses selling for 220K-275K in established neighborhoods.
In terms of the economy both are doing fairly well in terms of employment. I would expect that the economy in Olathe is growing faster based on all of the construction type jobs related to the suburban sprawl type developments. Sprint has its World Headquarters in Overland Park, but has laid off people in recent years. Olathe has companies like Garmin and Honeywell that are big in the area.