Johnson County people (Kansas City: real estate, mortgage, closing)

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by NurseTammy74

From this website, I don't know how they compare to other sites. Here is the link for the comparison. Olathe, KS Community Demographics Summary - CLRSearch.com

The data is going to vary depending on the website.

[quesera]

What kind of jobs do people have in order to afford homes in that price range... really. Crazy!

[skrazzle]

Originally Posted by quesera

What kind of jobs do people have in order to afford homes in that price range... really. Crazy!

the price range is not really crazy. My parents live north of the river in burbs with the average house costing 300-400k. or USED too until the housing collapse.

My dad owns his own business... we have neighbors who are cops... you don't have to be a doctor to get a house for that price if you are budgeting well and don't have a billion kids..

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by skrazzle

What's to do there that you wouldn't find on the MO side exactly?

NASCAR?

Some people are simply content on never leaving the burbs. I would never be able to make it myself. We will even drive to different suburbs just to mix it up (saw a movie at barry woods last weekend) which is 40 miles from our house.

Originally Posted by skrazzle

the price range is not really crazy. My parents live north of the river in burbs with the average house costing 300-400k. or USED too until the housing collapse.

My dad owns his own business... we have neighbors who are cops... you don't have to be a doctor to get a house for that price if you are budgeting well and don't have a billion kids..

So true. 300k is not difficult at all if you play your cards right.

Keep in mind that those stats are probably for new homes. You can't get a decent new home in KC for under 300k unless it's very small. But you can pick up older homes in good areas, even OP, for under 200k.

[skrazzle]

Originally Posted by kcmo

NASCAR?

Some people are simply content on never leaving the burbs. I would never be able to make it myself. We will even drive to different suburbs just to mix it up (saw a movie at barry woods last weekend) which is 40 miles from our house.



So true. 300k is not difficult at all if you play your cards right.

Keep in mind that those stats are probably for new homes. You can't get a decent new home in KC for under 300k unless it's very small. But you can pick up older homes in good areas, even OP, for under 200k.

Yup those were new places, my gf and I just bought our house.... and I must say when looking, we found great places for 140k and under that had plenty of size in the burbs....

personally and this is just cuz of what I like in a house, if people didn't mind getting a fixer upper some of the best value for location, price, and size... is hyde park... but I am partial to that neighborhood.. i know its not anything the OP would be interested in.

And barry woods is a really nice theater.. I normally go to that one if i'm not going to cinemark at the plaza.. I can't wait to see the AMC downtown when its done.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by skrazzle

What's to do there that you wouldn't find on the MO side exactly?

I'm not saying there are things in Johnson County that you wouldn't find on the Missouri side. I just prefer to be in Johnson County because to me, it's more pleasant. I also appreciate the fact that all restaurants in Overland Park are nonsmoking. I know other places are too, but I know for sure that OP is. I would have to travel pretty far to the Missouri suburbs to find newer/nicer restaurants, movie theaters, stores, etc.

Why is it Johnson County theaters and restaurants and parks and everything are always full of cars with Missouri plates? If it's so great over there, why do Missourians feel the need to come HERE to eat and shop and play? I rarely go to Missouri to eat, unless it's someplace like Houston's on the Plaza, and that's only because the Houston's at 95th and Metcalf closed many years ago. If there's any restaurant I want to go to and there is one in Johnson County, I go to the one in Johnson County, not Missouri. I never to movie theaters in Missouri. I don't shop in Missouri. If I want to go to the park I go to a park in Johnson County. So why do so many Missourians do their shopping and eating and recreation in Johnson County? I'm not even talking about jobs, I'm talking about coming to Johnson County for things they could be doing in Missouri.

We went to Red Lobster one day and the place was packed and I am not kidding, literally 90% ore more of the cars in the parking lot had Missouri plates. What the heck? Are there no Red Lobsters in Missouri?

[kcmo]

Well, let me help you with that question Luzzianne,

The western corridor of KCMO, including Waldo, Brookside, SKC, Watt’s Mill, Red bridge, Martin City etc has a lot of people. This is generally an older area and doesn’t have a lot of the suburban chain restaurants and retail places that tend to cluster in newer developments in the suburbs.

Places like Red Lobster, On the Border, Red Robin, Zios etc tend to be in the outer suburbs or newer areas of town.

JoCo is a draw deep in to MO for this. Just as people drive clear to Barry Road from Gladstone, NKC etc or people from Raytown and SE KCMO drive to Lee’s Summit or Independence. And people from Grandview drive to Raymore.

It’s simply about geography and for tens of thousands of people that live in SW KCMO, it’s just closer to drive to JoCo than to drive clear to the far Northland or Eastern Jackson County for the same thing.

I lived in Brookside/Waldo for many years and we were in JoCo all the time for basic retail and dining. Sure, we would go to the “local” places and go to the plaza or even the MO suburbs, but for the most part, we spent probably 70% of our time and money in JoCo from the wallmarts and targets to the chain restaurant, book stores and theaters. Not because they were better than those in the MO burbs, but because they were much closer.

You almost never see KS cars in places like Independence Center, Summit Woods and really very few in Zona Rosa, although more than out east.

Although between Antioch and Holmes there is so much cross traffic that you wouldn’t be able to tell what state you are in by the license places on the cars.

I think Shawnee Mission Park is one of the better metro parks and that’s why it’s a destination for certain people. Mountain biking for example. But at the same time, if you go to Landaul Park in Blue Springs, it’s full of JoCo cars too. Same with many of the big indoor sports facilities out east like the KC Sports Lodge and Sports City. They attract a fair number of soccer players from JoCo. The new arena in Independence will draw a lot of people from JoCo and I think it will be a great way to get people from JoCo to see the area around Indep Center is quite nice.

JoCo has a fantastic trails system as well.

There are great things about JoCo. It’s an important part of the city and really help add to the region. It’s just too bad so many people that live there have very little idea what the MO side offers outside the depressed areas around the stadiums or Worlds of Fun. For the most part, I don’t think people in JoCo know much about the MO side outside Brookside and the Plaza. Downtown is getting better though.

But then again, it’s back o geography. People in Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs, Liberty etc, don’t know much about Lenexa or Olathe or Shawnee either.

Even though you see a lot of Missouri cars in JoCo retail places, that’s mostly due it’s proximately to KCMO. People in Lee’s Summit and Liberty are not going to drive to the Target on 119th and or the movie theater on 135th. I think we are the only ones that would ever do that . The MO cars you see in JoCo (non-office park) parking lots are not from the MO burbs, they are generally from KCMO.

[luzianne]

Okay, kcmo - thanks for 'splainin - and that makes sense. After I posted I remember that there used to be a Red Lobster over by Bannister Mall but I guess that isn't there anymore, and the only other Red Lobster I know of in Missouri is in Independence (I think). So I guess if people want Red Lobster it makes sense that Johnson County would be closer than Independence for a lot of people.

I love Shawnee Mission Park too. I grew up literally right next to Shawnee Mission Park and I drive out there a lot just to look around and reminisce about a great childhood growing up in a place I really love.

What's the ball park over near Independence Center? My daughter used to play in softball tournaments over there; it was too far to go home between games so we'd end up eating meals at Independence Center.

[Juba in Olathe]

It depends, Overland Park is much wealthier and has a small very very upperclass area and surrounding it is nice. BUT, it is not as nice as Olathe. It isn't well known but Olathe has old areas like that and is on the 25 nices cities to live in list, much higher than Overland Park. Most Houses in the nice area of Overland park are 500,000 to about 5 mill. I drive by them every day. Trust me, Olathe is nicer, just not the city part. The good part is hidden. The School district of Overland park is Blue Valley which is nationaly recognized. Some of it leaps over into Olathe. I live in Olathe right near the Johnson County Exeuctive Airport, so I know these things, not someobdy who spent two hours researching it all. I like all the treu Victorian houses built here when Olathe was founded in 1857.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by Juba in Olathe

It depends, Overland Park is much wealthier and has a small very very upperclass area and surrounding it is nice. BUT, it is not as nice as Olathe. It isn't well known but Olathe has old areas like that and is on the 25 nices cities to live in list, much higher than Overland Park. Most Houses in the nice area of Overland park are 500,000 to about 5 mill. I drive by them every day. Trust me, Olathe is nicer, just not the city part. The good part is hidden. The School district of Overland park is Blue Valley which is nationaly recognized. Some of it leaps over into Olathe. I live in Olathe right near the Johnson County Exeuctive Airport, so I know these things, not someobdy who spent two hours researching it all. I like all the treu Victorian houses built here when Olathe was founded in 1857.

Wachoo talkin' 'bout, Willis? Money Magazine rated Overland Park 9th and Olathe 11th in 2008. I didn't find a listing for 2009 other than for "best small towns" for 2009. But I did find an article dated August 2009 where OVerland Park is one of the ten best places to grow up. I didn't see Olathe on that list.

Olathe is okay. Some areas are newer and nice, and some areas are run down. I think overall crime tends to be higher in Olathe than in Overland Park. I guess it just depends what you like. I like Overland Park better.