Empty nesters relo to Wichita: best areas? (Derby, Andover: houses, neighborhoods)

[chaseystarz]

I know all about the headaches of older housing and College Hill. My brother lives there. He bought a house cheaply enough ten years ago. And it's taken them ten years to redo, update, fix plumbing issues, and so forth. It's only taken my brother twice to fix the leaky basement.

I've looked at several houses in CH but the it's the same song and dance....

Lovely area though.

[roxfan]

Great info, folks, thank you!! I just got settled in this weekend, and thought I'd check in on the forum now that everything has slowed down a bit.

I was looking at renting in College Hill, but someone beat me to it. Haven't been there yet. Found a place to rent in the southern end of Kechi. My 7 am commute to McConnell only took me about 18 minutes, and yes, that was doing the speed limit; the majority of it is I-135, and I'm told that's okay as long as there are no accidents to deal with. Compared to what I'm used to, relatively stress free.

I actually drove around Kechi a little bit today and got street views of a few homes for sale. There are specials on the newer ones, so I'm not surprised, but the prices are really reasonable.

I should have plenty of time to do some looking around. Thanks again for all the guidance. From all indications, I think we'll enjoy Wichita.

[janelle144]

Great pick, I live in Bel Aire and we like it.

I can give you the name of a great realtor if you PM me. She helped us on all the houses we bought and would use her again if need be, although, I hope we won't be moving for a long time to come. She is a top seller.

Yes , you can get around the city just fine using I-135. My hubby works out West and he gets to work in 30 minutes or less tops and that is going from the far East side to the far West side.

[drjones96]

How's it going, roxfan?

[roxfan]

Well, I'm getting used to my digs in Kechi. Looking at some houses here. Nice area...it's away from the hustle, but not feeling like you're out in the middle of nowhere because of how close by Bel Aire and Park City are. My commute to work from this area is a breeze compared to what I came from.

Drove to Augusta today, which is almost as far east from where I work as Kechi is north. I think I'm crossing Augusta off my list because of what the nature of the commute would be. And I looked all over for that danged golf course that that that Jones fella started, but I couldn't find it...

Still considering southeast, still curious about Andover. I have time to check things out.

Now if my wife could only come live with me...

[janelle144]

Is your wife searching houses on www.realtor.com She should be then when she comes to see you she will have some houses picked out to look at. You need to write down what you like in houses, your price range, the type of house, type of yard, how you feel about specials, on a golf course or not, near shopping, businesses.

We always shyed away from a house near a big open area because you never know if a Walmart or something will go in there. Even a church or school will being traffic to the area.

Good luck on your hunt.

[drjones96]

Originally Posted by roxfan

Drove to Augusta today, which is almost as far east from where I work as Kechi is north. I think I'm crossing Augusta off my list because of what the nature of the commute would be. And I looked all over for that danged golf course that that that Jones fella started, but I couldn't find it...

LOL...that's because I said it was in Derby!

Here are the apt's I was talking about. Your commute to the AFB would be about 2 miles.
the greens at derby in derby, ks

We looked at Augusta too and eventually crossed it off. It seemed like we couldn't find the kind of house we were looking for in our price range. We also really didn't see what everyone thought was so special about the place. Maybe we just never found the good parts of town? I dunno.

[janelle144]

No. you don't want Agusta---you want Andover. There are lots of names around Wichita that sound the same but are in different directions----Bently is West---Benton is East, Andale is West. Andover is East and Agusta is even further east. It can get confusing.

[roxfan]

Originally Posted by drjones96

Here are the apt's I was talking about. Your commute to the AFB would be about 2 miles.
the greens at derby in derby, ks

Wow. Those are nice. If nothing else, I have to check out the golf course, but I won't have my clubs with me until next spring (unless a miracle happens and we move first).

There are people at work who live in Augusta that love it. Maybe I'd just need time, but it's just a little too far. At least for now.

[roxfan]

Originally Posted by janelle144

Is your wife searching houses on www.realtor.com She should be then when she comes to see you she will have some houses picked out to look at.

I've been searching the realtor.com listings, doing drive-bys of the addresses, and emailing my impressions along with the links to the individual listings to her. We did the same thing 6 years ago when I took a job in Albuquerque, except I was working with a realtor then. I haven't contacted a realtor here yet; I want to get closer to being able to buy before I bring one in. Also, that way, I don't give sellers premature hope, either. If I'm a seller, which I am, I'd prefer someone coming by to look who is pretty much ready to make a decision.

By the time we're ready, I'm going to try to have narrowed it down to a couple of areas of town and a few listings in each (of whatever's available at the time). Since I'm the one that's here, it's my job to do the recon.