Louisburg, Spring Hill, or Olathe??? (Overland Park, Lenexa: affordable houses, job, housing)

[Plains10]

Originally Posted by ecoates2

Hello,

My only advice to you is you would be better off buying a house in Overland Park if you are planning on moving in 2-4 years. We just moved from Gardner back to Overland Park and we were very lucky to sell our house. Most of our neighbors in Gardner that had their house for sale could not sell it. Because the market is crappy right now, and who knows what it is going to do, buying new construction in a growing town out south you will find it harder to sell later. I loved Gardner, but there is a lot of new houses going up out south so people are buying new homes, not resales. So if you are not planning on being there for 5 or more years, I would not buy out south.

Could you give me a perspective concerning whether the inter-modal project in Gardner affected the property values in the city? I thought that their was quite a bit of concern among the residents last year that the inter-modal hub would hurt the property values in the town. I completely agree that homes in Overland Park are easier to sell given the current market conditions. The established neighborhoods with tree lined streets and sidewalks along with some varying architectural styles in the older neighborhoods is a plus. I just do not understand why the cookie cutter homes are so popular? Most people realize that the quality of materials and construction is not that good (not to be insulting). Besides, their are good quality built 30 year old homes in central and northern areas of Overland Park that are selling for 225K or less in some areas right now.

[ecoates2]

In regards to the intermodal. I know there were a lot of people concerned about it when we were living there. I think that is part of the reason there is so many houses for sale right now. But I also think Gardner needs the intermodal for tax reasons. The taxed in Gardner are ridiculous. And yes, you can get a great home in Overland Park for $200,000. We moved into a beautiful 4 bedroom/5th extra office room for around $200,000. My husband might be changing jobs soon and if we need to move immediately I know the house will sell very quickly. With all of the trees, and wonderful private cultisac, owning a home in Overland Park, KS in this price range is a good thing if you are planning on moving in the near future. That is why we moved to Overland Park.

[kmflan]

Woohoo!! Come to Belton! We love it here! It is an easy drive to KC (30 min), Overland Park(20 min), Lee's Summit(20 min). We have all the basic chain stores. Target is less than 5 minutes from my house. But we also have the quaint downtown where everyone is on a first name basis with the shop keeper. I can call a shop, place an order, send my kids up there on their bikes, it's kinda Mayberry-ish. There is a farmer's market every Thursday night. It's not big, but it is growing. We have a new Starbucks opening in about a month.
The people here are great; warm, friendly, accepting. My neighborhood has different races and some interracial couples/families. It has been great for my kids. Everyone looks out for each other. Fireworks are legal for the week leading up to July 4th and we all sit in our lawn chairs in the front yards watching each other put on a show.
If there is one drawback, it's the lack of good mom/pop restaurants. Most are chains, which are pretty poor. There is one locally owned barbecue restaurant in Belton that is good. And there is a fantastic tea-room on Main Street, but it only does lunch. Raymore has a great greek restaurant/coffee shop. Otherwise, we drive into KC or Overland Park or Prairie Village for real dining out. We also have a great community center with all kinds of exercise classes, etc... which is very inexpensive and just a few years old.
That's all I can think of- getting late here. I hope you will consider Belton. I think it's KC's best kept secret.

[OZ Lander]

I grew up in Louisburg...I live in Wy. I would go back in a heartbeat!!! For those who say there in nothing in Louisburg have Never lived anywhere else ....TRY WYOMING...lot more in in town then when I grew-up there...

[Plains10]

Louisburg is now being affected by low density suburban and exurban sprawl. As I drive through portions of Miami County I see many houses on large lots with acerage. Many people think they are moving to a rural area but it just increases suburban sprawl when housing takes up large amounts of acerage at very low densities. Another major concern is the huge increase in traffic on Highway 69 over the past several years. The state of Kansas does not have much in the way of funding in the budget for widening the highway. Any large increase in housing development along the highway 69 corridor will likely compound in the existing traffic problems in the near future, especially in Johnson County.

[TinaMcG]

We moved to the far south end of Olathe fromk the Chicago area last April. We had heard all the nonsense about areas of Johnson County being snooty and uppity, but believe me, we haven't seen it. We think the people in all parts of the area are very very nice.

Olathe is catch as catch can. there are some areas that my husband says "could use a good dose of eminent domain". There are also very nice family communities, and down where we are, there is acreage with a mix of new homes and older and more modest homes. Everyone we've talked to says the growth in the area is coming this way, to south Johnson County. Still, the county has plans to retain the semi-rural atmosphere down here. We love that.

I notice someone also mentioned DeSoto. I found a wonderful (as in "best steaks in the world!") meat market in DeSoto and as I was driving around, I was regretting not buying a home there. Some of it is pretty run down and tacky, but there are some lovely properties as well.

I read where Versatile says Paola and Lousiburg are an easy drive from Overland Park. Well, I don't know. We live close to 69 Hwy, about 3 miles north of Spring Hill, and it takes me about a half hour to drive to Paola.

I spoke with a county appraiser the other day, and he said there are ridiculous numbers of foreclosures in Gardner. They're in newer subdivisions where people just wanted bigger and nicer homes and then got stretched too thin. It's very sad. I think towns like Gardner, Spring Hill, Paola and Louisburg are very charming. So there aren't all the shops you'd find in Overland Park -- so what? I do all my shopping in Spring Hill if I can. It hasn't been taken over by Wal-Mart and hopefully, it never will be.

I have to say that our move to Johnson County is the best thing we ever did. I don't miss the Chicago area at all. The county government works for the people -- all the employees are really nice and helpful. The county is very environmentally focused and encourages residents to be the same. The county website is excellent, a great resource for homeowners. When we found a leak in our roof, the chief building inspector for the county came over to help us work out the problem, and I've been able to call him for more advice since then. It's just totally different from Cook County, Illinois -- thank goodness!

[Plains10]

Originally Posted by TinaMcG

We moved to the far south end of Olathe fromk the Chicago area last April. We had heard all the nonsense about areas of Johnson County being snooty and uppity, but believe me, we haven't seen it. We think the people in all parts of the area are very very nice.

Olathe is catch as catch can. there are some areas that my husband says "could use a good dose of eminent domain". There are also very nice family communities, and down where we are, there is acreage with a mix of new homes and older and more modest homes. Everyone we've talked to says the growth in the area is coming this way, to south Johnson County. Still, the county has plans to retain the semi-rural atmosphere down here. We love that.

I notice someone also mentioned DeSoto. I found a wonderful (as in "best steaks in the world!") meat market in DeSoto and as I was driving around, I was regretting not buying a home there. Some of it is pretty run down and tacky, but there are some lovely properties as well.

I read where Versatile says Paola and Lousiburg are an easy drive from Overland Park. Well, I don't know. We live close to 69 Hwy, about 3 miles north of Spring Hill, and it takes me about a half hour to drive to Paola.

I spoke with a county appraiser the other day, and he said there are ridiculous numbers of foreclosures in Gardner. They're in newer subdivisions where people just wanted bigger and nicer homes and then got stretched too thin. It's very sad. I think towns like Gardner, Spring Hill, Paola and Louisburg are very charming. So there aren't all the shops you'd find in Overland Park -- so what? I do all my shopping in Spring Hill if I can. It hasn't been taken over by Wal-Mart and hopefully, it never will be.

I have to say that our move to Johnson County is the best thing we ever did. I don't miss the Chicago area at all. The county government works for the people -- all the employees are really nice and helpful. The county is very environmentally focused and encourages residents to be the same. The county website is excellent, a great resource for homeowners. When we found a leak in our roof, the chief building inspector for the county came over to help us work out the problem, and I've been able to call him for more advice since then. It's just totally different from Cook County, Illinois -- thank goodness!

If you have moved recently to Olathe you are probably unaware of how much uncontrolled growth and expansion that the city has gone through in the past 20-30+ years. Do not believe anything they say when it comes to growth in Olathe. The people their are pro-growth to the extreme and I think some of the people on the city planning comission have ties to the real estate developers in the area as well. The growth will continue to go to southern Johnson County no matter what, and I believe more suburban sprawl will continue to be a problem. Why? Well, in an effort to "preserve" the rural character of some areas it leads to an even greater consumption of land because the houses tend to be on larger lot sizes. This leads to a greater cost in terms of infrastructure and upkeep when the density decreases.

Overland Park has made some of the residents living in unincorporated areas of Johnson County and around the Stilwell area angry recently. Why? Overland Park wants to annex even more land south of the city to take control of the sprawling areas south of the city limits. Many people are in objection to the Overland Park annexation plans. If the Overland Park annexation suceeds the city limits would stretch from areas near the Wyandotte County line (47 street) all the way south to almost the Miami County line. If the sprawl and growth is that severe that the city limits take over nearly two counties why not divide the city into two parts. For example: South Overland Park and North Overland Park?

Johnson County should try harder to emulate the Chicagoland metro area when it comes to preserving and developing more greenbelts and forest preserve areas for all residents to enjoy. The county always is looking for more land to buy for parks because the population continues to grow rapidly in many areas.

In terms of climate the KC metro area has a MUCH warmer climate than than any other area in the Midwest. The KC metro is in the central plains and is subject to extremely long heat waves like the one that continues this summer.

That is just a few of my observations regarding your post.

[TinaMcG]

[
Johnson County should try harder to emulate the Chicagoland metro area when it comes to preserving and developing more greenbelts and forest preserve areas for all residents to enjoy. The county always is looking for more land to buy for parks because the population continues to grow rapidly in many areas. ]

Well, I don't see any forest preserves in south Johnson County, and my guess is that's because there never were any. I was in a horticulture program at a community college in Palatine, IL, and one of my teachers was the former head of conservation for the Cook County Forest Preserve District. He told us they have one of the largest parks and forest preserve systems in America. He also said the County has been selling a lot of land off to developers in recent years. They can do that, and being short of money, they do it more often than people like.

I'd like to see a better park system here, though -- and not just huge soccer and softball parks. I'd kill for a system of parks connected by walking and bike trails.

The only real problem we're having here is roaming dogs. I know this is a 'semi-rural' area, but I'm pretty tired of chasing dogs off the property -- or seeing my own two dogs chase intruders onto Ridgeview Road. There are at least a half dozen roamers on a regular basis, and apparently, it's legal.

[Plains10]

Originally Posted by TinaMcG

[
Johnson County should try harder to emulate the Chicagoland metro area when it comes to preserving and developing more greenbelts and forest preserve areas for all residents to enjoy. The county always is looking for more land to buy for parks because the population continues to grow rapidly in many areas. ]

Well, I don't see any forest preserves in south Johnson County, and my guess is that's because there never were any. I was in a horticulture program at a community college in Palatine, IL, and one of my teachers was the former head of conservation for the Cook County Forest Preserve District. He told us they have one of the largest parks and forest preserve systems in America. He also said the County has been selling a lot of land off to developers in recent years. They can do that, and being short of money, they do it more often than people like.

I'd like to see a better park system here, though -- and not just huge soccer and softball parks. I'd kill for a system of parks connected by walking and bike trails.

The only real problem we're having here is roaming dogs. I know this is a 'semi-rural' area, but I'm pretty tired of chasing dogs off the property -- or seeing my own two dogs chase intruders onto Ridgeview Road. There are at least a half dozen roamers on a regular basis, and apparently, it's legal.

The greenbelt idea would probably would work better on the Missouri side of the state line since their is more in the way of naturally wooded areas.
Do not think for a minute that Johnson County will stop its sprawling ways. I remember only 15 years ago that their was very little development at all south of 119 street in Overland Park, and corn fields surrounding many areas of Olathe. Their are real estate developers on the city commission in Olathe that have their extreme pro-growth agenda. They could probably care less about what the residents that live there want or about quality of life issues when too much growth happens at once.

[oldfred]

I moved to Louisburg about a year ago and it was the biggest mistake of my life. No one will tell you this when you are looking at real estate here, but there is a noisy natural gas compressor station on Old Metcalf on the south side of town.
This is a large compressor which is powered by a 7,500 HP motor and it runs mainly between 10 pm and 6 am, so you will not hear it when you are looking at homes.
I have measured the sound level from this compressor as high as 82 db at 3am at my back door and I am over a mile from the station. It wakes me up almost every night as it sounds like a freight train pulling a grade and it goes on for hours.