Possible move to Wichita (Emporia, Hays: housing, rent, travel)

[MichaelBC]

Greetings everyone and thank you for taking the time to review my request.

I would like to ask all of you for your honest opinions. I have a job offer in Wichita, and I am currently in Savannah, Georgia. Although I grew up in Michigan so I am used to weather, especially snow, lol

I am married and we have a 9 year old son. My wife can not have anymore children and their well being and safety is the up most important thing for me. let me also add that a few years ago my wife's aunt was car-jacked and murdered so their safety is REALLY important for me. I would be working near the Boeing Facility (McConnell AFB).

My variables for looking for a house are this; great schools, low crime, subdivision preferred (looking to keep the cost of the house between 150,000 to $200,000), would also like to be some-what near a hospital, shopping, basically not out in the country, lol wife would not like that .

Is there any colleges near by? One more thing, right now, today, June 6th gas prices here are averaging 2.98/gal. just for giggles, what is the average cost of gas there?


Thank you all for your time,


Michael

[Plains10]

Some suburbs that are good would be Andover, Augusta, and Derby. All of these towns are located east and southeast of McConnell A.F.B. Commuting times from any of these suburbs should be no problem at all, and the schools are probably good in these areas as well.

[13STLCards]

My story is very similar to that of your wife's minus the very traumatic car-jacking.

My husband and I relocated to Wichita nearly 10 years ago. We first moved to Augusta. It is a fairly nice smally town (about 12,000 I think). We lived there for a year and moved to the west side of Wichita when I was pregnant with our daughter. We are just barely within the city limits of Wichita and live about a mile from the airport. We are in the Goddard School District which is one of the better districts. The website is USD 265 Goddard Public Schools if you'd like to look at it. There are quite a few Boeing workers that live on the west side of Wichita as anywhere you live in the city, it is fairly easy to get around and in terms of traffic - well, compared to anywhere else, there really isn't any. (But don't let a "Wichitan" hear that be said! They think driving from the east side to the west side is horiffic! It's 15 miles!!!) It only takes about 20 minutes to get from anywhere in Wichita to the Boeing/Spirit plant. As far as crime goes, Wichita is really a very safe city. The major crime rate is very, very low. I think our worst problem is petty crime and it's usually vandalism types of things. When we first move here, we loved to watch the news because the major story was usually the wind, the weather, or something called "Hatteberg's People". We're used to it now. (Now I work in television...) We have several good universities locally - Wichita State University (public), Friends University and Newman University (private) as well as several others in towns very close by. Wichita was just rated the 2nd best medium sized city to relocate to! My family has been very happy here, and I think you will be too.

We are preparing to relocate to PA in the next month or so due to a job change and I hope we find that move as good as the one to Wichita has been.

Feel free to email or post with more questions.

[ljkbsb]

I recently moved from west Wichita, also in the Goddard district and loved the area. I am not a big city person and everything I needed was within a 5 mile radius of our house. We lived in a nice housing addition and houses run around $ 150,000 to $ 200,000, most with a full-finished view-out or walk-out basement. The cost of living was great and I miss the shopping available.

Wichita has several colleges. Wichita State University, Newman University, and Friends University are a few of the ones. Several have programs designed for working adults, which is really convenient if you need to work while you attend college.

[KevK]

I am from Wichita and live in Douglasville GA now. If the extreme cold and the extreme heat don't bother you and if you have a job waiting you will like it there. The Boeing facility is close to the suburbs of Derby and Mulvane both of which are really nice little towns with good schools (watch your speed on K-15 BTW). In the city of Wichita itself, it is mostly safe with good schools. A few neighbourhoods there such as the central northeast side and Planeview on the south side are bad but most of the city is good and has excellent schools as well. $200,000 will buy you a mansion in Wichita. A good house can be had for about $120,000 or so. With the exception of utilitiy bills (because of the harsh climate), it is a pretty cheap place to live. And you don't really need to be "near" anything. And BTW you do have to drive there. They don't have anything like CAT or MARTA there and the buses they do have run rarely and don't really go anywhere. Anyplace in the area is about a 10 minute drive. As for shopping, you ain't gonna find a "Peachtree Street" or "Phipps Plaza" there but they do have 2 big malls (Towne East and Towne West) and the usual Wal Mart, Sears and KMart stores. Dillions is the predominant grocery store there much like Kroger is here but because they are now owned by Kroger, you still get the points and can use your Kroger card there! If you wanna know anything else, feel free to email me. BTW, you might not miss 60 degree January days and Tybee Island but your kid might take some getting used to it!

Originally Posted by MichaelBC

Greetings everyone and thank you for taking the time to review my request.

I would like to ask all of you for your honest opinions. I have a job offer in Wichita, and I am currently in Savannah, Georgia. Although I grew up in Michigan so I am used to weather, especially snow, lol

I am married and we have a 9 year old son. My wife can not have anymore children and their well being and safety is the up most important thing for me. let me also add that a few years ago my wife's aunt was car-jacked and murdered so their safety is REALLY important for me. I would be working near the Boeing Facility (McConnell AFB).

My variables for looking for a house are this; great schools, low crime, subdivision preferred (looking to keep the cost of the house between 150,000 to $200,000), would also like to be some-what near a hospital, shopping, basically not out in the country, lol wife would not like that .

Is there any colleges near by? One more thing, right now, today, June 6th gas prices here are averaging 2.98/gal. just for giggles, what is the average cost of gas there?


Thank you all for your time,


Michael

[Paul_Bettes]

Dillons has been owned by Kroger since 1983. I've worked for Dillons, Kwik Shop, and Kroger over the years.

The price of gas just took a large jump in price recently, it was down to 2.85 a gallon, but now it's up to 3.35 because (supposedly) of the flooding in Arkansas city closing the refinery there down. And that price is for basic unleaded, not mid-grade, or premium.

[timinictks]

Wichita, in all reality is a nice quite city. I have lived here about 3 1/2 years now. The economy is diverse, crime is pretty low for a city this size, the layout of the roads are competent, and there's enough shopping. Only thing I don't believe I like is the lack of concerts that I am interested in. But that is quite forgivable...

[KevK]

Originally Posted by timinictks

Wichita, in all reality is a nice quite city. I have lived here about 3 1/2 years now. The economy is diverse, crime is pretty low for a city this size, the layout of the roads are competent, and there's enough shopping. Only thing I don't believe I like is the lack of concerts that I am interested in. But that is quite forgivable...

If you really want to see a show, usually you can get tickets to it in KC. We went up there for a few shows when I lived there like Paul McCartney.

[Kansasfornow]

I think Wichita is a great town - it all depends what you are looking for. I've lived many years in two of the biggest cities - NY and Houston. I was ready for this " big small town." My son is in a wonderful public elementary magnet school with only 300 kids, its just like a private school in the best sense of that. Housing is affordable and it is so easy to get around. The day to day quality of life is wonderful. While it might not be the most exciting place in the world, that is why one travels. And because it is so affordable here one has disposable income to do just that. It all a trade off and all what one is ready/looking for - I recommend Wichita and am glad we are here.

[burnt]

Original poster:

I was born in KC-MO, grew up mostly in Wichita, and went to school in Derby from 6th grade through 12th grade (grad. 1997). My stepfather worked at Boeing the entire time, and even though my parents moved back to Riverside in Wichita after I left for college, he really preferred the commute when they lived in Derby. If you want an easy commute to Boeing, move to Derby. If you're looking for great schools, Derby. Safe? Derby. Yuppy subdivision? Derby. Burgeoning economy? Well, I haven't lived there in a decade, but I hear it's still Derby. Mulvane's not bad either. The closest colleges to Derby are Wichita State, Newman U., and Friends U. in Wichita, plus Southwestern College in Winfield, I'm pretty sure. I went to college at Emporia State, which is in Emporia, about 70 minutes from Derby or Wichita. There's also a decent Cowley County Community College branch in Mulvane, just a few miles south of Derby. You might also look at Rose Hill, Haysville, or Andover.

AVOID OAKLAWN, AND AREAS THAT USED TO BE CALLED OAKLAWN: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Oaklaw...i=map&ct=image

Oaklawn is really close to Boeing, but trust me, you don't want that area.