Impressions of Overland Park (Olathe, Shawnee: real estate, for sale, work)

[jazztrumpet5]

Originally Posted by whowants2know

You would not be happy anywhere you lived.

Amen on this one.

[WeHateJoCo]

OK, I have lived in Naperville, IL and now reside in OP, and let me tell you, there is a WORLD of difference. Mainly, the traffic in OP is horrendous. The city should be ashamed of the way they manage the traffic flow. The drivers should be ashamed at how they drive. I have travelled all over this country for my previous job, and the traffic in OP is worse than in Chicago, Little Rock (notorious for it's bad drivers), and Boston. Only Puerto Rican drivers outshine JoCo drivers in the SUCK category. How many times a day CAN I get cut off by a Navigator switching from the right lane, over 4 lanes, into the left-hand turn lane with no turn signal or even a glance at thier blind spot? Oh, you're too busy talking on your phone to look or signal, sorry. Oh, you're stopped in the middle of the road because you have a MAKEUP EMERGENCY, well that's OK then, I thought it was for no good reason. When you're driving up Metcalf at 9:00 at night, with no other traffic in sight, should you be stopping at EVERY SINGLE TRAFFIC light?

In addition to the traffic problems, it is true that the cost of living out here is outrageous. Guess what, East Coasters, the cost of living is higher in the NE, but so are the salaries. Now, if I can stop at a store in KC, MO, where I work, and buy milk for $1 less a gallon, or gas for $.30 less a gallon, why would I drive 10 minutes away into OP and pay more?

JoCo SUCKS, cookie-cutter neighborhoods with cookie-cutter strip malls. I do understand that I made a (rushed) choice to move here, but I will be moving AWAY as soon as my lease is up. The city needs to stop leasing every available inch of land to developers and focus their attention on traffic managment, among other things.

[Mathguy]

When did you last live in Naperville? 1953?

Housing there is twice what it costs in Johnson County and it takes most people longer to get to the train station in Naperville (Is it still a 3 year wait list for parking there?) than people's total commute in Joco.

Don't get me wrong, Naperville is a *really* nice town but to complain about traffic and cost here?

I don't know what brutal commute you roped yourself into....if you were dumb enough to live in JOCO and commute through the triangle then that's your fault. Like living in Naperville and working in Lake Forest would be a nightmarish commute eh?

P.S. Cookie cutter neighborhoods. Naperville holds the record for that one. There are plenty of non-cookier cutter places in JOCO....Naperville only had about one and hardly anyone could afford to live there.

[VillageLife]

I was in KC from 72' to 76'. Went to UMKC and lived in Overland Park. I really thought it was a wondeful place.Very nice atmosphere.I really miss that area.Visited in the late 80's.Hoping to visit again.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by dragonten

I was in KC from 72' to 76'. Went to UMKC and lived in Overland Park. I really thought it was a wondeful place.Very nice atmosphere.I really miss that area.Visited in the late 80's.Hoping to visit again.

You probably will not recognize the city if you visit again. Overland Park now has around 170,000 people and the suburban sprawl has taken over just about everything. Overland Park wants to annex even more land south of the city and many residents in the proposed annex area are outraged. The sprawl has gotten so bad that they want to annex land SOUTH of 179th Street. In the 1980s most of the sprawl stopped after 119th street. Meanwhile, I-435 on the southside is now up to 8 lanes in some areas with sound barriers being added everywhere. The other city down I-35 is Olathe. That city for whatever reason has adopted the growth at all costs mentality and now has cookie cutter houses and strip malls on every corner. Olathe now has over 115,000 people. I would say that the pace of life and traffic has increased exponentially around Johnson County in the past 20 years. Everyone seems to be in a hurry and their are plenty of rude drivers everywhere.

[Mathguy]

Just for scale, Naperville IL (previously mentioned) has a population density of around 4,000/sq mile and OP is <3,000.

Lenexa is <1300.

Definitely more sprawl and congestion in Olathe and OP than in other parts of JOCO.

P.S. Median home value Naperville = 329,000. Median Johnson county 230,000.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Just for scale, Naperville IL (previously mentioned) has a population density of around 4,000/sq mile and OP is <3,000.

Lenexa is <1300.

Definitely more sprawl and congestion in Olathe and OP than in other parts of JOCO.

P.S. Median home value Naperville = 329,000. Median Johnson county 230,000.

Here is the average price of current MLS listings of homes for sale in some Johnson County cities. The data might be about 2-3 weeks old.

Average home value in Overland Park= Around $280,000
Average home value in Shawnee= Around $255,000
Average home value in Lenexa= Around $310,000
Average home value in Olathe= Around $235,000
Average home value in Leawood= Around $525,000

[Mathguy]

I don't know if you are trying to correct me or add more data but Median <> Average, the presence of a few high end homes presents a higher average price than median price.

The point was to compare Naperville....what is their average price?

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

I don't know if you are trying to correct me or add more data but Median <> Average, the presence of a few high end homes presents a higher average price than median price.

The point was to compare Naperville....what is their average price?

I was trying to suggest that their are several cities in Johnson County that have average home prices as high as Naperville. In Johnson County their is a wide price range for houses depending on the city. Some of the most affordable towns in Johnson County to buy a house would be Merriam and Roeland Park. The average price in those areas is around $175K or less. Then, you have the more expensive areas of Johnson County around Leawood where the average price is around 525K. Also, their are many MLS listings of properties for sale in the city of Leawood currently so that average price is about right. The "Leawood" name alone commands the higher price tag.

It is a little hard to compare Naperville with Johnson County cities. Both areas suffer from the same types of cookie cutter developments along with strip malls and fairly high traffic volumes. The main difference is that Naperville is in the midwest and the KC metro area is in the plains.

[GraniteStater]

(I found a previous post. It looks like that only 5 cities in Johnson County have an average price around that of Naperville or higher. The real estate prices are affordable in Johnson County compared with many other markets in the country.)

Here are the median home prices for various Johnson County cities based on current MLS listings. Their is a lot of variety in the cities in towns in Johnson County with a wide range of housing stock at varying price points. To say the entire county is overpriced is very incorrect. Their are many cities in Johnson County with housing values below the national average. This includes smaller towns on the exurban fringe and inner ring suburbs. The highest housing prices are the communities closest to the Missouri state line.
Roeland Park- $157,900 (below the national average)
Edgerton- $159,950 (below the national average)
Mission- $164,950 (below the national average)
Merriam- $165,000 (below the national average)
Westwood- $174,950 (below the national average)
Gardner- $185,000 (below the national average)
Prairie Village- $209,950 (below the national average)
Spring Hill- $216,600 (below the national average)
Olathe- $232,950 (near the national average)
De Soto- $245,000 (above the national average)
Shawnee- $259,950 (above the national average)
Overland Park- $279,916 (above the national average)
Lenexa- $315,950 (above the national average)
Fairway- $319,900 (above the national average)
Leawood- $525,000 (above the national average)
Mission Woods- $779,000 (above the national average)
Mission Hills- $849,000 (above the national average)