Impressions of Overland Park (Kansas City, Olathe: real estate market, apartments, lease)

[VillageLife]

Originally Posted by Plains10

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.

I suppose it's the sign of the times.I always felt that that area was wonderful. People don't change though. You guys out there are very conservative,and I like that.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by dragonten

I suppose it's the sign of the times.I always felt that that area was wonderful. People don't change though. You guys out there are very conservative,and I like that.

Johnson County is fairly middle of the road when it comes to politics, and leans to the moderate Republican side. Many moderate Republicans will vote for a Democrat if they represent the issues they are looking for. For example, Dennis Moore is still a state representative and the moderate Republicans and Democrats usually vote for him. Our current governor is Kathleen Sebelius, and is a Democrat as well. Moderate Republicans and Conservative Republicans in Johnson County have had many political battles and the moderates usually when over the far-right conservatives most of the time.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Plains10

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.

Speaking first hand from someone that has lived 5 years plus in both vicinities....the main difference is that people live in Naperville and most commute downtown for work (>1 hour each way). The other difference is that homes cost quite a bit more for a comparable house.

Additionally, only the JOCO areas around Olathe and South OP have traffic volume even approaching Naperville. That leaves huge swaths of JOCO, like Lenexa that has 1/3 of the population density of Naperville.

Lastly, how can you claim they have comparable average home prices to naperville....you are comparing average to median. Naperville home prices are ballpark to Leawood.

[VillageLife]

I am not political or like to debate,but I am more interested in the prices of homes,since I am a realtor.
The prices in Overland Park are pretty reasonable. I thought it was higher
The prices in Mission Hills are equivalent to the homes in San Marino,the two cities look similar.The most expensive home listed right now is $6,500,000 though

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Speaking first hand from someone that has lived 5 years plus in both vicinities....the main difference is that people live in Naperville and most commute downtown for work (>1 hour each way). The other difference is that homes cost quite a bit more for a comparable house.

Additionally, only the JOCO areas around Olathe and South OP have traffic volume even approaching Naperville. That leaves huge swaths of JOCO, like Lenexa that has 1/3 of the population density of Naperville.

Lastly, how can you claim they have comparable average home prices to naperville....you are comparing average to median. Naperville home prices are ballpark to Leawood.

Refer to the post that I made after the one you quoted. It lists the average price of MLS listed homes for sale in all Johnson County cities.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Plains10

Refer to the post that I made after the one you quoted. It lists the average price of MLS listed homes for sale in all Johnson County cities.

Yes, it was an excellent lists comparing average home prices. The only part that I was confused by is that nowhere did you list the average home price for Naperville.....so how can I perform the comparison you suggested?

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Yes, it was an excellent lists comparing average home prices. The only part that I was confused by is that nowhere did you list the average home price for Naperville.....so how can I perform the comparison you suggested?

According to MLS listings on yahoo.com their are 1,369 properties for sale in Naperville with the median price for all MLS listings at around $425,000. Naperville would be more expensive overall compared with almost all of the Johnson County cities.
According to MLS listings on yahoo.com their are around 430 properties for sale in Leawood with the median price for all listings coming in at $529,000. The three towns that are generally more expensive than Naperville in Johnson County are:
Mission Hills, Mission Woods, and Leawood.

In conclusion: Both Naperville and Leawood are expensive areas, but Leawood is probably more exculsive and has a much lower population than Naperville. Mission Hills and Mission Woods would probably be comparable to the Barrington area of the Chicagoland suburbs.

[Mathguy]

Thanks, I agree.

Yeah, Naperville is hard to classify as anything downtown and close to the train tracks goes at a super high premium but if you get WAY out on the edge in some of the track home on cornfield areas then it's a whole lot cheaper.

OP south of 435 and over by Olathe does remind me of Naperville in terms of the rapid southern expansion, types of housing etc and to some agree traffic congestion.

[wish4coner]

I come from the east coast. You can't beat the cost of living here. The tax on food and clothing was new to me, having not had that back east. One thing I do miss is the tax free state near me. We had New Hampshire and could save a good amount on taxable items.

The schools here are equivalent to the private schools back east, if not better. I have never seen such a wonderful, devoted school system. My children are in a higher standard of learning--what they learn in middle school here, back east learns in high school (if at all, for some subjects). I feel they prepare the kids well for the work force, right from elementary school on. It is pricey to go to school here. You do have to pay--as well as paying for buses. That is also new to me, since public school back home was paid for through tax dollars. However, we still have the best and I wouldnt trade that for the world.

OP is very snooty, however. I know some won't agree with me but, those that have experienced it know exactly what I am talking about. I do prefer to go to Merriam, Shawnee and KC, MO. The people are more down to earth and the neighborhoods seem more homey. That is just my opinion because, those areas remind me of the small communities we had back home, and the friendliness of neighbors there.

[pieo]

I appreciate you taking the time to post that info but I can tell you that not one of those numbers accurately reflects the average sale price of a home in Johnson County. I have been in real estate here for a long time and when I first saw your numbers, I wasnt sure where those were coming from. I saw you were getting it off of Yahoo using active listings and that is why they are so incorrect to the actual sale price of homes in JOCO. The thing you are not taking into consideration is that the average 200,000 home in JoCo does not sit on the market long and the average 700,000 home will sit for a lot longer. Currently the upper end market is the weakest market in JOCO so that is why your numbers are so high, there are just alot more upper end homes sitting on the market. I dont have time to go through each individual city but here is the accurate medium and average sale information for single family homes for the year through July 2007 for all Johnson County (broken down by # of bedrooms).

The first column are 2 bedrooms or less, the second column are 3 bedrooms and the third column are 4+ Bedrooms.

Med Price (in 1,000s)112.5 160.4 263.5
Avg Price (in 1,000s)117.9 175.6 320.9