Looking for a small town with a near by.... (Kansas City: new house, buy)

[DRvortec]

Looking for a small town with a near by city (1hr drive is ok). Small town with less than 20k people. Enough where my business stays mine, but people wave when you pass. Neighbors help each other. No college towns. If that makes sense. I also would like a near by city so we can work and afford the fine things in life. Wife and I are in the medical field.
We do have children. Young ones. Schools are important. We also have older ones, so an airport would be nice too for the college kids to visit.

Some where the snow is a minimum per year. A near by lake would be nice (no rivers, not into floods). Asking too much?


Any input to start would be great.

[northbound74]

The areas around Springfield probably gets the least snow. It's in the Ozarks, which usually don't flood as bad as the areas around St. Louis or KC. This past spring was unusual. There's several nice small towns around the area.
Not sure what you're used to, but Kansas City gets pretty cold, and often snowy in the winter. It's not Minnesota by any means, though.
The areas around Columbia might be an option, as well.

[DRvortec]

I am from California. Be gentle. We are at 3500feet ASL and we get 116* dry heat in summer and snow 2-3x a year. Snow usually melts by noon. Although a few years back it was 3ft and stayed for a week! High winds, gusts up to 70mph! You will know if your roof is good or not.

Define snow? Define cold? What is average summer temp and winter temp? Defind floods? How many feet deep?

Ozark has a 69% population change? wow!

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by DRvortec

I am from California. Be gentle. We are at 3500feet ASL and we get 116* dry heat in summer and snow 2-3x a year. Snow usually melts by noon. Although a few years back it was 3ft and stayed for a week! High winds, gusts up to 70mph! You will know if your roof is good or not.

Define snow? Define cold? What is average summer temp and winter temp? Defind floods? How many feet deep?

Ozark has a 69% population change? wow!

I have family in the Ozarks, but I'm mostly familiar with Kansas City. The Ozarks have slightly milder winters.. cold air coming from the north doesn't have much stopping it until it gets to the hills of the ozarks. Winds in KC (and I assume other parts of northern MO) can get very gusty, especially in the spring. 50-70mph isn't uncommon. Almost every roof on my block has been replaced this year, after some bad storms moved through, with wind and hail damage.

It doesn't get quite that hot, but there's a good bit of humidity. Average highs in July is close to 90. Temps well into the 90's are the norm for a few weeks. 100 isn't unheard of. Average highs in January is in the 30's. Temps in the 0's happen for 1-2 weeks.

When it snows, it normally sticks around for a few days. The average is about 20 inches in my area. Ice storms sometimes happen. This year in KC, we got snow every week in December, and several more "events" later on. The deepest I've seen it at one time was about a foot deep, if that.

Really bad floods are rare. The places along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers get it the worst. The main thing to remember is, don't buy a house in the river bottoms. That's not hard to do in KC, considering those areas are mostly farmland. Buy a house on a hill, and floods are the least of your worries. Missouri is hilly all over, just about. The Ozarks are just taller than the rolling hills in the north.
The flooding the Ozarks had this year was quite the event. My wife grew up there, and doesn't remember it being that bad before.

The Ozarks are your best bet for milder winters and less flooding. Oddly enough, they also have slightly less humidity than areas on any side. You won't mistake it for Cali, though.

[DRvortec]

The floods were 4' if I remember? Sounds like annually you get flooding?
http://www.ky3.com/younews/16850251.html

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-5382

[northbound74]

There's some flooding, somewhere in Missouri every year, I guess. Much of it's flash flooding. It's never affected me, personally. Flooding issues aren't hard to avoid, if you live in the right place. Don't buy a house near a river. Most roads are built high enough in the low-lying areas to compensate.

[anr_black]

You didn't mention what your housing budget is, but if you're in the medical field and live in CA, I'm assuming it'll surpass the average home price here?
When I read your list, I thought of Webster Groves, which is a close-in suburb of St. Louis. It's a historical area that still has very much of a small town feel to it, with a great downtown area (no strip malls). It has a university, but I wouldn't call it a "college town." Family Circle magazine just rated it as one of the Best 10 cities for families. You would be within a couple hour's drive to Lake of the Ozarks, or less for smaller lakes, and have a 20 min. commute to downtown St. Louis. Not many new houses though. It's known for it's big old houses and trees

[Northwoods Voyager]

I would suggest the Columbia or Jefferson City areas. Airports, hospitals, variety of restaurants, shopping, entertainment and people.


www.city-data.com/city/Columbia-Missouri.html and:


http://www.city-data.com/city/Jeffer...-Missouri.html


Good luck to you in your search.

[Versatile]

St Joseph Mo area

[lone sailor]

Willard, MO

Close to Springfield, but far enough to be out of the mainstream. Stockton Lake is only a 15-20 minute drive. Springfield airport is only a 10 minute drive. Great schools, great community. And a lower cost of living too boot, especially with you being in the medical field.


http://www.city-data.com/city/Willard-Missouri.html