Young professionals thinking of moving to K.C. (Kansas City, St. Louis: for sale, real estate)

[Slice57]

Hello

I wanted to first thank everyone for their valuable contributions to this board. Having never been to Kansas City, this board has provided very useful information that has gotten me very excited about the potential move

A little about me and my situation. I am 27 and currently life with my wife (25) in Columbia, MO. I have received an offer to come work within the “loop” of KC. I have several months before I have to make a decision on the job, and would like to gain some information about potential places to live that fit my needs. I will then take several trips to KC to check out these places before making my decision

Area

If we are going to move to KC, we want to experience the big city lifestyle (she equates this to the show “friends” but I am sure it won’t be exactly like that. So we are looking for a place somewhere between the river (northern limit) and around the crown center (southern limit).

Here is what we are looking for, both wants and must haves

Must haves
1. Safety. I under stand that crime can happen anywhere at any time, but I am sure there are places where it is less likely. I would like to feel safe walking home after dinner or have my wife be able to take our dog out at night without being scared

2. Pets allowed. We have a small dog

3. Quite (Thick walls). We are looking for a building full of people in similar situations to ours. It is expected that sometimes things will get loud. But I don’t want us to live in a place that has a college party going on at 2 a.m. on a Tuesday night when we both have to get up for work.

4. I would like to be in a place where we can walk to various shops, restaurants, and bars. As far as the bars go, we have done the college thing (and currently live in a college town) so we are looking for the late 20s – early 40s crowd

5. Washer and dryer: what can I say, we are spoiled!

6. Assigned parking: I have friends who live in St. Louis and Chicago and parking is a nightmare!

Wants:

1. Balcony would be nice
2. A doorman for security reasons
3. Gym


Budget:
Neither of us will qualify for any type of income restricted housing. My budget is probably about $1000 a month in rent. However, if spending a little extra would place us in a better neighborhood (in terms of safety or things to do) that would be considered. We are either looking for a 2 bedroom, large 1 bedroom, or some type of lofted space

Thank you for your help in starting me search!

[smellykat]

Hi Slice57,

I am posting two real estate websites for you, previously posted on this board by an incredibly knowlegeable Kansas Citian known as KCMO:

Kathleen Brock & Associates

http://www.boverirealty.com


Both companies specialize in urban real estate, but could probably assist you with rental information too. You and your wife will enjoy living in Kansas City. It is a beautiful, friendly place with much to offer and a much lower cost of living in comparison to St. Louis or Chicago. Good luck!

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

Are you just looking at renting, or is buying a possibility? It would greatly expand your options in the limited rental market Downtown. For rentals, your best bet is probably in the River Market or Quality Hill.

I wouldn't necessarily write off the areas south of Crown Center without checking them out first (Union Hill, Westport, Plaza, etc).

I guess it depends on what kind of specific "big city" lifestyle you're looking for. While some of these areas may not have the high rises of Downtown, they can have as much to offer in terms of big city amenities and liveliness. And if you want to look at the "Friends" example, I believe they lived in the West Village , which (in the 90s) would have been more analogous to an area like Westport or the River Market, rather than Downtown (Financial District).

[Slice57]

Originally Posted by WiseOwlSaysHoot

Are you just looking at renting, or is buying a possibility? It would greatly expand your options in the limited rental market Downtown. For rentals, your best bet is probably in the River Market or Quality Hill.

I wouldn't necessarily write off the areas south of Crown Center without checking them out first (Union Hill, Westport, Plaza, etc).

I guess it depends on what kind of specific "big city" lifestyle you're looking for. While some of these areas may not have the high rises of Downtown, they can have as much to offer in terms of big city amenities and liveliness. And if you want to look at the "Friends" example, I believe they lived in the West Village , which (in the 90s) would have been more analogous to an area like Westport or the River Market, rather than Downtown (Financial District).

Thank you for the advice. I will also start looking into place a little further south.

Right now I am only looking into renting. I would like to live there for a least a year to get a better idea of the city and what area I actually like. After living there for awhile and paying off some debt, then we'll be looking to buy.

[UrbanTile]

I would lean the other way, in my opinion you should look more north. It sounds to me that you would really like the River Market (also called City Market) area. I would look around 1st -5th streets, there are many nice lofts there. I actually somewhat know the guys who did all the developments down there and they said that it is really booming, residential and commercial. There are many cool lofts there for sale and for reat. My favorite ones may just be the DE Lofts and they are well within your price range. I live south by the plaza right now and I am also 27 and my fiancee' is 24 and the river market area is where we are headed for more of the "city life". The plaza is nice, but it still just seems like its out of the loop of downtown, and Quality Hill is also nice, but there is not as much around to walk to, it feels more of a industrial area. City Market is nice because there are many places right by you that dont require hopping in your car to get there and plus it feels more like a tight knit area with young professionals being the main population. But thats just my opinion.

Good luck with the search!