I want to leave California for Missouri (Excelsior Springs, Parkville: transplants, real estate)

[sbedwards855]

The Kansas City Area has a lot of suburbs...(North) Excelsior Springs, Liberty, Gladstone, Parkville etc. (South)Harrisonville, Raymore,PLeasant Hill, Peculiar Raytown, (East) Independence, Lees Summit Blue Springs, Grain Valley, Oak Grove Odessa, Bates City,Lone Jack, Buckner (West) Overland Park, Mission, Shawnee Mission, Lenexa, Olathe, Stanley, Spring Hill, Gardner, Louisburg, Hillsdale, Bashor, Piper, Tonganoxie,Leavenworth these are just a few of the suburbs.....There are a lot of great buys on homes, the schools are awesome and there are a lot of things to do in Kansas City....We have the new Sprint center for concerts etc, Kemper Arena, The New Kansas Speedway (Nascar) Worlds of fun Amusement Park, Royals Stadium, Chiefs Stadium, museums , Starlight outdoor theatre, K.C.Zoo, lots of fine dining and entertainment and we are so centrally located. Great lakes and parks for camping, fishing, boating. Branson is only 4 to 5 hours away. Come on home...the weather is great, and the hospitallity is the best in the US.....

[mrjason]

After reading KCRichard's contribution, I was ready to start packing my things. I have reread it several times, and I have to say it is a truly convincing response. I thank you so much for taking the time to put it all down in words for me...with numerous examples and specifics. I have to say, I'm ready to come back, and i almost think I won't secure a job first. I realize that's not so smart, so I will try to avoid anything too impulsive. That post really struck a chord with me. Thanks to everyone who has weighed in on my situation and offered your opinions. I'm sitting here in my Chiefs t-shirt as I type. Unfortunately I haven't been able to watch the last two games out here in california because they weren't televised on traditional cable. : (

[KensingtonPark]

MrJason:

My wife and I lived in the KC area for many years before moving out of state for work reasons. Having also lived in California, I can speak directly to your concerns.

1. It definitely will be easier to live and work in KC than CA from a monetary standpoint. Although it won't be quite as easy as you may think. If you map equivalent neighborhoods, however, it's not quite as cheap as the numbers make it sound.

2. You don't say where the rest of your family and significant contacts are. One thing that I learned in KC is that your contacts/family from the rest of the country are going to come out to visit you exactly once in their lives. The remaining visits are going to be elsewhere. That can be draining if you get tired of always being on the visiting end of those types of functions.

3. People are genuinely nice in KC. We miss our friends from KC.

4. People are also genuinely defensive about KC, as if they need to prove that KC is nice to other people. It can get a little annoying. So can the somewhat consistent perception in all parts of the country be about KC and what it may be like. When/if you travel, get used to the treatment; you'll see why people get defensive.

5. Homes in KC in the middle class price range are not especially well-built. It doesn't matter whether the houses are new or old; the issue relates to both building codes, which have consistently been a little behind and the weather, which is neither cold enough to justify Minneapolis-class rigidity nor warm enough to allow mediocrity to go largely unnoticed Dallas-style.

6. The weather is every kind of weather anyone has seen. Snow, Ice, Rain, Wind, Tornadoes, Heat, Beautiful Spring, Beatiful Fall, you name it, KC has it. It's really hard to convey this to others, but I believe that KC has an equal balance of all types of weather unlike any other in the US. It is the source of KC’s Achilles’ Heel from a cost of living standpoint – living in KC means very few days on which it is possible to be indoors without some form of climate control, and a LOT of it. Offsets a little the cost of living compared to less intense climates.

All in all, we loved KC. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to move closer to family, but would have happily stayed there for the rest of our lives. We’ve moved a lot, and I think that life’s too short to live in an area that you don’t like.

[ex64060]

I personally have lived in California and Missouri
I thinks its a great move to come back to KC
I lived in San Diego suburbs, Orange County and Eat SF Bay Area
I came back years ago for a safe place to raise my kids!
You can buy a home at a great price as you know!
What are you looking at as far as time frame?
Do you need info as far as whats available in various areas of KC? email me
just click on the ex64060 at top

M Hughes
Realty Executives

PS funny thing is I just spent a fortune to visit California
Carmel, Big Sur, Sausalito and Calistoga
Awesome place to visit but can't afford to live where I would love to live in California (near Big sur on the ocean side of 1 )

[Hollywood13]

I wanted to respond, but realize this may not get read as it has been 5 months since the last entry. But, first of all, I love KC and miss it dearly. I currently live in Dallas and can't stand it to be honest. Foremost, the people here suck to put it bluntly...they are overly concerned about money and image. I have lived in San Diego and Ft. Lauderdale as well, but always end up missing KC. San Diego is an awesome place to live, the weather is perfect, very friendly people and lots to do, but don't expect to buy a house out there. The money you would spend to buy a nice house in KC, you would be living in a very bad part of town in San Diego...if you're single and renting, great...not a place to raise a family. Kansas City in my mind has a lot to offer. It was rated by yahoo recently as one of the top five underrated cities in the US. It has history, a large art culture, great cuisine, friendly people, affordable living and in my mind, great tradition. Here in Dallas, you won't see anything like the Plaza lighting ceremony...nothing like the Plaza art festival...and even the St. Patrick's Day parade is incomparable. KC has casinos, professional sports, the new Sprint Center, the Plaza, Westport, Kansas Speedway, Nelson Art Museum, World's of Fun/Ocean's of Fun...that right there is about twice as much as I could mention for Dallas...and it's almost four times as big in population. I could go on, but then would end up being a novel. I would move back in a heart beat and look forward to that day actually.

[ChicagoRefugee]

As long as this thread has been reopened, I just wanted to add this:

trying to teach English to the hordes of English learners from Mexico. By no means am I a rascist, but, my god, the majority of these students don't even care that much about learning English.

Immigrants come in order to learn the language and adopt the customs of their new homeland. Colonizers come in order to impose their own.

[illini84]

I'm jumping into this mid-thread, but after reading what everyone has to say about KC (especially KCRichard's post), it reinforced my desire to relocate there soon. I'm originally from southern Illinois and lived briefly in St. Louis before settling in Miami. I couldn't wait to leave the Midwest for warm weather and the beach. Now I can't wait to leave Miami for the Midwest! KC sounds like a great, very underrated city. The rudeness of the people and cost of living in Miami is absolutely shocking! I can relate to the person who started this thread--Miami is over 70% Hispanic and while I'm racist by no means, I'm sick of all the signs, advertisements, 30+ channels of my cable, and even the signs and products in stores like Walgreen's being in Spanish only. I have the worst time communicating since I don't speak Spanish. I typically have to have my boss's assistant call the cable company for me, the maintenance man for my apartment, my landlord, etc. The work ethic and customer service is the worst I've ever experienced in my whole life. Anyway, after venturing out of the Midwest for awhile, I've really come to see what a hidden gem it is. Genuinely friendly people, a reasonable cost of living, and seasons speak a lot Thanks to everyone who took time to post positive things about KC!

[ChicagoRefugee]

Demographic replacement in 6 steps:

1) ENGLISH
2) ENGLISH/spanish
3) ENGLISH/SPANISH
4) SPANISH/ENGLISH
5) SPANISH/english
6) SPANISH

[Betsyg]

Liberty actually delayed sending out classroom assignments this past year 07/08 because they did a tremendous amount of hiring right before the school year started to fulfill their new mission of keeping class elementary class sizes small. There is a new high school opening in 2010 and they are in the process of purchasing land for a 3rd middle school/jr. high complex. Lots of opportunities for teaching here.

Betsy

[eslsensei]

Hmmmm....first of all, KC is a very boring place. Everyone lives in the suburbs, which are equally boring and think that coming into the city is 'dangerous'. I lived in San Diego for 10 years and if it were not for the cost of living, I would still be there.

Second of all, all teachers want to teach in the suburbs, so it is highly competitive.

Third of all, I'm an ESL teacher, and my immigrant students care more than the native speakers. Their parents are a joy to work with, and they are extremely caring people.

Fourth of all, stay in California!