Possible move to KC Area

[Luv4ThePaws]

Hi there!

I posted under another forum and although I appreciate *KCMO* responding to my questions, I have some more. Namely, how bad are tornadoes in the KC area? Keep in mind, I have lived my life in CA and NC and the movie "Twister" scares me... So, obviously, I have no weather sense!! Also, Liberty was recommended to me as a nice, family-friendly city where we could meet nice couples and families. Anyone have personal experience with Liberty or another nice, smaller town like that? We would be looking in the $250-300k range, and we would like good schools and low crime... Low taxes would be nice too!!!

Thanks KC people!!!!!

[gonefishingw2boys]

I am moving from Columbus, OH to Kansas city, MO in a month. We are living in KS right next to Liberty, our kids will go to Liberty schools. I can't speak for any other towns, but I can tell you our experience in looking at houses in Liberty and in KC but Liberty schools. Many families outside visiting in the yards and playing with kids. People waving to us as if we were already neighbors. MANY nice houses in your price range in Liberty/Liberty school district. On average you can get at least 2500 sq foot or more with real hardwood floors, 3 car garage, fireplace 3+ baths, 4 or more bedrooms. Yes, just like everyone says, many of the neighborhoods have cookie cutter houses. We walked up and down the street of the house we wanted to bid on to get a feel for the neighborhood. The neighbors seen us looking at the house and came out of their garages to the sidewalk to introduce themselves. Several more families came over to meet us. Everyone seemed genuine and nice. We stopped in a preschool in Liberty to check it out and the director raved about the Liberty schools and how friendly people are there. I am looking forward to getting out there. I hope everyone is half as nice as they seem to be- and we will be very happy. I feel very comfortable with our choice in Liberty.

[kcmo]

gonefishing,

nice to see you are officially coming to town! Welcome!

luv4thepaws,

I don't know what to tell you about twisters. I have lives in Missouri all my life and have never seen one. For the most part, the seem to avoid metro KC, but once in a while, they smack into a suburb or something. They can do heavy damage, but it's been 30 plus years since the metro has had a major tornado that killed a lot of people, (like more than zero).

Flooding and ice kill far more in the KC area. I just wouldn't worry about it and if it does bother you, buy a home with a basement, most in KC have one.

At least you can protect yourself from a twister, the CA earthquakes on the other hand

And gone fishing is right, you would like his area (KCMO side of I-35, but people still call it “Liberty” or Liberty side and in that price range, there are some very nice areas north of the South Liberty parkway, east of I-35.

[Luv4ThePaws]

Thanks so much, gonefishing and KCMO. I love that neighbors come out to greet you and welcome you to the neighborhood. Believe it or not, I thought Charlotte would be a lot friendlier than CA, but after living in this neighborhood for 2.5 years, none of our neighbors have even introduced themselves....... We tell them hello when in passing, but we never would have known names had we not introduced ourselves... I am looking forward to a friendlier town with kind people! Thanks for the info about the twisters. I have heard that area a lot on the news lately and I would hate to be caught up in that kind of scary situation.

[gonefishingw2boys]

KCMO, thanks for the welcome. I have to tell you that I have in a folder a printed copy of advice you gave a few months back. It is a page of fun things to do in KC if you have one day. We are taking your advice when we get here and have to wait a couple of days for our stuff to arrive. We are going to stay at the Crown Center and enjoy the Union Station and several of the other neat attractions down there.

Thanks for all of your thoughtful posts. You do make KC seem like a great place to live and explore. We are looking forward to it!

Any suggestions for fun 4th of July things to do?

Good luck Luv4thepaws!

[relhak]

Love4thepaws:

You're moving from a state with mudslides, sinkholes, wildfires and earthquakes, and tornadoes scare you? Tornadoes and the severe weather they accompany usually last ten minutes or less and if you go to your basement you're highly likely to survive even a direct hit from a big one. Some homes even have vaulted sections of the basement (usually under the garage or front porch) that are essentially tornado-proof if tornadoes really scare you that much.

Of all my friends, family and neighbors, the worst damage I've ever heard from 'tornadoes' is knocked down trees or fences (wood picket). They look huge, but the significant damage (worse than a simple windstorm) path they create is usually shockingly narrow (50 ft) and just a few blocks long. Having my house burn down is a much greater concern to me than any tornado.

I'm pretty sure the ice storms or various floods (just don't buy a house in a flood plain) cause more damage each year than the tornadoes.

[Luv4ThePaws]

Thanks Relhak! I appreciate it!! I guess I am used to earthquakes and fires (luckily they were never too close to us, and you do have time to evacuate) and the thought of a tornado just randomly dropping out of the sky kind of worries me! I know it must seem so silly, and I so appreciate your informative post! It does make me feel much better. My sister lives in Omaha, and they had one right down the street the other day....

[HeadWest]

Originally Posted by 03psd

What a great resource this page is I am real glad I found it as I have learned more in 1 hour of just reading then I did speaking to 2 real estate agents for 4 hours

My wife and I may be relocating to the KC area. My company has an office in Raytown but I gather its not a great place to live. We have no kids so schools arent a huge factor other then good schools typically lead to higher property values. We are either looking for homes in the $300-$450k range or will build one to suit our needs. I do not want a cookie cutter house in what I call a "house farm" (clear cut land, no trees, houses stacked on top of each other). We are accustomed to a 30-45 minute commute so some distance is fine. We are not predisposed to either KS or MO so long as it is in a conservative, up scale area. If this means we are sort of "snobby" then so be it.

We would appreciate any input on established neighborhoods or growing areas where we could build.

Thanks

Do you eat organics? If so JO-CO is the only game in town. I'd strongly suggest lenexa (they have a high median income, well educated community and STABLE)

Missouri neighborhoods change alot and are less stable... Lees Summit is building alot of homes in the "upper scale" range... but they also have an increasing problem with crime and low-income neighborhoods on the missouri side.

Let me tell you something everyone is probably too polite to say. KC is majorly segregated by income level and as they revitalized downtown they're pushing the ghetto into grandview and raymore and raytown and lees summit is next.

Kansas neighborhoods are more stable, better investment. Plus if you want conservative you can't beat Kansas ha ha ha they don't even believe in evolution :-) good luck!

[kcmo]

He's basically trying to say that Kansas (Johnson County) is ultra white, ultra conservative and if you can read between the lines, ultra stuck up.

Crime up in Lee's Summit? And what is wrong with Raymore or Raytown? Too many black people? There are areas on the MO side to stay away from, east KCMO, Hickman, Ruskin, The vast majority of Lee's Summit is not one of them. Raytown and Raymore may not be executive housing and office parks, but they are fine places to buy a starter home. Raymore has some pretty upscale stuff going in. Blue Springs has black people moving in too. There is a reason why middle class black families have no interest in moving to the Kansas suburbs. They are not welcome there unless they are ballplayers and living in Hallbrook or Cedar Creek. Raytown looks a lot like northern Overland Park or Roeland Park. I’m sure you don’t claim those areas though.

The KS side is so racially and socially divided that they don’t know what is a good area of town anymore. The funny thing about the Kansas side is that nobody ever mentions that KCK is on the Kansas side too and that city makes KCMO look like paradise.

It’s up to you. If you want to live generations deep in suburbia where kids are raised to think that everything north of 95th and east of state line is ghetto and that if you don’t live in a $380,000 home and drive a car with a JO on the license plate, you are low life than so be it.

If you can afford a very nice home. Look out towards Lee’s Summit or up in Platte County where you will find extremely nice areas that don’t think they are better than everybody else. You should also look in the urban areas of the city. KCMO has some incredible urban neighborhoods from downtown all the way to 435 and of course KCMO also offers high density urban living in the Plaza, Midtown and Downtown areas in the way of high-rise condo, lofts, row houses and apartments. And believe it or not, there are organic food stores on the MO side too. You have far more transit options too on the MO side, but again, you might have to sit next to somebody that only makes 30k a year. If that bothers you. Move to JoCo. At least in JoCo you don’t have to pay for stadiums and museums and stuff, they get to use all of the MO side attractions for free at the expense of the very people they look down on.

You are much less likely to hate the big bad city living on the MO side as KS many KS side people have nothing good to say about KCMO unless the Royals are winning or they want to associate with being from a city “KC” and not Kansas when telling others where they live.

KC is a great city. Urban KCMO is simply amazing and offers as much as any major city out there if you let it. Live on the MO side or you will be brainwashed that KC is ghetto and crime ridden and you can hang out at strip malls and golf courses and worship KU for the rest of your life.

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by HeadWest

Do you eat organics? If so JO-CO is the only game in town. I'd strongly suggest lenexa (they have a high median income, well educated community and STABLE)

Missouri neighborhoods change alot and are less stable... Lees Summit is building alot of homes in the "upper scale" range... but they also have an increasing problem with crime and low-income neighborhoods on the missouri side.

Let me tell you something everyone is probably too polite to say. KC is majorly segregated by income level and as they revitalized downtown they're pushing the ghetto into grandview and raymore and raytown and lees summit is next.

Kansas neighborhoods are more stable, better investment. Plus if you want conservative you can't beat Kansas ha ha ha they don't even believe in evolution :-) good luck!

As for organic, I've never been in there, but there's a place on 40hwy in Independence called Nature's Pantry. According to their website, they sell quite a bit of organic stuff. Hy-Vee's have a section of that kind of thing, but organic aficionado's my turn their nose up to it, I guess. I'm certain I've seen a few of those places in midtown, as well.

Typical of JoCo people, you fail to realize that something besides the airport exists north of the Missouri River. Some of the best areas in all of Kansas City are up there. Next time you're up that way, assuming you get brave enough to leave JoCo, try going the speed limit (which isn't popular with JoCo folks, I know). You might see what I'm talking about.

Funny, I kind of liked JoCo when I first moved here. Then I saw how far too many people over there look down on where you live if you don't live there. I'll stay in Independence.

Lee's Summit is on a role. I'm not the slightest bit worried about them. They'll address the crime issues, I'm certain, before it gets too bad. Considering it's one of the safest places around, I can't believe I just said "too bad". Hmm. After a quick look at the crime stats on this very website, Lee's Summit appears to have a lower crime rate than either Overland Park or Olathe, either one.

Since I try to be a nice guy, I'll apologize for the rudeness. I just don't understand the mentality of "Johnson County is the only place in Kansas City to live". It's utter nonsense.