Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Missouri > Kansas City
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 07-22-2015, 08:33 AM
 
37 posts, read 86,264 times
Reputation: 19

Advertisements

We have lived in several parts of Kansas City over the years, trying to find the right fit for us. I have also gotten a lot of great information and advice on here on where to live. We have lived in Hyde Park, Brookside/Waldo and South Kansas City. Due to my husband's job, we have to have a KCMO address. We bought a house a couple of years ago out South. At the time, we homeschooled our 11 year old daughter so school wasn't important to us. We also had done private school. So we knew we would continue to do one of the two until 12th grade. Well, that has changed. We are done homeschooling. My daughter really wants to go to a regular school and I feel like it is definitely time. I'm ready for her to do that. So I enrolled her in the private school she attended before. The only way we can afford this school is if I work. I had a job interview 3 weeks ago and was basically told I have the job and that I would start around August 1st, but they were getting approval from board members since this position is being newly created. They had to get approval on pay, job details and start date. Well, I just found out that because of some budget cut backs, this position may not happen for another 2-3 months, or not at all. I have been scrambling putting my resume out there but haven't heard back on anything. I'm freaking out because school starts next month and I have no plan. We are in the Grandview School District, which is so ridiculous to me given that we don't live anywhere near Grandview. And I do not want to send my daughter to that district. Soooo, after doing a ton of research on what public school districts are the best on the Missouri side, I came up with Park Hill. A lot of KCMO city employed people we know live up north, but we have never wanted to move up there. Just not our thing. To be honest, my dream would be to live in Brookside and send my daughter to private school, but we just can't afford it. So, I'm trying to decide if it's worth moving up there for the sake of my daughter's education. She has 7 more years of school left. In the grand scheme of things, that's not a long time, and we could move to wherever we want to after that. My fear is, I'm going to get up there and hate it and be unhappy. I love everything about more urban areas such as Brookside. I love the diversity. I love shopping at local shops and eating at local restaurants. We attend church downtown. My daughter takes dance classes in Brookside. Up north would be a total culture shock to us. Not to mention, most of my friends live in Brookside.

I would love to hear others' opinions. Has anybody else had to do this move for the sake of school districts. I think I may be over analyzing, researching and beating my head against a wall trying to make the right decision. I'm sending out an SOS here so I don't go crazy. LOL!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 07-22-2015, 09:25 AM
 
Location: Washington, DC area
11,108 posts, read 23,892,595 times
Reputation: 6438
I was in the exact same boat. Living in Waldo, wanted to live in Brookside and use private schools but couldn’t swing it. While I would have at least attempted the grade schools, the wife was concerned about schools after grade school and didn’t want to move after few years.

I had zero interest in suburban living. Bought a home on the border of Blue Springs and Lee’s Summit and really enjoyed our time there. Here is why. We still took advantage of advantage of suburban living (good schools, nice little league recreation options etc) but never stopped taking advantage of the city and visited urban parts of the city very often. My kids basically grew up very exposed to both suburban and urban lifestyles at the same time. When one of them was in second grade, he was able to help a lost bus driver on a field trip in the crown center area of KCMO.

Don’t worry about it. Enjoy it up there. It’s a nice area. Just don’t forget where you came from and what you really like. It’s still there and easily accessible even if you are living in a suburban area.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2015, 09:36 AM
 
2,233 posts, read 3,166,730 times
Reputation: 2076
I suspect you will find it's not as different as you think/fear. I personally, think old Briarcliff would be very like Brookside in a lot of great ways, but with very good schools, and more space. Still very charming and neighborhood focused, very close to the core, and still in the city limits. That is probably the only northland neighborhood in KCMO I would ever even entertain the idea of living in, but option b is to just fully embrace suburban living, with all the niceties it has to offer that the city does not (lake subdivisions, neighborhood pools, enormous garages, new plumbing, heating A/C, wiring, windows, foundations, etc. and just dive right in...then spend all that private school money doing the things you want to do in the city, i.e., dining out, going to events, museums, etc....
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2015, 09:46 AM
 
Location: CasaMo
15,971 posts, read 9,387,014 times
Reputation: 18547
If you tell yourself beforehand you're not going to like it, you're not giving it a fair chance. You can get to your church downtown in probably the same amount of time, if not less from the area you're looking into. It really is easy to navigate the northland area.

Last edited by MoNative34; 07-22-2015 at 09:54 AM.. Reason: Forgot she had to live in KCMO limits.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2015, 11:49 AM
 
10,075 posts, read 7,544,097 times
Reputation: 15501
I feel like parkville pretty comparable to brookside, kind of :S as close as any in northland anyways...

I like north kansas city though but that's a personal thing too many hills in parkville
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2015, 11:54 AM
 
Location: Middle America
37,409 posts, read 53,584,768 times
Reputation: 53073
You live in South Kansas City now. I don't think you'd find the Northland so incredibly different that actual "culture shock" would come into play.

Do you experience culture shock when you travel from your current home in the Grandview school district to Brookside?

I don't know, I've lived all over the metro (the only part of town I've actually NOT lived in is Northland), and never has there been such a markedly different quality of life that I've felt culture shock.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2015, 12:05 PM
 
10,075 posts, read 7,544,097 times
Reputation: 15501
i get culture shock when I go to IKEA and trader joes, down south, does that count?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2015, 12:07 PM
 
37 posts, read 86,264 times
Reputation: 19
These are all great points. Thank you. It makes me feel better if we do decide to move up north. The other thought I had today was downsizing in house and buy something in Brookside that would be smaller and closer to Troost. There are some houses I saw online for $150,000-175,000. That would free up money each month to be able to afford private school. I even saw some really nice houses in South Hyde Park for the price range. Thoughts??
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2015, 12:07 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC area
11,108 posts, read 23,892,595 times
Reputation: 6438
Quote:
Originally Posted by TabulaRasa View Post
You live in South Kansas City now. I don't think you'd find the Northland so incredibly different that actual "culture shock" would come into play.

Do you experience culture shock when you travel from your current home in the Grandview school district to Brookside?

I don't know, I've lived all over the metro (the only part of town I've actually NOT lived in is Northland), and never has there been such a markedly different quality of life that I've felt culture shock.
Kinda what I was thinking. Red Bridge to Northland. Not a lot of differences. If you live in Red Bridge, you probably spend a lot of time in the commercial areas of Leawood/Martin City etc as well as Ward Parkway. So you have areas of older construction, but still post 1970's suburbia and areas of very new construction with retail strip malls and big box centers thrown into the mix. Newer areas tend to have "better" schools while established areas might have "lesser" school ratings and more empty nesters, but they are still nice areas. Same deal up north.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-22-2015, 01:00 PM
 
37 posts, read 86,264 times
Reputation: 19
Yea, we live in Verona Hill and I do shop quite a bit in Leawood (Costo, Target, Trader Joe's) and I also shop at Wark Parkway Mall and spend quite a bit of time in Brookside. It just feels closer to these things (Wark Parkway and Brookside) living out south than living up north. But it's probably closer than I realize and not a whole lot different. The area we would live would be around I29 and 152hwy. That area did feel different than the areas I mentioned in, but maybe once I live there I will find it's not all that different from Leawood.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Missouri > Kansas City

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top