Relocation to walkable, family-friendly neighborhood (Kansas City, Overland: buy, school district, subdivision)

[Frozen Fountain]

Whoa, beautiful houses in Hyde Park and Roanoke.

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

I live in Hyde Park and I love it. I assume you are referring to Central Hyde Park (as opposed to the North, South, or Old variants), as that is where the majority of the 3,500+ sq ft homes will be found.

There are a couple reasons I thought of Brookside first. First off, the walkability is not great. It's a great neighborhood to take walks in, and there are several parks in walking distance, but other walkable amenities are fairly lacking. The closest library branch, Westport, might be one of the worst branches. The Plaza and Downtown libraries aren't too far and are much better, but aren't really easily walkable/bikable.

The other is "family friendliness". I live in Hyde Park with my young family and they are a good amount of families in the area, but most people would think of Brookside first when you mention that criteria.

You do definitely get more house for your money - and there are some fantastic old houses. $500k for 3,500 sq ft will probably be tough in the Brookside area, but you might be able to find something (FYI Morningside and Crestwood are part of the Brookside area, which includes numerous sub-neighborhoods). There would probably be more options in Central Hyde Park.

The Rockhill neighborhood might be a good fit for all the other criteria, but you would probably be priced out of it. I would say the same for Roanoke. Valentine might be an option. Volker doesn't have many homes that large, but if you can find one, it could be a possibility.

Real estate tax calculations are pretty convoluted and there are many factors that can affect the amount (including if the county has an accurate appraised value, which in many cases are lagging way behind the actual value). But if the county has it appraised for $500k, I would ballpark your annual taxes around $7k, plus or minus, depending on the variables.

[luzianne]

Family friendly/kids able to walk and ride bikes and be safe to me equals suburbs. Don't rule out suburbs in Johnson County on the Kansas side.

[James Bond 007]

Originally Posted by Frozen Fountain

Thanks for the suggestions! Are Prairie Village and Lee's Summit walkable? It's hard to get a sense of towns' character online.

The area around downtown Lee's Summit is walkable. Prairie Village probably has a smaller walkable area, but that depends on what you consider walkable.

[James Bond 007]

Originally Posted by Frozen Fountain

Brookside was mentioned to us as a good option. Also Rockhill. I'll check out Morningside and Crestwood.

For reference, is Troost a meaningful east/west border for crime?

Our budget would be around $500K, though we have some flexibility.

How are taxes structured in MO and KS? About how much would property taxes be on a $500K house?

Thanks again everyone for weighing in!

Yes, Troost is usually considered the border for crime. Though a few areas just to the east of it are starting to look up.

With a budget of $500K you're going to have a huge number of options.

Taxes on my $156k house southeast of the stadiums in the city of Kansas City are about $2000.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by Frozen Fountain

Thanks for the suggestions! Are Prairie Village and Lee's Summit walkable? It's hard to get a sense of towns' character online.

I lived in downtown Lee's Summit, and, yes, it is...in the historic downtown area and neighborhoods adjacent. Some other parts of town, less walkable. Prairie Village has no "downtown" in the traditional sense, though it has a cluster of businesses over about a block or two's worth of space, Prairie Village Shops. This may or may not affect what you consider walkable.

[TabulaRasa]

Hyde Park is beautiful and has many amazing historic homes within your budget. But it is less adjacent, for the most part, to various family-oriented amenities than neighborhoods such as Waldo and Brookside. So, it depends on how you weight your priorities.

[Frozen Fountain]

Originally Posted by luzianne

Family friendly/kids able to walk and ride bikes and be safe to me equals suburbs. Don't rule out suburbs in Johnson County on the Kansas side.

We're not at all averse to the suburbs. That's where we've lived historically. Do places like Overland Park or Leawood have walkable areas? Excellent libraries? The size of these suburbs is enormous compared to our past experiences.

[Frozen Fountain]

Originally Posted by WiseOwlSaysHoot

I live in Hyde Park and I love it. I assume you are referring to Central Hyde Park (as opposed to the North, South, or Old variants), as that is where the majority of the 3,500+ sq ft homes will be found.

There are a couple reasons I thought of Brookside first. First off, the walkability is not great. It's a great neighborhood to take walks in, and there are several parks in walking distance, but other walkable amenities are fairly lacking. The closest library branch, Westport, might be one of the worst branches. The Plaza and Downtown libraries aren't too far and are much better, but aren't really easily walkable/bikable.

The other is "family friendliness". I live in Hyde Park with my young family and they are a good amount of families in the area, but most people would think of Brookside first when you mention that criteria.

You do definitely get more house for your money - and there are some fantastic old houses. $500k for 3,500 sq ft will probably be tough in the Brookside area, but you might be able to find something (FYI Morningside and Crestwood are part of the Brookside area, which includes numerous sub-neighborhoods). There would probably be more options in Central Hyde Park.

This is great information - thank you!

The Rockhill neighborhood might be a good fit for all the other criteria, but you would probably be priced out of it. I would say the same for Roanoke. Valentine might be an option. Volker doesn't have many homes that large, but if you can find one, it could be a possibility.

Real estate tax calculations are pretty convoluted and there are many factors that can affect the amount (including if the county has an accurate appraised value, which in many cases are lagging way behind the actual value). But if the county has it appraised for $500k, I would ballpark your annual taxes around $7k, plus or minus, depending on the variables.

I've lived places where $500K would carry $20K annual property taxes (ugh), so that's one of the variables that affects affordability in our calculations.

[SPonteKC]

Originally Posted by Frozen Fountain

We're not at all averse to the suburbs. That's where we've lived historically. Do places like Overland Park or Leawood have walkable areas? Excellent libraries? The size of these suburbs is enormous compared to our past experiences.

1. Overland Park has one reasonably walkable are centered around 79th and Santa Fe. Very nice little town center, though the adjacent housing stock is not particularly fashionable. Leawood has 2 new-construction "lifestyle center" type developments, which you might call loosely or technically walkable.

2. The Johnson county library system is very mediocre.