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Old 06-22-2018, 11:19 AM
 
Location: Tippecanoe County, Indiana
26,372 posts, read 46,209,981 times
Reputation: 19454

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Quote:
Originally Posted by SPonteKC View Post
NE Johnson County, areas like Westwood and Westwood Hills or Fairway would be my top choice. Also, Prairie Village and “Old Leawood”. Good, easy acces to the city, leafy, mature, inner ring suburbs with good parks and pools and stuff. Not much like that on the Missouri side, Old Briarcliff is pretty charming, if a little isolated. It’s still very close to downtown and North Kansas City, which is increasingly interesting and fun. Beyond those, the newer suburbs are largely indistinguishable from one another. Just depends on where you want to locate in the metro.

If you’ve never lived in the Midwest, KC is pretty much midwestern, ne plus ultra. It is nothing like Seattle, in any way I can think of. It’s a little like Denver before Denver got so popular, but with a more industrial, gritty side. It’s urban core is fairly small, has pockets of activity concentrated in neighborhood nodes with pretty big stretches of inactivity and some blight between them. It has way more ghetto, both culturally and geographically than Denver and Seattle put together, and some parts of the city are legitimately unsafe, especially at night, though much less than hysterics would have you believe. The suburban hinterlands of the city are moderately conservative to outright right-wing. The urban core is probably about as liberal as the average Seattle suburban enclave. People talk openly about politics regularly and don’t mind disagreeing or having an argument about them over dinner. A family needs at least one car, probably 2 to live comfortably anywhere outside the urban core here. The weather is obviously more extreme than Seattle, if more pleasant as well, in a lot of ways. The city is beautiful, cool, and full of good food, good art, real people, and cool stuff for a small city. It’s very culturally centered on families and children. The countryside is dominated by farmland, public natural areas are comparatively scarce. If you constantly talk about how everything was better in Seattle, everyone will agree with you to your face, then we will all laugh about what a snob you are behind your back.
Seattle is less focused on families and children, it is a very professional, high COL, type A area that has extremely high levels of growth in certain high paying tech, software, and engineering fields.
In Seattle, it's cats, dogs and kids — in that order | FYI Guy | Seattle Times

Recent census data released shows 'Midwest' counties getting younger in median age, mostly the frontier US West in the High Plains region.

https://www.census.gov/content/dam/C...e-counties.pdf

https://census.gov/newsroom/press-re...teristics.html
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Old 06-23-2018, 01:48 PM
 
Location: Overland Park, Kansas
767 posts, read 1,308,656 times
Reputation: 781
Quote:
Originally Posted by kcmo View Post
Not saying there is anything wrong with Turner. I just don't see the OP having a lot of interest in that area.
You couldn't pay me to send kids to the Turner district, though! It's a better district than Raytown and Hickman Mills, but that isn't saying much.
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Old 06-29-2018, 02:04 AM
 
Location: Laguna Beach previously Longhorn Nation
455 posts, read 765,877 times
Reputation: 1057
Quote:
Originally Posted by lovekcmo View Post
Good comparison above. One thing KC MO has, I don't know if Seattle has it, is the 1% earnings tax if you work or live in KC MO. The earnings tax and the schools are the deal breaker for a lot of people with living in KC MO limits

Would the 1% earnings tax still be in effect if you lived Lee's Summit?

Also does anyone know why Lee's Summit Elementary Schools go from Kinder up to 6th grade, but the Blue Valley school district only goes K-to 5th grade and then they're off to middle school. My almost 11 year old son starts 6th grade in the Fall and we're also strongly considering making the move to the region this summer, but afraid of having him enter a large middle school without knowing anyone or getting a final year in elementary to get acclimated to everything in a new area.

Any thoughts or insight on the two districts from those with kids is much appreciated.
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Old 06-29-2018, 04:09 AM
 
Location: Edmonds, WA
8,975 posts, read 10,111,398 times
Reputation: 14245
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikkieapple View Post
Hello!
We could really use some good information about where to look for homes near Kansas City, MO. We are being relocated there for my husband’s job from the PNW and have never been to the Midwest. We are looking for a nice suburban area to live, that is safe with really great schools and preferably neighborhoods that are more of a community feel with parks, a neighborhood pool, etc. We also would like to be near shopping and entertainment type areas. I’m a stay at home mom, so I need to able to get out with the kids. We have a budget of anywhere from $400,000-$550,000 and can even push it a little higher for the right area. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! We have a very short timeline! Thanks so much!
Congrats on the move. I moved from SoCal to KC to Seattle, so I have some perspective on both areas.

Live in Johnson County if you have kids. Blue Valley if possible. You can get the very best schools in KC for a fraction of the cost of Seattle. Think of JoCo as the “East Side” of Seattle, in a watered-down way.

Kansas City nickels and dimes its residents. You have a 6% property tax in MO plus a 1% “earnings” tax for anyone working or living in KC proper. There is a personal property tax on vehicles in addition to registration fees. Nominally the sales tax for the state is 4.3% but individual cities are given carte blanche to jack it up as much as they please. In Platte County I was paying 11% sales tax (Zona Rosa)

Taxes are high in KS as well but overall, if I had children to think about I would choose Kansas in a heartbeat. A close second would be Parkville.
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Old 06-29-2018, 07:12 AM
 
Location: Kansas City North
6,771 posts, read 11,399,414 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alpha_Dog View Post
Would the 1% earnings tax still be in effect if you lived Lee's Summit?

Also does anyone know why Lee's Summit Elementary Schools go from Kinder up to 6th grade, but the Blue Valley school district only goes K-to 5th grade and then they're off to middle school. My almost 11 year old son starts 6th grade in the Fall and we're also strongly considering making the move to the region this summer, but afraid of having him enter a large middle school without knowing anyone or getting a final year in elementary to get acclimated to everything in a new area.

Any thoughts or insight on the two districts from those with kids is much appreciated.
Earnings tax applies if you work OR live in Kansas City, MO. If neither, you don’t pay.

Different school districts arrange things differently, and sometimes they change things up. Here’s a thought about moving and immediately starting the first year of middle school: Kids will be coming from several different elementary schools, so they may be more receptive to getting to know people not from their elementary school. Your son wouldn’t stick out as a “new kid” - everyone will just think he went to one of the other elementary schools.
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Old 06-29-2018, 10:49 AM
 
1,328 posts, read 1,442,953 times
Reputation: 690
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluefox View Post
Congrats on the move. I moved from SoCal to KC to Seattle, so I have some perspective on both areas.

Live in Johnson County if you have kids. Blue Valley if possible. You can get the very best schools in KC for a fraction of the cost of Seattle. Think of JoCo as the “East Side” of Seattle, in a watered-down way.

Kansas City nickels and dimes its residents. You have a 6% property tax in MO plus a 1% “earnings” tax for anyone working or living in KC proper. There is a personal property tax on vehicles in addition to registration fees. Nominally the sales tax for the state is 4.3% but individual cities are given carte blanche to jack it up as much as they please. In Platte County I was paying 11% sales tax (Zona Rosa)

Taxes are high in KS as well but overall, if I had children to think about I would choose Kansas in a heartbeat. A close second would be Parkville.
You're comparing Johnson County to KCMO proper. If Lee's Summit is a strong option for the OP, none of your advice applies.
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Old 06-29-2018, 01:11 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC area
11,108 posts, read 23,698,601 times
Reputation: 6412
Kansas has a higher tax burden than Missouri and the state tends to have more financial problems than Missouri.

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-wit...-burden/20494/

I don't know if this includes the KCMO 1% etax, but I would imagine it's somewhat factored in since a large portion of MO residents pay the KC and STL city tax so it would factor into the overall average tax burden.

Taxes in all of metro KC are very high. You have a high sales tax, nearly every place you shop in the metro area on both sides of the state line have extra taxes on shopping centers making sales taxes extremely high.

Both MO and KS have a property taxes on vehicles and homes and they both tax food. (I think KS taxes food higher)

Gas is about 10-15 cents more per gallon in KS too.

KCMO does have the etax but many parts of KCMO proper (including northland areas), have an overall lower tax burden than suburban cities with the etax. What you might want to aovid is living in a high tax area like Lee's Summit or Overland Park and pay the etax anyway if you work in KCMO. I those cases, it's almost always better from a cost and tax perspective to live in a KCMO proper neighborhood like the north of the river. Living in KCMO proper also gives you free trash pickup which can be hundreds of dollars a year, not to mention discounts to the Zoo etc.

All of this is pennies compared to how much more you will pay for a house in Overland Park compared to the exact same house in a similar school district in Lee's Summit, Parkville, Shoal Creek, Liberty, Tiffany Springs etc.

I actually think the best suburban place to live in metro KC where you can have a really nice home with the best schools close to downtown and KCI Airport with nice topography is Platte County. You can be at the airport in ten minutes, downtown in 10-15 minutes even during rush hour, but at the same time you are in a very nice area with lots of hills and trees and lakes. Not to mention you would pay less for the same home in Platte vs way down south super far from KCI and downtown.

Lee's Summit is very nice, but taxes and utilities are very high there and if you could end up paying KCMO etax on top of LS taxes. Not to mention LS is far from everything, especially KCI if you fly a lot. However, if you like an outdoor lake lifestyle and want a place with a sense of community, LS might be worth it. LS has some really nice residential lake communities and tons of recreational lakes and parks. They also have one of the best suburban downtowns in the metro and it has a real sense of place where most of suburban KC is just suburban sprawl with no local sense of place or culture. LS has excellent schools too.

I wouldn't live in KS if you paid me, especially south of the 435 beltway, but I do kind of like western Shawnee/Lenexa. At least they have some nice topography out there. Fairway is nice too since it's snuggled up next to central KCMO (great central location) but I would choose Lee's Summit over Lenexa and Brookside/South PLaza over Fairway in a heartbeat.
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Old 06-29-2018, 07:52 PM
 
Location: Laguna Beach previously Longhorn Nation
455 posts, read 765,877 times
Reputation: 1057
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluefox View Post
Congrats on the move. I moved from SoCal to KC to Seattle, so I have some perspective on both areas.

Live in Johnson County if you have kids. Blue Valley if possible. You can get the very best schools in KC for a fraction of the cost of Seattle. Think of JoCo as the “East Side” of Seattle, in a watered-down way.

Kansas City nickels and dimes its residents. You have a 6% property tax in MO plus a 1% “earnings” tax for anyone working or living in KC proper. There is a personal property tax on vehicles in addition to registration fees. Nominally the sales tax for the state is 4.3% but individual cities are given carte blanche to jack it up as much as they please. In Platte County I was paying 11% sales tax (Zona Rosa)

Taxes are high in KS as well but overall, if I had children to think about I would choose Kansas in a heartbeat. A close second would be Parkville.

The six percent property tax ++ in MO seems outrageous. And 11% sales tax in Platte County should be a Felony.

"According to Missouri State Statute 137.075, "Persons owning or holding tangible personal property on the first day of January shall be liable for taxes." Personal property includes all motor vehicles, above ground pools, trailers, boats, boat motors, mobile homes, aircraft, farm machinery, livestock and grain, and boat docks"
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Old 06-29-2018, 11:56 PM
 
Location: Middle America
37,409 posts, read 53,258,010 times
Reputation: 53065
I loved Lee's Summit when I lived there.
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Old 06-30-2018, 05:19 PM
 
Location: Overland Park, Kansas
767 posts, read 1,308,656 times
Reputation: 781
Quote:
Originally Posted by kcmo View Post
Kansas has a higher tax burden than Missouri and the state tends to have more financial problems than Missouri.

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-wit...-burden/20494/

Gas is about 10-15 cents more per gallon in KS too.
And we have far better roads to show for it. I-70 in MO is just as bad as any road in Oklahoma in quite a few places, and roads in east Jackson County are just awful between KCMO and Independence. Even with our states budget problems, it's still worth paying the extra gas tax for the better roads.
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