Moving (back) to area; where would you put us? what should we prepare for? (Kansas City: fit in, house)

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by chicago2kc

For a lot of people, myself included, it comes down to people instead of place. KC definitely is not my speed. If my location was solely about the City itself, KC would be way down the list. But family is here. I moved around a lot growing up, and was not near extended family. I decided I wanted something different for my kids. So here we are, near grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Sounds like OP is making a similar decision (sacrifice?).

I totally understand that. Family and friends is really the main thing we miss about KC.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by PKPD

Thank you all! This is very helpful! I'll definitely check out Parkville. I remember enjoying that quaint downtown a few times when I was visiting home during college, but I wasn't sure about schools etc.

Also good to know about Prairie Village; sounds like it could hit the spot and even though its farther from airport, it is a better distance to our friends/family in OP and my parents in LS.

Prefer to not go much farther west than Shawnee or further south than OP just due to driving distances from family (cause if I'm moving back I may as well live close to grandparents right?)

I live in Prairie Village. It takes 30 minutes to get to the airport, even in traffic. Prairie Village is nice, but if I were moving with a family now, I think I would pick south Overland Park because of Blue Valley School District and newer homes. You can occasionally find a new home in Prairie Village, but people are actually buying homes and tearing them down and rebuilding on the lot. Of the Shawnee Mission Schools, though, you can't get better than Prairie Village.


I would think the drive to the airport wouldn't be TOO bad from southern Overland Park if you had easy access to 435 or 69 highway.


Where do your friends suggest moving?

[PKPD]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Other than traffic, I'm surprised you are thinking of moving back to KC. It seems like the DC area is more of a fit for your lifestyle. KC has a totally different culture. People mostly just drive around there. There are very few actually vibrant truly walkable areas in KC while DC has that everywhere including the suburbs. I guess if you have family there. Don't get me wrong, KC is a great city especially if you just want to a no hassle city. Good luck to you.

Agree, I love it here but my Iowa-boy husband...has been wanting to find a simpler place to live. KC is likely the least favorite of my options (we are also currently looking at Raleigh too) due to the reasons you state. It also isn't that great for my career (Pharma). He can work anywhere (ER doctor).

Family is the main pull...they do not visit here often as the DC area makes them 'uncomfortable' so while we are thriving, we NEVER see family. I travel a lot for work and the last thing I want to do is fly 3 hours to KC for a long weekend or a holiday. I'd rather spend my vacation traveling to Europe or VT, or the beach or any of the other countless drivable destinations we can get to from DC area.

KC has it's perks but I am concerned. Whenever we visit by about day 5 I'm desperate to see a person with pigment in their skin and to walk somewhere. This could be something we do to appease family and if so I'll suck it up and get over it but I'm so used to the east-coast life-style it will be hard. I know others have done it and have survived so I will do

[PKPD]

Originally Posted by luzianne

I live in Prairie Village. It takes 30 minutes to get to the airport, even in traffic. Prairie Village is nice, but if I were moving with a family now, I think I would pick south Overland Park because of Blue Valley School District and newer homes. You can occasionally find a new home in Prairie Village, but people are actually buying homes and tearing them down and rebuilding on the lot. Of the Shawnee Mission Schools, though, you can't get better than Prairie Village.


I would think the drive to the airport wouldn't be TOO bad from southern Overland Park if you had easy access to 435 or 69 highway.


Where do your friends suggest moving?

Thanks for the info on airport-commute! We haven't discussed with friends, I'm sure they would suggest we move into their 'hood

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by PKPD

Agree, I love it here but my Iowa-boy husband...has been wanting to find a simpler place to live. KC is likely the least favorite of my options (we are also currently looking at Raleigh too) due to the reasons you state. It also isn't that great for my career (Pharma). He can work anywhere (ER doctor).

Family is the main pull...they do not visit here often as the DC area makes them 'uncomfortable' so while we are thriving, we NEVER see family. I travel a lot for work and the last thing I want to do is fly 3 hours to KC for a long weekend or a holiday. I'd rather spend my vacation traveling to Europe or VT, or the beach or any of the other countless drivable destinations we can get to from DC area.

KC has it's perks but I am concerned. Whenever we visit by about day 5 I'm desperate to see a person with pigment in their skin and to walk somewhere. This could be something we do to appease family and if so I'll suck it up and get over it but I'm so used to the east-coast life-style it will be hard. I know others have done it and have survived so I will do

You will be fine, but there will be some culture shock since you have lived there for so long. Even Silver Spring has more diversity and culture than KC. Anywhere you go, you are around people from all over the world and frankly, I find people out here to be more authentically "friendly" than most "friendly" people in the midwest that wave at you in the small towns or strike up conversations in suburban grocery stores. Bigger city people or east coast in general people generally keep to themselves when out commuting, walking etc, so to people from the midwest, that means they are "rude". No, they just don't need to make eye contact small talk with everybody they come into contact with. Much of the rest of the world is the same way. But if you do talk to people, they are just as friendly as they are in the midwest.

We have the same problem with many (not all) of our relatives. People love to come out and see DC, so long long as we do all the driving etc, but they are stressed, worried about crime and stuff. It's really not that big of a deal, but then again, even traveling through a major city airport is just too much for a lot of people. But once they come and have seen DC once, it's just to much of a pita and too far out of their comfort zone. So we go to KC all the time now.

KC offers that "simple life". Easy to drive, easy to park, no lines anywhere, people seem nicer, there are not as many people career minded people trying to make six figures at 25 years old, nor as many young people out and about enjoying urban recreation. It's mostly a big suburb where families settle down and live a slow paced, predictable and comfortable life going to little league games and what not. Which you can also do in in the DC area. It's when you move out of that suburban living phase that KC tends to lose much of its appeal. You want things to do for adults, urban stuff, recreation, mountains, beaches etc. If you have kids and family there, you will enjoy your time in KC. But you will have an itch to get out....A LOT. Take advantage of being a lot closer to the Rockies or Chicago or even the west coast. That's one thing about living on the east coast. All that stuff is now a pain to get to. KC has almost nothing directly around it, but the central location gives you good access to the entire country. That's one of the best things about KC.

[chicago2kc]

Originally Posted by PKPD

Agree, I love it here but my Iowa-boy husband...has been wanting to find a simpler place to live. KC is likely the least favorite of my options (we are also currently looking at Raleigh too) due to the reasons you state. It also isn't that great for my career (Pharma). He can work anywhere (ER doctor).

Family is the main pull...they do not visit here often as the DC area makes them 'uncomfortable' so while we are thriving, we NEVER see family. I travel a lot for work and the last thing I want to do is fly 3 hours to KC for a long weekend or a holiday. I'd rather spend my vacation traveling to Europe or VT, or the beach or any of the other countless drivable destinations we can get to from DC area.

KC has it's perks but I am concerned. Whenever we visit by about day 5 I'm desperate to see a person with pigment in their skin and to walk somewhere. This could be something we do to appease family and if so I'll suck it up and get over it but I'm so used to the east-coast life-style it will be hard. I know others have done it and have survived so I will do

I know a couple who moved here from DC. They live near us in south OP. They, like us, would prefer a bigger, more dynamic, city. BUT ... I literally just discussed with them the other day how easy it is to live here and how great it is to raise kids here. Those two things have them very happy (for the time being) with their move here. So you will definitely see some benefits in that regard. And those truly are benefits. I can do things here I could never have done in Chicago, like be home in time to see my kids' little league games. And the truth is that most folks with kids don't take advantage of cultural amenities as much as they should in big cities. But KCMO is right that, if you truly love the idea of a dynamic city and lifestyle, you'll be trading that in for being close to family and for the ease and convenience of KC.

BTW, my kids' schools in south OP are actually quite diverse. There aren't necessarily a lot of black or Hispanic students (although there are some). But there a lot of Asian (all parts of Asia, including India and the Middle East) kids. My two youngest go to a school that has English as a Second Language classes, so they have quite a few classmates who are still learning English.

[Weaubleau]

KC is no prize when it comes to grocery stores. We don't really have the national chains, except Whole Foods, and you have to spend an arm and a leg there. Hy Vee is bland and boring and thinks it is wonderful when it is average at best. Price Chopper is a bit better and a bit cheaper, but emphasis on the bit. It also has a very "KC" selection heavy on the barbecue and mexican amenities, lacking in other ethnic cuisine ingredients, ones even as commonplace as German or Italian. Both are very "middle of the road" and are not cheap. There is Target and Wal Mart, but they are everywhere, so I wouldn't imagine they are much different here than anywhere else. No Kroger, Safeway, Meijer, Wegmans, Publix or HEB, to name a few regional chains that "kick the snot" out of the regional KC area chains.

[kcmo]

^ very true. I was mainly talking about the more run of the mill average grocery stores. It seems like in the DC area you either have really nice stores or kind of lower grade stores. KC has pretty much all mid grade stuff. KC has nothing that can touch Wegmans and like I said, it's lacking in the specialty/health food grocers.

[luzianne]

Grocery stores - try Hen House (my granddaughter calls it Chicken Mart ).


Hy-Vee used to be decent, but aren't kept up very well and get rundown and dirty, in my opinion. I haven't been to all the Hen Houses in KC, but the ones I have been to are good. Hen House has been my grocery store for many years.

[GraniteStater]

^

Hen House would never survive in other metro areas that have large national grocery chains and more competition. This goes back to the fact of the very high sales tax on grocery food items- a factor that does not exist in many other states.