Kansas City, KS??

[KoalaMommy]

My DH has a job possibility in the KC area and I'm wondering what it's like out there. I drove through once...

Anyway, looking on a map, it looks like the closest residential areas to the potential job are Mission, Merriam, Countryside, Roeland Park and Overland Park. What neighborhoods are good? Any to avoid? What are the issues in buying houses in this part of town?

Can anyone tell me what the city is like? These areas all look pretty urban, but we live in an residential urban area now anyway, so that's not a biggie. I was reallly hoping for a garden, though, wherever we move next. My pattio garden isn't doing so well...

What about the vax/birth climate? We are delayed/selective vax. It shouldn't be a big issue for my girls because they've had almost everything I'm going to give them. But we're thinking about another baby. I have to have hospital birth for medical reasons, but I had 2 normal hospital deliveries with a fabulous midwife group in Nashville before we moved here. Is it possible to have a normal hospital birth in the area?

Last time we moved we had little to no good info before doing so. It's taken me 2 years to feel settled, but it looks like we might move again!!!!!

[KoalaMommy]

Anyone at all have suggestions on neighborhoods, schools, docs etc?

We're coming next week to look at houses. Are there any KC neighborhoods to totally avoid?

You can't rely on realtors to tell you anything and I don't know anyone in the area. I see mamas from around there posting here, could someone just fill me in on good places to look or places to avoid?

Unfortunately, Lawrence is too far, cuz it looks awesome. In my heart, I'd love to live somewhere a little more rural and have some chickens, but I also want to have low gas costs, so urban wins.

TIA

[pumpkin]

I haven't lived there in years, but the areas you are describing are more suburban than urban. There are some downtown pockets in each of those towns, but really , they tend to have pretty big houses and yards. Those are the "older" towns in that area. I've got several family members who live around there and they all enjoy it.

When I lived there many years ago, it was kind of hard to go wrong anywhere in Johnson County. At the time Shawnee Mission Schools were the gold standard. East was the best. But my understanding is that has changed. There is more of a shift to central and southern johnson county. But like I said, I don't live there anymore so I'm not the authority.

Lots of my friends live in Shawnee or Olathe. Slightly newer homes, closer to the newer business developments.

[library lady]

We just moved from Kansas back to Texas. My aunt lives in Mission Woods. It is a nice area. I know that there is a Whole Foods and a Costco near there because we were always driving up to Mission Woods to see my aunt and do our grocery shopping. I am not sure about the climate of child birth and what not but I know that Kansas does not have a philosophical exemption for vaccinations. When I found out I was pregnant, I decided I had to get out of Kansas because everything was so much easier in Texas. I know there is a big AP ground in the Kansas City area that you could probably get a lot of information from but I cannot find the link because I deleted it when I moved.

I think you are pretty safe with anything in Johnson County even though a lot of people in Kansas joke about that being where all of the snobs are. I can say that because that is where my aunt lives plus my mom grew up there.

[cyrusmama]

We moved here last november, and are some of those Johnson County sobs I moved from a very rural area but really like it here. We do have a really big AP group here, pm me and I'll send you the link.

I would say a good 85% of the mamas I have met up here have birthed with a midwife (which is what we are planning on using) and a high percentage of those have birthed at home. Most of the mamas I know (inc. us) either selectively vax or don't vax at all. From what I have heard there are several good pediatricians here who are more than ok with that. We haven't had any issues with our lack of vaxing, but we are homeschooling.

We live pretty much smack dab in the middle of Johnson County and it is very much suburban. We rent, but most of the houses here have good yards with plenty of room for a garden. Obviously the farther you get out of the metro, the more rural it will be.

Feel free to shoot me a pm if there is anything else I can help you with.

[TaraRae82]

I'm on the Missouri side of Kansas City but it's not really much different. It's definitely suburban, not urban in most areas. KCK isn't a great area but there are definitely worse. Johnson Co in general is nice and covers most of the areas you mentioned. Olathe is a great area because it's newer and much more open to NCB and such. I drive out there for my OB (promotes NCB, Bradley method, BF'ing, no vax, doula's, etc.) and we'll be choosing from a couple of ped's there as well since they're open to no/selective/delayed vax. It's about 40 min from where I live but I'm pretty far north (airport area). Overland Park is nice as is Mission, Merriam, and Shawnee. GL with your move! I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have if you want to PM me.

[KoalaMommy]

Thanks everyone for your replies! We're not 100% sure of the move yet, we have some decisions to make still, but I'm so excited to come look.

I guess I'm not too scared about being in "snobville", I've mostly lived in these kinds of places my whole live : ...which is not to say I'm wealthy or snobby.

I'm absolutely drooling over home prices, easily half of what they'd be in my current neighborhood (and thankfully, we didn't buy, so nothing to unload first)!!!!

Will PM for input when I'm more certain what we're doing.

Btw, am posting a poll in TAO about where we should move next, so come over and share your opinion

[TaraRae82]

^Home prices are definitely lower in this part of the country but salaries tend to be a bit lower too. It's all relative I suppose. I'm sure you're aware of all this but wanted to just throw it out there.

[mountainmidwife]

Hello, I live in south western KCK near merriam. The problem that you are going to run into in most of the johnson county residential areas are neighborhood associations. Some of them will not let you garden the way you want much less have chickens. I would look into western KCK. There are some beautiful homes out in that area. I know there is a beautiful home out near us that we have been drooling over for some time, that has a pond and several acres. The prices in this area are also much lower than Joco.

[dara00]

we also may be moving to OP next year. interested in any info!

[PaytonPlace]

Overland Park is very suburban, as is much of Johnson County. There are areas in southern Johnson County that are more of a mix of a rural area that would give you space to do a garden, etc without being in a cookie cutter neighborhood. Like someone else mentioned, the home prices are much less in this area than other parts of the country, but salaries are most likely lower. The public school districts in Johnson County are the best in the area, if you are interested in those. I have lived in the KC metro area my entire life so if you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me.

ETA: I'm not sure about the vax situation for KS. I know there is an OB/CNM team at Olathe Medical Center that comes highly recommended from the KC ICAN group and natural birthing community. Her name is Dr. Tami Michele & the CNM is Kelly Fritz. IIRC Dr. Michele had one or two of her children at home and was a birth doula prior to medical school. Other than her, I have only heard of one other OB that is relatively VBAC friendly in the entire area. His name is Dr. Howard Schwartz and he delivers out of Research Med Ctr & North Kansas City Hospital

[cinnamonamon]

I just wanted to pop in & thank ya'll for this thread. My dh and I (and the baby) are going to be in town on Sunday & Monday looking around as his job is asking him to transfer.

I'd love to know if anyone has any positive or negative info about specific schools in johnson co. & overland park areas. My oldest is in Kindergarten & we're pretty much locked in to public schools.

Thanks!!

[brokensemaphore]

I lived in Overland Park until 2 months ago and I loved it. I also lived in Shawnee, and it was nice too-- the archetype of a nice, safe suburb. If you want specifics, in Shawnee it was just off Monticello Rd. and Shawnee Mission Parkway, and in Overland Park, we lived off Antioch at 135th. There are some super-nice neighborhoods the further north you go in Overland Park, it seems.