My husband and I are considering moving to Overland Park, KS...?

Question

We are from a very poor area in Illinois. We are both educated and want to have something more in our lives. I have family in Overland Park but I would like to get thoughts/information on the area. .

Answer 1

As everyone says, your commute time will depend on where you will work. Comparing your "poor area" of Illinois to Kansas City suburbia, you should also consider your salary increase (use www.salary.com) as it is quite realistic by zip code. For a city our size, we have alot to offer in the way of theater/arts, museums, colleges, sports, ethnic mix, festivals, parks, restaurants, and entertainment. My friend just moved here with his family from LA and they are truly happy with what the area has to offer as family life, things to do, and especially real estate. Another friend moved from New Orleans post-Katrina and they have been happy with the choices and opportunities offered here.

Yes, your house will cost more than Illinois, but you can live a good life in our area.

TAXES
Remember that with lower taxes come poor school districts, bad water pipes, lack of snow removal, and poor roads. Taxes are relative to where you are coming from. I know that my mother lives in Illinois and we pay LESS property tax than she does, while living in the Blue Valley school district in Olathe -- we have a 2,400 sf house with basement that is 6 years old and pay $2,500 in property tax (rolled into our mortgage payment). For your vehicles, see link below.

SCHOOLS
The best school districts are: Shawnee Mission (OP, Lenexa, Shawnee, PV, Roeland Park, Merriam), Blue Valley (south OP, east Olathe), Desoto (western Shawnee and Desoto), Olathe, and Lee's Summit. Other places may require private schools for the children.

REAL ESTATE
See link below that lists recently sold homes by the town. Merriam, Gardner, Olathe, Roeland Park, and Spring Hill have the lowest average sale price.

Good luck to you in your jobhunting and decisionmaking! Welcome to the area!

Answer 2

Having family that lived in Overland Park, I can tell you that it is a very nice suburb of Kansas City, KS/MO. While Overland Park is nice, definitely investigate Olathe, KS. Olathe is in the southwestern area of the KC Metropolitan area on the Kansas side, and it has the distinction of having a large and well-known medical center along with great shopping and proximity to the main thoroughfare, Interstate 35. Lenexa, KS (another suburb of KC between Olathe and Overland Park) is also a nice suburb to check out, but I'd recommend Olathe hands-down. More housing complexes are springing up, and it borders virtually nothing to the west and south as it is the first populated development you come to as you near KC from the southwest. The Missouri side is cheaper to live than the Kansas side (MO has lower property, insurance, and gas prices than KS). Good luck, you'll enjoy the area!

Answer 3

Overland Park is a pretty decent sized suburb of a mid-range metropolitan city. So you get the advantage of lower crime, good schools and convenience of the suburbs with the benefit of being in close proximity to a larger city. Don't limit yourself to Overland Park though. There are plenty of other cities in the area that will offer you a similar experience--Shawnee, Olathe, Lee's Summit, Leawood, Prairie Village, Lenexa, etc. Welcome to the area!

Answer 4

It all depends on what you are looking for and in what part of the city you will be working.

If you are working north of the river, it would probably be better to live north of the river to avoid a 45-minute drive one way. The schools are good (if you have children), the shopping is good and convenient along with a lot of pretty subdivisions.

If you have children I would definitely recommend NOT living in Kansas City, Missouri proper unless you opt for a private school.

Lee's Summit is a suburb just to the south and the east of Kansas City proper and has great schools, good shopping and good housing.

I like living on the Missouri side of the state line for economic reasons. The real estate prices are usually lower, the property taxes are cheaper and Missouri does NOT have no-fault car insurance.

Almost all of the suburbs on the Missouri side with the exception of Grandview and Independence have good schools, good shopping, good housing, etc.

Welcome to Kansas City!!!

Answer 5

good chouce of areascheck these out

http://www.opks.org/

http://www.opkansas.org/