Tag Archives: Relocating To Kansas City

Kansas City Isn’t Flat, We Have Lots Of Trees And Tumbleweed Isn’t Blowing Down Our Streets

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Is Kansas City flatter than a pancake? Do we take care of the one tree we have? Can tumbleweed knock an old lady down when crossing the street? These are some of the questions I’ve fielded from home buyers relocating to the Kansas City and Johnson County Kansas areas. If the Wizard of Oz hadn’t become a classic, I think the perception of Kansas City wouldn’t be that of a typical western Kansas town from the 1940’s. That dust bowl didn’t do us any favors either. And it seems whenever a tornado does damage in Kansas, the national news clips of the tornado always seem to be of  the flat western Kansas farmland.  What’s that movie that had the tornado picking the cow up? Whatever the name, that didn’t help either. So I’m blaming Hollywood too.


Kansas City absolutely is NOT flat, that much I want to be clear about. We have rolling hills and streams. We also aren’t treeless. We have subdivisions with names like Arbor Hills, Woodland Creek and Forest View and the city of Olathe was awarded the designation of Tree City USA for crying out loud! We don’t even have horses tied up in front of the local Quick Trip — though I honestly did see someone riding horseback down the side of 71 highway the other day in the inner city. I should have stopped and explained he was hurting our image. Well, at least I didn’t see any tumbleweed blowing down the street. Yes, I’ve had that question from a relocating client. I think the last time I saw tumbleweed I was a kid.

The Kansas City metro area includes the second largest river in the country, the Missouri River and also the Kansas River too. I’ll bet many don’t know that the state of Kansas has more than 5 million acres of forest. That’s more than double Yellowstone National Park forest and more than FIVE times the Grand Canyon forest. The reason that Kansas isn’t well-known for its forests is because 95% of the forest areas are on privately owned land. In other words, they’re spread across the state for everyone to enjoy.

Posted by Jason A. Brown

Be Sure To Factor In Cost Of Living Differences When Relocating To Johnson County KS

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

If you’re making the move to Johnson County KS, Overland Park or a surrounding Kansas City area, you’ll surely be weighing many factors. A better job, being closer to family or maybe it’s the reasonable costs of living in the Midwest. These are certainly some of the common factors I hear with clients relocating to the area. But in addition to the housing and employment considerations when relocating, you’ll also want to consider the cost of living difference of one city to another.

There are many great tools out there and one is the city comparison tool at About.com. I compared Kansas City to Palos Verdes Estates in California and found that it’s 285% more expensive to live in Palos Verdes! Which is why I’m no doubt seeing more people relocating to Kansas City from the coasts. Another great tool is Bankrate.com’s cost of living comparison tool, which factors in real estate costs, utilities, transportation, health care and even grocery prices. You can also find a cost of living calculator tool that factors in income differential from one place to another at Salary.com.

Of course many people are moving irregardless of cost of living factors because they have the need for large city amenities that comes with a suburban feel, or other factors that are driving their decisions.  Still, the dollars and cents of making the move will matter in the long run, so it’s recommended that factors like gasoline prices, groceries and commute costs are considered. If you think about it, gasoline costs and/or length of commute to work could be valid reasons for making a relocation. If you’ve ever traveled to another state and said to yourself “gas is expensive here” or “dining is expensive here”, then you know what I mean. Now imagine living there and dealing with those prices day in and day out.

Posted by Jason A. Brown

Overland Park Kansas Relocation: Cheat Sheets By Zip Code

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

One of the first questions I hear from relocation clients who have never been to Overland Park, Kansas City or Johnson County Kansas is that they’re expecting to find flat land with lots of farm fields and mules. OK, I added in the mules part, but most relocation clients really have no idea what to expect when they first visit the metro area. Overland Park is a big reason why Kansas City is known around the country as a legit big town metropolitan area. Areas like Overland Park, Olathe, Leawood, Lenexa, Leawood and Shawnee on the Kansas side really have it all. On the Missouri side there’s Lee’s Summit and North Kansas City, among others.

Seriously, the suburbs of Kansas City have more parks, shopping and dining amenities nearby than most remotely expect. I know this because that’s what relocation clients repeatedly tell me. The area amenities are also usually near highway access too, making them even more appealing. The master planning among the majority of newer areas of the metro has typically been done quite well. But relocation buyers also need be aware there can be big differences within any particular metro city. For instance, let’s take two of the many zip codes covering Overland Park Kansas… 66212 in northern Overland Park and 66221 in southern Overland Park. Then we can input those two zip codes in the Moving.com zip code tool and we find…

66212 (north)
Population 32,000+
Medium household income – $61,000
Average home price – Under $200’s
Percentage of Owner occupied homes – 57%

66221 (south)
Population – 15,000+
Medium household income – $167,000
Average home price – Over $400’s
Percentage of Owner occupied homes – 96%


What a great tool for comparing zip codes! Check it yourself by putting in your home zip code and another zip code from an area you might like to live. I know you probably don’t have the surrounding zip codes memorized, so here’s the best tool I’ve found for searching zip codes by map. On this site, you can enter your home zip code and it will also show you the map of the surrounding zip codes.  Once you’ve narrowed your home search to a few specific zip codes, you’ll want to check out this other site that takes your preferred zip code and puts it into an easy to read and printable format.  Here’s an example of this cheat sheet on the ZipSkinny cheet sheet web site.

Posted by Jason A. Brown