Need advice with relocating (Overland: fit in, short sale, foreclosures)

[fathomless]

First off, i have lived primarily in the gladstone mo, and olathe area for the last five years.

I am getting married tomorrow, my soon to be wife has a young son who will be starting kindergarten this year.

She works downtown, i work in joco. We are purchasing our first home in the next couple of months. Our top price range is around the 120k mark (ideally i would rather be in the 80-100 range).

I have looked all over trying to find a good place to be for the next five years for our price range, with decent driving times to work, and primarily a good school system for our little one.

People north of the river slam kck for crime and schools, joco for housing prices, people in kc slam the mo side for bad schools and crime.

We are trying to find a balance between all the things we are looking for. I prefer the KS side myself, however i am unsure that we will find a home in our price range, or if we do find some great deal the property tax will kill us.

Sorry to make such a long post, i just do not have much experience outside of my bubble, i could live anywhere fine, however now purchasing a home, thinking of little ones next 5-10 years of schooling, etc has me running circles.

I have found some lovely homes in the KCK area, and with the google press release about the new net backbone there, i see major growth coming for IT jobs in the form of web hosting and data centers (i am in IT myself).

Any advice would be appreciated, whether its suggestions on area to live, school systems, actual and not stereotyped data on crime areas, etc.

Thanks in advance.

[aragx6]

There's a lot of homes in the older parts of Johnson County like Shawnee, Roeland Park, Prairie Village or old Overland Park that would easily fit into your price range, would provide you both good access to your jobs, and will provide a great education for your little one.

Check out Reece & Nichols' Web site. There's tons of listings.

[lifelongMOgal]

Suggest the OP research elementary and middle schools and choose an area accordingly. You can pick up an info. packet in person at the SM School District headquarters. I don't think we've seen the bottom of the KC housing market yet so you might consider renting a house for a year or two while you build up your savings as a couple. It also makes it more flexible should you not like the elementary school and want to move your soon-to-be son.

[fathomless]

I appreciate the advice thus far. The hard part of waiting to purchase is the fact that i can buy right now for much less than i can rent for. I can understand the waiting and having flexibility, and that might still be what we end up doing. It is just hard for me to justify spending 350 - 500 more a month to rent a place. (renting is also hard as we have multiple pets, which puts us out of most rental homes/apts right away)

Good tip on the school, i have been checking sites like schooldigger and the such, hard to tell how accurate that info is though, i will go pick up some literature.

Thanks for the tip on realtor, i have been perusing many different realtor sites trying to find that one silver bullet somewhere, ill try to focus in on some of the suggest areas you highlighted and target my research in that area.

Any other comments bring them on guys! Great site until today never new it existed.

[aragx6]

As long as you're planning to stay in the home you buy for 5+ years I wouldn't have too much concern about buying in most of the metro right now. Prices are probably going to dawdle in the near future, so I wouldn't expect to make a fortune on your house, but unless you take a very pessimistic view of the economy in general, I wouldn't worry too heavily over continued major price drops.

And my god, interest rates are low. So low. If we planned to stay in KC we'd be buying right now, but we plan to only be here 1-4 more years.

[fathomless]

Yea the more i think the more i want to buy, i am staring a 30 year fixed at sub 4% loan right in the face... hard to argue with it.

I am sure the prices will go down some more, but want to narrow down area, then take my purchasing power and try to lowball some foreclosures. I know i might take a temp dip in prices, however as wherever i choose will be my primary residence for AT LEAST 5 years, if not more. I find places all over town i like, i drive around when i get the chance and just scope out neighborhoods. Just doing my due diligence to try and pin down a specific area rather than wandering aimlessly around the city.

[aragx6]

A friend just bought a home in old Overland Park. It needed some, mostly cosmetic, work -- the little old lady who lived there previously hadn't done much updating, but she sure had done plenty of smoking. I'm not certain what she paid for it, but I know it was under $75k -- and that wasn't a foreclosure or short sale.