Highland Crest KCK (low income, rentals, insurance)

[adfstudent]

We are considering a home in the Highland Crest area of KCK. I have heard about that area having a lot of crime. Is it as bad as they say?

[denverian]

Originally Posted by adfstudent

We are considering a home in the Highland Crest area of KCK. I have heard about that area having a lot of crime. Is it as bad as they say?

I think that's the area my grandmother lived in for many years - lots of tiny, 2 bdr., no basement, houses. Or maybe it was Turner. It was extremely cheap, but a horrible and depressing place to live. It was close to nothing in terms of retail and restaurants, crime was an issue, and people seemed to be living in poverty.

[celestajean]

Some of the statistics on the internet say 75% of the people in Highland Crest live at or below poverty

[Gary Bender]

My family the Benders lived in Highland Crest from the year 1952-53 We lived at Hageman and 50th street. My parents and 4 boys and 2 girls. We all went to Oakgrove School then Highland Jr High , and the Turner High School.
I live with my parents until 1972 in Highland Crest when I got married. We didn't have much crime at all during the years that I live in Highland Crest except for around 1965 somebody threw acid on our dog . One year at Oakgrove school we had 1800 students going to the school, so many that they had to bring in some mobile homes to use for classes .

[swmoguns]

Lived 25 years about a mile south of that area and knew many folks who lived in that subdivision.

Highland Crest is a subdivison developed in response to the major 1951 KCK flood. A developer bought 200 acres in extreme rural south KCK and built hundreds of cheap spec 2 bedroom 1 bath homes on that tract within a year. They were highly successful since the entire subdivision was totally sold out by the winter of 1952. Many displaced families from the Argentine and Armourdale districts spent $5k of their insurance settlements to buy those cheap homes brand spankin’ new.

Most of the original residents lived there until they died off in the 1980’s and 1990’s when their poorly maintained homes were eventually sold off as rentals by siblings that had no use for them.

You can easily buy one of these basic homes in the $60k region even today... but this area has never been considered “affulent” in the least even when new. You’re basically buying a small cheap home that was only meant to last 20 to 30 years at best. Most require tons of upgrades and improvements to bring them into the 21st century.

The crime rate in this area is “fair”. You have lots of low income folks living very close together among tons of $500-$600 monthly rentals. We’re talking a fair share of petty crime (theft, vandalism, etc).

Nothing is within walking distance of this area except for the retail that exists around 47th & Shawnee Drive... and all that has changed hands a million times since the 1970’s. No retail has ever been terribly successful anywhere within that area.

In my opinion... save up an additional $10k-$20k or so and buy a small starter home in northern Johnson County (Merriam, Shawnee, Mission). MUCH safer area and you’ll actually have an investment when you eventually want to upgrade in a few years.

Highland Crest is pretty much stagnant and dead. There’s basically nothing you can do to improve in that area.