CommentGirl

If you want to own your own place, KC is one of the best, most affordable cities to do that in. It's a fine place to call home whether you're single or ready to settle down and have a family because there really IS something for everyone here. Kansas Citians are super friendly, the arts community is stellar, there's world class shopping and dining to be enjoyed...what's not to love about that?!

I knew when I decided it was time to buy a home in the downtown KC area that, in addition to buying what I hoped would be my Dream Home (a spacious Victorian), I'd also be banking on a set of long term neighbors. There are lots of great old historic homes in the neighborhoods immediately surrounding downtown proper, but unless I could be fairly sure I'd be surrounded by neighbors whose passion for the urban core matched my own, I knew I'd never be happy. That reality was the impetus behind making regular visits to various neighborhood association meetings for about a year. At the end of it all, there were two neighborhoods whose meetings were regularly filled with great people with good ideas, but there was one neighborhood whose diverse, dedicated, and out-of-the-box thinkers tipped the scales and kept me coming back for more. Yep, Pendleton Heights.

In addition to "dating" different neighborhoods before moving here, I also did a comparative study of crime maps and police reports during that time. I was impressed that crime rates were lower than I thought they'd be, and from examining stats for the preceding three years, I noticed that the main one in Pendleton Heights was car break ins. It doesn't take a genius to do the math there: I figured that the chance of this happening to me would be vastly reduced if I didn't leave my cell phone or laptop sitting in my car overnight. And I was right- in the 6 years we've been here, we've never had a single crime-related problem. None.

But let's get back to the people who choose to call this place home: I LOVE my neighbors! Together we've organized regular neighborhood clean ups, we walk our dogs together, we have a book club, a knitting club, a mom's club, monthly cocktail parties, monthly swing dance lessons, free curbside glass recycling, a community garden, and we do fundraisers to make neighborhood improvements. In a nutshell, we are a thriving community of people from diverse backgrounds who aren't content to sit back and let life happen to us- we make it happen FOR us, the way we need it to. For all of us.

Oh, yeah, and as if all that wasn't enough, I have the home of my dreams on top of it all! The Pendleton Heights historic district rocks my socks off. If you're looking for a one of a kind home in an area filled with some of the dearest, quirkiest, most proactive individuals you could ever hope to meet (and live right next door to!), welcome home, baby!