School quality or crime rate...or something else? What's important?

[Edith TenBroek]

Hey all!

So while we are paying down debt, saving money, and getting ourselves situated to start buying property I've been reading, learning, researching etc. So many SFH's that are "affordable" are in areas with higher crime and or lesser schools. I know these should be avoided, but what about "lowest crime" areas (according to Trulia) that have "not so great" schools. Are these good bets, or do I really need to look at better areas. Also, are Trulia's estimates of crime and school quality accurate?

I've been nosing around the Kansas City areas and it looks like there are lots of good options, but the good school areas are EXPENSIVE with low cash flow numbers The areas with better cash flow have higher crime and/or poor schools. What's good in KC?