Kansas City / Independence Missouri Investing: How is the area?

[Leaven Phillips]

I've been doing a bunch of research for full du/tri/quadraplex's to buy and rent in Kansas City Mo. I’ve found many (what seem to be) good deals in Independence, but I can’t get a gauge for how the Independence area is; demand for rentals, crime, schools, etc. It also worries me a bit that so many people are selling duplexes. This must indicate something, yes? Maybe vacancy rates are too high?

What type of numbers should be looked for? ROI expectations?

-LP

[Andrew Syrios]

Originally posted by @Leaven Phillips:

I've been doing a bunch of research for full du/tri/quadraplex's to buy and rent in Kansas City Mo. I’ve found many (what seem to be) good deals in Independence, but I can’t get a gauge for how the Independence area is; demand for rentals, crime, schools, etc. It also worries me a bit that so many people are selling duplexes. This must indicate something, yes? Maybe vacancy rates are too high?

What type of numbers should be looked for? ROI expectations?

-LP

Some people call Independence "Methdependence" if that gives you an idea.

No, it's not that bad, but the big thing is it's a rather big suburb and so just saying Independence is too vague to tell. The northwest part near Sugar Creek is pretty rough. When you get all the way east toward Blue Springs, it's actually quite nice. If you're OK with lower end, cash flow rentals, you can do well in Independence. (None of it is really a war zone.) But if you want to be in the nicer spots, you want to be south of 23rd and east of Noland.

For websites, check our CLRSearch.com which can give you all sorts of info on the zip codes and City-Data.com, which has a lot of info too, but also has a map feature that you can look at different subdivision by income, occupancy, etc. (although not crime unfortunately).