South KC Neighborhood Ratings

[Brendyn Dabrowski]

I've been living in Lees Summit, MO for a little over a year now and have just recently been studying REI. I'm wondering if any seasoned investors around the South KC area have any input about neighborhood ratings and where they feel is the best place to invest.

My business partner and I have narrowed down our niche to Multifamily. The ideal goal is to house hack a fourplex to get our feet wet, while looking for a value-add apartment complex where we can really get the ball rolling and scale.

From word of mouth and research that I have done of South Kansas City, here are my ratings of the area. Please share your thoughts on these rankings as I am new and trying to get a gauge of the best market to dig into for Multifamily investing.

A) Overland Park (A+), Leawood (A), Lees Summit (A-), Blue Springs (A-), Shawnee (A-), Prairie Village (A-), Olathe (A-)

These areas are white collar and safe. The nearby school ratings look good (above 7) on Zillow. The AreaVibes livability rating is above 80. These areas are well developed and offer many amenities.

B) Raymore (B+), Pleasant Hill (B), Harrisonville (B) 

These areas are safe, possibly more blue collar. School ratings look good as well. AreaVibes livability is in the upper 70's, lower 80's. Lesser amenities than the A areas above.

C) Belton (C+), Mission (C+), Raytown (C), Grandview (C-)

These areas have more crime with lower school ratings. AreaVibes livability is in the lower 70s and 60s. I think these areas are lower because they either have more crime, lesser schools, or less amenities.

My thinking right now is to house hack in an A. We'll be able to gain experience, it is somewhere that I will feel safe, and has a lot of amenities, but may have to sacrifice cash flow. Then once we gain more experience, move to apartment complexes in areas that produce more cashflow. 

So to summarize, My ultimate question to area RE Investors is what area or letter grade have you found offers the best bang for your buck in South KC for Multifamily? Also, what area of the city have you found the most success in?

Thanks for taking the time to read this!