Considering a move to Lawrence, Ks

[BambiJo]

Tell me all about Lawrence! We're only about 2 hours east of there (in MO) but I really want to move.

What are home prices like there? Rent, especially.

How is traffic? Are there good places to park downtown? Busses and other mass transit? Do a lot of people bike to work/shopping, etc?

How are the schools? Is there a lot for kids to do outside of school?

Is there a lot of free fun stuff to do? I know about some of the museums.

What part of town is the most desirable? Is there any area of town I should avoid?

Uh...that's all I can think of for now. Thanks so much for answering anything you can! Tell me anything else you want, too. :thumbsup:

[house-of-boys]

Tell me all about Lawrence! We're only about 2 hours east of there (in MO) but I really want to move.

I graduated from KU and we are currently in the process of moving back to Lawrence on July 15th. After living in Olathe/Kansas City, I can't wait to move back. It's a GREAT town.

What are home prices like there? Rent, especially.
The home prices vary quite a bit. We unsuccessfully tried to find a home for 150,000. We settled on renting another year and found a 3 bedroom townhome, with 1 1/2 bath, a 2 car garage and is pet friendly. I didn't want to live too close to campus and it needed to be nice. The rent is $895 a month.

How is traffic? Are there good places to park downtown? Busses and other mass transit? Do a lot of people bike to work/shopping, etc?
Traffic is much better whenever school is not in session! Although it's busy at normal times (mornings/evenings). Downtown Mass has great parking and we never have trouble. There is a parking garage and metered parking. The city has a bus system but I have never used it. The city is also biker friendly. Some streets have bike lanes and lots of people and students bike.

How are the schools? Is there a lot for kids to do outside of school?
The city has a great school system, although they don't pay their teachers very well! I'm sure that the schools all scored well/excellent on state testing. There are tons of things for the kids to do outside of school. There are after school programs, park and rec programs, and a boys and girls club. There is an indoor water park, as well as an outdoor city pool. The university offers classes as well. The Toy shop on Mass has summer classes. There are competing gymnastics, swimming, etc. I know that there are Mom groups/play groups as well.

Is there a lot of free fun stuff to do? I know about some of the museums.
Walk downtown, Music in the Park, Natural History Museum on campus, plenty of parks, parades down Mass street, Farmers Market. I'm sure that there is more, but I can't think of anything else right now.

What part of town is the most desirable? Is there any area of town I should avoid?
I would avoid areas too close to campus, unless you don't mind parties. West Lawrence and North Lawrence have newer areas. Old West Lawrence has older, more expensive homes but you risk being close to campus. East of Mass has smaller, more "run-down" homes. I would avoid living around Haskell Street. My husband is a Juvinile Corrections officer and he sees lots of kids come from around there.

Uh...that's all I can think of for now. Thanks so much for answering anything you can! Tell me anything else you want, too. :thumbsup:


Hope this helps!

[miasmamma913]

I pretty much agree with everything above. I LOVE LAWRENCE!!! I would love to move back there someday but DH's job is in KC and he went to Mizzou. Yeah, I don't see moving back to Lawrence in my future :cry: It is such a wonderful town, honestly, I don't think you would ever look back. Do avoid the Haskell area tho. Good Luck Mama!

[BambiJo]

Thank you so much for all that information! I really appreciate it. You can do all the research on the 'net that you want, but having a real person's perspective on things really makes a difference.

I especially appreciate knowing what part of town to avoid!!

[house-of-boys]

Hurry and move so that I can have another IRL friend! I forgot to add that there is a Baby Boutique downtown that carries a few cloth diapers (but not much).

[BambiJo]

It would be awesome to have an IRL friend in Lawrence! The trick is going to be convincing my DH to move. :D We're taking a day trip there tomorrow so I can make my pitch. Haha! If you have any suggestions on places to take him that will make him instantly want to move, let me know! He's not much of a big city guy (our current town is population 5,000 and even that makes him nervous) so I have no idea what he'll think. I just hate living in such a small town!!

[house-of-boys]

Hmm..what does he like to do?
Freestate on Mass makes great beer. I'm pretty sure that you can buy fresh meat at Local Burger if you want to grill. Campus is open if you want to drive and see the buildings. You could take the kids to the pool...

[BambiJo]

Beer! :D That's a great one. I'll check that out. We're only taking the baby with us, so probably no to the pool, but I might have to swing by and show it to him if it's impressive at all.

[house-of-boys]

Have fun! Hope you convince him to move!

[BambiJo]

Thanks again for all your advice! We went there yesterday and had sooo much fun. We ended up not having enough time to do all that I wanted to do. We did go to the Natural History Museum, and walked down Mass. St and went into a bunch of little stores. I LOVE that town! I want to move there right now. DH isn't sure though. It's just too big for him. Plus, we need to do some figuring on if we can even sell our house.

[house-of-boys]

Oh goodness- glad that you had fun. Isn't it just the best? You could always move to Eudora or Baldwin. Both are smaller, but still close. Where did you end up eating lunch?

[ralesiah]

I just found this part of the forums. Yay! I live in Lawrence, it's not so bad. It's definitely bigger than where you are but it still has a smaller town feel. Maybe that's just because my husband knows everyone in this town. He's lived here 13 yrs and works in Human Services. Lawrence is pretty good with things to do. I don't know the ages of your kids but there is Toddler Open Gym (ages nb-5) during the school year, 3 times a wk we go to. I have a 2 yr old. I love the toddler wading pool at South Park (end of mass) this time of year too. There are tons of great parks, one in almost every neighborhood. And lots of stuff for adults. Free State, Liberty Hall, amazing places to eat, of course the shops and Java Break, my favorite coffee shop in town. I have a few girlfriends that meet up with me every tuesday night there for a chance to get out and away from the kids. :) One of them CDs as well. It's all in all not a bad place. I've always said that if you were going to live in KS, Lawrence should be the place you live. It's really pretty here and fairly quiet. We're having trouble with the downtown bars because kids are coming in from topeka and KC and getting into it. But if you avoid that and like the pp said, move in somewhere away from campus and the way east side of town you'll find some good neigborhoods. We just moved into a new place on the west side of town, a 2 bd townhome with basement and garage and pay $725 a month. The only thing about renting here is you really have to look around to find a decent place for decent money. I looked for 6 mo before I found the place we are now. If you do move here maybe we could meet up. :) LMK.

[ralesiah]

Oh and Eudora or Baldwin aren't bad places to live. Very small town. They are just as expensive as Lawrence though because more people want to move away from the 'city' (KC or Lawrence). I don't know much about Eudora. We do spend time in baldwin because a friend is running the community theatre there and we help them out with it. It's very nice, quiet neighborhoods, interesting mom and pop shops. You would have to drive into lawrence for groceries and the like though. Hope this helps the decision. :)

[BambiJo]

Thanks, ralesiah!

I definitely don't want to live in Eudora or Baldwin. I'm familiar with both of them, and they don't interest me at all. Mainly because I'm tired of living OUTSIDE the town I like. I want to be right where all the action is!

Seriously, just the idea of having a library to go to excites me. What's it like? I wandered into a bookstore...Dusty something or other, on Mass and I loved it! Definitely my kind of place. And having more options of places to eat than McDs, Taco Bell, and Sonic would be amazing. Haha!

I think we'll have a hard time finding a house, though. We definitely want a house, not an apartment, and since we are so far away I think it'll be hard to snag one. Especially since we'll have to sell our house here.

Anyway, still working on DH! I think he likes the idea, he's just nervous about change.

[ralesiah]

Dusty Bookshelf is fantastic! I have a running line of credit there. You sell your books for store credit and go buy more when you want. It's great! The library is okay, they are really pushing to expand it. It's got a great children's room though with storytime and puppet theatre most every week of the year. They also have lots of family dvds to check out, so that's nice. The housing market here is becoming more reasonable, I think because it's having too. Anyway, there's a great townhome next to my friend's house. The owners are wanting to sell quick. 3 bd, 2 1/2 baths (I think, would have to check for sure), basement, double garage. $134,000. Not bad for a new place on the west side. It's located on the south end of wakarusa to the west. I could get more info on it for you if you want.

[BambiJo]

Thanks for the offer Ralesiah! I can tell that it's definitely a good deal, but it's just too much money for us. Uh...our $90,000 is too much for us right now! I figure we'll be stuck renting for awhile, and I'm actually okay with that. I love owning my own house, but I feel totally trapped at the same time. I like the feeling of freedom I get from renting, like I can get up at almost any time and move. I think I was a gypsy or a pioneer in a previous life. :D

That's awesome about the Dusty Bookshelf! I would love to be able to get rid of some of my old books and trade them in for new ones.

I think DH is hoping that I'll forget about the urge to move. But the more I hear about Lawrence the more I feel like it's the perfect town for me. Uh...us. I mean us. :D

[house-of-boys]

I didn't know that about the Dusty Bookshelf. Do they sell kids books as well?

We go sign our lease today and are planning to move on July 12th. I can't wait!!

[BambiJo]

Yeah, Audrey, I saw a bunch of kids books in there.

Congrats on the move! I'm so jealous!

[ralesiah]

The do buy/sell kids books, also the library has a twice yearly book sale (spring and fall) with free days at the very end. I always find great kids books then! I know what you mean about renting, BambiJo. I don't know that I could ever buy a house because I don't want to be tied down. But for some people it's all they want; home ownership. Well to each his own. Congrats on the moving bsmama! It's not to far away!

[house-of-boys]

Ralesiah- you didn't go to Target today by chance? :giggle: After we signed our lease we ran by Target and I saw somebody wearing their baby in an Ergo. My husband just rolls his eyes as I debate about starting a conversation with said babywearer. (sp?)

[shutterbugmom]

:cry: I lived in Lawrence for seven years, and just moved to Topeka. (30 minutes away)

I miss it terribly!!! You really cannot look up without seeing a babywearer, a baby nursing, or a babe in CDs. :wub:

I go there at least once a week to take my oldest to art class at the Lawrence Arts Center. (<--- google this--awesome place!!)

I also love downtown, and the FREE wading pool that is down there. I love how friendly most of the people are and how family friendly Lawrence is.

Maybe we can meet up sometime!! :o

Also, check out these websites:

www.enjoylawrence.com

www.ljworld.com

www.larryville.com

[house-of-boys]

Sarah- I'm still hoping that we can meet together for perhaps a photo shoot sometime in August??? Simon is about to turn 5 and Bennett is about to turn 1, so I want a family photo shoot!

[house-of-boys]

We officially made the move!! Anybody ready for a play date?

[kate2008]

I'm totally stalking your thread, I just ventured down to this part of the forum, LOL. I'm in Lawrence, if you get together, LMK, I'm up for meeting new people. :)

(It could have been me in Target, I meander around there all the time w/ madi in her Ergo :giggle:)

[1orange23]

Bumping up this old thread from the grave since we are moving to Lawrence. :thumbsup:

BambiJo, do you finally move to Lawrence ?

Sorry for hijacking your thread. Ladies, what do you think about Quail Run Elementary School ? My dd will be in grade 3 and I'm not sure yet if we are going to go with Quail Run or Broken Arrow.

[house-of-boys]

This is a thread from the grave!! We've officially lived in Lawrence for a whole year now and LOVE it!

I've down some substituting for the LPS, and I prefer Quail Run over Broken Arrow. But both are great schools!

[specialdelivery]

Hi, ladies. I'm also a fellow Lawrencian! It's nice to see how many there are on here. I noticed earlier comments on the pool and the community center's toddler gym and wanted to add the library has a good number of story times-if you weren't aware.