Originally posted by ShockerFever
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If we talk residential development, and you like older established neighborhoods, then the west side has absolutely nothing to counter College Hill, Colonial Heights, Sleepy Hollow, etc. Notice you don't have to be rich to live in those neighborhoods?
Here, I'll give you an example of why the west side makes me roll my eyes. Here are 2 homes that sold for roughly $155K last year (not lying).
The first is a College Hill home. This isn't a nice home on the edge of CH surrounded by run down properties; It's smack dab in the core of CH, one street over from Crestway and the turn-of-the-century mansions. This home is totally modern, with new kitchen and baths, central HVAC, plaster replaced by modern drywall, etc. It isn't a functionally obsolescent house that just looks pretty. Has almost 2,500 SF of above-grade living space and 4BR/1.5BA. Sits on multiple lots with 10,000 SF total, and a 2 car garage. This home was originally built by someone of position in Wichita back in the day, as were most homes in it's immediate neighborhood.
The second house is a Klausmeyer special, and probably doesn't have a single piece of full thickness hardwood in it's entirety. It's located in the 29th & 119th area. Builder's grade home to the core. This home was originally built by someone with extremely little buying power (with respect to new construction), and the entire development was based upon attracting that demographic. This particular place was built in 2001 for $88K. From an above-grade perspective, it has only roughly 40% of the SF as compared to the CH home above. If you include the finished basement it still comes up 500 SF short by comparison.
It's situations like this that make me shake my head at the west side boom/sprawl, and give me a belly laugh at the mental shortcomings one must have to choose that glorified mobile home over the College Hill postcard property. Homes built for $88K a decade ago by the Wichita metro area's most prolific low-end builder basically don't exist on the east side. If you have $150K to spend on the east side, you buy a perfectly acceptable, well-maintained, older home. Older neighborhoods on the east side maintain a decent level of overall care, because not everyone is infatuated with having a new home. Older neighborhoods on the west side go downhill at a much quicker clip (go drive around some parts of Westlink), because everyone loves to buy new and contribute to sprawl and urban decay.
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