A Kansas City Real Estate Blog by Realtor, Sarah Snodgrass

Today I was in Kansas City’s historic northeast neighborhood just east of the River Market and Downtown to show someone my new listing. While there, I stopped in at BLVD Pastries for an iced sugar cookie. I had heard from Lauren over at Framework Design how terrific they were, so I thought I’d give it a try.

It was pretty good; not the best I’ve ever had (that would be McLain’s), but good enough that I will definitely stop in again. Before heading back to work, I took a picture of my favorite sign. I LOVE this retro sign. I think it should get some sort of historic designation – it is that cool.

Yesterday I held an open house at 1008 W. 70th Street in Kansas City. The home is located in the popular subdivision of Romanelli Gardens, which extends from 67th on the north to Gregory on the south, and Wornall on the east to Ward Parkway on the west. I created a map in Google Maps so you can visualize. There are about 615 homes in the subdivision, all of which were built from about 1925-1940. Though the subdivision is now about 80 years old, these homes are all well-kept, updated, and each have their own unique beauty. Occasionally while walking my boxer along the Trolley Track Trail, we’ll wonder over to Romanelli Gardens for a change of scenery – its quiet streets are a great place to view the diverse scenery of the homes, the landscaping and the mature trees. Most homes in the area are Tudor-style homes, but you can also find other styles (or a mish-mash of styles) such as colonial revival; many of which have original brick and stone detailing. Below is a photo I took at my open house. I fell head over heels in love with the iron detailing on the front door. This type of door and detailing is common among tudors in the area.

p.s. This was my busiest open house ever. Probably due to the tax credit, the buyers are out in droves and they all said they wish there were more homes for sale. Unfortunately, inventory is down, but I think we will see a spike in listings pretty soon.

The winter edition of my quarterly newsletter was just mailed out to my clients, friends and neighbors. My newsletter provides the latest on local market news, select events, finance, special features from the blog, and other timely news and stories.  If you would like to receive this quarterly newsletter, you may complete this sign-up form and begin receiving future editions in the spring*. You may also view the current edition online (pdf).

*Note: I will only use your address to send the quarterly newsletter, I will not send junk-mail or share your address with anyone.

I happened upon an edition of Better Homes and Gardens magazine from 1954, and inside was a story about a (modern) steel framed ranch home. The excitement was that, with the use of the steel supports, the interior could flow into the outside with large expanses of glass and continuous materials as you will see in the photos below.

In a related note – my pick of the week is a home just listed in Prairie Village. It is a mid-century modern style ranch home near Mission and 79th Street. This house was built around the same time – in 1956; and while I do see some similarities, I also note many differences. For example, the home in the magazine layout has glass walls leading outside and stone, while the pick of the week seems to be a more traditional wood-frame ranch with modern lines, stacked stone fireplace and vaulted ceilings.

This is a wonderful guide to residential architecture, found on the Anderson Architecture Website. It has photos of 15 different residential architecture styles with brief descriptions of each style’s outstanding features. The styles and development of our cities must have coincided because this grouping of photos and architectural styles greatly resemble that of Kansas City. For example, I could find a very similar Queen Anne in the historic Northeast, the Neoclassical along Ward Parkway, the Italianate in Westside, the Bungalows in Brookside and Midtown, Arts and Crafts and Prairie styles in Sunset Hill and Brookside, Tudors in Brookside and Waldo, the Shingle Style in Hyde Park, and so on.

Photo credit - hisdalearchitecture.org praire style home.

If you are buying a home in Missouri in 2010, listen up. You could be eligible to receive up to $1750 as a home buying incentive. The Home Ownership Purchase Enhancement, or HOPE program, is being offered by the Missouri Housing Development Commission for a limited time (until the 15 million allocated runs out). Here are the details according to their website:

MHDC is allocating $15 million towards the HOPE program. Qualified Missouri families that purchase a home in 2010 are eligible for a HOPE incentive equaling the amount of the 2009 real estate tax bill associated with the property they purchased, up to a maximum of $1,250. Additionally, homebuyers who are approved for the real estate property tax HOPE incentive may also be eligible to receive an additional amount if they bought a qualified, newly-constructed, energy-efficient home or bought an existing home and remodeled or purchased items such as Energy Star® appliances to make the home more energy efficient. The maximum combined total of the HOPE property tax incentive and the HOPE energy-efficiency incentive is $1,750.

Learn all about it on their website; I found the FAQ page very informative. Feel free to contact me with questions – and a word to the wise – don’t delay once you close on your home. This money will run out so get your applications in as soon as possible.

My Pick of the Week is a home in Fonticello Gardens, a subdivision located off 69th Street, just west of Roe Ave in Prairie Village. What an incredible little jewel in Prairie Village and greater Kansas City. While colonial style homes abound, there is nothing quite like this authentic cluster of brick colonials. It appears the development began in 1956 and the architect may have been a woman by the name of Garland T. Bowers, though I cannot find any record of her. My pick of the week is a spacious, traditional, well-built home, and, though it is not brand new, I think its size and features would please many new-home buyers as well as those looking for the quality and charm of years past. This one will be gone before we know it.

My boss made this chart – I’m sorry it reads kinda backwards. As you can see, there was a big dip in showings over Thanksgiving and Christmas. Once the new year hit, showings began to creep back up again. I’m sure the storm we are expecting today will slow us down again briefly, but I know there are many people out there who want to buy and sell so I don’t expect it to stay down for long.

As to my 2010 real estate predictions… Of course they mean nothing especially with all the extraneous factors that could affect the world, the city and the economy – but here goes. I think what everyone else probably thinks, which is that sales will be strong from now until the end of summer and then will taper off sharply. With the tax credit for both first time home buyers and repeat buyers in effect until April 30 (June 30 to close), people are anxious to get into the market now but once that ends I expect sales to decline. If only the weather would cooperate so people can get their homes ready to sell and buyers could get out there – I’d hate for folks to miss out on the whole month of January because that April 30 deadline will be here before we know it.

I expect interest rates to gradually raise and end the year higher than where we started. Already we are higher than where we ended 2009, though still very low at about 5.1%.

There is a new website on the scene in Kansas City that you need to take seriously. Many come and go, but this one is for real. Real writers, real photographers, video, photos, relationships with local bloggers, in-depth journalism, local flavor, lifestyle, food, full listings of local spots, and finally a legit events calendar for KC (similar to the exceptional Lawrence.com calendar of events). Also notable is the top-notch design and layout. This site is easy to use and read. KCFreePress.com

New mid-century ranch listing in Prairie Village with a cool contemporary look. Check out the photos and listing page. Nice kitchen renovation with an updated look, while remaining harmonious with its architectural style.

(This property is listed in the local Heartland Multiple Listing Service; Listing Company: Reece and Nichols Country Club Plaza; Listing Agent: Sandy Murphy)

Below are two graphs reflecting the number of sales by area, by month, over the last four years. I made them this way because I wanted to see trends which would indicate the best time to list a home. Here are my thoughts:

• Peak sales are in about June.
• Sales start picking up in March, which means you would want to have your house listed in early February. (it takes 30-60 days to go from contract to closing)
• People are ALWAYS buying homes so there is nothing wrong with selling in January. But the more people buying, the more chances you have of selling your home.
• 2009 seems to be a bit unique from the other years… I attribute this to the first-time home buyer tax credit that was set to expire November 30. I think it gave a boost to the second half of this year. (Congress has just extended and expanded this tax credit through April 2010).

Many friends and readers who knew and read about my recent kitchen renovation have requested that I share photos of the finished product. I have been delaying because it isn’t quite finished; however, the realization has set in that it will take time to find the perfect fabric for curtains and just the right artwork to adorn my walls so I have given in. Most people think I am crazy to paint my kitchen pink (especially my friends in the real estate business), but I don’t care. I love it – I think it is happy and whimsical, and I love the 1950’s retro look. If only I could snap my fingers and magically transform my mismatched appliances into the Big Chill retro appliances to match my retro look. Oh well, everything works and that is what is important.