A Kansas City Real Estate Blog by Realtor, Sarah Snodgrass

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With the end of a year, we tend to look back and wonder how the market has changed. I have been collecting some year-end statistics, and thought I should make a graph to illustrate one important point about real estate: real estate is local. We have been hearing many national and local news reports lately about how the real estate market is struggling, and it is in many places especially volatile markets like Florida and California where prices are down dramatically and foreclosures are way up… The story is similar here, but the severity is not. If you measure our entire metro area (using info gathered from Heartland MLS), sales prices were down from 2006-2007 by just -1.6%. But if you narrow your search to Johnson County, the average sales price actually increased by 1.2%. Take it down even further and measure Prairie Village (a town in Johnson County in the KC metropolitan area), and the average sales price was up 5.1% from 2006-2007.

The graph above illustrates the point that real estate is local. If you are wondering about your home value, you really need to gather information about your neighborhood, area, city or whatever best applies to your situation. For example - I live in Brookside, so I would probably gather subdivision and zip code data to analyze how my area fared in 2007. I have lots of this type of information at my disposal, so feel free to contact me for analysis.

Sometimes people refer to a house as having “good bones”. But what does this mean? Well, around here in the older parts of town, it is important to consider a home’s bones when buying. How is the foundation, the floors, the walls, the layout, fireplace? What type of materials was it built with - brick, stone, stucco, concrete? Who was the builder and when was it built? Many times all this will be satisfactory, but the maintenance will have been neglected - or maybe it just had a bad decorator and it needs some scrubbing and painting. The potential is there - you just have to see past the 60’s wallpaper and see the beautiful solid pine floors underneath the shag carpet. The bones are the things you can’t change (or can’t easily change) - think of it as a naked house. Things you can change are paint, kitchen counter tops, terrible lighting, ugly carpet… It is important to keep this perspective when you are out there looking at houses because it is easy to be romanced by a shiny new kitchen with granite counter tops especially when they are throwing in that flat-screen plasma tv… Try to keep your eyes and your mind open to the diamond in the rough.

The photo above is of a house for sale off Ward Parkway that has “good bones” - but needs a bit of updating to bring it around. According to the listing notes, it is a Dible Tudor.

Converting your garage or lovely screened-in porch into a dumpy looking family room is generally a bad idea. The only way I would approve it is if you are building a big detached garage and really take the time, money and energy and make the conversion a really good one that fits into the style of your house seamlessly. Also, if you decide to convert your garage into more living space and build a garage in your yard - don’t go to all the trouble unless you build at least a 2-car garage. It’s what everybody wants and you are going to be spending lots of money anyway.

To be fair, I have seen a few nice conversions, but the vast majority of them aren’t so great. I know I sound bossy, but I see so many older homes with strange, uncomfortable rooms that stick out from the rest of the house and no garage and they are very hard for sellers to sell. I’m just looking out for you! You won’t get as much money out of your house, and it might take longer to sell. Same goes for screened in porches that have been finished off. Why do this? Generally you aren’t gaining much by doing this - the room will generally remain cold in the winter and hot in the summer because of insulation and because they are usually built on a separate slab foundation. Each time I view a house with one of these situations, the buyers always say - “why would they do this” or “gosh, I sure wish they wouldn’t have done this” or “we really wanted a porch” or “we need a garage”. If you really need the extra space, then move to a different house; don’t turn your house into something it is not - you aren’t fooling the buyers out there.

Something crazy happened to me today. I went to check out a home that is being sold by a bank - it is a foreclosure which means that the original owners couldn’t pay their mortgage and the home went back to the bank. It is a very complicated subject which varies state to state, so I won’t get into all of it (if you want to learn more, this wikipedia entry is a good resource).

When I set up the appointment to see this vacant home, I was informed that all of the utilities were turned off. This is fairly typical for a foreclosure, but generally they will leave the heat on or the electricity. Not this house. It was freezing. That wasn’t the worst part though. As I walk in, I see a weird outline of a figure in the window hiding behind the shade - it’s a squirrel inside the house! I freak out and run for the door, but then I pause and think how strange it is that the squirrel hasn’t moved an inch. I look at its poor little face and realize it is a dead squirrel. So, even though I’m totally freaked out, I decide to get a quick peek at the kitchen before I leave. As I walk toward the kitchen, I see another dead squirrel on the floor of the kitchen. That’s when I turn and run for the door. This place is full of squirrels, and I’m afraid that there might also be some live ones in there!

I have discussed the perils of buying foreclosures before in a previous post “Thoughts on Foreclosures” and how difficult these banks make the process, and I just had to share this story to illustrate my point. Banks just don’t make the best sellers.

This week, we Realtors were back in action with new listings and touring. It was my first official Tuesday Realtor Tour Day out of 2008 to see some of our new homes on the market. I saw five properties today, and I was just so excited to see some new listings that I couldn’t pick just one to feature here on my blog.

The first is a high-priced luxury condominium on the Plaza in the well-established Townsend Place building. This building was erected in 1989 as a 45 unit luxury condominium building overlooking the beautiful Country Club Plaza. The location is prime - it is right behind the Barnes and Noble. Amenities include door attendants 24 hours a day, fitness center, club room and secure garage parking. It is a really classy place - I was impressed with the service and the common areas as well. This particular unit is heavily decorated, but the finishes and spaces are all fantastic. It is very spacious (I think it is about 2600 sq. feet), and the style is contemporary. I just loved the kitchen cabinets and the white marble tile floors. Plus, it has two balconies with prime southeast views of the Plaza.

My second “Pick of the Week” is a nice family home out in Lenexa near Johnson County Community College. It is a really adorable, well-priced 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath listed at $275,000. There are three things about this house that really stand out to me: (1) There is a walking trail just steps away (2) The kitchen has been remodeled and it is really pretty (3) the finished basement is so clean and cozy.

Feel free to contact me for more information on these listings or for a private showing.

This article today in the Kansas City Star doesn’t paint a very rosy picture for the developers of One Park Place. Looks like the project has gone much slower than they planned, as have sales. They recently reduced prices by 30% on 12 units… Makes you wonder how those people who bought last year feel about their investment. I’d be a bit angry if I spent 30% more on the same product as someone else, but I guess that is the name of the game. Negotiate! Anyway, I do like the International Style building very much . It is an incredible architectural gem of Kansas City, and a very nice project with oodles of amenities. I hope sales pick up this year, not only for this project but for all condos. There is a large inventory of excellent projects and units for sale, and we could stand for it to shrink a little bit. Luckily, local forecasters do not anticipate a slower year than 2007, so let’s all hope for good things in 2008!

So, you want to live on a lake in the Kansas City area. Can you build a dock? Can have a boat on it? What kind of boat? Are motor boats allowed? If so, are there speed restrictions? Boat size restrictions? Recreation regulations? There is alot to learn about what lake might be best for your needs if you want to live on a lake in the metro area. I recently had a client contact me that wants to have a house with a dock, and they want to water-ski. Their boat is 22 feet long. This ruled out all local lakes except for 2 - Prairie Lee Lake, and Country Lake. Country Lake is a small, private ski lake, and Prairie Lee is a public lake, but neither have anything for sale currently. They actually could build a home with a dock on Prairie Lee Lake, but I don’t think they want to go that route. Anyway, this request for lake front property led me on a voyage of discovery and I thought it smart to chronicle my discoveries. This is just a general reference, and deemed reliable as of Jan.08, but not guaranteed. Of course there are more lakes, but I thought I’d try to keep it condensed to mainly only lakes that have homes on them.

• Lake Winnebago: Must be a resident, 20 foot boat size limit (28 for pontoons), can’t exceed 37mph
• Lake Lotawana: Must be a resident, 21 foot boat size limit, docks allowed, water-skiing allowed.
• Prairie Lee Lake: 180 acre ski lake, Public, docks allowed, 30 foot boat size limit, horsepower limit: 190 outboard, 165 inboard, I hear that there are different horsepower limits if you aren’t a resident.
• Lake Jacomo: 970 acre lake for fishing and boating. Can’t find exact info on Jackson county website - but here is what I know… They have horsepower limits. I think it is really only for sailing and fishing and leisurely slow cruises.
• Loch Lloyd Lake: Private, 110 acre lake, speed restrictions, no water-skiing, and I don’t think there are any docks. The idea is to have a very pretty, quiet, pristine lake.
• Lake Quivera: Private, docks allowed, speed restrictions.
• Lake Tapawingo: 22 foot boat size limit, docks allowed
• Raintree Lake: 240 acre lake, docks allowed, fishing, high-speed boating, docks allowed, private, Motor boat: Twenty-one (21) feet, Other boats: Eighteen (18) feet, Pontoon boat: Twenty-eight (28) feet, Sailboat: Twenty-two (22) feet, 35mph speed limit.
• Weatherby Lake: Boats can’t exceed 24ft, 2inches, boat motor can’t exceed 10 horsepower, members only, docks allowed.
• Country Lake: Private ski lake.

I ran across this listing as I was searching for properties in the crossroads for a client. I haven’t seen it in person, so I don’t know exactly what to expect but it sounds like a really incredible spot. The listing states that it is under construction, which means it is a new building and not a renovated older building which is so typical of the area. For just a mere $855,000, this could be your chance to live across from the Sprint Center, have amazing views of downtown, 5000+ square feet of living space, and your very own private rooftop. I’ll try to drive by and take a photo soon. Contact me for more details!

Some clients of mine who are architects & builders with Framework Design, will be breaking ground after the winter thaw on a project in the Westside neigbhorhood at 17th and Jefferson. The image at left is the most recent rendering of the project. There will be two Row Homes correction: one living space and one apartment, and also retail space with parking. One interesting note, the architects of the project are using some reclaimed and salvaged materials for some of the exterior construction. For example, they found an old wood barn near Bonner Springs and purchased the wood which they intend to use on the 2nd floor exterior. It should look incredible and really fit into the neighborhood nicely. One of the Row Homes will be available for sale, and the retail space will be available for rent. Please feel free to contact me to learn more about this project or renting the retail space.