A Kansas City Real Estate Blog by Realtor, Sarah Snodgrass

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A couple photos from the Feist show last Sunday at Starlight Amphitheater… Starlight is a lovely outdoor concert and live theatrical venue in Swope Park, next to the Kansas City Zoo. It is my favorite place to see a concert on a lovely Summer night. Trivia: Swope Park is Kansas City’s largest park, and the nation’s 55th largest city park, boasting a size of 1,769 acres (according to the Trust for Public Land).

Where are the deals?
Well, if I had a nickel for every time I heard this… I wish I knew! You just have to get out there and hunt for one. In general, they are not going to be advertised - you have to make and offer and see what happens. Five things to watch for if you want a deal:

• The house has been on the market for a long time - there are ways to doctor this, so make sure you have your realtor (me!) check the property’s history
• If the listing advertisement says “motivated seller” or something to that effect
• If the listing advertisement says “make an offer”
• Selling a home out of an Estate
• If they are selling “as-is”
• Foreclosure Auction - I hear lenders are starting to accept lower offers

There is no guarantee that a seller will come down on price; however, you just might get lucky if the seller is actually getting desperate and in a bad situation. Also, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. This adage is especially true when it comes to foreclosures and short sales.

Another question I hear is if there are good deals on condos in Kansas City. It is true that there is a huge inventory of condos on the market right now in Kansas City, but I cannot point to one particular development and tell you that is a great deal. In general, I look for the same things I noted above when searching for a “deal”. If I’m looking for the next best thing in condos, you might want to consider the Power and Light District if you are a risk-taker. That area could really explode, but I do have a word of caution: make sure you are in it for the long run. In general, do not expect to own something for two years and make a windfall.

Photo below: Above: Photo of friends & me watching fireworks from Rainbow Boulevard. From there we could see three different displays: The City of Westood, Kansas City Country Club, and an unidentified third display…

It is comforting to know that in these hard economic times with low housing prices, $4 per gallon of gas, $4 per gallon of milk, low stock market levels and so on, that you can still get motel room in Kansas City for $29. I love this town.

Thanks to everyone who visited my open house today on the hottest day of the year! You never know what to expect on a holiday weekend, but I had about 10 groups come through and most all of you seemed genuinely interested in living in Brookside. I met some great people, and had a nice afternoon. For those of you who tried my homemade lemonade - sorry it wasn’t as lemony as it should be, but I only had one lemon in the fridge and it probably needed two or three… at least it was cold though!

I was very encouraged by the conversations I had today. I can’t help but be worried about the economy and the housing market, but there are still buyers out there (those buyers have alot to choose from and are going to get a great deal too!) I was also encouraged by the stories I heard. People want to live in Brookside because of the lifestyle and location. Several were first time buyers, but a couple visitors were moving up here from the suburbs - I didn’t ask, but I can only guess that the price of gas might have something to do with their choice.

Whether you attended my open house today or not, feel free to contact me at any time about real estate in Kansas City. I work all over, but I specialize in Brookside, Plaza, Midtown, and Waldo areas because I love older homes and the charm of the neighborhoods and architecture. Also, I’ll be doing another open house in Brookside again next weekend, so check back on Friday to see where I will be!

Ugh, I don’t even have the energy to write this. Less contracts, less sales, less homes in the market, lower prices…

• May 2007: $145,140
• May 2008: $129,064

Overall, the average sales price in May for the entire Heartland area was down 7% from last May. Below is a chart of the above info, along with a couple more areas that get a little bit deeper into the situation. You will see that Brookside prices are declining along with Jackson County, however; Prairie Village prices are slightly up while Johnson County’s prices are down. It really isn’t that bad - I would hate to see us compared to other areas of the country, but our market is still correcting…

Well, I finally made it to Stroud’s last night. We had a delicious meal - just like I remember. The chicken was hot and fresh out of the kitchen, the rolls were warm, and the sides were top notch. I arrived just before 6pm, and there was already a 30 minute wait, but it was well worth it and there were comfortable places to wait both outside and inside at the roomy bar. Everything about this place is bigger, more tables, bigger bar, more employees - but they run it just as efficiently. It is quite an operation.

What does all this have to do with real estate? Well, nothing - so I guess I’ll give you some real estate statistics on Fairway, the city in which the new Stroud’s resides. The boundaries of Fairway are roughly Shawnee Mission Parkway on the north, 63rd Street on the south, Belinder on the east, and Roe on the west, but these aren’t the exact boundaries - the border jogs around a bit.

• Current # of Homes For Sale: 36
• Average List Price: $374,152

• Number of Homes Sold so far this Year: 39
• Average Sales Price: $290,982

What this tells me is that some of the lower priced homes are selling better than the really expensive ones. Also, that we have about a 5-6 month supply of homes on the market right now (absorption rate), and that it is still slightly a buyer’s market.

Thanks BonBon Blog for calling my attention to the Ink photos of the annual West Eighteenth Street Fashion Show. I had to miss it for the first time this year because I had a previous engagement, but at least I can see the Ink photos and there will be a DVD that I can watch, and, I believe, will probably be for sale probably at Birdies Panties & Swim.

This is one of our best, most beautiful and creative events that goes down in KC, so if you haven’t heard of it or if you have always put off going, then please get down there next year and check it out. It’s one of my favorite things and you will absolutely not regret it. Be sure to buy a seat too - they are totally worth it because they have more and more designers every year and who wants to stand the whole time? Not me.

Many people out there just do not take advantage of all the free money and government assistance programs that are available to them. It is rather difficult to find these programs, especially because they aren’t well-known or advertised and you pretty much need to have a computer to find out about them these days. But if you are buying a home and think you might qualify for an assistance program, be sure to talk to a few different lending companies about it - they all have access to different programs and you will want to find the one that best fits your financial situation. Also, there are a few city/county programs that can help you purchase a home or even give you money to fix yours up. One of my clients who bought a fixer-upper is currently enrolled in the HOME program, which is a Johnson County, Kansas program where the county pays to rehab your home with a loan that is forgivable after 10 years - specifically it is a deferred payment loan where 10% of the loan is forgiven each year for 10 years, with no interest. They are a young couple, still in school and not making a ton of money so it was perfect for them. Other options:

• Kansas City Dream Home Program
• Johnson County, KS Programs

There is a nice little feature on Lake Lotawana this month in Spaces magazine, a local monthly Kansas City lifestyle magazine. The article is about second homes and features one at Lake Lotawana, as well as a couple other homes at farther and more exotic locations such as Buenos Aires if I’m not mistaken. Anyway, for those among us who are lucky enough to have a second home and wants a lake front property, Lake Lotawana has lots to offer such as water skiing, boating, privacy, and all just a very short drive from Kansas City. Lake Lotawana is not just for second homes though, many people live there full time - both on the lake and off. It is in the Lee’s Summit School district and is just a bit north and east of Lee’s Summit proper. There are homes on and off the water, and prices range all over the price, but just to give an idea of what to expect - the average sales price for the town of Lake Lotawana for the last 12 months is $317,222, obviously the updated lake front properties are higher priced - all the way up to, and over 1 mil.

• Properties for sale at Lotawana
• Lakes around Kansas City
• Flicker Photos of Lake Lotawana

I’ve been hearing and reading news reports this week about an 11 week high on mortgage rates. Wow, this sounds pretty scary, doesn’t it? Well, before you start to do anything rash, please understand that rates are currently about 6.2%. This is low people. This is still an excellent rate, a historically low rate. They have been holding fairly steady (except for the usual fluctuations) in the upper 5’s lately (5.8ish), so we are only talking about a minimal change here anyway. So, don’t freak out - and if you have been house hunting, keep on hunting.

Yes, I realize May is almost over, but it takes time to crunch all these numbers. We are still having less sales, sales prices are still slightly lower than last year, and inventory is up. So, not great news, but you’ll see from the numbers that this isn’t a drastic market meltdown or anything - just some moderate market correction. So, here you go:

Sales for the entire Heartland area were off for the month by 20%, or 728 units. The average price was down 7.9%, averaging $164,851. Year to date, Heartland sales were off 14.6% to 10,747 units. Average sale price fell 5.5% to $164,937.

By the way, these monthly statistics are available to the general public on the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors website.

I don’t know if you are aware, but this real estate blogger is hitting the big time. I made it into the Wednesday Sun Publication last week! Kurt Kloeblen of Sun Publications stumbled upon my blog and asked me if he could write an article about my use of blogging, social networking, and technology in my business, also about how my husband helps me as my “digital coach”. I was really pleased with the article, and it was fun to be interviewed, though a few of the more seasoned agents in my office sure gave me some serious grief for a few days (you’ll see why when you read the article).