Monthly Archives: August 2009

Indian Creek Estates Market Statistics * Indian Creek Estates Homes For Sale In Overland Park Kansas

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Indian Creek Estates Subdivision Market Statistics
Indian Creek Estates Is An Overland Park KS Home Community

Going back to August 2008 and looking at about a full year of market stats in Indian Creek Estates, there were 17 homes listed for sale and 11 homes were sold. Sale prices in Indian Creek Estates ranged from $229,900 to $275,000 with an average sales price of $252,100.

Stats pulled from Heartland MLS & deemed reliable but not guaranteed; Check the post date for relevancy; Stats cover approximately 12 months of market activity.

Comparing the current rate of sales over the past year to the 6 Active listings in Indian Creek Estates, there’s 6.5 months of inventory on the market. The average current list price in Indian Creek Estates is $243,483 and right in line with the average sales price over the past year in the subdivision.

Indian Creek Estates In Overland Park KS

Indian Creek Estates In Overland Park KS

Indian Creek Estates is located in southern Overland Park Kansas and is served by the Blue Valley School District.  If you’re considering a move and would like to discuss these Indian Creek Estates market stats and your real estate situation, please let me know. Or if you’re just wanting an update on your specific market stats, request the info by email or simply post a comment on this blog post.

View Indian Creek Estates Homes For Sale (updated daily)

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Selling Your Home In Indian Creek Estates

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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Jury’s Out On The Water Park Portion Of Kansas City’s $750 Million Schlitterbahn Vacation Village

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The Schlitterbahn Vacation Village opened this summer in Kansas City Kansas – or at least the water park portion of the village is now open. If you’re like me, you’re very tempted to go check out the water park.  I was discussing the park with a stranger a couple of weeks ago and he recommended waiting until next year because the park really wasn’t ready to open this year. Since that time I’ve been wondering if at least all the water park rides are now open. I recall the guy telling me that there wasn’t even grass around the lazy river – or something like to that affect.

Schlitterbahn Waterpark In Kansas City

Schlitterbahn Water Park In Kansas City

If anyone has visited the park please let us know how things went. Otherwise, I’ll be making a call to the water park before firming up plans to visit. No doubt, getting out to see the water park portion of a Vacation Village that is eventually going to cost $750 million is very tempting.  The park has been promoting itself as having the world’s largest tidal wave river, an uphill water coaster and a lazy river that doubles as a transportation system around the water park – and eventually around the entire Vacation Village once that’s completed down the road.

Eventually the 360-acre Schlitterbahn Vacation Village will include lodging facilities as well as shopping, dining and entertainment areas. Being able to eventually travel down several miles of rivers to get from the water park  to the hotel room will be great. For now, I’d settle for just knowing the rides are all open. The waterpark has free parking, unlimited intertube use, free lifejackets and you’re encouraged to bring your own food and (some) beverages inside the park. All of that sounds very appealing. The cost to get in is more expensive than Oceans of Fun, but saving $10 on parking certainly helps. And being able to bring in lunch and drinks surely appeals to families considering making a visit.

From what I’ve read, the water park will maintain five tubing slides, two tubing rivers, 13 mini slides for children, three beaches and an adult hot tub area. The Bahnzai Pipeline is a 40-foot open-air, twisting tube ride. The Black Knight is a pitch black, fully-enclosed tube ride. The Wolfpack is a wide, oversized tube slide. The Storm Blaster is  an actual water roller coaster propelled by jets of water. The Kinderhaven Kid’s Area is a shallow water playground for the little ones, complete with mini-slides and plenty of shaded lounging areas. The Torrent Beach is a wave area for cooling off in the sun, the Torrent Cove is an island for relaxing and the Torrent River is the world’s longest tidal wave river with ocean-like waves. I’m looking for some feedback so I can decide if we’ll get out there this summer or just make a trip to Oceans of Fun instead.

Posted by Jason A. Brown
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Colton Lakes Market Statistics * Colton Lakes Homes For Sale In Overland Park KS

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Colton Lakes Subdivision Market Statistics
Colton Lakes Is An Overland Park Kansas Home Community

Going back to August 2008 and looking at about a full year’s worth of market stats in Colton Lakes, there were 13 homes listed for sale. 4 homes were sold and home sale prices in Colton Lakes ranged from $255,000 to $662,500 with an average sales price of $485,625. It needs pointed out that one of the homes that sold in Colton Lakes was a small older home, which lowered the average sales price. If you only consider the other three sales, the average sales price was a much higher $562,500.

Stats pulled from Heartland MLS & deemed reliable but not guaranteed; Check the post date for relevancy; Stats cover approximately 12 months of market activity.

Comparing the current rate of sales over the past year to the 8 Active listings in Colton Lakes, there’s 2 years of inventory on the market.  The average current list price in Colton Lakes is $684,169 and higher than the average sales price over the past year. Although the months of inventory doesn’t look great in Colton Lakes, the community is a desirable area of upper bracket homes.

Colton Lakes In Overland Park Kansas

Colton Lakes In Overland Park Kansas

Colton Lakes is located in southern Overland Park and is served by the Blue Valley School District.  If you’re considering a move and would like to discuss these Colton Lake market stats and your specific situation, I look forward to speaking with you. The real estate stats that we analyze with our readers can help home buyers and home sellers generally understand what’s going on within a particular community. When you’re ready to discuss your specific situation and goals, I look forward to speaking with you.

View Colton Lakes Homes For Sale (updated daily)

Buying A Home In Colton Lakes

Selling Your Home In Colton Lakes

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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Shawnee Kansas Real Estate Update – August 2009

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market


City of Shawnee KS Real Estate Update
Past 15 Days of Shawnee Kansas Real Estate Stats
Type
#
Average $
Avg DOM
Listings Past 15 Days
 59 $228,511
–
Total Active Listings
 402
–
–
Newest Contracts Written
 55 $204,172 111
Newest Sold (Closed)
 40 $201,376 86

* The Average $ of Newest Contracts considers the price the homes were listed at when they went under contract. Data pulled from Heartland MLS and deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Low samplings in any category can skew results.  Stats may not be an exact 15 days from date of this post.  DOM = Days On Market.

Shawnee Kansas Real Estate

Shawnee Kansas Real Estate

Using these past 15 days of market stats to figure the absorption rate in Shawnee KS, there’s currently 5.03 months of inventory on the market.  Not terrible but still more homes coming on the market than homes selling. The Pending sales over the 15-day period were more comparable to the number of homes listed and that’s a promising sign that the Shawnee inventory is not currently being flooded.

I’m noticing a lot more homes being switched to Show For Backup rather than simply Pending when they go under contract.  This is a good idea in our current real estate market as sellers should continue to look for a backup offer in the event the first offer falls apart for some reason. In a seller’s market, the seller usually wants the home switched to pending so showings on the home are stopped. Also, keep in mind that 15 days of market stats is a small snap shot of local Shawnee Kansas activity. Market conditions vary greatly from one city to another and even one subdivision to another, so don’t take just a macro look at market activity. Contact me personally for assistance or you may request your subdivision market stats simply by making a comment on this blog post.

View Past Shawnee Kansas Real Estate Stats

Shawnee Kansas Buyer’s Agents

Shawnee Kansas Listing Agents

View All Shawnee Homes On Kansas City MLS

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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Some Kansas City Home Sellers Hiding Behind The “As-Is” Label Risk Meeting Judge Judy

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Kansas City home sellers must disclose to any home buyer all material defects, conditions and facts of which the seller is aware. If a seller knows their foundation was leaking – even if they fixed the problem years ago – they need to disclose it when selling. Even if the problem was on the previous homeowner’s watch, do you think the new homeowner must disclose that fact when selling later? That’s a good question for an attorney, but  when selling common sense tells us that you had better disclose any situations of which you’re aware.

Judge Judy

Judge Judy

I believe that 99% of homebuyers understand that a home is going to have issues over the years. What they want to know is the the problems were addressed so the problem isn’t simply passed on at closing.  Explaining the previous problem and listing what corrections were made to remedy the problem is usually all that’s needed. Taking the risk of hiding a current or previous defect is  breaking the law and very poor selling judgment if you ask me.

A good example is when children are selling a home they inherited from their parents. If the kids know the home has a mold problem in the basement they can’t put their head in the sand and sell the home without telling the buyers. Saying “it was my parents home and I didn’t know” or “I’m not disclosing anything because it wasn’t my home” just doesn’t work.  I believe that any seller of any home they have an ownership position in had better be disclosing ANY and ALL material defects, conditions and facts of which the seller is aware. If they don’t Judge Judy will probably be waiting just around the corner – and that’s if a seller is lucky enough that it’s just a small claims issue.

So understanding that sellers must disclose material defects, conditions and facts, does selling as-is also mean that a buyer can NOT do inspections on the home? That is NOT the case, assuming a  typical 10-day inspection period is written into the contract that allows the buyer to back out. Really, in most cases, “as-is” means the buyer CAN do inspections but they had better not ask for ANYTHING to be corrected by the seller. A buyer’s options after conducting inspections are essentially to either (a) to cancel  the contract within the 10-day inspection period or (b) accept the home in “as-is” condition now that they have conducted inspections and are comfortable moving forward to closing.   Of course there may be the rare as-is seller who caves in and is willing to correct an item if it’s threatening to kill a deal. But that is very unlikely because if  a seller were willing to correct inspection items they wouldn’t be selling the home as-is (knowing that a home sold as-is is likely to sell below market value).

Posted by Jason A. Brown
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Hampton Place Market Statistics * Hampton Place Homes For Sale In Overland Park Kansas

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Hampton Place Subdivision Market Statistics
Hampton Place Is An Overland Park KS Home Community

Going back to August 2008 and looking at about a full year’s worth of market stats in  Hampton Place, there were 48 homes listed for sale. 30 homes were sold and home sale prices in Hampton Place ranged from $200,000 to $419,950 with an average sales price of $318,035.

Stats pulled from Heartland MLS & deemed reliable but not guaranteed; Check the post date for relevancy; Stats cover approximately 12 months of market activity.

Comparing the current rate of sales over the past year to the 13 Active listings in Hampton Place, there’s 5.2 months of inventory on the market. The average current list price in Hampton Place is $338,408 and just a little higher than the average sales price over the past year.

Hampton Place In Overland Park KS

Hampton Place In Overland Park KS

Hampton Place is located in southeastern Overland Park Kansas and is served by the Blue Valley School District. If you’re considering a move and would like to discuss these Hampton Place market stats and your specific situation, please contact me.  Once I have more details about your specific situation I can analyze your situation using the most detailed market stats available.

View Hampton Place Homes For Sale (updated daily)

Buying A Home In Hampton Place

Selling Your Home In Hampton Place

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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If You’re Hungry Or Need A Nap Then Head To Kansas City’s Powell Gardens

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market


With more than 100,000 visitors each year, Powell Gardens is a popular day trip within the Kansas City area. Calling Powell Gardens simply a botanical garden wouldn’t be doing it justice.  Yes, Powell Gardens has garden displays for scientific and educational purposes but it’s much more than simply a botanical garden. These are exotic gardens on display within four major independent gardens and many smaller ones. Many of the presentations incorporate our own native plants throughout the acreages rolling hills, including the wildflower meadow.

Powell Gardens In Kansas City

Powell Gardens In Kansas City

Powell Gardens offers visitors year round educational opportunities, walking trails, classes, special events, a chapel and an indoor display conservatory.  Powell Gardens apparently doesn’t have a big problem with transients because they also welcome visitors to take a nap on of the many benches spread throughout the gardens.

Some of the major garden areas include the $9 million Harvest Garden, the Kaufmann Memorial Garden, a perennial garden, a waterfall garden, a wildflower garden and an island garden.  The Harvest Garden opened this year and includes a huge area of edible landscaping! Powell Gardens sits on more than 900 acres in Kingsville Missouri, which is just about 15 minutes west of Lee’s Summit MO.

Powell Gardens

Powell Gardens

Posted by Jason A. Brown
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Parkhurst Market Statistics * Parkhurst Homes For Sale In Lenexa Kansas

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Parkhurst Subdivision Market Statistics
Including The Estates, Stonecreek & Highland Pointe of Parkhurst
Parkhurst Is A Lenexa KS Home Community

Going back to August 2008 and looking at about a full year’s worth of market stats in Parkhurst, there were 22 homes listed for sale. 9 homes were sold and home sale prices in Parkhurst ranged from $256,000 to $412,500 with an average sales price of $322,000.

Stats pulled from Heartland MLS & deemed reliable but not guaranteed; Check the post date for relevancy; Stats cover approximately 12 months of market activity.

Comparing the current rate of sales over the past year to the 5 Active listings in Parkhurst, there’s 6.7 months of inventory on the market. The average current list price in Parkhurst is $357,920, which is higher than the average sales price over the past year ($322,000).

Parkhurst In Lenexa KS

Parkhurst In Lenexa KS

If you’re considering a move and would like to discuss these Parkhurst market stats and your specific situation, I look forward to speaking with you. When representing our client’s best interests, we dig in deep to analyze past market stats, current market stats, prevalent market conditions and, most importantly, our client’s needs.

View Highland Pointe of Parkhurst Homes For Sale (updated daily)

View The Estates of Parkhurst Homes For Sale (updated daily)

View Stonecreek of Parkhurst Homes For Sale (updated daily)

Buying A Home In Parkhurst

Selling Your Home In Parkhurst

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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Overland Park Kansas Real Estate Update – August 2009

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market


City of Overland Park Kansas Real Estate Update
Past 15 Days of Overland Park KS Real Estate Stats
Type
#
Average $
Avg DOM
Listings Past 15 Days
 154 $261,199
–
Total Active Listings
 1,064
–
–
Newest Contracts Written
 130 $260,706 105
Newest Sold (Closed)
 116 $257,743 133

* The Average $ of Newest Contracts considers the price the homes were listed at when they went under contract. Data pulled from Heartland MLS and deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Low samplings in any category can skew results.  Stats may not be an exact 15 days from date of this post.  CDOM = Cumulative Days On Market.

Overland Park Kansas Real Estate

Overland Park Kansas Real Estate

Using these past 15 days of market stats to figure the absorption rate in Overland Park KS, there’s currently 4 months of inventory on the market.  Having just four months of inventory on the market is excellent. Of course we all know that many sales are distressed sales – like desperate sellers, bank foreclosures and short sales – but that doesn’t change the fact that (1) Overland Park is holding steady with just 4 months of inventory on the market and (2) the average sales price the past 15 days ($257,743) is almost the same as the average listing prices seen over the same period ($261,199).

Overland Park has always been a steady market and proven to be one of the safest real estate investment areas in Kansas City.  Do keep in mind that looking at just 15 days of Overland Park market stats is a small snap shot of local activity. Market conditions can and do vary greatly from one city to the next, one subdivision to the next, one street to the next… So feel free to contact me with questions specific to your area.

View Past Overland Park Real Estate Stats

Overland Park KS Buyer’s Agents

Overland Park Kansas Listing Agents

View All Overland Park KS Homes For Sale On Kansas City MLS

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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New Home Construction Struggles Continue Into The Summer In Kansas City

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market 


There hasn’t been much good news on the Kansas City home building front in 2009 and this is a continuation of what we saw in  2008. Builders simply aren’t speculating on any new home starts and build jobs are only slightly better.  I spoke with a couple of builders last week who hadn’t pulled a single building permit in 2009.  While not surprising given the real estate slow-down, hearing news like that is a grim reminder of the difficult times facing the real estate industry.  In Johnson County Kansas, there are currently 792 new homes on the market. In the past year there were a total of 911 new home sales in Johnson County. At the rate of new homes sales the past 12 months, there’s 10.4 months of new home construction inventory in Johnson County KS.  

Kansas City New Home Construction

Kansas City New Home Construction

When you include all of the home builders, sub-contractors, suppliers, project agents, decorators and others who have relied on new home construction, it adds up to a lot of people out there starving for business. The lack of new homes sales has also left many new home subdivisions hanging out there only partially complete.  I’ve been trying to get a grasp on when I think the Kansas City real estate market will turn around but for every good indicator, there’s several more pieces of bad news. I do believe 2010 will be a better year but I’m not confident enough to be making any bold predictions for a rebound. I’ve lost a ton of potential listings to agents who’s outlook is overly rosy. I’m sticking to my guns and telling sellers not to count on a big second half of 2009 turn around. It’s certainly a buyer’s market out there now and there’s every reason to expect that to continue through the end of the year.  

Really, for there to be serious talk of a rebound, the number of foreclosures we’re seeing needs to slow to a crawl. Keep in mind that once a bank takes back a property, that bank wants to move the REO asset as quickly as is practical. Every dollar that is tied up in a foreclosure property is money that a lender can’t be lender to consumers (and making a return on). So owning REO property is like handling a hot potato to banks. Unfortunately, rather than receding, foreclosures picked up some steam in the first half of 2009. The 1.5 million U.S. properties facing foreclosure (according to RealtyTrac) were 15% more than in the previous six month period (2nd half of 2008). Once the foreclosure rate slows, home builders should again be able to compete in the marketplace and new home starts should increase. 

Posted by Jason A. Brown

 

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