Monthly Archives: October 2009

Down But Not Out: September 2009 Real Estate Stats Versus 2008, 2005 and 2002

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Hands On The Heartland
Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

September 2009 Real Estate Sales Versus 2008, 2005 & 2002
OVERLAND PARK KANSAS HOME SALES COMPARISON
Type
# Homes Sold
Avg Sales Price
Avg DOM
September 2009
 221 $249,607

123
September 2008
 183

$252,257

81
September 2005
 280 $254,222 61
September 2002
 243 $224,235 52

* Data pulled from Heartland MLS and deemed reliable but not guaranteed. 3rd Quarter = 7/1 thru 9/30.  DOM = Days On Market.

I received an email from an Overland Park reader who asked how Overland Park home sales were doing compared to past years, so above I’ve put together Overland Park’s September stats from this year and compared it to September 2008, September 2005 and September 2002. You can see home prices increased significantly from September 2002 ($224,000) to September 2005 ($254,000) and then stabilized through September 2009 ($249,000). This is what I’d expect to see as Overland Park is one of the safest real estate markets in the Kansas City metro area.

Here’s a look at a couple other large cities in the metro area, Lee’s Summit Missouri and Olathe Kansas. Notice the Days On Market (DOM) trend among all three cities. Since 2002 the days on market has roughly doubled in Overland Park and Lee’s Summit while Olathe hasn’t been quite as bad.  Sales prices in Lee’s Summit have fallen back to somewhere right in between 2002 and 2005. In Olathe, home sale prices have held a little more firm and are closer to 2005 prices than 2002 prices. All in all, these stats are what I would have expected to find and we’re fortunate that we’re talking about slight losses in average property values. Other areas of the country would certainly be rejoicing if they were dealing with similar market stats.

LEE’S SUMMIT MISSOURI HOME SALES COMPARISON
Type
# Homes Sold
Avg Sales Price
Avg DOM
September 2009
 111 $189,735

119
September 2008
 135

$206,071

118
September 2005
 194 $212,877 66
September 2002
 155 $180,922 58

* Data pulled from Heartland MLS and deemed reliable but not guaranteed. 3rd Quarter = 7/1 thru 9/30.  DOM = Days On Market.

OLATHE KANSAS HOME SALES COMPARISON
Type
# Homes Sold
Avg Sales Price
Avg DOM
September 2009
 176 $213,780

99
September 2008
 177

$226,513

92
September 2005
 275 $228,342 76
September 2002
 219 $195,306 58

* Data pulled from Heartland MLS and deemed reliable but not guaranteed. 3rd Quarter = 7/1 thru 9/30.  DOM = Days On Market.

View All Kansas City Homes For Sale On Kansas City MLS

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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Leawood South Market Statistics * Leawood South Homes For Sale In Leawood KS

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market


Leawood South Subdivision Market Statistics
Leawood South Is A Leawood Kansas Home Community

Going back to October 2008 and looking at about a full year’s worth of market stats in Leawood South, there were 41 homes listed for sale. 20 homes were sold and home sale prices in Leawood South ranged from $160,000 to $380,000 with an average sales price of $256,650.

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 15 Active listings in Leawood South, there’s 9 months of inventory on  the market. The average current list price in Leawood South is $283,330 and not too far out of line with the average sales price seen in the area the past year. Although there’s a lot of inventory for the amount of demand in Leawood South, the area is a highly desirable area of older homes in an area with typically many newer homes around. There are many excellent opportunities for home buyers who are interested in the Leawood South community.

Leawood South In Leawood Kansas

Leawood South In Leawood Kansas

Leawood South is located in southern Leawood Kansas and is served by the Blue Valley School District.  If you’re considering a move and would like to discuss these Leawood South 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 Leawood South Homes For Sale (updated daily)

Buying A Home In Leawood South

Selling Your Home In Leawood South

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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Shawnee Kansas Real Estate Update – October 2009

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market


City of Shawnee Kansas Real Estate Update
Past 15 Days of Shawnee KS Real Estate Stats
Type
#
Average $
Avg DOM
Listings Past 15 Days
 70 $266,342
–
Total Active Listings
 365
–
–
Newest Contracts Written
 43 $210,963 77
Newest Sold (Closed)
 28 $213,966 155

* 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 Shawnee Kansas market stats to figure the absorption rate in Shawnee, there’s currently 6.5 months of inventory on the market.  That’s quite a bit of inventory in Shawnee Kansas and gives buyers plenty of homes from which to choose.  As has been the trend for some time in Shawnee Kansas, we continue to see more homes coming on the market (70) than closing (28) over the 15-day period. There were 43 homes that went under contract (including contingent offers) so that’s a promising number. If we used the 43 figure (assuming all those homes were to make it closing), the months of inventory calculation would drop to 4.2.

Looking at 15 days of Shawnee Kansas market stats is a small snap shot of local activity and market conditions  can and do vary greatly from one subdivision to another in Shawnee Kansas. Always take any market stats you see with a grain of salt. If you need market stats on your specific area – and you’ll want those if you’re considering a move to or from Shawnee – then please comment on this blog post or email me directly!

View Past Shawnee Kansas Real Estate Stats

Shawnee Kansas Buyer’s Agents

Shawnee Kansas Listing Agents

View All Shawnee KS Homes For Sale On Kansas City MLS

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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Procrastinating Kansas City Home Buyers Could Get Double Naught Of The $8,000 Tax Credit

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market


On one hand, I feel like I’m beating this $8,000 tax credit to death. But, on the other hand, I’ve never seen anything like this before. It can’t be overemphasized that all First Time Home Buyers, wishing to put a cool $8,000 back into their cash flow, need to prepare for their home purchase closing by dotting every I and crossing every T.  If you snooze you lose when it comes to this tax credit and that means you’ve asked for it if you wait until the last minute to try and close on a home. I seriously expect that during the last week of November we’ll have more real estate closings than any other week in our country’s history. That will mean lenders and title companies will be operating on overload.

So it’s important that the lender, title company, real estate agents, buyers and sellers work together like never before. If you have a close date scheduled for 11/30/09, I suggest you move it up a week. Seriously. Make it happen at all costs. If your closing gets delayed for a day, at no fault of your own, you are out of luck. You will get nada of the $8,000 tax credit. Nothing, nil, zero, zilch, zipo, aught, double naught (to throw in an old Jethro reference), the big goose egg.

Real estate transactions were already taking much more scrutiny and planning by those involved than they did in previous years. But not being ready to close on time, when the $8000 tax credit is in the fold, will have serious consequences for First Time Home Buyers in Kansas City. I  spoke with one of busiest closers at First American Title In Overland Park Kansas earlier this week and she said they have had more closings pushed back by days or weeks this year than ever before. I asked her if it was the new lending guidelines and she concurred but also added that there have been more last minute resolutions between buyers and sellers (interesting) and delays with appraisals (surprising).

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

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Deer Valley Subdivision Market Statistics
Deer Valley Is An Overland Park Kansas Home Community

Going back to October 2008 and looking at about a full year’s worth of market stats in Deer Valley, there were 24 homes listed for sale. 19 homes were sold and home sale prices in Deer Valley ranged from $335,000 to $541,329 with an average sales price of $418,962.

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 10 Active listings in Deer Valley, there’s 6.3 months of inventory on the market. The average current list price in Deer Valley is $411,345 and actually lower than the average sales price seen in the community the past 12 months. There are also several lots available for build jobs and any available Deer Valley lots can also be viewed by clicking the homes for sale link below.

Deer Valley In Overland Park Kansas

Deer Valley In Overland Park Kansas

Deer Valley 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 Deer Valley 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 Deer Valley Homes For Sale (updated daily)

Buying A Home In Deer Valley

Selling Your Home In Deer Valley

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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Lesson Learned: Order A Foo Foo Drink With Dinner, Don’t Be Surprised If It Comes Out Pink

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

My wife and I hadn’t been out to the Legends in Kansas City Kansas for a couple of months so, with the boys staying the night with friends the other night, we headed out that way for dinner. The Legends is about 15 minutes north of our home in Lenexa and it’s in the same area as the Kansas Speedway, for those just learning their way around the area. I finishing my high school years in Shawnee Mission but I grew up in Bonner Springs (in Wyandotte County and near The Legends area) and every time I visit, I’m amazed by how much the area has changed. Wyandotte County was a struggling area when I moved away in the 1980’s and, while it still faces many challenges, The Legends is something the area really hangs its hat on — and justifiably so.


With tons of entertainment and shopping options, the area has really turned into a destination spot. The area also has numerous dining options, so when we got to The Legends the other night we drove around discussing which restaurant we’d try. We narrowed our choices to either the Jazz Louisiana Kitchen or Stix Asian Cuisine neither on which we’d heard anything good or bad.  We ultimately decided this wasn’t the day in our lives to try sushi, so Jazz Louisiana Kitchen was the choice. Besides, Bill Grigsby had annoyed me with those commercials for so long, I thought I’d better try Jazz soon before  I swore off  ever giving the restaurant a  chance.

The atmosphere at the Jazz was great and the service was excellent. I’m not a big drinker, especially when it comes to mixing drinks with food, but I decided I’d go for a light, pre-dinner, foo-foo drink. Big mistake as the drink came out pink! Really helping matters were that it came out in a glass that looked like those tall ice cream shop glasses. Thank God it’s breast cancer awareness month and I could chalk it up to that because the tables around us sure got a kick out of it. As far as the Cajun food goes, it was spicy as expected and met our expectations. The portions were definitely worthy, which is important to me when deciding whether I’ll revisit a restaurant. So we’d recommend the Jazz restaurant to our friends and the live music certainly adds to the enjoyment. On our next visit to The Legends, we’ll try Stix Asian Cuisine.

Here’s a directory of all of the Legend’s Restaurants. We’ve tried many of the restaurants you’ll see on the list and I would definitely recommend…

Cheeseburger In Paradise
Granite City
Los Cabos
Outback Steakhouse
T-Rex Cafe
Ted’s Montana Grill
Yard House
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The Reserve At Heritage Market Statistics * Reserve At Heritage Homes For Sale In Olathe KS

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

The Reserve At Heritage Subdivision Market Statistics
The Reserve At Heritage Is An Olathe Kansas Home Community

Going back to October 2008 and looking at one year of market stats in The Reserve At Heritage, there were 13 homes listed for sale. 10 homes were sold and home sales prices in The Reserve At Heritage ranged from $213,000 to $300,000 and settled in with an average sales price of $260,990.

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 one active listing in The Reserve At Heritage to the sales rate seen the past year, there’s just  1.2 months of inventory on the market. This is excellent and The Reserve at Heritage continues to maintain a very solid sales rate. Many of the homes in The Reserve At Heritage were built 2001 to 2004. The community is located in southwest Olathe Kansas and is served by the Blue Valley School District, making it one of the rare Olathe Kansas subdivisions that isn’t served by the Olathe School District.

Reserve At Heritage In Olathe Kansas

Reserve At Heritage In Olathe Kansas

If you’re considering a move and would like to discuss these Reserve At Heritage market stats and your specific situation, I look forward to speaking with you. When representing Olathe Kansas homebuyers and home sellers best interest’s we dig in to analyze past and current market stats and gain an understanding of our client’s real estate goals.

View Reserve At Heritage Homes For Sale (updated daily)

Buying A Home In The Reserve At Heritage

Selling Your Home In The Reserve At Heritage

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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Overland Park Kansas Real Estate Update – October 2009

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Hands On The Heartland
Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market


City of Overland Park KS Real Estate Update
Past 15 Days of Overland Park Kansas Real Estate Stats
Type
#
Average $
Avg DOM
Listings Past 15 Days
 131 $237,676
–
Total Active Listings
 1,025
–
–
Newest Contracts Written
 127 $233,480 86
Newest Sold (Closed)
 121 $253,403 126

* 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.

Overland Park KS

Overland Park KS

Using these past 15 days of market stats to figure the absorption rate in Overland Park, there’s currently 4.2 months of inventory on the market.  This is good in our current real estate market and continues to show that Overland Park is one of the most solid real estate markets in the Kansas City area. It’s good to see that almost as many homes sold (121) as homes that came on the market (131) during this 15 day period.

Even better news is the $253,000 average sales price, which is even higher than the average sales price of the homes that came on the market. This is not something I’d expect to see in our current. Now do keep in mind that looking at 15 days of market stats is just a small snap shot of local Overland Park KS activity. Market conditions vary greatly from one part of the city to another, so be sure to contact me for real estate stats on the specific area of Overland Park that you’re interested.

View Past Overland Park Real Estate Stats

Overland Park Buyer’s Agents

Overland Park Listing Agents

View Overland Park Homes For Sale On Kansas City MLS

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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Break Out The Good Stuff, Home Prices Have Risen For 3 Straight Months

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Late this summer it was good to see the Case-Shiller national index report a month of rising home prices. But when that was followed up with another month of rising home prices, I was as giddy as a school girl. When it happened again we had an official housing winning streak that had me ready to party like it’s 2005. Doesn’t have the same ring as Prince, does it?  In all seriousness, I took a step back and wondered how long it had been since we’d had a housing winning streak. Whether a fluke, a bail-out based rebound, tax credit based rebound or otherwise, it was good to see. The next question is will it last? I’m betting we do make it four months in a row but after that things could get interesting. The $8,000 tax credit expires December 1st and what happens to homes sales and home prices after that is anyone’s guess. I’m cautiously optimistic a rebound will continue but we must also consider that we’re about to head into the traditionally slowest time of year for real estate sales.

S&P Case-Shiller

S&P Case-Shiller

Supporting a continue rebound could be the low 15-year and 30-year mortgage rates that we’re seeing, which are both at or near all-time lows. I read the other day that 15-year mortgage rates were at an ALL-TIME low and that the average 15-year fixed rate was below 4.5%! That’s so attractive it has me thinking about refinancing again. Be sure to take a close look at the graph above (courtesy of Standard & Poors Case-Shiller) as there are several noteworthy items. First of all, you can see home prices peaked in 2005. I’ve heard many in the industry still stating that we’ve dropped back to 2005 home prices but the fact is, 2005 was the last year we saw INCREASES. We’ve actually dropped back to 2002 home prices nationally. Do keep in mind this is a national average based on what the S&P Case-Shiller determines to be the 20 most noteworthy markets in the country to track (Kansas City isn’t one of those 20 cities). It also just so happens that Kansas City didn’t see the huge increases in the boom, so our bust is smaller (no pun intended) here in Kansas City, than in California for example (OK, pun intended). Of course, also note the right side of the graph showing the past three months of increasing home pricing. Here’s to a fourth one.

Posted by Jason A. Brown
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Nottington Creek Market Statistics * Nottington Creek Homes For Sale In Olathe Kansas

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Nottington Creek Subdivision Market Statistics
Nottington Creek Is An Olathe KS Home Community

Going back to October 2008 and looking at about a full year’s worth of market stats in Nottington Creek, there were 17 homes listed for sale. 17 homes were sold and home sale prices in Nottington Creek ranged from $265,000 to $379,950 with an average sales price of $301,727.

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 Nottington Creek, there’s 4.2 months of inventory on the market. These are decent market stats in the Nottington Creek home community. The average current list price in Nottington Creek is $327,300, which is not completely out of line with the average sales price  seen the past year ($301,727) within the subdivision.

Nottington Creek In Olathe Kansas

Nottington Creek In Olathe Kansas

Nottington Creek is located in south Olathe Kansas and is served by the Spring Hill School District.  If you’re considering a move and would like to discuss these Nottington Creek market stats and your specific situation, I look forward to speaking with you. Market stats play a critical role in appropriate home pricing and I look forward to assisting you whether on the selling or buying side of your Nottington Creek real estate transaction.

View Nottington Creek Homes For Sale (updated daily)

Buying A Home In Nottington Creek

Selling Your Home In Nottington Creek

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