Tag Archives: Johnson County KS Real Estate

Real Estate Market Is Balanced Statewide, While Locally In Johnson County We’re In A Seller’s Market

Posted on by

Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market


The most recently released real estate market stats for the state of Kansas show further improvements in average sales prices and volume of home sold across the state. Home sales rose 0.2% in September compared with September 2011 and the modest increase follows up last month’s impressive 12.3% increase in volume of homes sold.

Average home sales price rose 6.6% compared to September of last year. This is a huge jump in sales prices and follows up a 3.8% improvement last month. Comparing September sales rate against the volume of homes for sale, there’s 6.5 months of inventory on the market. The stats a month ago showed Kansas with 5.2 months of real estate inventory. Both represent a balanced real estate market in the state of Kansas and that makes seven straight months that Kansas has been in a balanced market. The recent increase in months of inventory is worth keeping an eye on as this months jump in inventory nearly pushed the state out of a balanced real estate market and into a buyer’s market.

The local real estate market here in Johnson County KS is exceptionally strong. Home sales have remained firm while new listings have hit the market at a reasonable pace in recent months. In September there were 662 homes sold and using that sales rate (compared to the current volume of homes for sale in Johnson County Kansas), there’s 3.9 months of inventory on the market. This is a jump from last months 3.0 months of inventory yet still indicates a continuation of the buyer’s market in Johnson County Kansas.  


Posted by Jason Brown

Add to DeliciousAdd to DiggAdd to FaceBookAdd to Google BookmarkAdd to RedditAdd to StumbleUponAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Twitter

For The First Time In Years, Johnson County Kansas Is Settling Into A SELLER’S Real Estate Market

Posted on by

Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market


The April housing market stats for Kansas have been posted by the Kansas Association of Realtors and indicate continued improvement in both the home sales rate and increasing home sale prices. State-wide, home sales rose 3.2% compared to April of 2011, which follows last month’s 11.6% jump. Nationally, home sales increased an average of a 10%, an indication the housing market is improving nationally as well. 

Average sales prices had another big jump, rising 8.7% in April… this coming after last months 10.5% increase. Using April’s sales rate compared against the volume of homes for sale, there’s 6.4 months of real estate inventory on the market across the state. This amount of inventory has moved the state of Kansas from a buyer’s market into a balanced real estate market for the first time in years.

Looking locally at the Johnson County Kansas real estate market stats, April was another solid month for home sellers. There were 747 homes sold during the month and comparing that sales rate to the current volume of homes for sale in Johnson County Kansas, there’s 4.1 months of inventory on the market. This is an improvement from 4.7 months of inventory on the market when we checked about a month ago in Johnson County KS. This amount of inventory continues last months jump into a seller’s real estate market in Johnson County.


Posted by Jason Brown

Add to DeliciousAdd to DiggAdd to FaceBookAdd to Google BookmarkAdd to RedditAdd to StumbleUponAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Twitter

Let’s Hope Home Prices In Kansas City Don’t Fall 5% In The Next Year

Posted on by

Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

I’ve seen multiple reports recently that home prices nationally could fall another 5% in the next 12 months. The foreclosure trend we’ve been seeing is expected to continue and that, along with the unemployment rate and overall slow economy, play a large role in those predictions. Our market here locally appears more stable than many areas, so there’s reason to be hopeful that the Kansas City metro area will continue bucking the overall national trends. I do find it interesting that the Kansas City metro area rarely gets mentioned in most articles covering the national real estate market. Maybe that’s a good thing.

Some of the reports I’ve been reading are eye-opening, like the one about how home prices have now fallen further than they did during the Great Depression.  I made some quick notes on a recent article that estimated home prices fell 31% during the Great Depression, compared to the 34% decline in during the current real estate downturn. That’s almost unbelievable. But since real estate is local and we haven’t experienced the peeks and values that many other parts of the county have experienced, there’s reason to be optimistic. Be sure to keep track of our current real estate market stats and trends here, so you’ll be on top of the local market when it’s time to buy or sell a home in Kansas City, Johnson County KS or the surrounding metro area.


Posted by Jason Brown

Add to DeliciousAdd to DiggAdd to FaceBookAdd to Google BookmarkAdd to RedditAdd to StumbleUponAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Twitter

National Home Prices Take Huge Dip Back To 2002 Levels

Posted on by
Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

The U.S. accused Saddam Hussein of developing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. An arrest was made in the D.C. sniper gun attacks. Enron happened. That was a long time ago… 9 years to be exact. And the value of the average U.S. home today is now equivalent to the average home price at the time of those events, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller price index. The downward trend is likely to continue until the volume of new foreclosure listings slows. Nearly 40% of U.S. homes sold last month were foreclosures or Short Sales (upside down homeowners praying their lender will accept a payoff lower than the borrower’s loan amount).


The conditions present today make it tough for many typical home sellers to catch a break. Some sellers become nervous when their homes don’t sell quickly. Many will make a knee-jerk reaction to drastically lower their prices as they work to gain market acceptance. This erodes values of surrounding homes and becomes a vicious cycle in some cases. To break the cycle, I believe we’re going to need an extended run of positive economic news (should create more buyer demand in the market) and a sizable reduction in the volume of foreclosure listings hitting the market (less supply of distressed homes will increase the demand for typical resale homes).

Some people predict we’ll never again see the real estate appreciation rates we saw for years in our country. While that may be true, to say that the housing market isn’t going to rebound would be bucking history.  Real estate has always rebounded and the pride of homeownership is one of the things that makes our country great. I am amazed when I hear the occasional person say that it’s crazy to own a home. I always tell them, someone is going to own the home they live in. Would they rather it be a landlord making the decisions for them the rest of their lives? I’ve yet to hear a plausible response to the question.  Real estate is also a LOCAL phenomena and the numbers reported nationally are drug down drastically by the real estate bubbles that burst in portions of California, Florida, Colorado and Arizona.


Posted by Jason A. Brown

Add to DeliciousAdd to DiggAdd to FaceBookAdd to Google BookmarkAdd to RedditAdd to StumbleUponAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Twitter

How Would Elimination Of 30 Year Fixed Rate Loans Affect Kansas City Home Buyers?

Posted on by
Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

The other day a Realtor told me she didn’t care if Fannie Mae never backed another loan. Her argument was that Fannie Mae is backed by the government and government shouldn’t be meddling in the mortgage business. She added that the failed loans that Fannie Mae provided are a large reason for the downturn in the real estate market. There is some truth to that but the problems we’re faced with run deeper. But even if you agree 100% with this agent’s assessment, consider this… Fannie Mae is the major reason the majority of home loans were made during recent decades. Without Fannie Mae many Americans would not have a home and those who still would wouldn’t have mortgage loans as we know them today.

Without Fannie Mae, there would likely be no more 30 year fixes rate loans made. Why is this you ask? Because many private lenders aren’t willing to guarantee an interest rate for 30 months, much less 30 YEARS. And that’s exactly what Fannie Mae promotes. You go to your local bank to get a loan, your local bank runs a combination of you and your home through the Fannie Mae underwriting system and, if things look good, Fannie Mae will guarantee a 30 year fixed rate loan… and you get your loan. If interest rates jump from 5% to 10% over the coming years, there’s no worries because your interest rate is locked and guaranteed.

But if Fannie Mae wasn’t standing there to back the loan, do you think your local bank would lock and guarantee an interest rate for 30 years? Most banks wouldn’t do it when times were great, so most surely won’t do it today. What does all this mean to us as home buyers? If Fannie Mae goes out of business, the available loan types that our local lenders will make will be MUCH more conservative. Start thinking about 3 years ARMS which put the interest rate risk on you as the buyer and takes long-term interest rate risk off the banks making the loans. Yes, I’m talking about those same 3 year ARMS that caused tons of foreclosures when the interest rates starting re-setting in year 4.


Posted by Jason A. Brown

Add to DeliciousAdd to DiggAdd to FaceBookAdd to Google BookmarkAdd to RedditAdd to StumbleUponAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Twitter

Expect The Buyer’s Real Estate Market In Kansas City To Continue

Posted on by
Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

I start off most days by reading local and national sources for news that has an effect on our local Kansas City real estate market. It will take more than an isolated piece of good news to get things turned around, but it has to start somewhere and I’m there most days looking for that news. But even on the days when I find good news, the next nine pieces are bad news for the real estate market. For instance, new home sales rose 6.6% last month. But then I see that it’s been more than year since the unemployment rate was below 9.5%. Until that changes, buyer confidence is going to wane. The buyers who are out there will need to make sure they are on solid ground and have their ducks in a row.


There’s also a lot more to consider than just unemployment. Economists say inflation is likely to rise. Food prices are likely to rise. Gas prices are likely to rise. I wonder how many buyers this winter are going to be ready, willing and able to buy and sell a home — irregardless of all the great deals that are out there. There’s plenty of other challenges facing a real estate turn around in the coming months… Goldman Sachs projects the Federal Reserve needs to purchase $4 TRILLION in assets for there to be any chance of getting things moving in the right direction. I read that precious metals are soring to ridiculous levels — I believe I read that silver prices had almost doubled this year. When this happens it’s a clear indication that people are running scared to perceived low-risk investments.

On a real estate level, foreclosures aren’t falling like I’ve heard many real state agents say. Just the opposite is occurring. In fact, we just saw the ALL-TIME record for foreclosures in a single month — there were more than 100,000 foreclosures reported in September. The Case-Shiller report that came out this week shows home prices have declined for consecutive months. The president and chief executive officer of the The Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicates we have 3 MILLION more vacant homes in the U.S. than normal.

Then there’s the examples of overqualified workers I’ve seen taking on jobs to make ends meet. This includes there being 5,000+ janitors, 18,000+ parking lot attendants and 300,000+ waiters/waitresses in the U.S. who all hold PhD’s, college or some sort of professional degree. There’s a lot of sellers wanting to “buy down” right now due to the market but the problem is there’s very few “buy up” buyers to purchase their homes. Before making the move to take advantage of the amazing real estate deals available today, most buyers are moving cautiously to ensure their plan is in place, finances are in complete control and ensuring a comfort level with their job security.


Posted by Jason A. Brown

Add to DeliciousAdd to DiggAdd to FaceBookAdd to Google BookmarkAdd to RedditAdd to StumbleUponAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Twitter

Johnson County Kansas Real Estate Update – April 2010

Posted on by
Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market
Real Estate Info for Johnson County Kansas
Past 15 Days of Johnson County KS Market Activity

Using the most recent 15 days of Johnson County market stats we can determine there’s currently 6.8 months of inventory on the market. This is a buyers market but within range of being a stable market. Looking at the sales rates in Johnson County Kansas and comparing it to the current inventory of homes on the market helps us track the supply and demand of real estate in Johnson County Kansas. This is important because if the market is a buyer’s market then as a buyer you want to ideally be getting as good a deal as the buyer down the street.

Type
#
Average $
Avg DOM
Listings Past 15 Days
 920
 –
–
Total Active Listings
 4126
–
–
Newest Contracts Written
 646
 –
 –
Newest Sold (Closed)
 305
 $222,509 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.

Of course, smart home sellers will hire a listing agent who provides solid representation to try to counter demanding home buyers. If you’re considering selling or buying a home in Johnson County Kansas, we look forward to learning more about your real estate situation. We’ll get you the market stats and information  you need to make an informed buying or selling decision.

View Past Real Estate Stats On Johnson County Kansas

Buyer’s Agents In Johnson County Kansas

Seller’s Agents In Johnson County Kansas

Relocating to Johnson County Kansas

View All Listed Johnson County Kansas Homes For Sale

Johnson County Kansas

Johnson County Kansas

Johnson County Kansas Tip of the Day…
Info On Johnson County KS Parks & Recreation

Posted by Jason A. Brown