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