Tag Archives: Johnson County Realtors

How Will A 1% Rise In Interest Rates Affect Johnson County Kansas Home Buyers?

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The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Today’s amazing low interest rates make it one of the best times ever to purchase a home. If you’re a home buyer looking to purchase a home in Johnson County Kansas or the surrounding Kansas City area, you’ll want to take a close look at today’s low interest rates and consider what it would mean to you if you wait to buy and rates jump in the near future. It could be just as important to you as the sales price you’ll be looking at ever so closely.

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Let’s compare today’s 4% mortgage interest rates to how things would look if they jumped 1% in the near future. On a $200,000 home, a borrower’s monthly principal and interest payment at 4% would be $955. Should they wait to buy a home and rates have jumped to 5% then the monthly principal and interest payment would be $1,074.  That’s almost $1,500 more a year for the same home should mortgage interest rates go up 1%! So be sure you consider today’s historically low interest rates if you’re on the fence on whether now is the right time to buy a home.

 Posted by Jason Brown

Kansas and Missouri Are 2 Of The Top 5 States For Lowest Mortgage Closing Costs

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Interest rates are still at historical lows, the market in the metro area is as solid as it’s been in nearly decade and there’s yet another reason to buy a home in Kansas City, Johnson County KS, Overland Park and the surrounding area… Mortgage loan closing costs associated with home purchases in the metro area are some of the lowest in the country.

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Bankrate.com has published the results of its 2013 survey on closing costs by state, looking for which states had the lowest fees for items such as loan origination charges, credit report charges, etc. Kansas and Missouri were two of the top 5 states in the country, with Missouri coming in 2nd at an average of $2,188 per transaction and Kansas coming in 3rd at $2,193 per transaction. The national average was $2,402 in closing costs and Wisconsin had the lowest closing costs at $2,119. 


Posted by Jason Brown

Kansas City Real Estate News, Trends And Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous… June 2013

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

 

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Posted by Jason Brown

Top 10 Hottest Home Sale Price Ranges In Johnson County Kansas

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

A common question we get from Johnson County Kansas home buyers is “What are the hottest price ranges in today’s real estate market?” The answer to this question is constantly changing and staying on top of such trends is one way we put our clients at an advantage in their real estate transactions. If you’re considering buying a home for personal use or as an investment, ask your real estate agent to fill you in on the hottest price ranges in your area of interest. This information could prove extremely beneficial in making a sound real estate decision.  


I’ve researched our local market stats by $25,000 increments to locate the most active price ranges the past 30 days in Johnson County Kansas. Here’s the top 10 price ranges listed by the most homes sold (closed)…

#1: $150,001 – $175,000 with 122 homes Sold.
#2: $125,001 – $150,000 with 113 homes Sold.
#3: $175,001 – $200,000 with 105 homes Sold.
#4: $225,001 – $250,000 with 82 homes Sold.
#5: $200,001 – $225,000 with 75 homes Sold.
#6: $100,001 – $125,000 with 65 homes Sold.
#7: $275,001 – $300,000 with 64 homes Sold.
#8: $250,001 – $275,000 with 56 homes Sold.
#9: $325,001 – $350,000 with 48 homes Sold.
#10: $300,001 – $325,000 with 41 homes Sold.

Posted by Jason Brown

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Getting Pre-Approved Before Shopping For An Overland Park Home Is More Important Than Ever

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Even with a solid down payment and good credit scores, home buyers are being grilled by mortgage lenders before their home loan are finalized. If you haven’t purchase a home in Kansas City, Johnson County Kansas, Overland Park or the surrounding area the past couple of years, the process is sure to be unlike the process you last went through. Liar loans, among many other “creative financing” tactics, have become a thing of the past.

If you are credit score challenged, you may not get that loan. If you do, there’s a good chance you’re going to have to jump through some hoops and wait to hear if you qualify to purchase an area home. This is why Kansas City Realtors won’t start working with a buyer until the buyer has gotten Pre-Approved with a quality local lender. Thinking of working with that online loan officer/company who competed for your business? Not if you work with my group. The last two home buyers who were Pre-Approved through companies like that ended up getting turned down for their loan AFTER we went under contract. Those lenders whipped out weak pre-approval letter without doing any legit research into those buyers qualifications.

So you can see that, not only is it critical that you get Pre-Approved, but you should do so with a loan officer who has an actual office here locally. A lender who knows our market and has a reputation to uphold is much more likely to do their due diligence in providing a valid Pre-Approval letter to home buyers. Thinking about making an offer on one of our listings and doing it without submitting a legitimate Pre-Approval letter? We advise our sellers to not consider any offer that doesn’t come in with a Pre-Approval letter where the lender has run the buyer’s credit and verified the buyer’s income and debt ratios.


Posted by Jason Brown

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Home Prices Show Signs Of Stabilizing In Kansas Despite Significant Drop In Volume Of Sales

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

The recent Kansas Association of Realtors (KAR) report on February’s real estate market indicates both the volume of home sales and average sales prices are trending down in the state. Overall in the state of Kansas, home sales (closings) fell 7.7% in February 2011 compared with February of 2010. This is vastly different from the 5% rise in average sales price we saw in last months’ report. Home prices did stabilize though and the 1.8% drop in sales prices was much improved after last month’s report which showed an 8% fall in home prices. Compared to the 5.2% national drop in home prices, Kansas appears much more stable than other U.S. markets.

There’s currently 11.7 months of inventory on the market in the state of Kansas, which is almost 1.5 months less than in last month’s report. Looking closely at our local market in Johnson County Kansas, 351 homes were sold (closed) in February. This was just slightly less than the 369 home sales in Johnson County in February 2010. Comparing this February’s sales rate  (adjusting for the short month) to the 3,786 Johnson County Kansas homes for sale, there’s 9.2 months of inventory available. This indicates a buyer’s real estate market in Johnson County Kansas and presents first time home buyers, move-up buyers and buyers considering a lateral move with an excellent opportunity to explore their options.

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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Receive Kansas City Home Community Updates Emailed To You From The Kansas City MLS

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

If you’re thinking of buying or selling an area home and have narrowed things down to a particular community, you should get set up to receive automatic market updates on the community. This will allow you to receive an automated email whenever a new listing comes on the market, when a home goes under contract and even when a come closes — thus allowing you to see the sales price of the homes! Everyone likes to know what homes are selling for in the neighborhood they’re considering buying or selling in, so let me help you stay current on the local market.

The only requirement I have for setting you up to receive these Kansas City MLS updates is that you confirm you’re not already tied into an agency agreement or other agreement with another Kansas City real estate agent. I won’t ask for any commitment at this time to using me as your buyer’s agent or listing agent.  If you think I might be a great option to help you buy or sell a home, please email me your name, email address, the home community you want to receive updates on and also let me know whether you’re considering buying or selling in the neighborhood.

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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Despite The Valleys In The Real Estate Market, The Will To Own A Home Is As Strong As Ever

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

As we head into 2011, it doesn’t appear the will to own a home is cause for concern. A Fannie Mae poll in the past month shows that most Americans who don’t currently own a home STRONGLY aspire to do so. Given the lows of our current economy and given the challenges in our current real estate market, that impresses me. But I’ve never been one to underestimate the pride of home ownership in our country, so this Fannie Mae poll does not catch me by surprise.


I can’t imagine a scenario where I wouldn’t own my home. Just thinking about accepting what a landlord feels is good enough depresses me. I don’t want someone telling me what color my home will be. I don’t want to park my car in a parking lot or have to hit the ceiling with a broom stick to quiet the neighbors. Whether I was single or married, with kids or without, 25 or 65, I can’t imagine not owning my own home. Yes, home ownership comes with a lot of responsibility. There’s the mortgage payments… the maintenance…. there will no doubt be unforeseen expenses. But it would all still be worth it even if I didn’t get the mortgage interest deduction or appreciation over the years.

The Fannie Mae poll, which questioned more than 3,500 Americans, focused on owning versus renting and also found that more than 65% of respondents found it both a good time to buy a house and home ownership to be one of the safest of all investments. I found it interesting that 60% of Americans believe that buying a home today is much more difficult that it was for their parents.  Note: the poll did ask parents any questions about having to walk uphill both ways to school.

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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Johnson County Kansas Home Buyers Weren’t Scared To Buy In A Seller’s Market, So Why Start Now In A BUYER’S Market?

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

I’m intrigued by how our down housing market has many home buyers running scared. There are of course risks in any investment you make, but we need to remember that while our down market is bad news for many home sellers, it’s GREAT news for most home buyers. Values are down like never before but if our market is now stabilizing – as it appears to be now in many areas – there’s going to be a lot of disappointed people who missed a golden opportunity. Look at this as an amazing time to explore your options for buying a home. Or in selling your current home and buying another.


On the graph above, take a ruler and lay it along the line you see from 1970 through the year 2000 (when began seeing unprecedented appreciation rates. It works about the same on either the red or blue lines. What you find is that were at a point now where we probably should have been at anyhow — before the steep rise and prices AND after the correction we’ve seen the past few years. Again, we don’t know that we’re at the bottom of the market, but this graph would lead me to believe we are. Real estate has been one of the safest investments since the great depression and if you keep the long-term trends of real estate in mind, the question I’m asking home buyers right now is “why WOULDN’T you buy a home today?”

Our current real estate market could easily be the best chance you’ll ever have to get in a home larger than you ever hoped and to also make equity gains that others won’t see when jumping in AFTER we’re already well into a real estate market recovery. The deals that are out there right now for Johnson County Kansas home buyers should provide a huge cushion even if the market should dip further. Don’t be one of those buyers who were happy to buy in a seller’s market and pay a premium price but are now too shy to take advantage of the amazing buying deals in today’s buyer’s market.

As a buyer, YOU hold the cards. I know this as your buyer’s agent. The listing agent knows it. And, most importantly, most Johnson County Kansas home sellers are acutely aware of the market conditions. There are deals to be had everywhere from your typical resale homes to foreclosure listings, Short Sale listings and investors who have lost their shorts and are looking to get out of the market. So get out there and see if the home you want is available at a price you may never see again.


Posted by Jason A. Brown

Johnson County Kansas Real Estate Update – August 2010

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Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market
Real Estate Info for Johnson County Kansas
Recent 15 Days of Johnson County KS Market Activity

Comparing the absorption rate over the past 15 days in Johnson County Kansas to the number of homes currently on the market, there’s 10.3 months of inventory available. This is high and it’s clearly still a buyer’s market in Johnson County Kansas and the surrounding Kansas City metro area. As has been the trend for some time now, more homes came on the market (510) over the past 15 days, than homes sold (213) over the same period. This further increases the months of inventory and we’ll need to see a higher sales rate to work off the more the more than 4,000 homes for sale in Johnson County Kansas.

Type

#

Average $

Avg DOM

Listings Past 15 Days

 510
 –

–

Total Active Listings

 4,385

–

–

Newest Contracts Written

 265
 $244,872 129

Newest Sold (Closed)

 213 $245,387 138

* 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.

The number of homes that went under contract outpaced the number of actual closings, so there’s good potential news in those figures — assuming most those homes make it to the closing table. The homes that sold did so in about 4.5 months time. If your real estate goals involve buying or selling any Johnson County Kansas Real Estate, please contact me for assistance. When working as your Johnson County Realtor, we’ll provide you expert guidance in your home purchase or sale. Don’t hesitate to let us know if we can assist you by sending market stats specific to your subdivision or a surrounding community.

View Past Real Estate Stats On Johnson County KS

Buyer’s Agents In Johnson County KS

Seller’s Agents In Johnson County KS

Relocating to Johnson County Kansas

View All Listed Johnson County KS Homes For Sale

Johnson County Kansas Realtors

Johnson County Kansas Realtors

Interesting Johnson County Kansas Link…
Johnson County KS 2011 Budget
Posted by Jason A. Brown