During the building boom, Kansas City saw it’s share of “McMansions”–homes with open floor plans that are highly energy inefficient.  Homes with high ceilings and lots of windows aren’t designed for energy efficiency.  And most builders were more concerned to get the house built and sold quickly rather than making sure everything was sealed up for maximum energy conservation.

Home buyers today are looking for a little less “show” and a lot more function.  They want a house that fits the way they live and also is “green” for energy savings.

So what options do home buyers have for “green homes” in Kansas City.  There are some Kansas City homes that were built to be “green”.  But home buyers probably will have to look at making upgrades to get the kind of energy efficiency they truly want.  There is an initiative in the FHA loan programs that can help.  The Energy Efficient FHA loans allow a home buyer to borrow extra money to add energy upgrades to a home they buy.  To learn more about this type of loan CLICK HERE.

For buyers looking to find homes that are good candidates for “green” updates, getting an experienced buyer’s agent involved and talking to contractors up front is a good idea.  You will want to be sure the cost of your upgrades make sense for the real estate market and keep you in line with the real estate values in the neighborhood.

A link to the Yahoo article about green home trends is located below.

Yahoo! Study: American Dream Homes Turn Green – Yahoo! Real Estate.

I make it a practice to tour homes in the Kansas City, KS area.  I especially like to see the HUD foreclosures in Kansas City.  Some of the foreclosures are torn up and will need some rehab.  But I’m seeing more and more of the foreclosed homes for sale in Kansas City that appear to be move-in ready.  Of course, looks can be deceiving and you would need to have a good inspection done before you commit to buy one of these foreclosures.

On a recent tour, I found a house in western Kansas City, KS that has some acreage with it.  Even though it’s in the city, it has the feel of being in the country.  The view from the back door is nothing but trees as the land slopes away toward the river valley.  Across the street I heard a rooster crow.  There is a nice yard between the houses on either side and nothing behind but trees, as mentioned previously.  And the great thing is that this feel of being in the country comes from a house located on 63rd street in Kansas City, KS.  It’s only minutes away from shopping and entertainment found in the Legends in west Kansas City.  It has reasonably easy access to the major streets and interstate highways that lead into Kansas City.

The house looks to have been newly remodeled.  The exterior is in decent shape–no peeling paint or missing pieces of siding or trim.  The kitchen has been updated.  The hardwoods have been sanded, stained and finished.  There is new ceramic tile and what looks like new carpet.  The walls look freshly painted.  The master bath is tiled and looks to have new fixtures–and the work looks to be well-done.  But I was puzzled by the toilet location in the master bath.

From Drop Box

Now, there is still plenty of space between the toilet and vanity, but the space behind the toilet will make you feel like you’re sitting on the throne in the middle of the room.  How weird is that?  As the Love of my life would say, “Some man designed this.”

I’ve also learned from the Love of my life that even design fails can be overcome with a little creative thinking.  For example, rather than going to the trouble and expense of tearing up the floor to move the toilet, you could build out the wall behind the toilet and have storage there.  In fact, it could extend over and beyond the toilet as bookshelves and a place to store linens.

This is the kind of vision and help I give to my clients when looking at homes for sale.  There are lots of foreclosures for sale in Kansas City right now.  I can help you find one that has the potential to be your dream home.

The love of my life commented the other day that we will have been a full year without a kitchen of our own before this project is finished.  Not being able to really cook is wearing on her.  We moved out of our home in Shawnee, Kansas in March of 2011.  We were in temporary quarters for 3 months–living with friends.  And then we moved into our “project house” in Kansas City, KS in July.  Our “kitchen” was on the covered porch, and we cooked most meals on the grill.  Once the weather turned cold, we moved most of the cooking inside using boards stretched across sawhorses.  Love of my life has almost used up her creative repertoire of meal ideas cooked on an electric skillet, electric griddle & a crock pot.

We are now at the sheet rock phase of our project.  In preparation for this phase we cleared everything out, including our makeshift kitchen.  Love of my life said we’ll just have to eat out each night.  Now, we like to eat out occasionally.  But if we have to do it every night, it isn’t much fun.  She likes to cook and most restaurants can’t compare to the food she makes.

The guy we hired for the drywall said he would have a crew & that the project would take a week.  Love of my life took him at his word and scheduled the hardwood floors for the following Monday.  No crew showed up, and the guy hung and finished everything by himself.  I was impressed that he could hang rock on the ceiling by himself, but Love of my life wasn’t at all happy that the job is now going into the second week and she had to reschedule the floors.  She’s also particular about keeping the work site clean–something our drywall guy has no conviction about.

Love of my life estimates we’ll have to move the “kitchen” a couple more times as our project moves on.  We’ll go back to the sawhorses in the “kitchen under construction” until the cabinets are installed.  Then she’s talking about using the master bath area–it will be gutted by then–or perhaps the family room area in the basement.  She’s not much in favor of the family room because we’ll have to go up and down stairs to get to the pantry which is by the back door.

Right now she’s grumbling about the sheet rock dust and can’t wait to get the shop vac out and attack it.  She’s already had a couple of forays into the mess–enough to plug up the Dyson vac–but it’s a losing battle.  When I’m working she will clean even as I’m creating more sawdust, but she can’t keep up with Drywall Guy.  He should be done today.  So she will be busy tonight.

2012 Real Estate Market Forecast

Kansas City, Kansas is at the top of the list for housing market growth in 2012, according to housing predictor website.  Kansas fares really well in this forecast because the top 2 spots are cities in Kansas.  The real estate market in the Kansas City metro is in a great position for home buyers.  Real estate markets are more affected by local and regional economic factors, and the Kansas City area has fared better than other areas of the country in that regard.  And western Kansas City, KS in particular is growing in economic development.  With Google set to install fiber internet and Cerner planning to start building their new offices, Wyandotte county is primed to grow.

For home buyers, the opportunities are great because the national news is still negative.  Real estate values will likely be climbing, so now is the best of times to buy in Kansas City, KS.

For the full story of the 2012 real estate market forecast and the top 20 cities predicted to have the best increase in values, follow the link below.

Best Housing Markets 2012.

The record low rates are one component of what I’ve been saying that home buyers in Kansas City have a unique opportunity in this buyers’ market.  Home prices in Kansas City are likely at the bottom of the market.  In fact, we’ve seen buyers being outbid for desirable homes.  This combination of low prices and low mortgage rates will not last forever.  And we probably won’t see low prices and low rates like this again in our lifetimes.

Mortgage rates fall to record lows | LinkedIn.

Kansas City home buyers just got some good news from HUD.  The metro area of Kansas City sits in both Kansas and Missouri.  HUD (the Department of Housing & Urban Development) included both Kansas & Missouri in the list of states eligible for a $100 down payment sales incentive.  This means that Kansas City home buyers can get a HUD foreclosed home for $100 down.

A HUD home is a home that is the result of a foreclosure of an FHA backed loan.  You can find the HUD foreclosures at the HUD Homestore online at this LINK.

There are some restrictions to this program.

• This FHA program is for HUD foreclosed homes only.  It doesn’t apply to standard bank foreclosures.
• Financing has to be through FHA.  It can be an FHA 203K rehab loan.  You can’t use conventional financing.
• You have to make a full-price offer for what HUD has the home listed for.  No low-ball offers.
• It is only for home buyers who are going to actually live in the home.  At closing you will have to sign a form stating that it is for your personal residence and not for a  rental.
• You can ask for 3% allowance for HUD to pay closing costs.

“Flipping” or as real estate investors call it “wholesaling” has never been looked on with much favor by the “professional” real estate industry–that is real estate agents and the organizations that represent them.  Part of this disdain is that the “wholesale” investor, in a way, takes on the roll of a real estate agent in such transactions.

A “wholesaler” finds a distressed property and puts it under contract.  Then he goes and finds a “rehabber” who is willing to pay a slightly higher price to buy the property so he can fix it up and either sell or rent it.  The “wholesaler” acts as the middleman and makes whatever margin he can negotiate.  So, like real estate agents, a wholesaler is putting together a real estate seller and buyer–but without having to be licensed.

There is nothing illegal about this kind of transaction.  In fact, the wholesaler provides a good service for both seller and the rehab buyer.  Many rehab buyers would rather pay a wholesaler than to go to the work and expense of finding good deals on their own.  When it’s done correctly it should be a win for everyone involved.

Freddie Mac’s ban on these kind of transactions is understandable.  On a short sale, they are taking a loss, sometimes a big loss.  If there is a buyer willing to pay a higher price, they feel like they deserve to lose less by selling at that higher price.

So if you are looking to get started in real estate investing in Kansas City and are going to start as a wholesaler, please don’t ask me if you can assign the contract on a short sale.  If you are interested in investing in Kansas City, I suggest you check out the resources at Mid American Real Estate Investors (MAREI) .  I am a member of this organization and know that they give excellent information for both new and long-time real estate investors.

Also, if you want a weekly email list of homes in the Kansas City metro that are listed as “foreclosure” or “as-is” click THIS LINK and enter your email.  (I’d appreciate if you click the “Like” button while you are there.)

Below is a link to another perspective on the Freddie Mac ban on flipping.

Teaming Up to Fight Short Sale Fraud – Freddie Mac.

A spokesperson for the National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM) said that the worst culprit in home fires is upholstered furniture, because it often contains highly flammable polyurethane foam. These all-too-common materials provide the fuel for what fire experts call the flashover — the point at which everything in the room simultaneously bursts into flames. It doesn’t help that many of today’s homes are built with more open floor plans and modern building materials like wallboard that can lead to faster fires, according to the Wichita Eagle.

See below for a link to the source of the above quote.  And be careful this Christmas.

Fire Hazards Even Greater In Today’s Homes, Experts Say | Zillow Blog – Real Estate Market Stats, Celebrity Real Estate, and Zillow News.

I doubt if you get this kind of abuse from any real estate agent in Kansas City.  No one would put up with it.  But you will find agents who don’t really listen to what you want.  More often you’ll get the feeling they really want you to just buy something from them so they can move on to their next sale.

A good sales person should be one that helps you make a good decision for YOU!  If you are going to buy a home, you should buy a home that you will love.  My job as a Realtor is to help you find that home.  So if you are looking for a home in the Kansas City metro, give me a call.  I’ll help you find a home of your own that you’ll fall in love with.

The reason I say that this is a great time to buy real estate in Kansas City is that, for now, the prices haven’t yet begun to rise.  The national news about the economy in general and the real estate market is still negative.  In some areas of the country the real estate market is still going down.  So people feel like the market is bad.  And we all know that most sales are made on feelings and not facts.

The result of this news is that buyers who are able to buy, now is the perfect time.  Some people are saying that this is a once in a generation opportunity.  I tend to agree that this is true.  Of course, no one knows the future.  The naysayers and pessimists could be right and we could dip into another recession.  But I would rather choose to live with optimism.  That is why I sold a house and bought another this year.

Because the home values in my Shawnee, Kansas neighborhood had only dropped slightly I figured this was a good time to sell and find a house with a big upside potential.  Since Kansas City, Kansas is an area that has seen some of the biggest growth in the KC metro, that is where I bought a home.  I’m considering a blog series here about the process.

The real estate sales stats by region are listed below as well as a link to the original article from Realtor Magazine.

A Regional Look
A break down of sales by region in October:

Midwest: Rose 22.2 percent
West: Rose 14.9 percent
Northeast: Stayed flat
South: Declined 9.5 percent

via New-Home Sales Post Biggest Gains in Months | Realtor Magazine.