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Kansas City, MO Real Estate News

By Paul Surles, We Guarantee Your Home @ the TOP of Realtor.com
(Keller Williams Realty, Partners Inc.)
This is a great synopsis of the new Housing and Economid Recovery Act of 2008 - first-time homebuyer tax credit. . . Amount of Credit Ten percent of cost of home, not to exceed $7500 Eligible Property Any single-family residence (including condos, co-ops) that will be used as a principal residence. Refundable Yes.  Reduced income tax liability for the year of purchase.  Claimed on tax return for that tax year. Income Limit Yes.  Full amount of credit available for individuals with adjusted grss income of no more than $75,000 $150,000 on a joint return).  Phases out above those caps ($95,000 and $170,000, respectively). First-time Homebuyer Only Yes.  Purchaser (and purchasher's spouse) may not have owned a principal residence in 3 years previous to purchase. Recapture Yes.  Portion (6.6...
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By Justin Ukaoma, Kansas City Real Estate Investments
(Vizion KC)
    So I actually had a couple tell me today that they were planning on letting their house go into foreclosure. According to them three years ago they had purchased a house from an investment group like mine (only no longer in business) and in their excitement to purchase their first home they did not order a home inspection. Their lender (also no longer in business) was quick to get them into a flexible rate mortgage which continues to adjust higher and higher as they tend to do. The house has severe plumbing and foundation problems. Without fail each month both sewage and ground water flood their basement / garage. To make matters worse this couple’s home has fallen in value. In 2005 they bought the house for $125,000 and it appraised for $130,000. Today this house might appraise for...
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By Justin Ukaoma, Kansas City Real Estate Investments
(Vizion KC)
So I just met with a couple looking to lease option one of our properties in Grandview.   This couple had gotten into an adjustable rate a few years ago and their payments had increased from the manageable $1,000 per month to the unmanageable $1,500 per month.  Just last week they had met with a mortgage company  in hopes of refinancing into a fixed rate mortgage, only to find that even if they did refinance do to their poor credit they will still be paying $1,500 per month.  They explained to me that the payment was simply too high for them to stay current with and while they would rather sell than go into foreclosure it was clear to them that their house was not going to sell quickly in its current condition.  I really would like to help these people but I realize I can’t be a hero to...
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By Justin Ukaoma, Kansas City Real Estate Investments
(Vizion KC)
    Kansas City has awarded Chester Bross Construction Co. of Hannibal, MO with the $3.1 million dollar contract to repave Bannister Road from State Line all the way to I-435. The project started Monday August 25th and is responsible for the recent traffic near Bannister and Holmes. The four mile project is scheduled to be completed by November 25th and will include repairs to aged asphalt and improvements to rain water drainage pipes. For more information visit http://www.modot.mo.gove/kansascity. Portions of this article are directly from The Jackson County Advocate the best local news source in my opinion. Follow Me. http://twitter.com/justinu84 http://www.youtube.com/vizionkc http://www.vizionkc.com/
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By Justin Ukaoma, Kansas City Real Estate Investments
(Vizion KC)
        Every last Wednesday of the month is our brokerages sales meeting.  And like many agents I simply can’t wait for this lovely opportunity to come together and share sales techniques at 9AM.   All kidding aside while the majority of or sales meetings include topics unrelated to my business as an investor, today was different.   Today I found out that appraisers starting next month will begin including foreclosures in their appraisals.  In addition to including foreclosure sales in their appraisals they will also only be looking at property sales in the past three months instead of the past six months.  If this is true I imagine housing prices will fall quite substantially.  Has anyone heard anything about this? As an investment company that flips properties we are generally only i...
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By Justin Ukaoma, Kansas City Real Estate Investments
(Vizion KC)
Earlier today our trusted mortgage expert Ginny came by our office to pick up a check and an application in order to enroll one of our tenants in credit cleaning. Generally whenever Ginny stops by she fills us in on any new developments in the mortgage world. Today she informed us that seller funded down payment assistance will be gone as of August 29th. So if we have anybody who is trying to buy a home and needs down payment assistance they must get the loan in contract by this Friday. Needless to say this came as quite a surprise. Everybody in the office new that seller funded down payment assistance was ending on October 1st. So using reasonable logic we assumed that as long as the loan was in contract by September 30th we would still be able to provide down payment assistance to th...
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By The Brad Papa Team, Olathe Real Estate Agents
(Realty Executives of Kansas City)
Junior League Re-Sale Boutique: 6398 Troost Ave, Kansas City, MO. Great place for brand-name clothing Nate's 63rd Street Drive-In Swap Shop: 63rd and I-435. Weekends only, $1 admission Boulevard Drive-In : 1051 Merriam Lane, Kansas City, Kansas. Weekends only Blackwell's Thrift: 1316 E. 63rd Street A Place In Time: 207 W. Dennis Avenue, Olathe Kansas City Flea Market. 1775 Universal Street. North Kansas City Market Center. Hours: 8am to 4pm. Market is held monthly from July through December. More Missouri flea markets can be found here: http://www.keysfleamarket.com/fleamarket/state/missouri.htm Contact Brad Papa for comprehensive information on Kansas City and Olathe real estate! Brad Papa is a licensed real estate agent in Kansas and Missouri and can be reached at bradleypapa@remax.ne...
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By Justin Ukaoma, Kansas City Real Estate Investments
(Vizion KC)
So I just saw the move I.O.U.S.A.  If you haven’t heard about this film I’m not surprised. I only heard about it on YouTube and Gerri Weits's blog. Sadly, most people have no interest in our countries severely flawed financial policies. And why should they? The media tells us that everything is okay. We actually believe the things that politicians say to us on television. This film by itself is shocking. But what are even more frightening are the solutions to these problems. Our economy is built on spending not producing or savings like it should be. In order to fix these problems we must start producing again in addition to saving. This necessary transition will be difficult for a generation of Americans who have been conditioned to buy now and pay later. While the film does end on a p...
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By Justin Ukaoma, Kansas City Real Estate Investments
(Vizion KC)
This has been a busy week for The Vizion Group, especially these last couple of days.  On Thursday we picked up two additional listings both in Grandview including a huge 7 Bedroom 4 Bath house in the lovely Auburn Hills subdivision.  Two of our other listings, one in Grandview and one in South Kansas City became available for rent.   We dropped the list price on both of our listings in the Kirkside subdivision along with one in Byars Gardens so we can be more aggressively priced in these areas.  Our new website is finally up and running the way it should after roughly a week of small problems.  The new investor video was finally agreed upon and uploaded.  And last but not least I passed 10,000 points on AR!   It’s funny to think that just a few weeks ago I didn’t even know that a place...
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By Justin Ukaoma, Kansas City Real Estate Investments
(Vizion KC)
Hey everybody I just posted the investors video for The Vizion Group. Tell me what you think. Feel free to also check out my YouTube channel. From there you can see all the videos we have posted including all the investor videos and our most recent remodels. Anyway check the video out and let me know what you think. Keep up with The Vizion Group online http://www.youtube.com/vizionkc http://www.vizionkc.com/ http://twitter.com/justinu84
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By Justin Ukaoma, Kansas City Real Estate Investments
(Vizion KC)
    So it finally happened to me.   Today while I was eating lunch at Chipotle I received a call from someone who found me on AR.  Unfortunately it was not a potential client.  It was a telemarketer trying to get me to switch property management companies.  After explaining to him that we already have a management company and were not in the market for a new one I asked the telemarketer where he had gotten my phone number.  His response was my website which he got the link too from my AR home page.  While I hate being hassled by telemarketers’ l love the fact that people are finding me on AR!  Has this happened to anyone else? Keep up with The Vizion Group online http://www.youtube.com/vizionkc http://www.vizionkc.com/ http://twitter.com/justinu84
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By Justin Ukaoma, Kansas City Real Estate Investments
(Vizion KC)
    The City of Grandview has decided to close the popular dance club Skateland located off of highway 71 and 136th St. This decision came after the Board of Alderman heard testimony from both sides of the case during a six hour hearing on Tuesday August 5th.     Skateland, once a quiet children’s skating rink has in recent years become the backdrop to numerous public disturbances. For more than a year, shootings, group fights, crowd control, and noise problems related to night-club style events at Skateland have disturbed Grandview residents.     The final straw seemed to occur on July 14th, when Skateland's Sunday dance night crowd of roughly 75 people reportedly dispersed en-masse to IHOP restaurant in Truman Corners. The group loitered in the restaurant's parking lot, and as Grandvi...
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By Justin Ukaoma, Kansas City Real Estate Investments
(Vizion KC)
    First let me give you a little background. This property was completely rehabbed back in February. Infact you can watch the video rehab on my youtube channel.  Days after the rehab was competed we were approached for a purchase by a very exited and unrepresented couple. They claimed to be pre-qualified for 130k which was perfect since the list price was also 130k. However they had never been issued a pre-qualification letter and the lender was anything but organized. I called her almost daily to get a pre-qualification letter. The few times I could get her on the phone she told me the deal was a slam dunk and that everything would be ready to go in a few days. After a few days I felt that the lender was dragging their feet and suggested to the buyer that they use someone else. As it...
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By Justin Ukaoma, Kansas City Real Estate Investments
(Vizion KC)
     I thought I understood Google’s Page Rank System. Until I tried to increase the rank of my own website. Is it just me or does this have to be the most complicated system of deciding website credibility? I’m sure it’s complicated for a reason and honestly, most of the time I agree with Google’s system. That is until they give my website a page rank of one and then give one of my least viewed YouTube videos a page rank of three.         Irregularities such as these make curious. I often find myself crawling thru other real estate websites for hours. Eagerly waiting for my page rank tool bar to fill up with green, revealing how Google ranks this page. Even here on AR I have seen multiple blogs and profile pages with a page rank of three or more. How do they do it? I’m starting to thin...
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By Ben Edsall
(Turn-Key Properties LLC, Missouri and Kansas Real Estate)
Where do you find cheap rent in Kansas City? Play this video! Turn-Key Properties LLC 816-313-8876
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By Justin Ukaoma, Kansas City Real Estate Investments
(Vizion KC)
  I find it funny that the week after the US government signs a housing bill to bail out Fannie and Freddie Mac. Freddie Mac comes out this week and says "hey we lost way more money than anyone could have expected." I think this is a little frustrating on multiple levels. Why can’t we just let these companies fail? Oh that’s right they are too big to fail. If that’s the case then why don't we just nationalize both companies? That way if they do badly it’s on our back but if they do well we (the American people) will reap the benefits just like the large shareholders of these companies.  What do you guys think?  Is nationalizing Fannie and Freddie a better way to do things or am I wrong? You can view the whole article here.
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By Ben Edsall
(Turn-Key Properties LLC, Missouri and Kansas Real Estate)
Whew! What a brutal day... It's definately not a dry heat. Not a good day for much of anything that didn't involve a swimming pool or a river outside today. I went out to feed the horses and the poor things looked like they had been taking a shower. I felt bad so I decided to go pray for them... That didn't work out so well either.
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By Justin Ukaoma, Kansas City Real Estate Investments
(Vizion KC)
For several years we have been rehabbing homes in the KC Metro area. Almost daily I would look online for video of other rehabbers properties. Yet week after week I found nothing. Finally after much debate and little video editing experience under my belt I uploaded a video. You can view all of our videos on youtube . This is the second edition of what I hope will soon be a staple in the rehabber’s/investors blogosphere. We used a darker flooring in the kitchen and bathrooms what do you think?  
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By Scott Finley
(Re/Max of KC)
I continuously monitor local real estate statistics to keep my clients informed and ahead of the real estate trends.  Below you will find real estate statistics for the South Platte County area for the month of JuneNew homes on the market: 203Total homes Active on the market: 646Average Listing Price: $273,380 Number of homes sold: 122Average Sales Price: $229,748Number of homes taken off the market: 91 Analysis - The market continues to slowly recover, however the total number of homes on the market has decreased as the buyers have finally decided that now is a good time to buy. The bottome line is - IF YOU HAVEN'T BOUGHT YET, BECAUSE YOU THINK THE MARKET         H ASN'T HIT BOTTOM YET, YOU'RE GOING TO MISS THE BEST DEALS IF YOU DON'T BUY SOON! To find the value of your home with a fre...
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By Scott Finley
(Re/Max of KC)
Scott Finley | Remax | 816-885-6901 8415 Kenwood Ave, Kansas City, MO This ranch home is already updated with new systems and kitchen. Beautiful lot on a dead-end street, very quiet, stable environment! 3BR/1.5BA Single Family House offered at $120,000 Year Built 1955 Sq Footage 1,061 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms 1 full, 1 partial Floors 1 Parking 1 Car garage Lot Size 8,712 sqft HOA/Maint $0 per month DESCRIPTION This ranch home is already updated with new systems and kitchen. Beautiful lot on a dead-end street, very quiet, stable environment! This home is absolutely MOVE IN READY! There is nothing to do but BUY! see additional photos below PROPERTY FEATURES Central A/C Central heat Fireplace Hardwood floor Family room Bonus/Rec room Dining room Breakfast nook Dishwasher Stove/Oven Microwave ...
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