Monthly Archives: September 2008

September 30, 2008 · 8:53 am

Proven Neighborhoods, Proven Rents

If you can take your eyes away from CNN and Fox News just for a moment, I’d like to remind you about the established neighborhoods I am familiar with when it comes to owning Kansas City area real estate investment property.

Pure Cash Flow
If you are looking for cash flow, cash flow, cash flow but do not want to be in neighborhoods where your personal safety is threatened, think the Skyline neighborhood over by the old Bannister Mall. Or eastern Kansas City just east of I-435 and north of 63rd St. And lastly, there is Ruskin. By far the most labor intensive of the lot with the highest turn-over/vacancy rates. But cash flow, none-the-less.

Some Cash Flow – Steady Values
Waldo. Waldo. Waldo. Located close to downtown KC, the Plaza and with JoCo to the west Waldo is a great area to own or rent. Working class homes mixed with homes of the upper middle class and everything in between. Love the area. Also a fan of the Kansas City, Kansas area right around the University of Kansas Medical Center. But don’t stray too far… And I love the Blue Springs area.

Break Even Rental Housing That Appreciates…Regardless
Johnson County, Kansas is the great. Housing values have softened. Notice I said softened. Not plummeted like much of the nation. But rentals for 3 bedrooms, 2 baths are very hard to find. Every property manager I know says rents are strong.

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Filed under Kansas City Real Estate, Real Estate Investing

September 29, 2008 · 7:26 am

Geno – My Duplex Is Different Than Yours (A Chicago Experience)

As regular readers know I took my new 16 year-old to Chicago Fri-Sun and had a great time. Chicago has a new fan. I loved it and so did Jacob. And while we were there we got a call Friday morning from Geno Petro anxious to show us his town.

Geno picked us up around 10:30 and proceeded to give us a three hour tour of the city. Lincoln Park. Wrigleyville. The Gold Cost. Lake Shore Drive. Halstead Street. The Wienerville hot dog stand. Geno showed us real estate and gave us price points. Oy. Geno showed me what Chicago people call a duplex. Much different than what Kansas Citians call a duplex. Much different.

Then Geno turned us loose. We took the blue train out to Bucktown and proceeded to walk and walk and walk. A tennis-shoe tour of the city. We even stumbled across a Jayhawk bar at the Armtiage stop of the brown line. Further proof that the city of Chicago has class!

I highly recommend setting up rights-of-passages with your children. I think we had a weekend to remember. But I digress.

Getting back to a real estate take, I was very impressed with Chicago. But their prices are much more extravagant than what we deal with here in Kansas City. I’m not sure how I would work numbers up there. My guess is they are not all that attractive. Not Los Angeles real estate investing bad. But less profitable than here. And I’d have to learn all new terminology to get acclimated to that real estate market.

Thank you Geno for the guided tour. You are truly first class. Thank you Chicago for letting us stay. And thank you for the advice many of you gave through emails and comments. The architectural tour was fun. The dogs were good. (You know, they are still hot dogs, right?) And the pizza fabulous.

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Filed under Uncategorized

September 24, 2008 · 7:20 am

Previewing Possible Rental Property

I took a couple of hours yesterday and looked at some possible rental properties over in the Waldo area of Kansas City, MO. I came away with three real good candidates and about 10 real losers. The good candidates would all fit at least the 1% rule. One is nearly turn-key while the other two are within $4,500 of being rent ready. All fall below the $80,000 price range.

If you would like me to send you these three homes (they are not my listings) just email me at listwithchris at kw.com and you know I’ll send them to you.

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We are 23 1/2 days away from Midnight Madness. That’s when the Kansas Jayhawks can start basketball practice for real. We’re going to be real young and real inexperienced this upcoming year. So it will be fun to watch these new kids develop. And heck, we got our reward last April.

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I’m taking my very, very soon to be 16 year old to Chicago this weekend for his birthday present. A new right-of-passage for the Lengquist household will be to take the new 16 year old’s away for a couple days as a last shot at having some influence over them as they begin to enter adulthood and explore their own ideas and ideals.

If you know of any “must-sees” in Chicago, be sure to drop me an email today or tomorrow.

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There is a lot of uncertainty out there in the markets. Stocks go up huge one day and down huge the next. As least with real estate it’s all steady, right? 🙂 And if you bought on proper fundamentals you are not losing money on a month to month basis. Today you can buy on even better fundamentals and make that property work for you. I’d love to discuss this in detail.

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Filed under Kansas City Sports, Misc. Real Estate

September 23, 2008 · 7:01 am

Understand Your Position

Are you upside down on your real estate holdings? Then unless you have the cash to bring to closing to make up the difference you might want to stay put.

See, here’s the deal, if you purchased an investment property and the value has dropped you’ve only “lost money” if you sell it. If you purchased that property and the montly rent is paying the mortgage, taxes and insurance plus any miscellaneous/reasonable expenses then you should keep that property. Keep renting it until the market turns. When will that be? I don’t know. But why would you want to lock in a loss?

I’ve seen so many houses that purchased at prices available today are a steal compared to a few years ago. And in Johnson County, Kansas the rental market is strong. Real strong. I’ve had property managers tell me there simply are not enough 3 bedroom, 2 bath houses for rent.

It’s unlikely JoCo will get hammered the way some areas have. There are foreclosures in Johnson County, to be sure. But the ratio is favorable to the real estate owner and investor.

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Filed under Personal Real Estate Opinions

September 21, 2008 · 8:49 am

California, Arizona & Florida – No Thank You

I was reading Kansas City.com this morning and one sentence jumped out at me like no other.

“Still, California, Florida and Arizona accounted for more than half of the nation’s foreclosure activity in August.”

Did they say half? Three states are largely responsible for the mess all of us are in…even those that pay their mortgages. I’m not rich. In fact, like most Americans I can’t go too long without income before I’d be in pre-foreclosure myself.

But why am I and others like me being punished, taxpayer wise, for all these mistakes of the greedy. I angers me. And I think many others. If my small business fails (that of a real estate agent) will the governement buy my bad debts and work something out for me?

I’ve Been A Busy Bee

Sorry my postings have been a little lite these last few days. Our broker here at the office, and a friend of mine, is having some struggles. His wife has a severe medical situation going on and I’m doing my work and filling in for him as much as I possibly can. (Is that not what we are called to do?)

Again, it makes you not want to waste the time we have with our loved ones. Taking a loved one for granted is what we do. Even when we know better. Or at least it is that way for me.

Now that I have some years on me I find it funny that when I look back I find it difficult to remember the struggles Marie and I have had (and we had plenty!) but I remember the good times easily. So if everything in your life is going great just take a moment and remember to let the people important to you know that you think that way. You can also jump in and help someone dealing with situations out of their control.

And if you need help. Just ask. There is an army of good people out there willing to help.

Are You Looking For A Leasing Agent?

I’ve been looking at a lot of office space and retail space for lease these last few weeks. Retail wise, I think I’ve seen most every space available in Olathe and quite a few in south Overland Park. Well, at least the ones 2,500 sq. ft. and smaller.

Are you looking to lease space for your business or start up? I can help. I know this is an investing blog and you really come here to read about the market and not to read about me pimping my services. But I have to say this because people need to know!

If you are looking for a professional realtor that can help you understand the differences between gross leases and NNN’s or to help coach you through what allowances might be available just give me a call.

913.568.1579