As an avid user of the streetcar, I was excited to find out that the line will be extended.  The street care line is a beneficial way to keep the city moving and we like the idea at Alpine Kansas City!

The Kansas City streetcar’s Main Street extension reached another major milestone.  Voters approved local funding for the 3.5-mile route from Union Station to the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Volker Campus.

The vote was the last of three for Kansas City residents who live along the proposed streetcar line. In August, voters approved the formation the Main Street Rail Transportation Development District. In October, they supported a a slat of pro-streetcar candidates to head up the board of directors for that district. The most recent vote approves the TDD’s ability to levy sales and property taxes within the district to fund streetcar operations, a critical step to getting federal support for the extension.

“We’re just excited about the enthusiasm from the voters in the district to move it forward,” Kansas City Streetcar Authority Executive Director Tom Gerend told the Kansas City Business Journal. “We’re carrying this momentum into our application for federal funding and our commitment to bring this project to life.”

Within the boundaries of the district, the TDD would be able to levy a sales tax of up to 1 percent on businesses within the district. It also would be able to levy an assessment on properties roughly within a third-of-a-mile from the streetcar line, which is expected to be similar to the rates for the starter line. Those rates are:

• 48 cents for every $100 of assessed value for commercial property
• 70 cents for every $100 of assessed value for residential property
• $1.04 for every $100 of assessed value for city-owned property
• 40 cents for every $100 of assessed value for tax-exempt properties (but only for those with a market value between $300,000 and $50 million)

A fee of $54.75 per spot also will be assessed on surface pay-parking lots (not garages).

Both measures were approved by about 75 percent of voters. The sales tax measure passed by a vote of 2,588 for (75.6 percent) and 834 against (24.4 percent). The property tax measure won approval by a vote of 2,529 (74.6 percent) for and 858 against (25.3 percent).

The TDD won’t begin raising taxes until after a plan is approved for construction of the streetcar extension, the project is fully funded, and after the Downtown and Main Street Extension TDDs are merged into one. According to the authority, the extension’s initial cost now is estimated at between $250 million to $275 million.

Article courtesy of the Kansas City Business Journal

Alpine Property Management Kansas City, Alpine Kansas City,

It is no wonder that Kansas City inventory is at an all time low.  The housing market is pressed to less than a 2 month supply.  Leaving buyers with less and less inventory to choose from.  While, Sellers are finding this the prime opportunity to sell.

The ever demanding supply of rental properties continues to also rise.  Kansas City is an affordable market yielding higher cashflow for investors.  Alpine Kansas City focuses on investment portfolio real-estate.  With appreciation and upward trending rental rates, the housing outlook for 2018 continues on the upward slope.

Kansas City, Mo., experienced the sharpest home-price appreciation in 2017 on a one-year percentage basis, according to data from the Housing News Report released by real-estate data firm Attom Data Solutions. Home prices there rose 13.4% over 2016 levels, edging out the 13.3% growth posted by San Jose.

 

Cities with the most home price growth in 2017
Metropolitan area	1-year home price appreciation	5-year home price appreciation	2017 median home price
Kansas City, Mo.	13.4%	36.6%	$172,098
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.	13.3%	81.1%	$960,000
Nashville-Davidson-Mufreesboro-Franklin, Tenn.	12.5%	56.2%	$224,900
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nev.	12.3%	100.0%	$230,000
Salt Lake City, Utah	10.9%	56.5%	$264,000
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.	10.8%	58.9%	$410,000
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla.	10.7%	82.2%	$207,000
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.	10.7%	80.0%	$180,000
Portland-Vancover-Hillsboro, Oreg.-Wash.	10.5%	65.0%	$348,050
Jacksonville, Fla.	10.1%	61.8%	$187,000

Source Realty Trac

The Kansas City and U.S. housing markets both saw an increase in value in 2017.

The value of all homes in the U.S. market increased by $2 trillion in 2017, bringing the total value up to $31.8 trillion, according to resent data collected.

This year, all the homes in the Kansas City metro are valued at a combined $140.3 billion, an annual increase of 7.8 percent. That’s a $10.2 billion increase from the 2016 value of $130.1 billion.

In 2017, the nationwide housing market grew at its fastest pace — 6.5 percent — in the last four years, according to Zillow. In 2013, the overall value of U.S. homes increased 8 percent.

Since the lowest levels of the recession and housing bubble, the U.S. housing market has gained about $9 trillion in value.

Local renters paid a total of $2.7 billion in Kansas City, an increase of 3.2 percent. Nationwide, renters paid $485.6 billion, an $4.9 billion increase from the previous year.

For comparison, the St. Louis metro includes homes valued at $195.7 billion, an increase of 1.3 percent. St. Louis renters paid $3.1 billion in 2017, an increase of 2.7 percent from 2016.

The nation’s top housing markets are New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, which are each include homes worth more than $1 trillion.

By Miranda Davis –  Specials Editor, Kansas City Business Journal

Kansas City millennials want to own houses with yards.

They do?

A local housing survey just released says so. That’s despite zeitgeist notions that young adults generally love downtown loft-dwelling, or they favor new rental complexes with spas, rooftop pools and easy access to public transit.

“Local millennials do follow the pattern of getting married later and starting families later,” said Posten, 45, whose firm conducted the online survey mostly through Facebook and KC Live. “But once they’ve done that, those around Kansas City tend to do what earlier generations have done.”

That is, find a place of their own near good schools. Locate to Fairway, Prairie Village, Brookside, or North Kansas City in the non-scientific poll of 208 metro adults under age 37.

And, yes, buy cars — about 95 percent of area millennials drive to get around.

What most intrigued Kansas City natives, is that the local survey paints a picture much different than what many consider America’s millennial prototype.

Goldman Sachs Global Investment, among others, have concurred in studies that millennials — now the nation’s largest generation — seem generally indifferent to ownership.

“It’s not just homes: Millennials have been reluctant to buy items such as cars, music and luxury goods,” Goldman Sachs concludes “They’re turning to a new set of services that provide access to products without the burdens of ownership, giving rise to what’s being called a ‘sharing economy.’”

Not so much in Kansas City, where 48 percent of respondents in the Highline Partners poll said they owned their homes. Three out of four said they aspired to own houses in the next five years. The marketing company acknowledged that persons who responded to the survey were a bit older, more educated and wealthier — averaging $50,000 in annual income — than millennials as a whole.

“There is an affordability angle in Kansas City,” said Jones, who recently married and lives in Fairway. “I think nationwide, we’re starting to exit our urban years. The majority of my friends are looking for walkable suburbs.”

Posten attributes high marks to North Kansas City (pop. 4,300), to “partly a chicken and picklization effect.” The popular Chicken N Pickle eatery on Burlington Street, with its pickleball courts and backyard games, is among many social spots within walking distance of older, low-cost houses.

Millennial dwellers make up the largest demographic of every neighborhood within the town’s limits, said North Kansas City community development director Sara Copeland.

“Our median age has fallen incredibly since 2010,” from 40 to 36 today, Copeland said. “We don’t feel we have to do anything special to attract millennials any more than Gen-Xers or boomers. Just build a well-rounded community.”

The study’s authors serve a dozen real estate and development companies area-wide and some nationally. They said the urban-centric, ownership-averse stereotype of millennials might be drawn from marketing studies that focus on large cities on the U.S. coasts.

“We think developers are making decisions based on reading about millennials in the national press,” Posten said. “The demographic in Kansas City is distinctly different.”

If true, the city won’t be home to many of today’s young adults as they age, according to the poll: About half said they don’t want to be living here when they retire.

Courtesy of BY RICK MONTGOMERY of the KC Star

Property management is an unpretentious term for a profession comprised of a huge range of expertise.  Property managers need to be able to handle customer service, legal disputes, collections, tenant complaints, neighbor conflicts, repairs, maintenance personnel, vendors, inspectors, emergencies and more!  Considering the demand placed on a rental property management company, it is easy to see why Alpine Kansas City greatly benefits from strong business processes.

Alpine Kansas City places a strong focus on constant improvement and efficiency as a key factor, as well as communication and automation.

Communication between phone calls, text messages, emails and walk in traffic, can easily become chaotic if not handled correctly.  Documentation is very important.

Alpine Kansas City has found great success in having a 24/7 emergency line and ensuring all owners, tenants and staff communicate within the online portals.  This serves as documentation for all correspondence, reduces phone calls to the minimum and eliminates scattered information.  Having established communication policies ensures efficiency for staff, owners, and tenants alike.

Downloading the Propertyware app on your smart phone can expedite conversation with Alpine Kansas City.  The app is free and easy to use.

As the year comes to a close, we look to the horizon for continued successes and improvement that benefit you.

Alpine Kansas City strives for Drug Free, Crime Free housing.  As part of our ongoing training and awareness, the staff had the pleasure of training with Ray M. with Metro K-9.  Ray discussed the many needs for professional narcotics detection and beautiful and smart Phoenix gave a live demonstration of her detection techniques as Ray explained how management companies, like us, can use narcotic inspections as a deterrent for drug activity in our housing units.  Implementing random narcotic inspections at our multi and single family units will positively impact the residents.

Nowadays, I am working in Real Estate investing: selling houses that produce income for the buyer. Not too long ago, a young man walked into Alpine Kansas City. In one hand he held up the county record for a property we owned, and in the other, ca$h! It didn’t matter to him if the property was for sale, or what the condition, nor did he ask the price. He was seeking opportunity. Success.

After speaking with him, I learned his parents are immigrants from Mexico and he was born in LA. At 12 years old, he moved to Kansas City with his Dad, learned to swing a hammer, and work hard. Since he was old enough to earn a paycheck, he has been working at Denny’s. In his 12 year career there he has risen to manager. After working his first shift, he picks up a second at McDonald’s. With that cash, he purchases investment properties. How many? “A few,” he says.
He is hustling, making it happening, investing in his future. There is a lot to learn from from this young man, but the take away, TAKE ACTION!

What is TAKING ACTION?
Capitalizing on the opportunities, seizing responsibility, and treating success as your duty.