TR-HNR-July-2019

Distressed sales for the metro area were down 23.5 per- cent in the first quarter from the same quarter last year. In the retail market, median home prices were up in the Kansas City metro during the first quarter of the year to $197,046, a 9.9 percent increase from a year ago and up 49 percent from the metro’s post-recession bottom price of $131,834 reported in the first quarter of 2008. “Median sales prices make it much harder to do a buy-and-hold in Kansas City. Our rent rates haven’t caught up with the cost of housing acquisition. That’s what pushed me back into flipping,” Wiley explained. So, in 2018, Wiley decided to liquidate any of his as- sets that still had loans on them, leaving him only with assets that are free and clear. “I’m prepared for the eventual downturn and ready to leverage with cash on the next dip in the market,” he said. “I’m in the process of further converting about half of my rental portfolio into owner carryback notes. I’m leaving half in the rental market and half into own- er carry financing, selling to my tenants and carrying the long-term note.”

You have to keep making adjustments. It’s a little tough to be flipping right now. There’s very little inventory left on the MLS. As for buying at trustee sales on the courthouse steps, I’ve watched the market tighten where trustees are raising the minimum bid.”

JOHN WILEY ON KANSAS CITY

In the fourth quarter of 2018, ATTOM reported that flips accounted for 3.7 percent of all home sales in the metro area, and the number of flips during that time were down 35 percent from the fourth quarter of 2017.

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

july 2019 29

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