All Forum Posts by: Chris Dawson

@NA Smith your best bet is to have a lawyer draft you a letter.  Are the current occupants the previous owners or are they just renters?  If they are the previous owners, it can be a little more difficult.  Whatever you do, make sure it is in writing.  Don't rely on "their word".

@Saravanan Varadan you need to take that money and buy 2 or 3 houses here in KC and you will make way more money than buying 1 $300k house.

@Mitch Price, 64127 is a pretty rough area of KC.  It is NOT an up and coming area.  This is a D area that can be good for cash flow renting if you can stomach the high turnover and crime.   The cost to rebuild in this area is usually way more than what the property will be worth.  If it were mine, I would pocket any insurance money and dump the property.

@Rob Bianco we need more info about what you are wanting to do.  Most of these neighborhoods you have listed are C areas with high crime and vacancy rates.

The Manheim Park/South Hyde/Squier Park neighborhoods are all in midtown.  These are mostly older, 100yr old homes with all kinds of styles and sizes.  The further east you go, the worse it gets.  Generally, don't go past Troost if you have any desire to flip a house and don't go past Paseo unless you want a D property.  I will say that there is a lot of development in the works around these areas that should help improve property values.

Stratford Estates/Ruskin Heights and Marlborough are all further south.  Most of these properties will have been built after WWII.  The majority of these homes will be ranch style and around 1000sq ft in size.  Don't ever expect appreciation in these areas.  If you buy right, you can get good cash flow, but be prepared for high turnover and crime.

Hope this helps.

@Andrew R., I'm curious as to why you want an appraiser. Appraisers don't typically work for anybody but the lenders. If you are buying w/ cash, there is no lender involved. It sounds like you need a real estate agent to do a CMA; not an appraiser.

@Justin Feldstein this is primarily what we do for our clients.  Shoot me a pm and we can discuss more.

@William D. feel free to send me a message or email me.

@William D., I have had lots of experience with Section 8 in KC.  A lot depends on what municipality you are dealing with.  Each city has their own Sect 8 department and their own policies and procedures.  In short, the City of Kansas City, MO is the WORST Sect. 8 department to deal with.  They are overworked and under staffed.  The inspectors are inconsistent and the department is slow to start payments.  Expect at least a month before you will receive your first month's payment.

Now, having said that, I have had very good experiences with the Sect 8 departments for Independence, Belton, Liberty, and Gladstone, as well as others.

Of course, the Sect 8 department is only 1/2 of the equation.  The tenant is the other 1/2.  You can have a great Sect. 8 tenant w/ a KC MO voucher and have a great experience, and you can have a bad Sect. 8 tenant w/ a Liberty, MO voucher and have a terrible experience!  Just make sure you vet your Sect 8 tenants just like you would any other tenant.

Hope this helps.

@Fiona Humphrey I would be very wary of buying any piece of property in Kansas City for under $10k; especially if it is vacant land in the inner city.  Make sure you have a local expert confirm the details.  As for your original question, @Jeff Filali is correct.  All you need is a title company and a sales contract.  It shouldn't cost you more than a couple hundred dollars.

In case anybody is interested in local market information for Kansas City, here are the latest numbers for March 2018:

If you want all the details, the 12 page pdf is here:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PhCdEgyHNQ-roz0LBoKm0GIAAqMkPo05.  If this link doesn't work, just PM for the pdf.