All Forum Posts by: Shane H.

Welcome @Dylan Fellows -- I did the househacking thing before I knew what that was -- it was a great way to get most of my mortgage paid and cut my cost of living.

Back in the middle 00's there was a website called roomster, or roommates.com that people used for that purpose -- was in facebooks infancy so no one used FB the way it's used today back then -- Anyways per your profile at 29yo you should be at a great age to pull from your social network or simply advertising on a buy/sell trade group on FB or whatever social media people are using if you get a house to find a roommate if you go that way.

I sold my duplexes 3 or 4 years ago and went with single families - but that is another great option -- they were building them like crazy in the outskirts of town near Kechi, Maize, Derby etc -- if you look hard enough I'm sure you can find a newer one?  

I'll be selling 2 of my houses in Cottonwood Village -- basically 29th and Woodlawn area/Rock Rd -- It'd be in the price range you are looking for - I personally lived in one of the houses for 10 yrs and loved the area - it was SUPER convenient -- it will be available for sale end of March -- the other will be available end of May   - DM me if you're interested -- I haven't signed with a realtor yet -- my personal house which will be available end of March was the one I had roommates at until I got married -- it'd be perfect for 2 people the way it's set up.  

The other one avail end of May is larger and good for 2-3 people but doesnt have all the updates -- both have their plusses and minuses.  The only negative about the house I used to live in is no master bath per se which is a turnoff for some people - but everything in the house has been updated - whereas most in the price range I'll sell for are dated or just have the basics done to them (by updated - new siding, windows, high end oak trim, new opened up kitchen and not the cheap crap, new driveway - gigantic patio - gas line for grill outside, sprinkler system etc etc.)

Anyways best of luck

This is not normal and not sustainable.  The most recent gains are courtesy of inflation and Uncle Sam.  And what goes up must come down.

I found this article rather fitting for this discussion - I'm the local with the stance of the Idahoans in this article - so I guess it depends on perspective - rising prices is a curse and a blessing.

We have so many dead towns in KS and across the great plains with some awesome old houses and good people - Maybe if anything this next revolution will get people back to small towns and help revive them -- So hopeful Elon Musk's Starlink internet service and perhaps an incentive from the govt along with a new attitude that Work from home or anywhere for that matter can be good for a businesses bottom line and morale - maybe the winds of change could help seed a rebirth in rural America.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/0...

@Marcus Auerbach

I'm sorry - I disagree - this amount of housing inflation is unsustainable.   And when contractors are trying to charge me a premium vs what I know builders pay to build a house they are out for a payday and I wont succumb to that.  ***I'll clarify - I designed my own house - cleared the land where I wanted the house built - picked out all furnishings - was going to buy all supplies, have my own accounts, have done other construction projects - I'm not the typical green horn - yes I'm getting screwed if someone wants to charge a premium on their work and treat me as some yuppy typical needing client - all they have to do is show up and do the work - we've got it all figured out - so no I wont pay a premium for someone to do even less work and put in even less time that is usual.  In Topeka with our business we struggle to get peopel to show up to do anything - we live in a very weird part of the state - people do not like to work here in general -- I do not know why.   

The day will come soon that they wont be having people banging on their door for work.  We cant have the largest economy shut down for this many months, a president on a hell bent mission to raise the price of energy via taxation and outlawing the production of certain vehicles and create a whole BS climate industry built around smoke and mirrors.  The flood gates will open - it's a matter of when -- this many people can't have been out of work and barely surviving without any sort of adjustment.  Not to mention one of the biggest cash infusions set to hit the economy ever soon if they pass the handout bill.  

How many posts do you see on this very RE board of everyone wanting to invest in rentals, do flips etc as they see people making money on tv -- I dunno - there are things about this cycle that are different as you pointed out - but there's a point where affordability gets out of reach and doesnt make sense.

All you coasters and big city folks can keep your money there - you ran up your markets to unsustainable levels - dont bring your crash to the midwest - I dont want to see that here.  The same type of crap happened in S Florida when I lived there during the bubble/crash - literally everyone was attempting to flip homes, make money in RE -- as the old wisdom goes when your hair stylist, taxi driver or whatever is starting to talk about some sort of investment that's when you should approach w caution or get out.  

I just put 3 more under contract so I'm not heeding my own advice of getting out but they fit my affordability factor and the rents are there too.  

This is what will lead to a crash -- the exuberance everywhere has been seeing Wichita included-- we're in for a rude awakening - I hate to say I look forward to it - as then I'll be able to get my house built and a contractor to take me seriously and not try to screw me over when they dont have any work.   Though the one thing that feels different about this runup is that contractors and home builders I dont think are as stretched thin financially as they were back in 06-08ish.  

Same thing happened in Florida before the bubble - a monkey could have sold real estate and made money in RE -- same as now -- the cycle is doomed to repeat itself.

If you're interested in Wichita are you interested in purchasing more rentals?

Just let it go

You live out of state and is it really worth wasting all your time to try and get blood out of a turnip?

I've had the same thing happen to me - I just let it go and forgave the rats that trashed my former personal house -- They owed me more and caused way more problems -- Once I let it go I was able to focus on more productive things   You can probably find a post or two I made about it back in 2017 if you look.  Im a firm believer in Karma.  You've sold the house - chalk it up to a loss -- You probably came out better anyways -- right now any affordable house in Wichita sells very very quickly and price appreciation is up for homes under a certain price range - I'd guess you gained far more by the timing of your sale with them leaving  when they did even though it wasn't under ideal circumstances.

@Steve Zeckser  was this house in Topeka?

Live here - so curious - that was a homerun -- I'm from Wichita and the housing market here is wack compared to there.  Houses sell for a lot more - and most are not updated or very well taken care of for what you pay IMO.  Wichita spoiled us and our expectations.

Only saw the one photo but looks very nice.   I'm planning to build a new house beside my existing one in Berryton - hope we can start in the spring.  I live right on the E Side of the base - you've probably flown over our property a lot if you are at Forbes.

Yeah it depends on what you want.  40-100 acres really has no scale to make any money off of it.

Also land within an hour or so of Wichita will sell at rec or development land/small acreage prices - and not to it's true value IMO.

Crap land around where Iive in Topeka in between Topeka/KC will sell for 8-10k plus an acre for a cedar infested wasteland that needs Multiple $ks worth of development or a lot of hard sweat equity to get it developable. For ranching purposes the same land is probably worth sub $1k an acre - if not $600-800.  

What hunting do you like to do?  Have you considered leasing?  I'd like to find 3-4 people to go in on a lease in SC KS or NC KS (Lincoln County/Saline County) or Pratt, Kiowa, Edwards county.  I love to bird hunt - like deer but it's not do or die for me like bird hunting with dogs is.

My goal is by age 50 be able to plop down $5-10 million for a 1k-10k acre ranch or so.  Size and price would be all relative to location to what the place consists of obviously.  I've got a lot of work to do in  my 40s to get there lol.  9.25 yrs and counting.

Wichita is about who you know - Little Big Town is what I like to call it - get to know some people when  you're there and hit the ground running and I'm sure you'll dig up something.  I moved 2 hrs N 2 and a half almost 3 years ago but still have rentals there.  Haven't been back as much with the whole covid business.  But good luck - will be different than where you live for sure - You'll get to see some seasonal change when you're there which will be nice if you haven't experienced it.