Who would have thought that one of the most surprising shifts in local residential development this decade would be Kansas City, Mo.’s emergence as the leading location for new housing? Kansas City, primarily in its wide-open Northland north of the Missouri River, began beating out Olathe, Overland Park and Lee’s Summit in yearly single-family housing permits.
One reason for the Northland’s emergence was quality subdivisions like Benson Place. A master-planned community created by Hunt Midwest, Benson Place has developed more than 800 home sites since 2002, and it has another 500 to go. It’s located on the eastern edge of Kansas City’s Northland, just west of Interstate 35 and the city of Liberty on NE 96th Street, but within the Liberty School District.
Benson Place, with its distinctive limestone entrance signs (above) was designed to accommodate a range of architectural styles and lifestyle buyers. Different sections of the community offer town houses, split levels and patio homes in addition to traditional single-family homes with three-car garages, walk-in kitchen pantries (see model kitchen below) and vaulted entryways. Prices start in the low $200,000s for the single-family homes and even lower for the town and patio homes. But you’re buying more than a home – you’re buying a community. It’s large enough to host its own fall hayrides, garage sales, Easter egg hunts and block parties. There’s a neighborhood swimming pool and a children’s “splash park” with small spraying fountains and posts. Plus everyone from older couples to new families with young bikers enjoy the walking and biking trails that run throughout the community and surround its 5-acre lake. “We have grandparents who have moved to Benson Place so they can live in the same community as their children and grandchildren,” says Tammy Henderson, director of real estate marketing and governmental affairs for Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development. “There’s not another development in the Northland that offers this kind of lifestyle and quality of amenities at these price points.”
Q&A with Kathy Koehler and Heather Bortnick
The Koehler Bortnick Team — led by Kathy Koehler and her daughter, Heather Bortnick — is at the top of the residential game. The team has three partners, including Shannon Stumpenhaus, plus 30 agents and an office staff of 5, and has been ranked No. 1 in metro KC residential sales by The Kansas City Business Journal for 17 years. In addition, The Wall Street Journal has ranked the team as high as No. 15 in the country in residential sales. Recently, Koehler and Bortnick offered their insights. Koehler’s been in real estate almost 30 years and works with the motto: honesty, exposure, results.
The last year or so has been generally tough for residential real estate. How has your team navigated through it?
We overcame adversity with our attitude: Don’t ever ask someone to do what you would never do yourself. On October 2008 when the market dropped, we decided not to succumb to a down market that was changing daily. Instead, we decided to go back to basics and do what it took to stay No. 1. We cold called, prospected, called past clients and asked for referrals. We viewed it as an opportunity. In addition, we worked harder at branding. With more than 2 million agents nationwide, we have differentiated ourselves by creating our own brand — a Website and a magazine of our listings. The Website accounts for 87% of our clients’ initial searches. We created our KBT magazine, and it accounts for 30% of our revenue. It comes out every 90 days with more than 35,000 copies distributed throughout the KC area. This created one-stop shopping. We recognized that our clients have the power. We became the vehicle to get them to where they wanted to go.
In what segments of the housing market have you seen improvement in recent months?
We doubled our sales in January 2010 compared to January 2009, and we’re on track to do the same in February. It seems like the market has moved up. You used to be able to say $300,000 and under was the hot market because of the first-time buyers’ market, the $8,000 tax credit and the $6,500 move-up tax credit. Now what we’re seeing in the beginning stages of 2010 is that $500,000 and below is a pretty strong market. We’re seeing good buys that were, unfortunately, foreclosures or short sales where they were getting 6%-7% off from the original list price. There is also a huge influx of out-of-town buyers coming in. We think everyone is getting off the fence.
What are buyers looking for these days?
Buyers are looking for a good deal, since it’s a buyer’s market and there have been incentives to buy (tax credits for first time home-buyers and those moving up). They also want more information right away — the Internet era.
What are your team’s strengths and how they those changed over the years?
We have a real estate specialist/agent for everyone, someone who’s knowledgeable about every part and every market in the Kansas City metro area. This hasn’t changed over time, just grown more complete.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Koehler: Networking, movies and fund-raising for the American Cancer Society.
Bortnick: Networking, tennis and fund-raising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.