About Sedgwick County, KS

Wichita, KS economic and real estate report for December, 2011

The last month and especially last week was good economic news for Wichita, KS.

The unemployment rate in November, 2011 dropped to 8.6% nationally and dropped to 7.2% for the Wichita metro area and 6.7% for Kansas. Jobless claims the middle of December, 2011 dropped to 366,000. A sustained rate of 375,000 or below shows a economic recovery in place.

Last week the average 30 year, fixed rate mortgage dropped to 3.94% matching the all time low in October, 2011.

Employment in the aircraft sector should increase significantly in early 2012, Spirit Aerospace who builds parts for every Boeing built aircraft and builds the entire fuselage-nose-tail cone of the B737 aircraft has received three record orders over the last month, 3each one breaking the record of the order before.

Emirates Airlines ordered 50 B777 aircraft November, 14; Indonesia Airlines ordered 230 Boeing planes November 18. Many of these planes were the B737 model and December 14 Southwest Airlines ordered 208 B737 aircraft plus FedEx ordered 27 new B737 freighter aircraft. Spirit Aerospace, who is now working at almost full capacity, will have to hire many workers to help Boeing Seattle keep up with this increased demand. Look for a hiring announcement after the 1^st of the year. That’s my guess!

The South Central Kansas MLS releases November, 2011 area home sales figures.

Existing home sales decreased 3.6% between October and November, 2011 according to the latest figures, but increased 2.6% on a year over year basis. The median sales price of homes sold in November decreased 2.1% compared to October and decreased 4.4% on a year over year basis. This does not mean that any one particular home decreased or increased from last year.

Existing home inventory this month decreased to 3,607 homes in inventory compared to 3,911 last month. The existing home inventory this month is 6.4% lower than a year ago when it was 3,854 units.

Months of inventory for existing homes was 7.2 months in November. A balanced market is a 3-5 month supply of homes.

Again in October, 29% of all sales were cash. 36% were conventional loans and about 20% were FHA loans.

Inventories of New homes continue to drop as builders are not replacing sold inventory and banks are reluctant to loan on spec homes. YTD inventory is down 30% and down 58% from the end of 2008.

The average price of existing homes YTD for 2011 is $124,800. The average price of new homes increased to $255, 405.

A total of 6,839 new and existing homes have sold in the 1^st 11 months of 2011 with a total of 11,753 homes being listed for sale. Average list to sales price was 95.86% with the highest list to sale price in the city being the far west side at 97.01%. The highest list to sale in Sedgwick County was the SE area including Derby.

BURNING YOUR BOAT......in Wichita, Kansas?

I was at a seminar recently and the speaker was talking about becoming successful and the mindset of successful people.

He told a story about an ancient commander that knew how to motivate his warriors so well (I can't remember which ones - the players don't really matter, it was the message that got me) that they gained a reputation for their incredible bravery and unwavering commitment to victory.

How'd he do that? When they would offload the army onto the shore that they wanted to attack, the commander would give the first order:

"BURN THE BOATS!"

The warriors would watch the boats go up in flames and all thoughts of retreat or surrender were removed from their minds and hearts because they knew that their only way home was through victory. Their only possibility of retreat was now a pile of ash floating on the water.

Talk about being highly motivated! WOW!

This story has been rolling around inside my head for about a month now and it seems to be burrowing a hole into my physique.

Hang with me, I've had an epiphany:

I have determined that this is why I enjoy short sales so much!

I know "enjoy" and "short sales" shouldn't be in the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence.

But follow me on this:

A short sale is the pinnacle of "boat burning".

• There are really no other options that are favorable
• The future only looks better once that battle is won
• The "commander" has to be the best to make it happen
• The victory is so awesome

So, with happiness and great excitement, I am burning my boat for my clients in Wichita, Kansas

(Thank goodness its a metaphor because I can't find a big lake or an ocean anywhere in Kansas!)

Wichita Kansas Area Home Sales Are...Not too Shabby!

While the rest of the country continues to run screaming from the tragic real estate sales figures; Wichita, Kansas and the surrounding areas are "holding their own".

Here are the stats for August 2011:

• Existing home Sales increased by 2.6% from July
• Exisitng home Sales are up 32.2% from last year at this time
• New homes sales decreased by 19.9% year over year
• New Home inventory is 32.3% lower than a year ago
• New and Existing home combined inventory is 9.9% lower than a year ago

"What's it all mean?!" you ask?...Well, its good! Check this out:

• 18 more families are enjoying their recent home purchase this month than last month
• 56 more families are celebrating in their recently purchased home this year than last year at this time
• There are fewer Buyers for New construction and custom homes
• There are fewer new constrcution homes available
• If not another home were listed, we only have enough homes available for 5.8 months. A "balanced market" in our area is 5-6 months worth of inventory.

This is good news for The Greater Wichita area. We have seen only a small decline (average) in property values over the last 24 months. Less than 2% -

and in some areas, we have seen inreases of 1.5%.

Looking to buy or sell? Seriously now is the time! Interest rates rock!, the market is good and great things are on the horizon for our area.

You have to love technology! Some of our listing below are not in Park City. Time to go back and see what happened.

Please double-check the descriptions for the true location while we check in to this issue.

Wichita Pizza Company - Wichita, KS - Gluten Free Dining Review

I stumbled upon a mention on another Wichita gluten-free diner's blog of a pizza place that did a good gluten-free pizza. If you've gone gluten free, and have kids, one of the top things you generally miss is pizza! My family went from a bi-weekly Papa John's delivery to no pizza in sight for a very long time! It wasn't until we visited Waldo Pizza in Kansas City that we realized you could have pizza that was gluten free and tasted good!

So I was excited at the chance to go to a pizza joint here in town.

Wichita Pizza Company is located at 1520 S. Webb, on the North-East corner of Harry and Webb, near the Dairy Queen.
It didn't look like much from the outside, and when you first walk in, I almost thought we were in a bar. First thing you see is the bar-area! Overall, it has a sort of sports-bar feel to it as far as decor, sports on the tv's, and bar presence go. However, there really wasn't anyone drinking in there, and they didn't even ask if we wanted a drink, so I don't think it's too "bar-like" in practice. Still felt like a family-friendly place.

However, we found our seats in some comfy booth tables and picked up a menu. We weren't sure how the size would be, as often the gluten free ones come in only a personal size, so we ordered a variety of flavors to be sure we had enough for everyone. There was a meat lovers, a plain cheese, a pepperoni, and a BBQ chicken. They can do pretty much any of their combinations on the gluten free crust, just check their menu for options.

AND IT WAS GOOD!



That was the small size! The kids gobbled up every bit. I think we maybe had 2 slices left to take home. The crust was more like a "normal" thin crust pizza, without the gritty after-flavor found in the frozen gluten-free varieties. The toppings were good, fresh, with a lot of variety.

They were lacking in the safe dessert aspect, but the kids stuffed themselves so much on pizza that it wasn't an issue. And if they had really wanted dessert, the Dairy Queen is right next door.

All in all - So glad to have found a safe pizza place for my family!
It's not the same as having it delivered to the house, but I know I can swing by and pick up great food or take the family out and enjoy it!