In the fourth quarter of 2006, Missouri had the sixth lowest cost of living in the United States and Kansas came in right behind that at number eight. I believe this is why we're seeing a mass exodus from the coastal states like California, Washington, Florida and all up and down both the East and West coasts.
Personally, I receive a considerable amount of requests and inquiries from the Los Angeles and San Diego metorpolitan areas. These people are telling me they can no longer afford to stay in these cities due to the high cost of living. These are people that make a considerable income and actually own their own homes, but due to the rising cost of taxes, insurance and the ever excalating cost of homes in the coastal cities, they're searching for a better way.
For some of them it's made easier because they may have purchased a home several years ago and have now seen a great deal of home appreciation. After selling their home at a sizable increase over their original purchase price, they move to the Midwest and buy, not only a much larger home, but pay much less for it to. For others it may be that they were never able to afford a home in the California market, but when they move to Kansas City, they're quite surprised to find how much they can afford.
As a reverse example, one of my personal friends from Church www.northlandbaptist.org moved to the Los Angeles area last year. When they left here, they owned a modest home in Liberty, Missouri that we sold for $134,000. Granted they were actually living well below their means, but when they moved to the coast they ended up purchasing a home valued at $1.1 million dollars! Now I realize that if you live out there, that's not that big of a deal, but from the standpoint of living here in Missouri, that sounds like an insane amount of money to pay for one house. From my figures, that translates into about a $300,000 house in the Kansas City area.
I honestly don't see any reason why this tread shouldn't continue. As long as the job market holds up here and large corporate businesses continue to look at our area, the next 10 years should hold continued growth for the Midwest and in particular the greater Kansas City area.
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