Real Estate Agent
Mike Russell
The Mike Russell Real Estate Group specializes in Johnson County Kansas Real Estate, we are local experts and focus solely on the needs of buyers & sellers Overland Park, Leawood, Olathe and KC
Office: 913-266-5828
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Real Estate Agent
Carol Culkin
Carol Culkin, Licensed Real Estate Salesperson, ABR, SRES, Relocation Specialist and award winning agent. Currently a temporary referral agent.
Cell: (913) 333-8310
Office: (913) 322-8345
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Overland Park, KS Real Estate News

By Mike Russell, Overland Park Kansas Real Estate
(Mike Russell Real Estate Group)
Over the last several years the inventory of available homes has been extremely low and the competition to buy the homes that do come up for sale has been fierce.  This has led a lot of buyers to consider New Construction Homes. Building a new home can be exciting but it can also turn into an absolute nightmare if you don't have  plan from start to finish.One of the first steps is to meet with a lender who specializes in New Construction financing , this will help you get pre-approved and create a budget for your new home. This is where the 70/20/10 Rule will come into play.See New Construction Homes in Johnson CountyThe base price of the home or the cost to build the house should be 70% of your total budget. The price of the land or lot should be 20% of your budget and the final 10% sh...
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By Mike Russell, Overland Park Kansas Real Estate
(Mike Russell Real Estate Group)
Check out this hot new subdivision in South Overland Park / Stilwell. The New Southern Meadows will be just South of 183rd St and Mission Road, when completed there will be over 1200 homes on 510 acres. It will feed into the Award Winning Blue Valley School District and home price will be from $500,000 to 1.5 Million + .Southern Meadows will feature luscious terrain with amenities that include a mountain bike trail, pickelball, tennis, clubhouse, competitive lap pool, basketball and frisbee golf. This will be some of the best amenities found in any subdivision in South Johnson CountySouthern Meadows will also feature some of the best home builders that Kansas City has to offer. You will find multiple reverse 1.5 story, 2 story and 1.5 story models available from Doyle Construction, Gabr...
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By Mike Russell, Overland Park Kansas Real Estate
(Mike Russell Real Estate Group)
Real Estate sales are always a big topic of interest and for 10 + years homes sales had been increasing steadily but ever since the pandemic sales have gone to another level. With 2022 in the books, it is a good time to look back at last years home sales.Find Your Johnson County Dream Home HereHampton Place has always been a great place to live and even after interest rates started to rise last fall, the sales in Hampton Place remained strong. While the total number of homes SOLD in 2022 was substantially less that 2021 (20 vs 36) it wasn't due to lack of interest but a lack of willing sellers. The average sales price rose almost 5% and on average SOLD in 5 days or less. Hampton Place also smashed the previous record with a $660,000 home sale.As we start 2023, sales have remained strong...
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By Mike Russell, Overland Park Kansas Real Estate
(Mike Russell Real Estate Group)
At the end of 2019 it looked like real estate sales were poised for a slowdown, after about 10 years of steady run the market was finally starting to run out of steam.  Well we all know what happened next? Mr Covid came in and changed everything, low interest rates and ultra low inventory of available homes set off an unprecedented run up in real estate prices across the country. For over 2 years there has been record growth in home prices that we thought might never end. Housing prices along with gas prices, food costs and just about everything else set off a major jump in inflation that required the Federal Government to raise interest rates.Find Your Johnson County Kansas Dream HomeIn September of 2022 we started to see the effects of these rate hikes as the once 3% mortgage rates st...
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By Mike Russell, Overland Park Kansas Real Estate
(Mike Russell Real Estate Group)
Fast rising interest rates have caused an upheaval in the real estate market, as the Fed raised rates home sales have slowed and it is creating a unique opportunity for buyers. However, many buyers are getting hung up on the higher interest rates.Marry One These Houses Here are a few small things to consider, historically rates have averaged in the 6% + range. The low 3% rates were a historical low that was brought on by the Great Recession and we may never see rates that low again. Date These RatesOne thing you may consider is starting with an adjustable rate that is fixed for 5, 7 or 10 years, those rates are currently in the 4's and remember you can always refinance the next time that rates come down.Use our simple philosophy : Date the Rate, Marry the House!
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By Mike Russell, Overland Park Kansas Real Estate
(Mike Russell Real Estate Group)
Since the begining of the Pandemic in March of 2020 we have seen several major changes when it come to purchasing a home. With extremely low interest rates and a desire to create a sanctuary to feel safe during Covid-19 home sales and prices took off, creating the greatest sellers market ever. Well, finally after 2 1/2 years we are finally seeing signs that this runaway train real estate market is coming back to reality.  With inflation on the rise the Fed Chief started raising interest rates and that has led to a slow down in sales as the cost of financing a home has priced many buyers out of the market. While most buyers have fixated on the interest rates, they have lost sight of what they have gained. Here are the 3 main reasons why now is the best time buy.Bidding Wars - Over the la...
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By Mike Russell, Overland Park Kansas Real Estate
(Mike Russell Real Estate Group)
There is new way to sell your home in Johnson County Kansas and in recent months companies like OpenDoor and OfferPad have been bombarding the airwaves and local mail boxes with offers to buy your home for cash. These companies are part of a new trend call "iBuyers" or "Instant Buyers".Instant Buyers will make a cash offer on your home generally within 24-72 hours. For many home sellers this can be advantageous if your situation requires a quick sale or if you have a home that may be in need of extensive repairs. You get to sell your home without having to go through the typical steps of having to get your home ready for the market and get to forego all of the showings that come with selling in the traditional manner.For those of you who are not sure if you want to pursue this avenue th...
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By Mike Russell, Overland Park Kansas Real Estate
(Mike Russell Real Estate Group)
This is a picture of my first home, I purchased it in Denver Colorado in 1993 and I paid a whopping $67,000 for this 2 bedroom 1 bath brick bungalow west of downtown Denver. I was 23 years old and didn't have a clue of why I wanted to buy a home, it just seemed like a good idea. It turns out that good idea completely changed my entire financial future. I kept the home until 1998 and SOLD it for $149,000, an $82,000 increase in value.  Over the next 7 years I owned multiple homes in Denver and kept gaining equity through home ownership.Click Here to See My First Homes Zillow Zestimate, You will be ShockedIn 2005 my wife and I chose to relocate to Overland Park and the equity gained from our homes in Denver allowed us to build our dream home, a home that we have lived in for 15 years and ...
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By Mike Russell, Overland Park Kansas Real Estate
(Mike Russell Real Estate Group)
We have been seeing a declining number of available homes for sale for several years now but in January of this year those numbers sunk to the lowest levels in history. Comparing the number of available homes this year vs last year at this time there is an over 50% decrease.This is very troublesome as we head full on into the traditional Spring and Summer selling seasons. This severe lack of inventory has created a panic like frenzy amongst would be buyers to secure new listing as they hit the market.More: Find your Dream Home NowThis frenzy has created multiple offer bidding wars on most new listings as they hit the market. This has also led buyers to extreme measures when placing their bids. "They say that desperate times require desperate measures", well those measures now include of...
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By Mike Russell, Overland Park Kansas Real Estate
(Mike Russell Real Estate Group)
In December something changed in the real estate market, it is something that had been present for a while but in December it entered the extreme territory. If you have been searching for a home, you already know what it is. It is an unprecedented lack of available homes. When our local MLS released the end of December statistics we realized that the number of available homes had decreased by 54% over the previous year. This severe lack of inventory has left buyers frustrated and on edge trying to find a suitable home. This has also led to bidding wars that are pushing offers way over the asking price.This lack of inventory is creating a ripple effect that may actually be the biggest part of the problem. There is a large pool of potential sellers who are not engaging in the market due t...
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By Carol Culkin, Overland Park Residential Real Estate
(Diamond Partners Inc)
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood here at Southpointe, a Summit Homes Community in Overland Park. While I sit at the model home and have discussions with visitors, here are a few of the benefits we've discussed about owning a new Summit home. You don't need to sell your current home before you build. You will not have to make a mortgage payment until your new home is complete. You do not need a 20% down payment to build. You can build with a fixed price and no surprise costs You can choose from a variety of lots You select the floorplan that best suits you and design selections to fit your budget and taste. You do not have to worry about supply and demand that results in a bidding war and drives up the price of your new home. You will have a 1, 2 and 10 year builder warranty for ...
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By Carol Culkin, Overland Park Residential Real Estate
(Diamond Partners Inc)
Traditionally, housing developers in Overland Park and the Kansas City Metro have made it a point to adorn the various neighborhood entrances with statues or ornate monumental signage to differentiate.This is a community was also planned with a grid system in mind, so every few blocks on one of the main streets you will see a different landmark where a new neighborhood starts. In my travels, I saw this guy welcoming me into the neighborhood at 78th and Nall, a friendly reminder to wear you mask! 
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By Carol Culkin, Overland Park Residential Real Estate
(Diamond Partners Inc)
What a great service that is being made available to Overland Park residents! For FREE! Homeowners who live west of Antioch and have unwanted items like appliances and furniture, can use this opportunity to get rid of them. The pickup is scheduled over four Saturdays.September 19: North of 99th Street/Terrace September 26: 99th Street/Terrace to 119th Street/Terrace October 10: 119th Street/Terrace to 135th Street October 17: South of 135th StreetFor more information on Bulky Item Pickup, visit https://bit.ly/2meSyG8.To double-check your pickup date, just enter your address in the search feature! Want to know what items you can leave out? Browse the full list of accepted items!In other communities where I have lived in the country, this is not a free service, or you have to haul your st...
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By Mike Russell, Overland Park Kansas Real Estate
(Mike Russell Real Estate Group)
Do you keep losing bidding wars on your new home purchase? Well, there may be a good reason why the seller chose someone elses offer over yours. In the world of hyper competive offers, sellers are looking at the cleanest offers first and disregarding offers that have way too many clauses or contingencies.More: Find Your Next Home HereIf you have been offering on homes with no success you may want to eliminate these 3 things from your offer.Closing costs-  Are you asking the seller to make a contribution towards your closing costs?  Buyers who can't pay their own closing costs are seen as a risk in the sellers eyes. While you can make your offer higher to account for the closing cost request, the raising of the price can create appraisal issues down the road. Unless closing costs paid by...
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By Mike Russell, Overland Park Kansas Real Estate
(Mike Russell Real Estate Group)
It's the middle of summer and the real estate bidding wars are in full swing. The combination of historically low interest rates and a lack of available homes for sale is fueling an unpresidented buyer frenzy. In comparison to one year ago, interest rates are down by over 1% and the inventory of homes for sale is down a whopping 40%. This is leading to desperation amongst buyers to secure hot new listings.  A recent survey showed that almost 60% of available home listings are receiving multiple offers. If you want to win a bidding war and don't have infinite cash you will need to be creative, here are my 5 top ways to win that bidding war.Find Your Dream Home NowGet Fully Pre-Approved- When you first meet a mortgage lender they will have you fill out an application, whether it is online...
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By Mike Russell, Overland Park Kansas Real Estate
(Mike Russell Real Estate Group)
With the fear of Covid-19 gripping the United States there has been a lot of information shared not only about CoronaVirus but Essential Business, Non Essential business and what is means for the economy, inevitably this leads back to questions about the real estate market. Real Estate has been considered an "Essential Business". While being considered essential does not mean business as usual. Like many businesses we have had to adapt our business to changes in the market and to make sure that we keep our home sellers and buyers safe during this time. I wanted to take this time to tell you about how Mike Russell & Associates is changing to protect you and your largest investment during this time of need. While now may not be the perfect time to sell a home for many, for some sellers th...
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By Suzanne Hinton, North Johnson County KS Real Estate Expert
(ReMax Premier Realty)
February 2020 Overland Park Home Sales for Zip Code 66212The housing market for 66212 remained strong through February.  So, how did February 66212 Overland Park home market end up in terms of home sale prices?  Here is a quick market snap shop of sales price for 66212 that shows the Median Sales Price for February 2020 was $240,000 as compared to $215,000 for January.This Median  Sales Price for February 2020 home sales prices for zip code 66212 of Overland Park reflected a change over the previous month of +11.63% and an increase of +3% over the last 12 months.  As I previously posted in January, while we saw a lower median home sales price for January for 2020 homes sales prices for zip code 66212, I did expect that we would experience greater sales prices for the end of February whi...
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By Suzanne Hinton, North Johnson County KS Real Estate Expert
(ReMax Premier Realty)
January 2020 Overland Park Home Sales for Zip Code 66212The housing market for 66212 has started off strong for 2020.  So, how did January 66212 Overland Park home market end up in terms of home sale prices?  Here is a quick market snap shop of sales price for 66212 that shows the Median Sales Price for January 2020 was $215,000.This Median  Sales Price for January 2020 home sales prices for zip code 66212 of Overland Park reflected a change over the previous month of -1.83% and -4.61 over the last 12 months.  While we saw a lower median home sales price for January for 2020 homes sales prices for zip code 66212, we should experience greater sales prices for the end of February and for the upcoming months.  Why is this my opinion?  Our Inventory levels for supply of homes for sale in Ov...
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By Suzanne Hinton, North Johnson County KS Real Estate Expert
(ReMax Premier Realty)
How did the Housing Market for Zip Code 66212 in Overland Park end up for January 2020?  And, how did it compare to January  2019?  By comparing last year to this year housing statistics, I get a better understanding of how our Overland Park 66212 housing market is trending. January 2019 we saw single family homes sales of 13.  That is closed sales.  In January of 2019, there were 26 single family home sales.  Obviously, the number of homes sales in January of this year were were lower than last year.  In my opinion, this is largely due to lack of inventory of homes for sale in 66212 of Overland Park. JUST SOLD in 66212 of Overland Park   If you are planning on selling your house in today’s market, let’s get together to discuss what your home's value is today "whether you are ready to s...
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By Suzanne Hinton, North Johnson County KS Real Estate Expert
(ReMax Premier Realty)
Spotlight Home Sold in Overland Park KS  I love letting my Overland Park KS neighbors know when a great home has Sold.  Today I want to share with you that I have Sold our Overland Park neighbor's home in less than a week. What a great Seller to have worked with.  Seller had their home in show ready condition and we worked together to put a price and marketing plan together that allowed us to have multiple showings within the first 24 hours. This Overland Park home is located in 66212 in the Fairway Manor Subdivision.  Located in a very popular area of North Overland Park, 8735 Riley Street, was naturally a location that many Buyers would want to tour. The Seller  and I put a great plan together to not only market the home and correctlyprice it  but to negotiate the terms of the Offer t...
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By Suzanne Hinton, North Johnson County KS Real Estate Expert
(ReMax Premier Realty)
Overland Park Home Sales for December 2019.  The numbers for home sales in Overland Park Kansas for December 2019 are out from the Heartland  Multiple Listing Service.  Don't take a second look....it is accurate...the number of Closed home sales in Overland Park for December was equal to November.  I expect that we will certainly see an increase in the number of home sales for Overland Park as we start the New Year.  And, certainly in the upcomoing months.  However, it will be important to keep in mind that the number of home sales  may show significant increase if the inventory for Overland Park homes does not increase. Currently, we have and continue to experience a shortage of available inventory of Overland Park homes for sell. Especially in the first time and mid level buyer price ...
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By Suzanne Hinton, North Johnson County KS Real Estate Expert
(ReMax Premier Realty)
Overland Park, KS ranked one of the best cities to find a job in 2020.  Overland Park, KS ranked in the top for 2020 by Nationally recognized Publication “WalletHub”.  2020 started off great for the City of Overland Park KS for one more reason...it is listed as one of the best cities in Nation to find a job. Not only does Overland Park at the very top for most livable cities, but now gets to add another accolade to its incredible amount of awards.   Overland Park ranked #11 out of over 180 cities that Wallethub compared in terms of job market strength.  Its research key factors included monthly average starting salary, job opportunities, job satisfaction and employment growth.  Also taken into consideration was Overland Park Kansas real estate and housing affordability.  Overland Park i...
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