Kansas City Apartment Research

[Christopher L.]

My partners and I are based on the west coast and looking for less expensive markets to purchase apartment buildings for cash flow. Through the course of my research Kansas City has kept popping up as a solid market with growth on the horizon, so I'm curious to hear from apartment investors in the area who are seeing success.

What areas should we be looking into vs. where should we avoid? What are local cap rates and price per unit trends? 

Any information, advice or contact recommendations are appreciated. Thanks!

[Andrew Syrios]

A really quick rough guide would be as follows:

In KCMO: Avoid east of Troost. If you want solid but relatively inexpensive areas, look for Waldo, Hyde Park and Brookside (although the latter two can get a bit pricey). The downtown and Plaza are probably too expensive for you. Other good cash flow markets include Grandview, Raytown and Belton as well as most north of the river. Independence is rough in the west but nice in the east. Blue Springs and Lee's Summit are both great but a little pricey.

Johnson county is really nice, but pricey. Olathe, Roeland Park and Prairie Village are more reasonable for rentals and still good. Kansas City, KS isn't particularly good, other than far west part near the legends and the part just north of county line and just west of the state line near the campus.

Of course it's much more complicated than that, but there's a very quick rundown. I hope it helps.