Wichita Area House Rentals

[Onegreatracer]

Life has just so happened to take me back to the ICT. My wife and I are searching for a 2+ bedroom rental house that we could move into ASAP with our 2 cats. Prefer to keep it under 1400, any part of Wichita is ok. This might be a longshot but I figured some of you might know some private landlords we could work with.

Thanks everyone!!!

[WuDrWu]

Check PM

[SubGod22]

Of course Doc would have something for you.

[WuDrWu]

Of course Doc would have something for you.

Probably not, but I wanted to at least get him pointed in the right direction, hopefully.

[SubGod22]

And I know you said house, but I did read something recently that of the top 100 cities in America, when it comes to apartment living, you get more bang for your buck in Wichita than anywhere else. Does that coincide with house rentals? I do not know.

[shoxlax]

Check around the base. Summer is the time when families relocate and landlords may be looking to fill in a hurry.

[BOBB]

And I know you said house, but I did read something recently that of the top 100 cities in America, when it comes to apartment living, you get more bang for your buck in Wichita than anywhere else. Does that coincide with house rentals? I do not know.

Amenities in a nice apartment complex can trump having your own yard. If you're not a gardener I wouldn't look past them.

[SubGod22]

Amenities in a nice apartment complex can trump having your own yard. If you're not a gardener I wouldn't look past them.

I don't doubt that. Personally, as someone with three dogs, I find having my own yard comes in very handy. Not that you can't have dog(s) as a part of apartment life.

[MoValley John]

Not Wichita, but just along the line of apartment rental. My wife went to a bridal shower at a newer Omaha complex last weekend. The hostess was our niece (wife's side) whom just got married last year and is a resident. The amenities were out of this world. So were the rents. They have everything from a secure package delivery service, dog grooming stations, community lounge, bar, business center, high end fitness center and more. Rents, however, were absurd. $1,800 for the unit my niece is in to $4,000/ mo. For a 2 bedroom with loft. 2,200 sq. ft. I don't know who would pay that to rent, but apparently those units are all leased. Crazy.

From what I understand, this is becoming more common across the country. Being of an older generation, I have no idea why anyone would pay that in Omaha, much less almost anywhere outside of the coasts. $48,000 a year in rent would buy an unbelievable house. The younger generation values these amenities and conveniences a lot more than equity and a stable life I guess.

[BOBB]

Not Wichita, but just along the line of apartment rental. My wife went to a bridal shower at a newer Omaha complex last weekend. The hostess was our niece (wife's side) whom just got married last year and is a resident. The amenities were out of this world. So were the rents. They have everything from a secure package delivery service, dog grooming stations, community lounge, bar, business center, high end fitness center and more. Rents, however, were absurd. $1,800 for the unit my niece is in to $4,000/ mo. For a 2 bedroom with loft. 2,200 sq. ft. I don't know who would pay that to rent, but apparently those units are all leased. Crazy.

From what I understand, this is becoming more common across the country. Being of an older generation, I have no idea why anyone would pay that in Omaha, much less almost anywhere outside of the coasts. $48,000 a year in rent would buy an unbelievable house. The younger generation values these amenities and conveniences a lot more than equity and a stable life I guess.

You'd be surprised. A lot of empty nesters and midlife professionals grab these too. Maintenance is hard and more expensive than people think. In today's world it's impossible to even get labor to show up and work on your house.

Homeownership has been good for my net worth and bad for my leisure.

Edit: One of the good progressive things Trump did was reduce the SALT and mortgage interest deductions, but it has significantly reduced the tax advantage of homeownership.

[Kel Varnsen]

My wife and I bought a house in south JoCo in 2020. We paid around $25k over asking price. Now, compared to what we paid, Zillow is saying our home is estimated as $65k over what we paid. Supply is so scarce.

I'm thankful we got in while interest rates were low, and even though it would have been nice to pay a little less in the 2018 or 2019 market, we got in at a decent time compared to now. But I don't know if I see home prices going down for a while, if ever. It's getting more and more expensive. Especially starter homes.

I've had our realtor reach out and say, "home values are going up! If you wanted to sell, you could get much more than what you paid for the house." Why? So I can buy another house that's comparable for the same price?

[WuDrWu]

I have to carefully have that discussion with my better half on a monthly basis it seems. I was lucky to get my current location at 20K under asking 4 years ago. Since then tax basis is up almost 60k and a neighbor sold last week at 100k over what I paid (basically same floor plan minus 3rd garage, basement and upgrades). She wants to sell so bad......It's crazy last 2 years.

[SHOCKvalue]

My wife and I bought a house in south JoCo in 2020. We paid around $25k over asking price. Now, compared to what we paid, Zillow is saying our home is estimated as $65k over what we paid. Supply is so scarce.

I'm thankful we got in while interest rates were low, and even though it would have been nice to pay a little less in the 2018 or 2019 market, we got in at a decent time compared to now. But I don't know if I see home prices going down for a while, if ever. It's getting more and more expensive. Especially starter homes.

I've had our realtor reach out and say, "home values are going up! If you wanted to sell, you could get much more than what you paid for the house." Why? So I can buy another house that's comparable for the same price?

Zillow is a unbridled joke. Trust me. Their values are intentionally high, because high draws the eyeballs of the curious, and eyeballs drive page views and ad sales. If zillow gave everyone a realistic and/or conservative "zestimate" of their home, no one would go to look right?

Within the past year or two they had started a large division within their company where their model was to buy homes low and sell homes high based on their own data. They killed off the division within just a few months as it was losing money hand over fist. That was their "zestimate" in real life action, and it failed hilariously to the tune of over half a billion dollars. And it happened when the market was booming, not during a shift (like now).

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...king-up-losses

https://www.wsj.com/articles/zillow-...es-11635883500

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/02/business/zillow-q3-earnings-home-flipping-ibuying.html

[/soapbox]

[SubGod22]

Zillow is a unbridled joke. Trust me. Their values are generally high, because high draws the eyeballs of the curious, and eyeballs drive page views and ad sales. If zillow gave everyone a realistic and/or conservative "zestimate" of their home, no one would go to look right?

Within the past year or two they had started a large division within their company where their plan was to buy homes low and sell homes high based on their own data. They killed off the division within just a few months as it was losing money hand over fist. That was their "zestimate" in real life action, and it failed hilariously to the tune of over half a billion dollars. And it happened when the market was booming, not during a shift (like now).

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...king-up-losses

[/soapbox]

That may be true, but prices are going up. I've seen houses comparable to mine, which is nothing special and quite small, listed by agents at nearly double what I feel I could get for mine. Locations may differ a little, but not that much. I've seen some within a few blocks of me going for about 40k more than I feel I could get for mine. Are they selling at these prices? I don't know, because I'm actually looking to upgrade and these don't do that for me, but it shows that the market is loopy. I was lucky enough to buy my house from my brother about 15 years ago for much less than it was worth. He'd bought it from our grandparents at a low price and just wanted to get that amount back and was pretty desperate to upgrade as he had three girls sharing one small bedroom and they desperately needed more space.

I have always felt the zestimates were off, but I'll usually look at three or four different apps/agencies to get a feel for things and they can vary pretty drastically. Years ago I looked at the estimates on my home and I mostly agree with the lowest estimate that I saw there. The highest was probably about 50% higher. Maybe I underestimate things, but there are a lot of crazy numbers out there right now. Some legit, some not.

[SHOCKvalue]

I have to carefully have that discussion with my better half on a monthly basis it seems. I was lucky to get my current location at 20K under asking 4 years ago. Since then tax basis is up almost 60k and a neighbor sold last week at 100k over what I paid (basically same floor plan minus 3rd garage, basement and upgrades). She wants to sell so bad......It's crazy last 2 years.

Unless you plan to cash out entirely and move to another continent, or buy an RV and travel the country, the rationale of selling your own house when the market is high so that you can then buy another in that same market is fool's gold. A rising tide lifts all ships, or sinks them.

Believe me you don't want to be sitting on a contract to sell your own home right now without either another one 100% lined up or being built. Very high likelihood you would need to move into temporary housing of some sort in the interim. It is a terrible time to be a buyer right now. Things are changing very rapidly though with the rise in interest rates (which should have happened many, many months ago). While affordability will continue to suffer due to a rise in monthly payments as a result of rates rising, it should put a cap, or at worst a governor, on the unbridled housing inflation. It is a simple economics equation.