Overland Park, Prairie Village, Lenexa, Olathe Blog

Prairie Village 2009 Statistics

Avg. Sale Price- $178,000

Avg. Days on Market- 40

Avg. Sq Footage- 1,520 Sq. Ft

 51 Mission Hills properties sold in the past 365 days. The average sale price was $858,000, with an average of 4 Bedrooms, 3.5 Bathrooms, and 3,629 Square Feet, and an average 178 Days On Market.

Lowest Price- $121,950

Highest Price- $340,000

Average Price- $222,090

Avg. Price/SqFt- $141

Avg Days On Market- 28

 Under Contract- 1 listing 

Asking Price- $265,000

Avg. Price/SqFt- $147

Avg Days On Market- 33

 Properties for Sale- 9

Lowest Price- $154,900

Highest Price- $339,950

Average Price- $223,961

Avg. Price/SqFt- $128 psf

Avg DOM- 24

Westport, Missouri - Charming Area to Live

Westport is in the heart of Kansas City. Westport is a small, unique village just north of the Country Club Plaza. The history of this area runs deep and is kept alive by the Westport Historical Society. In the late 1800's, Westport was home to pioneers looking to strike it rich out West. Westport served as a jumping off point for those wanting to hit the trails heading west or hit the Santa Fe Trail to head South towards New Mexico. While the fever for westward exploration struck some, others settled down in this little neighborhood, which witnessed Kansas City's growth around it in the coming years. At one point Westport was also the site of a Civil War-era battle. Today, its historical past mixes with an array of modernized nightclubs, bars, live music, and more to attract visitors to this village within the city.

Kelly's Westport Inn at Westport Road and Pennsylvania is a favorite local bar/pizzeria that your grandparents may have gone to when they were dating. Westport's retail district has long been known as one of the city's main entertainment districts. Every weekend evening, all the bars, restaurants and clubs are packed. People will drive for miles to come blow off some steam in the biggest little city in the United States. Westport is culturally diverse and attracts large crowds on evenings and weekends. Houses in this area sell for as little as $50,000 - $500,000 with condos selling for similar prices.

Photo Source: Jim Mathis, Mathis Photography http://www.mathisphoto.net/Panoramics.htm

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Here are two quick pieces of advice from a FSBO Conversion specialist for sellers who are trying to sell their home as a For-Sale-By-Owner. 

TIP #1

 Don't leave bags of leaves or trash in your yard or side yard.  It's a distraction and it's ugly.  Leave them in the garage or anywhere as long as they're out of sight from potential buyers. 

TIP #2

Also, make sure to ask for a loan pre-approval letter from a buyer who makes an offer.  If they can't provide one, beware!!! Any serious buyer who makes an offer on a house should already be pre-approved.  If they aren't pre-approved, tell them to go get pre-approved immediately. 

 Over a hundred years ago, the small 11 block Town of Strother straddled the Missouri Pacific Railroad tracks. Today, that small town consists of 65.24 square miles and is known as the City of Lee's Summit. In the late 1800's, a man by the name of William B. Howard was drawn to this fertile, gently rolling prairie land with the dream of building a city. Today, nearly 93,000 residents have been enticed to this progressive, yet restful and family-oriented community atmosphere, with a unified dream to create a dynamic, vital city. From yesterday to today, the story of this once small town has been filled with the courage, dedication, and quiet determination of its citizens, making Lee's Summit an ideal city in which to live and work.

On October 28, 1865, William B. Howard founded the Town of Strother by filing a plat containing the 11 blocks that currently encompass the downtown business district. At the time of incorporation, the population count stood at one hundred people. In November of 1868, the name was changed and the area incorporated as the "Town of Lee's Summit". Although the "Summit" portion of the name was obviously based on the fact the town's elevation is the highest point on the railroad between Kansas City and St. Louis, there are numerous opinions and theories on the origin of "Lee". According to one theory, the town was named after Civil War General Robert E. Lee, since incorporation took place shortly after the war and the majority of citizens migrated from the Southern states. However, another version suggests the town was named after a prominent early settler, Dr. Pleasant Lea. The discrepancy in the spelling of "Lea" has been attributed to railroad sign painters.

Lee's Summit's most infamous citizen was Cole Younger, called "The Last of the Great Outlaws" by author Homer Croy. According to history, soldiers drove Younger to a life outside the law after his father's murder and subsequent robbery. While Union forces were enforcing Order #11, the command issued in 1862 ostensibly to burn homes belonging to those with Southern ties, Younger and his brothers were credited with saving some of the original homes within Lee's Summit, the most prominent of which belonged to William B. Howard. Order #11 helped to unify the transplanted southern population in Missouri and compelled Younger to join the Confederate guerrilla band known as Quantrill's Raiders. Cole Younger was arrested after an attempted bank robbery in Northfield, Minnesota. Following 25 years of imprisonment for his crimes, Cole Younger was paroled in 1901. Three years later, Younger returned to Lee's Summit where he lived as a model citizen until his death in 1916. His grave is located in the Lee's Summit Historic Cemetery.

The Fire of 1885 demonstrated yet again the stamina personified by citizens in Lee's Summit. While most of the town's residents were attending Sunday morning church services, fire erupted in the downtown district, which consisted of dry, wooden buildings. A detailed account of the fire, as printed in the April 16, 1885, issue of The Lee's Summit Journal, stated the buildings burned "...like greased wood". Virtually the entire business district was destroyed and the loss aggregated at $87,000, with a total of 25 buildings consumed by the flames. However, the stalwart citizens took their losses in stride and promptly commenced to rebuild the town.

Almost 30 years later, Mr. R. A. Long, a prominent Kansas City lumberman, began building his dream, which became a reality with the construction of Longview Farm. In 1912, Mr. Long purchased approximately 1,700 acres in the southwest portion of Lee's Summit. Mostly self-sufficient, the farm included five major barn groups and 42 buildings. When completed and functional, Longview Farm became internationally known for the horses and livestock contained within its white rail fences and was one of only three dozen such showplace farms.

The history of Lee's Summit abounds with the tragedies and triumphs of courageous people who have never failed in their dream of creating a city that will continually progress and prosper. Most importantly, Lee's Summit is comprised of dedicated people who never lose touch with the basic values that make a community livable. We feel Lee's Summit has lived up to the dreams of its forefathers.

No doubt about it, fall is here and with it, the leaves.  They're everywhere except in the trees where they belong.  This year I took advantage of the fall pick-up services.  For $55, I got two leaf pickups.  All I have to do is rake about a gazillion leaves to the curb and keep them from blowing away.  It works great - I still have one pickup left but my leaves are almost gone!!!  Thanks heavens.  Last year was my second year of homeownership, and I didn't rake responsibly.  Consequently, I had leaves gather into piles by themselves and just sit there, killing the grass.  Then all summer I tried to plant more grass, but evidently it doesn't want to grow there anymore.  I think the grass in my yard went on strike this year; I wish the leaves would go on strike instead.

I know a lot of people, like myself, who work hard all day and then come home only to another full-time job - home management.  Some of it can be fun, like gardening,  but for the most part home management is job.  Cleaning, raking, shopping, cooking, cleaning, maintainence, changing furnace filters, washing windows, paying bills, reconcile checking account, laundry, mowing, blah blah blah.  Luckily for those of us who can afford it, we can hire a maid or eat out.  Anyone with access to a computer can have their bills set up for automatic payment.  But some things are unavoidable except for the extremely wealthy who might be able to hire a home manager.  I would like to hire one... but cash is short so today I will do my own shopping and consider myself blessed to have a fiance that will do the dishes when I cook. 

The Waldo Tradition

The year was 1841. Dr. David Waldo of Gasconade County, Missouri, was convinced by friends in Independence, Missouri, to purchase some Jackson County land. He took their advice and subsequently bought a 1000-acre tract of land that to this day bears his name.

From Gregory Blvd., on the north, to 91st Street on the south - from Holmes on the east to State Line on the west - that's Waldo.

Today, Waldo is a thriving part of Kansas City's urban scene. Along its seven commercial strips, it's a beehive of activity. But, by and large, Waldo is a neighborhood of attractive homes, whose residents for generations have said with pride, "We live in Waldo."

In 1828, the area consisted of great plains and rolling hills, barren of the trees we now take for granted, except along the rivers and streams. It was a small part of the land acquired by the federal government in the Louisiana Purchase twenty-five years before. The 1,000 acres of land that Dr. Waldo purchased in 1841 ran from what is now 75th Street to 59th Street, Wornall Road to Troost. He maintained a farm on part of the land, and improved it by planting a large walnut grove at 63rd and Walnut. The grove stood as a historic landmark until the 1920's. By the time of his death in 1878, Dr. Waldo had increased his holdings in the Waldo area to 2,400 acres. During this same period of time, the land west of Wornall Road and from 75th to 85th was owned by Alexander Majors. In 1848, Majors and his wife lived on a small farm at what is now 75th and Wornall. By 1856, his firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell was a highly successful freighting company carrying all kinds of goods to Santa Fe and the Southwest. At the hieight of this operation Majors owned 3,600 wagons, 40,000 oxen and employed over 4,000 men. His oxen pens covered the area that is now known as "Here's Waldo," 75th to 85th, Wornall to State Line.

It was in 1860 that a rail line between Westport and Dodson was established with a main stop at Waldo. When the Dodson Dummy Line (so-called because it used a Dummy engine - a condenser that muffled its noise) gave way to street cars in 1907, a brick station house was built. This came to be known as the "Grand Central Station of Waldo." The first custodian there sold groceries in addition to sweeping floors. After a number of years, Elmer Family Grocery stood in Waldo for 40 years. On the northwest corner of 74th Terrace and Wornall was another long-lived Waldo business - Milen Department (or Drygoods) store where almost anything in this line could be purchased including all kinds of fabrics with gracious sales ladies to measure and cut any amount needed, Girl Scout and Boy Scout uniforms, shoes, men's clothing, women's clothing, and all kinds of infants' and children's wear. Milens was greatly missed when it finally closed. Croner's store and a blacksmith shop that doubled as the Broadway Methodist Church comprised the Waldo business district in 1905. Part of a stone livery stable built then and known as the "Rock Barn" stood on the site until 1997 when it was torn down to build the Walgreens Store. The waldo station stood at 74th Terrace and Wornall until 1950, when it was torn down for parking lot construction. When the lot was dedicated in 1958, the Waldo station sign was given to Bill Michael, a local writer who called his newspaper column, "On the 6:33 Out of Waldo." As business grew, Waldo became known as a main traffic artery south of Kansas City. Houses on Wornall Road south to 75th Street made way for business expansion in the 1930's. One of the Milgram's grocery stores in the Kansas City area opened in Waldo then. As transportation requirements changed, the rail line began to carry street cars, and the County Club car line was the major source of transportation for people in the Waldo area. More and more people began visiting and moving into the growing Waldo community. It was a retreat from the urban area and soon had more than its share of dance halls, bars, and honky-tonks. ManyCou Kansas Citians can remember Tootie Clarkings', the Mayfair, and Mary's Place. It has only been in fairly recent years that the growing city spelled doom for those well-known "county" night spots. Waldo was annexed by Kansas City in 1909 and the city limits leaped from 49th Street to 77th Street, then stretched out again in 1947 to 85th Street. By 1963, the city limits were to the Cass County line. The Waldo Progress Committee grew into the Southwest Business Association with Miss Ruth Bedfield as Executive Secretary, and then into the merchants' association that exists today as the Waldo Area Business Association.

Source: http://www.waldokc.org/historyofwaldo.html

Author: Betty Tillotson