Monthly Archives: January 2014

University Academy – A Successful Brookside Charter School

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University Academy

University Academy

Because my older daughter is pursuing a teaching career after college, I try to keep up with local public school news and national educational issues.  I’m closely watching the CEE-Trust  proposal presented to the KCMO public school district, and I’ve blogged about Hale Cook Elementary. I’m aware of the excellent reputation Academie Lafayette has–so good there is a waiting list for entry.  I didn’t know much about the University Academy  at 6801 Holmes. So, last week I toured the school and had a lengthy talk with  Executive Director and Superintendent Tony Kline.  

UA Kindergarten Class

UA Kindergarten Class

University Academy is a college preparatory charter public school, funded by KCMO tax dollars and sponsored by UMKC.  This attractive brick building opened in 2004, and has 1050 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.  It is an impressive facility–modern, clean, with lots of light, updated equipment and a beautiful theater.  Eighty percent of the students receive a free or reduced lunch program,and 96% of the students are African American. I suspect these stats are similar to several Kansas City MO public schools but with one big difference – UA kids have much higher overall MAP test scores.  The UA Upper School also received a Bronze Medal for the second consecutive year from U.S. News and World Report.

What is the key to University Academy’s success?

Tony Kline

Tony Kline

The number one thing, Mr Kline told me, is this school does not engage in ‘social promotion’–they will not move a child to the next grade level  until s/he has sufficiently mastered the current grade level. This school also emphasizes, from early grades on, that every child will attend college–and the teachers prepare the students accordingly. Junior and senior high students take ‘college seminar’: a daily class that teaches the kids  how to research and  apply to colleges, how to write entrance essays and pursue scholarships. These students receive intense tutoring for ACT tests and take field trips to various colleges and universities outside the KC area. Every acceptance letter is proudly displayed  on  classroom windows. In addition, all class sizes are small, averaging around 20 persons each, and teacher turnover is low.  Behavior incidents are few (mostly “social media drama”, according to Mr Kline), and all students follow a dress code.  There is an expectation here that every child can succeed academically, and the schoolwork it takes to make it happen will be done.  Parental support is very important, as well as individual student motivation.  

The kids here have some great extra-curricular activities too:  UA boasts an accomplished athletic and performing arts program, and just launched a middle school/high school robotics team this year.  I was impressed by the unique student-created ceramic art displayed around the school.

UA Library

UA Library

Like Academie Lafayette, there is a spring lottery for entrance to the school.  Demand is greater than the supply of spots available.  And students should start UA as a kindergarteners –it is challenging to transfer here from another school as there are very few open slots and attrition is low.  UA also offers on site dental and medical clinics, sponsored by UMKC and Children’s Mercy Hospital.  And through the generosity of the school’s supporters,  every graduate is eligible for ongoing scholarships each semester they are enrolled in college. The graduating class of 2013 received a combined  $1.35 million in scholarships among the 40 students.  

What’s the next goal for Mr Kline?  He would like to someday add a preschool, but that would mean adding another building.  He would also like to see the school more racially diverse.  Kline is well aware that  many Brookside area families jump the state line to attend Kansas public schools, or pay expensive tuition bills for private school due to serious issues with the Kansas City Public School system.

His challenge–even with the academic achievement recognition, college prep curriculum and a state of the art building in a convenient location–is finding incentives for parents to consider his school before making the decision to move or attend private school.

Waldo Home Prices Rise in 2013

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As promised, this year I will begin reporting home sales stats for the Waldo area in the blog.  The geographical area I’m tracking is: 89th St to the south, Gregory to the north, State Line to the west and Holmes to the east–these are the boundaries defined by the Waldo Business Association.  Prices are up in Waldo for the 2013 year–let’s look at the numbers.

In 2013, 386 single family homes sold.  The median price was $133,000 and 79 days on market.

In 2012, 335 single family homes sold.  The median price was $121,500 and 110 days on market.

Overall, prices rose by 9.46% and days on market dropped by one month!  Currently, there are 83 active homes for sale in Waldo, with a median price of $125,000 and 107 days on market.  The lowest price home is $58,900 and the highest is $289,500.

(All figures taken from Heartland MLS; deemed reliable but not guaranteed.)

Brookside (Kansas City MO) Home Values Up 9% in 2013

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Another year completed…and what a year it has been for Brookside home values!  Overall, a hefty increase in average selling price from 2012. Let’s first  look at December 2013 figures, then move on to year-end statistics. The numbers below reflect single family home sales in the  Brookside (Kansas City MO) zip code of 64113:

In December  2013, 21 homes sold.  Average list price was $558,667 and average sales price was $508,900.  Average days on market was 99.

In December 2012, 16  homes sold at an average price of $298,788  and 88 days on the market.

Obviously that is a huge jump in average sales price. That’s  because a $3.65 million home closed in December (1217 W. 55th St), along with five other homes priced over $500K.  These sales pushed the average sales price way up.  Days on market were higher in December 2013 because generally it takes longer for the upper bracket homes to go under contract.

Now let’s compare 2012 to 2013 Brookside home sales:

From Jan-Dec 2013, 307  homes  sold  at an average price of $368,994 and 86 days on market.

From Jan-Dec 2012,  296  homes sold at an average price of $337,524 and 114 days on market.

There was a 9% increase in average sales prices between 2012 and 2013–excellent news for homeowners!  Days on market was less as well.  In 2013, I saw many more higher priced homes selling in our neighborhood, including several close and over the $1million mark.  Brookside has successfully weathered the housing crash and is again a strong area of interest for buyers.  Another indication of Brookside’s desirability as a neighborhood is the number of teardowns/new build jobs going up–I’ve seen three projects in varying stages of completion.

As of this writing, there are 69 single family homes for sale in the Brookside zip code of 64113 with an average list price of $729,282.  The highest priced listing is at 5550 Ward Parkway, priced at $4.25 million.  The lowest listed home price is on the 6400 block of McGee at $159,500.               .

(All figures taken from Heartland MLS and deemed reliable but not guaranteed).

Upcoming Brookside/Waldo Events:  Networking for Brookside/Waldo businesses is Wed Jan 22 from 8-9am at Spay and Neuter KC, 1116 E 59th St.

Armour Hills (Brookside) 2013 Home Sales Report

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All year I have monitored  Armour Hills (in Brookside)  home sales stats …and I knew the overall rise in prices would be around 10%.  Now that the data is in MLS, I am happy to report I was wrong. Average home prices went up way over 10%!  I will examine these year end numbers after we review December figures.

In December  2013, 7  homes sold.  The average list price was $231,686 and the average sales price was $225,343.  Average days on market: 82.

In December 2012, 6  homes sold.  The average list price was $241,933 and the average sales price was $231,233.  Average days on market: 62.

There was a drop in December average sales price compared to the previous year, and  homes ‘sat’ on the market a bit longer. This is because there are fewer buyers at the end of the year, and some of the homes on the market took longer to sell due to condition, price, location.

Here are the Armour Hills home sales stats, comparing 2012 to 2013:

In 2013, 82 homes sold with an average sales price of $262,462 and 59 days on market.

In 2012, 78 homes sold with an average sales price of $219,338 and 83 days on market.

Those figures represent a 17.8% increase in the average Armour Hills home sales price, and  homes sold 30% faster than in 2012.   I also checked the average price difference from 2011-2012: there was a 3.4% increase in average sold prices. Our average home price has tripled in one year!

Why the huge jump?  There were several home sales in our neighborhood that sold for over $300,000 and a few over $400,000.  The most expensive sale was $410,000.  The lowest sale was located on E Dartmouth, listed at $66,000 and sold for $115,000 (bidding war!); then flipped and sold a few months later for $303,500.

FInally, Armour Hills beat  the average Brookside home price increase (based on homes in the 64113 zip code).  Sold single family homes in 64113 increased 9% over 2012.  I will publish details on overall Brookside home sales in the next blog.

If you are an Armour Hills homeowner–keeping your property well maintained and updated pays off, especially if you plan to sell your home!

(All figures taken from Heartland MLS and deemed reliable but not guaranteed.)

KC Restaurant Week – Participating Brookside/Waldo Restaurants

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Are you getting burned out  making dinner every night?  Do you need an excuse to call a friend and grab lunch to break up the workday?  Is there a locally owned KC restaurant you’ve always wanted to try??  Here’s my suggestion:  make plans now to dine out during Kansas City Restaurant Week January 17-26, 2014.

Participating restaurants are offering a two course $15 lunch and/or three course $33 dinner.  This is a real deal folks–most of the dining spots are locally owned and a portion of the proceeds benefits Harvesters-The Community Food Network. You’ll get an excellent meal at a  favorite dining spot…you can try a new place…you can earn dining points if you make reservations through Open Table!

For a sneak peak at the special menus lined up,  visit the Harvesters website and follow the links.  Below is a list of participating restaurants in the Brookside/Waldo areas:

Louie’s Wine Dive

Michael Forbes Grille

75th St Brewery

Remedy Food and Drink

The Well

I suggest you make reservations early in the week…this is a popular event in Kansas City and many restaurants will fill up fast!  Thanks for supporting Harvesters and our locally owned businesses.

KCMO Sewer Line Insurance–More Details on How It Works

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Happy New Year  everyone!   For the first blog of 2014…part two of my experiences with  Sewer Line Warranties of America.  You can read the first post here. SLWOFA offers insurance policies for Brookside/Waldo homeowners regarding water and sewer lines outside the home.   Recently I spoke with a ‘warranty specialist’ with some questions about making a claim and how they choose their contractors.  Jessica was very helpful and spent a lot of time on the phone with me.  Here’s what I found out:

I asked her how SLWOFA selects their vendors.  She said the company uses Plus One Solutions to check out the contractors–they make sure all are drug tested, licensed, insured and bonded. Contractors are locally based in the specific area they serve.  She would not share the contractor list with me, saying it was ‘proprietary information’, and added if there was a contractor I thought should be added to the list,  that person call SLWOFA.  She  did confirm  some of their contractors sub-contract the work.  Jessica said the work most sub-contracted was  excavation, as that requires heavy equipment  many plumbers don’t have. (This isn’t how it worked with my neighbors who made a claim earlier this year, FYI. A subcontractor did all the work–read details in the blog link above).  However, Jessica stated that the company does guarantee work done by both contractor and subcontractor.  She also said they do rotate work among all the contractors on their preferred list of vendors.

I was curious as to what happens if there is a claim for service without a clogged pipe initiating a service call.  What happens if you have the insurance in place and decide to send a camera down your sewer line as preventative measure–to see if there are already breaks in the line, tree roots growing through, etc?  Jessica explained SLOFWA would schedule a second inspection of the sewer line with one of their preferred vendors.  Depending upon the outcome of the second inspection, choices would be made about the work needed. If Inspector #1 suggested a complete replacement of the sewer line and Inspector #2 (provided by SLOFWA) said just a repair is needed, it would be up to the homeowner to decide what to do.  SLOFWA would pay for the repair only, not the replacement.  I also asked “what if the homeowner wants to use his own contractor–one that isn’t on the list?”.  She said they can authorize a pay-out, especially if the contractor the homeowner wants to use will charge more.

Here’s the bottom line as I see it:  the insurance is relatively inexpensive, and if there is a problem, you can make a claim to cover the fix, ultimately spending less. However, as a homeowner you should get two opinions about the repair, and then be very aggressive as to what will permanently solve the blockage.  There are some plumbers who may tell you a $8000 complete pipe replacement is needed when just a partial pipe replacement will do.  Usually insurance companies want to pay out as little as possible regarding claims.  It can be time consuming dealing with contractors and subcontractors.  If you have a problem with your sewer line and have the SLOFWA insurance, make detailed notes about every conversation you have with any representative who is connected with the repair.  Get a second opinion.  Ask if the entire job will be subcontracted.  Be comfortable with the local contractor SLOFWA sends out.  As a customer and homeowner, you want to make sure the job is done right!  If you are thinking of buying the insurance, be sure to read the FAQ on the SLOFWA website first.