But I’d say it’s definitely better than the condo sales market. The problem is that some of the originally-intended condo buildings have been turned into rentals, putting more rental units on the market. Of course, some of the rental buildings that used to be available were turned into condominiums by developers who were late to the game and tried to jump on the last wave of condo building successes.

Ultimately, the biggest issue isn’t that people don’t want to live there, or that every condo unit is overpriced/overvalued. That exists to some extent (some buildings/areas of downtown are worse than others price-wise). The problem is that the small-down-payment lending has completely disappeared. So, you’ve got hordes of single, mid-20’s-to-early-30’s professional buyers (your target demographic for condos), who would probably rather pay a mortgage than $1000+ in rent every month to live downtown, but they can’t buy because they don’t have $20,000+ to bring to the table to get the loan (unless mom and dad help out). I don’t see things turning around in terms of sales numbers unless and until the lenders start writing 5% down (or less) loans.

Also, the term “condo” itself has taken on a completely toxic connotation with big banks due to places like Miami, Las Vegas, Phoenix, etc., where there was MASSIVE overbuilding and entire buildings still sit almost empty. A downtown KC “condo” isn’t really the same thing.

Regardless of my intent versus the rental property/flippers, I’m still caught up in the mess of it. The worst part isn’t even financial, it’s that my wife and I are essentially forced to put the next stage of our lives on hold. Most likely, I’ll just have to suck it up in the next year, take the big hit, and get out however I can if we ever want to start a family. Neither one of us is getting any younger.