Ted Ihde's Blog: Ted Ihde author of “Thinking About Becoming A Real Estate Developer?”, page 3

Kansas City Board of Trade

The price of wheat…

Beginning in the earliest years of the Twentieth Century, and carrying onward through 2013, from a trading pit in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri, the price of wheat, first, in the United States, then later, for countries the United States traded with, was influenced. Influenced by Kansas City traders. Traders who barked out “buy” and “sell” orders. Buy and sell orders correlated to futures contracts for Hard Red Winter Wheat.

Hard Red Winter Wheat futures contracts – the Kansas City Board of Trade.

Why was this exchange located Kansas City in the first place?

Soil and climate conditions in the Great Plains are perfect for growing wheat. So the trading operation for Hard Red Winter Wheat contracts was going to be based in the Midwest.

Wheat requires specific conditions in order to grow. Ample.sunlight. Well-drained soil. Sufficient water. One additional requirement needed – with Hard Red Winter Wheat – is, exposure to the cold. To each point, Kansas City’s neighboring state to the west is…ideal.

So…Kansas City?

In the late-19th Century, the, “Why Kansas City?” question had a lot to do with where the wheat the traders were trading was coming from – Kansas.

Known as the “Wheat State,” Kansas as a state -along with North Dakota – consistently leads the United States in wheat production.

For example…

Last year, Kansas had 7,600,000 acres allocated to the planting of wheat. Coupled to 7,150,00 acres of harvested wheat. That was last year. And one of the things that I personally love most about my home state of Kansas is, Kansas just doesn’t radically swing, from whim to whim, all that much. Well, to be more precise, Kansas doesn’t really swing from whim to whim, at all. Which brings us to the question of, “Why Kansas City?” for the Hard Red Winter Wheat exchange.

While there were 7,150,000 harvested acres of Kansas wheat in 2024, 106 years prior – in 1918 – there were 7,250,000 harvested acres of wheat in Kansas. Pretty much the same acreage total. In 1918. And in 1924. 7,000,000 acres.

Step out of 1918 for a moment. And into 2024. While those small Kansas farm houses (and small Kansas farms) would no longer be. And while you will now see high-tech John Deere Combine Harvesters on those Kansas farms – complete with Wi-Fi…and a John Deere price tag, per Harvester, of between $700,000 and $1,000,000 – the “DNA” of the land from which Hard Red Winter Wheat had been harvested – and is still harvested today -pretty much, stayed the same.

7,000,000 Kansas acres of harvested wheat in 1918. 7,000,000 Kansas acres of harvested wheat in 2024.

Logistically, an exchange for the trading of Hard Red Winter Wheat contracts -and, for that matter, for a board of trade – which was based in Kansas City, just made sense. Long, long ago. And today as well. Kansas City was (and is) the “big city” for Kansas farmers. Perfect for a Hard Red Winter Wheat exchange.

The origin of the Kansas City Board of Trade traces back to its founding in the year 1856. Founded by a group of local merchants. Led by one Edward H. Allen.

Elected as the 10th mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, Edward H. Allen held the office in 1867 and 1868.

The idea for an exchange taking hold in Kansas City three years after Kansas City, Missouri itself was incorporated as a city. Which happened in 1853.

The trading of Hard Red Winter Wheat contracts…

Just as the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan is no longer a crowded hub of frantic traders, scurrying their trades about, those traders who once roamed the pit at the Kansas City Board of Trade – early in the Twentieth Century, and up through 2013 – have so too been replaced. By automation.

In 2012, the Kansas City Board of Trade was purchased by the CME Group – formerly, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

One year later, Kansas City’s trading floor – I.e.: the pit – was merged into the trading floor in Chicago. The trading of Hard Red Winter Wheat futures contracts on a Kansas City trading floor was no more.

Two years later – in 2015 – CME’s trading floor itself was shut down. Replaced by automation. No pit in Kansas City. No pit in Chicago. The trading of Hard Red Winter Wheat futures contracts became… automated.

While that old trading floor for Hard Red Winter Wheat in Kansas City – and those busy wheat traders in the pit – is no longer in operation, whenever you add cold cuts and mayonnaise to your sandwich, the price of the wheat – which makes up about 15% of the total cost of the bread you use to surround your cold cuts – is still set in Kansas City at the Kansas City Board of Trade.

In 2025, the Kansas City Board of Trade continues to function as the primary trading platform for Hard Red Winter Wheat futures contracts. Hard Red Winter Wheat futures contracts are a determinant in the price of wheat. Then too, in the price that we ultimately pay a loaf of bread.

Interestingly, the Kansas City Board of Trade had been Kansas City’s original chamber of commerce. So, the origin for the trading of Hard Red Winter Wheat contracts in Kansas City started off as – and in – a chamber of commerce. At 8th and Wyandotte. In Kansas City, Missouri.

Local growers of Hard Red Winter Wheat. Local traders of Hard Red Winter Wheat. Local buyers of Hard Red Winter Wheat.

While the local growers of Hard Red Winter wheat are still there – Kansas produces over 300 million bushels of wheat each year…equating to roughly 20% of total wheat production in the United States…there is not much else which is entirely “local” when it comes to the Kansas City Board of Trade. And Hard Red Winter Wheat.

While 300 million bushels of Hard Red Winter Wheat is produced by 15,000 Kansas farmers each year. While the price of Hard Red Winter Wheat is set in Kansas City at the Kansas City Board of Trade. When it comes to the Kansas City Board of Trade – and Hard Red Winter Wheat – today, it would be wise to substitute the word “global” for “local.”

Local buyers of wheat? Kansas is an exporter. Each year, Kansas exports just about half of the 300 million bushels of Hard Red Winter Wheat harvested in the “Wheat State.”

As the world’s largest contiguous producer of winter wheat – that’s Kansas – having the price of Hard Red Winter Wheat still set in Kansas City is itself, poetic justice.

And establishing the exchange for the trading of wheat contracts in Kansas City – in the late stages of the 19th Century – turned out to be, rather fortuitous…

7,000,0000 acres of harvested wheat in Kansas in 1918. The price of Hard Red Winter Wheat set in Kansas City in 1918.

7,000,000 acres of harvested wheat in Kansas in 2024. The price of Hard Red Winter Wheat set in Kansas City in 2024.

Other than those $1,000,000 John Deere Combine Harvesters that you’ll see on Kansas farms in 2025 – coupled to the fact that Kansas, while a local grower, is really an international exporter – much, does look, feel and operate the same.

Acreage. Crop. Exchange. 1918. 2024. When in comes to American wheat, the more things change the more things stay the same – Kansas City.

The price of wheat in 1918…

The price of wheat in 2025…

The Kansas City Board of Trade.

…how Rutgers University came to be.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey was founded – originally as a seminary – in 1766.

Founded by William Franklin. William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin.

Although, upon its founding, this college, located in New Brunswick along the Raritan River, was not known as Rutgers.

The name Rutgers was affixed to the New Brunswick college 59 years after its founding. In 1825. “Rutgers,” selected to honor Revolutionary War veteran Colonel Henry Rugers. Between the year of its founding – in 1766 – and the year Rutgers was selected as the college’s name, in the honor of Henry Rutgers – in 1825 – Rutgers had been Queens College. Then, for the next one hundred years, it was Rutgers College.

Henry Rutgers…

Born in New York City in 1745 – and in 1745, that would have been, the Province of New York, British America, as New York was still under British rule when Henry Rutgers was born – Henry Rutgers served as a New York state assemblyman. He was a graduate of Columbia University (then, King’s College),

A prominent New York landowner, Henry Rutgers donated much of his land to local New York City schools, charities, and churches. In Manhattan, if you have ever driven down Henry Street or Rutgers Street, those streets were named after Henry Rutgers.

Rutgers College – then Queens College – adopted Henry Rutgers’ name upon receiving a much needed financial infusion from Henry Rutgers.

Through Henry Rutgers’ generosity, prospects for the then-struggling Queens College to continue on as an institution of higher learning, brightened.

At the time of Henry Rutgers’ financial contribution, Queens College had incurred a multi-year shutdown. Its finances, and its future, cast astray as a byproduct of the challenging economic times the United States went through upon the conclusion of the War of 1812.

The University of Newark joined the Rutgers family in 1946. As Rutgers University-Newark.

The College of South Jersey joined the Rutgers family in 1950. As Rutgers University- Camden.

Rutgers is the second oldest university in New Jersey. Founded 20 years prior to Queens College’s founding, Princeton – which had been the College of New Jersey from 1746 until 1896 – is the oldest New Jersey university.

Rutgers’ Board of Trustees consists of 41 voting members. Rutgers’ Border of Trustees functions in an advisory capacity to Rutgers’ Board of Governors.

Rutgers’ Board of Governors consists of 15 voting members. Rutgers’ president is a non voting Board member.

Three of the 15 members of Rutgers’ Board of Governors are voting members, selected by the Rutgers University Senate. Three representatives – selected by the University Senate – are non voting representatives.

Eight members of Rutgers’ Board of Governors are appointed by the New Jersey governor. Seven members are selected by the Board of Trustees. For the 8 members appointed by the New Jersey Governor, confirmation for each member by the New Jersey Senate is required.

The president of Rutgers is a nonvoting Board of Trustees member. Rutgers’ University Senate selects two members of the faculty – as well as two students – as non voting representatives.

The selection of the 41 voting members of the Board of Trustees is done in accordance with State law.

There are 20 charter members. Three of the 20 charter members must be women.

Sixteen Trustees are Rutgers alumni, each of whom is nominated for Board membership by the Nominating Committee of the Board of Trustees.

Five Trustees are public members, appointed by the governor. The five public members who are appointed by the governor require confirmation by the New Jersey State Senate.

The president of Rutgers is selected by the university’s Board of Governors. The Board of Governors oversees the process of identifying the president, while overseeing the Presidential Search Committee.

Rutgers’ Presidential Search Committee develops a profile of prospective candidates…submitting recommendations of potential university presidents to Rutgers’ Board of Governors.

Rutgers’ Board of Governors, upon receiving recommendations and feedback from the Presidential Search Committee, ultimately selects the university president.

On two separate occasions – resulting from acts taken by the New Jersey Legislature – Rutgers was designated as the official state university of New Jersey. New Jersey’s legislature granted Rutgers this distinction in 1945. And once again, in 1956.

Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?

ROI – outdoor kitchens and fire pits

Think of those captivating outdoor kitchen designs you fell head-over-heels in love with while you were scrolling through the pages of Unique Homes. Or while being online through Dwell. Or Dezeen. Or Home and Design.

When thinking through ideas which enhance outdoor living space, your wallet – I.e.: economics – is a factor. Economics will affect your decision. The proverbial… “Yes, we should…” Or, “No, we shouldn’t …”

Rather than allowing your wallet to prevent you from converting your backyard into THE destination point for friends, for family and for admiringly-curious neighbors, transitioning your backyard into the local must-see, data suggests, can be a wise financial move on your part.

To this effect, let’s look at how two trend-setting hardscaping ideas in 2025 not only enable your interior living space to seamlessly flow into your now-great outdoors. Let’s also look at how smart hardscaping decisions also equate to…GOOD ECONOMICS.

For example…

Throwing burgers on the grill while you take in the crispness of fresh evening air? This is an experience best brought to life for you with an outdoor kitchen. Yes, start preparing your steaks outside. Confidently knowing that the fabulous outdoor living features you now own are the fruition of money well spent.

Your inset grill. Those stainless steel drawers. The built-in ice chest and sink. Touched off by the granite or the concrete – your choice – counter space.

According to Remodeling Magazine and CNN Money, adding an outdoor kitchen can yield between a 100% and 200% ROI. Dependent upon, of course, how extensive your design is.

In the 2023 Remodeling Impact Report – published by the National Association of Realtors – by adding that outdoor kitchen you’ve been thinking about, what can you expect as your return on investment? A 100% ROI.

Or…think about an evening with the adults out back. Enjoying cocktails-and-conversation on a cool, brisk autumn evening. With a fire safely and brightly simmering in your fire pit.

Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?Come to think of it, it is truly a wonder how any backyard at all doesn’t have a fire pit.

According to the National Association of Realtors, as well as the National Association of Landscape Professionals, the ROI you can expect by adding a fire pit? A 56% ROI.

Enhancing memories in your backyard? Check.

Loving your home even a little bit more? Check.

A good ROI? Check.

All that’s left is…to start dreaming about your very own customized design.

IRONBOUND

The history behind the iconic name linked to one four square mile section within Newark’s East Ward is somewhat argumentative.

While it is somewhat subjective how this Newark neighborhood attained its name in the first place, no argument can be made that that name we are referring to – Ironbound – came to be as one direct result attributed to what was going on in this neighborhood in the early part of the 19th Century.

By the 1830’s, Newark was fast emerging as one of the preeminent United States manufacturing centers. Trains. Lots of them. Freight trains. Lots of them. Train tracks. Lots of them. And within that network of Newark train tracks is where we find the origin for the “Ironbound” name.

In the early 1800’s, Newark transitioned away from its existence as a city whose economy was based upon agriculture. To an economy centered on manufacturing. Freight trains played a large part in the success of Newark’s economic transition.

By the 1830’s, rail had become the most efficient way to transport finished manufactured goods which were made in Newark to outside markets where they could be sold.

During the first half of the 19th century – with this advent of rail – what once had been a section of the city, strewn with swamps and farms, was going through a seismic change. It was becoming a neighborhood dominated by heavy industry. Ironbound. Surrounded by railroad tracks. Railroad tracks everywhere. Hence, the origin for our name, “Ironbound.” Train tracks. Lots and lots of train tracks. In this four square mile Newark neighborhood. Ironbound.

There is an alternative point-of-beginning for the name “Ironbound.” One attributed not to the network of train tracks in Newark’s East Ward. But rather, to the preeminence of Ironbound metalworking, forges and foundries.

A portion of the reasoning for linking the origin of the Ironbound name to 19th Century metalworking – rather than to rail – could be knowing that train tracks are made of steel. Not iron. But, a caveat…

It was only in the mid-19th Century that, for the very first time, steel rails could even be thought of as being used as a possible replacement for the iron train track rails which were always used. The first steel rails – ever – were laid in Britain. In 1857. 1857…twenty-one years after Newark Broad Street Station opened as Newark’s first freight train station.

So, when those 19th Century trains roared into – and out of – Ironbound, those 19th Century train tracks the trains rode on were made of iron. Not steel. Hence, Ironbound.

For those who believe the origin for the Ironbound name is based upon Ironbound foundries…Seth Boyden.

Seth Boyden opened the first malleable iron foundry in the United States which was capable of producing the buckles and the harnesses which, when used together, then made up the two primary ingredients for the carriage industry. Boyden’s Newark’s foundry was the Malleable Cast Iron Foundry and Condit. The Malleable Foundry and Condit was established in Ironbound. On Orange Street.

Balbach and Sons Refining and Smelting Company – once the second largest metal processing enterprise in the United States – was located where one now finds Riverbank Park in Ironbound.

The Oscar Barnet Foundry was located on McWhorter Street in Ironbound.

Hensler’s Beer Brewery was located on Hamburg Place in Ironbound.

Ballantine and Sons Brewing Company was located on Ferry Street in Ironbound.

Feigenspan Brewery was located on Belmont Street in Ironbound.

Foundries. Metalworking. Breweries. Forges.

The Ironbound name? It was, likely, those Ironbound train tracks. Those iron Ironbound train tracks.Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?

IRONBOUND

The history behind the iconic name linked to one four square mile section within Newark’s East Ward is somewhat argumentative.

While it is somewhat subjective how this Newark neighborhood attained its name in the first place, no argument can be made that that name we are referring to – Ironbound – came to be as one direct result attributed to what was going on in this neighborhood in the early part of the 19th Century.

By the 1830’s, Newark was fast emerging as one of the preeminent United States manufacturing centers. Trains. Lots of them. Freight trains. Lots of them. Train tracks. Lots of them. And within that network of Newark train tracks is where we find the origin for the “Ironbound” name.

In the early 1800’s, Newark transitioned away from its existence as a city whose economy was based upon agriculture. To an economy centered on manufacturing. Freight trains played a large part in the success of Newark’s economic transition.

By the 1830’s, rail had become the most efficient way to transport finished manufactured goods which were made in Newark to outside markets where they could be sold.

During the first half of the 19th century – with this advent of rail – what once had been a section of the city, strewn with swamps and farms, was going through a seismic change. It was becoming a neighborhood dominated by heavy industry. Ironbound. Surrounded by railroad tracks. Railroad tracks everywhere. Hence, the origin for our name, “Ironbound.” Train tracks. Lots and lots of train tracks. In this four square mile Newark neighborhood. Ironbound.

There is an alternative point-of-beginning for the name “Ironbound.” One attributed not to the network of train tracks in Newark’s East Ward. But rather, to the preeminence of Ironbound metalworking, forges and foundries.

A portion of the reasoning for linking the origin of the Ironbound name to 19th Century metalworking – rather than to rail – could be knowing that train tracks are made of steel. Not iron. But, a caveat…

It was only in the mid-19th Century that, for the very first time, steel rails could even be thought of as being used as a possible replacement for the iron train track rails which were always used. The first steel rails – ever – were laid in Britain. In 1857. 1857…twenty-one years after Newark Broad Street Station opened as Newark’s first freight train station.

So, when those 19th Century trains roared into – and out of – Ironbound, those 19th Century train tracks the trains rode on were made of iron. Not steel. Hence, Ironbound.

For those who believe the origin for the Ironbound name is based upon Ironbound foundries…Seth Boyden.

Seth Boyden opened the first malleable iron foundry in the United States which was capable of producing the buckles and the harnesses which, when used together, then made up the two primary ingredients for the carriage industry. Boyden’s Newark’s foundry was the Malleable Cast Iron Foundry and Condit. The Malleable Foundry and Condit was established in Ironbound. On Orange Street.

Balbach and Sons Refining and Smelting Company – once the second largest metal processing enterprise in the United States – was located where one now finds Riverbank Park in Ironbound.

The Oscar Barnet Foundry was located on McWhorter Street in Ironbound.

Hensler’s Beer Brewery was located on Hamburg Place in Ironbound.

Ballantine and Sons Brewing Company was located on Ferry Street in Ironbound.

Feigenspan Brewery was located on Belmont Street in Ironbound.

Foundries. Metalworking. Breweries. Forges.

The Ironbound name? It was, likely, those Ironbound train tracks. Those iron Ironbound train tracks.

Shadow Inventory

Uninhabited real estate. Vacant homes. Vacant lots. Distressed homes. Each, categorized as shadow inventory.

Properties in foreclosure. Bank REO’s. Properties which will soon be listed for sale…but have not yet been listed for sale. Shadow inventory. City-owned properties? These properties should be included in the same category – shadow inventory. But they’re not.

Shadow inventory is all too often overlooked as a property category through which the provision of increased access to affordable homes can be expanded in neighborhoods where limited opportunities to find affordable housing now exists.

Distressed properties make up a significant portion of shadow inventory. Distressed properties sell at lower prices than do properties which are in good condition. Accordingly, sales of shadow inventory homes can contribute to lower area home values. Yet these lower shadow inventory sale prices create affordable housing opportunities. Through the lower sale prices. As such, the acquisition of a shadow inventory home could enable a buyer to gain access to affordable housing..

Properties in foreclosure. Bank REO’s. Shadow inventory. Once again, how about city-owned properties?

City-owned properties would not necessarily be classified as “shadow inventory.” Classifications aside, one upside found in purchasing a foreclosed home – or a bank REO – can also be found in purchasing a city-owned property. This upside being, an opportunity to get into a home of your own. Affordably.

Benefits found in shadow inventory homes are not bestowed only upon those who are looking to find affordable housing opportunities.

Acquiring shadow inventory – and city-owned properties – creates a nice opportunity for real estate developers. As developers are able to acquire shadow inventory and city-owned properties at less-than-market sale prices.

Then, as developers reposition shadow inventory and city-owned properties to “performing properties,” developers are able to put the now-performing properties on the market. Selling the properties they purchased at less-than-market prices at market prices. In a limited inventory market. A profitable exercise.

Affordable housing advocates…this is one good path to consider.

Real estate developers…this is one good path to consider.

It’s rather ironic, yet factually accurate, that for-profit real estate developers are able to benefit by following along the same pathway that affordable housing advocates travel. Yet this is a unique situation we do have, within the space of identifying benefits attributed to purchasing shadow inventory and city-owned properties.

Is what we are talking about here a liberal real estate path? Or is this a conservative real estate path? Is this a real estate path for FOX viewers? Or is this a real estate path for MSNBC viewers. The answer is, All of the above. Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

A Request For Proposals is a tool used by municipalities whereby the merits of prospective bidders – I.e.: service providers with whom the municipality may choose to contract – are presented to the municipality.

The Request For Proposals is essentially a procurement document. It’s a, “Here is what we need… call-out. Pertaining to the municipality’s interest in vetting qualifications, skill sets and capabilities prospective respondents possess. Qualifications, skill sets and capabilities the municipality has deemed to be value-adding for the municipality at the time of the issuance of the Request For Proposals.

These are benefits the municipality has determined to be most effectively provided to the municipality through an outside vendor. Or, through outside vendors.

Hence, the issuance of the Request For Proposals.

Hence, the opportunity for service providers.Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?

LAND BANKS

Municipalities enter into land bank agreements with redevelopment entities. In doing so, municipalities designate redevelopment entities as land bank entities.

Procedures are written into land bank agreements which clarify how land bank entities acquire properties on behalf of municipalities.

Why land banks?

Land bank properties are not bring absorbed by the market. There are reasons for this. Such as…

Years of back taxes owed. Clouded titles. Rehab budgets which exceed appraisal values. Limited “comps.” Are owner-occupying buyers able to secure renovation loans?

The market isn’t absorbing land bank properties. We have an inventory challenge. We have a housing affordability challenge.

Why not become proficient in land bank properties?Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?

To accommodate, or not to accommodate? To restrict, or not to restrict?

Markets do not optimally function when interest rates are too low. Markets do not optimally function when interest rates are too high. The housing market – as well as the home loan market – would be two markets where this point can be most easily seen.

Artificially-low interest rates create an overly-accommodative economy. The consequences for which we see in today’s stubbornly non-ignited housing market. Mortgage rates are not high today. They’re just a lot high-er than they were during the Pandemic. But mortgage rates today are certainly not anywhere near what we should classify as, high.

The ’70s’ would be one example we could use to illustrate how markets malfunction when interest rates are, first, too low, then, later, increased. Increased too much. Too fast.

There were points in time during the 1970’s where the country was actually in a negative interest rate environment. Bank deposits were yielding “storage charges,” so you speak. As opposed to throwing off interest income.

The low-rate environment in the 1970’s came about in many ways because the stock market was in shambles. The result of that market unease of the ‘70’s? The Fed enacted an easy money policy. The idea at the time being, to attain full employment. Overly-accommodative. This was a flawed approach. Which became highly inflationary.

Enter price controls? Yep. Did you ever make one mistake, then double-down, only make to make your second mistake? In succession? An easy money policy followed by price controls? That ill-advised combination did not work out so well.

Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?So by the late ’70’s, with the country in the midst of rampant inflation, the Fed began to ratchet up interest rates. To temper the inflation. The origin of this inflation which was now being battled was of course triggered by the overly-accommodative fiscal policy of the Fed years before. The result of moving from an accommodative fiscal policy to a restrictive fiscal policy by way of rising interest rates? The economy went into recession.

Let’s look at another recent timeframe…

In the early-2000’s, interest rates were lowered. Interest rates became accommodative. At that time, lower interest rates were married to accommodative home loan underwriting policies. The result? Skyrocketing home values. An increase in home loan defaults. The Financial Crisis.

Overly-accommodative policy = a rough landing.

Overly-restrictive policy = a rough landing.

Overly-accommodative policy followed by overly-restrictive policy = a rough landing.

During the Pandemic, the federal funds rate was lowered to a range of 0% to 0.25%. Mortgage rates dropped. Home prices went up.

Fast forward to 2025…

Today, more than 75% of homeowners are nestled cozily in with a sub-5% mortgage rate. Around 55% of homeowners are nestled cozily in with a sub-4% mortgage rate. This “lock-in effect” we have in housing in 2025 is one byproduct of the low-rate policy the Fed enacted during the Pandemic.

Last year 25 out of every 1,000 homes found their way to new buyers. That was the lowest turnover rate we saw in housing in 30 years.

Accommodative policy – I.e.: low interest rates – do not only lead to future restrictive policy by way of elevated interest rates. Accommodative policy leads to the market restricting itself. Which is exactly where we are right now.

For example…

Why sell your home when the interest rate you have on your mortgage is 4% or less? Especially when you know you’d have to go out and buy another home in the midst of a restrictive cycle – at an elevated price, no less – with a mortgage rate which would be between 6% and 7%?

The Soccer Capital of America, Kansas City

As a city, Kansas City has become the national leader for soccer development in the United States. So it seems rather fitting that the Soccer Capital of America – Kansas City – is also the city to which one of the forefathers in the formation of American soccer is forever linked…Lamar Hunt.

Inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1982, Lamar Hunt was an early investor in the North American Soccer League. I.e.: the NASL. When the NASL incurred financial challenges in the early ‘80’s – shrinking from 17 teams to 5 teams – the Kansas City Chiefs patriarch remained committed to the future of the NASL. And to the future of soccer in the United States.

A then-NASL franchise owner himself, Lamar Hunt’s team was the Dallas Tornado. Hunt’s ownership of the Tornado goes back to the team’s inception in 1967. Hunt owned the Dallas Tornado until the team ultimately folded in 1981. Hunt’s Dallas Tornado won the NASL championship in 1971…one year after Hunt’s Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl IV.

Lamar Hunt’s Dallas Tornado started out as a team in the United Soccer Association. The United Soccer Association merged with the National Professional Soccer League…creating the NASL.

While the Hunt name is known, mostly, as a result of the family’s ownership of the NFL team that has won the Lamar Hunt trophy 5 out of the past 6 years as AFC Champions – the Kansas City Chiefs – early on, the NFL was no fan of Hunt’s commitment to soccer. In fact, the NFL took steps which were designed to disallow an NFL team owner – I.e.: Lamar Hunt – from owning a professional sports team in more than one sport. This was an NFL-led effort to force the Hunt family to divest from their interests in soccer. The NFL’s football-only rule ultimately failed. The Hunt family stayed in soccer.


In 1996, Kansas City Chiefs Chairman Clark Hunt, together with his father, Lamar Hunt, acquired two MLS teams – the Columbus Crew and the Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting KC).

Three years later, Lamar Hunt financed the construction of what was at that time the largest soccer-only stadium in the United States in Columbus, Ohio – Columbus Crew Stadium.

In 2003, Lamar Hunt purchased his third MLS team, the then-Dallas Burn (now FC Dallas). Hunt’s acquisition of the Dallas Burn was anchored through his commitment to finance a soccer-only stadium in Dallas as well…for the Burn. Lamar Hunt always believed that sound economics for professional soccer in North America had to be anchored by stadium ownership.

Today, the Dallas Burn are owned by Hunt Sports Group.

The Hunt family sold the Kansas City Wiz in 2006. The Kansas City Wiz went on to win the MLS Cup that same year. In 2006.

Like America’s earlier professional soccer league – the NASL – the MLS ran into their fair share of financial difficulties.

In the early 2000’s, there were only three MLS team owners who remained committed to funding ongoing MLS operations. At that time, the MLS was hemorrhaging cash – losing $250 million since its inaugural 1996 season. One of those three MLS owners, was Lamar Hunt.

Lamar Hunt’s commitment to soccer-only stadiums contributed to the financial turnaround for American soccer. And for the MLS.

Further linking the Hunt family to American soccer, U.S. soccer’s longest standing knockout competition – the U.S. Open Cup – was renamed the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup by the United States Soccer Federation in 1999…that renaming, having been undertaken by the United States Soccer Federation to honor Lamar Hunt’s contributions to American futbol. While also recognizing Lamar Hunt’s contributions to two American professional soccer leagues…first, the NASL, then later, the MLS.

The Hunt family’s FC Dallas won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup two times. In 1997 and 2016.

Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?Under the Hunt family’s leadership, Sporting KC also won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup two times. In 2004 and 2012.

Lamar Hunt’s Kansas City Wizards won the MLS Cup in 2000.