What’s it like to buy a KC home? As out-of-state investors buy up property, locals struggle
When Blue Springs resident Carleigh Crossno and her husband started looking for homes in August of 2021, six months after moving in with her father, nothing fit their price range.
Out-of-state investors owned many of the homes they saw on the market, and even though they each made about $20 an hour, they didn’t buy because of the high cost.
“You’d think that would be enough for a working family of four to be able to move out and be able to find at least a three-bedroom apartment or home in the area,” Crossno said.
Large corporations buying single-family homes have contributed to rising prices, creating intense competition for residents and home buyers. The value of homes in Kansas City has risen by 46.6%, slightly higher than the increase in the national average, according to a 2025 report from Zillow. And according to the Mid-America Regional Council, 33 companies owned 14,000 Kansas City homes as of last year.
Crossno, 29, said rising prices have impacted not only urban areas like Kansas City but also smaller Missouri towns as well, like her hometown of Richmond. It’s made it incredibly difficult for people like Crossno to afford a home.
“It sucks because even in my small town, it’s sad to see big corporations go down there and buy up all these homes that are for sale down there, and then rent them out for almost $2,000 a month,” Crossno said. “A home — for a three-bedroom, one-bath home in Richmond, Missouri — a town that has less than 10,000 people. I see it all the time.”
This is something Sen. Joe Nicola, a Grain Valley Republican, said he hopes to change through state law. Nicola and Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, a St. Louis Democrat, have sponsored bills that would prohibit corporations from acquiring residential land in Missouri.
“Missourians should own Missouri land,” Nicola said.
Both lawmakers filed the bills last month, but neither have been scheduled for hearings. Nicola’s legislation would ban companies with at least $50 million in assets from buying up residential property.
Beck’s bill is more specific and centers on large foreign companies that aren’t based in Missouri and aren’t registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Pinpointing the beginning
After the housing bubble burst in 2008, investors bought large amounts of property quickly and at low prices. Some of these companies that own single-family homes converted houses into rentals, decreasing the number of available homes and creating more competition in the market.
Nicola said he doesn’t remember when he first saw corporations buying Kansas City’s residential real estate, but it’s not happening in just one specific neighborhood — corporations have bought homes throughout the city.
He said his wife, who works in real estate in the Kansas City area, is often approached by large investors.
“She’ll go on a listing sale and list the house,” Nicola said. “These corporate investors come and offer quite a bit over list price, no inspections. And that’s hard for her, the seller, to pass up.”
According to 2023 data from the Mid-America Regional Council, five companies own nearly 8,000 of the corporate-owned homes. VineBrook Homes, an Ohio-based top five investor in the region, owns 1,106 of those homes in Kansas City as of November 2024. In 2023, NPR’s Midwest Newsroom reported that VineBrook’s fast-paced buying spree led to tenants facing maintenance issues, evictions and poor customer service.
VineBrook Homes did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Nicola said corporate out-of-state ownership of middle-class homes has driven up housing prices, making it increasingly difficult for people to find affordable housing due to rising tax rates and insurance costs.
The legislation from Nicola, a first-term senator, comes after he made property rights a key focus of his campaign. While Nicola has faced criticism for his more fringe beliefs, including the idea that there should be no separation between church and state, his housing legislation has earned the support of some Democrats.
Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat, said the legislation was a good example of Republicans and Democrats working together to make housing more affordable, particularly for first-time home buyers.
“Recognizing that you can’t define somebody just because of certain, what I would call, fringe beliefs,” Nurrenbern said. “They would probably look at my beliefs and say, ‘that’s a fringe viewpoint.’ But we find areas to work together.”
To avoid problems associated with buying homes, many have turned to renting. But that hasn’t been a cheaper option either.
Toni Casey, program manager of SAVE, Inc., a nonprofit that provides housing for those recovering from substance abuse and dealing with physical and mental disabilities, previously worked as a property manager for a decade. Casey said she saw apartment prices skyrocket during the pandemic in 2021.
“Landlords got the COVID relief funds in 2020,” she said, “and then they took advantage of getting money from people who were behind in rent. But now, those relief funds aren’t there anymore, and they’re still keeping those high rents.”
Casey said the perk of renting was to avoid the hassle of making a down payment and the convenience of being able to call a landlord for maintenance issues. But with rising prices and many tenants expected to handle repairs themselves, the benefits of renting have dwindled.
“For tenants to be losing that ability, it’s robbing them,” she said. “Now, there’s no benefit for renting. You’re forcing them into a worse situation.”
An apartment versus a home
To Casey, housing is intimate. People buy homes to take pride in, contribute to their community and establish roots. But corporations don’t do any of those things, she said.
“They have more money, but they don’t have more pride,” Casey said. “As a property manager, I felt honored to have that insight into someone’s life. Too often landlords, developers or corporations make units out of them. There’s such a difference between a unit and a home.”
Nicola said homeownership is a fundamental freedom, and that when people own property, they take better care of it. He also highlighted its importance in building generational wealth. Many times, parents may pass their wealth down to their children — but if the next generation is unable to purchase their own property, the cycle may not continue.
According to a 2024 report from the National Association of Realtors, the average age of a first-time home buyer is 38, three years more than it was in 2023. For young families and college-age individuals who may be looking to purchase their first home, Nicola said rising prices have set them up for failure.
“There are some programs for first-time home buyers, but it’s really not enough because of the prices,” he said. “They are really being pushed — they’re being actually forced, in my opinion, into rentals.”
For Crossno, buying a home is part of the American dream — but that isn’t attainable for everyone.
“I am considered middle class, and from the bottom of my heart, I struggle every single day,” Crossno said. “At one point, there was the American dream: to be able to own a home, have a few vehicles in good working condition and be able to give your kids whatever they want. That’s not even a thing anymore.”
Passing a home on to the next generation is something Crossno has thought about a lot. She said one of her biggest wishes is for her children to be free from financial worries, and although she’ll be buying her own home in October of this year, she doesn’t know if she’ll have enough to support them as she hopes.
“I want to be set up and make sure my kids don’t have to worry about anything, and if they ever needed somewhere to go, kind of like how my dad was with me, they could always live with me,” she said. “But I don’t feel like I’ll ever have that opportunity. That really sucks to say.”
The Star’s Kacen Bayless contributed reporting.