Armour Hills

The J.C. Nichols Company bought this ground from the Armour family - the Chicago meatpacking Armours - in May 1922, and built it out over the following decade. source

The name comes from the landowners, not from a landscape feature: the Armour family held the ground before Nichols bought it. source

The Armour Hills Homes Association, established with the development, is still the neighborhood's organizing body. source

Nichols required that every house be different from its neighbors. The result is roughly 1,068 single-family homes with no repeated elevation - unusual then and rarer now, and the reason the streets read as varied rather than as a subdivision pattern. source

The stock is dominated by Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival and Spanish Revival houses alongside bungalows. It was aimed at moderately priced housing for small growing families, which is why the houses are modest in footprint relative to their architectural ambition. source

The median home sold here was built in 1926. Most of what sells was built between 1923 and 1931. 26% of sales included finished basement space beyond the above-grade footprint - which matters here, because square footage quoted above grade can understate a house considerably.

By property type: Single Family (73).

Addresses here fall in ZIP 64113.

Both columns are medians over the same twelve months, so they are directly comparable.

Because no two houses repeat, comparable sales here depend more on the individual house than in a tract neighborhood - two homes on the same block can differ in plan, materials and period detail.

With a median year built of 1926, most homes here are pre-war stock. None of the following says anything about a specific house - they are the questions worth asking of any home of this age.

• Original systems are the usual question at this age: knob-and-tube wiring if it was never rewired, galvanised or cast-iron supply and waste lines, and plaster over lath rather than drywall.
• Federal law requires the seller to disclose known lead-based paint and give you a ten-day window to test in any home built before 1978 (40 CFR 745.110).
• Foundations of this era are commonly stone or unreinforced block. Worth a specific look rather than a general one.

Deeds written in this era sometimes carry restrictive covenant language relating to race, religion or national origin. Where it appears, it is void and unenforceable in both states, and has been for decades: Missouri directs that such a recital be “ignored, as if the same never existed” source, and Kansas, where such covenants were already unlawful, added a release procedure effective 1 July 2024 source. An owner in either state may record a certificate of release, which does not alter the original document but restates that the covenant cannot be enforced. It is a paperwork question rather than a live restriction - but it is worth recognizing if it surfaces in your title work. What this language is, and how to release it.

Of the 73 homes sold, 1 were 2-bed, 65 were 3-bed, 7 were 4-bed.

Above-grade size ranged from about 1,427 to 2,261 sq ft across the middle 80% of sales, so the median alone understates how much variation there is.

Closings cluster in June, September and May, with 73% of the year's sales closing between April and September. Because closing typically follows the contract by a month or more, listing activity runs earlier than that.

• Ruskin Heights 69 sales
• Marlborough Heights 65 sales
• Woodhaven 53 sales
• Cadence Villas 46 sales
• Somerbrook 45 sales
• Ruskin Hills 45 sales
• Staley Farms 43 sales
• Red Bridge 39 sales
• Gracemor 36 sales
• New Mark 35 sales
• Crestview 35 sales
• Broadland 35 sales
• Fountain Hills 34 sales
• Sherwood Estates 33 sales
• Brooke Hills 33 sales
• Robandee 33 sales
• Platte Ridge 33 sales
• Ward Park 31 sales
• Rockhill Gardens 29 sales
• Romanelli Gardens 29 sales
• North Creek Village 29 sales
• Wildwood West 29 sales
• North Hampton 28 sales
• Randolph Corners North 28 sales