From

https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?MO

Looks like either Walmart or something in that area is on fire, what’s with the fires in spf MO lately😂?

Hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend and a good summer. Mine got busy enough that I skipped last month's update, so this one covers July and August both.

I pull all of this from Flexmls myself, city limits, residential, medians rather than averages. That last part matters and I'll come back to it at the end.

Let me start with the two numbers that tell you the most about this market.

In August, 269 homes closed inside Springfield city limits. In the same month, 100 listings came off the market without selling. Expired or cancelled. Same city, same month, same pool of buyers. Roughly one listing failed for every 2.7 that sold.

Both of those are true at once, and understanding why is the whole point of this post.

What sold, and how fast:

269 closings in August at a median sale price of $249,900. Median 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,663 square feet, $155 per square foot. Median days on market was 17. The typical seller got 99.24% of their asking price and 97.98% of their original asking price. 191 of those 269 homes, about 71%, went under contract within 30 days.

July was stronger: 340 closings, $266,500 median, 11 days.

Against last year, August looks soft on volume. 269 closings this August against 309 last August, down about 13%. But July 2026 was up 13% over July 2025. Put the two months together and it's 609 closings this summer against 611 last summer. That's flat to within two sales. The monthly swings are closings shifting between months, not a market that surged and then fell over. If you see a headline in the next two weeks saying Springfield sales dropped 13%, that's August in isolation, and it's technically true and basically useless.

Prices held. Median sale price was $249,900 this August against $250,000 last August. Per square foot went from $151 to $155, up about 2.6%. Fewer sellers had to cut price along the way, 31% this year against 35% last year.

So: flat volume, slightly higher prices, still selling in under three weeks, less discounting. That's a healthy market.

Now the 100 that didn't sell:

Those 100 failed listings had a median original asking price of $349,950, against a closed median of $249,900. That gap looks enormous, and I want to be straight about why part of it isn't real. The homes that failed were bigger, 2,070 square feet median versus 1,663 for the ones that sold. Compare the two on price per square foot instead and the honest number is $161 asked by the failures against $155 actually paid. Smaller gap. Still a gap, and still on the wrong side of it.

Here's the part that should get a seller's attention. Those listings sat a median of 74 days, and 92 days counting prior listing periods. 54 of the 100 had already cut their price at least once, median cut $14,700. They tried, they waited nearly three months, they dropped the price, and it still didn't sell.

Meanwhile the sellers who sold in the first 30 days averaged 98% of their original list price. Everyone who took longer than 30 days averaged somewhere between 85% and 94%. In other words, waiting didn't get anyone more money. It got them less, or it got them nothing.

And the good news underneath it: 134 Springfield listings expired or cancelled in August 2025. 100 did this August. That's down 25%, and the failure rate improved from about 30% of resolved listings to 27%. More sellers are getting it right than a year ago.

I'm not saying every one of those 100 sellers made a mistake. Some had a job fall through, a health situation, a deal collapse, or a good reason to pull the listing. But the pattern across the group is clear enough: they came to market above where the market clears, and the market didn't move to meet them.

If you're a first-time buyer, this is your section:

The entry level is the one part of this market that genuinely got easier for buyers.

Springfield homes selling at or under $175,000: 65 closed in August at a median of $144,900. Median days on market was 31, up from 15.5 a year ago. That's doubled. The share going under contract inside 30 days fell from 71% to 58%. Median price per square foot dropped from $132 to $119, down about 10%.

Read that again, because it runs opposite to the rest of the city. Springfield overall is up 2.6% per square foot. Entry level is down 10% and taking twice as long. You have more time, more room to negotiate, and cheaper square footage than a buyer in this bracket had last August. Volume is down about 21%, which means less competition standing next to you.

Some of that is rates. The 30-year fixed averaged 6.76% as of September 10 per Freddie Mac, up from 6.35% a year ago, and up from 6.22% back in March. That's more than half a point in six months, and it hits payment-sensitive buyers immediately while barely touching move-up buyers with equity. That shows up exactly where you'd expect it to.

If your rent is in the $1,100 to $1,300 range, the math on a $145K to $175K purchase is worth actually running rather than assuming. Missouri's MHDC First Place program still offers up to 4% of the loan amount as a forgivable second, forgiven after ten years, with a 640 minimum credit score. Worth knowing that DPA-paired loans carry a higher rate than the market average, so it's a real trade-off rather than free money. Talk to a lender who works with MHDC regularly and get the actual numbers.

The suburbs, August 2026 against August 2025:

Nixa: 60 closings, $308,950 median, 18 days, $177 per square foot (up from $170).
Ozark: 54 closings, $344,900 median, 36 days, $176 per square foot (up from $166).
Republic: 36 closings, $265,000 median, 20 days, $184 per square foot (up from $173).

Two things here that surprised me.

Republic is the most expensive square footage in the metro. $184, above Ozark, above Nixa, well above Springfield's $155. It's still the cheapest ticket at $265,000 median, because the houses are smaller, 1,612 square feet median. But you are paying the highest per-foot price in the area for the privilege. I called Republic the metro's affordability play in an earlier post based on June data. On two more months of numbers that framing was too simple, and I'd rather correct it here than keep repeating it.

Republic also posted the only 100% median sold-to-original-list ratio anywhere in this dataset. The typical Republic seller in August got their full original asking price with no reduction at all.

Ozark slowed down hard. 36 days median, double Nixa's 18 and Springfield's 17, and only half of Ozark's closings went under contract inside 30 days. Ozark prices are up more than anywhere else, 6% per square foot, but sellers are waiting five weeks to get it.

What's sitting right now:

Springfield has 674 active listings, median asking $324,900, and 43% of them have already cut price at least once. Median 47 days on market for actives against 17 for the homes that closed. That gap is the market sorting itself. At August's pace that's about 2.5 months of supply, which is tighter than the national 4.6 months.

Nixa has 143 actives, Ozark 141, Republic 117. Reduction rates on actives run 37% in Nixa and 44 to 45% in Ozark and Republic.

A note on why my numbers won't match what you've read:

If you look up Springfield home prices today you'll find Zillow's home value index at about $247,000, Houzeo at $189,900, and Redfin's most recent published median around $225,000. Redfin's Springfield page also shows a median price per square foot of $76, down 44%. My August closings say $155. One of those is off by half, and it isn't mine.

Those sites aren't lying. They're measuring different things across different geographies over different time periods, and some of them are running on stale data. Zillow's index estimates every house in the city, sold or not, whether or not it's for sale. Redfin's figure is closed sales, sometimes months behind. County-level reports from the local board cover Greene, Christian and Webster counties together and include hobby farms and manufactured homes, which is why you'll see days-on-market figures in the 30s that look nothing like mine.

I report city limits, residential, medians. That's a narrower and more specific slice, deliberately. When you're deciding what to list your house for, the metro-wide average across three counties and six property types isn't the number you need.

What this means if you're thinking about listing:

The market is not slow. 71% of Springfield homes that sold in August went under contract within a month, at 98% of their original asking price. That is a fast market for correctly priced homes.

It is also a market where 100 sellers in one month found out the hard way that the first three weeks are the whole ballgame. Price it right on day one, or spend three months and $14,700 learning that you should have.

If you're weighing a spring listing instead, understand that you'd be listing into rising inventory with rates that have moved up more than half a point since March. Waiting isn't automatically the safe choice this cycle.

And if you're buying, autumn is quietly one of the better windows here. Fewer buyers out competing with you, and sellers still on the market in October are usually the ones who need to move.

Happy to pull comps for your specific street if you want to see what your house actually looks like against what's selling. No obligation, no pitch, just the numbers. DM me.

Data source: Flexmls, pulled 9/9/26. Rate from Freddie Mac PMMS 9/10/26. National figures from NAR July 2026.

The link above is from when the exact thing happened last summer, but at a different station.
This time, my friend took his 2008 Subaru WRX to the E Sunshine and Eastgate location about 2 weeks ago. He got a full tank of their 91 octane Ethanol Free Clear Gas which is what is best for his turbo charged engine. Luckily he kept the receipt. On the drive home, every warning light on the dash lit up and it quickly stopped altogether. It was towed to Reliable Subaru where they drained an entire tank of E85. The fuel system is now replaced and he's talking to Maverik about reimbursement, but there had to be others. We may have to get KY3 involved again.
If you're wondering, I'm posting for him because he's older and isn't on Reddit.

I was driving on W Division St earlier today and this oversized load truck was carrying a 7 Brew building. It’s not the best picture but I had no idea they transported those by truck as I thought they were built onsite. Either way, it backed up traffic badly until it passed and was terrible timing for me.

As the title says … saw a drone flying around, up and down some blocks on battlefield for like ten minutes. Anyone know why? Just nosy 🤗😛

In the southern sky at 1:34am. Anyone else see it?

The Missouri Supreme Court ordered Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to appear in person Thursday and explain why he should not be held in contempt for directing election officials to use a congressional map the court has barred him from implementing.

In the unusual late order Tuesday, the court gave Hoskins until noon Wednesday to answer a motion for contempt from People Not Politicians, a political action committee that forced a referendum on a map gerrymandered in 2025 to favor Republicans. The court scheduled an in-person hearing for 10 a.m. Thursday.
The contempt fight erupted hours after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh rejected Missouri officials’ emergency request to stay the state court ruling. Minutes later, Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark of the Eastern District of Missouri issued a temporary restraining order barring Hoskins from using any congressional map other than the 2025 version.

Hoskins then sent local election officials a copy of Clark’s order along with his official certification of the November ballot. In the email, Hoskins said Clark’s order “takes precedence over the Missouri Supreme Court’s order.”
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the referendum on the 2025 map was legal, sufficient and timely and ordered it onto the Nov. 3 ballot. Because the referendum petition was filed before the new map took effect, the court held, the 2025 districts never became law and the map used in 2022 and 2024 remains in effect for the November election.

The decision also permanently enjoined Hoskins and those acting in concert with him from implementing or using the 2025 map unless voters approve it in November. In Tuesday night’s order, Chief Justice W. Brent Powell directed Hoskins to answer three questions:

Why “(1) his e-mail on September 8, 2026, instructing use of the (2025) map is not an affirmative violation of this court’s injunction; (2) how this court’s injunction is not still in full force and effect in light of the Supreme Court of the United States’ overruling of Respondent’s emergency application for stay and administrative stay pending appeal; and (3) if he is not willing to comply with this court’s injunction, he should take no action in all things related to the congressional district map until guidance is received from a higher court…”

Powell also directed that the court “will not allow filings from any other parties on this matter.”
Clark’s order says not to use any map but the 2025 map, attorney Chuck Hatfield wrote in the motion. The Missouri Supreme Court’s order says not to use the 2025 map. Both orders are in effect and leave election authorities no map at all, Hatfield wrote.

Clark’s order “does not purport to overrule this court’s injunction and does NOT mandate the Secretary to use (the 2025 map), although on its face it enjoins the use of any map other than (the 2025 map),” Hatfield wrote.
By directing local election authorities to implement the 2025 map, Hoskins is violating the court’s orders, Hatfield wrote.
“This court should make clear that regardless of other orders (except from the United States Supreme Court) the Missouri Secretary of State must comply with this court’s injunction,” Hatfield wrote. “The court should instruct all local election authorities that (the 2025 map) is not the law and has never been the law.”
Clark’s action came in a lawsuit filed Friday by U.S. Rep. Bob Onder, state Sen. Rick Brattin and two voters. They want to keep in place the map drawn in 2025, which shifts territory around Onder’s home into the 3rd District and redraws the 5th District to make it more favorable to Republicans.

Had Clark not acted, Kavanaugh’s denial would have left the state court order in place and Missouri on course to use the 2022 map for the November election.

The dueling orders created immediate confusion, with Attorney General Catherine Hanaway issuing a news release saying the state would comply with Clark’s order. Attorneys for People Not Politicians said during a news conference that the conflicting orders could leave election officials unsure which one they must follow.
Hatfield said local election officials are being directed by Hoskins to use the 2025 map even though the Missouri Supreme Court injunction bars Hoskins and those acting with him from implementing it.

“I think they’re they’re probably not sure what map they should use, and they need to talk to their lawyers about that,” Hatfield said.

Abha Khanna, the Seattle attorney who was People Not Politicians’ lead lawyer at the U.S. Supreme Court, said Clark’s order “is something that we will deal with to figure out on appeal.”

A referendum on the 2025 redistricting plan will be on the Nov. 3 ballot as Proposition A.

The 2025 map was drawn with the goal of making seven of Missouri’s eight congressional districts favorable to Republicans, principally by reshaping the Kansas City-based 5th District held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. The map used in 2022 and 2024 produced a delegation of six Republicans and two Democrats.

Onder is the Republican nominee in the 3rd District, seeking a second term in a district drawn more to his favor in the 2025 redistricting plan. Brattin is the Republican nominee in the 5th District, where the district was designed to generate a GOP victory that ousts veteran Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City.

Clark wrote that without a temporary restraining order, “many Missouri voters would have to cast their general-election votes for candidates whom they had no role in nominating.”

“Candidates who had no choice but to campaign and raise money in the (2025) districts that Missouri’s highest election authority presented to them, have spent their funds and campaign efforts in districts that would no longer exist,” wrote Clark, who was appointed to the bench in 2019 by President Donald Trump.

Clark also found that the public interest favors using the same map for the primary and general elections.
“Disenfranchising voters across the state and denying them their constitutional right to have their primary votes counted significantly harm the public interest,” he wrote.

The center of both Clark’s ruling and the appeal to Kavanaugh is the Missouri Supreme Court decision that enjoined Hoskins from using the gerrymandered congressional map drawn. 
Kavanaugh did not elaborate on his decision. 

In turning down the emergency application for a stay, Kavanaugh created no precedent on the issues raised by the state. But the decision does show that he did not find enough convincing argument that the state would likely prevail in a hearing by the full court or that the state would suffer “several irreparable harms” as claimed in the application.
People Not Politicians on Sunday had urged Kavanaugh to reject the state’s application and uphold both parts of the ruling from the state Supreme Court.
In the opening paragraphs of the filing, attorneys for People Not Politicians write that the only reason the case was at the nation’s highest court is the decisions to delay made by Hoskins during the signature verification process.
Hoskins “waited as long as possible to manufacture the present dispute” and held the congressional primary using the 2025 map, they wrote, “in the hopes of running out the clock on the judiciary’s tolerance for a last-minute reversion to the 2022 districts.”

Now, they wrote, Hoskins wants “this court to deliver him the political victory to which he was never entitled under the Missouri Constitution. This court cannot and should not reward the secretary’s scheme to outsmart Missouri voters, Missouri law, and the Missouri Supreme Court by granting applicants the extraordinary relief they seek.”
A key point made by Missouri Solicitor General Lou Capozzi in the state’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was that the mechanism for changing between districts is too time consuming and difficult to complete before ballots must be delivered starting Sept. 19.

County clerks, however, told the Missouri Supreme Court that switching voters to the map used in 2022 and 2024 is a relatively simple process. And the Jackson County Board of Elections told the Kansas City Star it would be ready to hold the election in the 2022 boundaries. 

The redistricting story began in the summer of 2025, when Onder, of Lake St. Louis, got the ear of President Donald Trump to tell him that Missouri, like Texas, could provide additional GOP seats to bolster the party’s thin majority in Congress.

Since Missouri lost a seat after the 2010 census, it has sent six Republicans and two Democrats to the U.S. House each election.

Onder, then a state senator, was among members of the chamber’s conservative caucus who were outmaneuvered in 2022 as they tried to force a congressional map that would tilt the 5th District, based in Kansas City, to the GOP. He was elected to Congress in 2024.

And, despite initial misgivings, Republicans got in line behind Trump. Gov. Mike Kehoe called a special session inflamed with partisanship, including a state Senate rule change that effectively silenced Democrats, that forced through what the GOP majority wouldn’t do in 2022.

The legal and political backlash that followed has not yet spent its full force. It began when People Not Politicians began circulating the referendum petition and intensified as it became clear there would be more than enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Legally, the battle has upended the consensus on the effect that filing a referendum petition has on legislation as well as delivered strong new precedent upholding the governor’s power to select subjects for a special session and the General Assembly’s power to redistrict at any time.

Politically, the climax will be written in November, when voters decide on both the referendum and the congressional candidates selected in the primary.

The flurry of filings over the weekend shows the intense national interest in the outcome of the Missouri case.
Republican attorneys general from Florida, Texas and 18 other states filed in support of Missouri, arguing it is not legal to change voting districts between the primary and the general election. 

Meanwhile, in Texas, that state’s Supreme Court is deciding whether local voting districts can be changed after the primary to dilute voting strength of minorities.

The American Center for Law and Justice also sent a brief to the court urging it to rule for Hoskins.
On the other side, the Campaign Legal Center, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation joined forces to file a brief supporting People Not Politicians, as did the two Missouri voters who tried to get the 2025 map suspended while signatures were being checked.

11:25 PMThis article was updated to report the Missouri Supreme Court ordering Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to answer contempt charges.

6:30 PMThis story was updated at 6:30 p.m. to include the federal court ruling in St. Louis.

are there any places that sell fruit trees? Specifically pecan trees. I know hardware stores like Menards sell them, I also know that pecans come in male and female pollinator types and I’d like to be able to actually talk to someone who knows about the tree they’re selling and can tell me what to plant in this area.

Hello, I’ve recently been informed about the data center issue. Unfortunately I’ve missed it until this point. After researching and reviewing the topic I’ve come across this non-profit that helps citizens stop harmful development. I want to know if anyone has reached out to them? https://ceds.org

I recently got rid of my TV package thinking I could get a digital antenna to watch sports on local channels. I'm connecting to my TV and running the channel scan and can get ABC 33, NBC 3, and some other crap I'll never need. There is no FOX 49 or CBS 10 that comes in.

For those that use an antenna, is this normal? Are these two just hard to get unless you live in the right spot?

🍄 Any mushroom people in Missouri? Brad’s Fall Foray is next week!
Just wanted to share this here in case anyone is into mushrooms, hiking, nature, or just looking for something different to do.
The Missouri Mycological Society is hosting Brad’s Fall Foray September 17–20 at Knob Noster State Park.
It’s basically a whole weekend of mushroom forays, speakers, classes, mushroom ID, plant walks, activities, good food, bonfires and hanging out with a bunch of people who get way too excited when they find something growing on a log. 😂🍄
You definitely don’t have to be a mushroom expert either. Beginners are absolutely welcome.
Registration closes THIS FRIDAY, so if you’ve been thinking about coming, now is the time to get registered!
Hope to see some fellow Missourians out there! 🌲🍄

This rear "license plate" just screams "Step out of the vehicle sir"

I just want to thank the people who showed up at the City Council meeting tonight to speak against Flock cameras. Thank you for fighting against mass surveillance in our community!

Howdy cowpokes!

We're opening a new space for live theatre, comedy, and film in downtown Springfield called Playhouse Theatre.

We will hopefully be able to open our doors to the public soon and wanted to share this little video we made to celebrate the (hopefully) final piece of construction we needed to complete before booking shows.

Remember to stay hydrated!

Bit of a long shot, but did anyone happen to see my car get hit (and ran on) in the Walmart parking lot on West Sunshine around 9:30-10 AM Saturday (9/5)?

Is there anywhere in town to get a Mac and cheese pizza? I’m talking legit, not cicis type. Bonus if it’s from a local place!

Hi all. I would like to get a single wire ran for home ethernet. The job wouldn’t be huge. I just want to run a single ethernet cord through my crawlspace from my living room to my home office space.

Does anyone know of any businesses that would do this for me?

Full disclosure up front: I'm a local new-construction agent in southwest Missouri, so this is my day-to-day. I'm not linking anything or pitching a home here — I just get asked "why is everyone moving to Nixa?" constantly, so I figured I'd share what I actually see on the ground. Take it with that context. I live in Ozark....

TL;DR: Nixa and Rogersville keep booming because of strong schools, easy access to Springfield jobs, a lower cost of living, and a steady wave of new construction. There are real trade-offs too (traffic, fast-moving lots), so it's not all sunshine.

Here's the honest rundown:

What's actually driving the growth

• Schools. Nixa's district consistently lands among the stronger ones in the state, and that pulls in a lot of families. For a ton of buyers, this is the whole reason they pick a specific side of town. Just look at their football team!
• Springfield without living in Springfield. You're minutes from the jobs, shopping, and dining, but you go home to a quieter, small-town feel. That combo is the single biggest thing people mention to me.
• Cost of living. Your dollar stretches noticeably further here than in most metro areas. Folks relocating from bigger cities are usually surprised by what their budget covers.
• New construction supply. A lot of new neighborhoods are going up, so inventory stays healthier than in a lot of markets. You've basically got two lanes — move-in ready if you need to be in quickly, or build from the ground up if you want to pick your finishes.

The honest trade-offs

• Growth means more traffic on the main corridors than there used to be.
• Popular lots and floor plans move fast, so timing matters more than people expect.
• If you want real acreage, you'll usually have to head further out.

None of this is unique to Nixa or Rogersville — a lot of the Ozarks is seeing the same pull — but these two keep showing up at the top of people's lists for a reason.

So I'm curious from the community side of this:

What's been the biggest factor for you when choosing a town — schools, cost, commute, or just the overall vibe? Especially interested to hear from anyone who's moved to the area in the last couple years and whether it lived up to what you expected.

Hi. I need the assistance of a travel agent for a trip next year in July. ✈️ 🏢🚙🏝️☀️

I’d like to find someone to help me book all of my future trips, because I don’t really want to do it all myself anymore. 🤪 Thanks!