In my monthly Carmel sales reports, Brookshire often shows up as one of the neighborhoods with the most activity. There are several Brookshire neighborhoods, there is North, Villages, Pines and Lakes. Today I want to highlight Brookshire located between 116th to 126th and Gray. You've probably been by it; it has the pillars with the lions at the entrances.
It is an older neighborhood, built mostly in the early 70's. Most of the homes have basements and are four bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. It is a very large neighborhood with nearly 400 homes. The neighborhood has beautiful mature trees and winding roads. It is conveniently located near Brookshire Golf Course.
Currently there are only seven homes available. Five of those are two story homes and the other two are ranch style homes. There are several tri-level homes as well. Most of the homes sell for approximately $100/sq ft. This is one neighborhood that has avoided most of the foreclosure/bank owned homes. Only one sold since January 1, 2009 and it sold for $66/sq ft.
The days on the market average is all over the map and that is probably because some of the homes haven't been updated since the 70's and others have. On the short end, they sell in about 60 days; on the long end, they take over 150 days to sell.
Since January 1, 2009 there have been 12 homes that have sold which is a little better than 1 per month. There are currently seven on the market, so about a six month supply. A balanced market between buyers and sellers is at five months.
The location of Brookshire, the variety of homes and the maturity of the area make this neighborhood very popular for people looking to buy a home for sale in Carmel.
If you have a Fishers home for sale, you undoubtedly have talked about the commissions that will be paid. Whether they are justified or not is certainly a topic of controversy. I could take either side of that depending on who we are talking about as the Realtor.®
I think I'll talk about the expenses first and then give you some ideas on how to negotiate the commission. My time is worth something, to put a dollar amount on it would be difficult. But, there is time involved in scheduling stagers, photographers and sign installation. There is time involved in getting the listing on to MIBOR with profile sheets and numerous forms that need to be copied and entered as well as pictures and tours being loaded. There is time involved in following up with showings, securing various documents for the showing agent (i.e. disclosures, surveys, lead based paint, etc). There is a tremendous amount of time to get the transaction to the closing table, mostly in terms of talking with the appraiser if needed and certainly scheduling contractors for inspection issues.
I also pay for the consultation with the stager, staging (no furniture rental) and the professional photographer to shoot the pictures of the home.
I spend premium dollars with Trulia and Realtor.com as well as others that allow me to showcase your home with more pictures and better positioning. Most Realtors® can feed their listings to various sites, but it costs more to have the premium packages.
You pay for me networking abilities and negotiation skills. I am a more experienced Fishers Realtor® and also had a previous career that was highly visible allowing me to have a very large circle of influence. I typically can sell my own listings because I actively look for buyers for them! You pay me to set your home apart from the others and to get premium dollars. For 2009, I am getting 96% to list price!
This is a nice transition to how you might be able to receive a lower commission from me. If I do bring the buyer, I often will discount the commission. If you buy a home from me once we sell yours, I often will discount the commission. If you are a strong referrer, I will discount the commission. I have one teacher at Indian Creek who has brought me so much business that when it sells, it will be for free on the listing side. I will still have to pay for the agent who brings the buyer.
I hope that helps explain why the commission rate is what it is; contrary to popular belief it is not just for putting the sign in the yard. But, NOT all Realtors® work the same. Ask yours why they are worth their commission or better yet, hire me!
Today, there are 800 homes for sale in Carmel Indiana! If you are thinking about buying one of them, here are five secrets you should know as you begin your search.
Be sure you have spoken to a lender FIRST. There is nothing more disappointing than looking at homes and falling in love with one only to find out you cannot afford it. The general rule of thumb, and I mean "general" is 2 1/2 times your earnings for your mortgage amount. So if you make $100,000 you can mortgage $250,000. Remember you must have at least 3.5% to put down making your purchase price right about $260,000. This of course all depends on your credit and debt ratios. If you need a lender, let me know. I have three that are outstanding in their business and highly responsive.
When looking at homes, play the substance versus style game. Determine what things are important to you BEFORE you start to look at a home. If a big yard is important to you, it is a substance item meaning we cannot change the size of the lot. If you want an open floor plan, that may very well be a style item because moving walls can be done. If you know a home won't work as soon as you walk in, move on. Your time is valuable.
Go by the home you are interested in at different times of the day to understand the neighborhood or traffic patterns for example. If I have a relocation client that is going to work downtown and is looking at a home that must use I69 to reach; I need to be sure they drive that at 5:00 to understand the traffic snarls.
Look at things other than the layout of the home, look at baseboards, in ovens and at the ceilings, especially the registers. How a seller takes care of visible items gives clues to how they takes care of the home in general. If you are buying a used house, which most people do, you want to be sure it is well maintained.
Be sure your Carmel Realtor runs the comparables and analyzes the data to the point that YOU understand it. A price per sq ft is a good starting point, but the history on the property is also important. Things like how long it has been on the market matter. I try to be sure I get a list of any updates to the home for the listing agent (likewise I have this ready for my listings). If possible, know the seller's motivation. If they have already bought a house, they might be more apt to negotiating.
Buying a home for sale in Carmel is easy in some respects, the community has great schools, wonderful events and an amazing appreciation rate on homes. But, you want to be sure you have considered these five points before you start!
As we approach the end of a terrific first time buying season in Fishers Indiana, I wanted to share some information from the IRS on the first time buyers credit.
As you know, unless it is renewed, it will cease to exist on transactions closing after 11/30/09 which means you would have to be under contract by 10/30/09 at the latest. There are a few short weeks, so hopefully this information will be useful if you or someone you know is almost ready to pull the trigger.
I work with many clients looking for a home for sale in Fishers that will fit their needs. These are some of the questions I have heard and the answers.
Q. Can a taxpayer claim the first-time homebuyer credit if the purchase is pursuant to a seller financing arrangement (for example, a contract for deed, installment land sale contract, or long-term land contract), and the seller retains legal title to secure the taxpayer's payment obligations?
A. If the taxpayer obtains the "benefits and burdens" of ownership of a residence in a seller financing arrangement, then the taxpayer can claim the credit even though the seller retains legal title. Factors that indicate that a taxpayer has the benefits and burdens of ownership include: 1. the right of possession, 2. the right to obtain legal title upon full payment of the purchase price, 3. the right to construct improvements, 4. the obligation to pay property taxes, 5. the risk of loss, 6. the responsibility to insure the property and 7. the duty to maintain the property.
Q. A taxpayer owned her principal residence. Several years ago, she decided to relocate to a rented apartment, but did not sell the former residence. Instead, she rented it out to tenants. Now the taxpayer plans to buy another house and make it her new principal residence. Does she qualify for the first-time homebuyer credit?
A. A taxpayer who owned rental property within the past three years is still eligible for the credit. The taxpayer cannot have owned and used a home as his or her principal residence within the last three years.
Q. Taxpayer A is a single first-time home buyer. Taxpayer B (parent) cosigns for A and does not qualify. Both names are on the mortgage. Can Taxpayer A claim the credit and, if so, how much?
A. Yes. Taxpayer B is not a first-time homebuyer and cannot claim any portion of the credit, but A may claim the entire credit ($7,500 for purchase in 2008; $8,000 for purchase in 2009), if the home was purchased as Taxpayer A's primary residence.
There are various other first time home buyers tax creditquestions so please read the full report. I offer first time home buying classes every month at our Fishers office, you can register at our Fishers Real Estate website. I include a home inspector, a lender and then myself to help people understand the process of buying a home. Hope to meet you soon!
Everyone continues to be curious about the Noblesville housing market, so here is the market report for September 30th, 2009. There are currently 658 homes for sale in Noblesville and another 119 are under contract (pended). For the time period January 1, 2009 through Septemer 30th, 2009, the total amount of Noblesville real estate sold is 682 homes versus 754 for the same period in 2008.
Looking at the graph, we can see that in every month but one, 2008 has outperformed 2009.
In the 2009 time period 151 (22%) were distressed properties compared with 114 (15%) in 2008. We are seeing an increase in other parts of Metro Indy as well in this area.
Of the homes that sold, 352 were under $150,000 and 18 were over $500,000. Neighborhoods with the highest number of solds were:
The most expensive home sold this year was in Morse Overlook for $775,000. It had 4800 sq ft and additional 1800 in the finished walk out basement. It was listed and sold in the same day. This is somewhat unusual for the over $500,000 market, the average days on market are well over 100.
If you are thinking about selling your Noblesville home, be sure to contact your Noblesville Realtor. Our team is averaging 59 days on the market in 2009 and our sale price to list price is 96%
When relocating and buying a home for sale in Fishers, the average person can be overwhelmed with the number of great neighborhoods. How can a Fishers Reator® guide her clients without "Steering"? Steering in general means guiding buyers to a particular area based on the desire to keep the makeup of that neighborhood the same or intentionally change it. This isn't restricted to just ethnicity, but also demographically in terms of age or family make up. It is an illegal practice.
There are several tools we give to our buyers to help them discern if a neighborhood is right for them. The first thing I have to do though is listen. A buyer will give me a lot of informaton initially and I need to be able to figure out which pieces of informaton are most important in their search for a home.
For example, if a buyer has small children and wants a lot of children in their neighborhood I tell them to pay particular attention to the number of swingsets in the yards or to visit the home during school bus times.
If a buyer wants a social or active neighborhood, I ask them to drive by on a Saturday and see if people are out. For example in my neighborhood on a Saturday you would see moms walking babies in strollers, older people out for a stroll, a gazillion people walking their dogs and probably a few bikes or runners too.
If a buyer wants a neighborhood that is quiet, I might look at a low maintenance community that offers lawn care services for example. Looking at the amenities a neighborhood offers also might be useful, is their a playground and pool?
If a buyer is concerned about safety and is unfamiliar with our area, I ask them to visit familywatchdog.us to get specific crime statistics for the Fishers home they are interested in.
If a buyer wants a neighborhood with great resale, I pull the statistics for that neighborhood. For example I pull the average price per square foot for 2007, 2008 and 2009 and watch the trend. I look at days on market trending.
Lately, another statistic I am pulling for neighborhoods is the number of distressed properties (i.e. bank owned or foreclosure).
So, while I cannot "steer" people to a neighborhood of "my choice"; I can offer suggestions and data to help my buyers understand what is available that matches what is important to them. But again, it begins with listening. I'm all ears for you!
This is the monthly Carmel Real Estate Report card. There are currently 822 homes for sale in Carmel Indiana, which is down slightly from last month. Before we talk about the month; let's just recap the first three quarters of 2009.
There have been 906 homes that have sold/closed since January 1, 2009. If we look at the absorption rate, that means about 100 homes sell each month. If we have 822 homes for sale currently in Carmel; we have an 8 month supply of homes. Now, of course this is a very general calculation; if your home were for sale you would want to do the absorption rate for either your specific neighborhood or for the price range you are in to more definitely focus on similar homes. Neighborhoods and price points do vary the calculations.
For September 2009, there were 113 homes that sold, so somewhat better than the average of 100. For the same time period in 2008, there were 105 homes. So 2009 sold more than 2008 for the first time this year! That is awesome news.
The highest priced home that sold in Carmel was $1,006,325 in Grandin Hall which is built by Estridge. It was a 2009 home with 4,400 sq ft and an additional 2,600 in the finished basement. The lowest priced home sold for $85,000 in Homeplace.
The neighborhoods were very diverse, with several neighborhoods having three or four sales this month. Those were Concord Village, Brookshire, Village at Weston and the Village of West Clay.
There were 15 condo's in the 113 homes that sold in Carmel; so to get an accurate price per sq ft and days on market, I've excluded them. The average price per sq ft is $109 and the average days on market were 71. The stats for the Marchant Team are 59 days on the market and our sale price to list price is 96%, so if you are thinking about selling please give this Carmel Realtor the opportunity to win your business.
The amount of homes for sale in Fishers remains fairly constant at around 750; currently there are 773 homes for sale. This blog post is to talk about the sales in September and also look at the full month by month report for 2009 for Fishers Real Estate.
For September, there were 129 homes that sold compared with 172 in September of 2008. This is a 25% decline.
The most popular neighborhoods were Sunblest, South Avalon, and Sandstone. Of the 129 homes that sold 49 of them or 38% were in the $150,000 to $250,000 price point with only 15 homes over $350,000.
The average price per square foot was $93 and the average days on market were 71. (The Marchant Team days on market for 2009 is averaging only 59!)
The most expensive home that sold in Fishers was $2,625,000 in Breakwater with over 14,000 square feet and on 3 acres! The most inexpensive home was for $65,000 near 113th and Florida road with only 1,152 square feet.
The last two months (July and August) we have thrown out the possibility that we have "borrowed" buyers in the earlier months of the year. I think September continues to show that trend.
The other possibility is that in September of last year, the zero % financing ended so many buyers quickly purchased before that funding was sunset in the July-September timeframe.
Next month should be an interesting bar on our graph to substantiate one of these hypothesis.
Another trend we are watching is the distressed property numbers. This month there were 21 of the 129 or 16% that were distressed.
Last year for the month there were only 9 or 5%. I have six closings this month and 4 of them are with a distressed property.
Remember if you are needing to sell your home and think you may be upside down or you are looking to buy a distressed property, this Fishers Realtor is very educated and savvy on those types of sales.
There are some great Halloween events planned for Carmel residents! While October is a great month to purchase one of the 826 homes for sale in Carmel Indiana, it is also a great month to get out and enjoy our Indiana cool weather.
The Carmel Clay Parks has many events! If you have kids that like to color, they can pick up a coloring sheet at the Monon Center or at the website and submit it by October 23rd to be entered to win a prize. The artwork will be judged in age groups of 0-2; 3-5; 6-8 and 9-12 years old.
The Pumpkinfest will be on Saturday, October 24th from 12-4 and is FREE. You can purchase a pumpkin, enjoy a hayride and create a scarecrow!
There will be pumpkin decorating on October 17th from 2-3; pumpkins are $10.00 each.
There is a Pumpkin Patch Festival from 10-1 at the Clarian North facility at 11700 N Meridian. There will a bounce house, petting zoo, face painting, clowns and balloons for the kids. Costumes are encouraged!
For other events around town; check out these sites:
It's October and time to give you my Top Halloween Spot pics! From the hundreds of clicks on my Easter Egg Hunt post, I know many of you follow the blog to find out what's happening in and around the Fishers area as well as staying up to date on the Fishers Real Estate market. Just as an update, today there are 782 homes for sale in Fishers!
I think the Children's Museum is one of the best places to take your kids anytime of year! But at Halloween, they have the Tomb of Doom. From October 16th through the 31st, kids can wear their costumes and explore the Egyptian labyrinth of fun including the Desert of Despair, Vile Nile and Pyramid of Peril as they search for the Lost Mummy! There is a lights on version during the day for this event also.
The Indianapolis Zoo has their Halloween ZooBoo every weekend starting the 16th - Oct 30th. The zoo stays open late with the animals on exhibit. There is a hay maze, monster music, pumpkin bowling, a haunted train ride and trick or treat stations.
Something fun to do any time this fall is a visit to Tuttles Orchard where you can go on a hayride, weave your way through the four acre family friendly corn maze or pick your pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. You can also pick over 22 varieties of apples!
One of the most popular events for Fisher Home Owners is the Headless Horseman at Conner Prairie. The cost is $9 or $13 depending on the day of the week you go. There is storytelling, crafts, live music, and a nightly staging of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" complete with hayride.
There are so many other great Halloween events including:
The 37th annual Pumpkin Harvest Festival in Noblesville is a great choice and available during October.
There is a Pumpkin Patch Festival from 10-1 at the Clarian North facility at 11700 N Meridian. There will a bounce house, petting zoo, face painting, clowns and balloons for the kids. Costumes are encouraged!
So, have a great October enjoying the events, have some warm cider, pumpkin bread and please continue to come back and read about Fishers Real Estate, Events and Happenings!
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
ir business and highly responsive. 
As we approach the end of a terrific first time buying season in Fishers Indiana, I wanted to share some information from the IRS on the first time buyers credit. 
There are several tools we give to our buyers to help them discern if a neighborhood is right for them. The first thing I have to do though is listen. A buyer will give me a lot of informaton initially and I need to be able to figure out which pieces of informaton are most important in their search for a home.
For September 2009, there were 113 homes that sold, so somewhat better than the average of 100. For the same time period in 2008, there were 105 homes. So 2009 sold more than 2008 for the first time this year! That is awesome news. 
For September, there were 129 homes that sold compared with 172 in September of 2008. This is a 25% decline. 
k will be judged in age groups of 0-2; 3-5; 6-8 and 9-12 years old.
I think the Children's Museum is one of the best places to take your kids anytime of year! But at Halloween, they have the 
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