Indianapolis Real Estate News And Information From HomeToIndy.com

There are currently 7620 homes for sale in Indianapolis in Marion County. Sales were up in December compared to November, with 100 more homes sold in December.

There were 803 homes sold in December which represents 10.5% of the current inventory.

Last month sales equaled 8.8% of the inventory.

For the month of December, there were 7 homes sold and closed in Danville compared to 9 homes sold in November. Of the 9 homes sold in November, 1 home was a distressed property sales.

• The average price of all homes sold in Danville was $121,128
• The Median price of homes sold was $145,000.
• The highest price home sold was $160,000.
• The lowest priced home sold was $25,000.
• The average Danville home sold was a three bedroom, two bath with 1685 sq. ft.

The average Days on Market for homes sold was 102 days, up from 100 days in November. There are currently 90 available homes for sale in Danville, which gives us an absorption rate of 10.0 months.

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There were no single family homes sold in Eagle Creek in December. There are currently 22 homes available for sale in Eagle Creek, ranging in price from $194,899 to 1,275,000.

There were two condo sales at Cobblestone:

• One was a two bedroom, one and a half bath with one car garage and 1211 square feet, sold for $68,000. The other was a two bedroom, one and a half bath with a 2 car garage and 1365 square foot, which sold for $118,900

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Statistics were obtained from the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors (MIBOR) data and are representative of ...

For the month of December, there were 17 homes sold and closed in Plainfield compared to 27 homes sold in November. Of the 17 homes sold in December, 5 were homes which were distressed sales; all bank owned sales.

• The average price of all homes sold in Plainfield was $149,814.
• The Median price was not provided.
• The highest price home sold was $430,000.
• The lowest priced home sold was $54,900.
• The average Brownsburg home sold was a three bedroom, two bath with 1863 sq. ft.

The average Days on Market for homes sold was 87 days, down from 121 days last month. The highest priced home sold in Plainfield was a new built home in Providence Estates, featuring four bedrooms, four baths, a three car garage, finished basement and 4410 square feet of living space.

The lowest priced home sold was a 2 bedroom, 2 bath home with a 1 car...

For the month of December, there were 5 homes sold and closed in Traders Point compared to 10 homes sold in October. Of the 15 homes sold in December, 3 homes were distressed property sales.

• The average price of all homes sold in Traders Point was $157,480
• The Median Price of homes sold was $195,000
• The highest price home sold was $310,000.
• The lowest priced home sold was $62,000.
• The average Traders Point home sold was a three bedroom, three bath with 2754 sq. ft.

The average Days on Market for homes sold was 123 days, down from 137 days last month.

The highest priced home sold in Traders Point was a 4 bedroom, 6 bath home in Huntington Estates. The home featured a finsihed badement, 3 car garge and 4333 square foot of living space.

The lowest priced home sold was a three bedroom, two bath, bank owned property with 1522 square foot,...

For the month of December, there were 83 homes sold and closed in Fishers compared to 75 homes sold in November. Of the 75 homes sold in December, 6 homes were distressed property sales.

• The average price of all homes sold in Fishers was $213,062.
• The highest price home sold was $1,175,000..
• The lowest priced home sold was $101,000.
• The average Fishers home sold was a three bedroom, two bath with 2274 sq. ft.

The average Days on Market for homes sold was 82 days, down from 84 days last month.

The highest priced home sold in Fishers was a 5 bedroom, 8 bath new built home at The Horizon. Featuring a finished walk out basement, home theatre room, 4 car garage and 9289 square feet of living space.

The lowest priced home sold was a three bedroom, two and a half bath home in Brooks Chase, with a 2 car garage and 1808 square feet.

There...

For the month of December, there were 90 homes sold and closed in Carmel compared to 64 homes sold in November. Of the 90 homes sold in December, 15 homes were distressed property sales.

• The average price of all homes sold in Carmel was $341,942.
• There are no figures for Median price.
• The highest price home sold was $1,615,000.
• The lowest priced home sold was $46,000.
• The average Carmel home sold was a three bedroom, three bath with 2765 sq. ft.

The average Days on Market for homes sold was 86 days, up from 74 days last month.

The highest priced home sold in Carmel in December was a country estate located at 106^th and Meridian. The home featured six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a finished walkout basement, 4 car garage and 10,189 square feet of lving space.

The lowest priced home was a bank owned home with 964 square foot home. Located...

For the month of December, there were 26 homes sold and closed in Zionsville compared to 15 homes sold in November. There were no distressd property sales in Zionsville in December.

• The average price of all homes sold in Zionsville was $334,738.
• The Median price was $233,597.
• The highest price home sold was $2.067,000.
• The lowest priced home sold was $110,000.
• The average Zionsville home sold was a three bedroom, three bath with 2477 sq. ft.

The average Days on Market for homes sold was 111 days, up from 85 days last month.

The highest priced home sold in Zionsville was a 20 room estate home in Willow Ridge, featuring 5 bedroom, 7 bathrooms, with 8281 square foot, a finished basement, and a 4 car garage, on 2.2 wooded acres.

The lowest priced home sold was a two bedroom, 1 bath home with 1212 square foot, a two car garage. The home is not in a subdivision...

For the month of December, there were 40 homes sold and closed in Brownsburg compared to 35 homes sold in November. Of the 40 homes sold in December, 8 were homes which were distressed sales; 7 were bank owned and 1 was sold as a short sale.

• The average price of all homes sold in Brownsburg was $154,825.
• The Median price was $139,450.
• The highest price home sold was $341,484.
• The lowest priced home sold was $62,900.
• The average Brownsburg home sold was a three bedroom, two bath with 2007 sq. ft.

The average Days on Market for homes sold was 78 days, up from 60 days last month.

Median days on market was 59 days.

The highest priced home sold in Brownsburg was a four bedroom, three bath home with a three car garage, unfinished basement on a nine acre private nature reserve, located in Rivers Edge.

The lowest priced home sold was a three bedroom, 2...

For the month of December, there were 46 homes sold and closed in Avon, compared to 49 homes sold in November. Of the 46 homes sold in November, 17 were homes which were distressed sales; 17 were bank owned and none were sold as a short sale.

• The average price of all homes sold in Avon was $162,378
• The Median price was $135,000.
• The highest price home sold was $413,805.
• The lowest priced home sold was $78,403.
• The average Avon home sold was a three bedroom, two bath with 2252 square feet.

The average Days on Market for homes sold was 68 days, down from 92 days last month.

There are currently 380 homes available for sale in Avon, which gives us an absorption rate of 8.2 months.

The highest price home sold in Avon was a new build by Drees Homes in Woodcreek Crossing, featuring 4 bedrooms, three baths, a finished basement, a three car garage and 5227 square...

Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) announced a much anticipated drop in their rates. Okay, it may only be me who was anticipating it; somehow, I think not. In October, Indiana Housing rates started moving up and have remained at 7.25% since October 28^th.

Starting today, the rates have dropped to 6.25%. Although the rate is a bit higher than the current FHA rate, Indiana Housing allows down payment assistance for first time home buyers in Indiana.

The First Home Plus program provides up to 5% down payment assistance, capped at $3500.00, as a interest free loan. It’s not as complicated as it sounds. There are some ...

The Call

Today, a real estate investor called me to ask about a home for sale, which he thought I was the agent for. I don’t have the home listed, he was using my Indianapolis Homes search site to find homes and assumed I was the listing agent. I wasn’t, but helped him find the address he was looking for. He begins to tell me he has been an investor for about 6 months working on wholesaling properties and does some private lending. He has a few homes he can’t get leased, so he is thinking about doing short sales on them. 

Lease Options

Here’s the deal – he doesn’t know what he is doing! He has a lease option on several homes, which he is trying to find a lessee for. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to. How does this happen? He finds someone who is behind on their payments, then contracts with them for a lease/option agreement. He then finds someone else who will lease option the home from him. But the home and mortgage are still...

When a homeowner sells his home and decides to buy a new one, there are 3 basic options for the residence -- sell it, keep it, or rent it. Unfortunately, no matter which path they choose, move-up home buyers in need of a new conforming mortgage will find qualifying for a home loan to be more difficult this season than in the past. Mortgage guidelines are dramatically tighter for people 'carrying two mortgages'. Among the changes this spring's buyers face:

Selling the primary residence If you plan to close on your new home prior to the closing of your existing home -- even if it's only by a day -- both payments must be listed as monthly debts on your mortgage application. This will disqualify the majority of home buyers.

Converting your residence to a second home If your current home has less than 30 percent equity in it, your mortgage application for the new home will not be approved unless you can show 6...

Low interest rates have created an upsurge in the number of homeowners looking to refinance their homes. I don’t have an opinion either way, as I believe it is a personal financial decision everyone needs to make for themselves.

Once you have considered the cost of title insurance, closing costs and lender costs; weigh the difference in monthly payments against the length of time you plan to stay in your home, it may make sense for some, while others may not fare as well.

If you do decide to refinance your home, please be sure to file your mortgage exemptions again. There are some counties in and around Indianapolis where the title company will file the exemptions for you. Other counties, you are required to go file yourself.

Make sure you know when you leave the title company whether they will be filing for you, or if you must do it yourself.

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Are Your Tax Exemptions...

Ever wonder why words packaged in threes make more sense. I don’t have the answer, but the title would not sound the same if I stopped at two. Now that’s out of the way – here’s the start for the NUMBERS. By the end of the weekend, I hope to have my monthly and yearly compulations posted.

These numbers are for all of Indianapolis area served by our local real estate board for the month of December. Once I have all areas complete, we will see how the numbers change for different areas and towns.

Number of Transactions – Properties Sold

Current Month: 1,382

One month change: -19.88%

One year change: -29.24%

Active Inventory

Current Month: 18,040

One Month Change: -10.34%

One Year Change: -24.22%

Month’s Supply of Inventory

Current Month: 13.1

Days on Market

Current Month: 93

One Month Change: – 0.96%

One Year Cange: -6.82%

Median Price – Sold

In light of the changes in conventional financing guidelines, FHA loans have once again become a popular choice for home buyers. In the good ol days, (heck, that was just a few years ago) almost anyone could get 100% financing on practically any home. Not so, today!

Today’s savvy buyers understand the market leans in their favor. However, financing may not. While showing homes in the last few weeks, buyers who are looking for a deal and most are – find the deals may have faults which prevent traditional financing.

Little faults, like – no kitchens – seriously, a bank owned home with the kitchen stripped. No cabinets, no countertops, no sink – dishwasher, stove -gone! This was a lovely house and a great price, but the average home buyer has no chance of having their loan approved by FHA or conventional, according to my lender. Of course, this buyer was going to go FHA with 3.5% down or conventional with 5% down. In either case, the bank would not approve...

Soon, I’ll start pulling together the information for both December 2008 market reports and the year on year comparisons. Last month I started a comparison report for 2007 vs. 2008 of home values and percentages of foreclosures versus the number of homes sold. As December data continues to come in, I will adjust the numbers mid-month.  

Well, all I can say is – there are a lot of foreclosures out there which are affecting the average price and the number of resale homes being sold. Mostly, because the low price value of foreclosure homes. Of the 7091 foreclosed homes sold in 2008, 3293 of them sold for $50,000. or less.   

The average numbers of homes sold was down every month in 2008, except for the month of September, which, coincidentally, was the last month homebuyers could use a down payment assistance program, such as Nehemiah.

The average price was also down for each month.

Considering the average foreclosure home price was also down, this makes sense. Although...

Vacations are made for getting away; a time of refreshment and relaxation. I usually take time away around the Holidays as a time of reflection, also. Looking back on the previous year without a calendar contolling my time gives me fresh eyes to review my accomplishments. Sometimes, though, vacations remind you of home.

Vacations are about memories too! This year we are in Phoenix – although I moved back home to Indianapolis, from Phoenix –  you can’t beat Phoenix in the wintertime.

This year Chihuly has a handblown glass display at the Desert Botanical Gardens, which is absolutely beautiful. We decided to go for a tour on New Year’s Day.  It was a gorgeous sunny day. With the sun dancing off the glass sculptures, it really added color and light to the desert.

So, why did this beautiful day...

It’s time for all the year end statistics and market reports to be calculated and published. While some will offer doom and gloom, others will paint a rosy picture. Somewhere in between the two is the truth. Everyone has their own spin! You’ve heard me say it before; averages are just that and do not apply to a specific neighborhood.

When the media says the average home prices have decreased by xx% – it is an overall average. Does this mean averages don’t matter? Not at all! If you are going to use averages, though, they must paint a true picture on a local level to offer significant value. Even on a local level, the numbers must be evaluated for accuracy.  

Now, a bit about how our local board reports averages. When a home is listed and doesn’t sell, it is what we call an expired listing. At that point the previous days on market are gone and are not calculated. Same thing happens when we have a price change. When the home does sell, the numbers (averages) are posted based on the...