Happy New Year!!!
We hope the holidays treated you well and you are back into a routine again, with the exception of maybe some positive resolution changes. Having clear goals, someone to hold you accountable to those goals and enforceable consequences for not meeting those goals are critical to achieving them. We are curious, what resolutions or goals do you have for 2016? We would love to hear from you and help hold you accountable!
Steve & Brigid stayed in Indy for this Christmas holiday instead of traveling to Tampa, FL to see Brigid's parents. They came to us this year and we were able to celebrate with the entire family, including Brigid's brother Jim who lives in Boston. It was a very nice time to enjoy time together-something we don't get to do often.
Natalia turns 6 on Tuesday and will be having a birthday party at InterActive Academy. We love this as they take care of everything, including entertaining the kids and they love it! Tali is still very active in gymnastics and is getting quite good, so we are excited to see where this leads.
Ana continues to do well in school and sings in the choir and just got a lead part in her first musical-Cinderella! She is super-excited and so are we...until we remembered practices are at 7AM 2x/week for the rest of the school year. Ugh!! She also sings in Indianapolis Childrens' Choir (ICC) and really enjoyed being on TV for the Angels Sing concert broadcast on Channel 13 around Christmas. If you haven't heard ICC before, we encourage you to attend an upcoming concert. They are truly outstanding and are recognized as one of the best youth choirs in the US.
Jack & Mary Anne continue to do well and are looking forward to a European trip this summer. They are so excited and can't wait to go. We will be sure and share some highlights upon their return. Mary Anne had her gall bladder removed last week and is recovering well. It is amazing they can perform this surgery laparoscopically. We hope she is able to feel much better after she heals.
As for the market, we are woefully short of inventory still. The spring market has already started heating up. There are a LOT of builders trying to satisfy demand, but they can't keep up. Multiple real estate experts including Lawrence Yun with NAR and Gary Keller with Keller Williams are predicting a real estate market contraction beginning the end of this year or beginning of next. We are NOT expecting to see anything as severe as 6-years ago, but we are expecting to see one. The stock market and oil are tanking and there is concern over the health of the global economy with China stealing the spotlight at present. What does this mean to you and those you care about? If you are planning to sell your house this year, we recommend you do it NOW. You are going to see a downward shift in the market, most likely in the next 12-months, which WILL affect house prices and values. Interest rates are still very low. If you or someone you care about are thinking about selling this year or next, take out your phone and give us a call so we can consult with you/them about your/their options. As always, it is no-obligation, no-pressure and full of information you can use to make an informed decision.
If you are thinking about building, call us. We have worked with just about every major builder in the city and have established relationships and detailed information to help you BEFORE you set foot in a model. We get asked a lot about whether you will pay more when you invite us to represent you. The answer is a resounding NO. Builders pay our fee out of their marketing budget. It has nothing to do with your sales price and you will NOT get a better price if you don't have professional representation. In fact, in many cases, we were able to SAVE our clients money by zealously representing them and negotiating a better deal with the builder than they would have been able to do themselves. We certainly helped make the process much smoother and easier. Builders in the Indy area work with buyers who have a real estate agent representing them anywhere from 78-97% of the time, according to estimates from most area production builders. They welcome working with real estate agents as we help make the process go smoother. Steve has built 2 of his own homes and also holds a Certified New Home Specialist designation held by less than 1/2% of 1% of agents nationwide. We have helped over 100 clients build their own homes as well-both production and custom.
If you are curious or just want some more information, take out your phone and give us a call. We would love to talk further and see how we can help. Remember, if you are out and about and drop into a model spur-of-the-moment, the sales rep will ask you to complete a registration form. Feel free to fill that out and make sure you put us down as your agents as that will protect our relationship and allow us to professionally represent you and negotiate like a pit bull for your best interest. We absolutely LOVE helping clients build their dream home and would love to help you or someone you care about as well. So, give us a call if you are thinking about building in the near future.
Finally, THANK YOU once again for nominating us as a 5-Star Real Estate Agent and also a Super Service Award winner on Angie's List! We are super-excited and grateful for all of our clients who were surveyed and gave us high marks. These two recognitions put us in the Top 5% in our industry and we couldn't have done it without you. You can feel comfortable introducing us to people you care about since you will know they are getting the absolute BEST experience and service possible and we will keep you in the loop along the way so you know what is going on. We are so fortunate to have so many outstanding clients!!
Enjoy the rest of your January!!
Steve & Jack
Click here to read our February newsletter
Click here to access our exclusive coupons & discounts
Click here to download the most powerful real estate app available
We hope the holidays treated you well and you are back into a routine again, with the exception of maybe some positive resolution changes. Having clear goals, someone to hold you accountable to those goals and enforceable consequences for not meeting those goals are critical to achieving them. We are curious, what resolutions or goals do you have for 2016? We would love to hear from you and help hold you accountable!
Steve & Brigid stayed in Indy for this Christmas holiday instead of traveling to Tampa, FL to see Brigid's parents. They came to us this year and we were able to celebrate with the entire family, including Brigid's brother Jim who lives in Boston. It was a very nice time to enjoy time together-something we don't get to do often.
Natalia turns 6 on Tuesday and will be having a birthday party at InterActive Academy. We love this as they take care of everything, including entertaining the kids and they love it! Tali is still very active in gymnastics and is getting quite good, so we are excited to see where this leads.
Ana continues to do well in school and sings in the choir and just got a lead part in her first musical-Cinderella! She is super-excited and so are we...until we remembered practices are at 7AM 2x/week for the rest of the school year. Ugh!! She also sings in Indianapolis Childrens' Choir (ICC) and really enjoyed being on TV for the Angels Sing concert broadcast on Channel 13 around Christmas. If you haven't heard ICC before, we encourage you to attend an upcoming concert. They are truly outstanding and are recognized as one of the best youth choirs in the US.
Jack & Mary Anne continue to do well and are looking forward to a European trip this summer. They are so excited and can't wait to go. We will be sure and share some highlights upon their return. Mary Anne had her gall bladder removed last week and is recovering well. It is amazing they can perform this surgery laparoscopically. We hope she is able to feel much better after she heals.
As for the market, we are woefully short of inventory still. The spring market has already started heating up. There are a LOT of builders trying to satisfy demand, but they can't keep up. Multiple real estate experts including Lawrence Yun with NAR and Gary Keller with Keller Williams are predicting a real estate market contraction beginning the end of this year or beginning of next. We are NOT expecting to see anything as severe as 6-years ago, but we are expecting to see one. The stock market and oil are tanking and there is concern over the health of the global economy with China stealing the spotlight at present. What does this mean to you and those you care about? If you are planning to sell your house this year, we recommend you do it NOW. You are going to see a downward shift in the market, most likely in the next 12-months, which WILL affect house prices and values. Interest rates are still very low. If you or someone you care about are thinking about selling this year or next, take out your phone and give us a call so we can consult with you/them about your/their options. As always, it is no-obligation, no-pressure and full of information you can use to make an informed decision.
If you are thinking about building, call us. We have worked with just about every major builder in the city and have established relationships and detailed information to help you BEFORE you set foot in a model. We get asked a lot about whether you will pay more when you invite us to represent you. The answer is a resounding NO. Builders pay our fee out of their marketing budget. It has nothing to do with your sales price and you will NOT get a better price if you don't have professional representation. In fact, in many cases, we were able to SAVE our clients money by zealously representing them and negotiating a better deal with the builder than they would have been able to do themselves. We certainly helped make the process much smoother and easier. Builders in the Indy area work with buyers who have a real estate agent representing them anywhere from 78-97% of the time, according to estimates from most area production builders. They welcome working with real estate agents as we help make the process go smoother. Steve has built 2 of his own homes and also holds a Certified New Home Specialist designation held by less than 1/2% of 1% of agents nationwide. We have helped over 100 clients build their own homes as well-both production and custom.
If you are curious or just want some more information, take out your phone and give us a call. We would love to talk further and see how we can help. Remember, if you are out and about and drop into a model spur-of-the-moment, the sales rep will ask you to complete a registration form. Feel free to fill that out and make sure you put us down as your agents as that will protect our relationship and allow us to professionally represent you and negotiate like a pit bull for your best interest. We absolutely LOVE helping clients build their dream home and would love to help you or someone you care about as well. So, give us a call if you are thinking about building in the near future.
Finally, THANK YOU once again for nominating us as a 5-Star Real Estate Agent and also a Super Service Award winner on Angie's List! We are super-excited and grateful for all of our clients who were surveyed and gave us high marks. These two recognitions put us in the Top 5% in our industry and we couldn't have done it without you. You can feel comfortable introducing us to people you care about since you will know they are getting the absolute BEST experience and service possible and we will keep you in the loop along the way so you know what is going on. We are so fortunate to have so many outstanding clients!!
Enjoy the rest of your January!!
Steve & Jack
Click here to read our February newsletter
Click here to access our exclusive coupons & discounts
Click here to download the most powerful real estate app available
