September Steve & Jack's Home News

It is August, right?? As I write this month’s article, I am watching the Indy 500 live! What? While I am glad to be able to watch it live on TV, it certainly is weird, especially since this is the first time in history to be run in August…and with no fans in the stands. Very strange indeed.

We did it!!! Welcome to the end of summer and our kiddos are still alive!!! This has seemed like both the longest and shortest summers ever. Both of our girls are back at school. Ana who is a sophomore at Guerin High School is back live full-time. Tali who is in 5th grade at Westfield Intermediate is back utilizing a hybrid model, where she is live two days a week and virtual 3 days a week. So far, both girls are enjoying being back with their friends and back into a routine, although it means earlier mornings. Ana is playing on the soccer team and they won their first game of the season. This is the hardest she has ever worked, and we are proud of her for sticking it out. Tali is still having a great time with competitive cheer. Last weekend, she practiced for 21 out of 48-hours! She was tired, but loved every minute of it. We are anxious to see how the competition season goes this fall/winter. If you have kiddos in sports, how have they adjusted to being back?

Brigid is still stuck at home with her work. Merck will not let her do live sales calls still and it is driving her nuts! Stuck in conference and Zoom call purgatory is not fun and she is itching to get outside. Last Sunday, we celebrated our 17-year wedding anniversary and went to Ruth’s Chris at The Ironworks building. Although quite pricey, it was a lovely dinner with a great atmosphere and excellent service. Highly recommend…but be prepared to pay for it!

Steve completed a couple of more designations and certifications this month. One is the Pricing Strategy Advisor (PSA), which provided specialized training in home valuations and working with appraisers. This is crucial in this crazy market right now to get the price right the first time. The second is the Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist (CLHMS) designation. This is the most exclusive designation for marketing luxury property. It teaches agents how luxury property is different from other properties and how to work with luxury sellers and market their homes differently to an affluent buyer. Both were excellent courses and a lot of new information was learned and we are ready to implement it. These mark the 12th and 13th designations/certifications Steve has earned continuing to make him the most formally educated residential real estate agent in the world. This unparalleled training and expertise is used to empower and educate their clients while buying and selling.

Thea has been super-busy lately working with a lot of buyers and successfully negotiating accepted offers during a highly competitive market. She consistently receives top marks and praise from her buyers she helps through the toughest market in history for them. If you or someone you know are thinking about buying or selling right now, give us a call and we will put our unparalleled experience and tactics to work for you to ensure the absolute best experience possible.

Patti officially received her real estate license after passing her exam last month! We are excited to have all members of our team fully licensed to provide an even higher level of service to our clients and referral partners.

Kylie has continued to work hard to be so efficient in tracking everything so we know where we stand during this very strange year. She also processes all paperwork so quickly, she draws high praise not only from our office staff, but also other agents with whom we work. She is the absolute best at what she does and we are lucky to have her on our team.

Jack and Mary Anne were in Branson a few weeks ago and really enjoyed getting away. Social distancing practices were in full force while they took in a few shows. Currently, they are in their timeshare in Fairfield Glade in Tennessee for the week.

A huge thank you to all of our clients and referral partners who attended our first live Happy Hour since March!!! We had a great group (bigger than expected) and we all enjoyed the beautiful weather on the patio at Matt The Miller’s. It was so good to see everyone again. If you feel comfortable, please join us for our next Happy Hour on Thursday, September 17th from 5-6:30pm at Matt The Miller’s. We will return to the patio assuming weather is cooperating since it was so well-received. September will be sponsored by our referral partner Bill Maki with Kaveri Group. Bill specializes in video marketing and testimonials. You can see some of his work on our website (www.Welcome2Indy.com). The videos and testimonials are his work. Bill will have a few minutes to share what he does and how he can help someone you care about looking for some exposure on-line.

SHRED Day is back!!! Our 3rd Shred Day is going to be on September 11th from 10AM-12PM in our office parking lot. The past two have seen over 400 cars participate!!! We have contracted TWO trucks this month to make it more efficient and faster. We will also still have our electronics recycling truck there. So, come on by and safely have your documents destroyed and electronics recycled. This is absolutely FREE to you as our valued clients/referral partners.

Our real estate market is as hot as the temperature!!! Inventory went down again to 0.8 months, which is equivalent to about 3 weeks. Never before in history have we seen inventory this low. Prices have appreciated 11.9% from last year. Bottom line, if you or someone you care about are thinking about selling, NOW is the time. If you are concerned about not being able to find a home because you know your current home will sell too fast, we have a strategy to help. Call us today and we can share with you strategies that work-317-573-1880. Check out the latest stats from MIBOR comparing July 2020 to June 2020:

Median Sales Price-UP 2.3% to $225,000
Closed Sales-UP 9.9% to 3,969 units
New Listings-UP 7.4% to 4,161 units
Pending Sales-UP 2.7% to 4,155 units
Days on Market-DOWN 8.6% to 32 days
Price/s.f.-UP 2.4% to $128
% of Ask Received-UP 0.4% to 98.8%
Active Inventory-UP 1.3% to 3,246 units
Absorption Rate-DOWN 11.1% to 0.8 months

Check out Steve’s September intro video here

Read our September newsletter here

Want to read what other clients have to say about us? Watch some videos here

Want to download the most powerful real estate app available? Download it here

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Watch a 1-minute market update video here

Thank you for all of your support and trust over the years! We couldn’t do what we love without you!!!

Your friends in real estate,

Steve, Kylie, Thea, & Patti

P.S. Please don’t keep us a secret!

August 2020 Steve & Jack's Home News

Happy end of summer!! For many of us, it means back-to-school for our kiddos, but that looks a little different this year than past years. Also, for many parents with school-aged children, we have been with our kiddos since mid-March. Yikes! If you are fortunate enough to be able to send your kiddos back to school, congratulations! If not, we commiserate with you.

This year has been tough on all of us, but especially parents with school-aged children who are forced to play full-time, all-day, all-week caregiver, teacher, nurse, entertainer, and food service worker. If you also work, good luck! We hope you navigate the back-to-school storm (whatever that looks like for you) as smoothly as possible and stay happy and healthy.

Steve and his family just returned from their first vacation since last October. They went to the Poconos and stayed in a condo and had an adjoining unit for Brigid’s brother and his family, his wife’s sister and husband and her mom. They also each brought their dogs. It turned out to be a great week, very relaxing with amazing weather, swimming, a white water rafting trip, 26-mile bike ride, kayaking, hiking, tennis, soccer games, and for the adults late-night Euchre games (Steve and his partner waxed everyone else!) :-) It was so nice (and needed) to get away and get a change of scenery. We hope that you have been able to take a trip this summer to just get a break as well. Those are so needed right now.

Jack and Mary Anne continue to do well and stay healthy. They are doing a reasonably good job at social distancing, but they did just return from Branson and saw some shows. Some were good at social distancing and some not so much, but they had a good time and enjoyed getting away.

Steve’s sister Michelle had a delayed graduation party for her oldest Caleb and it was nice to see some people we haven’t seen in many years. We wish Caleb good luck next Fall at IUPUI.

On our team, Patti had a HUGE accomplishment in passing her real estate exam and is applying for her license. This is especially big since she had to drive to Cincinnati to take the exam and finished her class in March. That gap made it really difficult, but she made it and we are so happy for her. Every member of our team will be licensed by next week.

Kylie was able to take some time off and spend with her family going to the zoo, pool, Wolf Park and relaxing at home. She needed a bit of a break since we have been working so much lately.

Speaking of working a lot, Thea has been rocking it lately helping 6 clients just in the past few weeks secure a home. This market has been brutal for buyers and buyer agents and she is has been doing such a great job working so hard for our clients winning multiple offer situations repeatedly.

Thank you to the over 400 of you who came for our FREE Shred Day a few weeks ago. We filled an entire truck as well as electronic recycling truck. We are planning another one for September, so stay tuned for the date.

Happy Hours are attempting to be re-started this month. We have August 20th on the books. Please come if you feel comfortable. Matt The Miller’s from 5-7pm. We would LOVE to see you again!!!!!

The market is the hottest on record. We are down below 1-month of inventory right now, which is insane and down over 30% from last month alone! Mortgage rates have hit all-time lows as well with rates for many of our clients in the low to mid-2%! Home prices are going up faster than ever and inventory keeps shrinking. If you or someone you care about is remotely thinking of buying, selling, or building, please call us. We would be happy to share all of the facts and data that are relevant to your specific situation so you can make an informed decision. If you are not as worried about selling your house as you are with finding a new one, we have a program designed specifically for you to address that very concern. Our 3-day, Free Look Marketing Program has netted sellers more money in a faster time with fewer hassles than any other marketing program out there. Give Steve a call at 317-573-1880 to learn about both of these programs and how we are addressing our clients’ concerns during this challenging market.

Here are some MIBOR stats showing the changes from May 2020 to June 2020. They are remarkable:

Median Sales Price-$219,000-UP 1.9%

Closed Sales-3,518 units-UP 28.2%

New Listings-3,848 units-UP 2.2%

Pending Sales-4,269 units-UP 10.5%

Days on Market-35-DOWN 7.9%

Price per s.f.-$125-UP 3.3%

% of Ask Received-98.4%-UP 0.5%

Active Inventory-3,210 units-DOWN 10.2%

Absorption Rate-0.9 months-DOWN 30.8%

Look at the how the pending sales is more than new listings. This is an indicator of what to expect next month-even lower inventory levels. Sellers are getting over 98% of asking price! That is crazy! Active inventory is down over 10% and the absorption rate (how long it will take all of the current listings to sell with the current buyer demand) is down over 30% to less than one month. Are you kidding me?? These numbers are nuts and we have never seen anything like it before. The election MAY cause a real estate contraction. We don’t know for sure, but every economist I have heard lately has been warning of that, so if you are thinking of selling, NOW is the time!

Thank you for reading and for your continued trust and loyalty. We couldn’t do what we do without you.

Enjoy this month’s newsletter!

Read the August newsletter here

Download the most powerful real estate app here

Watch a quick video discussing the real estate market in 1-minute here

Read what our clients have to say about us here

Watch an intro video of our team here

Your friends in real estate, Steve, Kylie, Thea, Patti