Saturday, June 25, 2022

July 2022 Real Estate Update

Welcome (officially) to summer!! We hope you are enjoying this more relaxed time of year with warmer temperatures, kids out of school, summer concerts, vacations, sports, and the longer daylight hours. While it certainly poses its unique challenges, we hope you are able to spend some fun times making memories with those you care about.

We have some sad news to report in that Patti who was our Director of Marketing resigned abruptly a couple of weeks ago. She will be missed and we wish her nothing but success as she turns a new page in her next chapter. In case you didn’t know, we hired a Virtual Assistant name Mark to help Patti with marketing. She did a great job training him and he will be taking over most of her responsibilities. We will be looking for a replacement for Patti in the coming months, so if you know of a ROCKSTAR person who would make a great Director of Marketing for a high-producing team who is extremely adept at social media and video editing, please send them my way: Steve@Welcome2Indy.com.

Steve is getting ready to leave on a family vacation with Brigid’s family from July 3-10. They will be taking a Norwegian cruise from NYC to Bermuda. Should be a fun time to unwind. Ana is continuing to look at colleges and took a 2nd tour of Clemson in June. She still loves it and it is her #1 choice so far. She toured Auburn at the end of June and it is her #2. She also took a Teen Driving Safety Course at the BMW Performance Center in Greer, SC while looking at Clemson an absolutely loved it!!! If you have a teen driver, we highly recommend this (or similar course). It just may save someone’s life!!!

Brigid has hired her first two employees since being promoted to an Assistant Director position. She loves what she does and that she can work from home. Tali is neck deep in cheer after making the next level team as well as her school cheer team and then also their competition cheer team. She will have 3 cheer teams for which she is cheering. That is a LOT of cheer, but she wouldn’t have it any other way!

Thea is keeping extremely busy with buyers at the moment and is enjoying the summer months. She is the Chair of the Young Professionals Group of Westfield and is busy planning events for the rest of the year, including a parade and a Young Professionals Summit this Fall.

Kylie is keeping busy with her family and two kids trying to keep them busy with summer camps and activities. She really is enjoying the pool and taking the kids to play there.

This real estate market has brought an onslaught of phone calls, texts and e-mails. Know that we constantly stay up-to-date with the latest information so we can pass that along to our clients. Besides reading white papers from Lawrence Yun who is the Chief Economist for NAR, Shelley Specchio who is the CEO of MIBOR, we have recently listened to Steve Lains who is the CEO of BAGI (Builder’s Association of Greater Indianapolis) and Dr. Elliot Eisenberg who is an internationally-acclaimed economist who specializes in real estate.

Along with our own research, every one of these industry experts have steadfastly said there is no real estate bubble. Period. We have the soundest real estate financial fundamentals in history right now and the tightest supply with incredible demand in history. We have an inflation problem. Dr. Eisenberg said we are about at the apex of inflation and should start to see is tick downward soon. A recession will happen, likely next year and will not be bad, but a typical 8-10 month inflation period (which we need). Our recovery will be slow, but steady. We are already seeing goods start to rebound from their trough of supply, but labor is a continued problem. Quite a few people are re-entering the labor market after retiring due to the stock market falling. This should help.

Interest rates have dropped from their peak of around 6.3875% to around 6%. We hope and expect them to continue to fall during the course of the rest of the year. Housing prices will NOT depreciate, but rather decelerate the appreciation we have seen the past few years. We expect to see appreciation rates in the 7-8% range this year, which is down from the 18% we saw last year, but that was not sustainable.

Fun news!!! We hope everyone enjoyed our July Happy Hour at Matt The Miller’s this pas month. Thank you to Keith Pemberton with Pemberton Insurance for sponsoring it!!! We hope to see you at our July Happy Hour on Thursday, July 21st from 5-6:30pm at Matt The Miller’s.

Don’t miss two really great workshops coming up!!! Thea’s Homebuyer workshop is from 5:30-6:30pm on July 12th and she will answer all of your questions about buying a home in this shifting market. It is Zoom only. contact her for log-in info at: Thea@Welcome2Indy.com. Our second workshop is for home sellers and it is also on July 12th from 7-8pm hosted by me. We will be discussing the Top 10 Dumbest Mistakes Smart People Make When Preparing Their House for Sale along with market updates and what to expect in this shifting market. This is live only. Contact me for more info: steve@Welcome2Indy.com

Finally, mark your calendars for our first ever Party in The Park!!! It will be on Sunday, August 14th from 1-4pm at Cool Creek Park in Westfield. You do not want to miss this FREE event! We will have snacks, beverages, a LIVE band, magician, face painting, photo booth, caricature drawings, games, Kona Ice truck and professional photographer and MUCH more!! Look for your invitation in the mail and register via the Eventbrite link to make sure you are on the list. There is limited space, so RSVP early to ensure you get a spot!!! We are grateful to our co-sponsors Mark Kuchik with CrossCountry Mortgage!!!!

Enjoy your July and remember to keep us in mind for people you care about considering making a move. We would love to help them!!!

Here are the market stats from MIBOR comparing May 2022 to May 2021:

Median Sales Price-UP 12.8% to $287,625
Closed Sales-DOWN 2.9% to 3,336 units
New Listings-UP 6.1% to 4,217 units
Pending Sales-UP 2.4% to 3,960 units
Days on Market-DOWN 13.3% to 13 days
Price per s.f.-UP 15.9% to $168
% of Ask Received-UP 0.8% to 102.4%
Active Inventory-UP 29.8% to 2,295 units
Absorption Rate-UP 40.0% to 0.7 months

You will notice that the median sales price is the highest on record. We expect this to keep climbing, but inventory will as well as days on market.

Have a great July!!!

Your Friends in Real Estate,
Steve, Kylie, and Thea

P.S. Please don’t keep us a secret! Click here to read our July newsletter

Friday, June 03, 2022

June 2022 Home News

Happy summer!!! We made it!! As I write this, my youngest Natalia has been out of school for a week and is now a 7th grader. My oldest Anastasia just finished her last final today and is now a senior at Guerin. Where did the time go?? We truly hope that you are able to create some fun memories this summer and make up for some missed ones over the past few years.

Along with finishing yet another school year, our family has had some exciting happenings. Ana was hit by an inattentive driver a few weeks ago. Everyone is okay, but her car did sustain some damage. The other driver fully admitted fault, so we are good there, but body shops are booked up for MONTHS. It is crazy. So, if you see her driving around with a damaged door, that wasn’t her fault!!! :-)

Natalia made the next level up for her competitive cheer team and she is so excited! She also made the school cheer team and competitive cheer team, so she will be doing a LOT of cheering this next year, but she absolutely loves it!!!

Brigid is still enjoying her promotion at work and has made her first two hires of her career and now will be a manager for the first time ever. She is excited and can’t wait to have some help as she has been doing the job of three people lately.

I am so excited that I get to take Ana next week to a second campus visit to Clemson. That is her #1 school by far. After that I am taking her to the BMW Performance Center where I went in February and she is taking a 2-day Teen Driving School course. We have heard nothing but rave reviews about it and Ana couldn’t be any more excited!!!

Kylie is enjoying her favorite pastime in the summer of laying out by the pool. She loves the sun and her kids love the water. They are also doing some remodeling of their house and she can’t wait until that is finished.

Patti took a vacation last week and knocked out many items on her To Do list. She enjoyed the time off to relax and unwind before our busy summer.

Thea continues to keep busy with her buyers and is doing such a great job getting offers accepted in this HOT market. If you or someone you know is thinking about buying, you need to talk with Thea as she is the best in the biz!

Thank you to everyone who attended our May Happy Hour!! We had a great turnout and a lot of fun as usual!!! Please plan to attend our June Happy Hour on June 16th from 5-6:30pm at Matt The Miller’s. As always, drinks and appetizers are included. You bring the smiles!

Check our website and social media channels for our Father’s Day giveaway. We have some very cool gifts for dad, including a huge gift basket full of beer, grilling equipment, gift cards to 18|8 men’s salon and from a med spa for fixing hair loss, or wrinkles. This prize package is worth $500!!! You don’t have to call in. Just like and follow our social media channels and/or give us a great review on Google and we will enter you into the contest. We will give a review for each new follow/review.

Save the date for a brand new event called A Day in The Park. We are finalizing details now, but look for your invite. We will have food, drinks, prizes, a magician, caricature artist, Kona Ice, games, and a live band!! It is going to be so much fun!!! Reserve August 14th so you can join us!!

I was honored as the Chair-elect of the Westfield Chamber of Commerce and sponsor of one of three scholarships the chamber awards each year to present at the Westfield High School Scholarship and Awards Night. Three Westfield High School students won an essay contest we promote as to what new business you think would be a good addition to the Westfield community and why. It is always so amazing to see what these kiddos have accomplished at such a young age.

The real estate market has been making headlines yet again. Let me cut to the chase. THERE IS NO REAL ESTATE BUBBLE. There is 6-7 years supply shortage right now and too much demand. Inflation and rising interest rates have certainly tempered the market to an extent, but we are still seeing multiple offers above listing price on most houses going on the market. If you or someone you care about are thinking about selling, buying, or building, PLEASE call me-317-573-1880. I would love to talk with you and learn more about your situation so you can be armed with the most relevant and specific information tailored to your situation. I cannot stress this enough. Also, come to my next workshop on June 14th at 7pm titled, ‘The Top 10 Dumbest Mistakes Smart People Make When Selling Their House And How to Avoid Them’. Call/e-mail/text me and I will register you and give you more details. It is a great way to get all of your questions answered in a fun and relaxed environment.

Here are the latest stats from MIBOR comparing March 2022 to April 2022 for the entire Indy Metro area in all price points:
Median Sales Price-$275,000-UP 3.8%
Closed Sales-2,987 units-UP 5.6%
New Listings-3,870 units-UP 7.0%
Pending Sales-3,580 units-UP 4.6%
Days on Market-15 days-DOWN 21.1%
Price per s.f.-$162-UP 4.5%
% of Ask Received-102.1%-UP 0.9%
Active Inventory-1,979 units-UP 23.5%
Absorption Rate-0.7 months-UP 16.7%

Pay close attention to the last two lines. Inventory is UP almost 25%! That is HUGE. Yes, prices continue to increase, but so do closed sales, new listings, and pending sales. Call me if you would like to discuss what these numbers mean to you and your specific situation.

We hope that you enjoy the summer weather and are able to get out and have some fun!! Thank you for being our client and referral partners. We truly appreciate you and couldn’t do what we love without you!!!

Your Friends in Real Estate,

Steve, Kylie, Thea, and Patti

Click here to read our June newsletter.

P. S. Please don’t keep us a secret.