Back to school time is just about here again. How does it seem like summer just flies by each year? We hope you and those you care about are having an amazing summer and are creating some fun summer memories. Keep reading for a BRAND NEW event we have created that will do just that!!!
Probably the biggest news (at least for me!) is that I turn 50-years old on August 6th! How is this possible? I certainly don’t FEEL 50, but the numbers don’t lie. Ugh! At least my family were kind enough to ask if I wanted a party or not. I said, ‘Why not?’ Everyone needs a reason to throw a good party!! So, a party it will be and since August 6th falls on a Saturday, it should be even more fun!! I can celebrate officially being old enough to be a full member of AARP!
Ana is starting her senior at Guerin Catholic this year. Instead of playing on the soccer team, she chose to be the team manager as she has had one too many concussions. She loves it and enjoys being with all of her friends on the team. The college admissions applications are ready to be sent on August 1st when they open and she is gunning for Clemson. She has visited campus twice and absolutely loves it and feels at home there. We will see what the admissions gods have to say and will keep you posted.
Tali is working on her choreography for her cheer team as I write this. Since she moved up a level and is the strongest base on the team, there is a lot of weight on her shoulders, literally and figuratively. She absolutely loves it and the gym owner decided to coach her team this year and has made their routine harder than ever before. She wants to WIN. As long as Tali is having fun, we are good with it. They should be a formidable force this year.
Brigid is working harder than ever after being promoted and hiring her team. It seems she is on conference calls all day with a never-ending list of To-Dos. She loves what she does, so that is all that matters.
For those of you who knew Patti on our team, she was our Marketing Director. She decided to pursue a different direction in her life suddenly and we wished her well about a month ago. We hope she is happy with this new chapter and will miss having her coordinate all of our marketing for our clients and team.
Kylie has taken up Patti’s responsibilities, so she is busier than ever. She is doing well and she does have help in that we hired a Virtual Assistant about 4 months ago. His name is Mark and he has been an absolute delight to have on the team helping us from the other side of the world. He has taken a lot of the pressure off of Kylie until we find a new Marketing Director. If you know of someone who would make an outstanding team member for us, please let me know. We are going to hold off on hiring for the immediate future, but will do so before too long.
Thea has been busting her butt all year long and is just getting busier and busier. She is handling the extra work like a champ and getting offers accepted for our buyers left and right. With the market softening, our buyers are finding their offers are getting a little more attention than before and that is especially helpful for our first-time buyers. She also hosted a very successful first-time buyer workshop on July 12th and will be hosting another one in August. Please contact her to be added to the list. It is Zoom only. thea@Welcome2Indy.com
I hosted a seller workshop also on July 12th and we had a great time learning about the Top 10 Mistakes Smart People Make When Selling Their House. Our next one is on August 9th at 7pm. Please contact me if you would like to attend. steve@Welcome2Indy.com
Thank you to everyone who attended our July Happy Hour!!! We had a great group and a lot of fun! If you haven’t ever attended (or even if you have), please consider joining us at our August Happy Hour on August 18th from 5-6:30pm at Matt The Miller’s in Carmel. As always, drinks and food are on us!!!
HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!
For the first time ever, we are hosting a Party in The Park on Sunday, August 12th from 1-4pm. Thank you to our lender partner Mark Kuchik with CrossCountry Mortgage for co-sponsoring this event. You do NOT want to miss this!!! You should have received e-mails and a postcard already. Please RSVP for this by August 10th. Links are in the e-mails and postcard, but if you would like to attend and can’t find the link, please e-mail kylie@Welcome2Indy.com with the number of tickets you would like and we will register you. Check out what we have in store for the afternoon:
Live Band-The Beatless
Magician
Caricature artist
Kona Ice truck
Photo Booth
Games
Food
Drinks
We hope you will join us!!!
As mentioned earlier, our market has absolutely softened in the past few months. This does NOT mean we are seeing a ‘bubble bursting’. There is a big difference between ‘depreciation’ and ‘deceleration’. We are seeing the latter. In the first quarter of this year, home price appreciation hit the highest on record at 20.3%!!! That is simply not sustainable. Since then, mortgage rates have risen, but so have home prices…just at a much slower pace. We expect the year to end at around 5-7% annualized appreciation. This is still much higher than our average of 3%/year. This is a great time to buy/sell a house. There is less buyer competition, but people are still getting record prices for their houses. Interest rates are expected to fall next year, so if that is the case and you have a higher interest rate, you can re-finance for a modest fee. As the saying goes, ‘Marry the house and date the rate.’
Here are some stats from MIBOR comparing June 2022 to May 2022:
Median Sales Price-UP 3.8% to $300,000 (another record!)
Closed Sales-UP 9.2% to 3,711 units
New Listings-UP 15.9% to 4,925 units (this is a good thing!)
Pending Sales-UP 1.1% to 3,842 units (more houses are coming on the market than are being sold. This is helping our inventory shortage)
Days on Market-UP 7.7% to 14 days
Price per s.f.-UP 0.6% to $169
% of Ask Received-DOWN 0.5% to 101.9% (still an amazing number, but trending down showing weakening competition from buyers)
Active Inventory-UP 47.3% to 3,414 units (this number is HUGE!!!!)
Absorption Rate-UP 28.6% to 0.9 months (still anemic, but getting longer)
Bottom line, you can see the market shifting in just ONE month. Pay attention to these numbers. They are still excellent, but shift your expectations. Dave Ramsey says this year will be probably one of the best years to buy/sell in history. Listen to one of his latest podcasts and he will explain why he believes this, but suffice it to say, if you are even thinking of buying or selling, give us a call. We will walk you through your options and set realistic expectations with you, so you can make an informed decision. It’s what we do…Guide, Lead, and Protect our clients.
Have a great rest of the summer!!! If you see me, please go easy on the 50th birthday jokes…
Your Friends in Real Estate,
Steve, Kylie, Thea, and Mark
P.S. Please don’t keep us a secret!
Click here to read our August newsletter
