Happy Thanksgiving!! From our family to yours, we hope that you are able to take some time this holiday season to pause and reflect on all of the positive things in your life. Too often, we let ourselves focus and dwell on the negative. Here is an interesting fact: We can’t control the first thought that comes to our mind, but we CAN control the second thought. Our wish for you is for peace, gratitude, comfort, and thankfulness this holiday season. We sure do appreciate you!! If you are reading this newsletter, it is because you are an important part of our lives either as a client or a referral partner. We are grateful to be part of your life and we appreciate you!!
A few updates from our team:
Steve and his family returned a couple of weeks ago from a bucket-list vacation to Italy and Switzerland. We visited Milan (took a fashion tour, saw the Last Supper painting and toured the Duomo), Bologna (we saw the Ferrari and Lamborghini factories and museums), headed to Lake Como and took a boat ride around the lake and saw George Clooney’s house as well the house where a James Bond movie was filmed as well as a Star Wars movie. Then, we took the Bernina Express to St. Moritz in Switzerland and toured the city center as well as took a couple of funiculars and a gondola to the top of the mountain for some amazing views during lunch. Long travel time to and from Milan, but worth it for some amazing memories.
Ana has been accepted to Ole Miss and IU and is waiting on more letters from colleges over the next couple of months. Fingers crossed for more acceptance letters (as well as scholarships!).
Tali just ended her school cheer season. She enjoyed cheering on the sideline as well as the competition team, which placed 2nd in state on Saturday! They are so excited! Now, she focuses on her club team ICE, which starts competing in 2-weeks. No rest for the weary!!!
Thea and Michael are looking forward to a fun vacation to enjoy some downtime starting Thursday. They will be gone a little over a week. I am on duty for all buyers while Thea is gone, so if you or someone you care about needs anything, give me a call. Happy to help!
Kylie celebrated a birthday a couple weeks ago and took a long weekend to celebrate. Thea and I treated her to a birthday lunch upon her return. She is looking forward to Trick-Or-Treating with her youngest Jax.
Thank you to everyone who attended our October Happy Hour. We had a great time and Shellie Law was the lucky winner of the gift card drawing. Thank you to our sponsor 360 Tours who is our real estate photography company for sponsoring this month! Please note, due to Thanksgiving, the November Happy Hour will be December 1st from 5-6:30pm at Matt The Miller’s. This will be the last Happy Hour of the year. We hope you can join us!! Check your e-mail to register.
Don’t miss Steve’s Home Seller Workshop on Tuesday, November 8th from 7-8pm. This is an awesome, low-pressure workshop for you or someone you care about thinking about selling in the next year. We talk about the market, common mistakes we see sellers make, and offer FREE Staging tips and tricks to get the highest price out of your house. E-mail steve@Welcome2Indy.com to register.
Photos with Santa is Saturday, November 19th from 12-3pm at our office. Don’t forget to register with kylie@Welcome2Indy.com Your kiddo can tell Santa what they would like for Christmas, write a letter to Santa (Santa WILL write back), enjoy treats, and get a professional photo with Santa to use for your holiday cards.
Annual Thanksgiving Pie Giveaway is scheduled for Tuesday, November 22nd from 11AM-6pm at our office. Please let kylie@Welcome2Indy.com know what type and flavor of pie you would like. You can order gluten-free cherry or Steve and Mark’s Perfectly Peach pie or a regular pie and those flavors are apple, cherry, or pumpkin. Our gluten-free pies are coming again from No Label at The Table here in Carmel. That is a small, family-owned bakery that employs young men and women on the autism spectrum. We love to support them and all of the good they do! We hope to see you!!! Thank you to Mark Kuchik and CrossCountry Mortgage for partnering with us!!
Finally, on the event front, I hope you saw the e-mail I sent a few days ago about the Holocaust Survivor presentation featuring Frank Grunwald. Frank is a friend of my father Jack. He survived 3 concentration camps and is the subject of a documentary about his experience as well as having several artifacts in the National Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. We have arranged for Frank to speak at Westfield Intermediate School and Guerin Catholic High School last year. This year, we have arranged from him to speak to the Westfield Chamber at a special presentation. I have the honor of being the Title Sponsor for the event and have purchased 2 tables for clients and a 3rd table for Guerin Catholic students. Frank is a master story-teller and will move you when you hear his story and see his photos. This event is open to the public and will sell out. If you are interested in hearing Frank’s chilling story, please register for this event here
Please join us on Thursday, December 1st from 11AM-1PM at IMMI in Westfield to hear this amazing man and his incredible story of survival. It is powerful, moving, and incredible to hear.
This market has been nutty lately, hasn’t it? Interest rates are above 7% and housing has certainly taking a break from the crazy pace of the past 3-years. This isn’t a bad thing. We will be talking more about this at my Home Seller Workshop, so sign up to get more details then. We do expect interest rates to start falling starting in November. Expectations are that they will be back in the 5% range within 6-months. Time will tell. If that happens, there will be another crazy spring market as buyers and sellers rush to take advantage of the lower interest rates. If you or someone you care about is thinking or buying, selling, or building a new home in the next 12-months, give us a call. We are happy to consult with you/them about your options.
Here is the latest housing data comparing August to September in Metro Indy courtesy of MIBOR:
Median Sales Price-$285,000-No change
Closed Sales-3,216 units-DOWN 8.6%
New Listings-3,407 units-DOWN 10.1%
Pending Sales-2,940 units-DOWN 9.4%
Days on Market-28 days-UP 27.3%
Price per s.f.-$162-DOWN 2.4%
% of Asking Price Received-98.7%-DOWN 0.5%
Active Inventory-4,357 units-UP 8.8%
Absorption Rate-1.4 months-UP 27.3%
You can quickly see effect of the mortgage rates more than doubling in 6-months. Housing has certainly slowed, however we are NOT expecting house prices to depreciate. We do expect them to appreciate at a slower pace of 3-5%, which is normal for our market. Housing inventory is still extremely low with a balanced market being 6-months of inventory and we are at 1.4 months! Bottom line, if you are thinking of selling, there is still very little competition and there is still buyer demand.
If you are a buyer, use a 2/1 rate buy-down until interest rates come down next year and then re-finance. Don’t wait until the spring rush with lower interest rates when you will have a ton of competition again like this spring. Buyer have more leverage now than they have had in 3-years. Take advantage of it while you can!
Click here to read our November newsletter.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Steve, Kylie, Thea, and Mark
P.S. Please don’t keep us a secret!!
P.P.S. Don’t forget to register for all of our upcoming events we have planned for you!
