Happy Valentine’s Day!!! We hope that you are able to spend some quality time with those you love. This is always such an exciting time of the year between NFL Playoffs, signs of coming out of winter and spring break around the corner and the crazy spring selling season!
Lots happening with our team and the real estate market, so we hope you will read on to find out more.
Steve’s daughter Natalia turned 14 years old on January 26th and had a fun birthday party at an escape room. Nothing like a house full of teenage girls when you and the dog are the only guys around. ;-) Tali had a great time with her friends and enjoyed her birthday. Her big surprise was her older sister Ana who is a freshman at IU came up to surprise her and take her out to spend time with her. That was probably the best present she could ask for! Us, too!!! Tali’s cheer team also won Grand Champion last week at their cheer competition in French Lick and earned a fully paid bid to Worlds in Orlando in May. They are so excited!!!
Ana is doing great at IU and got good grades for her first semester. She also just finished rush and is now a pledge for her first choice sorority Chi O. She has quickly made friends and loves being part of a new group and we couldn’t be more excited for her.
Brigid is still doing great at Merck and is interviewing for a new position. She is excited at new opportunities this will bring her and is one step closer to getting promoted.
Kylie is still doing well and is keeping us organized with a slew of new listings we are putting on the market already. The spring market is heating up early this year!
Thea is doing great and so are Michael and Parks (their baby). She has been busy early this year working with buyers trying to beat the spring rush and rapidly-escalating prices expected in the next month or two.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for Happy Hour last month and to Rhoda Israelov with Say It for You (www.SayItforYou.net). We had a good crowd and lots of fun!! If you would like to sponsor a Happy Hour this year and get your business in front of hundreds of people, e-mail me at Steve@Welcome2Indy.com. We only have a few spots left. We hope you will join us for our next Happy Hour on Thursday, February 15th from 5-6:30pm at Matt The Miller’s in Carmel. Drinks and food are on us!!!
We have been getting lots of questions about what to expect with the real estate market in 2024…and for good reason. It has been in the news almost daily. The biggest issue is lack of affordability, which is comprised in part due to lack of supply, higher interest rates, price appreciation being more rapid than wage growth. There is even a movement to endorse long-term renting over owning. The argument is: 1) lower monthly payments, 2) much lower acquisition cost, 3) low to no maintenance costs, 4) easier and less expensive disposition. While this is all true, what it doesn’t mention is the absolutely best form of leverage and net worth growth available to anyone. Where else can you purchase a, say $600,000 asset for $30,000 and use someone else’s money for the rest…and take advantage of tax savings…and pocket all of the accrued equity you build? Speaking of equity, this is huge! The average net worth of a renter is $9,700 and the average net worth of a homeowner is $396,300!!! Real estate appreciation is like compound interest…you can never catch up to someone who started before you did. It is also the greatest form of wealth for most people and over 70% of millionaires and billionaires owe the majority of their wealth to real estate.
While I will never advocate owning real estate is for everyone, it should be a goal for most as it is the #1 generator of generational wealth in the US, period…and is a significant source of retirement income for many.
We are expecting to see 15-18% growth in 2024 in real estate sales, which would take us back to 2018/2019 levels, which were very good. Consumer confidence is very high right now for the economy and most experts are predicting we will either avoid a recession altogether or have a very mild one. Fannie and Freddie are expecting mortgage interest rates to sink into the high 5% range by Q3 2024. We are short 30% of needed housing inventory and 25,000 houses in Indiana alone! Bottom line, housing values aren’t going down anytime soon. The longer people wait, the more expensive housing will become. The key is to get into the game as soon as possible and lock in the price and start taking advantage of the appreciation.
Here are some stats from MIBOR coming December 2023 to November 2023:
Median Sales Price-$278,000-DOWN 4.1%
Closed Sales-2,055 units-DOWN 7.7%
New Listings-1,558 units-DOWN 29.7%
Pending Sales-1,790 units-DOWN 4.7%
Median Days on Market-31 days-UP 40.9%
Average Days on Market-54 days-UP 33.6%
Price per s.f.-$148-DOWN 2.0%
% of List Price Received-97.4%-DOWN 0.1%
Active Inventory-2,926 units-DOWN 41.5%
Months Supply of Inventory-1.4 months-DOWN 36.6%
While these numbers look pretty bad, keep in mind downward trends in December are normal, maybe not to this extent, but our expectation is that these numbers will only improve as the year progresses. If you have questions about your home’s value or the real estate market in general, please contact us as we would be happy to answer questions and provide guidance.
Stay tuned!!! We have a HUGE announcement next month that will be coming out separately. This is the biggest news we have ever shared with our clients in 51-years in real estate, so you do not want to miss this announcement.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Click here to read our February newsletter.
Your Friends in Real Estate,
Steve, Kylie, Thea, and Mark
P.S. Please don’t keep us a secret!
