Steve & Jack's July 2014 Newsletter

Welcome 'officially' to summer! We hope you survived the storm last night unscathed. That was pretty scary! I happened to be checking up on a vacant listing right in the path of the storm and took shelter in their basement. Scary! We hope that the start of summer has been a good one. Changing routines is always difficult, especially when children are involved. Our bedtime has continually become later as we all take advantage of the great weather and sunlight.

We are excited to take our summer vacation this year to Washington, DC and Colonial Williamsburg. We even scored tickets for a White House tour! We will be joining Jack & Mary Anne and spending the week in Williamsburg with them and celebrating Independence Day there as well. Ana has been studying Colonial America this summer so she appreciates what she is seeing. It should be a very fun trip and a very educational one as well. We will let you know how it went in next month's newsletter.

The real estate market has been a little nutty lately. After a slow start due to the severe winter, it took off with impressive numbers, until the end of May when it took a breather. Showings and closings are both down right now leaving sellers to question the market at a time, which is usually quite robust. Please know that this slow down is city-wide and is not expected to last. Activity is already slowly picking back up, but summer always brings vacations, so many buyers take a break, especially in June.

Here are some quick housing numbers you will find interesting:
These numbers are comparing May 2013 to May 2014 according to MIBOR's Monthly Indicators Report:
• New listings are down 1.0%
• Pending sales are down 6.8%
• Closed sales are down 9.0%
• Median sales price is UP 1.4% to $140,000
• Average sales price is UP 2.1% to $175,903
• Percent of original list price received at sale is UP 2.1% to 94.4%
• Total active listings available at month end is down 1.7%
• Months supply of inventory is down 5.4% to 5.3 months
We hope you enjoy your summer and are able to take a vacation or two and enjoy some fun time! As always, thank you for being such great clients!! We truly are blessed and continue to be grateful for your on-going trust and support. We would love to help someone you care about with their real estate needs, so please give us a call when the next person you know is talking about buying, selling, or building a new home. We would love to learn about their specific situation and consult with them about their options.

Enjoy the July newsletter!!

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Steve & Jack Rupp

February 2014 Steve & Jack Home News

Welcome 2014 and the Arctic Vortex that has rushed in with it! Like us, you are probably fed up with the frigidly cold winter we have had along with the snow, accidents, and seemingly never-ending school delays & cancellations. At this rate, our kids won't get much of a summer as they will be making up snow days into July!

We hope you had a fantastic, relaxing, enjoyable, and fun holiday break. As is customary, we drove down to Tampa, FL to spend the week between Christmas and New Year's with Brigid's family. Although it was cold by Florida standards (low of 40s in the evening), it certainly was better than here!

Jack and Mary Anne were able to see all of their grandchildren on Christmas day and all of the presents they opened. It sure is nice to have family in town to spend holidays together.

As mentioned in last month's newsletter, our new Director of Marketing & Client Service Bob Clidinst continues to shine. We are so fortunate to have him as part of our team. He is fine-tuning systems, adding new ones and is a natural at preparing all of the marketing (we have become known for our extensive marketing for listings throughout the Indy-area) we do for all of our listings. We hope you have a chance to meet Bob soon! His e-mail is Bob@Welcome2Indy.com if you want to drop him a note.

As for the real estate market, it has certainly been somewhat hurt by the weather, to be sure. Some areas are seeing more activity than others. Here are some quick numbers for reference (source: December MIBOR Monthly Indicators Report):

Closed sales are UP 4.3%
Median sales prices are UP 4.8% ($134,900)
Average sales prices are UP 10.5% ($176,622)
% of Original List Price received at sale is UP 2.3% (91.3%)
Months supply of inventory DOWN 19% (4.5 months)

As you can see, our market is still posting some impressive numbers. The forecast for this year is that 2014 will continue to post some strong numbers, but they will be tempered a bit compared to 2013. Interest rates are projected to increase to 5.5% by the end of the year and refinances will all but dry up forcing lenders to relax a bit on lending guidelines, however new laws/rules just went into effect on 1/10/14 limiting how much relaxed lenders can get-not a bad thing!

As always, if you have any questions/comments/concerns at all, please let us know. We are always here to help. Speaking of help, if you have bought, sold, or built a new home with us in the past 3 years and are a member of Angie's List, would you do us a HUGE favor and leave us a positive review? Angie's List is so powerful and we could really use some more good reviews. Thank you for helping!!!

Here's to a warmer and drier February and a great Valentine's Day. Enjoy the SuperBowl, too!!

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Your Personal Real Estate Consultants...for Life!

Steve & Jack

January 2014 Steve & Jack's Home News

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

We hope you are preparing to enjoy the Christmas holidays and New Year.

First off, THANK YOU to everyone who attended our VIP Client Appreciation Event last Saturday!!! We had an amazing turnout, despite frigid temperatures and almost 250 of you enjoyed refreshments & an amazing movie Frozen. If you haven't seen it yet, it is worth your time & money. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We enjoy pampering our fantastic clients and referral partners and look forward to doing it again next year.

This has been an amazing year for us and we owe it all to YOU, our fantastic clients. We plan to take a much-deserved break between Christmas & New Years and visit Brigid's parents who live in Tampa, FL. Not a bad place to visit family! Our family is looking forward to spending time together and slowing down a bit to enjoy the holidays...and we hope you are as well. We all work hard during the year and it is nice to be able to slow down, relax, and reflect on the past year and make plans for the next.

The real estate market is still quite HOT. Here are some notable numbers (from MIBOR's most recent Monthly Indicators Report-October 2013):
• Closed sales are up 11.6%
• Pending sales are up 6.4%
• New listings are up 13.1%
• Median sales price is up 4.9% to $135,000
• Percent of Original List Price Received at Sale up 2.9% to 92.3%
• Total active listings available down 7.6%
• Months supply of inventory down 24.6% to 5.5 months

As you can see, every single category we track is posting impressive numbers. Hamilton County is posting even more impressive numbers with inventory in some areas and price ranges at just 2.3 months! If you are considering buying, selling, or building a new home, please contact us so we can share specific numbers with you and advise you on your options.

From Steve, Jack and our entire family, we heartily wish you a warm, fun, relaxing and enjoyable Christmas and New Year. THANK YOU again for being a client and we can't wait to see what is in store for next year!!

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Your Personal Real Estate Consultants...for Life!

Steve & Jack

October Steve & Jack's Home News

Happy October and Halloween! We hope you are enjoying some cooler weather. If you love the heat, maybe a vacation somewhere warm is being planned. Our girls are excited about dressing up again this year and getting together with all of the neighbors for our annual tradition of dinner and then Trick-or-Treating. Ana is going around as Princess Leah and Tali will be Tangled. Ana wanted her to be Yoda, but we put the kibosh on that one!

Our family has an annual tradition of attending the Headless Horseman at Conner Prairie every year and we continued that tradition on Sunday. If you haven't been, I encourage you to go. It is very well-done and there are a lot of activities to keep kids and grandkids occupied for a few hours. The Sleepy Hollow puppet show is extremely popular and if you haven't seen it, would recommend it highly.

Next Thursday & Friday is our Fall Break and we are going with Jack and Mary Anne to the Smokies. We are really looking forward to spending time together and are hoping that the park opens by then!

This year continues to be extremely good for real estate, however since the Federal Government partial shut-down, buyer traffic has slowed significantly all over the country as buyers are hearing that lenders are not able to close loans. While the shut-down isn't helping things, that sentiment is not accurate. Loans are still closing and lenders are making changes to the prior requirement to receive tax transcripts and are asking for an additional year of a tax return instead, in many cases. People are still closing loans, but clearly a budget deal would greatly help!

As for some market updates, things are still going very well:
*Closed sales are up 22.2%
*Median sales prices are up 5.6%
*Inventory is down 12.7% to just 5.6 months, which constitutes a SELLERS' market

Thank you to everyone who has registered for the FREE Colts-Bronco's tickets for Sunday night's game. We will be drawing one lucky winner at 4PM TODAY, so if you haven't called us yet to register, please do so-317-573-1880. Good luck!!!

Also, Ana and I will be attending the sold-out All-Pro Dad's Club breakfast this Friday morning at 7:30AM at Carey Ridge Elementary school, where several former Colts' players, including Hunter Smith will be talking, including a message from Tony Dungy. The NFL will be there filming and we should be on TV on Sunday night, so please watch for us! After the breakfast, we get to tour the Sunday Night Football RV. Ana is SO excited!!!! Let's hope for a better showing of our Colts than last night. Ugh!!

Enjoy the newsletter and, as always THANK YOU for your continued support and referrals. Please continue to think of us for your real estate needs and those of people you care about. We love to help!

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Your Personal Real Estate Consultants...for Life!

Steve & Jack Rupp

Steve & Jack's Home News for May 2013

Welcome spring and all of the weather (good & bad) that comes with it! We hope you survived the storms last night. We spent part of the night in the basement with our girls. Both are so used to it now that waking them up in the middle of the night doesn't even phase them! Our hearts & prayers go out to the victims of the Oklahoma tornado. What terrible devestation!

On a lighter note, if you are a subscriber to the Indianapolis Monthly magazine, please look for us as one of the top real estate agents in the city for providing outstanding client service. We are honored and humbled at the reviews YOU submitted on our behalf. We are a multi-year award winner and are in the top 7% of agents in the city our of over 6,000 agents. THANK YOU! We wouldn't be able to do what we do without such amazing clients like you. Truly, we are grateful. Please feel comfortable introducing us to those you care about needing outstanding service and advice on buying, selling, or building a new home. That is how we stay in business.

As for the housing market, it has posted some more great numbers. Inventory is down again to 5.5 months in Indy (4.2 months in Hamilton County), sales prices are up 2%, closed sales are up 18.7%, pending sales are up 22.8%, and new listings are up 9.2%. This is all excellent news!!!

We are grateful to Butler University for inviting us, once again to present to their faculty and staff earlier this month on the Top Ten Mistakes Buyers and Sellers Make as well as a market update. If you have a group or your company does Brown Bag lunches, please feel comfortable contacting us about doing a presentation for your group as well. We are proficient on myriad topics relating to real estate, marketing, client service, Staging, and financing. Give us a call!

Enjoy the warmer weather and thanks again for inviting us to a part of your family!

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Enjoy!!!

Good News for Buyers AND Sellers!

Increased Housing Starts...

Housing Myth vs. Fact

Indianapolis Housing Market Update

Existing-home sales market surging 15 percent across Indiana
Associated Press
April 9, 2013
Nissa Ricafort and her husband figured their ranch-style home in northeast Indianapolis would take two to three months to sell, but the weekend it hit the market the couple had 17 showings and accepted an offer for the full $185,000 asking price.

"It was the most insane thing I ever experienced," said Ricafort, a family law attorney. "But a good insane. I closed on the sale of one home, then closed on the other four days later and moved in between. It's really worked out great."

The housing market has spiked so much in some places in the Indianapolis area that real estate agents are turning to Facebook and going door-to-door looking for prospective sellers because of a shortage of houses for sale. Sales are up overall statewide, with Indiana reporting 68,015 homes sold from March 2012 through February 2013, a 15.2-percent increase over the same period a year earlier. For the first two months of 2013, sales were up 20.5 percent. Home sales have improved on a year-over-year basis for 20 consecutive months.

"In the major markets, everything seems to be very, very busy," said Kevin Kirkpatrick, president of the Indiana Association of Realtors. "We don't have enough inventory for the number of buyers that are out there right now. That's what's causing prices to go up. They're not skyrocketing, but things are moving in the right direction."

The median cost of a home in Indiana is up 4.7 percent, from $112,750 to $118,000.

Toby Muhlhofer, an Indiana University assistant professor of finance who specializes in real estate, said it's not surprising the housing market in Indianapolis is leading the comeback.

"It makes sense because Indianapolis is where Indiana's economic output is centered," he said.

Other areas also are seeing improvement.

"It's still very clearly a buyer's market, but that pendulum is beginning to swing and I think consumers are noticing that," said Peter Novak Jr., chief executive of Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors.

Some buyers are having trouble even finding homes to look at. Tonya Sanderson of Fishers said she's been looking nearly a year for a four-bedroom house with a three-car garage and a yard big enough for a pool in the school district she lives in, but there have been few houses to look at.

"We really thought by now there would be a lot of houses being listed and we'd have a lot of options, but we're not seeing that," Sanderson said.

She said she's considering putting letters in mailboxes of homes she likes to see if people are interested in selling.

Cindy Marchant, a real estate agent since 2001 in Fishers, said home sales in the suburb are up 48 percent from a year ago. She said it's the best market she's seen. She attributes the improvement to pent-up demand, low interest rates, improving consumer confidence and homeowners becoming frustrated last year at the lack of sales lowering their prices.

"It was the perfect storm, but no one was jumping because everyone was afraid because so many people were unemployed," she said. "It was hard to go out on a limb and buy a house. But I think now, people are ready to make a move."

Kirkpatrick worries, though, that the resurgence is fragile.

"If something happens with North Korea or something happens with oil prices, it could knock it off real quickly," he said.

Housing News Roundup

More Signs of Housing Market Improvement

Indy Housing Growth

Low Housing Stock

Case Schiller Home Prices Indexes

December 2012 Steve & Jack's Home News

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

We hope you had a fun and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family and are now preparing for the Christmas holiday season. Steve & Brigid hosted Thanksgiving again this year for Brigid's brother and wife, Steve's sister and family, and Jack and Mary Anne. We had a great time and everyone left with lots of leftovers! Our favorite is turkey sandwiches the next day...with lots of mayo, of course!

Steve & Brigid took advantage of the long weekend to get Christmas decorations up throughout the house, both inside and out. Although a full day of work, it is our favorite time of the year and we love looking at the Christmas tree with all of the bows, lights, and ornaments. A tradition Steve & Brigid have is picking up a Christmas ornament every time they travel. It always bring back fond memories of vacations gone by and remembering how life has changed over the years. Of course, we have ornaments from when we were younger as well and we share with Ana & Talia how old we were and some memories of that time in our lives. It is a great family time for sharing memories and teaching our girls a little about when we were their age.

One of the new traditions we have embraced is the Elf on The Shelf. What a great vehicle for impressing upon kids the importance for good behavior! Ana read the book about the Elf to Talia. If you are not familiar with the Elf, Santa sends him to kids' houses to watch them and then he reports their behavior back to Santa each night. The following morning, the kids have to look for him as his location changes daily. They aren't allowed to touch him as he will lose his magical powers. Every parent we know who has an Elf in their house absolutely LOVES it!

On a down note, Steve & Ana both have to have their tonsils removed. In order for them to take advantage of the Christmas break and Brigid's vacation time to play nurse, they had to schedule the surgery on December 21st! So, Christmas will not be quite as merry as usual, but the important thing is that they will be much healthier in the future. Recovery time for Ana is about a week, but for Steve it will be about two weeks. Lots of milkshakes have been promised!

In housing news, excellent data has been released, yet again!! These numbers are for all of the MIBOR service area. Hamilton County numbers are even better!!
• Closed sales are up 18.0%
• Median sales price is up 1.9%
• Inventory is down 11.5% and is down to 6.8 months


***Don't forget about our Annual Santa Night at our office-3801 E. 82nd Street on Thursday, December 6th from 5-7PM. This has become an annual event for many of you and we always look forward to seeing you each and every year. This is great for kids, parents, and grandparents. A friendly Santa will be there along with his elfs, a professional photographer who will be taking FREE photos, & some refreshments. Please RSVP by 12/3 to Lisa Kirkpatrick at 317-654-5430 or Lisa@Welcome2Indy.com.

Here are some fun articles you will find in this month's newsletter:
• The Archer
• December Doings
• December Quiz Question
• Boost Problem Solving
• Winter Fun Facts
• Birds Can be Multilingual
• Perfect Holiday Parties
• Overheard on A Bus
• Sleep Tight
• Nuts to You-for A Healthier Diet
• Less Is Often More
• The Power of 'We'

Click here to read the final newsletter of 2012.

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Our wish to you this holiday season is that you are able to take some time out of your hectic schedule and the pressures that accompany this time of year and spend some quality time with friends and family as you enjoy your own holiday traditions. Please remember that there are so many people who will not have a very merry Christmas this year. Volunteering in some way is not only good and very much appreciated by those less fortunate, but also does some pretty amazing things for us as well. Please consider volunteering this holiday season to make it just a little brighter for someone else.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

November Steve & Jack's Home News

Welcome Fall!!! With the much-lower temperatures come the changing of leaves and greener grass along with more rain. It also marks the end of many sports, such as baseball and soccer. Such is the case with our family. Ana finished her last soccer game on Saturday, and while it frees up three days/week, it is bitter-sweet as I always look forward to watching Ana play. Brigid enjoys coaching, but is ready for a break as well.

We are looking forward to enjoying some time in the Smokies for Fall Break with Jack and Mary Anne later this month. Mary Anne had eye surgery a few weeks ago, which necessitated her having to keep her head down for 10 consecutive days! While not fun, she completed her recovery a week ago Saturday last. Now, she has another 4 or more weeks before she can expect full vision to be restored, but it beats going blind!

We are looking forward to going to some pumpkin patches and our annual Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood. Ana has decided she is going to be Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and Tali is going to be her favorite cartoon character Scooby Doo. Hopefully, you are looking forward to Trick-or-Treaters, Halloween parties and/or Fall Break plans.

Our real estate market continues to improve and has received quite a bit of great press lately. Here is why:
Quarter-over-Quarter Change in Closed Sales +14.5%
Quarter-over-Quarter Change in Median Sales Price +4.2%
Quarter-over-Quarter Change in Inventory -11.2%
Months Supply of Inventory 7.8 months -21.7%

Happy Fall!!!

Save the date for our annual Santa Night at our office on Thursday, December 6th from 5-7PM. Santa will be there with on of his Elfs, refreshments will be served and professional photos will be taken, suitable for Christmas Cards. More details will be coming soon!!!

Some of the fun articles you will find this month:
• Don't Doubt The Power of A Dream
• Notable in November
• November Quiz Question
• Furnace Readiness Tips
• Oldest Bird, Not A Bird?
• Knowledge Is A Matter of Perspective
• Caring for An Elderly Relative While Working
• Facts about Factoids
• 5 Tricks Theaters Use
• Remodel with A Financial Blueprint
• Lost Jobs Lead to New Opportunities
• Girls, Ask Your Guys

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Excellent News on Housing Prices!!!

Updated Seller Stats & Trends

Great Real Estate Stats

Check out these great stats on the recovering real estate market:

Graphic courtesy of Brian Buffini

Housing Numbers Up in Hamilton County

The following article appeared in the Current Newspaper on November 8, 2011 in an interview of Steve Rupp by the editor Jordan Fischer: According to the MIBOR third quarter report, the number of closed sales in Hamilton County increased by 27.7% compared to 2010. Steve Rupp, REALTOR for Prudential Indiana Realty Group spoke with Jordan Fischer from The Current Newspaper about these figures. “The third quarter is turning out to be the best quarter of the year so far,” Rupp said. “new listings are down, and that’s excellent. We need those numbers to come down. And part of that is that foreclosures are down.” The monthly supply of housing inventory for Hamilton County dropped 3.5% in September to 8.3 months. That’s lower, Rupp said, than MIBOR’s average inventory, which is hovering around 9.5 months. The median sales price did drop 3.9% compared to this period last year, however, which Rupp said is a sign homeowners are still having to negotiate “pretty hard” to sell their homes (homeowners on average received 90.4% of their original list price sale in September). Rupp said he was optimistic MIBOR numbers were signs of an upward trend for the market. “It will be interesting to see where we are in February-March-April of next year, relative to 2011. My guess...is that we’re going to continue the trend of pretty good numbers. If you couple that with still significantly-lower than historical average interest rates, you’re going to have some pretty strong numbers...and you’re not going to have anything holding it back.” In fact, November's numbers just came in and they are even better!! Now is a great time to buy a home, especially in Hamilton County!!