April 2021 Newsletter

Welcome, Spring!!!! Well, not officially, but it sure feels like it! Regardless what the calendar says, we will take it! We hope you are enjoying some absolutely beautiful weather and are getting outside for some ‘vitamin D therapy’. We all can use some outside time after this past winter. Spring Break is just around the corner for most school systems. Unfortunately, Ana and Tali don’t have the same weeks off. Tali starts next Friday and Ana starts the following Friday. Brigid is taking Tali to Miami a week from Tuesday to see a neighbor who moved down there last year. Ana and I head down to Florida Friday of that week. We are headed for a few days to Marco Island and then on to Universal Studios to enjoy some much-needed R and R.

If you celebrate Easter, we are fast-approaching the most important holiday for many religions. We hope that you are able to enjoy Easter services this year with family, if you are able to do so safely. Hopefully, it will be beautiful weather to be out and about and have some fun Easter egg hunts-always my favorite!

Do you follow NCAA basketball? If so, did you fill out a bracket? If you did, my guess is it got busted faster that ever this year…at least mine did!!! There were more upsets this year than I can remember. Heck, my Xavier Musketeers didn’t even make the tournament this year, and that is rare. Only one Indiana team made it and that didn’t even go too well. At least Indianapolis is able to play host to every team and see some life back in downtown Indy. I am sure the hotels, restaurants and event venues are ecstatic!!!

Speaking of downtown Indy, Tali had two cheer competitions downtown over the past few weeks. It was nice to see people down there again, but boy, is Circle Centre Mall a shadow of itself. It is so sad to see 75% of the stores gone and the mall so empty. I remember vividly when it was THE place to go. Very sad. Tali had her last competition a couple of weeks ago in Sevierville, TN. They did very well and had a great time around Gatlinburg and the water park where we stayed. The season is over, but they are already preparing for next season.

Ana is already starting pre-season weight training for soccer at Guerin this fall. Both girls are doing extremely well in school and working hard. Ana is also working toward getting confirmed in the Catholic Church in May and is excited about that. She is also working on her driver’s ed course, too. Where did time go???

Patti has been working hard on some brand new marketing programs we have as well as a Relocation Guide for people moving to Indy. They look amazing and full of great content. If you or someone you know could use one, please let us know. We can e-mail or snail mail you a package.

Kylie continues to work hard improving our systems and processing our transactions. She is consistently THE go-to person in our office of over 275 people for systems/transaction/organization questions. She is what keeps our high level of service consistent!

Thea has been enjoying her puppy Ella and is going CRAZY with buyers in this HOT sellers’ market. There are FAR too many buyers chasing FAR too few houses for sale. Some builders have closed entire communities because they sold an ENTIRE year’s worth of inventory in JANUARY!!! Can you believe that? Never in my over two-decade career have I seen anything close to this.

Like so many of us (me included), we are watching our house value climb each month really making us think hard about whether we should sell in this unprecedented HOT market with super-low interest rates (around 3% as of this writing). Are you or someone you know tossing around the idea of selling? Fact-we have more buyers right now than we care of think about actively looking for homes. Could YOURS be a good fit for one of our many buyers? What is your ‘Make Me Move’ number? C’mon, just think about it. If I were to come to your house this week with a signed purchase agreement to buy your house and a check, what number would have to be on that check for you to say, ‘SOLD!’? Let us worry about where you are going next. We have some options for you that are working VERY well in this market. Seriously consider what YOUR number is and let us know. We are keeping a spreadsheet for all of our clients and when we have a buyer that matches your criteria, we will tell them the conversation starts at your ‘Make Me Move’ number. You save BIG money on commission and selling expenses and make your DREAM number you thought you could never get, and you don’t even have to put your house on the market and deal with a bunch of strangers roaming through your house. It is a win-win for everyone. Call me TODAY at 317-573-1880 and tell me YOUR number and we will see if any of our many buyers match your criteria and if not, we will make a note of it for the many future buyers we have coming to us for the beginning of the busy spring market.

Okay, now for some fun stuff!! You know we love to LOVE on our clients! :-) Here are THREE April events you don’t want to miss:

1) April Happy Hour. Due to spring break, we are pushing it back a week from usual. Come join us Thursday April 22 from 5-6:30pm at Matt The Miller’s in Carmel. RSVP to patti@Welcome2Indy.com. Food and drink provided. Thank you to Lisa Orecchio with 2-10 Home Warranty for sponsoring our March Happy Hour. We had a great turnout and lots of fun!! Our April Happy Hour is sponsored by Rojas Roofing. Chris Rojas is the owner and also a client of ours. They do an awesome job for our clients and you can TRUST them. Call me at 317-573-1880 if you would like their contact info.

2) SHRED Day-Also on Thursday, April 22. Back by popular demand, SHRED Day returns from 10AM-12PM in our office parking lot. Bring any documents you want securely destroyed as you wait and any electronic equipment you no longer need and we will safely and responsibly recycle it. Absolutely FREE to you!!! Spring Client Appreciation Event-Saturday, April 24 from 10AM-12PM at Sundown Gardens in Westfield. Come and get your spring plants and flowers and get an exclusive Zulu Group discount on all purchases as well a free gifts and prizes and refreshments. Landscape architects and Garden Center experts will be on hand to answer questions and provide FREE workshops on how to get the most out of your yard this season.

3) THANK YOU for being our client and/or trusted referral partner! We truly appreciate you and we know we couldn’t do what we love without your trust and support. Please call us anytime we can help you or someone you care about to get the absolute BEST service and knowledge of anyone in the city. We are proud to be serving the 3rd generation of some of our clients!

Below you will find the February 2021 vs. January 2021 real estate stats for Indy courtesy of MIBOR:

Median Sales Price-UP 5.4% to $223,500
Closed Sales-UP 8.2% to 2,243 units
New Listings-DOWN 8.9% to 2,178 units
Pending Sales-DOWN 6.8% to 2,584 units
Days on Market-DOWN 13.2% to 33 days
Price/s.f. Received-UP 3.2% to $130/s.f.
% of Ask received-UP 0.6% to 98.8%
Active Inventory-DOWN 17.8% to 1,577 units
Absorption Rate-DOWN 22.2% to 0.7 months
Your friends in real estate,

Steve, Kylie, Patti, Thea

P.S. Please don’t keep us a secret

Click here to watch an intro video to this months’ newsletter by Steve

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March 2021 Home News

March 2021 Newsletter

Welcome to March and, hopefully MUCH better weather than February!! Hopefully, you survived ‘snowmageddon’ a couple of weeks ago. Brigid and Tali had to drive through that snow storm all the way from a cheer competition in Wisconsin and Brigid said that was the most difficult and nerve-wracking trip she has taken in her life. Hope you stayed safe and warm and are glad that is behind us now.

Along those lines, we had to cancel our February Happy Hour due to Matt The Miller’s not having any heat for several days. We are looking forward to welcoming you all back in March on Thursday, March 18th from 5-6:30pm. Maybe we will still be wearing some green from St. Patrick’s Day! :-)

Hope you were able to participate in our first Quarterly Prize Drawing last month. We had a TON of people call in. Congratulations to Debbie Golan for being our winner! She won an overnight stay at the brand new Autograph Collection Hotel Carmichael in Carmel. She stayed in the Presidential Suite, was greeted with champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries, cupcakes, balloons, banners, streamers, bath bombs, a charcuterie board, a gift card to Vivante (their French fine-dining restaurant) and top-notch service. Debbie celebrated her birthday and her daughter’s last weekend and had a blast!!! Our next drawing will be in May, so be sure and follow us on social media and watch your e-mail for your next chance to call in and win.

Congratulations to Tali for winning her cheer competition last weekend!! Their team came in first place and they are so excited. They have been invited to Nationals in April and will be traveling to Gatlinburg, TN this weekend for their final regular-season competition. Our entire family will be going to cheer her on. Go, Tali!!

Brigid has been in her new job at Merck for over two months now and absolutely loves it! She is busier than ever, but is enjoying doing something different and learning something new every day.

Ana finished her 2nd trimester at Guerin last week and got almost all A’s. She is starting to train for soccer next season, so she is ready to go. She just recorded her next concert for Indianapolis Children’s Choir and we are looking forward to seeing it soon. We can’t wait to be able to watch them live.

Jack and Mary Anne received their 2nd shot of the COVID vaccine about 3 weeks ago and promptly left to visit friends in Florida. They had a great time and are glad to be home again, but enjoyed finally being able to leave their house.

Patti is doing an amazing job continuing to market our team and coming up with creative ideas to better market our clients. She is becoming known as the social media and video queen around the office.

Kylie is hard at work keeping us organized and processing the seemingly endless paperwork that exists in our industry. She is regularly sought after by office staff for how to do something or organize something. Her son Jackson is in pre-school for the first time and loving it and her older son Trey is enjoying still being live at his school.

Thea is keeping very busy with all of the buyers she is working with and when not helping them find the perfect home is in the middle of training her new dog Ella.

Do you or someone you know have plans to sell your house this year or next? Come join Steve as he breaks down the selling process and shares pro-tips and secrets on how to best plan and prepare your house to go on the market in these crazy times. His next presentation is on Tuesday, April 13th at 7pm. Thea will be the presenter that evening. E-mail us and let us know if you can join us at steve@Welcome2Indy.com.

The real estate market is beyond crazy right now. Indy is seeing record-low inventory levels of fewer than 4 weeks and Hamilton County is fewer than 2 weeks! Some builders are so busy that they are no longer taking contracts in some neighborhoods. In my 21+ years in real estate, I have never seen anything like this! Suffice it to say, sellers are getting record prices for their houses right now. The biggest issue sellers have is not knowing where they are going to go. We do have some proven strategies that work in this market. If you or someone you care about would like to know what your house is worth, give us a call-317-573-1880. I guarantee you the online value estimators are not accurate and can’t begin to keep up with this market and they certainly don’t know the condition of your house. We would be happy to give you an up-to-the minute valuation on your house that is accurate and professional and interpret this market and how it specifically affects YOU and YOUR unique situation and how to best leverage your advantages. With interest rates around 3% right now, you are in an historically good time to sell.

Here are the latest stats from MIBOR comparing January 2021 to December 2020. Look at the number of pending sales compared to new listings. This is an indictor that our market is going to continue to shrink, however we ARE seeing more houses coming on the market really starting on Thursday of last week.

Median sales price-DOWN 4.5% to $212,000
Closed sales-DOWN 39.7% to 2,042 units
New listings-UP 13.7% to 2,362 units
Pending sales-UP 26.6% to 2,886 units
Days on market-UP 15.2% to 38 days
Price per s.f.-DOWN 1.6% to $126
% of ask received-DOWN 0.2% to 98.2%
Active inventory-DOWN 20.6% to 1,908 units
Absorption rate-UP 28.6% to 0.9 months
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

Your friends in real estate,

Steve, Kylie, Patti, and Thea

P.S. Please don’t keep us a secret!

Click here to watch Steve’s intro video to the March newsletter

Click here to read our March newsletter

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January 2021 Steve & Jack's Home News

Welcome to 2021! For many, if not most of us, we are happy to get 2020 in our rearview mirror, especially since a vaccine is here and being rolled out across the globe. Time will tell how effective it is, but it is a great start and a light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel. We mourn those we have lost, including loved ones, friends, neighbors, businesses, and non-profit organizations. No one seemed to be immune, however we have to believe that we will rise stronger than ever and fresh new opportunities will arise as a result of the struggles and pain we have endured. We truly hope and pray this is true and that 2021 will start to return to our 'new normal'.

We hope you are able to enjoy some downtime safely with family for the holidays and recharge for the coming year. Our family is staying home this year. Usually, we go see Brigid's family in St. Pete, FL or they come here, but with COVID they are staying put and so are we. Jack and Mary Anne are coming over for Christmas Eve dinner and then present opening from each other. Christmas morning will be a Zoom call with them as well as Brigid's parents watching the girls open their presents. While not ideal, we will make it work and enjoy time together, even if it is virtual. We hope you are able to include family virtually as well this year to continue your traditions, even if they look a little different.

Thea & Michael are traveling back home to Cleveland for Christmas and enjoying time with family.

Patti & Ron are staying home as well with Ron enjoying his newly-found retirement. Patti took last week off to finish getting things ready for Christmas and spend time with Ron.

Kylie and her family will spend Christmas together as well and enjoy some much-deserved downtime with her taking the last two weeks of the year off.

The housing market has continued to get tighter and tighter with prices climbing every month. In fact, they climbed 19.6% since last November, which is an all-time record. Indianapolis has been identified as one of the top ten major metros in the US to have weathered and continue to weather the COVID and post-COVID markets the best. We are expecting a super-busy 2021 with home sales. If you are thinking about making a move, give us a call! We would love to hear about your goals and plans and how we can help make them a reality.

Here are some stats comparing November 2020 to October 2020, per MIBOR for the 16 counties it serves:

Median sales price-UP 1.8% to $224,900

Closed sales-DOWN 15% to 3,191 units

New listings-DOWN 28.2% to 2,707 units

Pending sales-DOWN 11.6% to 3,057 units

Days on market-UP 24% to 31 days

Price per s.f.-DOWN 0.8% to $128

% of ask received-DOWN 0.2% to 98.6%

Active inventory-DOWN 12.4% to 2,870 units

Absorption rate-FLAT at 0.9 months

As you can see, activity has dropped, but that is expected at this time of the year. We expect activity to pick up again as we approach spring.

May you enjoy the holidays with your family and take some downtime. We are grateful you are part of our tribe and look forward to continue serving you into 2021.

If you are thinking of selling your house, come to our Home Seller Workshop on 1/12/21 at 7pm. We would love to have you. It is a small group and socially-distanced. We will be providing tips and tricks on how to best prepare your house to sell and maximize your value. RSVP to me at 317-339-7698 or Steve@Welcome2Indy.com. We would love to have you!!!

Also, if safe, we will having our first Happy Hour of 2021 on Thursday, January 21st from 5-6:30pm. Check your e-mail in the coming weeks for more info and updates.

Check out our January newsletter below along with links to other resources. Happy New Year!!

Watch Steve's January video intro here

Read our January newsletter here

Download the most powerful real estate app here

Grab coupons and discount at places you shop every day here

Read and watch what our clients have to say about our service here

Watch a 1-minute video about the real estate market here

Your friends in real estate,

Steve, Kylie, Patti, Thea

P.S. Please don't keep us a secret!

Should You DIY Your Holiday Lights?

A good holiday light display can be awe-inspiring, leaving neighbors talking and prompting people from all over town to drive by just to see it. Unfortunately, some of these displays can be difficult to install, and may even require some technical know-how if you want the display to sync to music or have multiple parts working together. There are services that can help with this, putting in the work to set up your lights, regardless of whether you want a modest display or something that would make Clark Griswold green with envy. Are they right for you, though? Here are a few things to consider. Display Complexity One thing that can influence your decision of whether to DIY your holiday lighting is the complexity of the display you want to create. There might not be much of a need for you to hire someone if you are doing basic decorations or have all the equipment you need to get your lights in place. If you want a large elaborate display, or don’t already have everything that you need to reach and mount lights everywhere you want them, you might be better off hiring someone to get the decorations done. Available Free Time Putting up lights around the holidays can take a lot of time, especially for larger displays. This is why a lot of people make decorating into a weekend project when there’s more time available to put into it. Between work, family time, and other responsibilities, though, you may not have large blocks of time available to put into your decorations. This can lead to holiday decorating being stretched out across days or even weeks of small bursts of activity, so if you’re in that situation you might consider paying to have it done instead. Search Necessary Equipment Hanging lights might seem like a simple task, but it becomes a lot harder if you don’t have the necessary equipment on hand. While you can get light mounting hooks and other supplies pretty cheaply, you’re looking at bigger expenses if you find that you need to buy a ladder or other equipment just to get to the areas where you want the lights to go. If you don’t already have everything you need, hiring someone who does may be the cheaper and easier option. Technical Configuration Some lighting displays are really impressive, using computers and other specialized hardware to sync multiple display pieces, and in some cases even operate projectors or broadcast music that can be picked up on the FM band. If you’re not very technologically savvy, setting up a display like this might be more of a job than you can realistically handle alone. Bringing in someone with experience setting up these more technology-driven displays can save you some serious time. It may save you money as well, as they’ll make sure that you don’t buy anything that you don’t actually need to get your display working. Other Services When trying to decide whether you can do your decorating yourself or if you need to bring someone else in, consider whether there’s anything else that you need help doing. Some holiday decorating services offer assistance with multiple parts of decorating, including setting up trees or displays inside the house. Some may even offer custom decorations or consulting services to make sure that everything ties together and matches the existing themes of your home. These are all things that you can typically do yourself, of course. Still, if you have a certain look in mind, it’s worth remembering that you may be able to get some help bringing it to life this holiday season. Finding the Right Installer Finding a light installer you can trust isn’t always easy, but HomeKeepr is here to help. Sign up for a free account today and connect with workers who can get the job done right the first time.

December 2020 Steve & Jack's Home News

December is finally here and we are in full swing of the holidays. Regardless of what holiday you celebrate, we hope this time is full of hope, excitement and new beginnings! We could all use a little of that right now! I don’t know about you, but I have seen holiday lights up earlier than ever before this year. Could it be because people are ready for some holiday spirit to brighten this strange and in many cases difficult year? I would like to think so. Our lights were put up a couple of weeks ago when the weather was over 70-degrees. It was glorious!

Where do I start?? We have had so many client events this past month and are grateful to each of you who took part as we have loved seeing you and saying thank you!! Happy Hour last week was extremely well-attended and looked a little different than usual with social distancing guidelines in place for safety. Thank you, again to our sponsor Jeff Lazar with Lazar Insurance-317-867-1303. We appreciate the support. If you are thinking about making a change of insurance or just want a second opinion, we can’t recommend Jeff and his team highly enough!! They do a great job and really take care of their clients. If you would like to sponsor an upcoming Happy Hour next year, please give Patti a call at 463-999-3949. We are looking for May and later right now. No Happy Hour in December, but we will pick back up again in January on the 21st.

Our very first North Pole Experience at our office was a huge hit! Thank you to so many families who attended and received their ‘Nice List’ certificate, some pre-wrapped treats, a goodie bag, writing letters to Santa (a response should be coming in the next couple of weeks or so) and the amazing family photos (we will send those to you when we receive them from the professional photographer, hopefully next week). We hope you had as good of a time as we did seeing you!

Finally, another first-our Thanksgiving Pie pick-up exceeded even our most optimistic expectations!!! Over 115 of you ordered a pie from No Label at The Table and hopefully you have enjoyed it with family by now. No Label at The Table is a very small, family-owned bakery in Carmel that employs young adults on the autism spectrum and teaches them job and life skills. They also sell items via several micro businesses in the store and are a gluten- and dairy-free company. They were SO grateful of the support during this really difficult time. Please visit them for future needs and they are so easy to work with and also are grateful for your support. We also donated 45 pies to Student Impact of Westfield so 45 families could enjoy a Thanksgiving meal that they otherwise would’t have had. This was a success on so many levels and we certainly hope you felt the love. Thank you for participating and we hope to see you again next year!!!

Patti did such an amazing job organizing all three of these events that happened in six short days!! We are grateful for everything she did to pull these events off. Look for more fun events next year!!! Patti, enjoy some much-deserved down-time!

Thea and Michael will be headed to Cleveland to be with family this holiday and are loving their new home. We look forward to her hosting our team holiday party in December and enjoy her amazing cooking!

Kylie is staying near home to spend time with family as well and is in the middle of some house projects, too.

Steve and his family are staying home for the holidays. Thanksgiving dinner will be made by Brigid and driven to Jack and Mary Anne as well as his sister Michelle and then back home so they can eat dinner together via Zoom. Christmas will be at home as well this year and they will enjoy some relaxation.

Make no mistake, however that our team IS working through the holidays, so if you or someone you care about are thinking of making a move, give us a call and we are happy to help. Holidays can be a busy time for us and our clients for real estate, so don’t feel shy about calling.

As for the housing market, it is still hot. We need inventory BADLY! We are still at less than a month of supply and things aren’t going to get better any time soon. With record-low interest rates well below 3% and house prices higher than ever, this is a great time to buy/sell/build a new home. Here are some stats from MIBOR comparing October 2020 to September 2020:

Median sales price-DOWN 1.8% to $221,000

Closed sales-DOWN 0.7% to 3,689 units

New listings-DOWN 9.6% to 3,746 units

Pending sales-DOWN 1.5% to 3,638 units

Days on market-no change at 25 days

Price per s.f.-no change at $129

% of asking price received-DOWN 0.2% to 98.8%

Active inventory-UP 2.7% to 3,259 units

Absorption rate-no change at 0.9 months

As you can see the market is softening a LITTLE bit, but this is expected prior to a presidential election and going into winter. We expect the market to tighten up again as we get past the election and head toward spring. NAR is predicting 2021 to be even stronger than 2020, so buckle up and get ready for another wild ride!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays from our family to yours. Thank you for being such an important part of our lives. We appreciate you!!!

Click here to watch an intro video from Steve

Click here to read the December newsletter

Click here to download the most powerful real estate app available

Click here to get coupons and discounts at places you shop every day

Click here to watch a 1-minute video about this month in real estate

Click here to see what our clients have to say about us

Your friends in real estate, Steve, Kylie, Thea, and Patti

P.S. Please don’t keep us a secret.

November Steve & Jack's Home News

Welcome, fall! We have certainly seen the temperatures cool and the leaves change. While this is a beautiful time of the year, allergy sufferers and those not enjoying the cold weather that follows aren’t quite as happy. We certainly hope you are able to take some time to enjoy the fall colors as well as football. I write this month’s newsletter sitting in the Tampa airport at the end of Fall Break. We took a very short trip to St. Pete to visit Brigid’s parents whom we haven’t seen in almost a year. It was nice to get away and enjoy some sun, pool time, and just relax and get a change of scenery. It definitely is good medicine after this year!

Ana continues to do well at Guerin, but misses soccer. Her varsity team made it to the State Championship and they play on Halloween. Tali is preparing for her first competitive cheer competition in a couple of weeks. We are anxious to experience our first cheer competition as parents. Brigid has finally been able to get out of the house and start making her calls again. She is happy to be able to get out again!

Jack and Mary Anne are staying home for the next several months and are enjoying relaxing and having the girls over to visit. Kylie is actively working on remodeling her house and dealing with the disruption that entails. She also celebrated a birthday this past week and our team enjoyed spoiling her for the day. Patti celebrated her 1-year wedding anniversary last week and spent the weekend enjoying some fun activities with Ron. Thea and her husband Michael are getting settled into their new home and welcomed their parents to visit this past weekend.

Thank you to everyone for attending our October Happy Hour! We had another great turnout and enjoyed re-connecting with so many friends and clients. Thank you to Genan Kirby at Indiana Members Credit Union for sponsoring the October Happy Hour. If you are looking for a change in your financial services provider, give Genan a call. You will enjoy outstanding service!! Her number is 317-508-4264. We hope you can join us for our November Happy Hour on Thursday, November 19th from 5-6:30pm at Matt The Miller’s again. We would love to see you!!! Our sponsor for November is Lazar Insurance. They have been one of our top VIP Insurance Partners for many years and we highly recommend them. Their coverage is top-notch and so is their service. Their premiums are very competitive. Give Jeff a call at 317-867-1303 and tell him I sent you.

Many of you participate in our Annual Cookies with Santa. Due to COVID, we aren’t able to do that this year, however we will be doing a ‘visit’ to the North Pole at our office on Sunday, November 22nd from 11AM-3PM. Watch your inbox and mailbox for more details on how to register. We hope you can make it!!

You should have received a Save The Date card in the mail by now for Tuesday, November 24th. Unfortunately, due to the current health situation, we are not able to continue our movie event, so we have created a new event that we hope you will enjoy. You will like what we have planned…and it will also benefit those less fortunate as well as a small, family-owned local business. We thought long and hard on what to do this year and believe we found a great event to say ‘Thank You!’ for inviting us to help you as well as giving back to the community. Watch your mailbox and e-mail for more details in the next week.

Real estate has slowed just a bit ahead of this contentious election, which was to be expected. It is still HOT and many houses are still flying off the market, but many are not selling quite as fast as they used to. While this year is anything but normal and we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, let alone this winter, if the real estate market follows the typical post-presidential election pattern, we will see a busier-than-usual winter real estate market. Interest rates for a 30-year fixed conventional mortgage are still under 3%. If you are not moving anytime soon and haven’t looked into refinancing, give us a call. We have some awesome lenders who will be happy to help guide you in the right direction and advise you if it makes sense to re-finance or not. If you are considering moving, give us a call. We would be happy to consult with you about your options.

If you are interested in attending a short class on preparing your house for sale, send me an e-mail at steve@Welcome2Indy.com and we will get you registered. It is on Tuesday, November 10th from 7-8pm. You will learn tips, tricks, and hacks to maximize your resale value.
Our housing inventory is still exceedingly low, although it ticked up 1/10th of a point to 0.9 months. Here are some stats comparing September 2020 to August 2020.

Median Sales Price DOWN 1.3% to $225,000

Closed Sales DOWN 2.4% to 3,650 units

New Listings UP 7.2% to 4,117 units

Pending Sales DOWN 0.1% to 3,896 units

Days on Market DOWN 3.6% to 27 days

Price per s.f.-No change-$129

% of Ask Received-No change-99%

Active Inventory UP 7.4% to 3,165 units

Absorption Rate UP 12.5% to 0.9 months

As you can see, the market is starting to soften just a tad, but we are still in a super-strong sellers’ market. If you are thinking of selling, this is still an amazing time to sell with record-high sales prices and record-low interest rates.

Click here to watch an intro video from Steve about real estate and events happening this month

Click here to read our November newsletter

Click here to download the most powerful real estate app available

Click here to watch a 1-minute market update video

Click here to watch/read what our clients have to say about us

Click here to access coupons and discounts at stores you shop every day (who doesn't like to save money?)

We hope you have a great November and are able to spend Thanksgiving with some friends and family. Thank you for making us part of yours!

Your friends in real estate,

Steve, Kylie, Thea, and Patti

P.S. Please don’t keep us a secret!

October 2020 Steve and Jack's Home News

Welcome to Fall! For some weird reason, this year has flown by in some respects, but creeped along in others. It truly has been a strange year that no one will ever forget. We hope this note finds you happy and healthy and enjoying the first few days of Fall. While things look a little different this year, we hope you can enjoy some of what makes Fall fun.

Thank you to everyone who attended Happy Hour a couple of weeks ago! We had another big turnout and enjoyed the weather outside on the patio at Matt the Miller’s. Thank you to Bill Maki of The Kaveri Group for sponsoring it this month. Bill does video work and has done all of ours. You can see samples on our website. He is very good at what he does and if you have a need for some good video work, Bill is your guy. You can reach Bill at WHMaki@gmail.com. We hope you will join us at our October Happy Hour on Thursday, October 15th from 5-6:30pm at Matt The Miller’s. It is sponsored by Genan Kirby with Indiana Members Credit Union. Genan specializes in investment services, but is happy to talk about all of their financial services at our next Happy Hour. I have known Genan for many years and she is one of the most ethical, hard-working, and caring people I know. She is a great person to know!!!

Our last Shred Day went great and we had over 150 cars drop off items to be shredded or recycled. We hope that you have been one of over 1,000 cars that have been able to take advantage of the last 3 Shred Days. If not, we will have more!! We are not sure if we will offer another one yet this year, or wait until spring of next year, but we will have another one and we will communicate the next one to you when known.

I am proud to announce that I have earned another two designations to provide an even higher level of service to our clients, bringing the total designations/certifications to 13, the most of any real estate agent in the world. The Pricing Strategies Advisor (PSA) designation teaches agents advanced skills in properly pricing houses for sale, helping buyers evaluate what price to offer for a house and how best to work with appraisers in this crazy market. The second designation is the Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist (CLHMS) designation. It digs deep in how to best help clients who are looking to buy or sell luxury property whether it is their primary residence or a second home. If you or someone you know is thinking about buying/selling/building a luxury home, give us a call. We specialize in helping that market segment and have an entire Concierge Program designed to cater to their every need and make the process as simple and easy as possible.

Lately, I have been asked frequently about people thinking about a career in real estate. If you have been considering it, please give me a call. I would be very happy to sit down and talk with you or someone you care about and answer questions as well as provide a behind-the-scenes look at what you need to know/do/learn to be successful.

Speaking of agents, if you or someone you know is thinking about moving out-of-state, please call me. We have multiple networks of the top 3% of agents in the world to whom we can refer. We do this regularly and can assure you an outstanding experience. If we don’t personally know an agent in an area already, we use our network to find several and interview them and match you with the best agent to suit your needs. Call us today to help you!

Thank you to everyone who has written great reviews on our service! We are once again up to earn the coveted Angie’s List Super Service Award and 5-Star Real Estate Professional award. Both of these recognize the top 7% of agents in the market for superior client service. We are honored to receive these each year!!

Do you have a need for a painter, carpet cleaner, handyman, CPA, financial advisor, inspector, window cleaner, de-clutterer, mover, etc.? Give us a call!!! We have 17 VIP Vendor Partners who are committed to providing outstanding service and the best prices to our clients. We are happy to connect you with them to ensure you receive an outstanding experience!

Thank you to everyone who attended our first of three in a series of home prep workshops with the Westfield Washington Township Trustee’s office. If you or someone you know is thinking of selling soon or down the road, these are excellent workshops to learn the best tips and tricks to ensure you are ready for the market and sell the fastest for the most money and the least amount of hassle. The next one is on Tuesday, October 13th from 7-8:30pm. You can sign up via their website here: https://www.westfieldwashingtontwp.us/101/OWWN-Guide. Best of all, it is FREE!

As for our team, my family is doing well and I am staying busy with real estate. Brigid has been stuck at home since mid-March, but is finally able to get out again next week for her job and she is so excited! Tali is doing great with her competitive cheer through ICE and is looking forward to her first competition next month. Ana has finished her soccer season at Guerin as of tomorrow. Unfortunately, in her game on Monday she suffered a bad shoulder sprain in a collision with another player and missed the final 3 games of the season. She will heal, but will miss being with her team. She has loved playing soccer again! She starts singing with The Indianapolis Children’s Choir again next month as well.

My parents Jack and Mary Anne are in the Smokies enjoying the Fall colors and beautiful scenery. This will be their last trip until February and they are looking forward to staying home for awhile.

Patti enjoyed a well-deserved vacation to South Carolina with her husband Ron and some friends last week. While the weather didn’t cooperate, they still enjoyed the down time and being together.

Kylie is managing virtual learning with her family and works from home some days and at the office others. She is doing a great job juggling a busy family with lots of scheduling commitments.

Thea is so excited to close on her new home with her husband Michael this month!!! She has been working almost every day with tons of buyers trying to find homes to buy in this super-tight market. It isn’t easy…but she is doing a great job winning multiple offer bidding wars for our clients. Thinking of buying soon? Give us a call. We can help!

Speaking of markets, we find ourselves in the tightest sellers’ market in history right now. With only 3 weeks of inventory (6-months is a balanced market), there are very few homes on the market right now and what is on the market typically sells immediately. Interest rates are at all-time lows of around 2.5% for a 30-year mortgage!!!! We have never seen rates this low before. If you are thinking about moving, take advantage of these rates. If you aren’t thinking about moving, look into re-financing (give us a call as we can introduce you to an excellent lender who can help). It might save you thousands of dollars/year in interest.

Here are some market stats from MIBOR comparing August 2020 to July 2020 as well as a quote from nationally-recognized economist Dr. Elliott Eisenberg: “The Indianapolis real estate market re-wrote the record book again in August. The median sales price rose 14.6% to $228,000, the highest price on record. For all of 2020, year-over-year price appreciation has averaged 11.2%, and the only time in the past decade that we saw anything that exceeded this year-over-year grain was the 14.8% we saw in April 2010.” He continues, “Your home prices have basically doubled over the last ten years, while corresponding inflation rose only 20 percent!”

Median Sales Price-$228,000-UP 1.3%
Closed Sales-3,676 units-DOWN 9.3%
New Listings-3,816 units-DOWN 8.8%
Pending Sales-4,082 units-UP 3.7%
Days on Market-29 days-DOWN 6.5%
Price per Square Foot-$129-UP 0.8%
% of Ask Received-99.1%-UP 0.3%
Active Inventory-2,937 units-DOWN 9.8%
Absorption Rate-0.8 months-No change

As you can see, our market is white hot!!! Give us a call today if you are thinking about making a change. We would be happy to consult with you about your options so you can make an informed decision.

Enjoy this Fall weather and we hope to see you at our Happy Hour on the 15th!!

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

P.S. Please don’t keep us a secret!

Click here to read our October newsletter

May Steve & Jack's Home News

Dear Steve & Brigid,

Happy May! All of us sincerely hope that you and your family and friends are staying safe, healthy, & happy during this unusual time. We hope that you have found some positive things that have come out of all of this, such as spending more time with family and hobbies that were put to the side for far too long. By now, you should have received the May newsletter via USPS, if you are on our mailing list. If you didn't and you would like to receive a paper copy, please e-mail me and we will happily add you to the list.

We have been asked many times, 'How is real estate?' and 'How are you doing during all of this?' To be honest, it hasn't been easy. The number of real estate transactions has plummeted, however it is important to note that every day new listings are coming on the market, offers are being accepted and transactions are closing. At the lowest, showing activity was down 38% from a year ago and now it is only down 8% from a year ago. With fewer people feeling comfortable listing and buying houses, we have had to work harder and longer hours. This is to be expected in a down market. However, we have been very fortunate with clients still listing and buying and we have sold ALL of our listing inventory!

The inventory is at an all-time low and is unhealthy. There isn't enough out there to satisfy demand. This has pushed home prices to an all-time high, appreciation is also at an all-time high of 12.8%/year and houses are selling in a record 6 days for 100% of asking price as recently as May 13th! So, if you or someone you know is thinking about selling, NOW is the time to do it! The market is begging for your house right now and will reward you handsomely. Call us today (317-573-1880) to schedule an appointment (in-person or Zoom) to learn more about your specific situation and how you can take advantage of these historic home prices...and interest rates, which are currently ~3.23% for a 30-year fixed rate conventional mortgage!

Our families and our team are all staying safe and healthy and we continue to work remote as so many of you do as well. Daily team meetings keep us connected and updated so that we don't miss a beat. Indeed, we are fortunate.

Speaking of fortunate, we are so honored and grateful to be featured on the cover of Indy Real Producers Magazine for the month of May. We were chosen out of over 8,500 agents in Indianapolis to be their featured story focused on our guiding principles of 'Guide, Lead, and Protect'. You can see the cover here. Thank you to all of our clients, friends, and referral partners for making this happen!! We are extremely grateful!

We hope you had a wonderful, albeit different Mother's Day this year. Hopefully, all of the moms were spoiled and shown just how much they are loved and cherished by family and friends. As many of you know, our daughters Ana and Tali have been making us Sunday dinners for the past several weeks. Everything is scratch-made and is absolutely delicious! Here is a photo of a recent main course. They wanted a break last Sunday, so we ordered burgers from Bub's in Carmel, which were sinfully delicious. This was at Brigid's request and we were happy to support a local business. This was only the second time we ordered out since quarantine, so it was especially welcomed!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our spring client appreciation contest! Steve's Chatard High School classmate and client Brian Allen was this year's Grand Prize winner!! You can see his certificate here as well as his prize package, which was valued at over $500 from Sundown Gardens in Westfield. Congratulations, Brian!!! Thank you to everyone for entering!

Don't forget our FREE Shred Day coming up on Thursday, May 28th from 10-12 at our office. See the full flyer here for what is accepted and what isn't. You don't even have to get out of your car! We will remove all items for you. This is absolutely FREE and another way for us to say thank you for everything you do for us. Hope to see you on May 28th!

We had a great time at our inaugural virtual Happy Hour last month! Congratulations to Bill Maki for winning best dressed/best background and to Rachel Bristow for winning best drink. Both won a $25 Amazon gift card. We will be doing the same giveaway in May so plan now for your best drink and best outfit/background and win a $25 Amazon gift card. Our next Happy Hour is this Thursday, May 21st from 5-6:30pm. You should have received an Evite already with log-in details. If you didn't receive one, please e-mail me and we will get it out to you. Hope to see you there!

During this uncertain time, we find it optimal to analyze every single expense and scrutinize its necessity. We have found hundreds of dollars of savings! If you would like a guide to walk you through how to do this exercise yourself, please e-mail me at Steve@Welcome2Indy.com and I will gladly send you a worksheet to help you through this process. It is amazing to see how many expenses are no longer necessary or even duplicative. See how much money you can actually save each month and then let me know your monthly savings. We will give a prize to the person to has the highest monthly savings! You must respond with your monthly amount by June 1st to be entered.

Have you downloaded our NEW and IMPROVED real estate app?? If not, download it here. It is the most powerful real estate app in the country. Try it for yourself and let us know what you think. It is super-easy and intuitive.

As mentioned above, our real estate market, while not grinding to a halt, has slowed considerably. In the past two weeks, we have seen increased activity again, which is welcomed. Experts have placed Indy in the Top 10 Cities nationwide to come back the fastest from the pandemic for real estate. This is due, in part to our record-low inventory, strong state financial condition, being the most affordable housing market relative to income in the nation, and strong buyer demand. Here are the latest MIBOR stats comparing April 2020 to March 2020:

Median Sales Price-$210,000-UP 0.7%
Closed Sales-2,522-DOWN 14.9%
New Listings-2,782-DOWN 23.9%
Pending Sales-2,866-DOWN 9.1%
Days on Market-38 days-No change
Price/s.f.-$120-UP 1.7%
Percent of Ask Received-98.3%-UP 0.4%
Active Inventory-3,967 units-DOWN 1.7%
Absorption Rate-1.6 months-UP 14.3%

Keep in mind, these numbers are comparing April 2020 to March 2020. Usually, we show numbers comparing April 2020 to April 2019, but to show the impact COVID-19 has had in our market recently, we chose to use month over month numbers. Note that daily numbers are changing and will result in different numbers, such as the 6-days on market average on 5/13/20.

We hope you continue to stay safe, healthy, and happy. Please let us know if there is anything extra we can do to help support you. As the saying goes, 'We are all in this together'. Let's pray for more positive progress over the next month.

Click here for the May newsletter
Click here to access coupons and discount at places you shop every day

Click here to watch an intro video about our team

Click here to watch a 1-minute video about this month in real estate

Click here to read about our Senior Advantage Program

Click here to read what our clients are saying about us

Your Friends in Real Estate,

Steve, Kylie, Thea, & Patti

P.S. Please don't keep us a secret!

Supporting 'non-essential' businesses

There has been a lot of focus in recent weeks on “essential” workers in our economy. In most places, this includes at least portions of the construction industry as well as a few other types of home pros. Unfortunately, this can leave some of our favorite professionals temporarily shut down due to local restrictions. This is a scary time for some of these pros, as the extended shutdown puts significant strain on both their personal livelihoods and their businesses.

Fortunately, there are ways that you can help support those home pros who don’t meet the criteria for being “essential” service providers. Bear in mind that these are just a few suggestions, and there may be other options available depending on where you live. Additional options may become available as well as areas begin rolling out their reopening plans.

Remote and Limited Services

While it’s not applicable for all professionals, some non-essential pros may still be able to offer remote or no-contact limited services. This typically won’t include all the services that those professionals offered, but it does give customers a way to continue supporting the business even during the shutdown. Even professionals who do not currently offer remote or limited services may begin offering such options as states move toward reopening, so if your favorite pros don’t offer these services yet they may soon.

Advanced Scheduling

Even if your favorite non-essential pros aren’t open for business yet, you can still make plans for reopening. Contact your favorite pros and see if they have advanced scheduling options available. This can let you beat the rush and set a date to start or resume using their services as soon as possible after reopening. Even if you can’t schedule a date just yet, you may be able to find out when scheduling will resume so that you can get a jump start on booking them.

Gift Certificates and Prepayments

An option to support your favorite pros that provides them with much-needed funding during the shutdown while letting you prepare for reopening is gift certificates or other prepayments. By buying gift certificates now, you can use them at your leisure once things are reopened. And since you can give gift certificates to others, this also makes a great way to offer your favorite services to friends, family and others. If your favorite pros don’t offer gift certificates, they may be able to provide you with options to prepay for specific services.

Word of Mouth

Even if you aren’t able to schedule services in advance or buy gift certificates, there are still ways for you to help your favorite professionals. Follow them on social media and share their updates about their reopening, tell others about the services that they offer, and otherwise work to provide important word-of-mouth advertising. This will help to ensure that the pros have plenty of business waiting for them once they are able to reopen. If they begin providing limited or other services as part of a gradual rollout, your word of mouth can help to spread the word about this rollout plan so that their reopening goes smoothly.

Support Local Professionals

As you can see, there are a number of options available when it comes to supporting professionals in your community who aren’t able to open up just yet. This sort of support is essential not only for the professionals themselves but also for your community in general. Supporting local businesses is an important part of helping your local economy recover after the shutdown. Do your best to keep up with the options that are available to you for supporting various professionals, helping the pros in your community prepare for reopening and rebuild their business. This will help to ensure that they are able to recover and thrive in the days and months ahead.

Is not a good time to buy a home?

With social distancing being an important part of life at the moment and so many parts of the economy suffering the effects of state lockdowns, some are worried about how all of this will affect the housing market. This is especially a concern for those who were hoping to buy a new home and have seen their plans potentially derailed by the pandemic. Is this a good time to consider buying a new home, assuming that it’s even safe to do so?

The answer may be surprising.

It’s a Buyer’s Market

With the current state of the world, the demand for real estate has dropped significantly. This has left those who have already listed homes for sale or who were planning to list over the summer in a position where there are far fewer people looking at their properties. For some sellers, this isn’t much of an issue; they can simply wait it out and stick to their previous plans. A lot of sellers don’t have that luxury, though. This creates a buyer’s market where a lot of sellers are willing to consider offers that they wouldn’t have in the past, giving potential buyers a lot more control in the home-buying process.

As the name suggests, it’s always good to buy in a buyer’s market. It isn’t necessarily a great time to list a home for sale, of course, since you’d likely have to settle for a lower offer than you were expecting if you want to move the property. This usually helps to balance out the market, with listing rates slowing down to meet demand until things pick back up again. This particular buyer’s market is a bit different than a lot of past ones, though.

Demand Is Staying Low

Most of the time, a buyer’s market is caused by shifts in the economy that have people trying to save money; an example of this would be a recession. These economic shifts temporarily reduce the number of people who are willing to take on large debts, creating a glut of sellers trying to entice a smaller pool of buyers. The buyer’s market typically fizzles out once the number of sellers shrinks or the economy stabilizes.

In the current buyer’s market, the economy certainly plays a factor. There is an external factor at play here as well, however: The physical distancing that COVID-19 requires has added additional worry about open houses and other forms of interpersonal contact that are traditional when buying or selling a house. There’s still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, including how long it will last, so with this external factor and the currently stunted economy we could see demand stay low for longer than you would expect in a buyer’s market situation.

Market Recovery

This isn’t to say that the market won’t recover, of course. Some states have already started reopening non-essential businesses and other parts of the economy, and other states have plans to start reopening soon. The economy will likely stay sluggish for a while, but reopening is the first part of recovery. Even the pandemic is becoming something less of a factor as people continue to practice social caution and science continues to work toward treatment and vaccine options. While market recovery may take longer than in the past, a recovery will happen, and the good deals that buyers can find now will become less common as things move forward.

Buying Safe

If you do decide to shop for a home in the current market, make sure that you’re smart about it and stay safe. Maintain all physical distancing practices while looking at homes, even if there is only a seller or agent present. Ask whether no-contact options such as virtual tours or virtual closing with digital signage are options, and if touring the property request that any doors or other barriers be opened before you arrive to reduce contact. Wear a mask, bring hand sanitizer and take the same precautions that you would in any other social situation. This may seem excessive for viewing a home, but keep in mind that these practices not only protect you, but also protect the seller and agent as well.

Raised Bed Gardening-DIY

Even though everything seems to have ground to a halt, it’s important to think about things a bit further down the line. This not only helps you to prepare for when things start back up again, but it can also make you a bit more self-sufficient in the future. This is where planning out a garden can be a great idea; it helps to keep you occupied now and yields a variety of healthy vegetables and other foods later in the year.

Maybe you don’t have a lot of space, though, or perhaps the soil in your yard isn’t the greatest. Neither of these prevents you from having a garden, though. There are a few different options available to address these concerns, but you might find that a raised bed garden is exactly what you’re looking for.

What Is a Raised Bed Garden?

First thing’s first: What exactly is a raised bed garden? Essentially, it’s a garden that has a box or other physical container around its border that allows you to add more soil to plant your vegetables and other crops in. In some cases, this can be a few added inches of topsoil. In other cases, you’ll need to add a substantial amount of new soil, and some raised beds have so much added topsoil that the plants never actually touch the “real” soil. Regardless of whether you add a little soil or a lot, the growing medium is still raised at least slightly from the ground level thanks to the garden box that surrounds it.

Building the Garden Box

There are a number of options available to you when it comes to building a garden box. You can use landscaping timber, bricks, 2x4s, wooden planks or even concrete. Decide on a height that works for you and pick a material that you’re comfortable working with or have easy access to. You can design a perfectly sized garden box, or you can make one that has gaps in the corners where your material doesn’t quite line up. It doesn’t actually matter what the box looks like, just so long as it is solid enough to contain your soil and is connected to itself or other supports to keep the sides from falling apart.

Just keep in mind that some materials such as pressure-treated wood contain chemicals that could leak out into the soil over time. If you have concerns about this or are using materials that you know present a chemical hazard, be sure to stain or seal your materials before use to keep water from penetrating and leaching the chemicals out.

Filling It In

Once you have a workable garden box, it’s time to add some soil. Ideally, you should till the ground soil before adding any additional soil to the box. Add a layer of garden soil or topsoil, then use a rake or hoe to blend the garden soil and your additive soil a bit. From there you can continue adding soil, mixing it together periodically, until you’ve reached the level you want in your garden box. In some cases, you’ll have room left within the box; in others, the soil will go all the way to the top. After it’s filled, you might want to water it well to let the soil settle a bit before you start planting.

Planting and Garden Care

With the box built and filled with soil, you’re ready to get your plants in the ground. Planting is largely the same as you’d do if you were planting directly into the ground, though your newly filled garden bed likely has softer soil than your yard. Water your garden a little more often than you normally would, as raised beds offer more of a chance for water to leak out or evaporate than ground soil does. Feed your plants as needed, remove weeds or grass when it appears, and do your best to keep pests out of the garden. The raised bed itself may deter some pests, and a small chicken wire fence around the edge of the bed can help as well.

There’s a decent chance that your raised bed garden will grow better than an in-soil garden thanks to the quality of its soil and the added control that you have over your garden environment. With proper care, you should be able to enjoy a bountiful harvest in just a few months.

Why selling in an 'up market' is a great idea!

Why The Best Time to Downsize Is in An ‘Up’ Market

Let’s face it, we are in unprecedented times right now. The global pandemic is all that is in the news and will be for the foreseeable future. It has affected every single industry and person in the world, mostly for the worse, but some industries are thriving, such as medical device manufacturers, grocers, personal protection equipment manufacturers, toilet paper manufacturers, and hand sanitizer manufacturers, to name a few.

Before the world seemed to go sideways, the residential real estate market was on fire. We have been seeing the best market in history with historically low interest rates, inventory, unemployment, and historically high home prices, and the economy. Things were good, really good.

But, now, that has all changed. Unemployment is the highest in decades; businesses are closed (some for good); people are scared; interest rates, while still low are more volatile than at any other time in history recording their biggest jump in the shortest amount of time a couple of weeks ago of 2.5% in 36-hours! This is supposed to be an extremely busy spring market.

While real estate activity has absolutely waned, it is far from nonexistent. In fact, according to MIBOR, on April 9, 2020 (that’s right, only one day!), there were 147 new listings that hit the market, 100 sellers accepted an offer and went pending, 56 homes sold and closed, and homes sold in an average of only 7 days for 100% of asking price! So, it isn’t all bad news!

We still have an extremely low inventory of homes right now. In fact, our inventory level is at an all-time low of only 1.4 months. Compare that with a balanced supply of homes of 6-months and you can see just how tight our inventory really is.

If you are considering selling your house, especially if it will be a ‘downsize’ move, this may very well be the perfect time for you to catch the pinnacle of the market and cash out of your house. You see, in a sellers’ market like this one, otherwise known as an ‘up market’, people who are downsizing are perfectly positioned to take advantage of the market working in their favor. Let me explain.

Let’s say, you could sell your house today for $300,000 and we know this is near to at the top of the market. Furthermore, let’s say that you are downsizing to a smaller house that is more in line with your current needs that is $200,000. While you are at the top of the market for both transactions, the more expensive transaction is the most important from a monetary perspective in an up market. It will net you the most money in the end. Buyers are clamoring for more homes to hit the market and you can help to satisfy that appetite and cash in.

In order to maximize your sales price, I strongly recommend having a pre-listing inspection completed by a reputable inspection company and that you make any needed repairs and then advertise that to buyers. Secondly, provide a 1-year home warranty to buyers at closing for additional peace of mind. Have a licensed Stager walk through your house and give you suggestions on any updates or upgrades you should make that will provide you with the biggest bang for your buck. Ask your agent for help with both of these.

Start looking for your next home before you put your current house on the market as that may take a bit of time due to the low inventory levels. That way you don’t have to make an interim move. If you can buy your next home before you put your current house on the market, that would be the best scenario (and safest given the current health issues right now).

While there are a lot of negatives right now, there are certainly some positives. Take advantage of them and consult with your real estate agent who should be able to guide, lead and protect you through the complex and difficult real estate process. We would be happy to discuss your specific situation with you, if you wish in a no-obligation, confidential consultation.

Things will get better and we will be here and ready to help when you are! Stay healthy!

Steve Rupp
The Zulu Group, P.C.
Keller Williams Indy Metro North Realty
www.Welcome2Indy.com
Steve@Welcome2Indy.com
317-573-1880-Office

Fun family ideas while in quarantine

With the current state of the world, people are spending more time at home than ever. This provides for some great opportunities to bond as a family, and also gives some of us a bit more time to get things done around the house. Spending more time with your family can lead to some questions, though. One of the biggest is “Exactly what are we supposed to do now that we’re together?” Without the breaks afforded by work, school and other activities, trying to come up with activities for the whole family can seem a bit overwhelming.

If you need some ideas on how to spend that family time, here are a few suggestions to get you started. Not only will these ideas help you to spend some quality time together as a family, but some of them might help you with some of those tasks around the house as well!

Planning (and Planting) a Garden

Even though the year has gotten off to a rocky start, time waits for no one. We’re already getting into gardening season, so it’s time to start prepping the soil and starting your seeds. Since you’ve got the family all there at home, try to get everyone else involved as well. Plan out the size and shape of your garden plot and make a list of everyone’s favorite fruits and veggies to help decide what to plant. You can even get younger kids involved by letting them make row markers featuring pictures of everything you plan to grow.

Family Game Nights

Game nights are a classic, but sometimes it can be hard to fit them in. Timing isn’t as much of an issue these days, however, so let’s play some games! These could be anything from board games to multiplayer video games or even tabletop role-playing games. Let the family decide on the specifics and plan out a new game night every week to help keep everyone entertained.

Movie Time

Going to the movies is a popular family activity. Just because the theaters are closed doesn’t mean you have to give up on enjoying a film together, though. Make some popcorn, break out some snacks and cue up a favorite film on the TV. Several studios are releasing movies for sale or rental early, and some have even put new releases up for rental on streaming services even though they should still be in a theatrical run, so you can still catch some of the films that you might have planned on seeing as a family anyway.

Plan Some Redecorations

Were you hoping to redecorate this spring? You still can, and you can get the family involved in the process as well. Let everyone help pick out paint colors and decorations, especially in their bedroom or other rooms where they spend a significant amount of time. Even if you can’t get everything that you need for the project right now, this will let you plan things out in advance so that you’ll be ready to start once it’s go time.

Activities From a Hat

If you aren’t sure what to do, have everyone get together and make a list of three things that you’d like to do as a family. Once you’ve got the lists made, put them all on a hat or other container and draw one of the lists out. Look at the listed items and let the family vote on which activity you’d like to do from the list. If you’re worried that the same person might win too many times, the next time you do it, have the person who won sit out the suggestions and be the one to draw the winning list instead.

Time Alone, Together

Sometimes, one of the best things that you can do as a family is just relax and enjoy each other’s company. Don’t assume that you have to fill up every available moment with activities. Take some time to read books, give the kids some screen time or do some other individual downtime activities. You can take this downtime in the same room, spending casual time together without having to be “on” and actively doing things together all the time.

Working from home tips

Working from home can be a challenge, especially when you’re not used to it. There are a lot of distractions that can interfere with your work, sometimes causing you to get so off track that you end up behind on important tasks. While many consider working from home to be a great perk, if you’ve never worked from home before then you might be surprised at just how stressful it can be!

Fortunately, you’re not on your own. These are stressful times, and HomeKeepr is here to help you get through them. To that end, here are some tips that will make working from home for the first time a lot easier.

Set Up Your Space

When you think of working from home, you might picture yourself lounging on the couch in your pajamas with a laptop on your lap. While some people do choose to work like this when working from home, for most home workers this sort of setup is going to kill any productivity they might have. Instead of taking a “work wherever I end up” approach, set up a desk or office space that’s intended solely for work-related activities. This will help you to stay on task when you’re at work and will keep work activities from bleeding over into leisure time.

Check Your Equipment

If you’re used to having in-person meetings during the week, getting used to remote meetings via a video service like Zoom or Skype can be a bit of an adjustment. To make this easier, check your equipment beforehand to ensure that everything will work correctly when it’s time to start a meeting. This includes checking your webcam, your microphone and your speakers to make sure everything functions properly. There are websites and software solutions that help you with this, and some platforms like Zoom have built-in tests as well.

Keep to a Schedule

One common misconception about working from home is that you automatically gain the freedom to work whenever you feel like working. While this may be true for some industries, if you’ve been working 9 to 5 for the last 10 years then that isn’t likely to change much just because your office is now in your guest room. Keep as close as possible to your regular schedule, allowing for possible reduced hours or other differences brought about by working from home. It can help to print out a copy of your “office hours” as well, both as a reminder to others that you’re busy with work and a reminder to yourself that you’re supposed to be on the job.

Avoid Distractions

It’s said that one of the hard things about working from home is the fact that home is where we keep all our favorite distractions. This includes a lot of things, ranging from games to books to the TV. It also includes family members, who can be hard to ignore when you’re supposed to be on the job. As much as possible, try to avoid interacting with the people and things in your home unless you’re taking a break from work activities.

Don’t Make Deals

It’s easy to tell yourself that if you do something unrelated to work now, you’ll make up the work that you’re supposed to be doing later. Unfortunately, this tends to snowball, and the next thing you know you’re behind on everything you’re supposed to be doing. Avoid making these sorts of deals; instead choose to do those things or have those conversations during your next scheduled break, just like you would do if you were still going in to work. If there’s something you want to do that won’t fit into a regular break, try to get your current tasks done BEFORE you take the time off instead of bargaining that you’ll wrap it up after.

Stay Connected

Isolation is difficult, especially if you’re used to working closely with your coworkers. You can fight this by calling them up, collaborating over video or even sending out daily emails or texts to check on everyone. Even though it’s not the one-on-one interaction you’re used to, the contact you have with your coworkers can still make a huge difference.

How to clean to help prevent Coronavirus in your home and office

There has been a significant amount of concern raised recently about COVID-19, a relatively recently discovered disease caused by a type of virus known as a coronavirus. A lot is still unknown about the virus and the disease that it causes, and this is causing some people a great deal of anxiety about it. Major conferences and events are being canceled, people are buying up supplies (even if they shouldn’t), and the internet is filled with memes teaching people how to wash their hands.

COVID-19 has the potential to be a serious illness. Here’s some info that can help you to protect yourself, especially if you’re confused by some of the contradicting advice that you might have seen online.

What Is COVID-19?

Even though it’s mostly referred to simply as “coronavirus”, the virus that causes COVID-19 is actually a novel coronavirus that’s been designated “SARS-CoV-2” and sometimes referred to as “2019-nCoV.” COVID-19 itself is a potentially severe respiratory illness that typically presents with fever, cough and difficulty breathing. While most people who become infected with COVID-19 recover, the disease can be severe and even fatal. Those at greatest risk from COVID-19 are individuals older than 60 years of age and those with preexisting conditions such as heart disease or diabetes.

Decluttering to Prevent Illness

If you want to clean up to try and prevent coronavirus infection, a good first step is to declutter your home. This will eliminate surfaces where the virus could linger, making it easier to disinfect your home and keep it clean. Decluttering can also have a positive effect on mental health and anxiety levels, which can improve your overall wellbeing and even provide a bit of a boost to the immune system.

Disinfecting Surfaces

The US Centers for Disease Control recommend disinfecting surfaces with regular household disinfectant wipes and sprays. While many of these have not been tested specifically for use against SARS-CoV-2, they are effective against some other common coronaviruses and are likely to at least reduce infectiousness if not kill the virus completely. Other household cleaners and disinfecting practices are also likely to be at least partially effective.

Handwashing Stations

One of the best defenses against COVID-19 is good handwashing practices. As such, make sure that you have soap available by every sink and clean towels ready for use after washing your hands. Printing out a guide to proper handwashing and placing it near your sinks can also be a good idea, especially if you have young children who are still learning how to wash their hands properly. If you have any, having hand sanitizer accessible for times when you can’t wash your hands is also helpful.

Don’t Panic

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that you shouldn’t panic. Don’t stockpile supplies that you don’t need, buy sensible amounts of the things that you do need, and take reasonable steps like avoiding large crowds and not shaking hands. One of the best ways to stay safe from COVID-19 is to keep yourself clean, keep your home clean and apply some common sense to your preparations for the disease.

December Steve & Jack's Home News

Happy Thanksgiving!!! We hope you are looking forward to spending some quality time with friends and family this holiday weekend and that, if you are traveling, you return home safe.

Steve and his family are hosting Thanksgiving this year and Jack and Mary Anne will be joining them. The rest of Brigid's family will be staying put this year as we will get together over Christmas. Steve's sister Michelle is heading to her sister-in-law's house in Kentucky for a couple of days, but her husband Steve will be staying here as he is an RN at Community North Hospital and has to work Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our last Happy Hour of 2019 last Thursday!! We had a great group and had a lot of fun!!! Please mark your calendars for our first Happy Hour of 2020 on Thursday, January 16th from 5-6:30PM at Matt The Miller's in Carmel. We would love to see you!!!

Also, thank you to everyone who attended our 6th Annual Photos with Santa on Sunday! We had a record-breaking crowd of over 400 people join us and kick off the holiday season. If you did get your picture taken, look for your photos next week. It isn't too early to plan to attend our 2020 event on Sunday, November 22nd. Come join us!!!

Finally, we hope you have RSVP'd for our 7th Annual VIP Client Appreciation Event next Saturday, December 7th at 8:30AM. If not, please e-mail Patti TODAY at Patti@Welcome2Indy.com with the number of adults and number of children attending. We will be showing the newly released blockbuster Frozen 2. Coincidentally, Frozen was the first movie we showed 7 years ago! We will have food and drinks, photo opps, a caricature artist, and fun trivia before the movie starts. We truly hope you can join us as we thank you for your business and friendship over the years.

The real estate market has definitely slowed down a bit for the holidays, however there is more activity than usual for this time of the year. We are still in a severe housing shortage and will be for the foreseeable future. Interest rates are hovering around 3.75%. Winter is a great time to buy a house as there aren't nearly as many buyers in the market and competition isn't nearly as fierce as it will be again in the spring. Thinking of buying or selling?? Give us a call at 317-573-1880!! We are working through the holidays and would be happy to help!

New market stats haven't been released for November yet, so here are the stats from October 2019 comparing them to October 2018 for the Greater Indy area:

Median sales price UP 6.2% to $190,050
Closed sales DOWN 1.3% to 30,024 units
New listings DOWN 2.2% to 37,333 units
Pending sales FLAT at 31,684 units
Days on market DOWN 8.5% to 43 days
Price per s.f. UP 5.7% to $112/s.f.
% of asking price received DOWN 0.1% to 97.7%
Active inventory DOWN 5.8% to 6,499 units
Absorption rate DOWN 8.7% to 2.1 months

Happy Thanksgiving, once again to you and your family! We hope to see you on December 7th!

Click here to read our December newsletter
Click here to download the most powerful real estate app available
Click here to read what some of our clients are saying about us
Click here to watch a short 1-minute market update video
Click here to read about our Senior Advantage Program
Click here to access coupons and discounts at places you shop every day

Your friends in real estate,

Steve, Jack, Kylie, Patti, & Thea

P.S. Please don't keep us a secret.

October 2019 newsletter

Welcome to Fall!!! We hope your summer was fun and that you were able to take a little time away maybe for a vacation or at least some downtime and are now looking forward to some fun Fall activities. From apple stores, to hot apple cider, to corn mazes and apple donuts and hayrides with bonfires, and haunted houses, we hope that you will take advantage of some fun Fall activities.

As I write this letter, I am sitting in the San Francisco airport awaiting my flight back home after spending several days with 11 other top agents from across North America in a small-group training program designed to teach us how to provide an even higher level of service to our clients. In a world of technology and automation, which are good and which we use heavily, the role your real estate consultant plays continues to be more important than ever, providing a highly localized, specialized and hyper-sensitive personalized level of service that just can't be touched by a computer or website. We know our clients have many choices when you choose to buy, sell, or build a new home and we want to reassure you that you will never receive a higher level of service or knowledge anywhere else. We are grateful to you, our tribe, and will always be here for you and those you care about when you need us most and will always guide, lead, and protect you during one of the most important times and decisions of your lives. Thank you for continuing to place your trust in us. We will continue to work hard at deserving it!

Brigid, Ana, Tali, & I are excited to go to Boston over Fall Break to see our new niece Elsie Monaghan! She is the second daughter of Brigid's brother Jim and we couldn't be any happier for them! Ana and Tali cannot wait to see their new cousin and love all over her! Ana is enjoying her Freshman year and is helping with the Dance Marathon to be held in the spring. She continues to sing in the school choir and is entering 'busy season' for Indianapolis Children's Choir with a concert Saturday and Sunday night and then she starts practicing for my favorite concert of the year, which is Angel's Sing, which you can see on WTHR Channel 13 around Christmas. She is also singing around Hamilton County with her rock band. If you would like to know where her next concert is, let me know. They sound really good!!!!

Tali is preparing for the start of her competition season in gymnastics. She is excited and will be competing at a higher level than last year, so things will be much more competitive. She is up for the challenge!!

Brigid is is still doing well at Merck and enjoying a little less responsibility this year with special assignments and trainings and is able to focus on just her job.

Jack and Mary Anne are home for the foreseeable future with no big vacations planned the rest of the year. After extensive traveling this year, they are looking forward to staying at home for a while.

The real estate market has been very strange the past few months. Usually, July 4th brings a lull in the market as people take vacations and prepare for school. The market usually picks back up again mid-August, but due to many factors, including the up and down market, it wasn't until mid-September that it picked back up again...and boy, did it ever. If you are thinking about selling yet this year, please give us a call. We would welcome the opportunity to share details about this market and how you can benefit from its resurgence from the summer lull.

Here are some market stats comparing September 2019 to September 2018:
Number of Units Sold-DOWN 0.9% to 2,967 units
Number of New Listings-FLAT at 3,551 units
Average Days on Market-DOWN 0.6% to 40 days
Inventory-DOWN 7.6% to 6,328 units
Median Sales Price-UP 5.6% to $190,000
Average Price/s.f.-UP 5.5% to $113
Percent of Asking Price Received-DOWN 0.2% to 97.4%
Months Supply of Inventory-DOWN 6.8% to 2.1 months
Now, these numbers look pretty strong, however the month over month numbers show a softening of the market, so keep this in mind as you consider buying/selling in the upcoming months. Call us to learn how this will affect you specifically and your situation.

**Please join us for our October Happy Hour which is pushed back one week due to Fall Break. We will meet on October 24th from 5-6:30pm at Matt The Miller's in Carmel. Come join us!! We had a fun time and a great group last month!

**Hope you received your 'Save The Date' postcard in the mail a few weeks ago for our 7th annual Client Appreciation Event on December 7th at 8:30AM at Hamilton Town Center where we will be showing Frozen 2. We will have food, photo opps and a caricature artist again. Look for your official invite very soon and we hope you will make time to join us again!!!

Thank you for being part of our tribe!! Please let us know what else we can do to help you or someone you care about. Happy Fall!!!

Click here to read our October newsletter

Click here to access coupons for places you shop every day

Click here to watch a 1-minute video about what happened this month in real estate

Click here to watch what other people are saying about our service

Click here to read about our Senior Advantage Program

Click here to download the most powerful real estate app available

Your Friends in Real Estate,

Steve, Jack, Kylie, Thea, & Patti

Non-Occupying Co-Borrowers

If you’re worried about whether you can get a loan on your own, having a co-borrower can take a lot of the stress off. Because there are two people applying for the loan, the lender has a lot more potential assets to consider and two different credit scores. In most cases, the co-borrower on a mortgage loan will live at the same address as the primary borrower (such as the residence being purchased.) Depending on circumstances, though, it is possible to have a co-borrower who doesn’t live at the same address.

Non-Occupying Co-Borrowers

As the name implies, a non-occupying co-borrower (also called a non-occupant co-borrower, or NOCB) is another person who is willing to take responsibility for a mortgage loan but who won’t be living in the purchased house. In most cases this is a family member such as a parent, sibling or spouse, though the exact restrictions will depend on the loan program you use. The co-borrower’s income is added in with the primary borrower’s for the purpose of qualifying for the loan, allowing the primary borrower to get the loan even if they couldn’t qualify on their own.

Both the income and the liabilities of the co-borrower are considered along with the income and liabilities of the primary borrower. The total income and total liabilities of both are calculated and then used to determine the overall debt-to-income ratio of the two borrowers; provided that it’s favorable enough, they’ll then qualify for the loan. Because they are co-borrowers on the loan, both the primary borrower and the NOCB are equally responsible for the loan payments.

Advantages and Disadvantages

There are a few distinct advantages of using a non-occupying co-borrower for a mortgage:

Can qualify you for a loan that you might not get otherwise
May earn you a better interest rate or more favorable loan terms
Provides you with someone else to help ensure that payments are made on time
May be able to refinance without the NOCB later as your credit score improves
Unfortunately, there are a few disadvantages as well:

Can strain relationships between you and the NOCB
Both borrowers are held liable in case of loan default
Not all co-borrowers will help you qualify for a loan
Not all co-borrowers will be eligible under the terms of your lender
Some lenders don’t allow NOCBs on loans, especially with first-time borrowers
Because non-occupant co-borrower loans are not cut and dried, it can take a bit of research to figure out whether you can even make use of one of these loans.

Should You Use a NOCB?

Assuming that you and your non-occupant co-borrower qualify for an NOCB loan through your preferred lender, the question remains of whether you should even try to add a co-borrower to your loan. There isn’t necessarily an easy answer to this question. The answer relies so much on your specific situation that it’s difficult to give a definitive answer, though there are a few things you can consider to try to find the right answer for you.

Take a moment and ask yourself the following questions: What are the rules concerning non-occupying co-borrowers from your lender? If they’re allowed, how likely is it that the co-borrower you have in mind will actually help your application? Is the co-borrower someone you can trust with this, or will the experience likely be stressful? Consider how reliable your co-borrower is, how it will affect your loan terms and how much this will actually help your case. The more thought you put into it, the closer you’ll be to finding the right answer for you.

Get Some Professional Advice

If you’re still not sure, try discussing your situation with a loan specialist. Here at HomeKeepr, we can help you find the professional to answer all of your questions. Sign up for a free account today and start looking for the specialist that’s right for you and your needs.