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Wed, Dec 17, 2008

Upgrades To Our Indianapolis MLS Search by Mike Taylor

If you have used our search function lately you may have noticed we did some upgrades to our Indianapolis MLS search and details pages. Our unmatched custom search functions now allow you to search homes for sale in Indianapolis with an unprecedented amount of detail. One of the major things we added to the search page is the “step 6” advanced options. Clicking on this will reveal a whole myriad of options that you may be looking for in your home search.

For example, I can now search in such detail I could easily create the following search: 4 bedroom home in Carmel, walkout basement, 3000+ square feet, at least .5 acres, master bedroom downstairs, cul-de-sac lot, and a neighborhood with a community pool. How cool is that? You...

102 Views, 4 Comments.

Tue, Nov 25, 2008

Indiananpolis Star Exaggerates Housing Crisis by Mike Taylor

Shame on you Indianapolis Star for running your lead story in today’s paper without all the facts. For those that didn’t see it, the Indy Star’s lead story today is “Area Home Sales Tumble 24%” in giant font with a subtitle of “October drop in one of largest of crisis, far exceeds nationwide decline of 3.3%”.

What really rubs me the wrong way is how they and other media outlets just love to glom on to this negative news. I am not refuting the numbers they published, they are correct. What I don’t like is how they just glossed over the impact the elimination of down payment assistance played on this.

What they failed to mention is that September sales were up pretty much across the board most likely due to buyers trying to take...

156 Views, 3 Comments.

Thu, Nov 06, 2008

Gunstra Builders Could Be Next to Fold by Mike Taylor

Although no formal word has come from the company itself, recent reports indicate that Gunstra Builders may be the next builder in the Indianapolis area to close its doors. Gunstra has “shut down most of its sales offices and stopped communicating with clients” according to a recent story in the Indy Star. Gunstra has, or had, 15 communities around the Indianapolis area including Carmel, Fishers, Zionsville, and Plainfield. We will have to what finally shakes out, but it doesn’t look good for Gunstra.

Most of you recall Davis homes recently going belly up as well as KB Homes pulling out of the Indianapolis market. Gunstra could be the next casualty of the “housing crisis”.

Although it is easy to have a visceral reaction to...

290 Views, 7 Comments.

Tue, Nov 04, 2008

Indianapolis - Best Bang for You Buck by Mike Taylor

Indianapolis has been recognized by two separate but similar top 10 lists in Forbes magazine. The first the Best and Worst Bang for the Buck Cities and the other is Cities Where Your Nest Egg Goes Farthest. Indianapolis comes in #3 and #6 respectively. While I understand these top 10 lists are somewhat sensational, there is a grain of truth to what they are saying; Indianapolis is great affordable place to buy a home, raise a family, or retire.

While many parts of the country are reeling from losses in real estate, Indianapolis is not faring that bad at all. In fact, I firmly believe a large of part of the current slowdown in Indianapolis is a self fulfilling prophecy. If we could somehow just tune out all the negativity about...

196 Views, 0 Comments.

Tue, Oct 21, 2008

Westfield Finally Begins Work on Monon by Mike Taylor

Westfield has finally started on its portion of the Monon Trail which currently runs from 10th Street to 96th Street in Marion County and then continues into Carmel for another five miles where it currently ends at 146th Street.

Westfield began construction of the first leg of the trail last week. The first leg will run from 146th Street to 156th Street and is scheduled to be completed by the end of November. The section from 156th to 161st Street has actually already been paved by Precedent Cos, the developer of the upscale Viking Meadows subdivision in Westfield. The second leg would continue the trail two miles from 161st Street to IN 32 and is scheduled to completed next spring. The five year plan is to have the trail...

203 Views, 0 Comments.

Tue, Oct 14, 2008

Temporary Tax Rates Affect On Real Estate Transactions by Mike Taylor

The Indy Star recently published an article about how some local taxing authorities have temporarily submitted larger than normal tax rates for 2009. Basically what is happening is that the local tax units don’t really know what their budgets are and/or what this years assessments are. Since they don’t really know what they are working with, they overshoot it and then claim they might go down once the final numbers are in.

Regardless of how you feel about the “temporary” inflated numbers, you do need to understand how this can affect you as the buyer or the seller in a real estate transaction during the “black hole” period when we don’t actually know the tax rate.

If you are a seller and you close during the time between...

264 Views, 2 Comments.

Wed, Oct 08, 2008

Indianapolis Real Estate is not Florida Real Estate by Mike Taylor

I am so glad I am not an agent in Ft. Lauderdale, Riverside, Orlando, or any other number of cities in the Florida, California, Arizona or Nevada area. According the latest PMI Risk Index, some of those areas have over a 99% chance that the home prices will be lower in two years. Ouch!

While this latest index does not bode well for other areas, Indianapolis real estate comes out smelling like roses. According to this study, we have less a 1% chance that our home prices will be lower in the next 2 years.

Here is the full list of metro areas and their corresponding risk index:

Rank MSA Score

1 Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach; FL A 99.5
1 ...

263 Views, 4 Comments.

Mon, Oct 06, 2008

Noblesville Named Community of the Year by Mike Taylor

Hamilton County seems to pile up accolades like no other County in the Indianapolis area. Well, add another to the list for Noblesville which was recently named the “Community of the Year” by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. According the Chamber “Noblesville is a shining example of dedicated city and business leaders working together to preserve their past and enhance the future.”

The Chamber of Commerce has adorned Noblesville with this award for successfully managing its extensive growth while maintaining a vibrant downtown and high quality of life. Noblesville has seen a 33% increase in population since 2000 and is still growing by leaps and bounds both residentially and commercially. In addition to the vast residential...

132 Views, 0 Comments.

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