Did you know that Carmel Indiana was voted the 14th "best places to live"?  According to the Best Places to Live 2010, CNNMoney.com Carmel is located in Hamilton County, Indiana and over 70,000 residents work, play and live in Carmel.  Carmel is one of the fastest growing cities in Indiana with exceptional high achieving schools, nationally recognized public library and focuses on sustaining growth and excellence. The Arts & Design District on Monon Trail offers unique shops, restaurants and offers year round activities and festivals as well as plenty of parks and recreation. The Carmel City Center is currently being build offering a vibrant downtown neighborhood with mixed housing including office space, shops, arts, entertainment and culture.  Within the area, the Regional Performing ... 07/19/2010

...and the beat goes on. Carmel Indiana Real Estate continues an impressive 2010 run with yet another month beating the 2009 levels. This is quite an impressive trend! For June 151 homes/condo's were sold with an average DOM of 67 and a $/sq ft of $111.00.  This compares with June 2009 that saw 143 homes sold with an average DOM of 85 and a $/sq ft of $117.00.  For the six months ending 6/30/10, there have been 642 homes sold in Carmel Indiana compared with 525 for the same time period in 2009.  In June of 2010, there were 19 homes greater than $500,000 and two that were over $1,000,000 that sold.  They were one in Williams Creek for $1,200,000 that was on the market just 102 days with 5,400 sq ft and an additional 3,000 in the finished basement.  The other one was in Coppergate for $1,... 07/15/2010

There are currently 882 homes for sale in Carmel Indiana, of those 132 are condo's leaving 750 homes.  Of those 750 homes, only 15 are bank owned or in foreclosure.  After looking at those, I've found the top 5 deals in Carmel Real Estate! West Carmel is one of the most desirable areas in the Metro Indy area to live, and this first house is in Spring Run Estates located at 106th near Ditch Road.  The address is 10905 Crooked Stick.  It is a 5900 sq ft home with an additional 1860 in the unfinished basement.  It has five bedrooms and 5 1/2 baths.  It is on 1.5 acres of land. Listed at $435,000; the tax record is showing an assessment of $708,000.  The average price per sq ft of homes sold in Carmel with at least 5,000 sq ft (always important to compare apples to apples) is $119.00; with ... 07/09/2010

It's time to highlight another neighborhood in the Carmel Real Estate market; I think we are up to about #15 so be sure to read about all the Carmel Neighborhoods.  Today we are looking at Spring Farms. Spring Farms is located between 131st and 136th off of Springmill Road.   It is a neighborhood of about 110 homes built between 1995 and 2001.  There are basically just five streets in the neighborhood; Spring Farms Drive, Ira Way, Violet Way, Freehold Court and Shoemaker. The homes typically have basements and three car garages and nice sized lots.  For the most part, the homes sell in less than 60 days so resale is very good in Spring Farms.  There have been three homes that have sold in the last year; so very low turnover.  There is currently one home that just pended; it was listed a... 06/24/2010

The Carmel real estate market continues to remain steady as shown by data from the last six months. Of the 282 homes that were sold from January to June, sellers received on average 96 percent of their list price. From the last half of 2009, the average days on the market improved for the first half of 2010, from 69 days on the market to 33 days on the market, a sure sign that buyers are not only looking, but purchasing. Neighborhoods with the most sales include the Village of West Clay with 17 homes sold, followed by Saddle Creek with 12 homes sold and Plum Creek with 11 homes sold. Here's a quick look at Carmel Real Estate by the numbers:   Active listings 674 Sold listings 282 Pending listings 120 Average Sales Price $295,930 Low Sales Price $65,000 High Sales Price $980,875 Average ... 06/22/2010

Carmel Fest comes to the Carmel Civic Square on July 4th and 5th!  The parade begins at 10:30 on the 5th and the fireworks will be at 9:45 on the 5th.  You can listen to FM 105.7 for the choreographed music!  The actual festival is from 12:00 to 10:00 PM on Sunday and 12:00 to 10:30 PM on Monday. The event began in the mid 80's and has grown each and every year to become one of the most anticipated events for Carmel. There are events all day long at various stages.  The main stage will host "Carmelfest has Talent" at 12:00 on the 4th!  At 3:15, the Carmel Brass will take the stage.  From 5:00 to 7:00 pm it will be Barometer Soup which is a local rock and roll band.  And the Wright Brothers (who originated in our own Bedford Indiana!) will be here again this year to close out the night f... 06/17/2010

  Carmel IN Short Sales Many homeowners are facing hard economic times. They are suffering job losses, divorce, increased property taxes, escrow account shortages, etc.  With their homes dropping in value, they feel they can't sell their home and end up walking away and abandoning their homes. This affects not just them, but their neighbors and the neighborhood.  Foreclosures can have a stigma on value for neighborhoods.  Homes that have been abandoned and do not have the power on that have basements can face thousands of dollars worth of damage due to mold.  This could affect values by 5-20k give or take, which affects the neighborhood's values also. An option to consider is a Short Sale.  In a Short Sale the owner lists the home for less than what is owed, and their mortgage company h... 06/11/2010

Carmel Indiana homes are selling!  This is the 5th straight month in 2010 where homes sold in Carmel have been more than in 2009!  May 2010 saw a 22% increase in sales from 113 in 2009 to 138 in May of 2010. In addition the days on market in 2010 are 62 compared with 94 a year ago.  That means sellers on average in Carmel are selling their homes in 62 days! The only bad news and it is only slightly bad is that the price per square foot has moved down to $111 from $113/sq ft.  So, fairly nominal. The luxury market is also doing well.  In May 2010, fourteen homes for sale in Carmel that were over $500,000 sold with two of them over $1,000,000.  Last year in May there weren't any over $1,000,000 that sold. The most expensive home that sold was for $1,700,000 with 10,385 sq ft and on over a... 06/11/2010

Understanding what you are selling. 06/03/2010

Carmel IN Short Sales   Have you been struggling to make your mortgage payments and are not sure what to do? Have you spoken with your lender to see what options are available for your Carmel IN Real Estate? I know it can be tempting to just bury your head in the sand and just ride out what is being thrown at you. It is not the best option for most of you, if not all of you. Give your lender a call and see what your options are. If you are thinking about listing your home as an Carmel Indiana Short Sale, which is one option that your lender might suggest, make absolutely sure that you real estate agent has Short Sale experience. I don't just mean one Short Sale. They should have numerous Short Sales closed to be able to handle your Short Sale effectively. We have closed numerous Indian... 05/31/2010

Working with behaviors as a listing agent. 05/30/2010

A few days ago, I started a series on a quiz posted by Realtor.com; in the quiz there are questions about buyers and sellers.  Your Carmel Realtor did exceptionally well in answering them correctly.  Be sure to read the 1st series on Buyers and Sellers and here is part 2! 1) What is the first step a buyer often takes in the home buying process?  It is no surprise that over the last decade, the internet has become a big player in the Real Estate industry.  Realtors used to be the only ones that knew which homes were for sale through their MLS books.  But all of that has changed, buyers can go to multiple sites to search for homes.  In fact they can even search for homes from their phones!  We have a great website search function to look for homes for sale in Carmel Indiana.  You enter th... 05/27/2010

Some great news that has been brought to our attention through the NAHB and Well Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). Nationwide housing, bolstered by favorable interest rates and low house prices, hovered for the fifth consecutive quarter near its highest level of affordability since the series was first compiled 19 years ago, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) released today. The HOI showed that 72.2 percent of all new and existing homes sold in the first quarter of 2010 were affordable to families earning the national median income of $63,800, slightly higher than the previous quarter and near the record-high 72.5 percent set during the first quarter a year ago. "Today's report is very encouraging because it indicates ... 05/26/2010

My home tip to the day... 05/25/2010

Storage special discount just for you in Carmel Indiana. 05/25/2010

Kitchen cost to make changes. Need help finding a good contractor in Carmel Indiana? I will be happy to provide a couple reliable ones. 05/24/2010

Is your house dated? 05/23/2010

I'm about to tell you about another great month in the Carmel Real Estate market!  Currently there are 843 homes for sale in Carmel; 132 of those are condos and the other 711 are homes.  Of the 843 homes on the market, 84 of them are less than $150,000. May was another terrific month for Carmel Real Estate.  There were 122 homes sold compared with 89 last April 2009.  That is a 37% increase in homes sold from a year ago!  Fishers Real Estate experienced a similar increase at 25% from a year ago. Please note that April 2010 out sold April 2008 too! The graph shows that this is the fourth straight month 2010 has out sold 2009; keep in mind the tax credit expired in April and we may have borrowed buyers from summer months.  Time will tell. The news continues to be good as I review key indi... 05/17/2010

05/15/2010

Selling Carmel Indiana Real Estate has its challenges, but understanding what a buyer and seller want is not challenging for this Carmel Realtor.  There was a quiz recently posted at Realtor.org with 11 questions; I answered almost everyone correctly.  Here are the first five: 1) What service do sellers want most from their Realtor? The answer is to price the home competitively followed by finding the right buyer for their home.  When I price a home, I am looking at many factors.  They include the condition of the home, updates to the home, the neighborhood comparables and reviewing the absorption rate.  A seller's motivation also may enter the equation. 2) What service do buyers want most from a Realtor?  Nearly 50% of the people surveyed wanted help in finding the right home.  For me ... 05/14/2010