As the end of December looms in the ofting; here are some tax tips you can use to keep more of your money! If you are a first time homebuyer, you can receive a $7,500 tax credit for 2009.  You must buy the home by 6/30/09.  Even if you buy the home in May and have already filed your taxes, you can file an amended return.  You do have to pay this back through your taxes at $500 per year for the next 15 years.  It is an interest free loan that has great timing right now. Give gifts to your children or grandchildren.  Gifts up to $12,000 (or $24,000 if you are married and each giving a gift) per child need not be reported but the check must clear prior to 12/31/08. If you participate in a 401(k), 403(b) or 457 plan; you can take advantage of expanded limits on contributions.  The general l... 12/18/2008

As a Fishers Real Estate agent, each month I want to provide you with some tips about owning a Fishers home; or a home in the surrounding area.  If you bought a home from me this year, have you filed your homestead and mortgage exemptions?  Many of you did have your homestead filed by the Title Company if you purchased your home after 7/1/08; but you still need to file your mortgage exemption.   If you have any questions about whether yours are filed, please email me.  If I sold your home this year; please use your closing document as your source document when claiming your property taxes paid; the amount you want to use is on Line 511.  Again please email if you have questions.  If you didn't buy or sell with me this year, maybe we can work together in the Fishers Real Estate market in... 12/12/2008

The decline in the Fishers real estate market continues through November, this graph demonstrates it.  Comparing 2008 sales to the same periods in 2007 for homes in the both Fall Creek and Delaware townships, we are seeing significant declines.  For the month of November the decline is 47%, while the YTD is only a decline of 5%.  November is the single highest decline this year!   Refer to our previous Fishers Real Estate Market report for an explanantion on the third quarter. If you are a buyer, you should be buying a home in Fishers during this period of time when sellers are so motivated, interest rates are at an all time low (mid 5% last week) and the $7,500 incentive is still available for first time home buyers.  Sellers are anxiously waiting for a buyer to buy their home and will... 12/07/2008

Should I renovate/upgrade my current Fishers home or buy another home is the 7th question in our series on the Top 10 Question in Real Estate.  This is a very popular question, especially with the current economy.  Many people are thinking about ways to get their current home to work.  I'm going to combine another question as well; what renovations will get me the biggest bang for the buck when I sell my Fishers home.  Many folks will start to prepare their home for a Spring sale, so now is a great time to talk about this too.  As your local Fishers Real Estate professional, here are my thoughts on things to consider. If there are things that you can do for low cost, you certainly should do them.  For example, upgrading light fixtures, hardware on your cabinets, fresh paint, cleaning yo... 12/06/2008

I had lunch with one of my lenders today who shared a very neat program with my Fishers Real Estate Team.  There have been multiple times when I have been with a buyer who loves a home but there is too much work and their cash flow will not allow them to buy the home and fix it up.  These are often bank owned homes or HUD homes, but not always.  Sometimes it is just someone who has let the maintenance go on their home.  For these types of buyers, there is great news for you.  You can use the government's money to fix up your home! FHA has a program called 203K Streamlinefor loan amounts up to $271,000.  You can use $35,000 of that money to upgrade or make repairs to the home.  The 203K program is a modification to the current FHA 203K program.  The types of repairs that are eligible inc... 12/04/2008

Fishers Real Estate residents have experienced incredible growth over the last few years; the population has grown to over 66,000 in 2008, a growth rate of over 65% since 2000.  There was a need for a 2nd High School in addition to the existing Hamilton Southeastern High School, so Fishers High School re-opened in 2006.  I say re-opened because Fishers High School did exist back in 1969 prior to its demolition.  There are approximately 2,000 students that are enrolled in Fishers High School, 517 in 9th; 533 in 10th; 498 in 11th and 480 seniors.  The school opened in 2006 with just 9-11th grades so 2007 was the first graduating class. Demographically, the school is 82% White, 7% Black, 4% Asian and 7% Other. The school is located at the corner of 131st and Promise Road and the mascot is ... 11/30/2008

I don't watch the news any more.  Nothing good is reported, especially in the real estate world.  I know it's bad. I don't need to see a bunch of for sale signs on the news and for Bob Donaldson on WXIN to tell me it's bad to know it's bad.  I'm 20+ years into residential sales.  When you are in it that long you "feel" the market.  The bad stats and news just beat it into you!  So I don't watch the news to ease the beating! Everyone I talk with asks me the same question, "Are we at the bottom yet?"  My answer is typically a positive swing on a negative topic, "Homes are still selling and it's a great time to be a buyer!"  None of us know when it's going to get better.  We all are just hoping for signs of improvement.  Our team and a few other really hard working agents/teams have had a ... 11/21/2008

The markets in the Indianapolis and Fishers Real Estate areas have shown some declines over the last year.  I have analyzed the data through October 31, 2008 for both Fishers Real Estate and Lawrence Township Real Estate. There is no doubt it continues to be a buyers market.  There are motivated sellers, bank owned homes and homes that are auctioned at a monthly sheriff sale.   The number of bank owned homes in the Lawrence Township Real Estate market is 130 and for Fishers Real Estate, the number is 33 as of November 18th, 2008.  Keep in mind, these are only the ones listed on MIBOR.  The sheriff sale happens once a month on the 2nd Wednesday of the month for Marion County real estate.  These are homes that may or may not be on the MLS.  In many cases, they have not been listed.  The a... 11/19/2008

Another great 2008 Christmas event awaits Fishers Real Estate residents!  Last week the residents enjoyed the beginning of Christmas with the Hamilton Town Center Christmas in November event. This blog post had over 85 visitors for that one event; if you haven't written a comment on it, we'd love to hear what you thought.  On November 22nd Fishers and neighboring community residents will get to experience an annual event at the Fishers Town Hall on 116th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The Fishers Chamber of Commerce and the Town of Fishers present the 2008 Annual Tree Lighting. This is no oridnary tree, it is a 25 foot Christmas tree!  In addition, Santa and Mrs Claus will be arriving to help the Town leaders light the tree.  This is an event you won't want to miss.  After the lighting of ... 11/15/2008

Here is what happened for October 2008 for homes for sale in Fishers under $500,000:   2007 2008 % Change Active N/A 662 Homes Sold 121 88 -27% Average Selling Price $196,995 $221,873 13% Days on Market 82 93 13% Price Per Square Foot $91 $97 7% October was a little bit of a weird month for Fishers; the number of homes sold was way down with 27% less homes being sold this year but the average sales price was up a staggering 13% year over year. It should be noted though that the average sales price for October 2007 was the lowest of the year and the average sales price for October 2008 was the highest YTD. Basically what I am trying to say is don’t get too excited because we most likely will not see these types of increases in average sales price next month. The overall picture of the F... 11/14/2008

Comparing different areas in the Indianapolis real estate market demonstrates a decline in sales from 2008 as compared to 2007.  We have shown this in an earlier post for the Fishers Real Estate market.  This article is for homes between $100,000 and $500,000 to exclude some outlier areas that are either bank owned or luxury homes on the water.  It is for Lawrence Township which is just south of the Fishers real estate market; but within Marion County.  We are seeing fewer buyers in the market which means you have to be on top of your selling game.  One of my favorite shows to watch on HGTV is Design to Sell and they have great tips on how to get your home ready to sell.  Some others that they mentioned not on this particular list that cost nothing are to *Declutter*Deep Clean (that inc... 11/13/2008

  The city of Indianapolis welcomes its latest architecturally stunning masterpiece with the opening of the new H. Weir Cook Terminal on November 12th.  The really cool tidbit about this new airport terminal is that it expects to be the largest LEED-certified (green friendly) building in the Midwest and additionally 90% of the materials to build the facility came from within 500 miles.  The $1.1 billion project was financed by $120 million from Federal grants and the remaining through bonds that will be repaid through airport operation revenues. No state or local tax proceeds were used for its construction or operation.  In addition it will SAVE airlines over $10 million in fuel each year because there will be less taxi time given the placement of the terminal to the runways.  One of th... 11/09/2008

I wrote a post recently about the opening of the Hamilton Center in Noblesville and wanted to give you the Holiday update for this mall.  For everyone who lives in nearby Noblesville or the Fishers Real Estate market, starting tomorrow (November 7th) at 5:00 WFMS will be playing music and you can register for a free $100 Simon Mall Gift Card.  At 7:30 there will be fireworks, the Indianapolis Children's Choir and yes, a visit by Santa! The fun continues on Saturday (November 8th) with a Santa Breakfast at 9:00 at the McAlister's Deli.  Tickets are $3.00  Then from 10:00 to 10:40 at the IMAX theatre; Santa vs. the Snowman will be playing.  The first 200 children to attend the Santa breakfast will receive a free ticket.  Others can attend depending on space.  There will be opportunities f... 11/07/2008

Thank you, Jeremy Strahm with Woodland Mortgage Partners, for providing the following blog!  If you would like to obtain a new mortgage, refinance or have questions about forclosure you can reach Jeremy at 317-402-1173 or jeremy@woodlandmortgagepartners.com. The current mortgage crisis is creating some horrific history; but you don't have to become one of the depressing statistics. Protect yourself from financial calamity by understanding your mortgage, being honest with your lender, and respecting your budgetary limitations.While the root cause of the current credit crisis and housing turmoil can be traced to a wide variety of factors-including some predatory lending practices-hindsight is always sharper than foresight. In order to act now to guard yourself from the looming threat of t... 11/07/2008

We have talked about the decline in the Fishers real estate market, this graph demonstrates it.  As we compare 2008 sales to the same periods in 2007 for homes in the two townships that make up Fishers, we are seeing significant declines.  For the first quarter the decline is 15%, 2nd quarter is 20% and we actually see an increase in the 3rd quarter of 5%.  This can be explained by the elimination of the Down Payment Assistance (DPA) programs such as Ameridream.  The programs ended on 9/30/08 and many buyers were pushed through during that last quarter.  This theory is further supported by the October numbers, down 33% in just a single month.  What this means for you as a buyer looking to buy a home in Fishers is that you can get a great deal.  Sellers are anxiously waiting for a buyer ... 11/06/2008

Well, after 20 years of home selling experience (over 33 when adding in Jennifer and Pam's experience) we thought it is time to finally blog!  As a past manager of a couple of different company offices managing at one point 120 Realtors and as an owner of the RE/MAX Ability Plus Fishers office I have seen good Realtors and bad Realtors.  We have structured our services, attitudes and actions based on what we have learned from both.  Our team is very competent in handling real estate transactions.  That process is very mechanical.  We do it day in and day out.  However, what we have found is that it's not the mechanics that make agents successful.  It's the relationship building that makes an agent successful.  We are approached all the time from people trying to sell us new technology t... 11/03/2008

The Top 10 Real Estate Questions series continues with question #7. It is about selling real estate in Fishers and the web exposure that is needed for a successful sale.  Every seller wants to sell their home for the best price in the least amount of time. Selling your Fishers home requires the strength of a marketing plan, the right price, and an agent that knows how to network and get the job done.  To do this, a Fishers real estate agent needs to strongly consider technology and how buyers search for homes.  NAR (National Association of Realtors) reports that 84% of all buyers begin their search for a new home on the internet, this number was only 2% in 1995!  That means that your realtor's marketing plan better include all the major players on the web.  The list is well over 20 site... 11/01/2008

Christmas information at the Hamilton Town Center can be found here. Noblesville and Fishers Real Estate residents got a great boost in their resale values with the opening of the Hamilton Town Center!  Located at SR238 and Olio/146th or Exit 10 off of I69, check out the new 950,000 sq ft open air village mall.  I use the word village because it has that look and feel with its lamp posts, clock towers and brownstone exteriors.  This mall, at a cost of about $126 million,has some of the best retail, restaurants and entertainment on the northeast side of Indy.  Shops include Borders, Steinmart, Dicks with JC Penney's and Bed, Bath and Beyond as the Anchors.  Restaurants include Paradise Cafe, Noodles, Mo's Irish Pub and the ever famous Five Guys.  Also at the Hamilton Center is the 16 scr... 10/30/2008

Schools are important part of any community, it is especially true for Fishers, Indiana because it is one of the reasons people move here. In 2005, it was recognized as a  Blue Ribbon School; only 4% of schools nationwide achieve this merit.  It is ranked 6th out of 327 public high schools in Indiana. It is located near the far east side of Fishers Real Estate, it is one of two high schools in Fishers, Indiana.  They offer an extensive cirriculum, many with national programs.  These include  Project Lead the Way in both engineering and biomedical sciences and the Academy of Finance. They have a program called SMaRT (Student Mentor and Resource Time) every Tuesday during 3rd period which has special information for freshman and study hall/mentoring time for upper classmen. In addition th... 10/24/2008

The Indianapolis Busines Journal (IBJ) recently (10/11) printed an article describing the current market of inventory and realtors. We in the metro Indy and Fishers real estate market are seeing a large increase in inventory and MIBOR (our local real estate board) is seeing a corresponding decline in the number of real estate agents.  Many realtors (me included) have great listings that should be showing.  My benchmark is a $150,000 real estate listing I have in Fishers, Indiana.  I had the neighbor next door about six months ago and the listing showed two to three times a week and sold in less than 90 days.  Over the last month this current listing has not shown once (I do have a few more ideas to try with this home though!).  It is a good indication of the lack of buyers in the market... 10/22/2008