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One of the most common refrains that has come out of the very hot 2020 real estate market is the message that this is a perfect time to sell a home. Record low interest rates combined with a low inventory market and a shortened spring market means that demand is high and, in many areas, homes are selling for prices well above asking with multiple offers. Of course, the other side of that equation is that the homeowners who are selling those homes may be unsure about how and where to find a new home on the other side of the closing table. After all, unless they are relocating to a previously purchased second home, these sellers may find themselves competing with other eager buyers on their new home purchase. How can you buy a home in a low inventory market and improve your odds of finding the right home at the right price? New Construction One of the early Industries interrupted by COVID-19 shutdowns was home construction, and in many areas, new construction ground to a halt. However, a number of home builders have since returned to work so now may be a great time to find a beautiful, newly built home. In addition, many new home communities boast resort-style amenities and expansive outdoor spaces, so they make a great choice when other recreational options are limited. Resort Areas Because of travel restrictions and the reluctance of many families and senior adults to vacation this year, resort areas offer some great options for hopeful homebuyers. Properties previously owned by investors may be on the market as their owners reconsider their investment strategy. Bonus? Many of these properties will feature upgraded finishes, pools, spas, and other amenities that make them particularly desirable right now. Rural Markets With the rise of work from home (WFH) as a permanent solution for many businesses looking to hedge their bets going forward, rural markets seem to be enjoying a moment. Offering larger lot sizes, wide-open spaces, greater privacy, and plenty of natural beauty, as well as uniquely affordable home prices and lower demand, a home in a rural market may just be a perfect option for you and your family. In-town Markets As young professionals abandoned hip urban neighborhoods in order to quarantine at home with Mom and Dad in the suburbs, they left behind a host of updated condominiums and lofts in cities all over the country. This may be a perfect time to purchase a home in a desirable downtown area with an eye toward the day that shows, restaurants, and shopping are all back to normal. Tips to buy successfully in a low inventory market How can you create a strategy to ensure that selling your home won’t leave you at loose ends on the other side of the transaction? Here are some ways to increase your odds of finding the perfect home in today’s market. 1. Line up a rental to buy yourself some time. Remember, you don’t have to make a decision on your forever home right away. Finding a rental home either in your current market or in the market where you are looking to relocate may allow you to take some time to look around and decide on the perfect next home. Many short-term rentals even rent by the month, so you can store your belongings and set up camp in a beautifully appointed, perfectly polished space while you weigh your options. 2. Coordinate with your agent so you’re ready to move. Talk to your real estate professional about your goals and let them help you develop options to facilitate a more successful move. Strategy and smart negotiating are the keys to successfully competing in a multiple-offer situation, and your real estate professional will have plenty of ideas about how to make your offer more appealing. 3. Be willing to do some repairs or renovations. Gone are the days when you could absolutely expect a perfectly turnkey home at the end of your buying process. Many buyers are sweetening their offers with information-only inspections and a promise that they will not request repairs during the contract period. If you are an experienced DIYer or know a reliable contractor, you may be able to craft a winning pitch to sellers by handling needed repairs on your own. 4. Leave some wiggle room at the top of your budget. In many multiple-offer situations, hopeful buyers end up outbidding each other and paying well over asking price for their dream home. Don’t max out your budget on your initial offer but leave a little space to allow you to improve the deal if someone else shows interest. 5. Think about your long-term goals. Instead of thinking about your current needs or those that are just a few years down the road, consider this purchase as part of a long-term real estate plan. Maybe this is the time to buy the vacation home or retirement condo that you had plans to move into several years from now. Maybe you’ve been hoping to get into real estate investment and now is the time to buy a duplex, fix it up, and rent out the other side. Later, you can use both sides as a rental property and purchase a primary home of your choice, when market conditions are more favorable. The most important aspects of buying a home in a low inventory market are staying flexible, keeping informed, and consulting with your real estate agent or broker. They can help you make better decisions and put together a plan of action that allows you to maximize the potential value of your current property without giving up anything in your new property.

Just as Kleenex has become the name for any brand of facial tissue and “to Xerox” is used as a verb for making copies, Zillow is the first name in online home search with 196 million unique visitors last year. That’s about double the number that Realtor.com enjoyed during the same period, making Zillow the platform that, in many ways, drives the real estate industry. However, both real estate professionals and consumers have plenty of complaints about Zillow’s user interface (UI) and the accuracy of its information. If you’re thinking of starting a home search, here’s why you may need to bypass Zillow as your starting point. 1. The Zestimate is often unreliable. This is the most important thing to know before you start looking at Zillow to gauge prices in your preferred market. The Zillow Zestimate—an estimate home value calculated by Zillow’s proprietary algorithm—is notoriously unreliable and may have little or no relation to the actual fair market value of a property. In many cases, the Zestimate doesn’t consider upgrades that have been made to the home and it may be based on unreliable information about the market. 2. The agents shown on Zillow may know little or nothing about the property you are interested in. So you’ve found the perfect home and there’s a smiling agent’s photo and contact information right beside that listing. Should you click through to ask about the home? In reality, that agent paid for that placement and may know less than you do about the property you’re viewing. Zillow promotes agents who pay to be members of its Premiere Agent program, not the listing agent associated with the property or a qualified buyer agent who has your best interest at heart. 3. Zillow doesn’t show all of the listings that are currently available. Because Zillow obtains listing information from a tangled network of separate Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) and from individual agents and brokers, as well as from individual homeowners, they don’t always show all of the listings that are currently available in a given market. In addition, Zillow’s platform often takes longer to update than other platforms so it may not reflect all active listings. 4. Zillow often has inaccurate information about properties. You may find a property listed on Zillow that you like, and then find out that it is currently under contract or that it has already been sold. This is because Zillow listings may not be updated at all or may not be updated in a timely manner. Since some of their listings come directly from the homeowners themselves and from agents and brokers, they are not automatically updated the way that MLS listings would be. 5. Zillow’s iBuyer program may give you a very narrow margin for negotiation. One of Zillow’s newer initiatives is an iBuyer program that allows homeowners to sell to Zillow, which then flips the property to buyers. The program has been unprofitable for Zillow and their margins are tight, so you may find that buying a Zillow home leaves you little room to negotiate or to request needed repairs or improvements. 6. Zillow makes money in part through ad sales to property management companies, real estate agents, and lenders. While they have expanded their business model to include the iBuyer program, Zillow makes most of its money through advertising. That means that the professionals you see promoted on the platform have paid for that privilege and are being promoted by the algorithm, not based on their qualifications, experience, or track record. In addition, if you are looking at rental properties, Zillow’s recommendations are paid placements from property management companies, not properties that are ideally suited to your search criteria. 7. Some of Zillow’s practices have been called into question through a series of class-action lawsuits. Zillow has been taken to court for violations of antitrust laws and regulations, for promoting dual agency, and for regulatory questions related to its Premiere Agent program. While Zillow defends its business model, these legal issues call into question Zillow’s platform and the way that it promotes a pay-for-play real estate marketplace. Again, Zillow’s platform is not technically designed in the best interest of the consumer, but in the best interest of Zillow’s shareholders. What is the better alternative to a home search through Zillow? If you’re looking for a more accurate, more focused home search, a real estate professional is the place to start. An agent or broker can provide you with listings straight from the MLS, so you know that they are up-to-date and accurate. In addition, you’ll be able to narrow your search to properties that are in your ideal location and that have your most wanted features, saving you time and frustration throughout your home search. Forget looking at the Zilllow Zestimate to determine the fair market value of the home you’re interested in. A real estate agent or broker will help walk you through the comparable properties in your market, helping you understand the factors that impact home prices and develop a clearer picture of the market conditions that are currently at play in your area. When it’s time to make an offer, your agent will help you craft one based on accurate, real-time data, not on outdated, impartial information and a flawed algorithm. The best part? Real estate professionals aren’t motivated by advertisers or shareholders. They are focused on helping you find the right home at the right price on your timeline. That ensures that the properties you see and the information you’re given are targeted to your needs and focused on what’s best for you and your family.

You’re basting the turkey, glazing the sweet potatoes, and salting the green beans, and in all of that madness, are expected to fashion a beautiful centerpiece, set the table, and pour everyone a glass (or two) of wine!? Hosting a Thanksgiving meal is tough, and you practically have to rely on magic to ensure everything goes smoothly. However, making an enjoyable meal is possible with the right arsenal of tools—starting with this guide! The Turkey 1 pound of meat per guest Thaw 24 hours per 4 pounds of turkey Brine for at least 12 hours Baste every 30 minutes Internal temperature should be 165°F (measured in the thigh with a meat thermometer) Cook times 9–11 pounds: 5 hours 12–14 pounds: 3 hours 15–17 pounds: 5 hours 18–20 pounds: 4 hours Drinks & Desserts 1 pie per 8 guests 3 glasses of wine per person 3 beers per person 1 cup of coffee per person Appetizers & Sides 1 cup of stuffing per person 1 cup of mashed potatoes/cauliflower per person 2 rolls per person ½ cup of veggies per person 1 cup of cranberry sauce per person ¼ cup of gravy per person 3 ounces of dip per person 1 cup of salad per person Household PrepTo avoid a major meltdown the day of Thanksgiving, it’s best to have a plan up to a month in advance for what to buy, how far in advance, and when to start readying your home for guests. 3 weeks before Finalize your menu and create a shopping list for everything you’ll need to buy in the weeks to come. Purchase any nonperishable items, like canned goods, soda, wine, and liquor. Gather any supplies you will need for a centerpiece or decorating purposes. 2 weeks before Throw away any items in your fridge or freezer that you don’t need to make space for leftovers. Prepare and freeze any food items that will keep over the next few weeks, like dinner rolls and stock. If you’re making a frozen pie, or even one from scratch, consider preparing it now and freezing in an air-tight plastic bag. 1 week before Purchase the turkey, and be sure to keep it in the freezer until ready to thaw. Begin making any homemade decor or centerpieces that you plan to display on your table, or elsewhere throughout the house. Develop a schedule for cooking to make sure everything cooks to perfection. A few days before Buy any perishable ingredients you’ll need, like fruits and vegetables. Begin thawing the turkey on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator. Keep a pan underneath to catch any drippings. Start cleaning up areas, such as bathrooms, bedrooms, and others that you can keep clean until Thanksgiving Day. You can also hang any special table or wall decor. The morning of Be sure to wake up early enough that you aren’t rushing through the day, and start off with a light breakfast to avoid too much snacking! Also, be mindful of how long the turkey needs to cook, and start preparing any appetizers or snack items that need baking. Set the table, and arrange your decorations and centerpiece(s). Sweep around the kitchen or other areas that may have become messy while cooking.

The days are finally getting longer, early morning risers can now hear birds chirping and March 19th, the first day of spring, will be here before you know it. We have talked to several potential home sellers that want to wait until later in the spring to put their homes on the market. That’s an understandable thought, but in truth, there is not a more perfect time than right now. During this past week from February 16th through February 22nd there were 195 new listings that hit the market in Indianapolis. During that same time 272 properties went into pending status. So the trend of low inventory is still with us, making now a perfect time to be on the market. If you are thinking of selling, give us a call 317-863-6666 and let’s work together to get the highest possible price in the least amount of time.

We all believe buying a home for the first time is the hardest thing until we have to buy and sell at the same time! If you’re looking to graduate from first-timer to repeat buyer, you know things are about to get much trickier. Unless you’re a bona fide house collector, you’ll have to sell your home in order to buy anew—adding a whole separate layer of anxiety to what you already know is a stressful home-buying process. Realtor.com gives us some great tips on how to manage buying and selling without losing your mind. Know the market Before you start seriously searching for a new home—or put your current home on the market—make sure you have a solid understanding of the housing market in your area (and the area where you’re planning to buy). Ask your real estate agent: Is the market weighted toward buyers or sellers? Only then will you be able to fully strategize. In real estate, your best plan of action may depending on whether sellers or buyers are in the more powerful position. Plan your schedule carefully You might be asking: Should you try to buy first, then sell—or vice versa? Both have their risks and rewards. Selling first makes getting a mortgage easier, but it also means you’ll need to find a temporary place to live. Buying first means that moving will be easier, but it also skews your debt-to-income ratio, making it harder to qualify for a new mortgage—not to mention the difficulty of juggling two monthly house payments. Know your financial solutions For those who choose to sell first, the process is relatively straightforward: taking on the additional cost of a rental between homes. However, you might want to consider the option of a rent-back agreement, where you negotiate with the lenders and buyers to be able to remain in the property for a maximum of 60 to 90 days—often in exchange for a lower selling price or for rent paid to the buyers. This can relieve some of the pressure of finding a new home, giving you additional time to house hunt. But if you’re buying first, talk to your Realtor about ways to decrease your financial burden and risk. Don’t let fear rush you If your home has sold but you haven’t found a new place to live, don’t let anxiety push you toward a bad decision. Share this:

Plan Your Design The holiday decorating itch may strike suddenly and without warning. Before you start, it’s best to step back and develop an overall game plan. Resist the urge to simply “wing it.” Pick a Focal Point – For example, if you have columns that frame your entryway, this may be where you want to start. Without a focal point your house will just look like someone blasted lights out of a cannon all over your lawn. Consider the surface – Check your gutter thickness and shingle flexibility to determine how to best hang lights along the roof-line. Some popular spots for outdoor Christmas lights include: Along your roof-lines or eaves Atop bushes, hedges and trees Around pillars, posts or deck railings Around windows, door frames and other architectural features Near driveways and pathways Inside window boxes and planters Measure – Measure any straight line you want to adorn with lights. This will help you decide how many strands you need. Also, measure the distance to your power source. No one wants a beautiful light display and no way to turn it on. Lights Galore – The number of lights you’ll need to decorate trees and shrubs is a matter of personal preference. A good rule of thumb is 100 lights for every 1-1/2-ft of tree or shrub you want to cover. So a 6-ft evergreen needs at least 400 lights for a basic level of lighting. Of course, if your goal is for your house to be seen from space, stagger two sets of lights side-by-side, or look for lights that are spaced closer together. Denser lights equal brighter lights. Prepare Your Lights Safety First – Use UL approved extension cords specific for outdoor use and look for lights rated for indoor/outdoor use. Check the Christmas lights package for this, the lighted length and how many strands to connect. Check your Lights – Frayed or damaged cords are a big NO. One faulty strand isn’t only a safety hazard, but could ruin your entire design. Light Color – Believe it or not, white lights are not all the same color. LEDs typically have a bluish tint, whereas incandescent bulbs are slightly orange. Hang them side-by-side and they will look mismatched. Lights can even vary based on manufacturer and how old they are. Make it easy on yourself and buy new lights. Light Clips – Forget staples, clothespins or any other contraption you’ve used in the past for mounting lights to your house. Light clips are your new best friend. We have something for every surface, simply read the package to find the one that fits your application. Light Types – There are tons of different light types and colors – so have fun with them! Just make sure you group the same light-type together. For example, try using white lights on your bushes, but colored lights on your trees and entryway. Top it off with white icicle lights along your roofline. LEDs will save you money on energy costs and you don’t have to worry about them overheating.Icicle lights look great on the eaves of your roof – just make sure to cluster them together. If stretched too far apart the look is completely lost.For your bushes, try net lights. These are like a blanket of lights. Simply lay them on your bushes, and boom, you’re done.

Some gardeners, even in the colder zones, wait to winterize roses until late fall when all the roses are completely dormant. But the weather is unpredictable by mid-fall, and a sudden cold snap could cause serious damage. There isn’t just one way to winterize all your roses. How your rose fares in winter depends on a number of factors – the weather, the plant’s location in the garden and, of course, the type of rose. Some varieties are more naturally hardy than others. Temperate zones (USDA Zone 6 and warmer) are easier on roses, and roses planted close to the house are more sheltered than those out in the open. Check with your nursery or local rose society if you aren’t sure whether your varieties are hardy. If there’s a graft on your rose bush, it’s a newer variety and probably not hardy. Tender varieties of roses can be seriously damaged in places where the temperatures dip below 20 degrees. But there’s an easy way to protect them with a technique called the “Minnesota tip.” It was developed in the 1950s by a Minnesota gardener and involves tipping a rose bush into a trench. Prune the bush to three feet tall, cutting above outward-facing buds. Remove smaller limbs, leaving three to five of the thickest, most vigorous canes. If there are any leaves, pull them off. Aside from harboring disease, leaves can increase drying. Tie the canes together using synthetic twine that will not decay over winter. Tie by starting at the bottom with a slip knot and lacing up the plant. Leave a long piece of twine attached. Spray the canes with dormant oil spray, which protects them from diseases in the soil. Mix 5 tablespoons of the oil with 1 gallon of water. Or, if you’ve already made a baking-soda solution (1/3 cup baking soda to 1 gallon water) to spray as a fungicide, you can simply add the dormant oil to that to save time. Coat the canes well and let dry. Dig a trench on one side of the plant and loosen the soil around the roots using a garden fork to minimize root damage. Add fallen evergreen needles to the trench and mix with the topsoil. The high acidity of evergreens is great for rose beds. Use a garden fork to pry under the roots and carefully tip the plant over into the trench. Cover the plant completely with the soil that was removed, being careful to leave the long piece of extra twine exposed above the dirt so it will be easier to find later. Water the bed to help settle the soil and keep the canes and roots in good shape for the winter. Cover with a carpenter’s blanket and bags of leaves to keep it in place. Bags of leaves are easier to deal with in the spring than loose leaves, but for small areas loose leaves may be fine and will decompose. This process can be used for all varieties of nonhardy roses – from standard to miniature. By early April when days are warmer and longer, remove the leaves, and then a few weeks after that, uncover the bush, untie it and get it ready for a summer of beautiful flowers.

Home/Market Insights/Blog tags: Posted by: Sierra Troitsky You’ve driven through construction traffic, taken various routes through the city, and endured random street closures in the name of improved transportation. Well, it’s finally here – the Red Line is opening on September 1st! The rapid Red Line will increase convenience, frequency, and reliability, while improving travel times and decreasing wait times. Many local routes that once traversed the same corridor as the Red Line will now feed into the Red Line, providing the potential for more frequent service in those areas. The 60-foot, articulated, fully electric Red Line transit vehicles were developed specifically for rapid transit operation, with doors opening on either side of the bus and having a range of up to 275 miles — without emitting a single cloud of exhaust. Instead of front-of-bus bike racks, Red Line buses have onboard bicycle storage, so bicyclists should board at the door nearest the bike-storage area. New platform-level boarding allows you to roll your bicycle on and off with ease. For 13 miles through the heart of the city, the Red Line will run for 13 miles through several neighborhoods, major employers, cultural institutions, healthcare and education with frequent, comfortable rapid-transit service. The Red Line rolls within a quarter mile of more than 50,000 residents and nearly 150,000 jobs — that’s one in every four jobs in all of Marion County. Twenty hours each day, seven days a week, your IndyGo ride will arrive at each Red Line station every 10-20 minutes. Exciting news for rapid transit! Mon – Fri 5 AM – 9 PM every 10 minutes 9 PM – 1 AM every 15 minutes Sat 6 AM – 1 AM every 15 minutes Sun 7 AM – 8 PM every 15 minutes 8 PM – 10 PM every 20 minutes To see a map of the new Red Line, please click here.

Ever get the itch to do a DIY project? Whenever we do, our favorites involve getting outdoors and mixing up our landscaping features. Whether it’s as simple as installing some lighting or a little more time-consuming like re-plotting plants, a fresh look for the lawn always gives your home a fresh look as well. Here are our top five easy landscaping projects! Create a pathway. To guide you and visitors throughout your yard and link different areas together, install a pathway. You can use materials from a variety of materials, including reclaimed pallet wood, flagstones, gravel, and more to add texture and color. Add a wall or border. Installing a flagstone, rock, or brick wall around flower beds or trees adds a sleek, clean look to your landscaping and helps separate different sections of your yard. Install a water feature. Nothing says zen quite like the sound of trickling water as you relax in your backyard. You can start simple with by purchasing and installing a small feature powered by a solar panel or create a larger focal point in your yard by installing a waterfall wall or small pond. Light your way. An easy way to transform your yard is to strategically use lighting. Place cool-colored lights high in trees to recreate a moonlight feel, use pathway lights to naturally guide the eye, or highlight objects or plants. Plant upwards. Expand your yard space by drawing the eye to the sky with a trellis fence or screen made of wood or metal. Once you install your trellis, select your climbing plants and vines and get to planting!

A new survey shows that homeownership among millennials between the ages of 28 and 31 jumped from 27 percent to 47 percent in just two years. Additionally, ownership among people aged 32 to 36 was up 11 percent. That home buying has surged among younger Americans is an encouraging sign for the housing market – especially since homeownership levels haven’t yet fully recovered from the housing crash. But, like anything, there’s another side to the story. That’s because, increasing demand from first-time home buyers could also put pressure on home prices if available inventory can’t keep up with the level of interest. According to one projection, millennials will purchase 10 million homes over the next decade. Whether new home construction and existing supply can meet the demand from those buyers will be a key driver of the real estate market in the years to come. If supply continues to lag behind, home prices will keep rising, which will build equity among current homeowners but cause affordability issues. On the other hand, if supply increases, prices should moderate and lead to booming home sales. Either way, first-time home buyers will have a significant effect on housing market conditions in the coming years.

Millennials are now at, or quickly approaching, the age when the average American buys their first home. And though attitudes can shift from one generation to the next, when it comes to buying a home, millennials seem to agree with their parents and grandparents. In fact, they may be even more enthusiastic about buying a home. According to one recent survey of potential home buyers, millennials consider owning a home a top priority, second only to being able to retire. Homeownership was even named a higher priority than getting married and having kids. But though they may want to pursue homeownership in the near future, they also share some of the same misconceptions about the buying process that earlier generations had. The survey found that nearly half of current renters said they believe a 20 percent down payment is required to buy a home and almost a quarter of them said they think they’ll need to have a perfect credit score before they’re qualified for a mortgage.

Nearly 80% of Americans say now is a good time to sell a house, according to a recent survey from the National Association of Realtors. This may be good news for buyers. These days, there are more home buyers than there are homes for sale, which is the primary factor causing prices to rise. But rising prices have also caused homeowners to think about the benefits of selling their home. And, if the results of the NAR’s Housing Opportunities and Market Experience survey are any indication, a growing number of them are beginning to consider putting their home on the market. If so, it’ll help provide additional choices for home buyers while also slowing the rate at which prices move upward. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, says he believes American homeowners were waiting to see if the gains got any better before making a decision. “With prices having risen so quickly, many consumers were deciding to wait to list their homes hoping to see additional price and equity gains,” Yun said. “However, with indications that buyers are beginning to pull out, price gains are going to decelerate and potential sellers are considering that now is a good time to list and bring more properties to the market.