Don't Let Your Short Sale Leave You Taxed!

If you, or someone you know, owe more on your home than it's worth and need to sell NOW is the time to contact me!  Time is running out to save yourself from what could be a significant tax implication in the future.

In 2007, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act was passed in an attempt to help the millions of homeowners who, due to the housing crisis and economic crash, suddenly found themselves in danger of losing their home to foreclosure.

The act has helped many distressed homeowners find solutions that help them avoid foreclosure and opened up options to them that were previously unavailable.

However, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act was always intended to be a temporary solution and it is now set to expire at the end of 2013. For distressed homeowners, this means that time is running out for them to take advantage of the program and potentially save themselves tens of thousands of dollars.

If you know of anyone who may need my expertise, please have them visit my website www.HomesByCindyB.com for a copy of my recent report entitled “Don’t Let Your Short Sale Leave You Taxed”  or you can contact me for a copy.

And then contact me for a confidential consultation today so we can get started!

Three Benefits of Painting Your Home’s Exterior This Fall

While the summer months are typically thought of as the best time to paint your home exterior, don’t be so quick to put the paintbrush down as autumnal weather sets in.

As it turns out, early fall can be an excellent time for painting the outside of your home, affording the following benefits:

1. Fall has optimal temperature conditions for painting. In general, autumn temperatures remain above the minimum recommended painting temperature, which is anywhere from 35 degrees F to 50 degrees F. On top of this benefit, fall temperatures tend to fluctuate less between daytime and nighttime hours, putting less stress on paint.
   
   
2. A fresh coat of paint is a great selling point. The early fall is a time period when the last influx of home sales occurs before winter descends and the calendar year wraps up. Applying new paint to your house is an economical way to boost curb appeal and desirability during this last surge of home sales, and is a way to set your home apart from other homes on the market that are vying for the attention of buyers.
   
   
3. Painting protects your home from the winter elements. In addition to making your home look fresh and bright, a new paint job adds a great layer of protection to the exterior of your home leading up to the typically harsh winter weather of Central Indiana.

Want more information about improving curb appeal and readying your Indianapolis-area home for sale? Get in touch with me, your Prudential Indiana Realty Group agent!  You can reach me at 317.442.9786 or cbreneman@prudentialindiana.com

Virtual Open House for week ending September 27th

I hope you have been enjoying our beautiful weather!  Summer continues to hang on although we did usher in Fall this week.  With that, the west Carmel housing closed home sales was reflective of the change in seasons with only three closed sales.  However, new listings still remain strong with one of those listings receiving an accepted offer.

Sold listing for the week:
998 3rd Ave NW, 111018 Tamoshanter Drive, and 615 East 116th Street.

New homes on the market:
112441 Creekwood Lane, 11004 Crooked Stick Lane, 11237 Horbeck Street, 2575 Manigault Street, 13736 Royal Saddle Drive, 9970 Mill Run Overlook, 974 2nd Ave NW, 73 11th Street NW, 11717 Yale Drive, 13839 Perrin Drive, 11567 Perkins Street, 485 East 116th Street, and 931 Wickham Court.  11547 Woodview Drive West was listed and received an accepted offer this week. 

It's never too late to begin thinking about the market next Spring.  If you are considering listing, now is the best time to begin to make the preparations.  In order to get a jump on the market next Spring, you need to begin now!  Fall is a great time for exterior painting and the lawn care steps you take today will be evidenced in the early Spring as things begin to green up.  Contact me TODAY for a free market analysis. We can discuss your plans and develop the timeline to make this to happen for you!

Your Virtual Tour...September 20, 2013

I apologize to my faithful readers out there who look to this site to keep up to date on the latest closings and new listing in the 46032 zip code.  I was doing very well at keeping up when things began to explode this spring and then...BAM! I got busy, the number of new listings and closings each week began to grow and the next thing I knew, I got away from the postings on the actual market data for each week.  Today is a start back into listing that data each week.

NEW LISTINGS

10664 Walnut Creek Drive, 10348 High Grove Drive, 1855 Hourglass Drive, 3805 Steeplechase Drive, 12436 Horesham Street, 13973 Inglenook Lane, 2567 Manigualt Street, 12572 Brandford Street, 13187 Antonia Blvd, 9671 Priairiewood Way, 12842 Bird Cage Walk, 12735 Vanderhorst Street, 12736 Ashworth Street, 12840 Bird Cage Walk,121 1st Street SE, 12729 Vanderhorst Street, 942 Grace Drive, 664 W Main Street, 11160 Westfield Blvd, 358 Carmelaire Court, 366 Carmelaire Court, 11715 Brockford Court, 11725 Lenox Lane and 12568 N Timber Creek Drive.  402 Kimbrough Lane was listed and pended this week.

CLOSINGS FOR THE WEEK

11427 Brookstone Drive, 12192 Teal Lane, 3741 Carwinion Way, 11451 Sutton Place Drive East, 10911 Valley Forge Circle, 1359 Holden Court, 522 Chauncy Street, 2926 Vinings Drive, 433 Stonehedge Drive, 11030 Auman Drive West and 510 Hunters Drive West.

JOIN ME THIS SUNDAY!

Join me this Sunday, September 22nd for an open house on 14240 Murphy Circle East Drive from 1-3.  This is a turn-key 4 bedroom home with a full finished basement.  The master area has a separate sitting area and probably the largest closet you'll ever see!  The yard is completed with patio, pergola and tons of landscaping.  This is really a must see!

Just remember, if you are interested in seeing any of these homes or would like a FREE market analysis completed on your home, feel free to contact me at 317-442-9786.

4 Questions to Answer Before Paying Off Your Mortgage Early

Paying off your mortgage early is a relatively risk-free move, which is not something that many other investments can offer. That being said, there are opportunity costs associated with paying off your mortgage early.  For instance, paying off your mortgage quickly while not having enough “rainy day” funds or exposing yourself to other risk may not be worth it, especially if you already have a good interest rate locked in. Or maybe getting rid of that 3 percent to 4 percent interest sounds good, except maybe you could have made 7 percent to 8 percent interest by investing it elsewhere. It’s a tricky subject, but here are four questions you should answer before deciding to pay off your mortgage early. 1) How much principle remains? This is key in understanding how much you will pay and for how long during an accelerated pay schedule. Generally, it is a good idea to make an extra payment on your mortgage whenever it makes sense financially, but if you have 28 years left on your mortgage, trying to pay it off in 12 may not be as easy as it sounds. On the other hand, if you only have 9 years left on your current schedule, it is probably easier than it sounds. 2) What do your other investments look like? This is a follow-up to question No. 1. A home is one of the largest investments most people will make. But what about the rest of your portfolio? If you are sitting pretty on a couple of good stocks/investment groups and confident in their returns, you may decide investing in stocks, bonds, real estate or other capital is better than paying off a low-interest loan early. 3) What other debt do you have? If you have credit card debt which is hitting you with a higher monthly interest rate than your home – and add non-tax-deductible interest on top of that – you’ll probably want to focus on paying that down instead. Or if you have children who will be entering college in a few years and you would like to put more money to their college fund, this may be a better use of money than paying off your mortgage early. 4) What are your upcoming life plans? Do you plan on moving in a few years? What about having a child? Or maybe you are three years into a 30-year mortgage but only 10 years away from retirement. Take a look at how much you will spend short-term vs. save long-term and how that plays into your future life plans. For a closer look at what making extra payments on your mortgage will mean to your bottom line, fill out this Early Mortgage Payoff Calculator and decide what your best course of action is. If you still have questions, feel free to call me, your Central Indiana Prudential Realtor, at 317-442-9786 and I can assist you in your queries.

U.S. Home Prices on the Rise: What’s Next?

The Indianapolis Star reports that the average price of homes in the U.S. is steadily rising when compared to where they were a year ago. The most recent data, from May, shows a 12.2 percent jump from the 2012 averages.

For regular readers of this monthly newsletter, this is no surprise. There has been consistent good news on housing, like last month’s piece on home-sale agreements, or the 20 consecutive months of home sale improvements. In many places around the country, and even here in Central Indiana, it is starting to turn into a seller’s market — though buyers can still find fantastic deals and historically low interest rates.

After years of a down market, we are seeing signs of growth faster than we have in previous years. So what do you do next?

Well … it depends. If you’re looking to sell, now is a great time to list. There are still a few months left of the peak buying season, and if you move quickly, you can still show off your home with green grass and beautiful landscaping. If you’re looking to buy, rising interest rates should motivate you to contact me today and begin the buying process, which includes determining the kind of home you need and getting pre-approved for a mortgage.  I even have lenders that I can recommend to you.

Even though the peak buying and selling season is winding down, continued growth is showing that this year’s gains will continue into fall and winter. But who wants to look for homes in the snow when you can do so now in this beautiful weather? And if you wait until next Spring you will most certainly see higher interest rates.

Contact me today to get started.

July Monthly Market Indicators

I'm sure you have been wondering just where is this market taking us.  The stats for July are in and are showing continued improvement in the housing market, regardless of what you may have heard from one local company earlier in the month.

The Central Indiana housing market continues to show impressive sales activity with increasing median and average housing prices.  Inventory hit a low earlier in the year and continues to stay at a relatively low rate...at least we have consistency here.  New listings continue to add to the inventory selection as buyers adapt to this changing, fast-paced market.

How did Hamilton County come out for the month of July?
New listings for the month of July were up 19.6% over July 2013 with a three month total increase of 13.4% over the same period last year.  Sales continue to be brisk with an increase of 39.6% month to month over last year and a total increase over the period of May through July of 30.0%.  

The average sales price for July was $259,822 which is a 4% improvement over last year with a median sales price of $225,000.  The median sales price for the same period last year was $214,500 which shows a 4.9% improvement.

Where is all this headed?
Once again, since my crystal ball still eludes me, I'll just have to share what the industry predicts.  The status of mortgage rates and what the fed ends up doing, along with the low inventory will be the key factor's as to how the market will swing.  Uncertainty of the upcoming effects of the Affordable Health Care Act may have some impact if it ultimately affects employment and wage growth. That may pull some of the buyers from the market.  

Mortgage rates are currently holding steady but an increase could hold some buyers back or pull them from the market altogether.  We have seen some instances where buyers have gotten caught up in the increased rates and have had to lower their expectations.  

How should I react to this news?
I would say it all depends on your goal and what you want to accomplish.  If you are considering buying, I would say if you're in the position to do so, DO IT!  If you need to sell and if your home is market ready, don't wait, get it on the market now, since we are faced with some uncertainty of what will happen six months down the road.

Should you wait until next Spring?  One thing that is most likely going to happen is that you will see interest rates increase. Currently, they are holding steady, but we don't know how long that will last. We are seeing an increase in sales price, so if you are moving up, you're probably best not to wait.  If you're looking to down size, weigh the cost factors of where you are at vs. where you will be once you move.  That will be your determining factor. You may decide that getting out from under the big house, mortgage, big heating bills before winter might be the best thing to do. One thing that I can say, is that today we know what we are facing, next Spring, it may be another story.

If you are considering making a move, please contact me at 317-558-7771 so we can discuss your goals and determine what works best for you.  If you would like to discuss the market in further detail, I'm always willing to buy you a cup of coffee and chat about it.

Until next time.....