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.