Central Indiana home sales rise 3.2 percent in August

Published Thursday, September 21, 2017

Monthly real estate stats from F.C. Tucker Company indicated that the housing market is still not slowing down. August 2017 pended sales climbed 3.2 percent compared to August 2016. Similarly, the average year-to-date home price for the 15-county Central Indiana region rose 6.6 percent to $199,498.

As the numbe

Indianapolis real estate, homes for sales, home prices

r of houses available for sale continued to decline, homebuyers purchased them rapidly; 3,067 homes were purchased in Central Indiana in August, an increase from 2,973 sold in August 2016. Many of the counties that F.C. Tucker tracks experienced an increase in sales. Specifically:

  • Montgomery County showed significant growth in homes sold, a 27.3 percent increase in August 2017 compared to August 2016. Decatur County followed next behind with a 15.8 percent increase in sales.
  • Putnam and Johnson counties’ pended sales, in contrast, decreased by 31.7 and 14.2 percent, respectively, compared to August 2016.

In keeping with the previous month’s trends, homes sold more quickly and for more money in August, signaling that it’s still a strong seller’s market.

  • Twelve of the 15 counties that F.C. Tucker tracks showed an uptick in average year-to-date home prices.
  • Hamilton County again ranked highest with average home prices at $303,404. Boone County’s average home prices, slightly lower than Hamilton County’s, came in at $299,743.
  • Jennings County’s average home price dropped 3.9 percent and Shelby County’s dropped 0.1 percent, the only two counties in the region to dip in August. Decatur County’s average home price remained nearly level with August 2016.
  • Homes sold in 61 days on average – and 11 days quicker – for the first eight months of 2017 compared to the same time period last year. Hendricks and Johnson counties’ homes remained the fastest-selling in the market at 56 days, while Hancock, Marion and Hamilton came in close behind with homes selling in 57, 58 and 59 days, respectively.

Listings dropped by 14.3 percent. In August 2017, inventory stood at 8,720 homes, a decrease of 1,450 compared to August 2016.

  • None of the 15 counties that F.C. Tucker tracks showed an uptick in active listings compared to August 2016. Boone County’s listings were level to the same time last year, with 350 homes available for sale.
  • Decatur County’s inventory dropped 30.3 percent, representing 40 fewer listings compared to August 2016. Not far behind, Montgomery and Jennings counties’ inventory dropped 26.3 and 26.2 percent, respectively, representing 51 and 22 fewer listings.

“Home inventory in Indiana remains tight, making it an ideal market for sellers,” said Jim Litten, CEO of F.C. Tucker Company. “However, a good selection of homes at varying price points exists, so homebuyers should not be deterred as they begin their housing search.”

Of the pended home sales in the region last month, three were priced over $2,000,000; 16 were priced $1,000,000 to $1,999,999; 116 were priced $500,000 to $999,999; 385 were priced $300,000 to $499,999; 538 were priced $200,000 to $299,999; 1,334 were priced $100,000 to $199,999; and 675 were priced at $99,999 or less.

Questions to Ask When Buying a Home

Published Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Questions to Ask When Buying a HomeWhen it comes to purchasing a home there are some things put in place to ensure that you are purchasing a safe, quality home. Every state has different requirements on what sellers have to disclose. Even though you trust the seller to be open and honest about everything that has to do with the home they are selling, it’s always good practice to work with a Real Estate agent to help you navigate through all the potential disclosures to ensure you are purchasing a great home.

Here are some things you will want to ask about concerning the potential home. Having more information about these areas will help you determine whether the home is really good buy or are there issues you don’t want to deal with.

1. Utility Bills? The utility bills for electricity, gas, water and even the HOA may be higher or lower than would be expected for the size of the home. All utility companies will provide information for the previous year…the average for the highest and the lowest amounts the bill has been for 12 months. This will provide a good idea for overall months. It will also be a good indicator if there are potential problems as well.

2. Has there ever been water damage? Sellers are typically supposed to disclose problems with flooding, but they might not be aware of water damage in some situations. If it only happened one time and there was no major damage or they might not have noticed. You can check insurance claims on the property and for drainage issues to help reduce risk. Of course getting an home inspection will identify and cause of concern.

3. Plumbing issues? Plumbing issues should be discovered during a home inspection. Keep in mind sellers sometimes put a band-aid over something instead of fixing it correctly, so you may want to rum faucets and look for drainage problems each time you look at the home.

4. How much noise from planes/trains/traffic? Everyone is different when it comes to these types of things and how long it takes you to adjust to them. Only you can decide if you can adjust to the noise level or if it will be a problem. Try to take trips to the property at different times and see what the noise levels are inside and out. If you have worries about resale or any other types of questions your Real Estate agent will be there helping you every step of the way.

5. Noisy Neighbors? Just like the issues with traffic/planes/and trains, this is a very subjective issue. There are some people that are very bothered by noise and it may or may not be a problem for you. Just be sure to check out the home during different times of the day to get a feel for the noise level before you commit to buying. It’s always better to hear the noise levels for yourself because the seller could be overly bother by something you perceive as normal amounts of noise.

6. Roaming animals? Have your agent ask the seller about this issue. Are there deer, raccoons, stray dogs or cats? This is less likely in a big town, but can sometimes be an issue in smaller towns and suburbs. If you have a neighbor that feeds or encourages this behavior then you might want to know if you flower beds are going to be dug up.

These are just a few good questions to consider before writing an offer. The number one thing to help is having a good Real Estate agent with you every step of the way. There are many other questions you may want answered and Kammeyer Realty Group can help! Contact us at [email protected] or call me at 317-698-7109!

Making Sense of the Home Buying Chaos

Published Thursday, February 2, 2017

home buying, home building, real estate, selling, fishers, indianapolis, buyingYou’ve come to the decision that it is time to buy a home. Where do you start? Most people download the most current apps and start browsing and saving their favorite homes. A couple of days go by or maybe even a couple of weeks and they find out you favorites are either already pending or weren’t even really for sale in the first place. Real Estate markets throughout the country, not just in our local market, are seeing very low inventory, coupled with low days on the market. This has buyers scrambling to find the homes that hit the market immediately so they can make an offer right away. After many years of working with buyers I’ve seen buyers unknowingly waste a lot of time and get very frustrated with some of their searches. So I’m going to give some tips on how to create a Great Home!

1. Pick your home search tool wisely. There will be many options for you on the internet to pick from, but they are not all created equal. So what does this mean for you? For example I have a listing that goes on the market, but some of the national websites, might not post my listing for 12 hours, 24, hours and even longer. My listing has four showings in the first few hours and then an offer and under contract before you would even see it. How disappointing if you were only relying on those national sites. You never even had an opportunity.

So where do you go to look for homes? Go to your local real estate agents website and create a search there. My website, www.kammeyerrealtygroup.com, updates every 15 to 20 minutes. Listings will be there within 15 minutes from going on the MLS.

2. Don’t be too selective with the criteria. With the market inventory low, know what your needs are, but you may have to readjust or open up your search more, depending on what you are experiencing in your market.

3. Keep in mind that agents share all of our listings with each other. We pull data from the same source so the likelihood of you finding that one listing that no one knows about is really slim to none. So there is no need to jump from site to site. Whatever site you like you can stick with it.

4. In today’s world a lot of sites are listing homes that are active/contingency or active/backup, or pending, or listings that aren’t available and this is very confusing for buyers. So whatever site you are using make sure you understand the subtitles.

5. Once you have the site you like and are comfortable with, then set up an email alert. At first you will see old inventory, but after that you will be alerted to anything that is new to the market or any price reductions.

My final thoughts…just know the local market conditions. If you’re in a seller’s market, then you need to be diligent about watching your emails and not waiting to see the homes. One or two days and the home you want could be gone. During a buyers market, one or two days could be just fine.

Having a little understand and knowledge goes a long way and knowing there is such a lag time with some of the national home search sites, will help with finding your next home.

If you want to learn more about the home buying process, contact me at [email protected] or call me at 317-698-7109!