Posted on June 8th, 2009 by Richard. Categories: Real Estate Perspective
There’s an expression in the real estate industry called ”being upside down”. That’s when someone owes more on their property than the property can be sold for. When a property like that is sold, you’ll see that sometimes referred to as a Short Sale. Brokers will advertise that their listing is a “Possible Short Sale”. The word “possible” is the one thats thorny. The owners are just hoping that their lender will accept less than they owe on it and negotiate with them if someone else wants to by their home. Sometimes that does happen, but typically the lender does not release them from the obligation and still wants the owners to pay back any shortfall after the closing. So they are not off the hook if it sells. Those kinds of transactions are very difficult in that they usually take forever to get an answer from the lender, if at all. Sometimes lenders just ignore any requests. So if you are a Buyer, you should be in a position where you don’t have a deadline to move. If the deal can be worked out…great. If not, then it won’t be the end of the world.
A Short Sale is far different from a bank owned property or REO, which is one that has already gone through foreclosure. With a Short Sale the owners still own the property, not the lender. Personally, I would rather work on a transaction that is bank owned. The bank or lender is actually motivated to sell because they own the home and will get their investment back. It’s more certain that there will actually be a closing and my Buyer clients will own and be able to move into the home they wanted.
Posted on June 7th, 2009 by Richard. Categories: Downtown, Public Buildings & Sites, Video Flash
I figure if the fountain is located in University Park then it must be a “fountain of knowledge”? OK…well, maybe that’s a stretch for literary purposes. But then again…I sat within eyesight of this fountain recently on a park bench for only about 10 minutes…and learned some things.
While I was there, I talked with a boy of about 12 who was waiting for his mother. He explained that his Mom was kind of late and was at a job interview someplace for a second time. She had been out of work for a while. He was curious about me taking photos…so I told him what I was doing…showed him my camera. And I talked briefly with a older man with dreadlocks and an old coat and trousers who wanted to know what time it was…and then told me a story of how he was looking for a place to live and couldn’t find one. That one really made me think. A minute or two later, a well dressed man, young executive type, talking on a cell phone walked through and then stopped, close enough that I could hear one side of his phone conversation. He was trying to put a deal together that sounded like it was going south in a hurry. “I’ve been there before” I thought. And all the while the pigeons were bobbing, strutting, hunting and competing for any stray crumbs and morsels that someone may have left behind.
It just struck me that everyone is trying to live and take care of the basics, one way or another. Me, you, everyone… even pigeons. Not that I didn’t know that already. But the park was showing me short glimpses of others doing the same dance. Maybe the dance steps were a little different with each one but the dance was the same. The fountain of knowledge?…well…on this day it was for me anyway.
Here’s a small taste of the action at the
fountain at University Park downtown.
(Video-YouTube)
Posted on June 6th, 2009 by Richard. Categories: Just for Fun, Sports & Recreation
An interesting experience at the Indianapolis Air Show at the Mt. Comfort airport today. If it was something that could be be flown, it was represented there. Tiny to humongous… sleek profile to wide-body… one prop to twin jets… Blackhawks to Huey’s. You name it… they had it.
I’ve seen some daredevil stunts over the years, but some of these pilots, in the small planes especially are certifiably crazy. Going into barrel rolls…and then flying upside down the length of the runway 20 ft off the ground at 150 mph? Or what got me even more was when they forced the plane into a stall while climbing staight up…which caused it to stop…and go into a free fall backwards…twisting, turning, tumbling, until finally gaining enough speed to get the plane to be a plane again instead of a rock and start flying again.
Ahh…the smell of jet fuel billowing off the tarmac mixed with the smoke wafting from the barbecue pit of the grilled turkey drumstick stand. What a combination for the senses. Plus another agent called me while I was there to tell me they were sending me an offer on a home I have listed. What a great way to spend an afternoon.
Posted on June 5th, 2009 by Richard. Categories: Nature
Thought it was a good time to post this photo while it’s still spring officially. There’s only a couple more weeks until the summer solstice. This is one of the last Dogwood trees I have seen that are still blossoming now. Most have come and gone along with the other indigenous flowering trees here. Seeing the Dogwoods blossoming is one of the things I look forward to in the springtime after winters grip is gone.
I was surprised to see it still in full array and wondered if it might be because it’s located in a shady, cool area in the woods which may have delayed and slowed the flowering process. Whatever the reason, I’m glad something left it there for me to discover.
Posted on June 4th, 2009 by Richard. Categories: For Home Sellers, Real Estate Perspective
When considering value and salability, Sellers sometimes look at only their side of the issue. They just think about the amount of money they want or need to net from the sale, and they think about what is great about the home that they think others should like. Those are probably worth considering in there someplace, but the real issue is not what they like about the home or what they need to get from the sale, it’s what a buyer will like about the home that ultimately decides whether their home will sell or not and how much it will bring.
Buyers have a real advantage in that they can go anywhere to look, compare and purchase a home. A Seller cannot change their location or the basic design of the home at all. So all they really have to work with is condition and price…and marketing, which is where I come in.
I can show comparable sales on paper all day long, but sometimes Sellers still don’t get it. The best thing to do is for me to put them in the car and go and visit some other homes on the market that fit the same profile as theirs, as if they were a Buyer. And then make the last stop their own home. Hopefully some perspective is achieved about what they need to do to get their home ready for the market and pricing. Pricing must be competitive if they want to sell.
Posted on June 3rd, 2009 by Richard. Categories: Historic Homes / Buildings
528 Lockerbie Street is a famous address in Indy. Home to local poet James Whitcomb Riley at one time. It doesn’t take much imagination to hear the carriage wheels of the past with clonking horses hoofs on the cobblestone street in front…which is still there today. The house still looks probably very close to what it did in 1872 when it was built although Indianapolis has moved on. Still the Lockerbie neighborhood around this house is remarkably preserved.
If you like traditional architecture, Lockerbie is certainly the place for you. Go for a walk or drive slowly down any of the streets or alleys, there is one astounding home after another. Some were magnificent in their day, but some were just simple homes for average folks when originally built. But what was considered simple detail then, is now classic architecture and has taken on an elegance and grandeur provided by the passing of many years.
Posted on June 2nd, 2009 by Richard. Categories: For Home Sellers
Often people ask me, “What’s my home worth?” But it’s almost impossible for me to say exactly what someones home would bring, especially without thinking about it for a while. I am comfortable however providing a probable range of values that their home would sell for. I do this partly by researching the prices of homes that sold recently that are very similar and located in the same neighborhood ideally, or as close by as possible in another similar area. Real estate is just like people in that you are judged by the company you keep. Averaging prices of similar homes that have sold recently nearby gives a foundation of value. This is what appraisers use when determining value for a lender’s appraisal.
But if you really want to determine pricing when putting a home on the market, you also have to figure in current market conditions and how prices have been trending…up or down. And you also have to look at other homes on the market now which would be your competition, and how they are priced. Buyers will be directly comparing your home to them. A house must be priced competitively if you want to sell it. All three of those methods weigh into the process.
But also, there is a gut feeling that I have for what a home is worth after years of looking at homes on the market and showing homes recently. I add that into the mix too…and I come up with a probable range of values. So, to me it’s not really an exact science at all…it’s an intuitive process. You want to price it to realize as much as possible from the sale, but you don’t want to price it so high that it won’t sell. Finally, you make a educated guess as to pricing…and you leave it up to the market to decide. In the end a home is worth what a buyer is willing to offer and a seller is willing to accept.
