Posted on January 9th, 2010 by Richard. Categories: Downtown, Public Buildings & Sites
This view through American Legion Mall provides a timely perspective on both the current weather conditions and the Indianapolis skyline. The white streaks that are visible, especially on dark backgrounds, are snowflakes as caught by the camera lens as they float to the ground. I was close by so I stopped to see this scene on purpose. I’m drawn to the contrast that time provides… the ‘then and now effect’ if you will. Interesting to me. This view is taken from about the same spot as the photo from the very first post in IHB last May. So there’s some sentimental value for me too.
Posted on January 8th, 2010 by Richard. Categories: Just for Fun, Public Buildings & Sites
Was absolutely astounded today to see mounted to the facade of the Central Library what appears to be a huge rubber inner-tube from something the size of a giant earth mover. It’s been a little while, but it wasn’t there the last time I looked. I try to stay open minded about public art, but for the life of me, I don’t get it.
I take no credit either for the title of this post. A woman who was passing by as I was taking the photo came up with the idea (and unknowingly, the title of the post) as we laughed about possible symbolisms that the object could imply.
Posted on January 7th, 2010 by Richard. Categories: Market Conditions, Real Estate Perspective
Here’s a graphic representation of recent market activity in the central Indiana, nine-county, Indianapolis Metro area as complied by the F. C. Tucker Company using figures from all member companies of our local real estate board MIBOR. It shows the number of homes on the market vs. homes sold over the last thirteen months. An absorption rate is one way to quantify how strong the market is and also tends to show if it is a Sellers or a Buyers market. Another name for an absorption rate is called a monthly supply of homes. It is calculated by taking the total number of homes for sale in any given month, and dividing by the number of homes that were sold. For instance, in November ‘08, there was a 11.64 month supply. A year later in November ‘09, there was a 10.94 month supply which shows improvement compared to activity in that same month a year earlier. November supply ratios are usually higher than warm weather months in Indiana as sales slow down that time of year. In contrast in June ‘09, the monthly supply was 6.73 which shows a lot more active market. Analysts typically agree that a Sellers Market is considered to be when the supply of homes for sale in a given price range is less than a 4-month supply. A Neutral Market is considered to be when there is a 4 to 7-month supply. A Buyers Market is considered to be when there is a 7-month supply or greater. The numbers used here are taken from all price ranges of homes and would be different for certain specific price ranges. Or you can further define and change it by using only homes in a certain area. Generally, homes in upper price ranges have had a much lower absorption rate recently than those priced in lower price ranges. Some analysts think that sales in higher price ranges should start to improve the first half of this year.
Posted on January 4th, 2010 by Richard. Categories: Just for Fun, Nature
Bet it was not too difficult to get a tee time today? No waiting. I took a quick spin into Sahm Park as I was headed for an appointment. I didn’t expect to find anyone around. Just wanted to take in the scenery. This Green looked kind of frosty. Wondering if that would make it fast…or slow? Yeah, the weather has been kind of cool lately. Yesterdays low was zero and today’s wasn’t that much warmer. But hey…it’s January…it’s supposed to be cold. It’s been humorous to read articles in the newspapers and listen to the weather reporters on TV come up with all of the worst words they can think of to describe it. They don’t have any words left if it actually gets really cold…or more snow, which could happen. It’s really not THAT bad out there. Coats, hats and gloves seem to work well for this. And they love to talk about the windchill temp…mainly because it sounds worse than the real temperature. I think the goal is to get us all afraid to go outside…or maybe just afraid in general. No…sorry. If you have lived in Indiana long, you know that this is normal stuff, and just go about your business.
Funny but on days like these you don’t hear many people talking about global warming.
Posted on January 3rd, 2010 by Richard. Categories: Market Conditions, Real Estate Perspective
Having a new year has some great benefits. The best one might be that you can leave last year’s baggage behind and start off with a clean slate. A lot of people would probably like to do that with last year. It’s going to be interesting to see how 2010 unfolds. Each one seems to have a distinct personality. It feels like there is even more of a change because it’s a new decade as well. No more single digits finally. I’m feeling very positive about the possibilities that 2010 has in store for all of us.
The holidays have come and gone and for just about everyone, the work week, month and year is off and running beginning tomorrow…me included. Since my focus is on residential real estate I wanted to see where the market is at the start of 2010. I took a look at the statistics from our local real estate board MIBOR using my Realtor search tools. As of this date a search of all residential properties says that there are 13,554 active residential listings for sale right now in the nine county greater metropolitan Indianapolis area. The average listed price of these properties is $208, 189. To me that average list price number sounded kind of high vs. what I thought the average sale price has been running. So I searched for year 2009 and it says that the average sale price actually was $120,811 last year for this same area. Average sale price is always lower than average list price…but that’s a huge difference from the average listed price of properties for sale now. I have a feeling the average sale price will rise this year with the sale prices of some more expensive homes being figured into the average…and fewer inexpensive homes selling than in 2009. Last year, there were an unusual amount of financially distressed properties sold that brought the average sale price down. Just about everyone I’ve talked to says that the economy feels much stronger to them than it did a year ago at this time. Some real estate professionals are predicting that median priced home sales will be better than last year, and upper price range home sales, which were especially slow, should heat up. So it will be interesting to see how things play out. Looking forward to it.
