Team Endicott - RE/MAX Ability Plus

With Spring’s arrival comes mulch time!  Since you don’t want your mulch washing away, or getting into grassy areas, taking a few steps to prepare for your new mulch can keep it looking good all season.  
•    Edge Your Mulch Beds – simply dig (with a straight tip shovel) a 4” trench around the edge of your mulch beds.  This will keep the mulch in its place and out of the grass.  In areas with stone or other edging, just make sure the edging is equal to, or higher than, the top of your mulch.
•    Drainage – in any areas where downspouts protrude, run a drain tile (tube) from the downspout through the mulch bed, to just outside the mulch border.  Digging a 2-3” trench for the drain will keep it from sticking out above the mulch once it is spread.
•    Low-lying areas – I learned this one from experience!  When putting mulch beds in low spots, run a perforated drain tile from one edge of the bed to the opposite side.  Put caps on each end of the drain tile to prevent clogs.  This will allow rainwater to pass through the mulch bed without water puddling in your yard!
•    Weed control – pulling weeds is not the most fun way to spend summer.  Put down weed barrier (available in rolls) on bare dirt before you mulch.  This will eliminate over 90% of your weed problems for several years (ours has lasted 5 years so far). Then, once the mulch is spread, liberally sprinkle Preen or another brand of weed control product on top of the mulch.
One last tip: Apply the mulch 2-3 inches deep.  If it’s deep enough, then you can simply turn it over in year 2 to make it look new again.  Happy Mulching!

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Using its knowledge, experience, resources and integrity Team Endicott’s mission is to sell homes for the highest market price in the shortest amount of time with the best terms.  Team Endicott services the Fishers, Carmel, Westfield, Noblesville, Zionsville, Broad Ripple, and the northern Indianapolis real estate markets.

Buying a house, for the vast majority of people, is an emotional decision.  But once you’ve found the home you want to live in, how do you know it will be a good choice?  There are some ways to pre-qualify that possible dream home.  While we always recommend you have a qualified home inspector thoroughly review your prospective home, here are some things you can check yourself:

Foundations and roofs are critical & expensive items.  As you approach the house, look at the shingles and foundation.  If the shingles look worn, or if the corners are curling up, that roof is likely ready to be replaced.  Walk around the house, looking for cracks & unevenness in the foundation.  After entering, check for evidence of water (stains, bubbled paint) on the ceiling and around windows.  Also, look for sizable cracks running diagonally or horizontally along walls – these can indicate serious foundation problems.  Look for bowed, slanted or cracked basement walls; also indicators of big repairs.

Check for soft flooring around toilets, water heaters and sinks.  Anything with water can leak.  You want to be sure that no past or present leaks have softened the floors under them.

Of course, these are just a few things you can visibly check.  But if these look good, you are probably looking at a pretty sound home; one that you can feel comfortable about when you write an offer.  After that, a qualified inspector can tell you more about the home’s condition, giving you the peace of mind to move ahead with your important purchase.

Happy Home Hunting!  And remember, Team Endicott is prepared and looking forward to helping you find that next home that you want and deserve.

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Using its knowledge, experience, resources and integrity Team Endicott’s mission is to help home buyers buy their home for the best price with the best terms.  Team Endicott services the Fishers, Carmel, Westfield, Noblesville, Zionsville, Broad Ripple, and the northern Indianapolis real estate markets.

Home sales are off to a very strong start this year!  The number of homes sold and the number of pending home sales are both up, 13-17% throughout Central Indiana.  And Indianapolis is showing a particularly strong start to the new year!

Sales prices are rising, although sluggishly, but homes are selling much better than at the same time last year.  And, with mortgage rates at historic lows (some even below 4% over 30 years), buyers can afford to buy more house.

What does this mean?  This is one of those times in real estate where it is a very good time to buy and, from recent sales figures, a good time to sell, too!

For more information on Indianapolis sales results, check out this link: http://www.indystar.com/article/20120220/BUSINESS/120220033/-1/7daysarchives/Indy-area-existing-home-sales-pick-up-January

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Using its knowledge, experience, resources and integrity Team Endicott’s mission is to help our clients buy and sell homes for the best market price in the shortest amount of time with the best terms.  Team Endicott services the Fishers, Carmel, Westfield, Noblesville, Zionsville, Broad Ripple, and the northern Indianapolis real estate markets.

Last week we covered 2 challenges to selling your home yourself.  This week, we’ll look at 3 more:

Buyers Want to Save the Commission – Just as “sell it yourself-ers” are trying to save commission money, so are many of the buyers who look at “FSBO” homes!  Those buyers want to offer less for a home, so they can share in the savings.  They will often want to take 6% off your price, regardless of whether you’ve priced the home well.

Buyer Qualifications – There is no point in taking the time and effort to clean your home, clear your schedule and show your home to people who are not qualified to buy your home.  Most Realtors (all of Team Endicott’s agents) make sure that buyers are pre-approved before taking them to see homes on the market.  If you are selling by owner, be sure to ask prospective lookers for a pre-approval letter from their mortgage lender.

Making Your Home Available – This is an often overlooked, even seemingly small detail in selling your home: scheduling showings at a buyer’s convenience.  You will need to coordinate your schedule to meet a prospective buyer’s availability.  This can be inconvenient or, when buyer and seller work conflicting shifts, nearly impossible.  A full-time Realtor eliminates that problem since they are available to show your home most any time.

So, there you have it – a handful of the most common hurdles to selling your home yourself.  If you can sell your home on your own, you have my congratulations!  Then again, if it gets to be too much, call a qualified Realtor.  I'd be happy to offer helpful advice as you sell yourself - simply email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  It would also be my pleasure to speak with you about listing your home when the time is right for you. Best wishes!

The Challenges to “For Sale by Owner”                                                        

One thing that makes the world go around is the desire to save money. Everyone likes to save a few bucks. In Real Estate saving a commission translates into big dollars. While commission rates are negotiable in central Indiana, someone selling their home will more than likely be paying a Real Estate commission between 6%-7% on the sale price of the property.  I’ll  let you do the math.

Nationally, over 80% of homes for sale by their owners end up being listed and sold by a Realtor.  There are several reasons & we’ll cover some of those in this and in next week’s blog:

Pricing for the Market -This is the most critical element when selling any product but especially so when you are talking about something as large as a home sale. Over 75% of a home’s marketing is about setting the proper price, no matter who lists them.  Do your homework.  Research recent sales of homes comparable to yours in your area, looking most closely at sales in the past few months.

It’s worth mentioning that many home improvements don’t bring a good return at selling time. For instance, that new septic system, roof or swimming pool won’t necessarily bring a higher price for your home.  They may make it easier to sell (excluding the pool) but not for the amount it cost you up front.

Market Exposure - Some for sale by owners do nothing more than throw an old beat up for sale by owner sign in the front lawn and expect that will do the trick. Then there are others that think that going in one of  the “For Sale by Owner” sites, like I sold my house.com, for sale by owner.com or buy owner.com is going to the for sale by owner sites bring lots of traffic.   Wrong.

While most people are now using internet searches to begin looking for a home, the vast majority of buyers still call Realtors, realizing that an agent can help them purchase most any home that is for sale.  Savvy Realtors, like Team Endicott, invest substantial dollars to ensure their listings rise to the top of search engines,  resulting in more internet hits and home showings.

If you are selling your home yourself, consider creating a website for your home, using search words and terms to guide internet surfers to your site.

We will cover some more issues facing “sell it yourselfers” in next week’s blog.  Have a great week!

Making an offer on your dream house, or wanting to save money on your Homeowner’s Insurance? With so many options available, it’s easy to overlook one thing or another.  Here are some tips about purchasing homeowner insurance to help you save your time and money.

• Shop around. Compare rates from several companies, using all of the same figures for deductible, policy limits, liability, etc.  Check online insurance quotes , comparing them against companies you contact by phone.
• Bundle all of your coverages with the same insurer. Many companies that sell homeowners, car and health insurance coverage will take up to 10 percent off your premium if you buy two or more policies from them.
• Increase your homeowner’s insurance deductible. The insurance deductible is the dollar amount of losses that you pay before the insurance company starts paying. It’s recommended that you should have a deductible of at least $250 – $500. It’s a good strategy to raise your deductible to $1,000 (if you can afford it), and your home insurance will cost you 25% less.
• Buy and install home security systems. You can usually get discounts of at least 5% on your home insurance by installing a smoke detector, burglar alarm or dead-bolt locks.
• Upgrade your home. Reinforce your roof, add storm shutters, and modernize plumbing and heating systems to lower your insurance rates.

If you have a mortgage on your home, or will have one on the home you purchase (as most of us do!), your mortgage company will require that your homeowner’s insurance be paid a year in advance at all times.  You can have the cost include in your monthly house payments, once your original policy is purchased.  When changing insurance companies, you’ll need to pay for the new policy up front.  The balance paid for the time remaining on your old policy should then be refunded by the insurance company within 30 days of giving your new policy to the mortgage company.  There may even be money refunded to you from your escrow, depending on coverage & payment dates for your old policy.

Third Quarter Housing Numbers

It's a great time to buy or sell a home in Fishers, Carmel, Westfield & Noblesville, Indiana!!

Housing sales figures for the 3rd quarter of 2011 have been released and it’s good news for Hamilton County!  Sales for July-September this year have increased 27.7 percent over the same period in 2010.  September only sales, the best month of the three, were up 27.6 percent from last year.  Inventory of homes on the market was also down by 3.5% from last year. 

This is good news showing that, even though prices have not risen, the market is stabilizing.  It also is an indication that foreclosures are down.

You can see the full report online HERE.

What if You Need to Sell, But Owe Too Much?

With recent economic & real estate trends, more people are finding themselves needing to sell their home, but finding they will owe money when they do sell.  What happens then?  There is an answer & it’s called a Short Sale.  This will have a negative effect on your credit, but does give you a way out of debt if you have to sell.

Short Sales require up-front paperwork & documentation for your mortgage company, which will then assign a mediator to your case.  This process can, but doesn’t need to, become cumbersome. 

We have partnered with a title company, using a system to work through the short sale process for you.  Using this process, which was begun and stream-lined in the difficult, Detroit housing market, we can shorten and greatly simplify the entire process.  Again, short sales are for must-sell situations, but when it’s needed and you don’t have equity, short sales can be the answer.   Contact us for more information that could help you!

When Negotiations Get Emotional

For most people, buying/selling a house is one of the largest transactions they’ll ever make.  Understandably, that leads to heightened emotions when talks take unexpected turns.  But the deal can likely be saved and stress can be relieved with a little effort.  Here are a few tips:

Price – We live in an ever-changing real estate market.  Sales are slowly trending upward, yet prices are mixed.  Buyers want big discounts and sellers want close to asking price.  Talks can get emotional.  Before you get deeply involved emotionally, it’s important to understand your motivation.  What are the most important reasons for your move?  How will this move help improve your life?  If the move fulfills those reasons, compromising a bit on price could be well worth it for you. 

For buyers, there could well be value in raising your offer a bit to get the home and the lifestyle you seek.  For sellers, remember that this market could well allow you buy your next home at enough of a bargain to offset concessions to sell your current home.  These concessions are not always necessary, but when they are, it’s important to see the benefits you could realize.

Be Flexible – Buyer and seller have reached their stopping points.  Buyer can’t go higher, seller can’t come down.  Now it’s time to be creative.  It is again time to revisit your motives & see where you can find value.  Could you move the possession date?  Closing date?  Tax payments?  Maybe sweetening the deal with other possessions will get it done.  There are many bargaining chips: appliances, hot tubs, mowers, tools, furniture.  They can’t be put in the purchase agreement, but they can be negotiated.  Thoughtful flexibility could be all it takes to break the logjam.

Be Mindful – Taking on new debt in this economy can be frightening.  Still, no matter what the economy, you need a place to live; you need specific features in that home to support your lifestyle.  Negotiate to meet your needs in the current market.

Accepting less money than expected for your home can be very unappetizing.  Revisit your goals.  Assess the value of those goals.  Understand that your next home is being sold in the same market conditions as your home, giving you a level playing field. 

No matter your circumstance, there are often options and answers in negotiations that can get you where you want to be.  When emotions run high, just step back.  Take a deep breath and consider the possibilities.  You don’t have to give up your principles.  But there can be great benefits in changing your approach.  It’s your move!

The statewide housing market has made steady progress this summer.  Pending home sales have increased year-over-year for 4 consecutive months, with prices holding their ground.  Stabilizing prices and the lowest interest rates in decades are the two biggest reasons for this good news.

Whether this progress turns into growth depends on factors outside of the real estate industry’s control.  Number One on that list is Jobs – we need enough of an increase to absorb Indiana’s high number of un- and under-employed workers.  Jobs will also help with the other 2 items on the list – available financing for qualified buyers & a reduction in foreclosure inventorty.

Despite the fact that we’ve been through an historic recession, that we cannot yet account for the impact of the federal home buyer tax credit & that we’re waiting for prolonged job growth; if you widen the lens, housing has been an overall stable investment for Hoosiers.  We have every reason to believe that this stability will continue!