Terri Mcgavock

Selling a home in todays market requires three things.
1. The home be in excellent condition.
2. The home be priced properly when it goes on the market.
3. A hardworking agent with a proven marketing plan to expose your home to the market effectively. - Sun May 18 2008, 09:30

Hi Blaze,
As with any new home purchase you always need to be informed of the neighborhood values.
You want to make sure you are not purchasing in the top of the neighborhood. Ideally you would want
your home to be one of the lower valued homes in the neighborhood. This way your homes value would be increased just by being surrounded by homes of greater value. This is called progression. This theory is true in new construction no matter when you purchase. And in todays marketplace it is now more important than ever with the lack of appreciation. - Wed May 7 2008, 04:07

Well lucky for you your move to the Indianapolis area will not be as big of a gamble as your move to Las Vegas. The Indianapolis area as a whole has seen activity pick up in the last 30 days. For the past 2 years Indiana and Ohio were always jocking back and forth for the #1 position of foreclosure. This year Indiana has dropped to #10. Normally dropping from #1 to #10 is not a positive thing, but for this statistic, it is a welcome change. Builders on the other hand still have lots of new home inventory on the market that remain unsold. For the builders this downturn has been devastating. Sundays paper reported that Davis Homes (one of Indiana's longstanding production builders) is having foreclosure proceedings filed against them. This is just one of the many Indy Builders that are in financial trouble. Now for the positive effect of all this. If you are a buyer wanting to buyer a new home, you can pick up numerous builders inventory homes for cost or below cost. Many of the big production builders also have their own financing available so they are able to offer below market rates, assistance with closing costs etc. so long as you use their finance/mortgage company. So not to worry it is still a buyers market when it comes to new construction in Indy. - Tue May 6 2008, 19:57

I am assuming that you are asking what in terms of price changes does the average seller reduce their price in the Indianapolis area. If that is your question per the MLS the avg. LP to SP ratio is 96.7%.
That would reflect a an average 3.3% price reduction. But please understand this is based upon the current list price and that list price could have already been reduced prior from initial list price. - Thu May 1 2008, 11:53

Today Indiana Housing just dropped its rate to 5.25%. Indiana Housing is a FHA loan.
That is a great rate. It is fixed for the life of the loan. To qualify you cannot have owned a home in the past three years. Now since it is an FHA loan they will require upfront MIP (Mortgage Insurance Premium).
This is equal to 2.75% of the mortgage amount. This amount can be financed into your mortgage. They will also require monthly MIP equal to 1/2% per year of the mortgage amount for the life of the loan. These are the drawbacks of FHA loans.
If you go Conventional you will be required to put 20% down or you will have to pay (PMI) Private Mortgage Insurance until you have acquired a 20% equity position. In other words until your home has appreciated enough to where you have a 20% equity position. Once you have 20% equity you can request the lender drop the monthly PMI. This is what is nice about a conventional loan. PMI is only for short term vs MIP for life of loan on FHA. You will also want to check out the difference in the rates for Indiana Housing vs Conventional right now. The difference might be as much as a percent. So do your due diligence.
If you want help along the way don't hesitate to call. Call Terri McGavock 317-440-9830 - Wed Feb 6 2008, 11:37