Fear and Money in Indianapolis

A few weeks ago I decided it was time for a new vehicle. My previous experiences with auto loans is that they were relatively easy, generally taking 5 minutes to apply and another 5 minutes to complete the paperwork. On my way to the dealership I found myself nervous about applying for the loan this time. In fact I was so convinced I wouldn't qualify that I almost didn't go to the dealer at all.

I eventually went to the dealer anyway, found the vehicle of my choice and apprehensively made the loan application. The loan approval was granted in less than 5 minutes again and at great interest rate! Better yet, I negotiated a fantastic price for my new vehicle.

Fear nearly prevented me from buying my new vehicle. As I contemplated the source of this fear I realized it was media driven. As a professional I work diligently to separate media hype from facts and yet there it was...I've heard so much about the collapsing banking industry that I was worried I would no longer qualify.

How does this story relate to real estate? In telling this story to a few other agents and industry professionals at a networking event I heard the same response over and over. Many potential home buyers were avoiding the loan application process out of the same fear. In an attempt to dispel the fear, here are the facts about real estate and home loans right now:

• There are Mortgages Available with Great Terms for Most Buyers
• Interest Rates are VERY Low
• There are Unbelievable Deals Available on Homes
• This is a Fantastic Time to Buy a Home

If you're considering buying a home in the Indianapolis area, The Matt Borushko Team can help by answering any questions you have about our housing market, and can provide referrals to reputable loan officers. If you're ready to start searching for your dream home, we can also provide a daily email list of homes as they hit the market for free at http://www.newestindylistings.com/

See also: http://www.mattsellsindy.com/ for buyer resources to help you prepare for your next home purchase

Tips for Buying a Home From a Builder

Indianapolis area real estate agent Matt Borushko provides these tips for buying a home with a builder:

Building a home can be a great experience...or a nightmare. As a local real estate agent I often see the long term effects of decisions made by people choosing to build a home. My past also includes 10 years as a new home sales consultant with both local and national builders. With this experience many of my clients build new homes with great success. With that in mind here are a few tips to help you should you decide to build:

Have Representation: Hire an agent to represent you during the building process who has experience with builders. I know what you're thinking, of course I'll say that as an agent. However with 10 years experience I can tell you that the majority of poor decisions were made by people without representation. The easiest way to say it is that you don't know what you don't know. Also a good agent can help you save money through better choices and stronger negotiation positions.

Don't Overbuild: Do your research and be careful not to build a home that you can't resell. Before you build, make sure you know what style of homes, what upgrades, and what price ranges are typical in the area you've chosen. When you know this information make sure the home you're building fits in to this niche. Again your local real estate expert can do the legwork for you.

Prioritze your Choices: When it is time to decide what to put into your house, prioritze your list of selections. Make sure you select the items that cannot be done at a latter time first. For example a garden or deluxe bath often changes the basic structure of the floorplan and cannot be done later, so this selection becomes much more important than flooring that can be done at a later date. Also make sure you can live with your last minute cuts...I've seen too many people cut out the "full basement upgrade" at the very last minute only to regret it later. That extra square feet is often the storage you need when your family grows or the place for that full bathroom and wouldn't cost much up front.

Choose Location Wisely: Location, location, location. Where you build your home matters. The area of town, the neighborhood, the homesite you choose all make a huge difference. The right homesite will allow you to enjoy your home, and will also benefit you by allowing you to sell your home for more money later. Pay particular attention to the school districts in your area. Better school systems almost always correlate to better resale.

Financing: Get approved before you go to a builder. The approval will definitely help your negotiating position as well as help you know and understand your options. Builders will often pay your closing costs if you choose their lender but the rates are often much higher. Plus you may be giving up some of your much needed seperation.

Have Proper Expectations: No home is perfect. If you choose to build you need to understand that mistakes will be made and there will be some material defects. Good builders understand this and have systems in place to address and correct these issues as they arise. Everything in a home can be fixed if addressed in a timely fashion. We would be happy to recomend you to a great builder with these systems in place.

Buying from a builder and building a home can be a great experience. Hiring an experienced agent can provide you with needed representation, helps make the building process more smooth and predictable, and can save you money in both the short and long term. If you're considering building a home in the Indianapolis area, contact us and put our experience to work for you!

Indianapolis Area Home Sellers: Compete with Short Sales and Foreclosures!

Selling a home in any market can be a trying experience. Today you are competing with many possible short sales and foreclosures who can list and sell their homes for a lower price than you can afford. The good news to sellers is that there are things you can do to compete with and beat this competition! Here are a few things you can do as sellers to compete with short sales and foreclosures:

Make Sure Your Home is in Top Condition: Most short sales and foreclosures are in less than stellar condition. They tend to be dirty, need minor or major structural work, need cosmetic updating, etc. This work takes both time and cash, both of which are in short supply today. Make sure your home is clean, and that you've addressed possible cosmetic and structural issues. Your local real estate expert can help you identify which issues to address and provide top notch subcontractor names to help get the work done! Homes in pristine condition are getting top dollar and selling quickly even in todays market!

Stage your home to Sell: After you have made the committment to sell your home, now you need to get it ready for a buyer...it is no longer your home. Help potential buyers feel welcome by removing personal items, any religous references, and removing any and all unneccesary items from your home. Buyers won't feel they are invading "your" space, the rooms will feel larger, and buyers will naturally spend more time in the home. If when you are done staging your home it no longer feels like "your" home you are on the right track. Becki Borushko of the Borushko Team is a certified home stager, one of the many services we provide for our sellers in Indianapolis

Be Responsive to Offers: Short sales can take a long time to complete. Often the banks will take 90-120 days or longer to even respond to an offer. While there are laws being written to change this practice, they aren't in effect yet. You can easily compete with short sales simply by being responsive to offers as they come in. Also be very flexible with closing and possesion dates. Most buyers don't have the luxury of waiting for a response or waiting a long period of time to move in so be flexible!

Provide Financial Flexibility: Providing legal financing incentives can often be more valuable to a buyer than bottom line price and can certainly put you at a negotiating advantage over short sales and foreclosures. Consider offering to pay a buyers closing costs and more buyers will be able to purchase your home. Also note that most short sales and foreclosure are sold as-is (read buyer beware!) so being more flexible in your willingness to pay for items found on an inspection can make a huge difference to your potential buyers.

See also:
Foreclosures, Short Sales, and their effect on Home Values

The Indianapolis Area Food Banks Need Your Help!

I ran across this article a few minutes ago and felt it was worth passing along. I know this is a trying time for many...please help if you can.

Helping the hungry
Midwest Food Bank says donations,volunteers low
Last Edited: Tuesday, 02 Dec 2008, 6:39 AM ESTCreated On: Tuesday, 02 Dec 2008, 6:08 AM EST
Phil Sanchez
Edited by Heather Chastain
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The slipping economy is taking a toll on various industries and businesses, including local food banks. Most are reporting big drop offs in donations lately.
Managers at the Midwest Food Bank say the drop off in donations couldn't have come at a worse time, a time when demand is great but resources are low.
The Midwest Food Bank is not by any means the typical food bank. Instead of serving people individually they supply different agencies, hundreds of other food banks with needs greater than ever before.
"There's a great increase of need in the community and the need has changed. It used to be the homeless and now it's your neighbor and so the face of the hungry has really changed in America and especially in central Indiana," said John Whitaker, Midwest Food Bank.
He says not only have donations been down, but so have the number of volunteers.
"Many months we'll have more food but not enough volunteers," said Whitaker.
However, he said things are starting to pick up especially since Mayor Ballard last month announced a food bank initiative to help.
"We've had about 6 or 7 organizations that have stepped up not just with food donations, but also with volunteering," said Whitaker.
However, the effort is still nowhere near enough. In the back of the pantry is a room designed to help those effected by disasters. These days the room gets used more and more.
"What we have now in America is people have lost their jobs or have been downsized and they have personal disasters now," said Whitaker.
Click one of the following links for more information on either the Mayor's initiative or how you can help The Midwest Food Bank .

National Housing Trends November 2008

The Matt Borushko Real Estate Team would like to share with you a video with some interesting views on the outlook of the national real estate market.

In this video, Dave Jenks and Jay Papasan or Keller Williams Realty discuss real estate trends, market statistics, and the impact of the economy on home buying and selling. This video looks at how the real estate market is creating more affordability and heading toward a balanced market.

The National Housing Market November 2008

To learn about local market trends and house prices in the Indianapolis area, please contact the Borushko Team via email matt@mattsellsindy.com

Short Sales, Foreclosures, and Their Affect on Home Values

Short Sales and foreclosures are a part of our current real estate market. As a potential buyer or seller, it is vital to understand what they are and their impact on real estate in your area.

Short sales: Short sales are transactions in which a seller sells a home for less than owed on the property. Short sales are not bank owned properties, however a bank has to approve the sale prior to closing for a short sale to occur. Sellers may have to attempt to sell a home "short" for many reasons such as declining home values, poor lending practices, or unforeseen circumstances.
Foreclosures (or REO's): Foreclosures are bank owned properties. A foreclosure takes place after a home is surrendered to a financial institution after a long and lengthy legal process. Once this occurs the home than becomes a REO (Real Estate Owned) and is generally offered for sale to the public in the form of a sheriff sale or on the local MLS.

Effect on Home Values: Both of these types of properties have a negative impact on home values in an area. The simple reason for this is that they are competing with sellers for a limited number of buyers. The amount of impact varies but is usually dependant on how many of these properties are listed or have been sold in an area. If a builder practiced or pushed poor lending practices to a number of buyers in a neighborhood for example, there is usually a delayed but absolute effect on home values while the neighborhood struggles through an imminent foreclosure cycle. In these instances, home values plummet and everyone is affected.

The good news is that in many cases these distressed properties have little or no effect on their homes' value. Potential sellers can go to http://www.indyhomevalues.com/ to receive a free market analysis for their Indy Metro area home.

Buyers in the Indianapolis Metro area can go to http://www.newestindylistings.com/ and get all new foreclosure and short sale listing sent directly to their email. When you are on the site make sure you indicate you want short sale or foreclosure listings in the comments section!
Matt Borushko is an agent with Keller Williams Realty in Carmel Indiana. Matt can easily be reached through his website at http://www.mattsellsindy.com/

Eleven Reasons to List Your Home for the Holidays

Before you decide to wait until spring to list your home, the Matt Borushko Team of Keller Williams Realty offers these Eleven Reasons to List Your Home During the Holidays
1. People who look for a home during the holidays are more serious buyers!
2. Serious buyers have fewer houses to choose from during the holidays and less competition means more money for you
3. Since the supply of listings will dramatically increase in January, there will be less demand for your particular home. Less demand means less money for you.
4. Houses show better when decorated for the holidays!
5. Buyers are more emotional during the holidays, so they are more likely to pay your price!
6. Buyers have more time to look for a homeduring the holidays than they do during a normal work week!
7. Some people must buy before the end of the year for tax reasons!
8. January is traditionally the month for employees to begin new jobs. Since transferees cannot wiat until spring to buy, you must be on the market now to capture thise buyers!
9. You can still be on the market, but you do have the option to restrict showings during the six or seven days during the holidays!
10. You can sell now for more money and we will provide for a delayed closing or extended occupancy until early next year!
11. By selling now, you may have an opportunity to be a non-contingent buyer in the spring when many more houses are on the market for less money. This will allow you to sell high and buy low!
The Matt Borushko Team is here to help you with any of your real estate needs even during the holidays. Please feel free to visit us on the web at www.mattsellsindy.com at any time!
See also Six Tips to Selling Your Home in a Down Market

Home Winterization Tips

Indianapolis Area Realtors Matt and Becki Borushko, have compiled a list of fall maintenance tips for your home. Fall is a great time of year...changing temperatures, beautiful trees, cool dry air. Fall is also a very important time of year for some annual maintenance that can save you thousands of dollars. Here is the list:

Gutters: Clean leaves from your gutters and make sure the gutters are draining properly. An improperly draining gutter could lead to ice damning and roof leaks.

Hoses: Remove all hoses and any attachments from the hose bibs including splitters. Removing all hoses and attachements will allow self draining hosebibs to properly drain and wil prevent a broken water line.

Furnace Filters: Change your furnace filters and consider getting your HVAC system serviced. A simple repair now can save you thousands in the long run. Contact our team for a great local referral!

Windows and Doors: Check the seals around your entry doors and windows. The seal around the door leading into your house from the garage often gets torn from usage. Also check the caulking around all of your windows. Use a cold windy day and you'll be able to easily detect areas that need attention.

Vents: Adjust your vents for the winter. Remember heat rises so open your first floor vents the most. Also close vents in any unused rooms to lower your energy bills.

With over 15 years in the industry, we have a fantastic list of top notch contractors for your home. We have proven contractors for general maintenance, roofing, landscaping, painting, plumbing, mortgage lending. We would be happy to provide you with a referral...just ask!
If you need a home so you can take advantage of these tips, we can help. Simply contact us via our website www.mattsellsindy.com or by email at matt@mattsellsindy.com

Great Noblesville Indiana Restaurants

If you live in or near Noblesville, IN here are some great dining choices that are also locally owned businesses. We take both clients and friends to these restaurants and always get great meals and exceptional service!

Bonge's Tavern in nearby Perkinsville (www.bongestavern.com). This is definitely a dining experience you will never forget...fantastic food in a unique 21 and over atmosphere. If you go during the summer, plan on tailgating as part of the fun as you will wait to get in. Bring cards, some camping chairs, and get to know your friends a little better!

Matteo's Itailan Restaurant (www.matteosindy.com) is a family owned Italian restaurant that is worth the drive from anywhere in Indianapolis. Located on the square in Noblesville, this is a perfect place to bring clients for lunch,or family and friends for dinner. When you are there, try the Lasagna!

Dicks Bodacious BBQ (www.dicksbbq.com) is a local BBQ restaurant that serves food with great Texas flare. Dicks BBQ is now in a new location and has added full service wait staff and an expanded menu sure to please. The steaks are incredible, the bbq is outstanding, and there are items on the menu meant only for the brave...

When you're looking for that perfect place to entertain, we hope you'll consider these restaurants. If you need real estate help, Matt and Becki Borushko of the Borushko Team www.mattsellsindy.com are local realtors serving the Noblesville area!

Free Email Home Search for Indianapolis Area Buyers

Home Buyers: Have all of the latest listings sent directly to your email as they get listed. Even in this difficult market the best homes sell quickly. This search allows you to be one the the first to see homes that match your criteria. Most importantly, this search is completely customizable, so you only get the listings you want to see. Log on to www.newestindylistings.com to sign up for this free home search!

Consider Selling Alternatives in a Shifting Market

Sellers looking to capitalize on the current buyers market may have more choices than they realize. In fact savvy sellers may be able to take advantage of one of the most basic laws of investing. (Buy low and Sell High).

Sellers may consider renting the home they currently live in until the market improves, and buy their dream home while the market is struggling. The change in the financial markets has made the rental market stronger, and sellers who have the financial resources to buy their next home without selling their current home may benefit from this type of market twice!

There are of course risks involved and any seller considering this option should first consult with a local real estate professional to help determine the state of the rental market in your specific area. Once you have weighed the pros and cons of this decision, you may find that a buyer's market like this presents the very best opportunity to gain market share and equity!

Matt Borushko is a real estate professional who works with buyers, sellers, and investors in Carmel, Noblesville, Fishers, Westfield, and Indianapolis, IN. Matt Borushko is a member of Keller Williams Realty and can be found at www.mattsellsindy.com
Read Also: Six Steps to Selling Your house in a Down Market

Six Steps to Selling Your Home in a Down Market

Indianapolis real estate agent Matt Borushko offers six tips that home owners should know when thinking about selling their home.

Indianapolis, IN (eMediaWorld) August 25, 2008 -- In the midst of a sagging real estate market, Indianapolis real estate agent Matt Borushko (http://www.mattsellsindy.com) has some advice for home sellers.
"To be competitive, sellers need to find an experienced agent that understands what it takes to attract buyers in today's real estate market," says Borushko. "I advise my sellers to follow these six simple rules."
" Helvetica, sans-serif; TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://www.mattsellsindy.com/" alt="Link to website">I advise my sellers to follow these six simple rules. " 1. Know the MarketGet to know the 'local' market and don't focus on 'national' trends. What's happening to home prices in California or New York doesn't apply in Indianapolis. The same is true for neighborhoods within an area. Your real estate agent can provide recent data on the how well homes around you are selling.
2. Focus On Your GoalSet and focus on a goal that will allow you to see beyond the current market. Ask yourself why it is you 'want' or 'need' to sell now. Whether the family is growing, a job is changing or it's an investment strategy, know that you'll be better off if you sell intelligently with a specific goal in mind.
3. Energize Your MarketingDon't leave anything to chance when it comes to marketing your home. A sign in the yard isn't going to cut it anymore. Quality marketing materials combined with an aggressive Internet marketing strategy and an outstanding presentation in the local real estate listing service are vital to standing out in today's market. Your agent should be marketing savvy.
4. Price AppropriatelyThe market has changed. Price your home for today's market rather than what you think your home is worth. Buyers now have the tools and research available to become better educated on price. Price your home based on logic and not emotion. Your list price is an important piece of a successful internet marketing strategy.
5. Make a Good First ImpressionBuyers have more homes to choose from right now. Your home must be clean and clutter-free inside and out. Make needed repairs to landscaping, structure, appliances and systems such as electric, plumbing, and HVAC.
6. Be FlexibleFlexibility comes in different forms. It means having reasonable expectations, knowing what you want to offer buyers in terms of incentives and working with your agent to understand and apply various negotiation strategies.