Archive for December, 2008
Simple Energy Saving Tips
Here’s some great advice that our good friend, Jim Schwarz sent to us from Center Grove Real Estate Inspections. On cold, wintery nights like this one, these sure are some timely tips!
- Ensure all windows are tightly closed and latched.
- Seal all gaps at doorways.
- Caulk any exterior gaps in siding and trim.
- Ensure all doors completely close easily and effectively.
- Reduce home temperature. Most of us can handle 65F nighttime and 68F daytime temperatures. The lower energy usage will surprise you.
- Ensure the fireplace damper is completely closed if not in use.
- Seal all switch and receptacles in walls to prevent air intrusion.
- Ensure the damper in all bathroom exhaust fans effectively closes.
- Clean the coils and radiator fins under your refrigerator and freezer for more effective cooling.
Thanks again Jim. For more helpful tips, please call Jim directly 317.313.5362
Discussion: No Comments »
A Cheap Thrill For $6.42
OK, have you ever gone through the Chik-fil-A drive thru and when you get up to the window to pay, you’re pleasantly surprised to find out that the person in line in front of you has already paid your bill? Isn’t it fun?
Well today, I got an even better treat! I got to be the person in front that got to pay for the person behind me!
As I drove away, I got stuck at a red light and as I looked in my rear view mirror, here came that same car that had been behind me in the drive thru line…whipping around the corner and racing up to sit next to me at the stop light.
Well of course, I had to glance over and look and look at the driver next to me and to my pleasant surprise I saw a very enthusiastic young girl waving like crazy and blowing me kisses! I quickly rolled down my window, blew her a great big kiss back and gave her the thumbs up.
How fun!!! I know I had the biggest, cheesiest smile on my face when I drove away, but it just felt so good to do such a fun surprise for someone…and it only cost me $6.42!
If you haven’t tried this little trick yet at a drive thru line (I recommend Chik-fil-A because they seem to be used to it) I strongly recommend it…it will completely make your day! 
Discussion: No Comments »
More Specifics On The FHA 203k Loan
As a quick follow up to an article we posted last week, here are some more specifics regarding the FHA 203k Loan Program.
Again, this is a great loan for financing HUD Homes, Bank Owned Properties and “As Is” or “Handyman Specials”.
From our friends at Indy Mortgage, “Here are some allowable improvements:
- Roofs
- Gutters
- Downspouts
- Windows
- Siding
- Doors
- Kitchens
- Bathrooms
- Room Additions
- Appliances
- A/C
- Hot Water Tank
- Well
- Septic
- Floors
- Basement Waterproofing
- Basement Finishing
- Porches
- Patios and more!”
If you are anywhere near the Greenwood or Indianapolis area, you know our real estate market is full of HUD Homes and Bank Foreclosures to choose from.
Want to try your hand at bringing some love back in to these once loved homes? Give us a call at 317.893.1636 or send me an email at Shawna@iShopGreenwood.com
We’d be more than happy to hook you up with the best deals and the best loan programs for these types of projects. Contact us today!
Discussion: 2 Comments »
Your Home SOLD In 120 Days…GUARANTEED!!!
Do you have a lot of those “Guaranteed Home Sale” Realtors in your area? You know the ones…that offer to buyer the listing if they can’t sell it within a certain time frame?
Well sure, that sounds like a great idea if you have a big fat line of credit, or just a huge pile of money laying around. But what about the little guy (or girl) like me? How in the world am I ever supposed to compete with that?
Well, I figured out a way to Guarantee my home sales…without costing me anything out of pocket! (I’m a notorious cheapskate to those who know me well). And believe me, this little marketing plan has definitely helped us to get our foot in the door for many listing appointments that we wouldn’t have otherwise been invited to.
Best of all, we’ve been offering this program for almost 3 years and we’ve only had 1 home that didn’t sell within our guaranteed 120 day time frame. (We also offered a 39 day guarantee once for a higher commission and we lost….it sold in 47 days….grrrrrr……my team-mates have threatened me with my life if I ever do anything like that again).
I say all of this simply to say that we recently had an agent on Active Rain request to see a copy of our 21 Step Marketing Plan. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how to make it into a jpeg file, but if you would also like to receive a pdf version of it, please let us know. We’d be happy to share it if we thought it might help someone else, too.
Want more specifics on exactly how our program works? Please feel free to contact us directly. We’d be happy to share any of our marketing materials and help you any way we can!
It’s YOUR Time To Shine In 2009!!!
PS – Click Here for the easiest way to get the downloads
Discussion: No Comments »
Can I Really Roll Rehab Money Into My Mortgage?
The answer, believe it or not, is actually “Yes!” But in order to do it, you’re going to need to use the FHA 203k Loan Program. Now this is not giving you an open checkbook to go out and fix up a property in need of help but, it is a way to help you make some necessary repairs without paying for them out of pocket. Here’s how it works:
Prior to closing, you will need to have contractors come in and give you bids for how much it will cost to make the needed repairs to your new home. Now your new loan amount will be based upon the sale price of the home plus the amount of money it will take to make the repairs.
After closing, you will have a limited amount of time to get all of the repairs made. Then the property will be re-inspected by the lender and if everything meets their approval, the money to pay for the repairs is then released to the contractors.
There are many HUD owned and bank owned properties that could qualify for the FHA 203k loan program. Right now, the loan limits for FHA loans in the Indianapolis area is $271,050. And best of all, the down payment needed for an FHA loan is only 3% of the purchase price. But if you’re thinking about going this direction, you may not want to put it off because this down payment amount will be increased to 3.5% as of January 1, 2009.
Want more info or want to see if you could qualify for this type of loan program? Please contact Jody Bleier at Stonegate Mortgage (317.213.1387) and be sure you tell her you found out about her at iShopGreenwood.com ! Good luck! Thanks for the info Jody!
Discussion: 3 Comments »
Can You Touch Bottom?
Remember what it was like when you were a kid and you’d jump into the deep end and challenge your friends to see who could touch the bottom of the pool?
When you were little, you’d have to kick and push a little to get there. Your ears would pop and you’d get a little scared…wondering if you’d be able to hold your breath long enough to get all the way to the bottom and then back up again.
It’s kind of the same with our current real estate market. People keep challenging themselves to see who can hold out long enough to time the market just right…holding off on buying something until the prices drop all the way to the bottom.
Well stop trying to guess when the market is going to “hit bottom”. No one can predict the exact time it’s going to happen…so stop trying! But by golly, stop sitting on your keester waiting for “the perfect time” to buy.
While you’re waiting for the market to get all the way to the bottom, your friends and neighbors are out there taking advantage of the bargains that are all around them right now…whether we’re at “the bottom” or not…who cares???
When the market finally does turn around, it will be just like finally reaching the bottom of the pool and then pushing off and soaring back up to the top of the surface…popping your head out of the water and coming up for that great big refreshing breath of air.
The market’s going to come back up a lot faster than it went down. But we won’t know we’ve hit the bottom until we’re already on our way back up. How will you know that today will be the last day of low prices and that tomorrow they will be higher? You won’t! You can’t!
So stop waiting to “hit the bottom”. You’re gonna make it and you’re not gonna drown! But you need to jump in…’cuz the water is more than fine!
Discussion: 1 Comment »
A Chance To Give Back This Christmas
I realize the economy is bad for just about everyone right now, but you still may be looking for a way to reach out and do something for someone else that may be just a little worse off than we are.
If you’re looking for such a cause, or maybe just for a place to put the kids out grown clothes to good use, please take a closer look at the message below. This is from our good friend, Allie and I know that anything you can contribute would be greatly appreciated.
Click to enlarge
Need to know where to bring your clothes for Alyssa? Please leave us a comment and we’ll make sure your clothes get to Alyssa as soon as possible. Thanks in advance for your help!
Discussion: 1 Comment »
Less Talk, More Pics
Click on any of the above to enlarge
Does stuff like this speak to you more than a wordy explanation? If so, our new Market Snapshot was created just for you.
You choose how often you get the data and where the data is pulled from. Then when it comes, you can also sneak a peak at Community and School Info, too. You can even compare local schools one against another. And best of all, if you get sick of it, you can unsubscribe at any time. So sign up any time…try it Mikey…we think you’ll like it!
Discussion: 3 Comments »
It’s The Price, Stupid!
OK, so maybe that wasn’t the name of the training I attended today, but it might as well have been because I think that’s pretty much the main point that all of us got when it was over. Our training was taught by Linda McKissack, whose team usually sells around 300 homes a year, so I think she certainly knows what she’s talking about.
One of the first things she said today that really got my attention was “Our price is good, but we’re just not getting any showings.” Ha! This caught my attention because I know I’ve said this myself. Her point was that in this market, if we’re not getting showings, our price is wrong. Period.
In a seller’s market, it means the supply cannot keep up with the demand. Put whatever price you want on your home because after all, in a seller’s market, it’s not as much about price as it is “Location. Location. Location.”
Well guess what? In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, we’re in a buyer’s market right now…NOT a seller’s market! And a buyer’s market is exactly the opposite of a seller’s market. It means we have an over supply for the amount of demand. We have more sellers than we do buyers!
When this happens, your house has become a commodity. And like any other commodity, it’s all about the price. Here’s a great analogy . . . “If you bought stock last year and that stock was worth $49 per share and today you need to sell that same stock and it is now worth $25 per share, what could we sell it at? Twenty-five is right.”
How do you know if your home is over priced for the market? Well here’s what the National Association of Realtors has to say:
- If you’ve had 10 or more showings with no offers, you’re at least 5% over priced
- If you’ve been on the market 2-3 weeks and you’ve had no showings, you’re at least 10% over priced
If you’re a homeowner thinking of selling, this may not be the news you were hoping for, but I believe Dianna Kokoszka said it best when she said, “If I don’t tell my sellers the truth, it’s like I’m taking money from their bank accounts.”
We didn’t create this market, but as Realtors, our job is to properly communicate the numbers as best as possible so our sellers can make the decisions that are best for them.
Discussion: 2 Comments »
Happy Birthday Dear Baby…!!!
Well, if you had asked me a couple of years ago if we would some day be celebrating little Baby’s 5th Birthday, I would have been a little doubtful.
Baby is our canine version of “Tiny Tim” and was a sick little puppy, just about from the time I drove to Terre Haute through an ice storm and brought her home.
She never gained a lot of weight and two years ago this month she was so skinny that her ribs were showing and her spine was arched like a scaredy cat!
I took her to the animal emergency hospital out by the airport and after many tests were performed it was determined that she has a liver shunt. From what I remember, this can be very common in yorkies and it means that her blood does not pass through her liver to get cleaned the way it should (or something like that).
We had two options…to operate or to try and change her diet. Because she was so small and I had heard so many horror stories about little doggies not waking up after surgeries, I opted for the diet change.
Well here we are two years later and I’m thrilled to say that changing her food to the Science Diet L/D formula has worked wonders and my little doggy is celebrating her 5th birthday today and weighing in at a whopping 3.5 pounds….yeah!!!
Our rule of thumb is to keep her away from proteins (except for the occassional sprinkling of shredded colby jack cheese) and she hardly ever gets sick.
Thank goodness for the doctor at the emergency animal hospital that was familiar with this problem. I thank you and Baby thanks you, too. Happy Birthday Baby Doll !!! :)
Discussion: 3 Comments »
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