Carmel Real Estate

I am finally writing the most overdue blog post EVER, the long winded answer to the question I probably get asked most often: What is a short sale?  Quite simply, a short sale is when the owner of a property owes more than the house is worth and they ask the bank to accept an offer less than this amount in lieu of going to foreclosure.  For example, a seller has a houses listed for $100,000 and they owe $125,000 on the mortgage.  They receive an offer from a prospective buyer for $90,000 and ask the bank to take a loss of $35,000 instead of taking the home to foreclosure, re-listing it, and selling it themselves.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not.  

Now, the gory details.  If you are the buyer or potential buyer of a short sale you MUST

Forbes Magazine has recently added another accolade for the Indianapolis / Carmel area.  They have named us as the 10th most likely market to appreciate because we offer a “offer a mix of jobs weighted toward growth industries.”  If you look at the market reports I do on a monthly basis, Carmel real estate and Fishers estate are already seeing price increases this year over last year’s numbers.  

These are the top markets, the research company concludes:

1. Raleigh-Cary, N.C.
2. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas
3. Austin-Round Rock, Texas
4. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tenn.
5. San Antonio, Texas
6. Colorado Springs, Colo.
7. Albuquerque, N.M.
8. Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, Colo.
9. Springfield, Mo.
10. Indianapolis-Carmel, Ind.

Source: Forbes,

Carmel has been on a tear this year posting double digit gains in number of homes sold and average selling price. While the tax credit expiring has had an effect on the market, we still saw a 15% increase in the average sales price for July. The number of units was expectedly down by 16% this month over the same time last year but YTD we are still up 19% over last year’s numbers. Here is a look at the YTD numbers for number of homes sold and average selling price:

It seems like everyone is talking about the fact that Fishers was named the #8 best place to live by CNN Money.  What I don’t hear as much about is that Carmel is just a few spots back at #14.  That is 2 spots in the top 15 for Hamilton County and that is very impressive!  It is no wonder everybody want to live in Hamilton County!  Great schools, great sense of community, and almost no crime are just a few of the reasons Carmel finds itself in the #14 spot.  In addition, although the housing prices in Carmel are, locally, on the more expensive side, nationally, the home prices in Carmel are ridiculously affordable.  Everyone locally already know Carmel is a very desirable place to live but it is nice to see it continually get national

I don’t want to bore my readers to death with yearend reports, but I find them very interesting and a good indicator of how the market is doing. So, today we will look at the Carmel real estate yearend report. First though, I always like to look at the month of December:

Here is market update for the Carmel Indiana real estate market for November 2009 compared to November 2008:

For a little

I recently represented a client who purchased a home in the Haverstick subdivision in Carmel.  As part of the process I ran some numbers to see what has happened in Haverstick for the past few years as far as the average sales price.  Here is a chart showing the average sale price for Haverstick since 2003:

As you see the average sales price has obviously increased since 2003.  To be exact, Haverstick has seen a 9.04% increase in average sales price since 2003.  
If you are considering buying or selling a home in the Carmel area, please visit our Haverstick homes Carmel or Carmel real estate pages for more information and see what is currently for sale.   

I just listed a fantastic home on Plum Creek Golf Course in Carmel.  The home is not only golf front but also has a pond view as well.  This home is immaculate and features an awesome custom kitchen with a huge breakfast bar, center island, built in oven, warming drawer and lots more.  This 3/3 almost 3000 square foot home is packed with featured.  Take a look at some the photos:

You can also visit the custom website we built for this home at 12763 Plum Creek Blvd.  Call Mike at 317-362-4064 to schedule a private showing of this home.

Beginning April 6, 2009 any property sold in Hamilton or Boone County that receives sewer services from the Clay Township Regional Waste District will be subject to a new mandatory inspection. The new requirement applies to both residential and commercial property.

This mandatory inspection is done to make sure there are no illegal lines hooked into the sanitary sewer system. The illegal hook-ups typically come from sump pumps and/or downspouts. The goal of the program is to stop the inflow of clean water into the sanitary sewer system thereby reducing the amount of water that needs to be treated and therefore reducing costs.

Under the new regulation, any property that is sold has 30 days to obtain a certificate of

I have put together some fancy new graph that will us analyze the Carmel Indiana real estate market for the year end 2008. Hamilton County real estate is always is top pick for many people, both locals and relocations from other parts of the country and Carmel is arguably the most desirable area in the county and the central Indiana area. That being said, let’s take a look at the number of homes sold and the average sales price for Carmel real estate for 2007 vs. 2008:

Number of homes sold in Carmel:

Average sales price for Carmel real estate:

As you