People

Last week turned out to be a crazy week, I feel like it is even running into this week but I will tell you the best thing about it was the PEOPLE. The best thing about my job, my career, is the people.

This week I am going to write about last weeks people. The people that are in my life because of real estate and probably would not be if I never started this journey.

My first entry in this series of entries is going to be about a couple that was referred to me by their grandson. An amazing couple who loves horses, loves life and are people that I would like to be- I looked to them and will look to them as a couple that I think bring lots of great things to other people.

We started our "real estate" journey together about 2 years ago when they were thinking about downsizing from their Florida home that has lots to maintain including land and horses. We looked at several homes and in the long run we decided it would better for them to stay put and take care of their home in Florida and their horses. I think they are the oldest horses in the world, I am sure due to being so loved by their caretakers.

They then came to me to help them sell a property that was supposed to be an investment. We ended up having it listed for 14 months before we got an offer that we felt like we could move forward with. At closing last week for several different reasons it ended up being a frustrating situation for both my seller and myself. I felt so much empathy for them and the situation they were in it made me emotional. I walked away thinking that they felt like I had not represented them in the correct way, I had confidence in my professional representation but that did not matter because I felt I had lost the confidence of a client and a person that I respected.

Well it turns out, because they are such awesome people, that they called me later that day to Thank me for all of my hard work and offered me a bonus- a monetary bonus- the best kind. It actually made me more emotional then at the closing when everything was so frustrating. They did not blame me for the situation but thanked me for working hard during the entire process.

The bottom line is that this life, this job, this career, this day, this week is about the people. Where would be with out them? Where would we be with out the interaction with other people? I will tell you that I think the coolest thing about meeting other people is learning how to act-HOW TO BE- and how not to be to other people.

I learned last week that I want to be more like Arden and Linda. I want to be morally like them, I want to be more like them in my marriage, I want to be more like them in my career and in interacting with my friends and family. I feel blessed that they were a client and now people that I will keep in touch with.

Market Watch for December

INDIANAPOLIS – While most large cities experienced a significant decline in home sales in 2007, central Indiana posted its fifth best year on record. Although overall figures are down 9.9 percent from 2006, residents in the nine-county region closed on more than 27,900 homes in 2007.

Central Indiana’s steady job market along with a slowdown in new home construction and lower mortgage rates are indicators that local home sales are on track to strengthen in 2008. Bolstering the outlook are several national surveys and reports from sources such as PMI Mortgage Insurance and Global Insight that rank Indianapolis as stable and positioned to see an early strengthening of the local real estate market in 2008.

According to the latest forecast by the National Association of REALTORS®, nationally existing-homes sales are expected to hold fairly steady in early 2008 and then rise later in the year, continuing to improve in 2009.

“The Indianapolis area continues to have a flourishing economy with great affordability, improving our chances for increased home sales in 2008," said H. James Litten, president of F.C. Tucker Company’s Residential Real Estate Services Division. “Our local market was challenged in 2007 by a number of economic factors that affected consumer confidence, but I believe the worst may be over and, barring an economic downturn, residential real estate in the area should show signs of improvement by mid-year.”

Marion County experienced the most significant drop in home sales compared with 2006, down 11.5 percent. Although no county saw an increase in home sales in 2007, Boone County had the least decline with 0.9 percent compared with 2006.

Average sale prices at year’s end in the Indianapolis area dropped 2.1 percent from 2006 to an average of $153,270.

Morgan County experienced the greatest increase in average sales price, up 0.3 percent. Sales prices in six of the remaining eight counties were within one percent of balancing out. Marion County experienced the most significant decrease in sales price, dropping 5 percent to $116,727. Hamilton County maintained the highest average price among the nine counties at $255,822.

Homes spent an average of 89 days on the market, six days more than 2006. While most homes in the nine-county area remained on the market for more than 90 days, Hamilton County posted the least amount of days with 81. Madison County homes were on the market the longest with 106, two days more than 2006. Other counties with more than 90 days included Boone (91), Morgan (94) and Shelby (97). At 95, Hancock County’s average did not change.

School Systems

Happy New Year!

It seems like this time of year is always the time of year where people make changes. Some changes that I have been thinking about are the usual one's- weight loss, exercise more, change my eating habits- the "normal" ones. It seems as if this time of year starts the wheels turning for many, if they should move this year or not. If you are not moving for job relocation reasons, many times people/families would like to make that change during the summer so the children's school schedule is not disrupted. If you are one of these families or know someone that "looks" like this- please tell them to contact us- The Curry Team.

This would be a good time for that family to get an idea of what homes are selling for in their neighborhood or area and what school system they would like to move into.

We can help them with both! Today I am going to speak a little about the information we can share with them about school systems both public and private.

We have access to an amazing report that is called "The school report". This is a report that we customize to meet our clients needs. This report can compare up to six different school systems and gives the client information on district size, the different schools in that district, extracurricular programs, interscholastic sports, statistical information and school directories.

I just love this report and it's functionality! Don't get me wrong-I think the Internet holds a wealth of information and I use the Internet probably more than most but I always HAD a hard time finding good data that was compiled in a way that was not confusing all in one place. This report does just that.

If you or one of your friends or family would like a (customized to your current needs) copy of this report please let us know. If you are thinking about moving now or a year from now or are not thinking about moving at all but would just like to see how your school measures up to it's surrounding competitors this is the report for you.