INDIANAPOLIS - Nearly 1,450 Central Indiana homes pended in January, with four of nine Central Indiana counties reporting increases compared to the same time period last year, according to pended sales statistics compiled by F.C. Tucker Company.

Overall, January home sales decreased 5.7 percent with 1,445 homes pended compared to 1,532 in January 2009. Shelby County posted a 45 percent increase, followed by Hancock County at 13.3 percent and Johnson and Madison counties, with 12.3 percent and 6.1 percent increase, respectively.

Tucker's just-released data indicates that eight of the nine Central Indiana counties saw increases in average home prices. Homes in Hancock County sold for an average of $142,837 in January 2010, a 42.5 percent increase over the same period last year. Also, Hendricks County showed a 27.9 percent increase in home prices, bringing the average to $179,516. The average year-to-date sales price for a home in the nine-county area was $134,027, which is 10.9 percent more than January 2009.

"As we move into the busy home-buying and selling season of spring, I expect more home buyers will enter the market to take advantage of the first-time and move-up buyer tax credits," said H. James Litten, president of F.C. Tucker Company's Residential Real Estate Services Division. "Also, the steady increase in home sale prices should boost seller confidence while the local real estate market continues to improve overall."

Available homes for sale in the nine-county region dropped 6.3 percent in January 2010 with 14,578 homes on the market, 985 fewer homes than in January 2009. Six counties experienced above average inventory declines. Madison County experienced the greatest decrease in inventory at 9.3 percent, followed by Hancock and Marion counties with 8.6 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively.

Homes listings have already started early this year even with the winter weather still lingering. Most sellers are wanting to get jump on the market hoping to take advantage of the tax credit programs that end June 30th 2010. What most people need to keep in mind is the fact that the tax credit programs state that buyers must have their offer written by April 30th 2010.

With the time constraint on the buyers to have written their offer on a home, early spring activity will be critical for sellers to have their home in good showing condition earlier than usual on the outside of the home. But because these times are so early in the spring and weather may prohibit sellers from getting the home in good condition on the outside then the inside will need to be in perfect condition.
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The Indianapolis board of realtors announce today that home sales in Indiana were up 17 percent in Nov-Dec 09 over the same time as 2008. This is great news and shows just how regional home sales can be considering just a couple days ago the National Association Realtors reported the worst December in forty years.

These reports can be good or bad depending on where you live and for the Indianapolis area sales are good. Indianapolis homes for sale are still not what they were 3 -6 years ago but in retrospect it looks like Indianapolis is holding its own.

Hopefully sales will stay steady in 2010 and through 2011.

Times for getting homes sold are still longer than years past so plan a strategy based on your moving times. Sellers will still need to have their home in perfect selling shaping when listing and make sure the market price is based on today's market values.

Today's news on homes says December home sales fell to its lowest in forty years. The news wants to paint all doom and gloom but the facts are that December is always the slowest month of the year and because of the 8000.00 tax credit that went off December 1st it caused a glut of would be buyers in December to buy earlier in the year. It's no different than the cash for clunkers programs. Ask any car dealer how sales were the after the cash for clunkers program ended. Their sales were horrible for a few months. Plus Santa Clause is always tough to compete with.

With all this said December was slow and January will probably a little slow as well but I don't think any of this is cause for panic. We are in a slow recovery and as long as mortgage rates say steady things should move forward in the housing industry on a steady pace in 2010.

The biggest problem in the country is the lack of work. People need to get jobs and jobs will be the only thing that will make the country healthy.

New purchase agreement and new HUD statement will further protect buyers and sellers this year with more oversight from the regulation committee. One change on the purchase agreement ask for the title policy to be the best offered base on what type of property a buyer is buying. This will assure that the buyer will always have the best policy. Agents ordering the title policies will need to be sure to explain this to the title company.

The HUD statement will be confusing at first because of all the changes made but it is designed to help the buyers understand all the fees charged by the mortgage company and the title company's so the consumer has a chance to shop the fees. This can be good as far as cost go but this could also make some deals fall apart and some delayed closings if the buyer finds lower cost at a different title company or mortgage company.

It would be easier if the fees in each state were regulated to avoid confusion.

Realtors could end up doing more work for the same process. In addition, the realtors will need to be aware of closing taking longer. Getting a HUD statement as soon as possible will more important to help over come closing delays.

Over all I think the new HUD will make things smoother but it will take some time, as the HUD is still a work in progress.

As the new year finally gets out of the freezer so are buyers and sellers looking to start a new day in the Real Estate market. Last year Indianapolis sales were up from the previous year and sales are expected to increase this year as well.

There are incentives for buyers from the government from $6500.00 to $8,000.00 depending if you owned a home before or are a first time home buyer. These programs will end in early spring so please check with your realtor on your time frames if you are considering selling or buying.

During the winter months it can difficult to see all the homes features so during the transaction a buyer may want to see a home several time depending on the weather conditions.

Agents need to patient during these times and always insist the a buyer get a home warranty to provide some extra protection. I just did a walk through on a home today and there were no repairs made buy the seller but the buyer wanted to make sure there were no frozen or busted pipes in the home because the home was vacant due to the extreme cold temperatures we have had the last couple weeks there could have been a loss of power causing the furnace to shut off.

As things turn out the home was warm and no busted pipes but it was time well spent.

Central Indiana homes sales strong in second half of 2009

Local real estate market becoming more stable

INDIANAPOLIS - Homes sales surged in the second half of 2009, with activity picking up initially in July, peaking in October, and running level in November and December, compared to 2008. More than 1,350 Central Indiana homes pended in December, with five of nine Central Indiana counties reporting increases compared to the same time period in 2008, according to pended sales statistics compiled by F.C. Tucker Company.

Morgan County posted a significant 52.9 percent increase, followed closely by Madison County at 52.6 percent. At the end of the year, the overall market showed greater stability. December home sales were nearly level with those in December 2008 with 1,356 homes pended in 2009 compared to 1,360 in December 2008.

For the year 2009, a total of 24,395 homes sales pended, a slight 1.6 percent decline over 2008 sales numbers. The average home sales price in Central Indiana also stabilized at $139,212, a modest decline of 2.9 percent over 2008's prices.

"A look back at 2009 shows a year of stabilizing and increased activity, especially at the end of the year," said H. James Litten, president of F.C. Tucker Company's Residential Real Estate Services Division. "The federal tax credits offered to first-time homebuyers in the second half of the year helped propel much of the sales activity."

Available homes for sale in the nine-county region dropped 13.2 percent in December 2009 with 13,875 homes on the market, 2,103 fewer homes than in December 2008. Three counties experienced above average inventory declines. Hancock County experienced the greatest decrease in inventory at 20.6 percent, followed by Marion and Madison counties with 15.6 and 13.9 percent, respectively. Looking back, January 2009 showed 15,415 available homes on the market.

"2010 looks promising because we are seeing real declines in Central Indiana real estate inventory, including significant portions of foreclosed and bank-owned properties, existing for-sale properties and new home properties," said Litten. "Inventory declines mean further price stabilization and the potential for a pickup in the demand for both existing and new homes."

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Active Listings over Time

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Pended single-family and condominium home sales

Active Listings - Inventory