Tag Archives: buying

Settles Report

July 11, 2014 Settles Team Leave a comment

For this report we looked at the active, pending (in escrow), and sold stats for Marion, Johnson, and Hamilton Counties for the week of June 30^th to July the 6^th.

Marion County was the county having the most properties offered for sale during that week. There were 389 properties listed with an average list price of $129,680. Washington and Lawrence Townships were the leading townships with 62 new listings each. The average list prices for Washington and Lawrence Townships were $218,531 and $213,983 respectively. During that same week, the entire county had 189 properties having an accepted offer (pending sale, in escrow) with an average 67 days of time on the market. 335 other listings closed that week.

Hamilton County had 176 homes entering the market that week. The average list price for Hamilton County was $299,368. Clay Township had the most properties offered for sale through the local BLC. The average list price for Clay Township that week is $322,314. Clay Township led the county with 44 new listings. Noblesville followed with 41 new listings. The average list price for Noblesville was $289,037. During this time Hamilton County had accepted offers on 100 properties (pending sale, in escrow) with an average marketing time of 66 days. 194 made it to the closing table.

Johnson County had 67 new properties entering the market through the local Central Indiana BLC. The average list price during this time was $231,843. Pleasant Township had the most new listings with 25 and White River Township is following with 22 new listings. Pleasant townships average list price that week was $124,680 and White River Township was $263,185. Johnson County had 38 accepted offers (pending sale, in escrow) after 105 days of marketing. 58 properties closed during that week.

For more detailed information on sales within your area contact the Settle Team for more information.

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Is a Condo for me, or not?

July 1, 2014 Settles Team Leave a comment

Urban renewal is becoming more and more popular. Most of the people moving back in to the urban areas are baby boomers and executives with some free time on their hands. For this reason most of them are choosing to live in a condo. The trend of turning former apartments or an old factory in to condos has helped to turn around some of the urban areas. You can find great homes for reasonable pricing or a top notch location for a higher end price.

Before you buy a condo you should do some research into the condo rules and regulations? Each community will have their own fees and rules. You should familiarize yourself with each of these to understand what rights and responsibilities you as the condo owner will have.

Find out who is enforcing the Condo rules and regulations? Is it a homeowner association? A management company?

Most of the time condo owners are responsible for everything on the interior and the association is taking care of everything on the outside of the building. In some cases you may have an assigned parking space in an underground parking garage. When the condo is on a lake you may have a boat dock you can lease.

Some of the condominium associations might charge you an additional fee that helps them to offset any exterior repairs they might encounter and that fee is most of the time part of the condominium fee you have to pay, in addition to your mortgage and insurance payment.

Some other things to consider is that when your condo is on the 38^th floor, are you willing to run down 38 flight of stairs in emergency? You may also have other restrictions due to the building or condo associations rulings.

The nice part with a condo is that you are only responsible for the interior of your condo and the condo association is responsible for the exterior of the condo. You don’t have to worry about cutting the grass, fixing a roof leak or making any other exterior repair. The downfall is that the exterior maintenance upkeep is only as good as the condo community management company.

Either way, like with everything, there are positive and negative things you need to consider when choosing a condo to purchase. When you have any additional questions about condos feel free to contact the Settles Team.

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FHA flipping rule waiver still in affect

June 27, 2014 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

I am finding a lot of confusion and different interpretations when it comes to flipping homes using HUD/FHA loans. The last time I heard and read on the Federal Registrar website, was that HUD still has a waiver in place until the end of December 2014 that is applicable to all single family properties being resold after the 90-day holding period after acquisition.

There are some stipulations that are still in place even with the flipping rule waiver.

The property was openly marketed and was available for any type of buyer.
The property was not repeatedly flipped over the last 12 months
The transition needs to be an arms-lengths transition.

When a property is marketed for more than 20% of the current sellers purchase price there will be additional stipulations before the property can close with an FHA loan.

Property will need a second appraisal and the buyer is not allowed to pay for the additional appraisal. It has to be paid for by the investor.
Investor has to justify and prove the value of the increase in pricing by the additional appraisal and supporting documents.
An FHA approved inspector has to inspect the property and any needed repairs or updates need to be completed prior to closing by the investor and those repairs have to satisfy the FHA inspector.

From what I can see on my end, you still can flip a property within the 90 day period and have a FHA buyer. Just when the property is priced 20% above your original purchase price you have to jump though some extra hoops to get the property approved for the FHA.

Attached is the FHA flipping waiver ruling for your review.

When you have any questions about this or any additional Real Estate questions, feel free to contact the Settles Team.

buying, commitment, Communication, education, Inspiration, organizing, planning, Team work, tips

When shopping for Home insurance, know what is in your policy.

June 25, 2014 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

Before I continue with this information let me give you a disclaimer; I am not an insurance agent or an attorney. For legal advice or any advice regarding this topic contact your insurance agent or legal counsel.

In one of my blogs I discussed how to keep your home insurance low, but have you ever thought about what should be listed in your policy?

I get it. Some of the polices are written with such fine print that it would take a microscope to read it. How many layman really understand the legal mumbo jumbo contained in their insurance policy. A great Insurance agent can help you navigate the legal wrangling of your insurance contract.

Some things you should look for when you compare insurance policies.

Flood insurance: Many insurance policies do not cover floods of any kind. Even when you are not in a flood zone you might consider adding flood insurance to your policy. Floods not only happen naturally but also could be side effect of developments or construction in the general area.

Does your policy cover to “bringing your property up to code” in case of damage? Why is that important?

If your home was built 10 to 15 years ago it is possible that it may not meet current local code requirements. During the last 10 to 15 years many zoning ordinances and building codes have changed. To bring a home back up to zoning ordinances and building code standards could be a very expensive out of pocket expense when it is not covered by insurance. Typically, during the rebuilding process, buildings must be rebuilt to the new codes.

Another thing to look for in your policy is liability coverage that covers not only accidents, but also assault and battery. Regardless of how much we like our neighbors, friends, and family, when we invite them over to our home they may bring with them their personal life we might not know about. If they decide to duke out their disagreement on your front lawn you could be liable for damages or injuries they sustain. You need to make sure you are covered.

I would like to add another thought. Just because you paid off your mortgage does not mean you should drop your insurance coverage. What you should do is send a “paid in full letter” from your mortgage company to your insurance company so they can take your mortgage company off the policy. In some cases they will reduce your payment as long as you are personally occupying the house.

For more information on insurance related items contact your insurance agent or when you are looking to lower your rate contact one of the agents listed on our resource page. For any Real Estate related questions or concerns contact the Settles Team. We are never too busy to answer any of your questions or address any of your concerns.

buying, commitment, Communication, education, Inspiration, organizing, planning, Team work, tips

Buying a new home? Things to consider when you do.

June 6, 2014 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

Rather than buying a home that was previously occupied, you have decided to find a builder and have one built just for you and your family and to your specifications. In many cases building your home is within the same price range as being a previously occupied home.

When you build your own home with a builder there are a few things you need to take into consideration before you start. For example, Do you just use a builder layout and style or do you plan on making changes to this plan? If you do plan on making changes, keep in mind that this might add to the building cost of the home. Making these kinds of changes would mean you are moving from a builder speck home type of arrangement to the custom built type and many times that will add time, labor, and building material cost to building your dream home. An example of making changes to the builders plans is upgrading some of the features compared to the features a builder is offering in their speck homes. Things like kitchen, flooring, countertops, bathroom, windows, and bathrooms. Anytime you make changes to builder’s speck home plans, whether inside or out, there will be a higher cost to building the home.

One of the things you should consider is having a home inspection before you close the transaction with the builder. Many times they offer a final walk through before the closing with their contractors but it is always better for you to hire your own contractor and let them take a look at the home through a new set of eyes.

Yes, it is a new build home but sometimes your inspector finds things that should be fixed prior to you going to the closing table. One of my last inspectors found a board that was not nailed in the finished attic by stepping through the floor as he stepped on the section of the attic to inspect it. He did not fall but now the builder has to fix the issue.

When you have any question about working with builders, feel free to contact the Settles Team.

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Let’s Tackle The Financial Past

June 5, 2014 Bettina Settles Leave a comment

Many of us are still working through the aftermath of a short sale, foreclosure, or some other financially devastating event. Rather than buying another house you need to rent till you get back on your feet.

Yes, the current mortgage rates are great and it would be a great time for buyers to get into the Real Estate market but when you are still working through your aftermath of a possible divorce, short sale, death, or have a lot of late payments, or even judgments at this time against you, you would be better off to rent rather than buying. Even with many lenders now loosening their lending guidelines, many of them are still looking for a 1 to 3 year clean credit record. This does not mean it has to be absolutely perfect but when you are constantly late on utility bills or have reoccurring judgments showing up on your credit report, you could still be a credit risk to the lender and they might not be willing to give you a loan until you show that you are a truly responsible consumer.

You need to be prepared that your potential landlord will run a credit check and there is the chance that you might not get to rent the house or apartment due to what is on your credit report.

Either way it is time to tackle the financial past and finally kick the bad ratings out of our life. Unless you tackle them they will haunt you for the rest of your life and they will affect everything you do from renting, buying another vehicle or house, or possible employment.

When you would like to have more information on how to get started kicking your financial past out of your life please contact us for an absolutely free and confidential meeting where we can discuss your individual situation.