Mar
1
Fishers Real Estate is in a NEW location
Posted by marchantteam under Ask a REALTOR
While I have loved writing about Fishers Real Estate over the past four years on this site, it’s time to take it to the next level.
You can still find me writing about the Fishers Neighborhoods, the great events and monthly market reports over at my new website. The new site incorporates the news about Fishers, Carmel and Geist so one stop shopping!
Hope to see you there! Visit our Fishers Blogs often there.
Cindy in Indy Marchant – Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Marchant Team Real Estate Website
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Jan
30
Inspector Rob Rehm gives advice for Fishers Home Owners
Posted by marchantteam under Ask a REALTOR, Fishers, Inspection Issues
Part of being a great Fishers Real Estate agent is having resources that keep me up to date on the latest information I need to know. So today, one of my home inspectors, Rob Rehm is going to do a Guest Blog for me.
If you would like to contact Rob for more information or for a home inspection, just email me and I’ll put you in touch.
By Rob Rehm:
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that annually dryers are associated with 22,000 home fires which result in some deaths and injuries. Fires can occur when lint builds up in the dryer or exhaust duct thus blocking the air flow. Reduced air flow causes excessive heat buildup that can result in a fire.
How to prevent fires?
Clean the dryer lint screen/filter before drying a load of clothes. If clothing is damp after drying or the drying cycle is taking much too long, then this may be a sign of blocked air flow.
Clean the dryer vent and exhaust duct to the exterior of home annually. Check the exhaust termination on the exterior wall for proper operation; the termination must be free of lint, with no screen and a flapper that operates to prevent animal entry. Monitor dryer air flow out of the exhaust termination with the dryer operating normally. If you do not feel significant air flow, the duct system may be partially blocked, or the duct is too long. Check the User’s Guide to ensure the duct is the correct length. If blocked, have it evaluated and cleaned appropriately.
Clean around dryer and under dryer periodically to remove lint build up. Ensure that flammable materials are not stored around the dryer.
Replace plastic accordion type duct connector from dryer to wall with rigid metal or semi-rigid metalized duct. Also, ducts from dryer to exterior of home should have a slight slope downward (with no dips) to avoid collecting water and thus trapping lint.
Take special care when drying clothes that have been soiled with volatile chemicals such as gasoline, cooking oils, cleaning agents, finishing oils or stains. Wash this type of soiled clothing more than once before drying and dry it on the lowest heat possible.
For additional information consult the web at www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5022.html
Cindy in Indy Marchant – Fishers Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Fishers IN Real Estate Website
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Jan
15
How do you find the right Fishers Real Estate Agent
Posted by marchantteam under Ask a REALTOR, Buyer Information, Fishers, For Buyers
Sure, everybody knows a REALTOR; but how do you find the right REALTOR for you.
Maybe you already know a lot about the Fishers Real Estate market and you just need someone to negotiate for you. Or maybe you aren’t sure what you can even afford and need to start at the beginning with a REALTOR. Here are some things to ponder as you start the process of searching for a home for sale in Fishers.
The Metropolitan Board of REALTORS has 5,800 members. There were 75% of those agents that did less than 10 transactions last year. And of the remaining, only 250 agents wrote more than 30 transactions last year. That says that there is a small pool of experienced agents and in this business experience is priceless.
It is so much more than sitting down and listening to what you want; it is asking why those things are important to you, it is watching you in the homes and listening to your emotion and the questions you ask, it is shaking the etch a sketch sometimes to find a house that is perfect for you that you hadn’t thought of.
It is so much more than opening the door; it is the way we look at the home, the analytics we do with the history of the home and comparables in the neighborhood, it is the way that we negotiate and the way that we troubleshoot the issues on the way to the closing table that makes the experience one that is successful for you the buyer.
If you are a first time buyer, come visit our first time home buyers clinic that we hold each month; registration is required. But we have a Real Estate agent, a lender and a home inspector go through the process (45 minutes) and then have a Q & A. We give you some great handouts to take with you too.
I am one of the 250 agents that wrote more than 30 transactions last year; and I’ve had some interesting hurdles this year that a rookie agent might have handled differently with a negative outcome. The best REALTORS can make the transaction look easy; but that’s a skill developed over time. Every transaction will typically have a least one blip…find an experienced agent you can trust.
Cindy in Indy Marchant – Fishers Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Fishers IN Real Estate Website
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Jan
3
11715 Rush Drive Fishers Home for Sale
Posted by marchantteam under Ask a REALTOR
Looking for a starter home for sale in Fishers? There are currently 134 homes under $150,000 for sale; 46 of those are condo’s. Of the 134, there are 35 that are “distressed” meaning bank owned or a short sale. 
I have one that is completely updated with stainless steel appliances, new kitchen cabinetry, center island, new flooring, updated tile and vanity in baths, new roof, new windows and new HVAC system.
Located at 11715 Rush Drive, the home is fully fenced and has a minibarn and playset. The list price is $144,900.
My sellers bought the home and being the handy people that they are opened the kitchen so that is flows to the formal DR and living area. They vaulted the ceilings too.
Located in the popular Sunblest Farms subdivision; it is walking distance to the park and various shops and restaurants. The walkability score is a 10!
Sunblest is a neighborhood that does not have a Homeowner’s Association, so no HOA fees.
Fishers has received many awards over the past couple of years highlighting its family friendliness, affordability and safety. It continues to be ranked as one of the best places to live in America.
So if you are looking to move into a home in Fishers in 2012; this one might be worth a look in person.
If you are currently in an apartment or living with family and are unsure about how to buy a new home or what is involved, be sure to sign up for our First Time Buyers Class. It is held the last Thursday of every month at our offices in Fishers.
Hope to see you there!
Cindy in Indy Marchant – Fishers Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Fishers IN Real Estate Website
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Dec
22
Moving to Fishers Indiana
Posted by marchantteam under Ask a REALTOR
If you are moving to Fishers Indiana, you will be excited to know Fishers was just
named the safest place to live in the nation according to CQ Press. CQ is one of the best database references in the country and produces the crime rating report once a year.
The City Crime Rankings report was based on the 2010 crime statistics of 405 cities and Fishers had the lowest violent crime rate for cities with populations between 75,000 and 100,000.
Here is a list of the awards Fishers has received most recently:
2011:
- Indiana Association of Cities and Towns (IACT) Green Community
- #1 Top 10 Cities for Families in U.S. – The Learning Channel (TLC)
- Certificate of Excellence from the Center for Performance Measurement (ICMA)
2010:
- #1 Best Affordable Suburb in U.S.- BusinessWeek.com
- #2 Best Under-rated Golf Community in U.S. – Livability.com
- Healthiest County in Indiana – Community Health Network
- Top 100 Places to Live in 2010 – RelocateAmerica
- Top 100 Best Places to Live in America (#8 Ranking) – Money Magazine
- IPEP Award for Workplace Safety
Working with clients who are relocating to Fishers, I hear things about our affordability, our schools, our convenience to downtown and our friendliness.
Are you thinking about making a move to the Indianapolis area? Visit our relocating to Indy page and request a relocation guide. And be sure to visit our link for finding affordable homes in Fishers.
Cindy in Indy Marchant – Fishers Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Fishers IN Real Estate Website
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May
4
Top 5 First Time Home Buyer Questions
Posted by marchantteam under Ask a REALTOR, Buyer Information, For Buyers, General Information
This Fishers Realtor is tired from all the activity of the last few months! Even though the first time home buyer tax credit has expired, I am still continuing to get calls to work with them. I love first time home buyers because they have so many great questions and are like sponges wanting to learn the process.
Here are the Top 5 questions I get from first time home buyers:
1) What is earnest money? Earnest money is typically 1% of the purchase price or sometimes it can be less. It is the “skin” that the buyer puts behind the contract to say they are serious about purchasing the home. It makes it harder for the buyer to walk away. This money is returned to the buyer at the closing as part of the downpayment and closing costs.
2) When should we start looking for a home? Typically it takes from about 11 to 25 homes for a buyer to find the right one. I personally feel that looking at more than 10 homes in a day will overwhelm you. So let’s say it takes two to three weeks to find the homes you want to see and actually see them. This is a bit of a sub question; but learning how to read the MLS sheet can take a few days! Then let’s say it takes a week to get the offer accepted. Then, probably another 30-45 days to close the transaction. So if your lease is up at the end of August, you should start to look no later than July 1st.
3) How much money do I need to purchase a home? In today’s market you need at least 3.5% of the purchase price; this is using FHA financing. Then you may need an additional $1,500 to $2,500 for closing costs. However, often we can ask for the seller to pay for closing costs or at least some of it.
4) What will a typical bid on a home be? This is where the use of a Realtor ® is key. I will go into the system and find “like” houses that have sold in the six months to determine the fairness of the asking price. I will call the other agent to determine the motivation of the seller. If it is fairly priced and the motivation is moderate; you can expect to pay about 95% of the list price.
5) Can I get that house on this lot? No 
I absolutely love that 5th question, I get it all the time. Buying a home always has compromises in terms of wants, needs and pricing. It is rare to find everything exactly as you want, but we can often times come very close.
The Marchant Team holds first time buyer classes every month in Fishers on the last Thursday; we hope to see you there and give you some great information and answer your questions! We also give you a phone number that you can call and get the list price on any home for sale in Indianapolis or the surrounding area!
Just as an update, there are currently 803 homes for sale in Fishers and 177 of them are below $150,000. One of them might be right for you!
Search homes for sale in Fishers by Neighborhood
Other Northside Blogs (Carmel, Noblesville, and Geist)
Cindy œin Indy Marchant - Fishers Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Fishers IN Real Estate Website
317-290-7775
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Apr
16
Fishers Realtor reveals Top 5 Ways to get an offer Accepted
Posted by marchantteam under Ask a REALTOR, Buyer Information, For Buyers, General Information
There are 311 homes under contract today in the Fishers Real Estate market! That is crazy good news. It is most likely a result of the impending end to the tax credits available to first time home buyers and repeat buyers.
I have heard so many people say that the market is still a buyer’s market. It is not, there are numerous cases of multiple offers being placed on those home for sale in Fishers.
So, how do you get your offer accepted? Here are the Top 5 Ways that I would recommend:
1) Have your Fishers Realtor ® research the activity so that you know what is a fair and reasonable price for the home. Be sure to consider those things that might make the home you are considering worth more or less such as updates, lot, and time on the market. Be sure your Realtor archives the history to understand how many times it has been bought or sold. Then make your decision. It is a rule of thumb that homes that are priced fairly will sell for between 95 and 97% of list price.
2) Decide if you really need closing costs. If you are buying a home over $200,000; it is “unusual” to ask for closing cost help. It is done, but if you want a clean offer, leave it out if possible. It you bid $200,000 and ask for $3,000 in closing costs, that is really a $197,000 offer to the seller.
3) Ask the seller what type of closing date and possession work best for them AHEAD of time, especially if you have some flexibility. For example my buyer wrote an offer in March with a May closing because it worked for them and they knew the sellers hadn’t found a place to move to. How did they know, I asked!
4) Be sure you are pre approved for the loan and attach that letter to the offer. The more you can put down, the more attractive your offer will look to the seller. It just eases their minds on the financial status of the buyer.
5) Make the time frame to respond to the offer as short as possible but be reasonable. Don’t give the seller several days to decide. Urgency is important to keep other offers coming in while they are considering yours.
If another offer comes in during the time you are looking or negotiating, be aware of how to handle “Best and Final Offers“.
Overall your offer should not have any contingencies, such as “selling your home first” or “receiving the job offer”, etc.
The purchase agreement is seven pages and there are numerous considerations when filling one out, using a professional Realtor ® will increase the chances that your offer is accepted.
There are still two weeks left to take advantage of the tax credit and the inventory is still high; I hope you find the right home for you. As I tell all my buyers, “I want to sell you, ‘I gotta have this house’ rather than ‘This one could work’”!
Search homes for sale in Fishers by Neighborhood
Other Northside Blogs (Carmel, Noblesville, and Geist)
Cindy œin Indy Marchant - Fishers Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Fishers IN Real Estate Website
317-290-7775
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Nov
28
Should I become a Realtor
Posted by marchantteam under Ask a REALTOR, For Buyers, For Sellers, General Information, Tips and Random Thoughts
I have been selling Fishers Real Estate since 2001 part time and 2004 full time and sell between $7 and $10 million a year as an individual and the Marchant Team will sell $25,000,000 this year.
I am asked at least a dozen times a year whether someone should “go into” selling real estate. There are some very quantitative exercises to go through to help you determine if you will be successful at it. Here they are:
Can you sit down right now and make a list of 100 people you know well enough to ask them if they know anyone looking to buy, sell or invest in real estate?
Do you have at least 10 buckets where you can capture leads? Some examples would include a BNI group, Chamber involvement, connections with HR personnel of companies that relocate employees to and from Indianapolis, soccer parents, etc.
How much are you willing to spend in time and money to have a website presence? It is in fact how you landed on this particular blog and year to date, I have closed approximately $1MM of business from my Fishers Blog.
There are other things to consider in choosing a career in real estate. Many people think that if I sell a home for $100,000 I get to keep $3,500 of that commission. Most people know that if the commission is 7% that the buying agent gets 3.5% and the selling agent gets 3.5%.
But did you know that often we split our commissions with our Brokerage firm at a 70/30% split. There are also MIBOR technology fees, licensure fees, website fees, and lockboxes and signage to purchase. On average I spend 28% of every dollar earned (70% of the commission I receive) on these types of fees, advertising, and office space. This varies by company and Keller Williams does have a “Cap” so that once you reach the cap; you are able to keep 100% of your commissions!
And then there are taxes! As an independent contractor you get to pay both portions of FICA, both the employee (7.65%) and the employer (7.65%) or 15.3% in addition to Federal and State Taxes.
The other typical question I discuss with prospective real estate agents is whether to join a large firm like Keller Williams or FC Tucker, etc or to go with a smaller boutique type firm with fewer than 10 agents in it. I hands down recommend a larger firm for a couple of reasons. You will find a wealth of knowledge with an established firm and the agents they bring in. The education in larger firms is better, more frequent and always relevant. Add to that the ability to be part of a team to lower the fees you pay to the firm and to increase the number of leads you receive to help supplement your client base are three of the most important.
So, while I love selling real estate and have found success in it; it is not probably a career choice that works for everyone. If you can successfully complete the first three quantitative exercises, then give me a call and work through the numbers with you to determine how much you need to sell to earn the income you would like.
Search homes for sale in Fishers by Neighborhood
Other Northside Blogs (Carmel, Noblesville, and Geist)
Cindy œin Indy Marchant - Fishers Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Fishers IN Real Estate Website
317-290-7775
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Nov
23
Finding a Fishers Foreclosure
Posted by marchantteam under Ask a REALTOR, Buyer Information, For Buyers, For Sellers, General Information, Sellers Corner, Short Sales
Working at Keller Williams has many benefits from their focus on God to their entrepreneurial style of leadership. But, one thing I love is that the tools they provide their agents are relevant. Our latest tool is a search for Just Foreclosures in Fishers (or Carmel, Noblesville or Indianapolis). Our splash page on our Fishers Real Estate website has all four buttons for easy navigation or their is a Fishers Foreclosure tab on the left side tool bar.
There are currently 21 Fishers Foreclosures on our website ranging from $97,000 for a condo in Middleton Place to $999,000 in the Hawthornes.
Here are some things to keep in mind for foreclosure/bank owned homes:
- The owners stopped maintaining the home long before they started to miss their payments, so there will be things that will need attention from missing lights to mold.
- The bank has already discounted the price and may not take much less than it is listed for.
- The bank has far more of these types of properties than they can manage, so the wait is usually longer.
- There are usually lots of buyers “hovering” around these properties and if you do not act quickly, by the time you make your offer the listing agent will contact all those potential buyers and you most likely will find yourself in a multiple bid (best and final offer) situation.
- You more than likely will have a decent amount of equity if you can be patient and let your Realtor ® guide you through the process.
The Marchant Team is well equipped in both assisting you in the buy process or getting your short sale approved through your bank if you are needing to sell short. We know the questions to ask and we know what the answers need to be to help you get to the closing table.
We can compute the amount of equity you will have and provide vendors to assist in fixing things that you may not feel comfortable fixing on your own.
Let us know what questions you have, we are here to help.
Search homes for sale in Fishers by Neighborhood
Other Northside Blogs (Carmel, Noblesville, and Geist)
Cindy œin Indy Marchant - Fishers Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Fishers IN Real Estate Website
317-290-7775
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Oct
16
Finding the Right Neighborhood in Fishers Indiana
Posted by marchantteam under Ask a REALTOR, Buyer Information, For Buyers, General Information
When relocating and buying a home for sale in Fishers, the average person can be overwhelmed with the number of great neighborhoods. How can a Fishers Reator ® guide her clients without “Steering”? Steering in general means guiding buyers to a particular area based on the desire to keep the makeup of that neighborhood the same or intentionally change it. This isn’t restricted to just ethnicity, but also demographically in terms of age or family make up. It is an illegal practice.
There are several tools we give to our buyers to help them discern if a neighborhood is right for them. The first things I have to do though is listen. A buyer will give me a lot of informaton initially and I need to be able to figure out which pieces of informaton are most important in their search for a home.
For example, if a buyer has small children and wants a lot of children in their neighborhood I tell them to pay particular attention to the number of swingsets in the yards or to visit the home during school bus times.
If a buyer wants a social or active neighborhood, I ask them to drive by on a Saturday and see if people are out. For example in my neighborhood on a Saturday you would see moms walking babies in strollers, older people out for a stroll, a gazillion people walking their dogs and probably a few bikes or runners too.
If a buyer wants a neighborhood that is quiet, I might look at a low maintenance community that offers lawn care services for example. Looking at the amenities a neighborhood offers also might be useful, is their a playground and pool?
If a buyer is concerned about safety and is unfamiliar with our area, I ask them to visit familywatchdog.us to get specific crime statistics for the Fishers home they are interested in.
If a buyer wants a neighborhood with great resale, I pull the statistics for that neighborhood. For example I pull the average price per square foot for 2007, 2008 and 2009 and watch the trend. I look at days on market trending.
Lately, another statistic I am pulling for neighborhoods is the number of distressed properties (i.e. bank owned or foreclosure).
So, while I cannot “steer” people to a neighborhood of “my choice”; I can offer suggestions and data to help my buyers understand what is available that matches what is important to them. But again, it begins with listening. I’m all ears for you!
Search homes for sale in Fishers by Neighborhood
Other Northside Blogs (Carmel, Noblesville, and Geist)
Cindy œin Indy Marchant - Fishers Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Fishers IN Real Estate Website
317-290-7775
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Indianapolis/Fishers Real Estate is authored by Cindy Marchant
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Hey Cindy, congrats it looks like you are going to have a great year even in this terrible economy. Kudos to you and your team!
Of course, you know I have to respectfully disagree with you on the big vs. small brokerage debate
RE is most definitely not for everyone and I think most believe it is FAR easier than it actually is. Good comments, hope to do another transaction with you soon.