From Mama Carolla's to Bub's. Midwest Living hits the Monon Trail.

In the May/June edition of Midwest Living, Donna Segal and her husband bike from Broad Ripple north along the 16 mile expanse of the Monon Trail and ruin my diet with Mistro Mare from Mama Carolla's,
cookies from Rene's Bakery and a full frontal view of The Big Ugly burger from Bub's, among other things. It's a wonderful piece that maps the trail from 54th street north to Main Street in Carmel where Bub's, Bazeaux and Ferrin's Fruit Winnery all sit within a short block. Touting a million Monon users a year, this is a great piece on our city and region that appears on a national scope. I think the over/under on weight gain just from reading the piece is 5 pounds.


Builder's numbers from Indianapolis continue to slide with the pace for new homes to be right at 4500 built in 2008, down 60% from the annual average just 3 years ago. Meanwhile the local housing stats are grim but with some faint flickers of light down the tunnel. Local sales of preexisting homes are off anywhere from 10%to 40% depending upon which geography you're in with some micro price points suffering more than others. The entire market is razor thin right now with there being little logic as to what sells and how. The general rule of thumb is that unique sells as long as it hits the highest demand for the market. Great houses sell in most cases. Good houses sit - unless they're priced in an incredibly aggressive manner. First time home buyers should be out in droves but they're not for several reasons. They are still hesitant because of all of the bad press and they're still uncertain because of how tight the lending standards have become in the last 60 days. The easy money of the past 15 years is gone. Right now we're essentially in a risk based lending world, with credit scores, income and down payment driving what a prospective buyer can obtain in the way of financing. The ability and experience of the Mortgage agent is EVERYTHING in the pursuit of a home purchase right now.

The day is coming when listing a home for sale will mean much more than a local MLS posting. There are multiple national platforms that are battling for that brand position and if I had to lay money down, I'd say Zillow will emerge eventually as the leader. Zillow allows anyone to post a home for sale and in some cases post a 'hypothetical' home for sale so that potential sellers can see what demand there may be for their property. Of all national real estate hits, Realtor.com still commands about 9% of the initial search hits but Zillow is growing at over 4% while Realtor.com's numbers are shrinking. Will that make all Realtors obsolete? In a word, no. The future will require Brokers to be vastly skilled in the practice of analysis and presentation rather than simply just spooning out proprietary information as has been the case in the past. Those who don't, won't surivive. Those who master these tools will flourish and be highly sought after.

Comments....questions.....donations:
Greg@GregCooper.com or 317.848.GREG (4734)

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Apparently it's catching. The stupid gene, disease, virus, etc., is making the rounds to a degree that would make Mama Gump quiver with disgust. Yes, in an era that finds us in the worst real estate market in 30 years, we still have a mass worship at the alter of dumb and dumber. Locally, Indiana house leader Pat Bauer insisted on passing a tax relief bill that exempts two northern Indiana counties from a constitutional limit of a one percent cap on property taxes against the valuation of the home. Lake and St. Joseph's counties, prepare to get Ned Beaty in Deliverance style treatment. The only reason I care at all about this is because I'm originally from 'the region' and I hate the fact that Pat and his cronies can now stick it to the people that still live in those counties. The other teeny little issue could be the fact that it may make the whole amendment unconsitutional and we'll have to go through this entire damn charade again if that's the case....and why wouldn't it be?








Does anyone think the residents of Lake and St. Joseph counties won't fight this thing? If all of the work of the most recent general assembly becomes for naught, let's call for Pat's rug on a stick, shall we?

Next there's the genuises at Countrywide Mortgage. Terribly managed at the corporate level, they're now in the business of owning as much real estate as possible. Recently our brokerage had a home that had been listed for sale starting at $800,000 for over a year that had dropped to $675,000 with CW holding the mortgage. As it became a short sale (upside down) with NO offers on the home until it reached the $675K mark, it finally got an offer that was accepted by CW at $650K.

Their appraiser came to do a final appraisal on the home prior to the new buyer closing. The CW appraiser decided that even though the home had not sold at every price point from $800K on down to $675K where it finally got an offer, they would value it at $750,000 and subsequently blow the only offer to purchase they would have in over a year. Genius. That was the second such dealing we've had with Countrywide in the last six months that has ended like this. We all know what they say about fool me once....


Ahhh.....then there's the whole Bear Stearns fiasco that took a stock price of $80+- a share on 3/10/2008 and turned it into $2 a share 6 days later. This situation is much more complicated with liquidity and investment placement issues but the bottom line is that one of America's leading finiancial institutions has fallen faster than Humpty Dumpty. Thousands of employees are out of work, retirement portfolios are gone and massive uncertainly crowds the financial markets. Is there another Wall Steet shoe to drop along with Bear? Let's hope not. The fragile psyche of the consumer doesn't need any more bad news.

Let's switch gears to conclude with a little good news. Of a more pure and simple fun nature, I had the pleasure of watching, filming and nearly getting arrested participating in the Indy St. Patty's day parade with my step son Jack on 3/17. It was cold, blustery and no one cared. Many people that we know don't really understand Jack's interest in Irish Dance. Well here it is: I'm sure even at his age the 4-1 ratio of females to males isn't all bad. From our end it's physical, mental and social requiring discipline and a personal investment from him. Everyone's a specialist in this day and age and if that specialty helps you grow into a better person, I'm all for it. It's a long way from politics, home mortgage nightmares and Wall Street but right now, that's not all bad.

Questions....commments.....contact: Greg@GregCooper.com or 317-848-GREG (4734)

This is the front view of REGGIE MILLER's Indiana home in the Geist area that is now for sale. Reggie has been a part of our community for over two decades and will remain so in the future. He'll be downsizing to something in our area with more practical space for his needs which ensures you'll still see him at local high school basketball games and around town. We've heard he's even been seen at the local market and been gracious enough to sign an autograph or two for kids who've approached him. Reggie has given much back to our community far beyond the basketball court. It's a privilege to represent him in this transition and have him living in Indiana in the future. In addition to the former Hilbert Mansion, this is clearly one of Indiana and the Midwest's premier estates.

Please see the link to the left for addional photos of the residence.

If you have any questions about this home or the facts surrounding it's sale, please call Dick Richwine or myself at 317.848.GREG (4734).

Here's a video link for Dick Richwine talking about Reggie's home in Indiana:



We'd like to thank Tom Britt and all of the team from www.AtGeist.com for posting this on their site. They are a great resource for all kinds of information in the Geist area!.

Suit up and buckle down....

It's going to be a rocky ride over the next few months. Think the subprime mortgage mess is behind us? Not quite. Not really. The standards under which lenders can approve loans are getting tighter by the day. Loan programs once standard are now fantasy. A colleague said to me today that we will look back on this period in the real estate business as the time when the mortgage industry regained it's sanity. I suppose the good news is that you will not be seeing anymore DiTech.com commercials offering 125% financing over the phone. 20% down loans are becoming minimum standard requirements. It's my belief that by Memorial Day of 2007 (or sooner), 100%financing will be a distant memory.

The Federal Reserve has cut the discount rate again this week to 4.25%. In reality there would have little effect on the long term rates and had they cut it to 4.0%. The Fed cut lowers the rates on things like Home Equity Lines, credit cards, and other similar lending but it can often have the exact opposite impact on home loan rates. In some ways a Fed cut is perceived as driving inflation, since spending by consumers and businesses generally picks up in times of better financing rates.

Another huge factor in this process is the ongoing subprime affect. The types of home loans available have shrunk consderably in the past 6 months with in essence a 'knee jerk' reaction taking place in the lending markets. Further as we get into 2008, we're going to see an increased need for higher and higher down payments, credit scores and overall credit worthiness for borrowers to obtain a loan. If it were our choice for the market, we would have preferred to have these changes ushered in over several years instead of 10 months. Unfortunately when FannieMae and FreddiMac announce huge losses as they did again on 12/11 to the tune of another 6 Billion dollars, there's going to be tighter requirements to get a loan. That means fewer buyers in the market and continued excessive inventory of homes for sale.

The day is coming but we're not there when things are decidedly on the upswing. Until then, sellers need to be ask themselves long and hard how badly they want to sell, especially if there is no real sizzle in the product their offering. If you want to sell, you must be updated and your price must be on the aggressive side of the curve. We get calls everyday from home owners who want, think, feel and need X amount of dollars from their home. While we'd love to make that happen for everyone, the market is still the market and doesn't care about ANY of that. The honest reality is, your home is worth what someone will pay and in this day and age you MUST look like a significant value below cost or be incredibly unique to get to the closing table.

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Greg@GregCooper.com or 317-848-GREG(4734)

Paybacks are a .......................Necessity!

The 2007 upgrade cost versus return value numbers are out and they both reflect a strong indication of where good money is spent to increase the worth of your home and what type of immediate dollar amount they yield. As one may imagine, these vary in certain parts of the country. Specific exterior projects returned a higher recovery rate in the Pacific Northwest if they were based on eco friendly products but also because the northwest saw one of the best real estate overall value trends in the nation. While the South, Midwest and West saw decreases in overall value, the Pacific Northwest saw modest gains as did NY, NJ and Connecticut. The cost recuouped also varied by condition of the rest of the house, the value of similar homes nearby and the values in the overall community. Further, the value of return also differentiated on whether a cost was a replacement or an addition.

Nationally, most of the projects that saw the best dollar for dollar returns were exterior in nature with the exception being a minor kitchen remodel. Home office remodels, on the other end, have never returned more than 58% of their investment value in the decade plus of the survey information. On the positive side, wood deck additions recovered over 85% of their cost nationally and kitchen remodels actually returned nearly 88% of their investment.

To pinpoint the returns for the Midwest, we looked at Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan. The best returns for projects were lower than the national numbers but were no doubt skewed by the decline in the overall market. In the midwest region minor kitchen remodels returned over 78% of cost immediatly while deck additions returned over 72% of their outlay. Master suite remodels returned 63% of their cost in the five state region.

In other remodels, the cost versus returns were as follows: attic to bedroom conversion - 71%; Basement remodel - 62%; Bathroom remodel - 52%. Addition returns in the midwest were as follows: Sunroom - 53%; 2nd story addition - 65%; extra garage bay addtion - 57%; full bath addtions - 59%.

One other significant factor of note....the upscale home return numbers were different in some cases based on the specific amenity. Decks, master suites and fiber cement siding replacement all returned 3-5% more per project than on the median priced homes.

While this discussion is always helpful in deciding what to spend money on in your home, we also remind our clients that the most important factor is 'quality of life' when determining how to allocate our financial resources on your real estate investments. If it makes you happy AND you intend to stay in your home for an addtional period, the return on monies spent is always more intangible in a positive way.

Questions? Comments? Greg@GregCooper.com or 317.848.GREG (4734)

SO you think we've got it bad? Say hello to the state of pain....California.

California's October home sales slide 40%
Median resale home price falls 9.9%; housing starts off 28%

The rate of sales for single-family, detached resale homes plummeted 40.2 percent in California in October compared to the same month last year, while the median price dropped 9.9 percent the California Association of Realtors trade group reported Wednesday. The California Building Industry Association reported that total housing starts in the state fell 30.9 percent from January through October in California compared to the same period last year. Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the association, said in a statement, "We expect further weakness in sales over the next few months as the liquidity crisis plays out." The group's Unsold Inventory Index was 16.3 months in October, indicating that it would take an estimated 16.3 months to exhaust the supply of for-sale homes at the October sales pace. The index stood at 6.4 months in October 2006.

A for-sale inventory of about six months is considered to indicate a market that is roughly in equilibrium, with a supply greater than six months generally indicating a buyer's market. "Financing issues have dogged entry-level buyers since early 2007, but they spilled over into the middle- and upper-tier markets in the last few months," said William E. Brown, president for the Realtors group. "The decline in sales at the upper end of the market contributed to a significant decline in the statewide median price as even well-qualified borrowers had difficulty securing financing."

The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California was $497,110 in October, down 9.9 percent from the revised $552,020 median price in October 2006.

The 10 cities and communities with the highest median home prices in California during October 2007 were Newport Beach, at $1,575,000; Santa Barbara, $1,275,000; Cupertino, $1,033,000; Danville, $1,017,500; Los Gatos, $1,005,000; San Carlos, $927,500; Redwood City, $912,000; San Ramon, $835,000; San Clemente, $832,500; and San Mateo, $829,500.

The 10 cities, city areas and communities with the greatest median home price decreases in October 2007 compared to 2006 were Palm Springs, down 64.6 percent; Los Banos, down 27.7 percent; Elk Grove, down 27 percent; Galt and Stockton, down 26.1 percent; Antioch, down 25.3 percent; Merced, down 25.1 percent; Salinas, down 25 percent; and Walnut Creek and Wildomar, both down 24.9 percent.

The California Building Industry Association, in a separate announcement on Wednesday, reported that housing starts, as measured by building permits issued, dropped 28 percent in October compared to October 2006. There were 7,726 building permits issued for housing units in the state in October, according to the report.

Housing starts, as measured by building permits issued, dropped 46.3 percent in that market area from January through October this year compared to the same period last year, while falling 39.3 percent in the Bakersfield and Oakland areas, 35.1 percent in the San Diego area, 30.1 percent in the Sacramento area, 27.9 percent in Stockton, 23.5 percent in Modest, 20 percent in Los Angeles, 17.2 percent in Visalia-Porterville, 16 percent in Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, and rising 5.6 percent in Fresno.

Considering Indiana has felt about a 9% drop October 2006 to October 2007 in resale units, we're certainly not feeling the pain that our friends to the west are.

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? As always you can find me at Greg@GregCooper.com or
317.848.GREG (4734).