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)