**Just got the word I'll be appearing on HGTV's 'More Bang For Your Buck' that we'll be shooting on 6/16-17 here in Indy. Air dates forthcoming...unless I stink.

Every day....every week.....every year we hear it: "But my property is worth more because......" Today's New World of Real Estate's insensitve moment gives you straight talk about value.





The other big news of the week involves interest rates. Conventional loan rates jumped a full half of a point this week to the mid 5's. Why? A devalued dollar because of our skyrocketing federal debt. Get your money now friends because in a couple of years 5.5% is going to be a distant memory.

Now for something totally different....A LITTLE BIT OF GOOD NEWS!

Not long ago USA Today ran a great feature about the city of Indianapolis and it's efforts to be ready for a national economic turnaround as it occurs. From population growth to business and industry to housing affordability, this piece does a great job of describing why our region is ready when the day comes where growth is the direction rather than contraction. The entire USA TODAY story is a great read!

Dr. Ruth Wants To Move To Indiana.

So does Dr. Phil, Dr. Drew and Dr. Bombay. Hulk Hogan is very high on the Hoosier state as is a very famous equine and his owner (Wilburrrrrrr). You see every day we get requests for information from very famous people who inquire about various homes available in Indiana. It's not that the noted sex therapist, TV host, MTV therapist, professional wrestler or 60's icon are actually thinking of moving here.They are simply regular people who use the identiy of a famous person as they request information about one of the more higher profile residences we routinely market. Some just want good old fashioned general home information without all the encumbrances that dealing with a broker can entail. In summary they want anonymity. For those who want a free ticket in to the former Hilbert Estate please don't email me this: "Oh I swear Greg, what are you thinking by not taking Robin and I through there? Maybe she wouldn't have left old Dr. Phil if you had...." Trust us....we've heard it all before. From professional female wrestlers with the WWE to various television personalities to dead animals from the '60's, Alex, we've heard stories you cannot imagine.
It's not that we're being unkind, mind you. There are numerous legal, time constraint, never ending tour guide issues that are associated with that property as well as Reggie Miller's Geist area home. There are simply not enough hours in a day, week, month or career to do that.
You may be one of those who actually wants the information on a home or piece of ground and you simply want to be anonymous. That we understand. If at the end of the day, that's what you wish to accomplish, just give us a blind email box and we'll get you exactly what you need, no questions asked. We will be happy to treat you with total respect and
confidentiality if you would please do the same on our end. While the tenor of this post is trite, the reality isn't. In this challenging market, there are THOUSANDS of scam artists or worse who are preying on people's fears and desperation who would do harm to us or one of our clients if we weren't vigilant. Regrettably I was witness to a situation where a seller actually took his own life out of that desperation this year because of the horrid, intentional behavior of a scam artist acting as a buyer. In the end please just shoot straight with us and we'll respond in kind. It will provide with a much more positive environment for all of us, including Oprah, whose IM I'm receiving right now.

Well someone else finally said it.......


I've made some fairly strong statements in the past 60 days about this being the most challenging housing market in the past 50 years and in response several of you have taken the liberty of 'disagreeing' with me. This morning's Wall Street Journal (7/14/2008) takes it a step further.

The worst housing market since Herbert Hoover was in office?


There are some dead straight answers to what to do to sell your home in this piece and many of you will not like them. There remain two distinct constants right now in our market place. First, price, read fire sale price, sells. Second, until all of us call this for what it is...that being a housing depression, it will not resolve itself by market forces. The sooner we all recognize this for what it is the sooner we it will begin to correct itself. Anything else is just fools gold.

Indymac's takeover by the Feds is just another example of banks in trouble. The good news is the customers get their money through federal guarentees. The bad news is that IndyMac wasn't even on the national list of over 160 lenders that were in trouble. No doubt they got hammered by the incredible number of California foreclosures because of the roughly 40% reduction in many Cali property values in the last 30 months. Regardless of the reason, it's not good. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mercury are far bigger shoes that could drop but hopefully won't. With their enormous influence, even just having the Feds step in to save them would be hugely negative in it's psychlogical impact right now. Personally I'd pass on any more bad news.

INTEREST RATES......hovering around 6.4% to 6.5% on a conventional 30 year fixed with Jumbo loads floating in and out of the 8.0% range. Mortgage rates have gone up and will continue to do so. How high they go will determine how long it takes our housing problem to resolve itself.

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