Cindy "in Indy" Marchant Indpls and Fishers Real Estate

Fishers Real Estate residents have experienced incredible growth over the last few years; the population has grown to over 66,000 in 2008, a growth rate of over 65% since 2000. There was a need for a 2^nd High School in addition to the existing Hamilton Southeastern High School, so Fishers High School re-opened in 2006. I say re-opened because Fishers High School did exist back in 1969 prior to its demolition.

There are approximately 2,000 students that are enrolled in Fishers High School, 517 in 9^th; 533 in 10^th; 498 in 11^th and 480 seniors. The school opened in 2006 with just 9-11^th grades so 2007 was the first graduating class. Demographically, the school is 82% White, 7% Black, 4% Asian and 7% Other.

The school is located at the corner of 131^st and Promise Road and the mascot is a Tiger. Many sports are offered at the Fishers High School including Cross Country, Football, Soccer, Basketball, Golf, Tennis, Swimming, Wrestling, Track and Field and Volleyball. They have a quality academic program including the International Baccalaureate Diploma.

To determine if you go to Hamilton Southeastern or Fishers High School you can input your Fishers subdivision or use the Fishers Real Estate boundary maps. Either of these tools will help Fishers Real Estate residents determine their schools based on where they live in Fishers. I know specifically that the neighborhoods with the best resale values in Fishers discussed in a previous post do attend Fishers High School.

Fishers Indiana is a magnet for many people relocating to the Indianapolis area because of its family friendly activities, its resale values and most importantly its schools. They are ranked as one of the best schools in the state of Indiana and consistently rank high in sports, band competition and other academic and sporting events. Forbes magazine has also ranked Fishers, In as the best place to raise a family. Perhaps the only negative for Fishers is the traffic congestion on I69 and the northeast corridor. That's why using a Fishers real estate agent that knows the area, the neighborhoods and the traffic patterns is important when relocating, so we hope you will be sure to contact us if that time arrives. If you already live in Fishers, congratulations on picking such a great city!

Cindy "in Indy" Marchant - Fishers Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Fishers IN Real Estate Website
317-290-7775

The markets in the Indianapolis and Fishers Real Estate areas have shown some declines over the last year. I have analyzed the data through October 31, 2008 for both Fishers Real Estate and Lawrence Township Real Estate. There is no doubt it continues to be a buyers market. There are motivated sellers, bank owned homes and homes that are auctioned at a monthly sheriff sale. The number of bank owned homes in the Lawrence Township Real Estate market is 130 and for Fishers Real Estate, the number is 33 as of November 18th, 2008. Keep in mind, these are only the ones listed on MIBOR.

The sheriff sale happens once a month on the 2^nd Wednesday of the month for Marion County real estate. These are homes that may or may not be on the MLS. In many cases, they have not been listed. The auction is not held at the home; it is held at the City County Building at 200 W Washington. It begins at 3:30 and there is no cost to attend. The actual process takes less than 30 minutes.

Here is the way it works:

You obtain a list of homes that will be potentially sold at the sheriff sale for $3.00 by going to the Indy Gov site. I did this for November and there were 426 properties listed. It is in a PDF format so it is hard to sort by Township or other key indicators. I looked through the list and saw two in my Township that I wanted to watch at the sale.

The board lists all of the Marion County real estate that is available to bid on the day of the sale, in this case November 12^th. You have from 9:00 to 3:00 to place a sealed bid on the real estate.

At 3:30 you assemble in a room and the boards are displayed. There are three colors; red is a bid has been received so the home will be auctioned, blue is there is not a bid and it will not be auctioned, green is that an agreement has been worked out and the home is no longer available. Of the 426 properties, only 14 were in red and available to bid on at the auction.

Of the 14 that had sealed bids, only five of properties had competing bids during the auction. The highest property on the board in red was $117,640 and sold for $132,000. The assessed value on that particular home was $239,200. Most of the Marion County real estate available for auction on this particular day were less than $75,000 (all but the one above).

You must pay cash at the sale. You are the ones that must go knocking on the door of the property you bought if it is occupied and tell the residents they have two weeks to vacate.

My observations, as your Fishers Real Estate Agent, are that those that attend the auction are seasoned and have been doing it for many years. You have to know what you are doing and what your ceiling is should you find competition at the auction. You will probably not get a $250,000 home for $50,000, but there are certainly deals.

I plan to go to a Hamilton County real estate sale next month and will update you on their process.

Cindy "in Indy" Marchant - Fishers Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Fishers IN Real Estate Website

Another great 2008 Christmas event awaits Fishers Real Estate residents! Last week the residents enjoyed the beginning of Christmas with the Hamilton Town Center Christmas in November event. This blog post had over 85 visitors for that one event; if you haven't written a comment on it, we'd love to hear what you thought. On November 22nd Fishers and neighboring community residents will get to experience an annual event at the Fishers Town Hall on 116th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The Fishers Chamber of Commerce and the Town of Fishers present the 2008 Annual Tree Lighting. This is no oridnary tree, it is a 25 foot Christmas tree!

In addition, Santa and Mrs Claus will be arriving to help the Town leaders light the tree. This is an event you won't want to miss. After the lighting of the Christmas tree, the Fishers High School choirs will be singing as well as the costumed Dickens carolers. And the children will have a chance to meet Santa and Mrs Claus to whisper their holiday wishes to them. There will be punch and cookies too; courtesy of the Rotary Club of Fishers. We invite all of Fishers Real Estate residents and the surrounding communities to join in the fun! In a time when real estate sales, the stock market and the general economy is tight; it is great to have an event like this to bring the community together.

I encourage those of you that visit here to write a comment if you have been to this event in previous years; other Fishers Real Estate residents would love to hear what it is like and what you enjoyed most. I'd also like to invite you to read other posts. I write mainly about real estate with monthly market reports and Fishers Real Estate Neighborhoods but I also write about various events, schools and hot spots. If you have a favorite neighborhood, event or hot spot let me know and I'll try to feature it in an upcoming post. I want to be your source of Fishers information and your Fishers Real Estate Agent of choice.

Cindy "in Indy" Marchant - Fishers Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Fishers IN Real Estate Website
317-290-7775

Comparing different areas in the Indianapolis real estate market demonstrates a decline in sales from 2008 as compared to 2007. We have shown this in an earlier post for the Fishers Real Estate market. This article is for homes between $100,000 and $500,000 to exclude some outlier areas that are either bank owned or luxury homes on the water. It is for Lawrence Township which is just south of the Fishers real estate market; but within Marion County.

We are seeing fewer buyers in the market which means you have to be on top of your selling game. One of my favorite shows to watch on HGTV is Design to Sell and they have great tips on how to get your home ready to sell. Some others that they mentioned not on this particular list that cost nothing are to

*Declutter
*Deep Clean (that includes ceiling fans, behind furniture, and especially base boards)
*Frame your fireplace as the focal part of the room

In a market with stats like those shown above, pricing is important. It demands a listing price that is in line with a selling price. You should be able to trust your Lawrence Township or Fishers real estate agent to handle tight negotiations if a low offer comes in on your home.

If you are a buyer, get out there and buy! Homes in the Lawrence or Fishers Real Estate market are going to be at their best condition and their best price. The $7,500 first time buyer incentive is still available and we hold First Time Buyer classes every month to help you understand the process of buying, inspecting, and lending.

Your Lawrence Township or Fishers Real Estate Team stand ready to help you understand how to sell your home or to help you buy your new home.

Cindy "in Indy" Marchant - Fishers Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Fishers IN Real Estate Website

The city of Indianapolis welcomes its latest architecturally stunning masterpiece with the opening of the new H. Weir Cook Terminal on November 12th. The really cool tidbit about this new airport terminal is that it expects to be the largest LEED-certified (green friendly) building in the Midwest and additionally 90% of the materials to build the facility came from within 500 miles.

The $1.1 billion project was financed by $120 million from Federal grants and the remaining through bonds that will be repaid through airport operation revenues. No state or local tax proceeds were used for its construction or operation. In addition it will SAVE airlines over $10 million in fuel each year because there will be less taxi time given the placement of the terminal to the runways.

One of the most talked about features of the new Indianapolis Airport terminal is the $4 million in art that runs throughout the terminal. Many of the works of art are from local artists; Tom Torluemke of Hammond who designed the terrazzo floors that joins the terminal to Concourses A & B or Greg Hull, an Indianapolis artist who teaches sculpture at the Herron School of Art who suspends a series of kinetic (moving) sculptures in the parking garage's five-story atrium. The picture on the left is from an artist in East Sussex, England and taken by my daughter at Visitor's Day. There are over 30 eye catching murals in glass and mosaic as well throughout the Indianapolis Airport.

The new Indianapolis airport terminal is 1.2 million sq ft, nearly double the old terminal size. Having a Users Guide will be beneficial! Both concourse A and B have 20 gates, two are International. The FAA Tower is the 3rd tallest in the United States. Perhaps the most controversal issue with the new terminal is the whole body imaging scanners costing $170,000 each. The cost isn't the controversy, the controversy is that passengers at random are selected to be viewed basically naked, although the faces are blurred and the images are erased as soon as the passenger is cleared.

Finally just a bit about what restaurants to expect at the new terminal...the list includes 96th Street Steakburgers, Harry & Izzy's, Schapiro, Wolfgang Puck and my personal favorite Cafe Patachou's.

If you are flying into our Indianapolis airport to relocate to our great city, we hope you will review both Indianapolis and Fishers Real Estate with us!

Cindy "in Indy" Marchant - Fishers Real Estate Agent
Keller Williams Realty Indy Metro NE
Fishers IN Real Estate Website
317-290-7775