The Derrick Team Blog

Recent Derrick Team Sales

Avon Home Sales, Buying Real Estate, Danville Home Sales, Indianapolis Home Sales, Putnam County Home Sales, REALTOR, Selling Real Estate, Selling Your Home No Responses »

May 212013

Sales from 2012 through 2013.

Helping a lot of happy home buyers & sellers.

Listing Agent ~ Stadium Drive, Brownsburg ~ Listed and sold Brandi’s home in 5 days so she and her husband can get a larger home.

Listing Agent ~ Broadway Street, Danville ~ Sold Rick’s classic home to free up his enjoyment of retirement.

Listing Agent ~ Fenster Court, Indianapolis ~ Sold this Estate home to help the family.

Listing Agent ~ Rolling Oak, Indianapolis ~ We sold Josh, Michelle, & Nicholes home so they can move to FL

Listing Agent ~ Lockerbie Lane, Pittsboro ~ We sold Laura’s cute home so she can move to southern IN

Listing Agent ~ Indiana Street, Danville ~ We sold Ron’s classic home so he can travel more with Denise

Listing Agent ~ Salt Creek, Brown County ~ We sold Becky’s 15 acre lot just outside Nashville

Selling Agent ~ Hoefgen Street, Indianapolis ~ found a great home for Karen, a first time buyer

Listing Agent ~ Trace Lane, Indianapolis ~ We sold Jeff’s home so he could move to FL

Listing Agent ~ Forest Home St, Roachdale ~ We sold Ray & Melynda’s commercial office building

Selling Agent ~ Forest Home St, Roachdale ~ We found a new location for Bill & Bonnie to run their business Boilermasters

Selling Agent ~ Promontory Court, Geist ~ We found a wonderful home for Kraig & Dianne & family with a pool

Selling Agent ~ Fieldstone Lane, Plainfield ~ We found a nice home for Eric & Hollie & family to relocate from IL

Listing Agent ~ Pattype Lane, Avon ~We sold Mark’s investment property

Selling Agent ~ Jackson Way, Avon ~ We found a great home for Richard & Tammy

Getting Your Home Ready To Sell: Gather Information!

Home Improvement, REALTOR, Selling Your Home No Responses »

May 102013

Some of the usual tips you get to your home ready to show are clean and paint where needed. We’ve covered this in more detail on other blog posts. Here are a few important tips to set your home above your competition on the market.

1. Documentation on work performed on your home.

I would almost call this a diary of your home improvements. Gather up any invoices, documentation, permits, etc of major items that have been repaired, replaced, or upgraded. This can be a simple as a repair to the furnace to a bathroom remodel or new roof installed. Warranty information is especially important. Other work could be outlined in a document with dates and work performed such as owner performed landscaping, painting, etc. Not only does this impress buyers but this can be used for inspections and appraisals which is an added bonus.

2. Find documentation from when you purchased the home.

Most people don’t realize there can be some very helpful documents in your last purchase package. First is that most title companies will give you a discount on your owners title insurance if you provide the title work from the last purchase. Also there might be a boundary or stake survey included in the packet. If you purchased new it should have the model information and floor plan. Again very helpful and could be added to #1 item above.

3. Utility and service vendor information.

Good agent will ask you for this so it helps to go ahead and gather this up ahead of time. You’ll need to come up with average costs for items such as electric, water, & gas if applicable. Also include cable, phone, and Internet services. Don’t forget if you use a lawn service, trash pickup service to include that as well. Of course this all can be neatly laid out in a document and added to the book. (Are you seeing a pattern yet?)

4. Seasonal photos.

If you have really nice landscaping with flowers the bloom in the spring find some photos you’ve taken (you didn’t just look at them did you?) If applicable maybe some nice fall foliage photos of the trees in full color. If you have that ideal back yard that looks great with a fresh snow include that one. Also any wildlife photos you snapped in the back yard that adds to the beauty setting of your yard. Share these photos with your agent and of course, add them to THE book.

Well I think you get the idea now, do some work upfront to wow your buyers on how well you’ve taken care of and enjoyed your home. This will in turn add value in the eyes of the buyers but also help when this is presented to the appraiser. When they determine the monetary value of a home they compare it to similar area sold homes and then make adjustments based on condition. With your documentation they can make those adjustment on the ‘plus’ side and in turn raise the overall value of your home.

The Derrick Team will be glad to help our sellers create this book in a nice format as part of our “Above and Beyond” marketing. Give us a call for more details at 317-563-1110.

Free Home Buyers Mobile Search App

Buying Real Estate, Technology No Responses »

Apr 022013

If you’re looking to buy a home, this is the app for you. It currently works on any GPS enabled iPhone, iPad, and Android phone (Android tablets coming soon).

This app features the ability to find homes around you and bring up the MLS data and photos on your device. Point towards a home, snap a photo, and it will tell you the features as listed on the MLS.

If you want more details or want to setup a showing (and you’re not already working with an agent), click the request for info and the app shoots us a request and will get back with you shortly! Can’t get much easier than that!

Just type in your mobile phone number on the upper left corner of this screen or click here to download.

What Not To Do To Get Your Home Ready To Sell

Home Improvement, Selling Your Home No Responses »

Mar 272013

Something a lot of people don’t understand: Every dollar you spend on your home will not necessarily increase the value by the same amount. It’s known as the Return On Investment (ROI). So here are four examples that you would not gain much value if you added them to your home.

1. In areas where they cannot be used year around, swimming pools don’t add much if any value, and to some buyers will only looked at as an expense they are not interested in. Do not install a pool as an investment. Only do so for your personal use and understand the issues when you go to sell. The only exceptions are in the warmer climates and upscale neighborhoods where many homes have pools. If it’s an above ground pool, you might consider removing it when you go to list your home (or at least offer to do so at your expense if potential buyers don’t want it).

2. Any improvements that bump your home in value that exceeds the neighborhood around you. Prime example would be a complete kitchen redo with expensive tile floors, granite counters, & custom cabinets where the other area homes are vinyl floors and Formica counters with stock cabinets. While you’ll be the best showing home in the area, your ROI will be much lower than just a standard update that matches surrounding homes.

3. Large investments in rooms that may not be common in your neighborhood such as converting an attached garage to a family room or fancy entertainment center in the basement. If you eliminate a garage, be sure your parking area matches area homes. If most homes have garages you’ve not gained much by the extra room. And for adding value to your home a fancy basement doesn’t add much more value than just a plain finished basement. Your ROI will again not amount to much.

4. Any project that you borrow a lot of money to complete. That loan will come off the proceeds right after your mortgage and thus reduce your net considerably while again not adding dollar for dollar increase in value.

The best advice we can give you is before you invest a lot of money in your home with the idea of selling in the next few years, call The Derrick Team at 317-563-1110. We’ll be happy to do area comps to give you a rough idea on your possible ROI. We’ll be happy to offer advice on some simple low dollar projects that will help you in the long run.

Some common myths for first time home buyers

Buying Real Estate, Financing Comments Off

Mar 082013

I need a lot of money to buy a home.
Not really. Depending on your credit rating and financial income there are ways to purchase a home with practically no money down. There are programs that finance up to 4% of the required 3.5% down required for typical FHA loans, leaving you extra to be used for closing expenses. Combined with seller assistance you can really purchase a home with little or no money down. (more details here)

I have to pay a REALTOR to help me buy a home.
Not true! REALTOR services are 100% paid for by the seller so as a buyer we represent you for free. There is no advantage to not using a REALTOR to purchase any real estate property. But by law and our ethics we must represent you and your interests over the seller’s, as they are represented by their own agent. (more info here)

I don’t need to worry about financing until I find the home I want to buy.
Bad move. We always suggest the first step is to check with a lender to find out where you stand in getting a loan. Sometimes they say go for it. Other times they may find you need to take care of some things financially to put you in a better position to get a good loan. But the main reason is that you don’t want to spend time looking to find the perfect home and THEN discover you cannot get a loan to buy it. It also helps guide you to what kind of home you can afford and in some cases where you can look (like you can afford more home than you thought). (check this post for details)

The national news on real estate is all I need to pay attention to.
Big no-no. The cliché in real estate is location, location, location. And as far as the real estate market is concerned, city, area, neighborhood. Just 2 blocks away can be a different market, depending on the area. This is where using a REALTOR pays off as we know the market in our area. For ANY questions on real estate ask a local agent. (typical local report here)

REALTORS get paid by their brokers no matter if they sell homes or not.
Mostly false. Except in a few cases almost all REALTORS work as Independent Contractors. The Derrick Team works with Carpenter Realtors as contractors and we only get paid with successful transactions, of which a portion is shared with Carpenter for services provided. So if you spend time with one agent, then use another to write an offer, the first agent gets nothing for their work. Keep this in mind when working with an agent. If you like an agent, stick with them so they will get paid for their work for you. That will in turn make them work harder for you. (read this for more info)

Give The Derrick Team a call today at 317-563-1110 with more details on these or any other questions you have. Remember, our services are paid for buy the seller so it costs you nothing.

Real Estate Inventory Is Down = Prices Will Soon Go Up

REALTOR, Selling Real Estate, Selling Your Home Comments Off

Feb 272013

Inventory in the local real estate market continues to drop as more homes are sold and less are being added to the market. We are trending to a sellers market as sales continue to be very active in 2013. As you see in the reports below, Hendricks County is the lowest it’s been in several years, lower than the state average in the second report. Prices will soon be increasing as the inventory stays low.

Call The Derrick Team if you are ready to sell as buyers are out there that want to buy now!

As reported for the entire state of Indiana:

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