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Carpenter Real Estate News

Tour of Affordable Homes works for us!

October 28th, 2010

We were very pleased with the results of the Indianapolis Star’s Tour of Affordable Homes this past Sunday. A special expanded edition of their Sunday Homefinder section offered details on nearly 300 Indianapolis-area homes for sale under $175,000. On top of that, there were several related articles – from Help in Finding an Affordable Home to the Indianapolis Community Housing Development Authority to Life After the Tax Credit.

Why did we like it?

First – since Carpenter’s average home sale price matches the area’s average, we have a much greater share of that under-$175k market. Our agents dominated the listings within the special affordable homes section. Of course our company got some nice exposure from it, but more importantly our home sellers had another chance to have their home noticed and considered by potential buyers.

Second – The Star did a great job of driving eyeballs to the section. Our 200+ open houses received a nice bump in exposure. No, they weren’t necessarily home buyers in the market now, but this type of editorial might push more of them into the market, and our open houses saw some additional traffic because of it. To quote a great film: “This is the kind of spontaneous publicity - your name in print - that makes people!” (Hint: “He hates these cans!”)

I digress. Finally – As the market continues to struggle, anything the media and we in the business can do to communicate the value of buying a home right now has got to help. Interest rates – historically low. Home prices – very affordable. Inventory – plenty to choose from. Sellers – motivated. Somewhat of a perfect storm … that more people should be taking advantage of.

Posted by:  Jim Newell


 

More Open Houses = More Homes Sold?

October 1st, 2010

I surprised myself this morning. I thought I’d look at the number of open houses that Carpenter Realtors’ agent are holding so far this Fall, thinking that the last few weeks’ numbers had been holding up pretty well despite the seasonality. So I compared numbers for past Septembers.

Lo and behold, our open house counts are holding up very well against previous years, especially considering how the market’s been acting. Just this week, our total is up more than 50% from the same week last year. Our ads in the Indianapolis Star are consistently larger than previous years’, with more open houses and more agents selecting the prominent photo ads for their open house.

Asking a few agents’ opinions on this, I’ve found that many are still actively looking at a rebound in home sales and want to be upfront. Their open houses give them a chance to connect with their sellers’ neighbors and meet a number of fairly active buyers, both in a non-threatening “sales pitch” way. Plus the home sellers know that their Carpenter agent is putting some effort into selling their home in a tough market. We still hear stories from sellers whose previous agents rarely contacted them, failed to offer market activity updates, didn’t advertise and simply didn’t “work” for their business.

So yes – it’s nice to consistently have more open houses for sale than anyone, have a larger presence in the Sunday Star (300,000 copies, a half-million readers!) and have all our open houses syndicated to more online sites. It’s great to have agents who are re-engaging with the market now - when it’s showing signs of a rebound. It just bodes well for them being the first to see a rebound and the most successful coming out of the downturn.

Yeah, I’m gonna have a good weekend.

By the way, I used the term Lo and Behold and got curious where it came from. Thanks to phrases.org.uk, I found that its meaning is that it’s ”an exclamation, drawing others’ attention to something. Used especially to announce things that are considered startling or important.” The word ‘lo’ as used in this phrase is a shortening of ‘look’. So, lo and behold! has the meaning of look! - behold!. So there … phrase used correctly and now you know its meaning! 

Posted by:  Jim Newell


 

Broad Ripple Historic Home Tour

September 23rd, 2010

I, for one, am looking forward to this Saturday’s Broad Ripple Historic Home Tour. Although I only “officially” lived in Broad Ripple for about a year (plus the occasional night), there are some very sweet homes in the area. And … for only ten bucks I can finally get past their front doors!

Running from 10 am until 6 pm this Saturday the 25th, this year’s tour is the sixth annual and is featuring ten very distinctive, historically unique homes. The homes are between 70 and 120 years old, and each has a very unique, fascinating story to tell. From my experience, that’s the reason to go. See, this isn’t just about enjoying the architecture and stealing the latest in remodeling ideas – it’s about each home’s individual story. This is kind of like a brush with greatness thing. Whether it’s a ghost story, a heartwarming tale from former owners, or that George Washington slept there, each is its own, and that why I’m going. I still want to find a previous owner of a 1920’s house I owned for several years. On the wall inside the door to the attic were scrawled the words, “A victim of fire”.  A joke? Maybe. I choose to believe there’s a great story there. Plus, it was across the street from where John Hiatt grew up. See? One house, two stories!

Which Broad Ripple homes are on the tour this year?

  • 6511 Riverview Drive
  • 6060 Park Avenue
  • 6007 Broadway Street
  • 5946 Guilford Avenue
  • 6130 Guilford Avenue
  • 6112 Haverford Avenue
  • 6026 Haverford Avenue
  • 6017 Indianola Avenue
  • 1315 Kessler Boulevard East Drive
  • 5957 Norwaldo Avenue

Go. Do it. It’s better than doing nothing. And by Saturday evening you’ll have a bunch of stories to tell.

What’s Broad Ripple, you ask? Broad Ripple (or Broad Ripple Village, as the locals call it) is the eclectic/Bohemian side of Indianapolis, along with some other very distinctive neighborhoods like Fountain Square. It’s one of only six Indy areas designated as an Indianapolis Cultural District. Here’s the sales pitch: If you’d like to get in on the act and own one of these incredible unique homes and learn to tell its story, see what’s for sale now. 

Posted by:  Jim Newell


 

Callcarpenter.com mobile site looks great on the HTC EVO 4G

July 22nd, 2010

I recently upgraded from the HTC Touch Pro2 to the HTC EVO 4G and while I thought the TP2 was and is a good phone (and I do miss the hardware keyboard) the 4.3” screen on my new EVO is a game changer.  It is now realistic to sit and watch video or streaming TV without a magnifying glass.  Combined with the EVO’s 1GHz snapdragon processor and high-resolution screen, the Internet experience on this new phone reminds me of the original iPhone ads “it isn’t kind of like the Internet, it’s the Internet”.

Carpenter Realtors new finger-friendly mobile website looks and works great on the EVO.  It is now a convenience to search for homes on your mobile phone rather than a squinting exercise with full access to all the newest listings in the BLC® with all the photos you would get on the full version of the site.  Combined with the 3G/4G speeds, the pages load with some snap.  You can realistically do a full home search without firing up your desktop or laptop or take a Sunday drive and browse all of Carpenter’s open houses.

Posted by:  George Christodoulou


 

Open houses can generate buyer interest

July 15th, 2010

At a time when the real estate market appears to be, well, in the doldrums at least, I’m excited to see that hundreds of Carpenter agents (and I’m sure – hundreds more around Indianapolis) are holding open houses this weekend. Carpenter agents alone are holding open nearly 300 homes for sale, making a huge statement that they believe there are buyers out there who see current home prices as a value and understand how low mortgage rates have fallen.

If we can generate more of this enthusiasm and positive attitude, I believe we’ll see more interested, excited buyers and a faster turnaround to the housing market and perhaps, the economy.

Posted by:  Jim Newell


 

 

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