In recent months the iBuyers have started to move more aggressively into Central Indiana giving homebuyers more options for selling. We already have Opendoor and Offerpad, but Zillow Offers is also expected to start moving into our market at some point as well. If you are not familiar with the term iBuyers, they are basically home buying companies that give you a quick cash sale offer on your home. They also give you the flexibility of closing on your chosen timeline, rentback options, no repairs out of pocket needed, and no showings. These terms can be quite attractive to sellers because it gives them flexibility to find their next home while their current home is secured with a cash buyer.

iBuyer make offers offers your home condition, location, market appreciation and many other internal factors they use. These companies are a business and need to buy your home at a price where they are going to turn around and resell it for a profit. However, these companies have gotten pretty aggressive with offers in some areas as they all fight for market share. In some cases they are making very good offers, but the offers do come with fees and "repairs expenses."

IBuyer Fees and Repair Expenses

Offerpad and Opendoor both charge a transaction fee. This fee can vary by company because they are trying to remain completive with competitors in the local markets, so the fee structures have changed over time. At the time of this blog post the fee was 5% for each company.

Repair expenses are also deducted once they have an inspection. This is much more of a grey area for the iBuyers because their definition of repairs needed are based really on what they want fixed and updated, rather than what is actually broken. For example, if they don't like your paint color, flooring condition, or 1990s kitchen cabinets they deduct those off your offer as "repairs." When you sell with an agent, inspection items are almost always limited to defective or in need of repair items found during the inspection.

For a real life example I requested an offer of my own home from Opendoor and Offerpad. Here were the results.

My home is worth about $300,000-$315,000 at the time of this blog post. Selling it with a Realtor would then have agent expenses that are typically 5%-6%.

Offerpad Offer: $275,775, 5% fee, minus repairs.

Opendoor Offer: $297,800, 5% fee, minus repairs.

In order to figure out the repair deduction I would have had to have both companies come out for a full inspection. However, since I did not intend to proceed with the sale and I was only using it for information purposes it would not have been fair to take up their time. My research online, and with other agents who have worked with these companies is that repair expenses amount anywhere from 1%-8% of the offer amount. It really depends on the overall condition of the home.

Summary

Depending on your situation if you are thinking about selling your home you should definitely seek out an offer from these companies as it gives you more selling options. Getting extra offers on your home is a good thing. To be honest, I have seen scenarios where these companies are actually paying over market value, making them the best deal.

Make sure you also talk to a local Realtor because in most cases your best offer will be selling the traditional way. Many homes are are selling fast, over list price, and with cash offers. Additionally, in many cases we can get you a cash offer from a local investor that will net you more money than the iBuyers.

As a local Realtor that serves the Hendricks County and surrounding areas I offer a no risk option to list your home. If I cannot bring you a better offer that nets you more money than the iBuyers then I agree to cancel the listing contract early with 0 cost to you, and you can go back and accept the Opendoor/Offerpad offers. They will still be around to make you an offer.

Contact me today or call/text at 317-797-6738 for a no obligation home valuation and review of your iBuyer cash offer. Eric Miller - Wright Realtors

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The 2021 Hendricks County Fair is approaching fast on July 18th-24th. For those parents with kids (like me!) wondering when you can get the unlimited carnival ride pass or wristbands here is the schedule...

What are the Pro's and Con's of moving to Brownsburg, Indiana? Here area few things to consider if you're not from the area.

1. Location/Info - Brownsburg is located just off Interstate 74 just outside of Indianapolis. Being located off the highway makes travel to the 465 loop really easy, however the highway does not go straight through all the way downtown. Given its close proximity to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Lucas Oil Raceway the town has a lot of racing related businesses that have set up shop in Brownsburg. One of the biggest complaints about the town is the lack of grocery stores. The town is growing fast and only has a Kroger and Walmart. However, it was recently announced (in 2020) that Kroger is building a new much larger store next to their current one which should open in late 2021. Additionally, the grocery chain Aldi will be building a store, so some improvements are coming. Most of the new businesses tend to go on the “Northside of town” (North of US136/Main St), so some of residents on the “Southside of town” would also like to see things come to their area. The town also has a lot of great non chain restaurants including donuts, ice cream, pizza, Thai food, and sit down restaurants.
   
   
2. Parks - The town has a few nice parks including Williams Park, and Arbuckle Acres which is located right next to the new downtown development area. There are also a few smaller parks, and other new planned parks and athletic fields coming soon. They also have a former railroad line called the B&O trail that was turned into a nice long running trail that connects to different areas of town. Additionally Eagle Creek is not very far away for more outdoor fun.
   
   
3. Traffic - Brownsburg traffic generally only gets slow along sections of Green St which is the main North/South road through town. On this road there are a lot of busy intersections and a lot of it is made up of single lane road. Additionally, there is an active railroad track right through the middle of town. While there are only a handful of trains per day that travel this route, they come through slow, and occasionally stop on the track, blocking main roads.
   
   
4. Schools - The Brownsburg school system is consistently highly rated in state rankings, and has nice facilities. The sports teams excel in many school sports, and are also known for strong little league baseball teams, some of which have played in the Little League World Series.
   
   
5. New Downtown - The town has focused on revitalizing and growing its downtown area just around the corner from its historic downtown area. This is the area on Green St, and is North of Main St. This new area features all new buildings with higher end apartments, retail, restaurants, and coworking/micro office space for small businesses. At this time some of the retail has been a little slow to fill in, but overall its a very nice addition to the town.

Are you considering moving to Brownsburg, Indiana and want to know more pro's and con's of the town? Lets connect! Send me a quick message!

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Part of the responsibility of owning a home or rental property is maintenance repairs. Unfortunately items like sewer lines can be really really expensive. This particular property was a 1950's rental property that had cast and galvanized pipes. Those pipes rust and erode away overtime. Older homes like this tend to have small crawlspaces as well. On top of that, the sewer line inside the crawl had been leaking causing a bad smell inside the home, which prompted the tenant to call. Just to get started the sewage in the crawl had to be sucked out by a remediation company. After that the plumbers got rid of all the cast iron and galvanized piping. It's best to fix it all when you get into piping like that because you don't want to have more issues down the road. This was an expensive project, but be sure you shop around a lot when it comes to these types of repairs. We had quotes from $4000-$10,000 just for the plumbing due to the complexity and small crawlspace of the home. In the end the remediation company and plumbing company did a great job and the issue is taken care of! Make sure you always have emergency funds whether you are a home owner, or rental property owner!

What are the Pro's and Con's of moving to Avon, Indiana? Here area few things to consider if you're not from the area.

1. Location - Avon, Indiana was not established until 1995, and is a much newer town than the surrounding communities of Brownsburg, Plainfield, and Danville. The surrounding towns have their own unique identities, and Avon is situated right in between these towns, making it an easy drive for about any shopping or dining you desire. Despite its late start there are plenty of things to like about it, in fact, in 2017 Money magazine named it the 17th best place to live in the USA. Since it got a late start there isn't an "old town" or "downtown Avon" area, like most towns have. There has been discussion to try and develop something like that, but it's a long ways down the road if it ever happens. 
   
   
2. Parks - The Avon area has a lot of nice parks in the area. Most notably Avon Town Hall Park, and Washington Township Park. Both parks combined offer most of what people look for including trails, playgrounds, splashpad, disk golf, RC car track, sports courts, fishing ponds, and more. In addition to these, the township area is in the planning stages of developing a large outdoor aquatic center and pools, slated to open in 2022. There are also 2-3 other smaller parks that will be developed in the coming years.  
   
   
3. Traffic - This is one of the negatives. As Avon has grown tremendously in the last 20 years the traffic on the main thoroughfare of Rockville Road (US36) can get pretty slow during rush hours and on weekends. Luckily there are alternative routes that run parallel to this road where drivers can take those roads, and then cut right to Rockville road where there destination is. There is a big reconstruction project planned for Rockville road that should be starting in 2021, which will make it 6 lanes instead of 4 lanes, but this is a multiyear project and will take time. 
   
   
4. Schools: The school system is rated very high, although you really can't go wrong with any school system in Hendricks County. Avon schools are very well known for their marching band, and have played at many very well known events across the country.
    
5. Property Taxes: Avon voters passed an additional school funding tax that started in 2019. This additional tax is based on the value of your home, but generally adds about $300-$600 per year to your tax bill and goes to the school system. This is the only school system in Hendricks County that has it as of right now, but other school systems have been attempting to pass the same thing. So, property taxes in Avon are a little higher than surrounding towns.
   
   
6. Bonus: In 2020, Costco has announced they will be building a new store in Avon. Everyone is very excited for this. 

Are you considering moving to Avon, Indiana and want to know more pro's and con's of the town? Lets connect! Send me a quick message!

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What are the Pro's and Con's of moving to Heritage Lake, Indiana? Here area few things to consider if you are not from the area.

1. Lake Community - One of the pros is Heritage Lake offers many things for recreation around the lake. They have multiple beaches, playgrounds, sport courts, campground, swimming pool, and many community events throughout the year. One con is that there are no bike trails/lanes. The lake has a main road the loops the whole lake, and it would be really nice to have a bike trail that follows that, but it is something that will likely never happen due to cost. 
   
   
2. Roads - This is one of the negatives of the area. There are many vacant lots that have not been built on where owners own them for lake access only. Some of the roads have very few homes on them which is great for privacy, but road conditions are not as well kept where fewer homes are. Another negative is GPS makes it hard to find locations in this community. Sometimes you search an address and it shows a dot on the map that is not even close to the home's location. So if you are going to the area for the first time be sure to get good location directions. All the roads are marked within a road number/letter as well to help with directions. Another cool thing is golf carts are legal for the road, so keep an eye out when you drive!
   
   
3. Location - If you like to live away from the congestion of towns and cities this could be a great place to call home. It is located about 15 minutes from Danville, 20 minutes from Greencastle, and 30 minutes from Plainfield. There are not any grocery stores nearby other than these towns listed, so it's a little bit of a drive to hit the places to shop.
   
   
4. Restaurants/Retail - As mentioned above about the grocery stores, it's basically the same situation for any shopping, you will have to drive to these neighboring towns. As far as restaurants there are only a few local options, which is mostly pizza. However, new in 2021 will be a brand new restaurant right on the the lake at the marina. This will be a nice addition to the community. 
   
   
5. New Construction - This community is basically a 3000 lot subdivision. There are still a lot of undeveloped lots, and the area has really started growing the last 5 years in terms of new construction. Vacant lots are inexpensive compared to neighboring towns which has led to a boom in new construction homes. Growth is good for a community and home values, but many current residents are disappointed to be losing the privacy they once had as most of the vacant lots are wooded. 

If you would like to see all of the current Heritage Lake listings please check out the Heritage Lake Area page.  If you have any questions about moving to this area and need a Heritage Lake Realtor, please send me a quick message!

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Are you looking to sell your home fast? Are you looking to get your home pending on your terms so you can purchase your next home? It's no secret, in this market if your home is not already pending it is hard to make strong offers for your next home. In this blog post we will compare a couple options for you. As of this post Zillow Offers is NOT available in the Central Indiana or Hendricks County market. However, I do anticipate them starting their Zillow Offers program in our market in 2021, or 2022 at the latest which is why I am including them. Plus it's great to learn about future selling options. On a side note there are several other company that offer similar programs to Zillow that will also buy your home, but the purchase terms are close to the same.

Here we compare 3 different selling methods...

A few notes about what I am looking for if I were to buy your home. I am mostly looking for properties under $250,000. My preferred properties are 3 bedroom 1 to 2 bath homes because they make great rentals. Please reach out and let me know what you have!

Also, I will always give you pricing/comps, and net sheets based on all the selling methods above. That way you can make the best decision that gets you the price/terms for your situation. If you are not sure which one is best we can do a hybrid of the methods to give you the best offer. For example, I can give you a cash offer to purchase up front, then we can list the property on the MLS. At that point you can pick from all your offers.

For a no obligation cash offer and home valuation shoot me a quick message!

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Are you looking to buy or sell a vacant lot at Heritage Lake? Vacant lot prices vary from a few thousand dollars to $100k-$200k for property on the water.

Buying Lots

If you are looking to buy Heritage Lake lots the first place most people look at is the MLS. If you are just looking for an inexpensive lot then this isn't always the best option. I would say the majority of lots sell off market because the closing costs and agent commissions to list are high in comparison to the value of the property. Anytime I have had lots to sell I have always sold them off market because its easy to find a buyer and just deed them over very inexpensively. I personally buy and sell lots all the time, so be sure to contact me to see what I have available, or coming up.

Selling Lots

As mentioned above, if you are looking to sell your Heritage Lake lot then listing on the MLS can be pricey for inexpensive lots, but it also gets you more exposure by listing it. You can also sell by posting your property on Facebook Marketplace, Zillow, or sell to a builder and keep your selling costs down about nothing. If you are looking to sell your property send me a message, I ALWAYS know someone wanting to purchase that I can direct you to without listing.

For more information about buying/selling Heritage Lake lots, or lots available/coming soon, please contact me.

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When looking at new construction in Central Indiana you will find no shortage of builders to choose from. Pulte Homes, Lennar, DR Horton, Pyatt Homes, Dress Homes, Beacon Builders, Larry Good Homes, Silverthorne, Ryan Homes, Olthof Homes, and so many more. Just choosing a builder can be overwhelming. Once you decide on where to build, the next step is negotiation! Your ability to negotiate a great deal depends on so many factors. Here are some things to keep in mind when negotiating....

• Discounting Purchase Prices - Builders are less inclined to reduce purchase prices, and would rather give more closing cost credit incentives. The purchase price of all homes are publicly available, so other buyers, appraisers, real estate agents, or anyone can see that price. Lower purchase prices can potentially hurt them for future sales.
  
  
• Closing Cost Credits - This is where builders are usually very negotiable. Many builders own the lender and title companies. They charge higher closing and lending fees and you don't always see the breakdown until you have signed a purchase agreement. Getting a sizable closing cost credit may sound great, but paying 2x-3x more closing/lending costs does not always gain you anything.
  
  
• Interest Rates with Builders Preferred Lender - Because many builders have their own lender you can potentially get some great deals on interest rates. I have found that builders have some REALLY good interest rate incentives, but usually if you want these they can be less negotiable on other parts of the deal. At this point you have to do some math to figure out the best deal. Sometimes taking a slightly higher interest rate is better if you negotiate in other areas of the deal to keep more cash in your pocket.
  
  
• Quick Move In Homes - These are spec homes built by the builder with no end buyer. Generally, if they are in the early construction stage the builders are not looking to discount very heavy. They have plenty of time left to sell. But if the home is nearing completion then they usually are more motivated to get it under contract. Completed homes that are unsold make the builder look bad. You can score some good deals on these toward the end of construction.
  
  
• Build From Scratch vs Quick Move In - When you build from the ground up and pick your finishes you usually have less room to negotiate compared to the quick move in's. When the builder has to customize a home it's a lot more work with the home building process than the builder just ordering a whole spec house finished out right from the get go. The buyer is involved with everything along the way with built from scratch homes.
  
  
• Upgrades - If you decide to build from the ground up you can potentially get some additional discounts if you are looking for a lot of upgrades. Upgrades are high profit margins for the builders. Some of the up-charges are high, and not really worth it, but overall you can potentially use them in negotiation.
  
  
• Lot Premiums - Depending on the builder these can be crazy. Locally I've seen $30,000+ extra lot premiums for specific lots that back up to woods or are larger lots. Those are pure profit for the builders. While you might not be able to negotiate that specific line item, you can negotiate your whole deal more when you are selecting premium upgrades and lot choices.
  
  
• Supply and Demand - At the end of the day it really comes down to this. If the subdivision is brand new they want to initially sell lots fast to build demand. Overall if they are selling properties fast they will be less willing to discount. If lot sales are slow and the subdivision is newer you may want to stay away from it, otherwise you end up building a brand new house (and paying top dollar), only to have them selling brand new homes for similar prices for the years to come, leaving you underwater.
  
  
• Selling the Final Lots - Once builders get to the final lots, they are ready to close it out. This means renovating the model home to an actual home and listing it, and selling the last several lots and spec homes. This is also where you can score a great deal. The sooner the builder is done the more they save on overhead, and move their resources to the next community. Most of the time they have to take care of all road maintenance, snow removal, insurance, utilities, and common area maintenance until they reach 90-100% sold. At that time the particular town and permanent HOA take over.
  

As you can see there is a lot that goes into negotiating with builders. Getting the best deal is a combination of purchasing a home in a strong neighborhood and evaluating the sales and comp history. Once you have done your homework finding your preferred neighborhood in your budget, it's time for negotiation! Are you considering new construction? About 50% of new construction buyers are represented by a real estate agents - at NO COST to the buyer. Real Estate agents have access to comps and networking with agents who have negotiated with that particular builder. Reach out to me today and lets run some detailed comps on your preferred neighborhood!

Related Blog: Do I need an agent for new construction?

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This month Danville has approved another new subdivision located on 100 North across from Temple Estates. The community will be called Northwood Haven and consist of about 391 new homes. Ground work will likely begin in 2021. If you are interested in new construction homes please contact me. In Danville there are a few other subdivisions in progress now, and some other new ones on the horizon. So if you are looking to build your own house you will have several communities to choose from.

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