Super 4 bedroom 2.5 bath in Washington Township! Great Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, Laundry room and Office on main floor. Four bedrooms and BONUS ROOM upstairs! Great neighborhood close to shopping restaurants and entertainment. Extremely close to Marian University and Indianapolis Art Museum.

If you’re still looking for a place to call home, check out this great condo for rent in Zionsville. Hardwood floors make the kitchen and great room welcoming spaces, while walk-in closets and tiled bathrooms give you a perfect escape in the bedrooms above. Minutes away from the quaint village of Zionsville, the modern shopping on Michigan Road and the Interstate, you won’t find a more convenient location in the Indianapolis metro area.

Whether you’re ready to buy or sell, lease or rent, Polaris Real Estate can help you make your move. Let our years of local experience work for you to make your real estate dreams come true. Contact us today for more information. 

• Keep calm. Yes, your feelings are hurt. You may not want to counter at all. But don’t let your emotions run away with you. Remember this isn’t a personal slight—the buyer is just trying to get the best price they can. Take a few deep breaths and then get back to the matter at hand.
• Look at the offer closely. The offer might seem low at first glance, but maybe the buyer is offering to buy the house as is, or excluding big ticket items like appliances you’d intended to include in the selling price. Depending on just how low the offer is, these items might be worth accepting a slightly lower price.
• Look at the market. Today’s housing market is wild and unpredictable. Even in the few days or weeks since you’ve listed the house, maybe other comparable houses have dipped in price. Maybe the market conditions have changed and your original price is now out of line with the rest of the Indianapolis housing market.
• Get the agents involved. Have your real estate agent ask the buyer’s agent why they gave such a low offer. Were there problems with the home? Did they think you were a desperate seller because the house was vacant? Or are they just seeing if they can get away with it? A good seller’s agent will help you ferret out their true motives, and determine whether or not it’s worth your time to counter.

Lowballs are frustrating, but they’re often a part of the selling process. The key is having a great real estate agent who can help you respond smartly and still get top dollar for your home. Need a great seller’s agent in Indianapolis? Call Polaris Real Estate. From lowball offers to a home bidding war, we’ll walk you through every step of the process.

Realize before you start that buying a foreclosed home is different from the normal real estate buying process. Because you’re dealing with a bank instead of an actual person, many of the usual rules for real estate go out of the window. While in normal real estate transactions haggling over price is expected, there’s very little room for negotiation in the world of foreclosures. Additionally, most houses come “as is,” with no offer of repairing damage or other issues with the house. While the sales price for the foreclosure might seem cheap (most foreclosures sell for 10-30 percent under market price), keep in mind that renovation or even repairing vandalism from previous owners might add up to tens of thousands of dollars.

Before you start heading down the foreclosure rabbit hole, you’ll also want to have a mortgage preapproval letter in hand. Some banks will require that letter before they’ll even entertain your offer, so having one up front will save you considerable time and aggravation down the road.

Finally, be patient. With the glut of foreclosures on the market, many banks are stretched to the max trying to keep up with the paperwork. Unlike in a more traditional home purchase, where the seller wants to close as quickly as possible, this process can drag out for weeks or even months. If you’re on a tight timetable, a foreclosure might not be the best option. But if you’re willing to jump through some hoops and take the long view, a foreclosure might be worth looking into. Foreclosures tend to make especially good investment properties once they’ve had a little TLC.

Curious in learning more about Indianapolis foreclosures? Contact Polaris Real Estate and let’s talk about your options. 

On the downside, Indiana’s foreclosure rates are up sharply compared to 2011. While the nation as a whole saw foreclosures decrease by 16 percent from the first quarter of 2011, Indiana’s spiked 45 percent. Does this mean we’re headed back into recession or into another low period of consumer confidence? Not necessarily. Remember the “robo-signing” controversy from 2010? In light of those series allegations of problems in the foreclosure system, many banks held off on beginning foreclosure proceedings. But a recent settlement between the banks and state attorney generals (including Indiana’s)  means that logjam has now been lifted and banks are going full-speed ahead with foreclosures once again.

So what does this mixed bag mean for you? New construction signifies increased confidence and is not surprising considering the jump we’ve seen in Indianapolis home sales lately. The foreclosure situation, as unpleasant as it may be, does present some tremendous deals for the savvy buyer. Foreclosures can often be bought below market value as anxious banks try to unload the properties, and can often become fantastic investment properties or primary homes.

Need more help untangling the Indianapolis housing market? Call Polaris Real Estate. We’ll tell you what the latest numbers mean for you, and help you make informed decisions about the future.

As the Indianapolis real estate market continues to improve and our agents continue to hustle, we’re happy to announce we’ve helped two clients lease their homes and another client sell their home in the past week. From a maintenance-free condo in Zionsville to a standalone house in Indianapolis, more and more property owners are seeing the value in leasing their property as a means to a steady, consistent stream of income. And of course, it’s always a thrill to help a family sell their house, like this beautiful Fishers Estridge-built home, and help them  move on to the next chapter in their lives.

If you’re looking for a real estate company who keeps an eye on the bottom line and makes sure you sell or lease quickly, give us a call at Polaris Real Estate. Our agents are full-time professionals who live and breathe real estate, and will make sure you walk away with the maximum profit in the minimum time possible. 

Even better news is that home sale prices continue to rebound. The average home in the Indianapolis area sold for just over $140,000, an increase of about one percent over 2011. If you’ve been waiting for a price recovery, it looks like it’s finally here.

It’s been a long few years, but we’re finally seeing some light at the end of the real estate tunnel. Is now the right time for you to make your move and put your house on the market? We can help you decide if the current real estate market conditions are right for you. Call Polaris Real Estate, and the experienced Dan Baldini team will help you look at the market in your area and make an informed choice to buy, sell or move. Give us a call today and start on the path to your dream house. 

A home inspection catches things you’d probably never notice. In a thorough home inspection, the inspector examines every part of the house, from the crawl space to the attic. They’ll look at the structural integrity of the house, the electrical and water systems, examine drainage on the property, examine the roof, check for mold and much more. Nothing escapes the gaze of an experienced inspector.

Some of the issues will be minor fixes, but if you run into major issues, you have a few options. The first is to accept the issue and buy the house anyway. You may be able to use this defect as a bargaining chip to negotiate a reduced price, but remember, you’ll have to fix the problem yourself sooner or later. You can ask that the seller fix the problem, but they may or may not be willing to do so. Are you prepared to deal with the issue yourself, or are you prepared to give up the house if they won’t make the repair? Finally, you can choose to walk away. Some problems, especially those involving the structural integrity of the property, are just too big to fix, and you could be digging yourself into a financial hole.

When it comes to interpreting an inspection, trust your inspector. If possible, accompany him or her on the inspection. Ask lots of questions, and really listen to the answers. Your real estate agent is also a trusted resource during the inspection process—we’ve been through this before and know the ropes. For a great recommendation on an inspector or for help finding your next dream home in Indianapolis, Fishers or Carmel, call Polaris Real Estate, and let Dan Baldini and his experienced team of real estate agents guide you through every step of buying your dream house.

An open house is best used in a high-traffic area. If you’re out in the country, you’re unlikely to have much drive-by traffic to see your signs and turn up on Sunday afternoon for your open house. Likewise, having an open house often isn’t an option if you live in a gated community. You may want to coordinate with other homeowners in your area to hold open houses on the same day. It might sound counterintuitive to work with people who are essentially your “competition,” but when you all cooperate, you’ll bring in more prospects than any of you could have done individually, and hopefully you’ll bring in someone who’s looking for a home just like yours.

Some real estate agents will argue that holding an open house is a sign of desperation, a last-ditch effort to get prospects, any prospects, though the door.  Maybe that’s true if you hold an open house every weekend, but sometimes there’s no substitute for just getting people to come in and take a look around. While a great deal of home searching is done online, nothing can substitute for walking through the house and seeing the property with your own eyes, warts and all. Especially if you have a house with unusual architecture or unique features, an open house might be just the thing you need to show the house off to its best advantage.

Used properly, open houses are still a powerful to help you get fresh prospects into your house and interested in your property. Look to your real estate agent for guidance on when, or if, you should hold an open house. If you need an experienced real estate agent in Indianapolis, Fishers or Carmel, call the Dan Baldini team. We’ll help you get your house sold using smart marketing and good-old-fashioned hard work. Call us today to find out how we can help you put that “sold!” sign in your front yard.

1. Get pre-qualified for a home loan. Getting pre-qualified serves several important purposes. First, it helps speed up the process later on down the road when you do find your dream home. You'll have already laid the groundwork for securing the home financially, making the entire transaction easier. But more than that, getting pre-qualified helps you truly understand the costs involved in homeownership and determine how much home you can really afford. Better do it at the start than getting your heart set on a home you can't pay for, or worse yet—getting into the home and falling into financial trouble.
2. Decide on a neighborhood. When you live in apartments or other rental homes, you have the freedom to move every few months or every year if you don't like the neighborhood, if you have noisy neighbors, if the commute to your job is too far. But when you own your own home, you're also owning a neighborhood. It's much harder to just pull up stakes and move across town if you find out that the neighborhood isn't everything you wanted it to be. Make sure the location makes sense for your commute and your lifestyle, the schools fit your needs if you have kids, that the amenities you need are nearby. This is a long-term decision, so take your time to find the area that's right for you.
3. Find a great buyer's real estate agent. Having an agent with lots of experience helping buyers is always important, but having a trusted ally can be a lifesaver for the first-time home buyer. They can help guide you to properties that fit your life, help you find the flaws in otherwise great-seeming properties, offer advice on negotiating and making offers and generally make the entire process go more smoothly. Don't try to go it alone; accept help from a trusted professional.

Buying a home for the first time is one of the most exciting things you'll ever do. Make sure you do it the right way. If you're looking for an Indianapolis real estate agent who will tell you the truth and lead you to a great property, call Dan Baldini and the team at Polaris Real Estate.