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Regardless of if you are a first-time home buyer or have bought a home before and are maybe selling a home for the first time, we have answers to your home buying and home selling questions. We can provide you with expert real estate advice, tips, and resources to help you with buying or selling a home. Our advice is especially useful to Indiana home buyers and sellers because we are from Indiana. Quadwalls is dedicated to helping home buyers and sellers save money and make better decisions when buying or selling real estate. Take a look at these topics to find the real estate help you need.
Buying a home is a big deal, but it really is not too scary. Here at Quadwalls.com our experienced Northwest Indiana Quadwalls Connected Agents can help you with every step of the process. And really, that is all buying a home is; it’s a process.
In our article 7 Steps Of The Home Buying Process In Indiana we detail the steps to take when buying a home. These steps include determining your budget guided by your needs and wants and then getting approved with a lender. We can refer you to some of the best mortgage lenders in Northwest Indiana. Once you are pre-approved for a loan it is time to get started searching and viewing homes with a real estate agent.
Once you have found the home your Quadwalls Connected Agent will help you write an offer. Once your offer is accepted your agent will work with you and your lender and help you with home inspections. The final step is closing. This is when you will sign all of the final documents and get the keys to your new home.
If you want to buy a home in Northwest Indiana contact us, today! Let’s have a brief conversation and get you started on the path to homeownership. We will put together a custom tailored plan just for you. We will do this by answering all of your questions to guide you to just the right home for you.
Our research indicates December or January is the best time to buy a house in Indiana. But, this is based on the closing date. Home buyers who get their offer accepted in November or December actually get their biggest discount because they are the buyers closing in December or January, respectively. Indiana home buyers looking to get a great deal should be seriously searching for a home starting in late August through January, with the price time to be shopping as being October through December.
In our blog post 5 Reasons To Buy A Home In Northwest Indiana In Winter we found home buyers receive the largest discount from the list price during the months of December and January. Additionally, we saw a pattern.
Indiana home sellers are more likely to sell their home at a greater discount to the list price during colder months than warm months. Our research from the Northwest Indiana real estate market shows the sale price as a percentage of the list price is at its lowest in cold months. This trend starts in September and increases with a peak in December and January. As we move into February and March the sale price as a percentage of the list price is still quite a bit lower than in the summer. So, what should you learn from this?
Indiana home buyers are more likely to buy a home at a discount if the purchase closes between September and March. And the colder it is, the larger that discount will be. We cannot explain this phenomenon. Maybe home sellers are more generous around the holidays. Maybe home sellers sell at a discount just to get the home sold. Or, maybe there are just not as many buyers during the cold months. With this information, we have advice for people thinking about buying a home in Indiana.
Indiana home buyers wanting to get the largest discount should start seriously looking for a home in August through January. Home buyers should remember this information is based on when the home closed. A home purchase transaction usually takes 5 to 7 weeks to complete. Therefore, as with our research which found home buyers averaged a 3.1% discount during the month of January, the seller actually accepted the buyer’s offer 5 to 7 weeks earlier. This could have been anytime in late November or anytime in December.
Most home buyers view in-person between four and nine houses before finding the home they buy. There is no clear answer to the question of how many homes you should view before buying a home.
Our Quadwalls Connected Agents have seen buyers purchase the very first home they see. Other clients need to see many more. Let’s give you some advice on how to help you narrow your home search so you can continue making progress in the process of buying a home.
Before going out and viewing homes, know exactly what you are looking for in your new home. Put together your needs and wants list. Knowing what features you must have in a home will help keep you grounded and focused. Spend your time looking only at homes with the features that are non-negotiable needs.
BUt what happens if you only see one home or two homes and you want to buy one of those? Our answer is to buy it. If the home has what you need and what you want and is within your budget goals buy the home. There is no sense in continuing to look for a different answer when the perfect answer is right in front of you.
No, you do not need a lawyer to buy a house in Indiana. Regarding real estate practice, Indiana is referred to as a non-attorney state. In Indiana, a real estate agent is trained to handle what occurs with the ordinary and common real estate purchase. Additionally, the title company and its attorney will take care of for you the writing and recording of a new deed.
Some states do require an attorney to buy a house, but Indiana is not one of them. In the late 1970s and early 1980s various state bar associations sued state real estate associations claiming real estate agents were practicing law without a license. In Indiana the real estate association won the lawsuit with the courts ruling real estate agents are not practicing law. Therefore, you do not need an attorney to buy a house in Indiana.
A real estate agent and a broker are the same thing in most states. Recently, many states have been expanding the definition and title used to refer to licensed professionals who help customers buy and sell homes.
In Indiana a real estate agent and broker are the same thing. People with this title can also be referred to as a real estate salesperson or even a Realtor. A difference is a managing broker.
In our article about The Difference Between Real Estate Agent, Broker, and Realtor we explain the difference among each of these titles. Most importantly is the title of managing broker. A managing broker is the person holding the ultimate responsibility for the actions of the real estate agents, brokers, real estate salespeople, or Realtors working under the managing broker.
We’ve ranked the best places to buy a house in Indiana. Our rankings are based on local economic opportunities, safety and local crime rates, school performance, quality of life, housing costs, and predicted Indiana residential real estate appreciation rates. Here is our list of the 10 Best Places To Buy A House Indiana.
Buying a foreclosed home in Indiana is not much different than buying a home not in foreclosure. The process is the same, but buying a foreclosed home carries much more risk.
Buyers considering buying a foreclosure should know these three important things. First, a bank is extremely unlikely to loan you the money to complete the purchase. Foreclosures are often in too bad of condition for a bank to risk loaning money on it. Secondly, a bank is even more unlikely to provide you the money to repair the home. Lastly, though you can have an inspection of a foreclosed property, it is unlikely to be a proper inspection.
Most foreclosures have had their utilities disconnected. Without running water, gas, or electricity a home inspector cannot properly complete his or her task of thoroughly evaluating the home. Additionally, do not expect the seller of a foreclosed home to fix any defects revealed in the inspection process.
Home buyers thinking about purchasing a foreclosed home are usually driven by one of these three common reasons:buyers believe they can get a great deal, or buyers believe they will realize instant equity when buying the home below market value, or buyers will get a chance to swing a hammer and make the home their own.
You can learn about buying a foreclosed home in much greater detail by reading our blog post where we cover the Indiana foreclosure purchase process in depth.
Buyers should look at the entire picture when choosing a house to buy. First, make sure the home meets your non-negotiable needs. If you need three bedrooms and a two-car garage, make sure the home has those. Do not settle on the non-negotiable needs which could be size, features, or location.
Next, make sure the home is within your budget and that you will not be too strained with the monthly payment. Do not forget to factor the cost of insurance and property taxes, too. Also, evaluate the need for repairs, which brings us to the next point.
Make sure the home is in the condition you need it to be for your needs. Maybe you need a move-in ready home. Or, maybe you want to do some remodeling anyhow, so the old wood paneling doesn’t bother you. Have a thorough home inspection so you know exactly what you are buying and what risks you are accepting.
Lastly, take a moment, take a deep breath, and ask yourself if you will be happy with the home. If you can imagine yourself living there, enjoying the home, and being happy, well than, you have likely found the right home.
Yes, Indiana is a great state to live in. Indiana offers low taxes, competitive pay, great schools, and lower crime rates than many other states. Indiana residents have access to both the hustle and bustle of large cities but can also easily escape to more rural settings. The Indiana real estate market is attractive, too.
Indiana home prices are among some of the lowest in the United States. Additionally, more and more people are migrating to Indiana which is causing Indiana real estate prices to appreciate really well and above the national average. Northwest Indiana is the leading recipient of new residents. With its close proximity to Illinois and Chicago the Northwest Indiana region has some of the fastest appreciating real estate rates in the state as our neighbors in Illinois flee the high taxes and instability of that state.
Come along with us and take an in-depth look at moving to Indiana by reading our ultimate guide on everything Indiana.
Indiana has a low cost of living compared to most other states. Indiana ranks in the lower 20% of states for the cost of living and predicted increases in the cost of living in the near future. Indiana has some of the lowest state income taxes in the nation. Additionally, with its great central location and a major corridor between the Easter and Western U.S. goods are services are readily available and the market landscape for goods and services is competitive.
Indiana offers a remarkably stable economic outlook for its residents. Quadwalls was founded in Indiana. Economic downturns just do not seem to have such a deep effect in Indiana and economic rebounds are felt here, too.
You can learn more about the cost of living in Indiana in our blog post on the topic.
In our blog post titled The Ultimate Guide On How To Buy A House For The First Time we cover how to choose the right Realtor to help you buy a home. There are many ways to find a Realtor.
Realtors can be found by searching the web, looking at national real estate websites, by walking into a brick & mortgage real estate office (yes, they do exist!) or by attending an open house. Many people also are referred to a real estate agent by a friend or family member. What is most important is to find the right Realtor for you.
To help you, we have put together a list of the traits and characteristics of a great real estate agent. You will be putting immense trust in your Realtor to help you get your new home bought. When meeting with a real estate agent, watch for these traits, and yes, these are in order of importance.
10 Things To Look For In A Great Real Estate Agent
There are no requirements to buy a house in Indiana. There are requirements if you are going to be getting a loan or mortgage to pay for the home. When working with a bank or mortgage company you will need to meet the lender’s criteria to approve the loan.
The loan approval criteria requires meeting the credit score requirements and having the funds needed to close. Funds needed means the down payment and closing costs. Also, you will need to be currently employed with an expectation for that employment to continue. Lastly, your debt-to-income ratio will need to be within the acceptable range for the lender to approve the loan.
There are documents related to purchasing the home and there are other documents to get a loan approved. In order to buy a house in Indiana all you will need to do is declare if you are a U.S. citizen or not. Yes, non-U.S. citizens can purchase a home in Indiana.
If you are getting a loan for the home purchase you will need to provide many more documents, but your lender will help you with this. These documents will include bank statements to verify funds, tax documents such as W-2s, 1099s or other tax documents to show your income. Your employer will also need to supply a verification of employment. People who are self-employed will have some additional documents to provide, too. The most common additional document for a self-employed person is a profit and loss statement.
It takes about five to seven weeks to buy a house. This timeline starts once the buyer’s offer has been accepted.
The timeline to purchase a home can be shorter during a lower volume time of the year. In Indiana, September through March is when the home purchase volume is lower. This means lenders, inspectors, appraisers, and title companies have a lighter workload. At these times, you can usually get the standard home purchase done in about five weeks. However, during prime time of April through August it is more common to plan about seven weeks to complete the process.
Once the buyer’s offer is accepted a transaction is started. This is referred to as different things such as “under contract,” “in-escrow,” or “the due diligence” period. Whatever it’s called, those all mean the same thing. During this time period the buyer is completing inspections and getting the mortgage approved if there will be one.
A good down payment is what makes the most sense for a particular buyer and his or her financial situation and goals. However, we are a big fan of the insured conventional loan.
An insured conventional loan allows a buyer to make a minimum down payment of just 5% of the purchase price. The insured conventional loan often has a better interest rate and lower cost private mortgage insurance than an FHA loan.
If a buyer can put down 5% of the purchase price and qualify for an insured conventional loan he or she is doing pretty good. Going higher on the down payment really is more of a calculation of the specific buyer’s goals. Low interest rates have really reduced the effect of making a larger down payment to lower the monthly cost of the home.
Home buyers should ask a lot of questions when purchasing a home. There are so many things to know and think about to make sure you are making the right decision about a specific house. These are the questions you should be asking your real estate agent when considering buying a specific home.
Selling a house in Indiana really is pretty easy. If you have wondered how to sell a house by owner in Indiana feel free to read these basic tips. There are three phases to successfully selling a home.
In the first phase, get the home market ready. This requires reducing clutter, freshening up any tired areas upping your curb appeal, and repairing anything that is broken. A pre-listing home inspection can help with finding anything broken around the home.
The second stage is marketing the home. If you work with a real estate agent, broker, real estate salesperson, or Realtor your home can be added to the MLS in your area. The value of this is the MLS, or multiple listing service, is the data feed which delivers all of the property listings to all local, regional, and national real estate websites. If you are selling a house by owner in Indiana you may not get the opportunity to place the home in the MLS.
Marketing the home includes putting a sign in the yard, writing a description about the home, knowing how to put the home’s best foot forward, and taking engaging and inviting photos of the home.
The final step is once you have received and accepted an offer is just working within the terms you have agreed upon with the prospective buyer. Carry out your part of the bargain which could include being receptive to an inspection repair request and demonstrating good title to sell the property.
If you want to learn how to sell your home quickly you can read our blog post which gives you five specific tips to sell your home fast.
Indiana requires sellers of residential property to complete the Indiana Seller’s Residential Real Estate Disclosure. This is state form 46234. If you are selling a home and need the form, you can download a copy of the form here.
When you get the form from our site, feel free to read the blog post to better understand your obligations and requirements of completing the form. We will help you understand how to complete the form and what you need to disclose.
Sellers of non-residential property, raw land, or of a residential property with greater than four units may not need to complete this form.
You can find the selling price of a home in several ways. First, multiple listing services require an accurate sale price to be reported to the MLS upon the closing of a real estate transaction. If you are working with a real estate agent in preparation to sell your home and want comparable pricing, your agent can easily get you this information.
Alternatively, if you are not working with a real estate agent you could look at county records for a home’s sale price. Nearly all states, and Indiana is included, require that a home sale disclosure form be filed with the county. These forms play an important role in assessing home values. These forms are a public record and can be received to learn a home’s sale price.
There are several key reasons why you should use a Realtor when selling your home. First, a Realtor, real estate agent, or real estate broker can place your home in the MLS (multiple listing service). This will maximize your home’s exposure to the largest audience of home buyers. This occurs because your home listing is sent to all of the local, regional, and national websites featuring homes for sale.
Selling a home can be an emotional process. Having a real estate agent will keep you more focused and help you remain objective throughout the process. Real estate agents also have in-depth, accurate knowledge of the current market conditions for your home. Yes, there is a cost to using a real estate agent. However, their knowledge is most really valuable to help you make the right decisions and get the best price and terms for your home. Lastly, it is about experience.
Most people own three, four, or maybe five homes in their life. Top real estate agents sell five homes each month. You could cut your hair yourself, but why not let a barber do it? Selling a home is not rocket science, but most homeowners do not have the skills, experience, education, or training to do it at the best levels. A top real estate agent will outrun the every day for sale by owner seller every single time.
If you are having trouble finding a high performing real estate agent Quadwalls can connect you with top real estate agents in Indiana to get your home sold.
When you sell a home the title company will provide you with copies of documents you have signed. This can include the deed you signed over to the buyer, your title work and title insurance policy, and different disclosures. Sellers actually walk away from the table with very few documents.
The best time to sell a house is the fall, winter, or early spring. The number one reason for this is how competition changes and the audience of buyers changes during those times.
Too many people still think there are only buyers in the late spring and summer. They’re wrong. All there is in spring and summer is more buyers, but also a lot more competition of homes for sale. We encourage home sellers to beat the competition. List in the fall, winter, or extremely early spring. Be the first or only home for sale in your area. Also, buyers are more serious during this time of year.
Many home sales and purchases are driven by life events. These could be a birth, death, divorce, marriage, or any one of many other major life events. Buyers coming to see your home in the winter when it is cold, dark, and snowy are serious.
Learn more about selling why it is a good idea to sell a home in our blog post 7 Reasons Why It’s Worth It To Sell Your Home This Winter.
Quadwalls is dedicated to helping home buyers and sellers save money when buying or selling a home. We write a lot about understanding real estate commission rates.
There is no set rate for real estate commission rates because doing so would violate antitrust laws. However, we’ve all been around enough to know there are commonly found rates. 4% to 7% is a common range, but 5% to 6% of the sale price are the most common rates.
Quadwalls has a different approach and has found how to get the job done without sacrificing marketing or customer service, but for a much lower price. Additionally, many real estate agents will come to your home and try to bargain with you on the rate as they also work to get your listing. Quadwalls doesn’t do this.
Instead, we publish our pricing, and it is based on the original list price of your home. You can view our full-service listing rates by clicking here.
In our blog post about how to market your home for sale we talk about some of the things our Quadwalls Connected Agents do to market your home. Part of that is preparing the home for sale. There are a few things we encourage.
First, pack up and remove unnecessary clutter. There is nothing worse than a cluttered home. Also, remove oversized furniture which doesn’t really fit in a room.
Next, refresh any exceptionally tired areas by either replacing the materials or adding a fresh coat of paint. Do not forget the exterior of the home either. Cut the grass, pull the weeds, and fix any damaged landscaping.
After that, you want to make sure anything that is broken gets repaired and is working properly before listing the home. Most buyers will have a home inspection meaning they will discover broken or damaged items. Save yourself some heartache and just get everything fixed before listing.
Last but most important, clean, clean, clean. Clean your home top to bottom. If you are tight on time contact a local housekeeping company and hire their crew to come give your home a good cleaning. Clean, well-maintained homes in good repair sell fast and for top dollar.
These factors have a direct affect on the selling price of a home:
A seller’s net proceeds are calculated by subtracting all expenses from the sale price. Common expenses paid by the seller when selling a home include:
Subtract each of these costs from the sale price to find the net proceeds to the seller.
Specific features and the quality of certain rooms definitely trigger a positive response for many buyers. What people want in a house includes a large kitchen with modern finishes, nice bathrooms, and a fantastic main bedroom suite. Additionally, the interruption of COVID-19 has affected what home buyers are thinking about, too.
People buying a home during the coronavirus pandemic are taking into account things they wouldn’t have before this health epidemic struck the U.S. Most notably, buyers are looking for an extra room where they can work from home. The availability of high speed fiber or cable fed internet is important, too. If you have these things in your home, they should be mentioned in marketing materials. Also, home buyers are looking at how much outdoor space is available in the yard.
When selling a home during the pandemic it is important to really communicate all the problems your home solves. Explicitly promote the availability of high quality, stable, fast internet. Describe extra space which can be used for a home office. Also, make mention of the yard size to help people understand they will have plenty of room and all their needs met even if they get stuck at home for some time.
A home that is considered affordable by at least 50% of active home buyers should be under contract within 60 days. The average time to sell a home varies based on the time of year and the price of the home. In areas with cold winters, homes listed in the late fall or winter can take a little longer to sell. This is just because there are fewer buyers during this time of year.
Homes priced within the top 30% for your local area do take more time to sell. This is because the pool of people who can afford a $300,000 home is much larger than the pool of people who can afford a $600,000 home.
Homes sell more quickly today than years ago. The reason buyers have access to listings online. This allows home buyers to take a look at your home the moment it comes on the market. If you are having trouble selling, read our blog post about How To Go From House Not Selling To Sold.
Indiana first time home buyers have a lot of options when it comes to buying a home. Indiana has a Indiana Housing home buyer program which offers down payment assistance to home buyers using either an FHA or an insured conventional loan. Indiana home buyers can also use the USDA program.
Indiana is a relatively rural state. Therefore, many homes for sale are in USDA eligible areas. With a USDA loan Indiana first time home buyers can purchase a home with no money down. Several Indiana cities have Indiana first time home buyer programs, too.
Near Indianapolis and in Northwest Indiana several municipalities have started grant programs to help home buyers with the down payment needed to purchase a home.
Click here to read more about Indiana first time home buyer programs.
The credit score needed to buy a home in Indiana depends on the type of loan the buyer will use to purchase the home. Most lenders will require a 620 credit score for an FHA loan and 650 for an insured conventional or conventional loan. USDA and VA loans can be approved with a credit score as low as 580.
A first time home buyer in Indiana should try to get an insured conventional loan. We like the insured conventional loan for four specific reasons:
Balancing all factors together, the insured conventional loan really is the best loan product for completing your new home purchase.
Closing costs in Indiana vary greatly based on the price of the home and the type of locan used by the buyer. Also, both the buyer and the seller have closing costs. Let’s start with the seller. For both examples, though, we will use a house with a sale price of $250,000.
Home seller closing costs in Indiana are often between $1,100 and $1,900 to sell a $250,000 home. What makes up this cost is the owner’s title insurance policy, various taxes and fees charged by the state, and the title work fees charged by the title company. This does not include accrued by not yet due property taxes which are often credited to the buyer or any real estate agent fees.
Home buyer closing costs are higher and there is a much larger range. If the buyer is getting a mortgage expect closing costs on a $250,000 house to range from $4,000 to $6,000. Included in these fees are title work, loan origination fees, the first year of homeowner’s insurance, and impounds. Impounds are initial deposits into the escrow account to pay future taxes and homeowner’s insurance.
Closing costs are much lower if you are buying a home with cash. A cash buyer of even a $250,000 home could expect to have closing costs of just $800 to $1,200.
Who pays closing costs in Indiana is often negotiated in the contract or purchase agreement to buy the home. Buyers can ask that a seller offer a closing cost credit to help cover some of the buyer’s expenses. The reverse can be true, too, where the buyer gives a credit to the seller. However, this is exceptionally rare. If no mention is made in the contract, both their buyer and seller will pay their own closing costs.
Closing on a house in Indiana takes about five to seven weeks. During higher volume times of year such as May through August we encourage buyers to expect about seven weeks to close. However, in less busy times of year most standard home purchase transaction can be completed in five weeks.
Closing on a house in Indiana which is a cash purchase can take as little as three weeks. Cash purchases are much faster because there is no lender and loan approval process.
Earnest money is not required in Indiana for a real estate purchase. However, most real estate agents encourage sellers to take some amount of payment once they have accepted an offer on their home for sale.
Even though earnest money is not required in Indiana, if in your purchase agreement you agreed to submit earnest money you must do so within the time period stated. Failure to do so is a breach of the contract and the seller can immediately terminate the contract.
Earnest money leads to so many issues. In our blog post, we share a typical earnest money deposit is 1% of the home purchase price. We also talk about what is earnest money, how it is used, and what happens if your purchase falls apart.
If you need help with buying or selling a home in Northwest Indiana feel free to contact us. Quadwalls and its connected agents are among the highest-performing real estate agents in Northwest Indiana. We also offer the lowest published commission rates for a full-service, full-representation to get your home listed and sold!
The Quadwalls Real Estate Team is a team of REALTORS® in Northwest Indiana. This is a high performing team of qualified Indiana real estate agents here to help you save money and make better decisions when buying a home.
Listing agents typically offer a portion of their commission fee to other real estate agents to encourage them to bring active homebuyers to the home, assist with writing an offer, and getting the transaction closed. Once your Quadwalls Team agent helps you buy the home and earns the commission, he or she will rebate to you 20% of the earned commission.
Homebuyers will receive their rebate immediately after closing on a home purchase. Closing occurs once all of the required documents are signed and the transaction has been funded. Typically, you will receive your rebate as you walk out of the closing.
Competition of this form acts as acceptance of the terms and conditions of the rebate offer
