Indy Home Marketing - December 2009 Newsletter

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December 2009 Newsletter

Volume 3, Number 12


		As 2009 comes to a close, we want to take this opportunity to wish our clients, friends, and associates all the joys of the holiday season... and to express our sincere wishes to all for a happy and prosperous New Year!


	Selling Your Home During the Holidays Has Advantages As temperatures come down and holi- day decorations go up, home sellers in most parts of the country turn their attention away from real estate. Year in and year out, the real estate market begins to slow after Halloween, drops off drastically a week or two before
	Thanksgiving, and doesn't start picking up again until until after Super Bowl Sunday in late January. Obviously, the tasks of listing a home, selling a home, packing up everything you own, and moving is not popular during the winter season. Continued


		RECIPE OF THE MONTH Flatbread With Bacon and Scallion Pesto Here's a great Holiday appetizer recipe that's perfect when family and friends gather. Preparation time is 20 minutes or less. Courtesy: Food Network

INGREDIENTS:

•	1/2 cup fresh parsley	•	Pinch of sugar
•	1 teaspoon capers	•	6 scallions, thinly sliced
•	Grated zest of 1/2 lemon	•	1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
•	4 thick strips bacon, thinly sliced
•	Kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper
•	1/3 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
•	1 pound frozen pizza dough, thawed
•	1 large white onion, thinly sliced
•	All-purpose flour, for dusting

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cook the bacon in a large
skillet over medium heat, stirring from time to time, until
browned and crispy. Transfer to paper towels to drain; keep
warm. Add the onion slices to the drippings in the skillet;
sprinkle with the sugar and season with salt and pepper.
Cook until light brown and tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Taste
for seasoning.

Combine the scallions, capers and parsley in a food pro-
cessor. Add salt and pepper to taste and half of the lemon
zest; pulse gently to chop and blend. Turn the processor on
and add the olive oil through the top in a steady stream.
Transfer the scallion pesto to a bowl; set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the creme fraiche and the remaining
lemon zest until smooth. Season with salt and pepper; set
aside.

Roll the pizza dough into an 8-by-14-inch rectangle on a
lightly floured surface. Roll the dough around the rolling pin
and unroll it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Place in the center of the oven and bake for 10 to 12 min-
utes, or until golden brown.

Spread the creme fraeche mixture on the crust. Dot with
the onions and some of the bacon drippings from the pan;
sprinkle with the bacon. Slice into pieces and drizzle with
scallion pesto.


	Pending Home Sales Rise for Ninth Consecutive Month The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in October, in- creased 3.7% to 114.1 from 110.0 in September, and is 31.8% above October 2008 when it was 86.6. The rise from a year ago is the biggest annual increase ever recorded for
	the index, which is at the high-est level since March 2006 when it was 115.2. Lawrence Yun, National Association of Realtors® chief economist, said home sales are experiencing a pendulum swing. “Keep in mind that housing had been underperforming over most of the past year. Based on the demographics of our growing population, existing-home sales should be in the range of 5.5 million to 6.0 million annually, but we were well below the 5 million mark be- fore the home buyer tax credit stimulus,” he said. “This means the tax credit is helping unleash a pent-up demand from a large pool of financially qualified renters, much more than borrowing sales from the future. Continued

Selling Your Home During the Holidays... (continued)

It's not just the cold weather and hectic holiday schedules that
deter many sellers. Families with children tend to list and buy
homes in the spring and summer months to avoid moving their
kids to a new school in the middle of the school year. For these
and other reasons, it's been routinely recommended that sellers
hold off putting their homes on the market until February. But,
that wisdom may not hold true this season!

Over recent months, higher than normal inventories of houses
for sale have contributed to dramatic increases in the average
time required to sell homes. So, there may be a real advantage
to being in and staying in the real estate marketplace over the
holiday season when fewer homes are normally for sale.

Buyers who are actively searching for a home during the holiday
season tend to be highly motivated and often want to conclude
a purchase quickly. Families being transferred by businesses,
persons whose leases end at or near the end of the year, and
even buyers who want to take advantage of seasonal vacation
time to find a home are just a few examples of motivated
seasonal buyers.

Also, buyers' agents are often more aggressive during the holi-
days because they have more time to spend with clients than
during the busier times of the year. The same is true for lend-
ers, home inspectors, appraisers, title companies and others
involved in the transaction of sales. That can speed sales and
be good news for sellers as well.

In any market, a little holiday cheer never hurts. Tasteful holi-
day decorations can move buyers to overlook a home's flaws
and imagine living in a house. Homes decorated for the holi-
days usually look great, just don't overdo it.

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Pending Home Sales Rise... (continued)

The PHSI in the Northeast surged 19.9% to 100.2 in October
and is 44.2% above a year ago. In the Midwest the index rose
11.6% to 109.6 and is 36.6% higher than October 2008.
Pending home sales in the South increased 5.4% to an index
of 115.4, which is 31.6% above a year ago. In the West the
index fell 11.2% to 127.7 but is 21.9% above October 2008.

Yun cautioned that home sales could dip in the months ahead.
“The expanded tax credit has only been available for the past
three weeks, but the time between when buyers start looking
at homes until they close on a sale can take anywhere from
three to five months. Given the lag time, we could see a
temporary decline in closed existing-home sales from Dec=
ember 2009 until early spring when we get another surge,
but the weak job market remains a major concern and could
slow the recovery process.

“Still, as inventories continue to decline and balance is grad=
ually restored between buyers and sellers, we should reach
self-sustaining housing conditions and firming home prices
in most areas around the middle of 2010. That would mean
broad wealth stabilization for the vast number of middle-
class families,” Yun said.

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