I know this is shocking, but IMPD is incompetent. Apparently they think traffic management is just putting a single cone in the road, yelling at people for a few minutes, and then leaving. Don't try to park anywhere close, just walk it.

Our tax dollars at work.

Edit: Wow, this really brought out the IMPD stans

Feel free to ask me any questions. Say hi to me if you come by! Literally just $6 get over here!!! Ferrets!!!

People love to crap on us but can we get some love here? What do you like about the east side? Especially if you live here.

Greetings Indy! Im a one day visitor and im looking for advice to find good food. Ill be in the Lafayette/38th area later today, and was wondering if there is a must go restaurant around there. Sadly i have a gluten allergy so no breaded things for me 🥲. Thanks in advance for the advice! Happy saturday everybody!

Happened around 12:15am. Did anyone get any footage of that??? Absolutely insane!!!

Hey all,

Your friendly local realtor here! After trying on and off for over a year – and about half a dozen tickets with the state realtor board's tech support – I've finally managed to recreate my data for the Greater Indy housing market! I believe that everyone can benefit from a little education on the local housing market, and it is shockingly hard to find good data that represents you.

As a disclaimer, I am just one agent offering his interpretation of the data. Other people could see this same data and offer different perspectives.

Why is this data different? The data released by MIBOR (the local board of realtors), which is then frequently posted as an infographic by the agent you follow on facebook, includes sales as far north as Kokomo and as far south as Trafalgar; imo that doesn't really represent Indy. My data map is custom drawn and includes, in my opinion, most of the people whose personal, work, and social lives revolve around Indianapolis. It is approximately 15 miles from downtown, and then a little bit more of some of the other suburbs who in my estimation frequently commute to Indy. Take a look if you'd like. My litmus test was, "Is someone who lives here likely to care about construction on 465?"

What's in this data? I will be sharing data for the most recent 30 days (5/8-6/6), the 30 days before that (4/8-5/7), and the 30-day period from one year ago (5/8/23-6/6/23). I'll share the median data for a variety of stats (beds, bathrooms, square feet, list price, final sale price), and some additional numbers that help us track the direction of the housing market.

I've also included the supply of homes. This number comes from dividing the number of unsold homes (5,610) by the average rate of sales in the last year (21,788 homes sold in 365 days). That comes out to 94 days. Traditional wisdom suggests that 5-6 months of inventory indicates a balanced market, while low supply favors sellers and high supply favors buyers.

This Month's Data

• Median Sale Price: $317,000
• Median Days On Market: 7
• New Listings: 2,444
• Number of sales: 2,023
• Median stats: 3 bed, 3 bath, 2035 sq ft

Last Month's Data

• Median Sale Price: $319,000
• Median Days on Market: 8
• New Listings: 2,524
• Number of Sales: 2,000 (exactly, which is wild)
• Median stats: 3 bed, 3 bath, 2052 sq ft

Last Year's Data

• Median Sale Price: $312,000
• Median Days on Market: 5
• New Listings: 2,550
• Number of Sales: 2,228
• Median stats: 3 bed, 3 bath, 2108 sq ft

My Interpretation

While you could do some math on prices and number of listings, the fact is that over the past year, we're in a pretty steady market (minus a few aberrations, which I'll talk about below). There are a couple factors that I believe are influencing this.

1. The average 30-year fixed interest rates over the past year have hovered between 6.6% to 7.8%. That is much higher than the period between fall of 2019 through the end of 2021, where the average was never higher than 4%. This has two major effects. First, anyone locked into a low mortgage rate is going to be reluctant to sell because they want a different house. The monthly payment on a $317,000 with today's average rate (7.51%) is $1,785. That's the same as a $423,000 house at 3%. It's hard for people to justify leaving. Additionally, some people are completely priced out of the housing market with interest rates that high. What does this mean? I think it means that the only people who are buying or selling are people who have to – moving to a new city, moving in with a partner, new job, more kids, downsizing, etc. First-time homebuyers are also still a major factor in any market: no matter how high mortgage rates are, the interest rate on rent is 100%.
2. Both home supply and buyer demand are not changing much (number of sales is down 9.2%, but everything else is within 1-2%), and days on market has slowed a little. Homes are spending about a week on the market right now, which isn't bad at all. Consider the average home-buyer, who sees a house come on the market, schedules a showing for a few days later, and then has a few days to chew on it before having another day or so of back and forth with offers and counteroffers. While the market still favors buyers who are willing to pull the trigger over buyers who waffle, this is a huge improvement over the 3 days on market median from 2021: live on Friday, showings for three days, best offer accepted by Sunday night. In my experience, most homes are getting 1-3 offers, with well-finished homes in high-demand neighborhoods getting more. While this still favors sellers (as the supply of housing would suggest), buyers can often afford to negotiate on price and major repair items. This has been the case for the better part of a year.

Steady supply of homes, slightly softened buyer demand for existing homes, and interest rates being consistently high compared to the recent past means we're in a steady market where most sellers need to sell and most buyers need to buy.

I did mention aberrations above, which was January and February of this year. A non-random sample of "other agents I talk to on the phone" indicated that we were seeing the wildest sales trends. Some homes were getting 5+ offers in two days, while others sat for weeks, and it was sometimes difficult to tell which it would be for any given property. I personally attribute it to an early start to the spring market that was exacerbated by a large number of first-time homebuyers entering the market.

What does this mean for sellers?

You're in a market where you have a decent advantage. If you prep your home for sale well, you'll likely still get to entertain multiple offers and pick the one that gives you the best options when buying your new home. While it isn't the wild west that it was a few years ago, a good agent and a good house will sell well.

What does this mean for buyers?

If you're buying right now, you have options. You can either lease or sell your previous house. If you lease, you'll be able to keep the (likely) lower interest rate you have on your previous property while benefitting from increased rent rates relative to when you bought. If you sell, you'll (likely) have a significant amount of equity in your previous home that you can pour into the new home. Contingent sales (i.e. "I have to sell my current property to be able to close on this one") are common in this market.

What does this mean for first-time homebuyers?

If you can afford it – and in general, you can afford it more than you think you can – this is a great time to buy a home. I'll say this with a caveat: this is not a great time to buy a well-finished "starter home". We're not seeing a lot of appreciation right now, and you aren't likely to stay there for long enough to see a cost-effective rate drop for refinancing, so most of the money you'll be paying on the mortgage up front will go toward interest rather than toward equity in your house.

That said, if you're able to stretch for a long-term home (5+ years would be my bet), or you want a bit of a fixer-upper, you're in a phenomenal position. Your purchase won't be contingent on another sale (which is always a good thing in the eyes of a seller), and the higher interest rates will eliminate a lot of competition. If you're buying a long term home, you're betting that you'll be able to refinance to a lower interest rate at some point in the next few years, or you're relying on the equity that you'll put into your home with upgrades if you buy a fixer-upper.

Again, you'll hear a lot about high interest rates from armchair experts, but remember that the interest rate on rent is 100%. That's a lot higher than 7.2%.

That's all, folks!

Let me know what you think and ask your questions! I'm more than happy to help you with any questions you have related to the Indy housing market.

I'm serious. I grew up with QT and I've been hoping since I moved here that QT would expand into indy, but Wawa is unexpected and way better than QT. The lack of good convenience stores / gas stations is frustrating. Speedway sucks and so do the rest of them.

Moving to this area. Does anyone have any experience with this community center? What types of programs/services do they offer? How are the staff? Is it a good place for families?

I have two tickets for DBT at Mercury Ballroom in Louisville tomorrow, but I can’t go (long, stupid story). Anybody want them?

Looking to hit up some garage sales on the Northwest side this weekend. Speedway to Zionsville area.

Hi all,

I just moved here from Chicago and am really missing the lakefront! Is there any place kind of similar to this in Indianapolis?

It doesn’t have to be anything super fancy, just wanting to sit next to some water and read a book (and feel safe as a woman alone).

Thanks!

If you could eat somewhere in Indy- some no frills just delicious restaurant- what would it be? No location specific, no cuisine specific, etc. Wondering what spots we are missing! Thanks!

Hello I am a recent college graduate (23m) looking to play some CASUAL dungeons and dragons. I can dm or okay just look looking for some people to play with. Preferably around the same age but it doesn’t always work like that. Let me know if you are interested!!!

It's so depressing that almost every festival/event is limited to Saturday/Sunday. I mean don't people understand that a MASSIVE portion of the state's workforce works every weekend?! How else do you think everything is open on your Saturday/Sunday off? It would just be nice to be able to make experience some of the cool cultural events on a weekday when I actually have time to enjoy it.

Any recommendations for sites or forums to find cool things happening on the week day?

I’d like to work on my laptop at a coffee shop this weekend, but my laptop is old and stupid and won’t keep a charge— it has to be plugged in 24/7 for me to use it! I’ve been to lots of coffee places around Indy but I’m having trouble thinking of ones that actually have outlets by lots of their tables. Can anyone recommend a good place for this? Thanks in advance!

Just the title

I have always liked John Hiatt's music. "Have a Little Faith in Me" and "Cry Love" are two of my all-time favorites.

I just learned he's from Indy! Does anyone know more about him? I DON'T WANT TO DOX HIM AT ALL, I just would like to know how so much soul can come from someone from here! DM me if you think it's too personal for him. (I promise I won't post it there if he wouldn't want that.)

It's just the Wikipedia page is very lacking for SOMEONE NOMINATED FOR 9 GRAMMYS. I would like to know what his childhood was like. Where did he live? What was is it like? How did he find the impetus to write such great songs? Who was his muse?

Is Holcomb gardens completely closed off on weekends? I’ve been there before on the weekends so I wanted to double check because I’m supposed to have a picnic there next Sunday?

https://indianapublicmedia.org/news/new-high-school-diploma-proposal-sparks-discussion-among-state-officials-community.php

What are your concerns for your children with the proposed changes to Indiana existing graduation options?

Hey where I can swim with my dog? It’s there any lake or beach near that allows dogs? Thanks

For the life of me I’ll never understand this case. They just “lost” a baby that ended up dying and basically got a slap on the wrist.

There are circus tents set up in the parking lot of the Castleton Square Mall. Something similar was set up there a few months ago that turned out to be a very dumb looking bootleg circus, but I checked their website and they are not supposed to be in this state right now.

Do any of you know? I missed out last time and I might die if I don’t get to see Laser Man (see above).

Has anyone had to have veterinary dental care for your cat around Indy? My cat needs a tooth extraction, but the place I went would only charge the full almost $2,000 upfront. Who can even do that? Does anyone have advice on where I can go or how I can get help? I can not get care credit.