About Vanderburgh County, IN

Well maintained, nicely landscaped, located in Asbury Heights on 2.5 acres. 3 miles east of 164, off of Boonville-New Harmony Rd. Split bedroom design with open kitchen, dining, living room and a Yotul wood burner. Kitchen equipped with Whirlpool Gold smooth top range, dishwasher and built-in microwave. Master bathroom with double sink vanity, garden tub and separate shower with seat. Master bedroom with walk-in closet. Large patio with screened in enclosure and covered porch. 3-car garage with sidewalk from patio. Furnace equipped with Aprilaire filter system and humidifier. Privacy fence lined with roses. To directly access this property, use this shortcut: http://www.fizber.com/indiana-buy-single-family-home-11648544.html

A free Multi-Cultural Festival will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. along Main Street between Riverside Drive and Second Street.

The festival will include about a dozen booths offering international food, handmade crafts from different countries, entertainment, children's crafts and a general introduction to life around the world.

Latino, Indian, Greek, Italian, Asian and Scottish cultures will be among those represented.

The entertainment includes Egyptian belly dancers, local bagpipers, the Boom Squad drummers, Latin American performer Daniela Vidal and an international folk-dancing troupe.

This is the first year the Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville and Downtown Rotary Club are joining forces on the event. Radio station WIKY-FM104.1 also is a sponsor.

Singer Gina Moore will open the event with "God Bless America."

Source: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/oct/21/multi-cultural-festival-will-trip-around-world/

Most economists and Ben Bernanke believe that the recession is over. In addition, the "pending sales index" has increased for seven consecutive months, the first time that has occurred since the index was started in 2001. Although both of these pieces of information sound great, and they are good, we should look beyond headlines to see what is really happening in the Evansville area. We have seen a Toyota expansion, we are losing some Whirlpool jobs and we are adding some Berry Plastics jobs. Currently national unemployment is almost 10% while the Evansville area is less at 8.6%. Although the economy is improving no one we know is forecasting rapid economic growth.

Local housing sales continue at a very steady rate. Over the past four months our local MLS has sold 1585 homes compared to 1600 over the same period last year. Month to month sales have been virtually unchanged since May. The supply of homes on the market in our area has also stayed very steady. Although we can not say that sales are brisk, we can say that in some locations and price ranges the supply of homes is limited. If you are curious about the housing market in a specific location or price range give us a call and we can help you with that information.

From our friends in the financial services industry we have the following to report: But for mildly weak 3-month and 30-year Treasury auctions last week, it was a strong week for the credit markets and even stronger for the real estate market. The reported quantity of mortgage applications for the week prior showed a 16.4% rise overall, with strong jumps for both the purchase money and the refinancing mortgages. The Freddie Mac weekly loan average rate fell to 4.87%. And the average of all mortgage rates (including jumbos, whose rates are declining while applications rise) ended the week at 5.27%.

A little over a year ago my company, F. C. Tucker Emge Realtors launched a completely redesigned website designed specifically to help make the home buying process easy. At the same time we started spending less money on print advertising and spent more resources enhancing and promoting our website. This decision was one of the best decisions we ever made. We are now selling more real estate than our next two competitors combined and more and more buyers are finding their new home at www.FCTuckerEmge.com If you haven't visited the site please do. We think you will like what you see.

More than 80 percent of new single-family homes have at least two bathrooms, which occupy an average of 300 square feet of floor space, or 12 percent of the total area, according to a study by the National Association of Home Builders.

The home builder's study reports a major return on value for extra bathrooms: "When the number of bathrooms is approximately equal to the number of bedrooms, an additional half-bath adds about 10 percent to the home's value, and one additional bath adds about 19 percent."

A mid-range bathroom remodel, which costs $10,500 on average nationwide, repays a home buyer at least 100 percent of the outlay when the property is sold, the home buyer study concludes.

Source: Chicago Tribune, Mike McClintock (09/21/2009) http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2009100503?OpenDocument

Pending home sales have increased for seven straight months, the longest in the series of the index which began in 2001, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in August, rose 6.4 percent to 103.8 from a reading of 97.6 in July, and is 12.4 percent above August 2008 when it was 92.4. The index is at the highest level since March 2007 when it was 104.5.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said not all contracts are turning into closed sales within an expected timeframe. "The rise in pending home sales shows buyers are returning to the market and signing contracts, but deals are not necessarily closing because of long delays related to short sales, and issues regarding complex new appraisal rules," he said. "No doubt many first-time buyers are rushing to beat the deadline for the $8,000 tax credit, which expires at the end of next month."

The Pending Home Sales Index in the Northeast jumped 8.2 percent to 85.3 in August and is 12.0 percent higher than August 2008. In the Midwest the index rose 3.1 percent to 90.8 in August and is 7.6 percent above a year ago. In the South, pending home sales increased 0.8 percent to an index of 104.6 and is 8.2 percent above August 2008. In the West the index surged 16.0 percent to 130.5 and is 22.3 percent above a year ago.

"There is likely to be some double counting over a span of several months because some buyers whose contracts were cancelled have found another home and signed a new contract to buy," Yun explained. "Perhaps the real question is how many transactions are being delayed in the pipeline, and how many are being cancelled? Without historic precedents, it's challenging to assess."

Yun also noted that the data sample coverage for pending sales is smaller than the measurement for closed existing-home sales, so the two series will never match one for one.

NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dallas-Fort Worth, said first-time buyers need to act now. "Potential first-time buyers must make a contract offer very soon to have a reasonable chance of qualifying for the tax credit," he said. "Congress needs to extend and expand this program because it's stimulating the economy and reducing inventory close to price stabilization points."

McMillan said a sizable number of homebuyers already in the pipeline could be let down because of the tight deadline. "We know there is a pent-up demand because sales are below normal levels for the size of our population. The faster we absorb excess inventory, the sooner we'll turn the corner on home prices, prevent additional families from becoming upside-down in their mortgages, and give Wall Street the confidence to extend credit to other sectors," he said. "Each home sale pumps an additional $63,000 into the economy through related goods and services, so the benefits of extending and expanding the tax credit far outweigh the costs."

Yun said the forecast for home sales and prices depends very much on whether a tax credit is extended. "All we can say for certain is sales will decline when the tax credit expires because we are not yet on a self-sustaining recovery path. It also raises a risk of a double-dip recession," he said. "Extending and expanding the tax credit is the best tool in our arsenal to encourage financially qualified buyers to stimulate the economy and help reduce the budget deficit."

Source: NAR