Dan Rosenberger

Smithsonian Magazine has arranged for free admission to over 1,000 museums across the United States on Museum Day, September 25, 2010. In order to gain free admission for two, you must register for tickets at the Smithsonian Magazine website.

Here is a list of the participating museums in the Indianapolis area including Hamilton County:

• Conner Prairie
  • 13400 Allisonville Rd., Fishers, IN 46038
  • 317-776-6006
• Indiana Historical Society
  • 450 W. Ohio St, Indianapolis, IN 46202
  • 317-232-1882
• Indianapolis Museum of Art
  • 4000 Michigan Rd. Indianapolis, IN 46208
  • 317-923-1331
• President Benjamin Harrison Home
  • 1230 N. Delaware, Indianapolis IN 46202
  • 317-631-1888
• The Museum of Miniature Houses and Other Collections
  • 111 E Main St., Carmel, IN 46032
  • 317-576-9466

In order to get tickets for Museum day for museums in Central Indiana or around the country, you should visit the following website:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday

Indianapolis-Carmel, Indiana real estate is one of the most affordable areas of the US according to recent surveys. Contact usfor information about finding your affordable home in the Indianapolis-Carmel Indiana area. (And yes, for even greater potential value, we would be happy to show you foreclosures, HUD Homes and short sales.)

If you check the new HUD website, hudhomestore.com it will show that there are 482 HUD Homes available for sale in the state of Indiana as of 9/20. If you go to hmbiweb.com to find out what homes are available, it will take you to this page: http://www.tenmanagement.com/listings/state.do?code=IN where there are 407 HUD Homes shown as being available in Indiana. (By the way, ALL of these homes are available for bidding by both investors and owner-occupants.)

From a quick comparison, it appears that some homes being shown as available on hudhomestore.com actually show having an accepted offer on the HMBI site.

During the transition, it might be common to find discrepancies like this. We know that early during a transition period is when the bugs are worked out of the system. Even though HUD has put extensive planning into the new system, we know that it will take a little bit of time to work out all of the details. We expect that hudhomestore.com will have the most up-to-date information soon as the new Asset Management companies take on their responsibilities.

For any questions about Indianapolis HUD Homes and foreclosures, feel free to contact me and I can try to get you some answers. I am a HUD-registered broker, who can help you with your purchase of a HUD Home. My company and website are not affiliated with HUD or any government agency.

On Sept. 17 there were no new HUD listings in Indiana on a Friday for the first time in years. HUD is transitioning to new companies to assume responsibilities for the management and sales process for HUD Homes. HMBI will be phasing out in the coming weeks.

There are some very imortant things for home buyers to know about this transition:

• As of present, all available HUD Homes in Indiana have gone through the ten day owner occupant priority period, so any remaining homes can receive bids from either investor or owner-occupant buyers. (We expect that number of homes available to investors in Indiana to be close to 400 and decreasing each day as these homes are sold.)
  
• In the future, as new Asset Managers start the sales of HUD Homes, there will be longer owner-occupant priority periods for some homes and shorter for others: Homes eligible for FHA financing will be available to owner-occupants for 30 days. Homes not eligible for FHA financing will have a shortened owner-occupant priority period of only 5 days.
• Homes in the future will be listed any day of the week. In the past, new listings would only come out on Fridays.
• HUD has set up a new website that will have information about all HUD Homes available throughout the country. This website is hudhomestore.com
• There are additional changes to the sales process for HUD Homes. This time of transition will represent a learning curve for all involved in the sales of HUD Homes. We intend to stay on top of the situation to allow our clients the best information possible.

For information about Indianapolis HUD Homes or HUD Homes in the surrounding areas, be sure to contact me. You can reach me on my direct number 317-709-2537. We are registered with HUD to sell HUD Homes, but we are not affiliated with HUD or any government agency. Unlike some websites, we are not intersted in selling you a list or a subscription. We are interested in matching you up with a HUD Home, foreclosure or other home that meets your needs.

How can you get three mortgage payments for the price of two? Let's say that some lender's chart or computer program says that you can afford a home for $300,000. What some people would do is go out and try to find the nicest home they could for right about $300,000.

You probably don't need to buy the most expensive house you can afford. In fact, with the economy we've seen the past few years - just because you can afford it now doesn't necessarily mean that you will be able to afford it a few years from now. (Especially if you are buying close to the top number the lender's software says you can afford.) Buying less home might make sense for you over the long haul.

What if instead of buying a $300,000 home you decided to set a target of $150,000. This might not work in all parts of the country. In my area (Indianapolis - Carmel Indiana) you could probably find a very good home in that price range. (That is because the area ranks near the top on affordability surveys. And also I have many times found newer homes for clients for quite a bit less than what other homes in the same area were selling for.)

Back to the three for two. Buy a home with a 150K mortgage, but make the payment on it that the bank just told you that you could afford: the payment as if it were a 300K mortgage. In other words, take the principal and interest payment on the 150K mortgage and double it. Pay that every month and you will be at a zero balance on your mortgage in about one-third the time compared to simply making the required lower payment. (And if you do run into an financial hiccup, you are only obligated to make the lower payment.)

So in very rough numbers, you make double payments for about ten years (20 years worth of payments,) and you are done. The regular payment plus the extra payment, if timed right means you don't have to make the third payment - three payments for the price of two. The amount of time to zero balance varies according to the interest rate. Take a look at this chart:

But even if you cannot afford to double your payment just add $100 to your payment every month for each $1000 of the loan amount and you can cut it down by quite a few years. (For a $150,000 loan amount that would mean paying an extra $150 per month.)

Paying extra on your mortgage might not make sense from a financial planning standpoint right away. You might want to be sure you have saved up some reserves and have paid down other higher interest rate debt before making extra payments on your mortgage. But when you are to zero balance, continuing to make the payment - this time to a mutual fund - can be a powerful way to build up some serious savings.

Please note the following: The above charts are for illustration purposes only. This is not an offer to extend credit. All items shown in the chart are approximate. Annual Percentage Rate (APR) will vary for your specific loan, Consult your mortgage lender for information about APR. Your lender may require additions to your monthly payment for property taxes, insurance and other items. Consult with your lender for additional details about the specific loans, rates and terms currently available.

Indianapolis-Carmel, Indiana real estate is one of the most affordable areas of the US according to recent surveys. Contact usfor information about finding your affordable home in the Indianapolis-Carmel Indiana area. (And yes, for even greater potential value, we would be happy to show you foreclosures, HUD Homes and short sales.)

The Carmel Arts and Design District will feature a Gallery Walk on Saturday Sept. 18, 2010 from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Eight galleries, all within easy walking distance will display a variety of original works including painting, art glass, sculpture, photography and limited edition prints. Gallery owners will be offering a warm welcome to visitors who desire to explore what the Arts and Design District has to offer.

The following galleries will be participating the Gallery Walk:

• Art & Soul,1 S. Range Line Road
• ArtSplash, 111 W. Main Street, Suite 140
• Evan Lurie Gallery, 30 W. Main Street
• Eye On Art Gallery, 111 W. Main Street
• Garvey Simon Art Access, 27 E. Main Street
• Magdalena Gallery of Art, 22 N. Range Line Road
• Renaissance Fine Art & Design, 246 W. Main Street
• Soori Gallery, 258 W. Main Street

For more details about the features of each gallery visit the following website:

http://www.carmelartsanddesign.com/FEATURES/galleryassociation/gallerywalk.html

And don't miss the upcoming Carmel International Arts Festival on Sept. 25-26, 2010. Admission is free. For more infomation about the Arts Festival in Carmel Indiana visit CarmelArtsFestival.org

To learn more about Carmel Indiana real estate, be sure to contact Dan Rosenberger with Harvest Realty. Click on the link or call on the direct number 317-709-2537.