Spring Selling Season Arrives Early!

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Winter finally seems to have broken and the temps seem to be on the upswing!  Homes in the hot areas are already moving quickly in the Indianapolis and surrounding areas.  If you’re thinking this spring is a good time to starting looking for a house, you aren’t alone. That’s the problem. Your dream house, which might have been easy enough for you to grab a few years ago, is being eyed by other potential buyers.

IT IS A SELLER’S MARKET!  Whether you are a first time buyer or a move-up/down buyer, you must have everything in order prior to viewing homes!  Gone are the days of getting your financing in order after you found the home of your dreams, in order to make the home buying process run as smoothly as possible, follow these simple tips and LISTEN TO YOUR REALTOR!:

1. Get your financing lined up.  You may not worry about being turned down by the mortgage lender, but the seller doesn’t know that. The seller may also be in a hurry to hand you the keys. YOU HAVE TO BE PRE-APPROVED FOR YOUR MORTGAGE!  There are 2 numbers when you are dealing with your financing – first is the number your lender approves you for and second is the number you are comfortable spending!  The lender may say you can spend $300,000, but what does that mean to your monthly budget?  Working with a lender will help you decide what the right number is – contact Pat Hammer at Waterstone Mortgage and get started today!

2. Try to find out why the seller is selling. Buying and selling homes are emotional decisions, an emotional seller versus a nonemotional seller will react to different things.  If you have sellers who raised their kids in the house and lived there for most of their lives, they may appreciate a buyer who will do the same. Sending a personal letter with your offer may move you to the front of the pack!

3. Be flexible.  If you’re competing against other buyers, be as accommodating as possible.  Be flexible on closing dates and occupancy, the goal is for you to get the home of your dreams, and see number 1…a mortgage contingency allows buyers to back out of the deal if they can’t get financing for the house. Sellers don’t like mortgage contingencies – they don’t want to wave off potential buyers only to learn that their buyer can’t actually purchase the house.

 4. Sweeten the deal.  In a hot market, it is not uncommon to offer over list price, how much more is up to you, but even another $500 might get the seller’s attention.  You could also consider waiving the appraisal. That means if the bank determines the house isn’t worth the purchase price you and the seller agreed to, and it won’t lend you all of the money to cover it, you’ll have to make up the difference – provided you have the funds, of course.

5. Be fast. This is a big decision and you likely don’t want to rush, but if you know you can afford the house and you love it and the neighborhood, then, yes, you probably should rush.  In an age of instantaneous communication, minutes count and can make the difference between an accepted or rejected offer.  Make certain your agent uses the most current technology such as electronic signatures, in order to ensure immediate responses.

6. Be bold. If you really want the house, don’t get too cute and make a lowball offer, thinking there will be a lot of negotiation. You should suggest something close to the price the homeowner is expecting, or risk your offer being ignored. And this isn’t the time to be petty – or cheap, don’t haggle over $500 on a $200,000 deal.

7. Provide good customer service. Wait, isn’t that the seller’s job? You would hope so, but in a competitive market, it comes down to thinking of the homeowner as your customer. You’ll get his business (well, the house) if you’re personable, easy to work with and able to offer a good deal. Of course, you want to make sure you don’t offer the seller such an amazing deal that you hate yourself the day after closing. You want the welcome mat – what you don’t want is to be a doormat.

I can help you meet your goals and provide excellent guidance through what is one of the most important purchases of your life…call, text or email me!

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Vicki Reed

Time for the Men’s Big Ten Tourney…

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…and we are hosting it right here in Indy!  Are you going?  As an Indiana fan, I’m disappointed in their performance this season, but I am not a fair weather fan and will continue cheering them on despite their record this season.

2014 is the ninth time Indianapolis has hosted the Tourney and the first game tips off at noon on Thursday with 8th seeded Indiana taking on 9th seeded Illinois…click here for the brackets to follow all the games!

The Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament has only been around 16-years, sellout crowds, exciting and competitive games, national television coverage and throngs of media have been highlights of past years tournaments.  Since the beginning of the tournament, the Big Ten has  has had 6 teams crowned champion. Ohio State leads all Big Ten schools with 4 (2007, 2010, 2011, 2013), followed by Michigan State with 3 (1999, 2000, 2001). Illinois 2 (2003, 2005), Iowa 2 (2001, 2006) and Wisconsin 2 (2004, 2008), and Purdue 1 in 2009.

Just remember, while each team participates in the tournament and the winner receives the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but the team (or teams) that finish at the top of the regular-season standings is the Big Ten Champion. The bracket is seeded according to the final regular-season standings with the conference champion earning the top seed and the top four finishers receiving first-round byes.

Not going to the games, you can find the games covered by 4 different networks.  BTN will carry the opening 2 games as well as 2 primetime games on Friday.  ESPN2 will cover Thursday’s primetime matchups, ESPN will carry Friday’s afternoon games and CBS Sports takes over on Saturday for the semifinals and Sunday’s championship game.

So…are you going to the Fieldhouse to catch your favorite team?

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Vicki Reed

Who’s visiting Indy this Spring????

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The Indianapolis Star has published it’s list of the 20 most interesting people visiting Indiana this spring.  Here is the intro and list, who’s on your list to see?

How Hard Is It . . . . . . ?

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to use turn signals – ALL the time?

to put the grocery cart back in the corral instead of leaving it in a parking space?

to hold the elevator door for someone approaching?

to stop using ‘LIKE’ as every other word?

to turn on your headlights all the time (proven safety action)?

to let pedestrians cross when making a turn?

to leave a bit of TP hanging down for the next person?

to talk in a normal tone when on your cell (the person 2 blocks aways doesn’t need to hear your conversation)?

to really STOP on a red light (instead of speeding through)?

to stay for the whole game instead of leaving even if your team is losing?

to take your garbage can back to the garage (instead of leaving it at the curb for 3 days)?

to be on time?

to call your mother once a week? (OK, this one is very personal, sorry!)

to only take what you’ll eat at a buffet (make another trip)?

to spay/neuter your pets (PLEASE)?

to return library items on time?

to not spit on the sidewalk (nasty)?

to change a diaper in the RR (or bedroom) not on the living room floor or couch?

to clean off your table at a fast-food place?

to change into flats instead of walking like a dork on the sidewalk (does make for fun watching on Monument Circle tho)?

to control your kids in public places?

to tell your family you love them  (often)?

I’m not your “honey”, “sweetie” or “babe”

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Yes, if Derek Morgan, aka Shemar Moore, called me “baby girl” I would totally melt, but when the drive-thru person at McDonald’s, the clerk at the shoe store or the waiter/waitress at a restaurant (this does not include Heather, the wonderful waitress at Dale’s in Beech Grove, she serves our networking groups every week!) call me these names, I find it disrespectful and quite frankly, I’d rather be called ma’am!  I used to just ignore it, but it has become more and more prevelant and, maybe it’s my age, but I’m calling them out on it.  I will actually interrupt them and say “I’m sorry, you must be mistaken, I’m not your sweetie and I find your overly familiar endearment disrespectful and I would appreciate it if you would refrain from using it.  Should you feel the need to call me something, ma’am is fine.”  The reactions have been between very contrite to a flippant “sorry”, but I believe it speaks to the “casualization” of our culture.

This casualization extends from our interactions with one another in person, online line or on the phone to the way we dress.  People are not respectful of each other, or themselves, we prefer to spend time with our smartphones or tablets, ever noticed when you are out to dinner or even shopping how many people are interacting with the phones, but not each other?  It’s going to be interesting to see where we go from here…thoughts?

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Vicki Reed

Oscar, Oscar, Oscar…

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Yes, it’s that time of year again…Oscar time!  I love movies, but some of the Oscar nominated films are so far from mainstream, I don’t get them!  And let’s talk past winners…Titanic for example…guess what folks…the boat sinks!  and I didn’t need 3 hours and 15 minutes to know that!  Truly, I just love the fashion, from the horrific (Bjork and the swan dress) to the fantastic (seriously, does Helen Mirren EVER make a misstep???)    I watch bits and parts of the awards, but I’m checking out all the arrivals!

Have you seen any of this year’s best picture nominees?  For full synopsis and more information, click here to visit MSN Entertainment’s Academy Award section, for now…here’s my very short synopsis…

12 Years a Slave – Southern living in the 1840’s

American Hustle – drugs, boobs, comb-overs and scams!

Captain Phillips – Pirates…but not Jack Sparrow!

Dallas Buyers Club – AIDS and HIV treatments

Gravity – Lost in space

Nebraska – Father, son and those pesky sweepstakes

The Wolf of Wall Street – Crooked banker with a penchant for overindulgence

Her – Strange man in love with a computer

Philomena – Unwed mothers, adoption and mean old nuns!

How about Actor and Actress?  Suporting roles?  Here are your nominees:

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Bruce Dern — “Nebraska”
Leonardo DiCaprio — “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Chiwetel Ejiofor — “12 Years a Slave”
Matthew McConaughey — “Dallas Buyers Club”
Christian Bale — “American Hustle”

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett — “Blue Jasmine”
Sandra Bullock — “Gravity”
Judi Dench — “Philomena”
Meryl Streep — “August: Osage County”
Amy Adams — “American Hustle”

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Barkhad Abdi — “Captain Phillips”
Bradley Cooper — “American Hustle”
Michael Fassbender — “12 Years a Slave”
Jared Leto — “Dallas Buyers Club”
Jonah Hill — “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Jennifer Lawrence — “American Hustle”
Lupita Nyong’o — “12 Years a Slave”
Julia Roberts — “August: Osage County”
June Squibb — “Nebraska”
Sally Hawkins — “Blue Jasmine”

And we musn’t forget Best Director

Alfonso Cuaron — “Gravity”
Steve McQueen — “12 Years a Slave”
Alexander Payne — “Nebraska”
Martin Scorsese — “The Wolf of Wall Street”
David O. Russell — “American Hustle”

Who are your choices?  I’m sure Ellen will do a great job hosting, I just don’t have the attention span to sit through it all, but I love reading the highlights and you know I’ll be checking out the fashion!

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What is Brickworld Indy 2014?

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There is always something interesting going on in Indy and with the popularity of the Lego movie, I shouldn’t be surprised to learn about this annual event…Welcome to Brickworld Indy 2014!

Brickworld Indy 2014 will be held March 8 & 9 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in the Agriculture Horticulture Building and will be open to the public on Saturday 10 am – 6 pm and Sunday 10 am – 5 pm. Ticket Prices:

General Admission: $8.50 on line in advance
$9 after March 5th and at the door
Military Personnel/First Responder:  $6 (At the Door Only.  Must Show ID)
Kids 3 & Under:  Free
All tickets are single day passes.
Tickets can be purchased online or at the door.

From their Website:

Brickworld and IndyLUG (Indiana LEGO User Group) are excited to be bringing a premiere LEGO display and exposition to Indianapolis for the fifth consecutive year!

Bring the entire family for a day of fun!  See 45,000 square feet of spectacular creations all built from LEGO bricks by local LEGO enthusiasts. Enjoy interactive activities, such as the LEGO and DUPLO play brick areas, seek and finds, and fighting robots.  Buy your favorite LEGO sets, minifigures, and LEGO accessories from various vendors.

How does something like this even get started?  This is the History from their website…this is interesting stuff!

Brickworld began with a single convention/expo event in the Chicago area in 2007.  Our original home was the Westin Hotel in Wheeling, IL.  Brickworld expanded to hold a second expo in partnership with the Indiana LEGO User Group (IndyLUG) in 2010.  A third event (Brickworld Fort Wayne) was started in 2011.

Brickworld was founded under the prinicples of getting together with existing friends and making new friends.  Our motto (Share – Learn – Explore – Discover) reflects our intent to be not only a fun event, but also an educational event where LEGO artists and engineers learn from each other.

A major element of the convention is the spirit of giving.  Registered attendees come to share their knowledge with others through seminars, workshops, and impromptu discussions.  But the spirit of giving does not stop there.  Each year we hold an auction to raise money for charities.  Items in the auction are also donated by sponsors and attendees.  Over the years, the charity auction has become more and more prominent at the event and adds a lot to the fun.

As the event has grown, so has the team running the event.  In 2007, a team of 14 people led the way through the convention.  That team is now 37 people and all their efforts help bring the event to the attendees and public each year.

This event sounds like a great family thing to do…buy your tickets early and head out March 8 and 9 to check out this great family event.

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Vicki Reed

The Greatest Movie Romances…Happy Valentines Day!

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MSN has published it’s Top 50 Greatest Movie Romances, from Notting Hill (#50) to An Affair to Remember (#1) what is your favorite movie romance?  There are some obscure…have you ever heard of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg or That Obscure Object of Desire…me either!  Many of my favorites were on the list, who doesn’t love Say Anything?  So…counting them down from #50…

50.  Notting Hill…”I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”  love this line!
49.  Sleepless in Seattle
48.  Ghost…”ditto”
47.  Four Weddings and a Funeral
46.  That Obscure Object of Desire
45.  Two for the Road
44.  Barefoot in the Park (one of my favs!)
43.  That Hamilton Woman
42.  Before Sunrise/Before Sunset (actually 2 movies made 10 years apart!)
41.  Harold and Maude (May-December was never like this!)
40. Now, Voyager ( this is the movie that introduced the gesture of lighting two cigarettes in one mouth and giving the other one to the person you were being intimate with)
39.  The Bridges of Madison County
38.   Jane Eyre
37.  Pretty Woman
36.  Rebecca
35.  Brokeback Mountain
34.  The Apartment
33.  Sense and Sensibility
32.  Jerry Maguire…”you had me at hello”
31.  The African Queen (Love Humphrey Bogart)
30.  City Lights
29.  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
28.  Reds
27.  The Crying Game
26.  Vertigo
25.  The Philadelphia Story (I loved the remake…High Society with Grace Kelly!)
24.  An Officer and a Gentleman (who didn’t dream of being swept away by a guy in uniform!)
23.  Love Story
22.  The Way We Were
21.  Say Anything (do kids today even understand the boombox?)
20.  Notorious
19.  Moonstruck (another fav!)
18.  In the Mood for Love
17.  A Man and a Woman
16.  Jules and Jim
15.  The Awful Truth
14.  Wings of Desire
13.  Splendor in the Grass
12.  Make Way for Tomorrow
11.  Titanic (guess what folks…the boat sinks and Leo looks like he’s 12…I just don’t get this one!)

and now for your top 10!!!!

At Number 10…Gone with the Wind…it’s the story of a girl, standing in front of a boy with big ears and a pencil mustache, asking him to love her, and him telling her he frankly doesn’t give a damn.

Number 9…Wuthering Heights…Those crazy kids Heathcliff and Cathy and the moors and the brooding.

Number 8…Annie Hall…a film of love among neurotic New York intellectuals

Number 7…When Harry Met Sally…just love Sally’s oft-parodied fake orgasm in Katz’s

Number 6…Casablanca…”Here’s lookin at you kid”

Number 5…Roman Holiday…A weird reverse Cinderella story, but Audrey Hepburn is great!

Number 4…Doctor Zhivago…the love story is a beating heart

Number 3…Breakfast at Tiffany’s… the ultimate in Manhattan romance

Number 2…The Umbrellas of Cherbourg…it’s French…need I say more?

And finally…Number 1 of the greatest movie romances…An Affair to Remember!  Directly from the MSN captions:  “Yes, this IS the movie that Meg Ryan and Rosie O’Donnell go on about in “Sleepless in Seattle,” and indeed the movie that “Sleepless in Seattle” adapts its climax from! This film’s place at No. 1 ties Leo McCarey with Alfred Hitchcock as the most cited director on the list, with three titles each. This 1957 film is itself a remake of McCarey’s 1939 “Love Affair,” and while some believe the original’s still the greatest, it’s an arguable point. This particular viewer is highly taken with the remake’s lead actors, Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, and its sumptuous color and widescreen look. And, yes, the Vic Damone-crooned theme song, so there. For all intents and purposes, the perfect Hollywood heartbreaker and, for all its gloss, another proof of McCarey fan Jean Renoir’s observations that Leo understood people better than any other filmmaker of his generation.”

Did your favorite make the list?  Who did they miss?  Happy Valentines Day everyone!

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Vicki Reed

K at C

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No, not K of C (Knights of Columbus) or KFC (KY Fried Chicken)  – this is Kids at Casino.

Took a trip to the ‘boat’ in Southern Indiana this week to celebrate a friend’s birthday. He enjoys it and a group of us have been doing it for several years.  This year it sounded even better since they have an indoor pool & hot tub. Warmth!  Steam! Wear flip-flops and not snow boots!

We got to the pool area around 8:35 p.m.  We were going to hang out and play some cards and soak up the warmth. I put my things at our spot and walked over to the hot tub. There were people sitting in the hot tub holding babies. And they were little babies – maybe a month old.  Head shake #1.

There were a couple of kids, 10-12 years old in the pool splashing around, throwing a ball. They were playing and not making much noise.  Mini-head shake #2.

Around 9:00 two guys came in with 5 little kids, ages 3-8.  The kids all jumped in the pool, screaming and splashing each other. Note: neither of the guys had on swim suits so don’t know what they’d have done if they had to grab one of the kids out of the pool.  Head shake #3.

Well, the screaming was echoing off the walls so we packed it in and headed back to our rooms. After changing into dry clothes, we headed back over to the boat. An employee was on the elevator and said, “Did you hear they had to close the pool? Some kid pooped in it!” Big head shake #4

WHY would you take kids to a casino?  What do you do with them while you’re gambling?

I used to shake my head at all the “old” people on the boat – walkers, wheel chairs, oxygen tanks – wondering if they had so much pension they could afford to gamble. Maybe.

I forgot they still allow smoking (I spent my time on the non-smoking deck which was OK) and wondered if they’d ever had someone ignite an oxygen take when they lit up! Maybe.

I can understand a taking a day out on the boat to meet friends, enjoy a concert, share a meal. But, if you can call the employees by name, maybe it’s time to get some help!

I guess I’m too frugal – I spend my allotted $40 and take a book to read!  Watching the scenery that shows up is a good time waster too!

WHAT?!? It’s February already?

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It’s true: the older you get the faster time goes by.  Wasn’t it just yesterday I put up the Christmas tree? Oh, no – I just took it DOWN yesterday; JK – that’s my New Year’s Day task. 

We’ve had two holidays in January.  I think it’s the only month with two that business and schools are actually closed for.  Someday the powers that be will realize they need to make the day after the Super Bowl a national holiday also. There are “special days” created that you could celebrate for each day of the month:

Check it out: http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/january.htm

I’m so sorry I missed Houseplant Appreciation Day on the 10th. or National Penguin Awareness Day on the 20th.  I’m really sad I missed National Pie Day on the 23rd.   Where were all those FB posts and event notices to inform me?

Then there’s the whole MONTH of ‘something’.  For January, it was

  • National Bath Safety Month
  • National Blood Donor Month
  • National Braille Literacy Month
  • National Hobby Month
  • Hot Tea Month
  • National Oatmeal Month
  • National Soup Month

Look at February on the link and you’ll surely find something to celebrate besides Groundhog Day and Valentine’s Day.