Fishers and Carmel will have their community tree lightings this Saturday, the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Fishers:  6:30 to 8.p.m. Saturday. Town Hall, 1 Municipal Drive. Includes costumed Dickens carolers, music from the Fishers High School choirs and cookies and punch. Free. (317) 578-0700 or www.fisherschamber.com.

Carmel:  4:30 to 6:30.p.m. Saturday. 1 Civic Square. Lighting of the Giving Tree and holiday lights is at dusk or approximately 5:45 p.m. Jugglers, carolers, balloon artists, reindeer and other North Pole animals. Holiday entertainment provided by Clay Middle School Choir, Carmel Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet and Central Indiana Dance Ensemble. Refreshments provided by the CFD Auxiliary. First 400 children will receive goody bags. In event of rain, held at the Carmel Fire Department Headquarters Fire Bay. Bring unwrapped gifts, no plush toys, for the Gazebo Giving Tree. Free. (317) 571-2400.

Source:  IndyStar.com

Cleveland based developer Fairmount Properties backed out of the $100 million Fishers Town Center deal, initiated a year ago, because of the struggling economy. The project included several hundred thousand square feet of office, retail and residential space off of 116^th Street on the west side of I-69.  The developer was unable to acquire about 125 properties needed before it could begin construction.

Town officials will hold a three-hour meeting Dec. 11 at the Fishers Public Library to hear opinions on what residents would like included in plans for the development. Two other meetings will be in January. The town could then change existing plans or consider scrapping the project.

For more information, click here.

Type:  Lake Front

Age:   Built in 1971

Location:   Lamb Lake in Trafalgar, Indiana, a 45 minute drive to downtown Indianapolis

Neighborhood:   Lamb Lake is a 500 acre private lake with access limited to 300 homeowners

Square footage:  4805 including 1435 in the finished basement

 Rooms:  This four-bedroom home has three full baths, views of the lake from nearly every room, two full kitchens with appliances, vaulted great room with a wood-burning fireplace and wall of windows, sun room with gas fireplace, master suite with sitting area open to the back patio, master bath with marble shower and private laundry, oversized 2^nd and 3^rd bedrooms with sitting area and shared Jack-n-Jill bath, walk-out lower level with 4^th bedroom and family room, and over 800 square feet of covered porches. 

Strengths:  Aside from the impressive lake views, this home offers 350 feet of shoreline, 1.42 acres of woods and waterfront, parking to accommodate up to 18 vehicles, an oversized 3-car garage, 200 feet of dock, two covered slips and power lifts, tie offs for 10 boats and swimming picnic and camping areas.  It is secluded from the road and is located in a cove with a “no wake” zone. 

Challenges:  This is a high price point for Trafalgar and buyers interested in purchasing second homes are a bit tougher to find in the recent market. 

WHAT’S IT WORTH?    $1,200,000

Fishers and Carmel have announced Trick-or-Treat hours for Halloween. Trick-or-Treat hours will be on Friday, October 31, 2008 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

Please review the following safety tips for Halloween:

• Give and accept wrapped or packaged candy only.

• Only go to houses that you know the owner.

• Have children bring treats home for adult inspection before they are eaten.

• A parent or adult should accompany children when they are trick-or-treating.

• Carry a flashlight.

• Stay within your neighborhood; only visit homes you know.

• Use make-up or face paint instead of masks. If masks are used, make sure the child has good visibility.

• Choose costumes that are flame retardant.

• Wear light-colored clothing, short enough to prevent tripping. Add reflective tape to dark colored costumes.

• Watch for vehicle traffic and use caution when crossing the street.

Police cars will be patrolling the neighborhoods to ensure everyone’s safety. If you see or find anything suspicious, please call the Fishers Police Department at 773-1282, Carmel Police Department at 571-2580, or Emergency 911.

Yes, the $700B is the talk of the nation, but recently there was a more important event that will affect real estate throughout the country.  If major lenders and the government would follow their lead, there was a precedent set significant enough that will affect supply of homes on the market and will resultantly stabilize values for property owners. 

The creative solution was in the details of the agreement where Bank of America buys Countrywide.  Bank of America purchased Countrywide at a value where they were willing to allocate over $8 Billion dollars to right the wrong of aggressive and improper mortgage loans.  These aggressive loans helped lead up to 400,000 properties toward foreclosure in a decreasing value market.  This company will identify and modify loan rates to make them affordable with the goal of keeping the home owners in the properties that if left alone would end up as distressed sales in the housing market.  The quantity of homes is so significant that if this model were duplicated by other lending institutions, it would have an impact on home inventory supply throughout the country. 

Again, the goal is to provide an option to the homeowner and to make it affordable enough to stay in the home.  With fewer homes selling at an aggressive discount due to vacancy and quick sale pressure from resultant bank holding cost, supply of distressed homes for sale would be lowered and as a result pricing would stabilize.  Many homeowners who are saddled by unmanageable monthly payments are unable to make that payment and they head towards foreclosure. 

Whether or not you feel that it is only fair that you make your payment and others should be responsible for making theirs, keeping owners in their homes is good for the real estate market.  Like it or not, if there are foreclosures in the neighborhood that offer incredible value compared to standard resale properties, the buyers will focus on where they can get the best price especially in an uncertain financial market. 

Mortgage lenders and the US Government should take note of this precedent and follow the lead of Bank of America.  A stable inventory level of homes with the current demand will stabilize price for people who need to sell.  The result of following this model is a better climate to sell homes where your competition isn’t owned by the bank. 

Thirteen of Carmel’s 15 schools (87%) and 15 of Fishers’ 19 schools (79%) were honored with the Four Star School Award, Indiana’s highest education award.  The award is given based on standardized test results and attendance rates. 

Out of Indiana’s 1,819 eligible public schools, only 179 received the award. 

According to a Department of Education press release, in order to receive the Four Star School Award, a school must place in the top 25 percent of schools in attendance, math and English scores, and the percentage of students passing both these subjects. 

For a list of the recipients, go to www.doe.in.gov/accreditation/fourstar.html.

Age:  Built in 2000

Location:  Fort Myers, Florida

Neighborhood:  Reflection Lakes is a modern gated community in south Fort Myers that offers tennis courts, a workout room, a community pool, clubhouse, and lake views.

Square footage: 2400 square feet

Rooms:  This 3 bedroom, 2 bath home has an open living area, tall ceilings, a lake view, pool, over-sized lanai, kitchen with granite counter tops, and paver driveway. 

Description:  This is an upscale south Fort Myers gated community with an abundance of amenities.  This house would have sold for $675,000-700,000 just a couple of years ago and is now listed at a bargain price.  Fort Myers is growing south and this home is in a prime location and only a 15-20 minute drive from the beach. 

Price:  $415,000

Conventional mortgage money has tightened up recently as a result of the increasing amount of foreclosures. Basically, rates are linked to credit ratings and the bar is set much higher now than in the past.  For example, someone with a 720 credit score, typically considered great buyer, has no issues with interest rates on conventional financing and 5% down-payment.  However, as you move to the mid-600 credit scores (considered reasonable in the past) expect the interest rate to jump up 1.5- 2% higher than the previous norm while the down-payment may be 20%. 

Most lenders are favoring FHA loans (government backed) for these cases where rates are not tied as tightly to credit ratings.

Official: $1.2M spent so far will be recouped in less than a year with property taxes

FISHERS, Ind. — Town officials on Thursday defended the amount they’ve spent in the long fight to annex Geist homeowners, even as both sides braced for a courtroom showdown.

Fishers’ leaders a day earlier revealed records showing they have paid six law firms, two accountants, a city planner and a legislative consultant more than $1,243,070 since January 2007 in their pursuit of 2,200 homes near and on Geist Reservoir. 

“This is a one-time cost to correct a long-term inequity,” said Town Council President Scott Faultless. “It will take less than a year to make this back.”

A majority of the Geist residents oppose annexation and have sued Fishers to prevent it.

Fishers sought help in various areas — planning the annexation, beating back residents’ attempts to create two new towns and successfully battling an anti-annexation bill in the General Assembly, records released by the town show. The costs range from $253,786 to the law firm of Bose McKinney & Evans, to $133,437 to the Indianapolis public relations company of Sease, Gerig & Associates.

Representatives of the homeowners’ group Geist United Opposition declined to comment on Fishers’ costs. But its members have said the town’s spending was reckless in the unfriendly annexation attempt.

The annexation fight has cost the homeowners about $100,000 in legal bills.

Town officials say their legal costs are worth it because the town will gain millions in property taxes from the homeowners for years to come if the annexation succeeds.

“This is about forever,” said Town Council member Stuart Easley.

Fishers projects it will reap $10.2 million in property taxes — after deducting for the cost of added services — in the first five years of annexation.

Town officials said almost all their annexation expenses came after homeowners last summer rejected Fishers’ attempt to annex them voluntarily.

“People should know that barely any of these costs are related to the annexation itself but instead to defending ourselves on all these other fronts,” said Bryan Babb, an attorney for Indianapolis-based Bose McKinney. If the homeowners had agreed to the annexation, the cost would have been about $100,000, he said.

The town offered three-year tax abatements and pledges of free sewer hook ups to the homeowners if they agreed to annexation. Instead, Geist United rejected the offer and went to court last September to incorporate as its own towns, East Geist and West Geist.

During that skirmish, which ended in December, Fishers spent $330,152. Included in the costs were $23,081 to Carmel-based Wabash Scientific, an urban planning firm that did a report on what services Fishers could provide to Geist, and $37,099 to Greenwood-based Reedy & Peters, an accounting firm that determined how those services would be paid for.

After a judge ruled that the homeowners couldn’t incorporate, the homeowners found a sponsor for a legislative bill that would ban involuntary annexations.

The town spent $228,135 fighting the bill, including $42,000 to the Indianapolis law firm Barnes & Thornburg for legislative monitoring and evaluation and $16,679 to Sease, Gerig.

Geist is at least the fourth metro area in recent years to challenge annexation.

Carmel last year successfully annexed 8.3 square miles in southwest Clay Township in a case that went to the Indiana Supreme Court. Carmel is in another fight to annex the community of Home Place, which is just north of Indianapolis.

Thursday, Greenwood sued Bargersville in Johnson County to stop the city from annexing a piece of unincorporated land near Greenwood’s border. Participants in those lawsuits doubted the Geist annexation would have any effect on theirs.

Fishers and the Geist homeowners are scheduled to appear before Hamilton Superior Court Judge Steven Nation on Oct. 1.

Source:  http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080919/LOCAL0102/809190439/1175/LOCAL0102