Published February 5th, 2009 in the Southside Times

The Southside housing market is doing quite well, thank you.

Banks have mortgage money to lend, interest rates are low and houses in Indiana are more affordable than in many other states.

That’s the message a newly formed Southside alliance of Realtors and real estate brokers are promoting.

They want to counter the doom-and-gloom economic forecasts portrayed almost daily by the national news media. States such as Florida, Nevada, California and Arizona do have housing problems, but those problems should not carry over to Indiana, said Tom Johnson.

“It’s not that bad here, and people need to know that,” said Mike Watkins, noting that more that more than 27,000 houses were sold last year in the Metro area (Marion County and seven surrounding counties). That number is higher than the sales year of 2005 when economic times were good.

Started early last month, the new alliance of Realtors and brokers will hold its fourth meeting at noon Feb. 12 in Jonathan Byrd’s Cafeteria in Greenwood. Besides Realtors, the meeting will be open to bankers and title company representatives.

Alliance members will discuss:
• Affordability of homes locally
• Low interest rates (4.5 percent)
• Available mortgage money
• Down payments as low as 3.5 percent
• Tax credit available through June 30
• Stability of lenders
• Housing construction costs down

The idea to form the alliance came from Dave Frazier, Linda Leveridge and Mike Crafton when discussing what could be done to overcome the negative perception of the Southside housing market.

The right message has to be sent about the overall economy, and that it’s not that bad locally, said Johnson. National news reports have been chipping away at consumer confidence to where its become a “wait and see” attitude when it comes to spending for real estate.

“Ninety percent of the people are working, banks do have money to lend, and housing prices are low,” said Watkins.

The alliance has brought Realtors and brokers closer together after a period of technology, such as cell phones and e-mails, kept them apart.

“It’s getting to be like the old days. We’re talking to each again, once more have a spirit of cooperation, and we’re in it to where we all win,” Leveridge said.

“Many bankers, builders and lenders today have not experienced tough economic downtimes,” said Watkins. “It’s somewhat new to them.”

Added Frazier, “We’re (Realtors) really not strong adversaries. Just strong competitors.”

“Banks have mortgage money to lend and down payments can be as low as 3.5 percent,” said Carl Culmann.

“We’re proud that Southside Realtors came up with this unique idea of an alliance,” said Watkins. “We just have to get the message across that now is the time to get a good deal on buying a house.”

Real estate professionals who formed a Southside housing alliance include (front row, from left) Tom Pollard, Dean Hicks, Mike Watkins and Maurice Harbert; (back row, from left) Jeff Paxson, John Breck, Tom Johnson, Steve Burkhart, Carl Culmann, Dan Moriarty, Mike Duncan, Mike Crafton, Rhonda Smith, Judy Hoeping, Dave Frazier, Scott Smith, Steve Danielly and Ray Stuck.