Question on Condos in Carmel - The Retreat (Indianapolis, Westfield: for sale, sublease)

[coredneck]

I am looking at buying property in Carmel, IN at "The Retreat" off of Westfield Blvd near 96th St. The main question, how difficult is it to sell a one bed/one bath unit ? Also what can I expect with appreciation on the property as well over time ? The main thing is a resale point of view.

I am considering buying the property for family use since we live out of state such as coming back to see family in the Summers. Also what is the possibility of renting the property part time for local corporations to use to house their corporate officers ?

[rwcrozier]

It can be pretty difficult to sell 1br/1ba condos. Condos in general can be difficult to sell (usually on the market for close to a year) With just 1 bedroom it makes it a bit more difficult.

I'd be happy to connect with you an agent in the area for more specific info!

[nancy wilson]

Hello Coredneck,
We live in California and coincidentally are also looking to buy a condo at The Retreat for family use when we come back to visit our hometown of Indianapolis. The Retreat is our first choice due to proximity to the Monon Trail. We will only use the condo one week in June, August 12-23 and one week early November. Would you be interested in fractional ownership with us as it sounds like your needs are similar to ours? Our agent with FC Tucker brought to our attention the 1 br which is well-priced at $75K. Also, we thought of renting the condo out during 500 and Brickyard Race Season but The Retreat's CCNR's preclude this. This is probably the same for your idea of corporate sublease. Please let me know if you would have any interest.

[Jillaceae]

I would agree with rwcrozier that condos are fairly hard to sell-- basically because the Indy area market is super saturated with condos for sale. At the moment, newer, upscale condos with a good location and amenities are a dime a dozen. Buying something at The Retreat probably would not give you much of a market edge resale wise, if that is one the main reasons you want to buy there. I am looking to buy in the next few years and I've looked at a lot of condos. I'd never heard of The Retreat, but to be honest, it looks the same as many many other condo properties I've seen on the Monan in a hip area. I'm not even considering condos anymore because 1.) If I needed to sell it would be too difficult, and 2.) For the price of the condos I was looking at I can get a cute house in Broad Ripple or Meridian Kessler. The problem with condos in the Indy market as opposed to other urban markets is that housing prices here are low enough that you don't really have the people who are buying a condo because they can't afford a house, so your pool of potential buyers is much smaller. That is on top of the fact that the pool of potential buys for a one bedroom anything is fairly small to begin with.

Also, as someone who is currently in the market for an upscale rental, I can also say that kind of rental market is also fairly saturated at the moment. If the main interest in the condo is as an investment property, there probably isn't a lot of potential there. Even if the market picked up, there are so many vacant condos in the area that the condo market will still lag behind the single family home market.

[rrah]

Frankly Liz I would NEVER seek the assistance of anyone that blatantly ignores the rules of a forum with the unabashed advertising.