Case Study: Steve Robbins

Steve Robbins launched his real estate career almost 22 years ago after working as a home builder. With his two business partners, Steve built Highgarden Real Estate, which operates in thirteen markets across the country with company headquarters located in Indianapolis.

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With a combined experience of nearly 50 years, Highgarden Real Estate is committed to helping their clients, even in the toughest of markets. “Buyers are at a severe disadvantage compared to sellers right now,” Steve remarks. “You're going to have to be intentional and creative to help your client win.”

A glimpse of the Indianapolis market

Steve is not wrong. Housing inventory in the Indianapolis market in February was down 29.8% compared to the same month last year — from 942 active listings to 661 in the entire county. Housing prices are also up 23.3%, selling for a median price of $222,000. Homes are also selling faster than last year—at an average of nine days vs 13 days last year. 

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Lack of inventory and growing demand have created a red hot market. Many homes receive multiple offers, some with waived contingencies. The hottest homes sell for 4% above list price and go pending within three days!

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Of course, this isn’t just a local issue. “We are in thirteen real estate markets across the country,” Steve says. “And inventory, or lack thereof, is the biggest problem everywhere. There's not enough housing supply for the number of people that need homes.”

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“What I will say about the Indianapolis market specifically is that it's as bad here in terms of the lack of housing supply as it is anywhere in the country.” This means buyers need to have an extremely strong offer to get accepted.

The winning offer checklist

Steve and his team have experience in housing shortage markets outside of Indianapolis, like Las Vegas, Denver, Phoenix, Orlando, and Tampa. “We've seen all the different tactics—in terms of how to be a little bit more creative and helping your buyers stand out,” he says. 

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To better help his buyers, Steve and his team put together the “how to craft a winning offer checklist.” According to Steve, this list combines “relatively run-of-the-mill ideas” with some more creative approaches on how to make an offer look more attractive to the seller. 

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“Standing out against five, ten, fifty other offers isn’t easy. You have to use everything to your advantage to be on top,” Steve explains. “And it's not just how to craft the offer. It's also about speed.”

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Approximately 68.6% of home offers written by Redfin agents faced bidding wars nationwide in February — the highest level in Redfin’s records. This is up from 68% in January and 60.2% the previous year. This means that buyers need to be fast and they must submit their best offer. 

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Understanding what the seller is looking for is incredibly important. Steve recommends building a rapport with the listing agent. “If you're not picking up the phone, calling the listing agent, and asking them what's important to the seller, then you're not doing your job.”

Getting creative with Ribbon

New tools also help. “We're pretty interested in partnering with Ribbon and using that as another tool in the tool belt to help buyers have a better chance to win,” says Steve. Luckily, Ribbon’s operating market is expanding into Indiana.

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Ribbon helps buyers turn their offers into cash, which are 3x more likely to win. RibbonCash Offers are guaranteed to close after inspection and eliminate financial and appraisal contingencies, which are typically required by lenders. This makes offers even stronger. 

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“One of the biggest problems facing homeowners is ‘I would sell my home but I'm not sure where I want to go.’” Steve explains. Luckily, Ribbon could be used to help with that too. When you use RibbonCash, then you can purchase your new home, move in, and deal with selling your old home on your own terms.

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“We've had a number of our agents in other markets have success with Ribbon,” Steve adds. “We heard they were coming to town and we're pretty interested in partnering with them.”

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