Gin!

A quiet eveing, the soothing sounds of cicadas wafting over east Carmel along with this beautiful balloon.  It's a lot of fun until someone loses an eye, or a woman named Shari drops her plastic cup full of Gin and Tonic into the trees behind the East Of Keystone home offices.  How do we know this?  We could smell the gin and the lime and we heard someone take Shari's name in vain for fumbling the catch.  Some people claim there's a woman to blame...oh wait...that's already been written.  

Greg Cooper, east Carmel Indiana 46033 homes for sale, real estate blog

An Aniversary Wish.....

Just over one year ago Javier and Ana moved to east 
Carmel into their new home in Delaware Trace.  Within the course of a few weeks they a) bought a home; b) Javier started his new job with Eli Lilly; c) they got married; d) combined households e) moved into Carmel from outside of the continental United States; f) got two kids registered for CCS.  Nice to see you two got all of the hard decisions out of the way at once! :)  We hope your first year was a happy one and we really, really apologize about the whole snow and ice thing considering you moved here from a tropical climate. In all seriousness it was our privilege to help you in this transition and we know you'll have many happy years in your home! 

You Can't Get There From Here

It will be a busy weekend of firsts in Carmel with the Carmel Marathon taking place punctuated by the return of Rock The District.  If you live in central or east Carmel it will require some planning to get around.  The running events all get underway starting at 7:00 but the effects of the race will last until early afternoon.  Here's a video (thanks @CarmelBruce) talking about the race itself and road alterations. The Marathon and half Marathon will both progress through central and east Carmel starting off at the City Center and heading east on 126th.  From there the courses will wind their way through east Carmel eventually crossing back over Keystone and finishing back at the Farmer's Market near the Palladium.  There will be closings and delays affecting nearly every major north/south and east/west road in central and east Carmel from 7:00 A.M. Saturday until the last part of the course reopens at 2:00 p.m.  Travel in central and east Carmel will require a lot of patience Saturday!  You can find the street closure list HERE and the course map HERE.  Here's our friendly suggestion.  Got a bike?  This would be the weekend to dust it off. 

Fox - worthy

Undeterred with nearby traffic this red fox peers across a field on east Main Street near Hawthorne Drive Tuesday afternoon.  Red fox have been a frequent sight in east Carmel for a number of years and in some cases have gotten pretty comfortable with their human neighbors.  They rarely get too close to people but we'd still recommend keeping an eye on your small pets with these guys around.  Harmful or not it's still always a bit of a surprise when you look up and one of them is standing a short distance away.  (Feel free to insert the obligatory Megan Fox, Redd Foxx, Jeff Foxworthy or John Fox one liner here).

East Carmel Housing Blog 6.7.2011

Taking a breather.
The market rested last week with only five homes going under contract in east Carmel, one of which being this four bedroom in Cool Creek North.  Homes also sold in the Trails At Avian Glen, Cherry Creek Estates, Cool Creek Estates and on River Road in Northern Woods Beach. 

The market is heating up on the active inventory side with 35 homes coming on the market, the busiest listing week in east Carmel in 2011.  Multiple homes went on the market last week in Eden Estates, Delaware Trace, Foster Estates, Briar Lane Estates & Stonewick.  Individual homes went on the market in Plum Creek Ridge, Plum Creek Farms, Plum Creek Village, Foster Manor, Moffit Farm at Prairie View, Woodfield, Chapman's Claim, Brookshire, Stafford Place, The Lakes At Hazel Dell, Brookshire Lakes, Ashton, Haverstick, Eden Park, Cricket Knoll, Brookshire Village and Cool Creek Estates.  

There are now 296 homes on the market in east Carmel with 200 being either closed or under contract to close with inspections and appraisals pending.  One year ago on June 7, 2010, 219 homes were either under contract or had closed while the average sales price has risen over $7000 from 2010 in east Carmel.  Considering that the 2010 housing numbers were all skewed by the extension of the first time home buyer credit, the market in 2011 is performing reasonably well. 

If you'd like the full BLC printouts of the above homes just drop us an email to EastOfKeystone@Gmail.com and ask for the East Carmel Housing Hotsheet! 

Oblivious

Apparently 25 years in east Carmel still isn't enough for me to be aware of this business which is scary considering I've been by it hundreds of times. The question is do you know where it is? It's in a great little hidden area between Keystone Parkway and the White River in Carmel.....a vibrant business with a lot of great activity.  If you're stumped.....here's the answer.    

You Can't Drive 55

While it's only Monday, consider this a friendly reminder that this coming weekend will be a busy one across east Carmel and the Arts & Design District.  The Carmel Marathon Championship Weekend will be in full swing Saturday morning and yes, there will be street delays in east Carmel as well.  We'll post the exact course maps here by Friday and give you some times to be aware of for Saturday morning as far as when to expect some extra travel caution.  Not all of the road racing events will stretch beyond noon in east Carmel so we'll give you a summary by week's end as to when the busiest times will be east of Keystone Parkway. 

Carburetor Loading

You'll no doubt be seeing a lot more of these in the next eight days. This is one of several Carmel Marathon vehicles that are being used in support of the Carmel Marathon Championship Weekend taking place June 11. Hard to believe that in just over a week Carmel will host a major running race that stands as a qualifying event for the Boston Marathon. Now before any of you non runners tune out, this will be an all inclusive event with something for each of us. In all there will be five events including a 1 mile family fitness walk that everyone can be a part of.  The conculsion of the race will take place on the Palladium Center Green in conjunction with the Farmer's Market.  The day's festivities will wrap up with the Indiana Live Street Party and awards presentation on Main Street in the Arts and Design District.  Runner, walker, or none of the above...this promises to be a big weeknd in Carmel.   You can see more on the event including full schedule, course maps and a great video, '26 miles in five minutes' at their website, which is packed with information.  Best of luck to eveyone at the Carmel Road Racing Group for a successful weekend June 11! 

Bored Already?

Hard to believe school has been out just a week and we already have mischief taking place in east Carmel.  Several incidents of things being taken from cars and neighborhood entrance markers being vandalized have occurred in the past week along the 126th street corridor east of Keystone Parkway.  Summer always tends to accelerate this type of behavior and while it's probably unfair to pin this on kids, taking a GPS navigator from an unlocked vehicle is hardly the work of a career criminal.  It's certainly annoying, a bit costly and a good reason for us all to keep our eyes open.  If we can save our neighbor a headache by keeping their personal property safe it obviously makes things better for all of us. 



Not Wyle E.

For those of you who saw the WTHR story on Coyotes last night, it was a not so subtle 
reminder that even in residential areas in east Carmel we have to be more careful than ever with our small children and pets.  While the story focused on a number of areas and primarily pets, the line that stuck out was the trapper who said 'everyone watching him at that moment had a coyote within one mile of them'.  At the EastOfKeystone.com home offices we lost a cat as did our neighbors on successive nights last October.  We never had seen a coyote close by until that happened and judging by the size of this cooter, photographed the day after Christmas just east of Main Street and Keystone, they're getting their fill of family pets.  Another neighbor found a domestic animal carcass in his yard within the past week.  We understand that they've lost land to developments, etc., but considering our neighborhood is 40+ years old they've moved in to an established area...not the other way around.  At some point municipalities are going to have to act or we will have an incident where a child is attacked.  I'm not saying we go on a Jethro Bodine shooting spree to thin them out but at the very least trapping and releasing a safe distance away is becoming more and more necessary.  

A small sample of some of the vendors at the CFM from Saturday 5/21. For all of the great vendors who spoke with us and were not included in this video, we'll have another up this week!

Hanging out on the Center Green....

The debut of the Carmel Farmer's Market has been a big success this Saturday the 21st in it's new location between the Palladium and Studio Theater Building.  The setting is spectacular with great parking and easy walking and biking access on the Monon Trail.  Thanks to the volunteers and vendors who adapted quickly to the new digs.  For all of the vendors who were kind enough to talk with us about their wares, we'll have compilation videos up throughout the week! 

Two weeks and counting......

The Carmel Farmer's Market is nearly back!  On May 21 dozens of vendors will again begin lining up the early hours near the City Center. Several web sites indicate they'll be at their new location, the Center Green at the Palladium. Work still goes on prep that area....stay tuned!

Greg Cooper, east Carmel homes for sale, real estate blog

Photo courtesy IndianapolisAmy

Good Luck To All East Carmel Runners!

Hundreds of our neighbors and friends from all over Carmel will be participating in the 500 Festival Mini Marathon Saturday morning. Members of the Carmel Marathon orgainzation will have a tent in Military Park afterwards to help in the recovery process. God speed to all!

Greg Cooper, east Carmel homes for sale, real estate blog

18-17-16.......

Hard to believe there are only 16 more schools days left on the Carmel Clay Schools calender.  Considering Forbes Magazine recently named CCS as one of the top districts in America, it's no doubt been a productive year.  With a little luck, these middle schoolers getting on the bus Thursday morning on Main Street east of Keystone Parkway won't need heavy coats much longer!  

Greg Cooper, east Carmel homes for sale, real estate blog