In its latest effort to try and stimulate the U.S. economy, the Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate to a range of between zero percent and 0.25%, and said it expects to keep rates near that unprecedented low level for some time to come. The federal funds rate is an overnight lending rate used as a benchmark to set rates for a variety of loans, including adjustable rate mortgages, credit cards, home equity lines of credit and business loans. This marks the tenth time it has cut rates in the last 15 months. Several banks announced they were lowering their prime rate to 3.25% in light of the Fed’s decision. Typically, the prime rate is 3 percentage points higher than the fed funds rate. It was 4% before Tuesday’s rate cut.

The Walk Score mission is to promote walkable neighborhoods. We believe walkable neighborhoods are one of the simplest and most effective solutions to halt climate change, improve our health, and strengthen our communities.  Click Here to find out your neighborhoods rank high for walking.

Zoom in to your metropolitan statistical area to get the latest quarterly median home price for your market, and its percentage change from the previous quarter. Click Here for a full list of Cities.

Today I was privileged to hear cancer survivor and tour de France winner Lance Armstong speak about his experience with cancer and bike racing.  He was a very humble person you would never think has the strength to over come so many challenges. Lance came right out and spoke about being 25 years old and being at home in Texas one night after the Olympics in 1996.  He went out and had a few beers with friends and came home with a bad headache and then the next day he had blurry vision.  Then next day he coughed up lots of blood in his sink.  Then he cleaned his sink out and called his neighbor Doctor to see if he could help.  Lance sorta covered up the symptoms and the Doctor thought he had allergies and told him to go to the hospital in Austin.  The technician ran ultra sounds, then the nurses ran tests, then the doctors ran tests and at that point he felt something was wrong.  The doctor sat Lance down and said you have testicular cancer  6 golf ball sized tumors in your lungs.  Lance then got a Cat scan and they found the cancer spread to his brain.  He said back then you didn’t have google to learn about this disease.  He had to get this treated immediately he went to 2 or three hospitals before he ended up in my hometown Indianapolis.  He was treated by Doctors Larry Einhorn and Doctor Shapiro.  Lance said Doctor Shapiro made him feel comfortable leading up to the surgery.  Then when Lance asked what they are going to do to him the Doctor was very graphic about the gorry details. Lance said I want to you to take special care of me.  The doctor said I will because I just lost my wife to breast cancer I will take care of you.  After the surgery the recovery was hard but Lance spoke how his french bike team sent someone to see him in the hospitol and check on him after seeing him they cancelled his biking contract.  Lance was very bitter about that and sorta anti-France.  After being released from the hospital he had to go back every month for tests but admits he would like to go back every week to make sure everything was OK.  When he left the hospital the Doctor said Lance you can be quiet about your experience with cancer or you can share you experience with people.  He thought sharing his experience would be like talking to people on buses etc.  When he was cured he wanted to race again and sent out a press release and nobody called him back to be on their team.  Not the Italians, Germans, Americans or anyone and he was NOT going to call the French.  He needed a team to race for the only one that would gave him an opportunity was the US Postal Service.  He felt this would be like racing for the IRS.  Kinda boring.  Well from there he went to win 7 tour de France races.  Nike wanted to share with the world his story of surviving cancer.  They donated money to his organization at the same time he talked with many survivors and Live Strong was their words of hope.  So Nike donated 6 million rubber bracelets that were previously used as a failed accessory for street basketball players. They said Lance you can sell the symbolic bracelets for one dollar.  He thought they would sell a few thousand not was 6 million.  But the next Olympics a runner from a foreign country won a gold medal and was praying on the ground after his gold medal but all you could see was his live strong bracelet.  That’s when he knew this would be a worldwide success.  He went to sell like 60 then 70 million bracelet’s raising money to fight cancer and other diseases.  The last three years Lance has not bike raced but he did run some marathons. Lance announced he is making comeback to bike racing.  He doesn’t know how good he will do but he said the reason for his past success because of cancer.  His speech made me aware that millions of people are going through cancer and fighting beat this disease.

There are 7,500 Realtors in Central Indiana but only 6 Realtors received the 2008 Realtor.com Online Marketing Award of Excellence.  Ryan Dorman of Pole Position Realty was recognized for his dedication to online marketing for utilizing state of the art tools such as video tours, features home spots, showcased listings, market snapshots and Realtor.com.  Ryan is leveraging the number one site where consumers shop for Real Estate. Ryan also says “As a Realtor I will provide top exposure for your precious investment providing an unfair marketing edge over other homes.”

Indianapolis led the the nation’s major metro areas in home affordability for the 12th straight quarter. The median price of homes sold during the second quarter was $108,000, down from $122,000 last year. And 91.6% of the households there earning the median income of $65,100 could afford to buy a median priced home. That’s up from 86.8% last year.

New York was the least affordable major housing market in the country, according to the report. It was the first time that a major metropolitan area outside of California was the least affordable home market in the 17-year history of the report. Los Angeles was the least affordable housing market at this point last year.

You can search HUD properties in ten states across the United States on Pole Position Realty.com. Choose from any of the following to access procedures and information about properties, to access the property listing available and to view bid results.

There are a few things you need to know up front about buying a HUD home, since the procedures may be different than those used in buying other types of homes. HUD however, has made the procedure as efficient and convenient as possible. Here are some things you should know: 1. Anyone can buy a HUD Home.  2. HUD Homes are sold as-is. 3. Offers must be made through a HUD Registered Broker like Ryan Dorman of Pole Position Realty. 3. Offers must be submitted through the electronic bidding process. If you would like more information on HUD Homes click here.

Click Here To Read Article. This year’s Most Improved State for Business is Indiana, which jumps 13 places to number 13. Indiana improved in eight of our 10 categories, with its biggest jump in the Economy category, rising to number 37 from number 48.  Indiana’s reliance on commodities—both agricultural and industrial—helped improve the state’s economy from its near-bottom ranking last year.  Click here for rankings

Please read this article on Hamiton County Indiana being the number #1 place to raise a family.  Click here to read Forbes magazine article. 

Another new tool on polepositionrealty.com is the Mortgage Info link.  On our website you can apply for a loan from a bank or mortgage broker.  There are also mortgage qualification calculators that will help you determine how much money you qualify to borrow. The results are informal and will be subject to credit approval. Also there is a monthly payment calculator that will help you determine what your mortgage payments will be based on purchase price, interest rate and mortgage term, as well as other factors.