Summerville SC (29485) vs. Goose Creek, SC (29445)
View Goose Creek Homes For Sale - View Summerville Homes For Sale
To get the RIGHT ADVICE for buying or selling a home in Goose Creek SC or Summerville SC
please contact The Alan Donald Real Estate Team today!
Are There Better Deals in SUMMERVILLE (29485) or in GOOSE CREEK, SC (29445)?
Summerville SC (29485) vs. Goose Creek, SC (29445)
View Goose Creek Homes For Sale - View Summerville Homes For Sale
To get the RIGHT ADVICE for buying or selling a home in Goose Creek SC or Summerville SC
please contact The Alan Donald Real Estate Team today!
Mount Pleasant 29464 vs. 29466 – Are There Differences?
…thinking about moving to the area…?
…thinking about selling your home in Mt Pleasant and want to get up to speed with the real estate market…?
This tool helps you compare real estate markets, schools, crime rates, household income, and many other interesting factors.
Click HERE or on the image below to access this fabulous FREE tool!
Kiawah Island and Wild Dunes took the No. 1 and No. 2 spots respectively in the “Top 100 Tennis Resorts and Camps for 2010″ ranking made by Tennis Resorts Online. This is the second year in a row that Kiawah takes the top spot.
These rankings are very significant, considering that they are compiled from surveys made to real tourists who stay at these resorts (i.e. from the users’ perspective, not some industry association’s).
How We See It
By Robert Weaver
re-posted with permission by Alan Donald, BuyHomesInCharleston.com
Interest rates provide the key ingredient to the mortgage recipe. They determine the cost of your borrowing, how much you can borrow, and how much of your time will be consumed repaying what you borrow. Their importance cannot be overestimated and an explanation of such would fill volumes. The vital nature of interest rates in our economy begs the question: where are they heading?
We believe that interest rates will rise this year. How much is anyone’s guess but we would not be surprised if the rate on a 30-year mortgage went as high as 6.50%. First, at the end of this month, The Federal Reserve Bank will cease purchasing mortgage-backed securities. By the time the end of the first quarter rolls around, the Fed will have purchased 1.25 trillion dollars in mortgage-backed securities. This has lent liquidity to the mortgage market and has lessened the pain felt by the real estate industry. Investors will have to fill the void left by the Fed beginning in April.
We believe that to attract these investors investment banks will need to offer a higher return for what could surely be a risky investment. Second, the economy as a whole will begin to heat-up. Legislative spending on the federal level will be somewhat stifled this year because of the political gridlock caused by the upcoming November elections. Less government is historically a good thing when it comes to growing a sound economy.
Also, Americans are only going to put up with a recession for only so long before our “can do” attitude finds a way out of our shared misery. A growing economy always brings the pressure of inflation which, in turn, raises interest rates. The reasoning goes like this: the Fed will not want a sharp rise in the cost of goods and services (which inflation brings). Raising interest rates tends to lessen borrowing because it becomes more expensive to borrow.
Third, where can interest rates go? December, 2009 saw the lowest mortgage interest rates in history. Housing demand, especially in the low country, is beginning to heat-up and, as we know, an increase in demand tends to make interest rates rise. When one stops to consider that our current inflation rate is 2.63% and that 15-year mortgages are priced at around 4.375%, end investors are making an astounding 1.745% for their risk. This cannot and will not continue.
What does this all mean?
It means that if you have not acted to refinance your home or purchase the home you have been dreaming about you need to act now. If you feel the rates are not low enough and could stand to lower even further then you stand a great chance of being left out in the rain. Aside from taking action, rising interest rates in this current economy is a good thing: maybe the American economy is going to rise off the canvas, dust itself off, and begin powering/leading the globe once again.
Robert Weaver is a mortgage loan officer with Brayden Capital Home Loans. He can be reached at rweaver@braydencapital.com
In this “whacky” market that distressed sales are creating, it is sometimes very challenging to sell a home in a timely fashion. Short sales, REOs, foreclosures and “normal” listings are all competing for a share of the shrinking “buyer pie”.
If a homeowner has a substantial amount of equity and wants to sell a home quickly, a PUBLIC AUCTION is a viable way of marketing a property, create URGENCY and obtain the MAXIMUM price that the market will bear. Auctioned properties are normally sold “no-contingency, as-is, where-is”, which means that sellers usually don’t need to deal with contracts that fall through over and over because of buyer financing, nor they have to perform any repairs.
The only catch is that the success of an auction depends on competitive bidding from different interested bidders. If the auction fails to attract a significant number of qualified, interested buyers it is probably going to fail.
So – how do you attract a “significant number” of qualified and interested bidders? The answer, in this “soft” real estate market is simple. The ONLY auctions that WORK are:
Most auctions normally work with pre-qualified, pre-registered bidders. The winning bidder normally needs to pay a 10% deposit the day of the auction, and the balance in 30 days.
The good thing about auctions is that it only takes 4-6 weeks to find out the outcome. If the property is not sold at auction, the seller always has the option of offering it for sale as a “traditional” MLS listing, without becoming “stale” by virtue of waiting for months for an offer…
LOWCOUNTRY HOME AUCTIONS, LLC is a company that provides auction marketing services to home sellers, agents and institutions needing to sell homes in South Carolina. If you have any questions or wish to receive a proposal to sell your SC property, please send us an email with your contact information.
Summary
There is light at the end of the tunnel! Inventory in Mt Pleasant continues a downward trend (albeit a slow reduction) and monthly sales are back above 100 a month. Distressed homes (short sales and lender-owned) homes are still appearing in most neighborhoods and have placed additional stress on appraisers.
Inventory and Absorption
We can still observe traditional seasonality in our home inventory in Mt. Pleasant. Comparing 2009 with the two previous years, we can definitely see a trend toward inventory reduction: Each peak has been lower than the previous one, and each low has also been lower. From January until May sales were very low (all below 100, January was the slowest month with 56 sales).
However, since July 2009 all months have registered sales above the 100 mark.
Some specific neighborhoods like Belle Hall Plantation have seen faster reductions in inventory. Belle Hall went from a high of 68 active listings in August of 2007, to 37 listings in December of 2009.
As of December 31st total listing inventory was 1385 listings, the lowest level since March of 2006, but at the rate that we are selling, this still represents more than 14 months’ inventory. If this index drops to below 6 months, (i.e. the “transition point” between a “buyer’s market” and a “seller’s market”) we may start seeing upward pressure on home prices.
New Homes Supply
There are still very few “spec-built” homes available in the area, although some builders have started to offer new construction homes at reduced prices which are competing very effectively with existing homes.
Some smaller projects like Pinckney Place, Phillips Park, Watermark, Carol Oaks and the first builder in Carolina Park are seeing increased activity, especially in the lower ($200-300K) price ranges. Builders in I’On are offering cottages from the high $400K’s.
Builders have enjoyed cost reductions in both the price of land, and in building costs (materials AND labor), as their demand slowed down and are now building homes in prices and sizes that are more accessible to buyers.
Time On Market
The Days on Market Index (DOM) went from a low of 22 days in December of 2005, to 157 days in December (a little over 5 months). This is long, but still not too bad compared with Sullivans Island and Isle of Palms, which have an average time on the market of 247 days.
What’s Ahead?
I believe that the Mt Pleasant market (at least for single-family, detached homes) will be one of the first areas in Charleston to “pull out” of the decline. Interest rates are still at historical lows (although there is some talk of rates going up toward the middle of the year). Price decreases are still happening, but the decline has slowed down considerably.
The chart above shows the relationship between the average inventory and the median price. We still have a long way for prices to increase, but the median price line is close to intersecting with the 4% appreciation line, which is the average long-term historical appreciation for real estate.
Continued absorption depends largely on consumer confidence and the job market. The arrival of Boeing as a major employer in the region is great news for residential areas like Mt Pleasant, within short driving distance to the airport, but offering great quality schools and lifestyles. There has already been a palpable effect of this new employer on the rental market, and the rental inventory is currently very low. My crystal ball tells me that Mt. Pleasant will start “recovering” in earnest towards the end of the summer!
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The Charleston 2009 Festival of Lights at James Island County Park was a resounding success this year! Record numbers of visitors came to drive the 3-mile display that everyone loves.
See more Charleston and Mt. Pleasant videos at BuyHomesInCharleston.com
LONELY PLANET, the travel book company, recently released their 5th Edition of “Best in Travel 2010“, a collection of countries, regions and cities they recommend as destinations that offer memorable and inspiring experiences. Charleston, SC was the ONLY American city to make this elite list!
Pineapple Fountain at Charleston's Waterfront Park
Here are Lonely Planet’s top choices:
Countries: El Salvador, Germany, Greece, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Portugal, Suriname, United States.
Regions: Alsace, France; Bali, Indonesia; Fernando de Noronha, Brazil; Goa, India; Koh Kong Conservation Corridor, Cambodia; Lake Baikal, Russia; Oaxaca, Mexico; Southern Africa; The Lake District, England; Southwest Western Australia.
Cities: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Charleston, United States; Cork, Ireland; Cuenca, Ecuador; Istanbul, Turkey; Kyoto, Japan; Lecce, Italy; Sarajevo, Bosnia; Singapore; Vancouver, Canada.
Read more articles like this one on my blog: BuyHomesInCharleston.com
