Is Armageddon Upon the Housing Market?
Posted on | August 27, 2010 | No Comments
Here’s a great post from Steve Harney regarding NAR’s Existing Home Sales Report. In a word, no Armageddon is not upon us. Check out the article here.
Charleston Real Estate Stats: August 2010
Posted on | August 26, 2010 | No Comments
I hope everyone is doing well as we start to head out of summer! A couple of things this month:
1. If you have recently refinanced your primary residence (rates are incredible) you must remember to re-apply for the 4% owner occupied tax rate. If you do not do this, you will automatically be reassessed at 6%, which will practically double your tax bill.
2. Below is a link for the monthly update of MLS stats. Overall, comparing Jan-July 09 versus ‘10, we are seeing about an 18% increase in transactions and about a 2% increase in price. The year to date numbers for transactions looks good, but it is now falling from it’s high of 29% and will continue to do so since the tax credit is gone. 2010 will probably end up with just a few more transactions than 2009, certainly again below 9000 transactions. At the bottom of the chart, you can find some month versus month comparisons as well as rolling 6 month and rolling 12 month numbers. We don’t much care for month versus month numbers because the smaller amount of data makes them too volatile. However, we do like to watch the trends in the rolling 6 and 12 month numbers. Read more
New Secret Bank of America HPO Short Sale Details Leaked
Posted on | August 26, 2010 | No Comments
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Aug 07, 2010 – Details that Bank Of America has begun a new short sale program in an effort to stave off an increasing foreclosure inventory have leaked. The new program is called the HPO short sale program in which a Bank of America representative known as a “Personal Advocate” will be assigned to the short sale and will be very responsive in seeing the short sale process to completion with approvals in just two weeks. Read more
Sausage Dip
Posted on | August 23, 2010 | No Comments
This is ridiculously easy and good.
- 1 tube of Jimmy Dean original sausage
- 2 packages cream cheese
- 2 cans of Rotel (seasoned diced tomatoes with chilis), drained. If you can’t find Rotel, I would use salsa instead.
Brown the sausage. Drain, and then return to pan. Add the cream cheese and the Rotel, and heat on low until the cream cheese is melted. Serve warm with tortilla chips.
What Our Clients are Saying
Posted on | August 20, 2010 | No Comments
“Thanks so much for being great realtors. You showed you meant business every step of the way. Thank you for being professional and taking ownership of the process. I hope to be able to send some business your direction.”
- Chris and Rosanna G.
Appealing a Tax Appraisal
Posted on | August 15, 2010 | No Comments
I am in the process of appealing the Tax Appraisal on my personal properties. Due to the decline in the market, I believe that the value is considerably less than what the Tax Appraisal reflects. If approved, this will reduce the next tax bills (which come out in October) and result in what I consider to be significant household savings.
I have to write a letter with each property and send it, along with printouts for comparable sales and my opinion of the value, to the Tax Assessor’s office. If you feel that you are in the same situation, please let Betsy or I know if we can help you. We are glad to provide you with recent comparable sales printouts that you can send with your appeal, and to give you our opinion of the value of your home.
Every little bit helps! We do not charge anything for this service. All we ask for in return are your continued referrals!
The Value is in the List Price
Posted on | August 14, 2010 | No Comments
Here’s some interesting info. Many Buyers entering the maketplace expect to get huge discounts off of list price. This is by far the exception to the rule. Read more
Vapor Barrier 101
Posted on | August 13, 2010 | No Comments
A vapor barrier is, quite simply, a rolled out piece of plastic placed and staked under a home. In the very humid and hot Lowcountry, we often have termite inspections, or CL-100’s, come back indicating the need for a vapor barrier in a crawl space. We have a lot of brick ranch homes build in the 1950’s-1970’s that are on tight crawl spaces, and moisture in the crawl space, which can lead to wood rot and a termite-friendly environment, is a common problem. A vapor barrier can help to dry out a crawl space, and it is not that expensive. Read more
MLS Statistics for January – June 2009 vs. 2010
Posted on | August 9, 2010 | No Comments
Stats through June 2010
The above is a link (pdf) to a chart of the MLS stats comparing Jan-June of 2009 versus 2010. You will see that the number of transactions is up a little over 25% and the price is relatively the same. However, at this time in 2009, we still had 5 more months of the tax credit. With less than 4500 total transactions, you can easily see that 2010 will end up with approximately the same number of transactions as 2008 and 2009(between 8k-9k), leaving us with well over a year of inventory. While there are many positives in this chart, it all has to be taken with the grain of salt that the tax credit is over. Read more
Live on Sullivan’s Island for Under 500k!!!
Posted on | August 9, 2010 | No Comments
This is the least expensive property on Sullivan’s Island. Three bedrooms, 2 baths, steps from the beach, and it is listed at $449,000! This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to be on Sullivan’s Island and is willing to sacrifice some square footage to do it! The next least expensive property is listed at 550K!
