What stacation

June 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment

All the talk in the media has been about how Americans are struggling with $4 gas and rather than take vacations, they will stay at home and take a newly invented word called a “stacation” instead.

We went to the beach for the week, the 4th of July always seems to be the best time to go away to rest and relax and anecdotal evidence points otherwise. The beach is crowded, there are the usual fights in the grocery store as if the store will run out of milk, eggs and other essentials for a week’s stay and our favorite pizza place was jam packed last evening.

After all, it’s time to get out on the sand.

At the beach

 

Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Just for fun 

Friday flowers

June 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Moss roses

Last year, we bought these flowers and just called them the “cute little flowers” and we enjoyed them so much we wanted to make sure we found them again this year.

Now we know their name, they are moss roses.

Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Just for fun 

Charleston real estate market report, home prices May 2008

June 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Sometimes you just can’t make stuff up. All the talk in the media is how home prices are dropping faster than a rock (and a big rock, more like a boulder going downhill) and yet the Charleston real estate market continues to show prices actually increasing despite slower sales and high inventory levels. As I’ve said on several occasions, the law of supply and demand doesn’t seem to apply to Charleston home prices.

You’ll note increased unit sales in the luxury condo classification since a large development in Wild Dunes recently closed. It tends to “skew” the numbers somewhat just like several years ago when we saw a lot of condo conversions in the market and unit sales of lower priced condos were significantly higher than in previous years.

Statistics compiled by Howard Arnoff using the Charleston MLS as the source of data, information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Charleston real estate home prices

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Charleston Market Trends, Charleston real estate, Statistics 

Charleston median home prices 2000 to 2008

June 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Charleston real estate prices

 

The median price for homes in Charleston has climbed steadily during the decade (data is from May of each year) and while there hasn’t been much appreciation in the past 2 years, that is certainly better than what is being reported around the country.

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Charleston Market Trends, Charleston real estate, Statistics 

Charleston real estate, sales and inventory May 08

June 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Inventory remains high in the Charleston real estate market while sales remain below year ago levels. The surprise is that prices remain firm on both a median and average basis and I’ll be posting those numbers in the next day or two.

Sales are in red and correspond to the left axis and inventory is the blue line corresponding to the right axis.

Charleston home sales and inventory

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Charleston Market Trends, Charleston real estate, Statistics 

How do you search for Charleston homes

June 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I notice that different people who are searching for Charleston homes search differently.

 How about that sentence.

Some people who are doing a search for Charleston homes are seemingly searching all the time while others just search every once in a while. Others who are interested in the Charleston real estate market simply like to have the searching done for them and just look at the listings alerts they have subscribed to.

But here is what I found to be the most interesting thing. When a client is ready to view homes, some send me the Charleston MLS listings that they most want to see. Sometimes there are a lot, other times just a few. When I just get a few listings from a client and I have to look for some additional nearby listings to show, it’s the homes that are available nearby that don’t get sent to me that I wonder about.

Why didn’t some of those houses make the “cut”. Why did they like the home they wanted to see and why didn’t they like another home. In many cases, I have actually liked a home I found more than one that was requested. Of course, I’m not the person who potentially may be buying that home but I find it to be interesting.

A penny for your thoughts.

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Buyer Tips, Charleston real estate, Search 

Friday flowers

June 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment

crepe myrtle before

Crepes in bloom

Back in April, I wrote about the first buds on my crepe myrtles and promised to show you how they would look this summer. Amazing!

I remember when I first saw crepe myrtles in bloom when I was coming home to the Charlotte airport and they line the parkway, when I left town on a business trip, no color, upon my arrival, like I said before, amazing.

I also remember at Epcot at Disney World seeing a gigantic crepe myrtle and there was a plaque describing the tree and the summer blooms.

There is no doubt, if you live in the South, the crepe myrtle is one of the most beautiful trees for everyone’s summer garden.

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Just for fun 

If it looks to good to be true

June 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment

… it might be.

I think it’s great that today’s Charleston real estate consumer can search the MLS and get familiar with what homes are available in different areas of Charleston and what their dollar might buy.

Consider these 2 properties:

Your dream home in Charleston? 

One thing that I notice when I’m showing homes to buyers is how many times a home that they might be real excited about that they found when searching the MLS is a real disappointment in person. Of course, real estate agents will present the home for sale in the best possible way.

That’s the point of good marketing and it is the job of a listing agent to do exactly that.

So when you are searching for Charleston homes, don’t fall in love online, get to know the home in person.

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Buyer Tips, Charleston real estate 

I’m now with The AgentOwned Realty Co.

June 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The AgentOwned Realty Co.With a series of changes at Charleston real estate agencies having occurred recently, I have chosen to join The AgentOwned Realty Co. A little background. I began in the real estate business with Coldwell Banker Meeks.com Realty which became Coldwell Banker Coastal Properties after the tragic and sudden passing of the owner of the firm, Taylor Meeks. A bit later, I made the decision to join Sandlapper Real Estate Group founded by Gettys Glaze, one of the fastest growing real estate agencies in the Charleston market.

Fast forward a couple of years and Coldwell Banker Coastal Properties was bought by Coldwell Banker United, Realtors and within the past few weeks, both Sandlapper and several offices of Weichert Realtors, Dean Kelby were purchased by Coldwell Banker United. With the various changes, I decided that it was an opportune time to rejoin my good friend Mike Wayman who I originally worked with at Coldwell Banker at his AgentOwned office.

Confused? Don’t be. The most important thing for you is that you can count on me to continue to provide you with the finest real estate service backed up by the 2nd largest real estate firm in the Charleston real estate market with offices conveniently located throughout the Charleston metro area.

For the ultimate convenience for you, AgentOwned also offers mortgage services through a joint venture with Residential Mortgage of South Carolina and property and casualty insurance through a joint venture with Allstate. Title insurance, home warranty and relocation services are also available.

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Charleston real estate 

Father’s Day and golf

June 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Father’s Day has always been about The U.S. Open Golf Tournament for me. My father loved golf and when I was young, the tournament was always played during the Chicago Furniture Show and my dad always had a television tuned to the Open during the show and we would always go downtown to the mart and watch golf and then go out to dinner.

Jack NicklausHere is a great story from ESPN Magazine by Wright Thompson about Jack Nicklaus. Please read Father Bear.

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Just for fun 

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