Motivated sellers
August 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment
If you are selling your home in today’s Charleston real estate market, you had better be a motivated seller.
Or you shouldn’t be selling.
There are a whopping 464 active listings within a $50,000 price range that your home is competing with in just Summerville. If you aren’t motivated, another seller most likely is.
Technorati Tags: Charleston real estate, Summerville homes for sale
Sitting on the fence
August 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment
It seems to me that a lot of people are sitting on the fence these days not quite knowing what to do about buying or selling in the Charleston real estate market.
Turn on the television, read the newspaper (does anyone still do that) or read the news online and news about the problems in housing and financial institutions has to make you take pause.
And yet, while no one wants to make a bad investment, your house is more than just a financial investment, it is also your home, where you live, raise your family, entertain friends and family, create memories and much more.
Whether you realize it or not, even if you are renting, you are making a mortgage payment; but it is your landlord’s mortgage payment, not yours.
Photo courtesy of Flickr by pbo31.
Technorati Tags: Charleston real estate
Long term thinking
August 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Last week when the stock market was as volatile as I can ever remember, I started thinking about the many comments regarding the housing market. There is no doubt that many people are postponing the purchase of a home because they are quite simply scared that prices may go down.
While sharp price declines have not really been the case in the Charleston real estate market, all the attention by the national media can’t help but impact your thinking.
But I wonder, why is it seemingly OK for stocks to go up and down by 2% or 3% in a day causing the value of your stock portfolio or your 401k to go up or down accordingly but everyone seems to hate the idea that the value of your home might go down by 2% or 3% in the next year.
Nothing goes up or down in a straight line and both stocks and housing have gone up over the long term. It requires long term thinking when buying either stocks or a home. And the best thing is … you can actually live in your home, you don’t even get a stock certificate to paper the walls in your home any more.
Technorati Tags: Charleston real estate, Charleston home prices
Charleston property tax
July 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I work with many people who are considering relocation to Charleston, many from very high property tax states who are always concerned with how much property taxes are on any property that they are considering in the Charleston real estate market. The good news is that property taxes in South Carolina are generally quite low especially when compared with many other states.
Furthermore, once a home has been assessed, there are limits on increases to 15% every five years. But when a home transfers from one owner to another, the cap is removed and the assessor can raise the assessed value of your home to the current sales price.
But don’t worry; the property taxes will still be reasonable, just not as reasonable as your new neighbor who may have lived in his/her home for a number of years. And a point of sale property tax increase is how many places in the US reassess the value of your home. A good conservative rule of thumb is to estimate 1% of the sales price of your home for property taxes. The property taxes on a $200,000 home should be approximately $2000 and property taxes on a $500,000 home should be $5000.
If property taxes are important to you, you should consider getting a written estimate from the tax assessor prior to writing a contract on any home you are considering purchasing.
And make sure to apply for the 4% tax ratio on your principal residence, it will save you a lot of money.
Technorati Tags: Charleston real estate, Charleston South Carolina property tax
All your eggs in one basket
July 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I work with a lot of out of town clients, most of whom are considering relocation to Charleston. Many start their search very early in the process and request listing alerts that give them a very good idea of the Charleston real estate market. Sometimes they fall in love with a home well before they plan to move to Charleston.
A slightly different case this week. An out of town client has been online looking at and asking me further questions about a specific home in Charleston that he would like to purchase as investment property. His plans called for him to arrive this weekend to view it.
But just recently, if went under contract and he cancelled his plans. Then the contract suddenly fell through and his plans were back on and especially appealing was the fact that the price was reduced. But just yesterday, the home went under contract again.
Bottom line, whether you are planning to relocate to Charleston or just want to invest in Charleston real estate, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. There are lots of nice available properties, certainly more than the one you might have your eye on.
Technorati Tags: Charleston real estate, relocation to Charleston
Sell cheap, buy cheaper
July 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I had the occasion to show some buyers from out of town who were considering relocation to the Charleston area several homes in my neighborhood.
White Gables is located in Summerville, a very popular Charleston suburb. White Gables is a traditional neighborhood with sidewalks, front porches and alleys behind the home to access the garage. It’s very old fashioned and very cute and it was the only neighborhood they were interested in seeing after viewing lots of homes online for the past few months.
But they have to sell their home in order to buy.
A few years ago, they started thinking about moving and did get a contract on their home but they backed out of the sale because they just didn’t feel right about selling and moving at the time. As is the case in many areas around the country, their home isn’t worth what it once was. But as I suggested to them, if you sell high, you’re going to buy high and that’s how it was several years ago. And if you sell for a little less, you’ll certainly be able to buy for a lot less.
They looked at several preowned homes but as I mentioned to them, if you write a contract contingent on the sale of your home, it won’t mean anything to the seller because the home will effectively be off the market awaiting the sale of your home. Think about how you would deal with an offer on your home that is contingent on the sale of your buyers home. And you can’t really make a really advantageous purchase when you are writing an offer contingent on the sale of your home.
As to new homes, the builder had several in inventory that had nice discounts because construction was complete and they were sitting unsold. But you can’t take advantage of that either because you might not want to have 2 mortgage payments.
So go home and sell. Price it right. Sell it cheap. Buy cheaper.
By the way, the home pictured above is the new Andover floor plan, one story living and a little larger than the popular Georgetown plan.
This one is a steal! If you are an unencumbered buyer.
Technorati Tags: Charleston real estate, Summerville, White Gables
Flood zones, flood insurance
July 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I get asked by quite a few potential Charleston home buyers about flood zones and flood insurance. A client recently asked, “When a listing says a home in Mount Pleasant is in a flood zone, does that mean that many or most of those homes will get water coming into their house? Will rivers overflow and turn backyards into swimming pools? What is the major thing to look out for with flood problems?”
No is the real answer … but there is always a little more to the story.
The first thing you have to realize is that Charleston and Mount Pleasant is not like New Orleans in that it is not shaped like a saucer and below sea level with levees holding the water out.
You may have noticed the problems in the Midwest where the rivers in Iowa and elsewhere are far above flood stage, broke through levees and sandbags and wiped out lots of homes and sometimes even entire towns. This was referred to as a once in 500 year flood but unfortunately, this was the year. Most of those homeowners did not have flood insurance but they should have. Maybe they just didn’t know.
So back to Charleston. We start at sea level and get a little higher. Some homes are elevated construction where the home starts at the second level because it is built on fairly low land but not below sea level. The first floor is mostly a garage and storage for things you aren’t really worried about because that level is generally uninsurable.
The soil in the Charleston area is mostly sandy and absorbs and holds a lot of water. But when you get torrential rains or storm surge such as from a hurricane, and I’m speaking of a big one like Hugo in ‘89 or other famous hurricanes like Katrina or Andrew, you can have water problems.
A lot of the problems with insurance claims from Katrina are that the insurance carriers claimed that water caused the problem, not the wind. Which came first, the water or the wind to cause the damage. The point is important because wind is covered under your homeowner’s hazard policy and water is only covered if you have flood insurance.
So you buy flood insurance. If you are not in a flood zone, then it’s pretty inexpensive, maybe $300 – $400 per year. If you are in a flood zone, again, it will depend on the zone and the elevation and it might be $400 – $500 on the low end but it could be $1000 or more depending on the elevation and the value of the house as well.
I personally don’t live in a flood zone but you can be assured that I have flood insurance. And it’s a smart thing no matter where in the country you might live. Check out the FEMA website for more information. Water is the biggest cause of damage, period. we spend a lot of money on insurance protecting ourselves from fire, burglary, etc., but the biggest cause of damage by far is water. You don’t have to live in a flood zone for bad things to happen.
By the way, since we are in hurricane season, I also get a lot of questions from people wondering if I worry about a hurricane. While I of course do, I can honestly say that one of the best things about hurricanes is that you generally get a lot of notice as they move across the ocean. The forecasters have a pretty good idea where they will hit and you have time to make preparations and decisions which isn’t necessarily the case with tornadoes and earthquakes.
And while I think I’m well insured against disasters, let’s hope and pray we don’t have one to contend with.
Technorati Tags: Charleston real estate, flood zones, flood insurance, FEMA
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.
Technorati Tags: Charleston real estate, Charleston home listings
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:
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.
Technorati Tags: Charleston real estate
List (asking) price vs sales price May 2008
May 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment
With almost 12,000 homes currently available for sale in the Charleston real estate market which is almost a 16 month inventory if no additional homes come on the market.
If you really want to sell your home, you must price it to sell.
As you can see, the asking price is significantly higher than the prices paid by buyers in all classifications with the only exception being luxury condos and townhomes.
The current sales price to list price according to Charleston MLS statistics shows that homes are selling at a 5.23% discount to list.
That is the highest rate I’ve seen yet asking prices are even higher per the chart above. Something has to give and my best guess is that it won’t be the buyer.
Technorati Tags: Charleston real estate, Charleston home prices
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