Real estate is local

August 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment

… and real estate prices reflect that.

I wonder how the National housing price indexes would look if California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona were excluded. After all, the Charleston real estate market and Charleston real estate price have very little to do with Los Angeles or San Diego, Miami or Orlando.

home price index from Core Logic

Home price map from OFHEO

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Charleston real estate 

Motivated sellers

August 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment

“If your client is at all interested in this home, the sellers are very motivated!”
 

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.

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

Whatever happened to

August 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment

… this potential client.

From my email:

Dear Howard Arnoff:

Today, your prospect, ZZZZZ, was automatically expired by LIST-IT. He or she was inactive for at least 1 month.

A couple of quick points. LIST-IT is the name that Solid Earth, the Charleston MLS provider uses to send emails. This potential client had signed up for listing alerts and looked at them for a while. Then they stopped.

So whatever happened to ZZZZZ?

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Charleston real estate 

Sitting on the fence

August 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment

White picket fenceIt 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.

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

Loan modification

August 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment

… is a big buzzword today. The government has been wanting lenders to rework the loans of many troubled homeowners so as to avoid additional foreclosures. The problem is that thus far very few loans have actually been modified.

So what gives. Let’s say you feel like the value of your home has declined somewhat and you’d like to modify your loan. Will the lender just happily lop tens of thousands of dollars from your balance and call it a day. Not really.

But if you are facing a hardship, that might be another story and loan modification could be a potential solution. If your interest rate increased because you took out an adjustable rate mortgage and “didn’t know” that an adjustable rate meant that your payment might increase over time, you can join the chorus of the many who seem to fall into that situation. Even if you did know how an adjustable rate mortgage worked, today’s lending problems work to your advantage because you can probably claim ignorance because you still face financial hardship.

If you or your wife got divorced, lost your job or had unexpected expenses from an illness, you most definitely are facing a financial hardship and should seek a loan modification program with your lender.

Some lenders are more open to the process than others and it might not be easy. Please take note, you’ll have to prove you are facing a financial hardship, not just feeling like you’d like to lower your interest rate or monthly payment.

It will be better than just waiting to be foreclosed but don’t wait until it’s too late. 

Read more from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Charleston real estate, Mortgage / Finance 

Foreclosure news July 2008

August 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The latest foreclosure news is out and no significant changes are reported by RealtyTrac. A few more than last month, about double this month last year and South Carolina remains much better than the rest of the country ranking 34th.

While the Charleston real estate market has some foreclosure activity, it is thankfully still few and far between compared to markets with most housing activity focused on foreclosures.

Foreclosure map July 08

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

Long term thinking

August 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment

prices upprices downwhat does the future hold for Charleston real estate prices

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.

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

Update on Park Circle

August 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Mixson Park Circle Oak Terrace Preserve

I had the opportunity to view Mixson Park Circle and Oak Terrace Preserve over the weekend and since my last visit, there has been a lot happening.

Mixson, developed by the I’on Group has broken ground on a number of residences and they are truly spectacular. What you can’t tell from the picture is the European ambiance of the neighborhood. Homes are sometimes attached but are considered single family homes. 

Oak Terrace Preserve features several area builders constructing Craftsman and Lowcounty style homes. Both neighborhoods are being built green with very high construction standards.

Mixson is definitely vertical. I even saw a 4 story home (no elevator) so you won’t have to buy extra exercize equipment.

Call me for more information on either neighborhood.

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Charleston Communities and Neighborhoods, Charleston real estate, North Charleston 

Charleston real estate market report, June 08 home prices

August 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Charleston home prices show a slight decline on both an average and median basis in single family homes under $600,000. This housing classification represents over 70% of all Charleston real estate transactions and is therefore the most important category to best understand market conditions and trends.

While the average price declined by 3.22% and the median price declined by 3.32%, the Charleston remains much healthier than many other housing markets around the country.

Prices continue to show increases for luxury Charleston homes and both clasifications of condos and townhomes.

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

Charleston real estate, Charleston home prices

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

Charleston real estate market report, June 08 sales and inventory

July 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The left axis (red line) represents unit sales and you can clearly see the trend of fewer sales during the first half of this year compared to last year. The right axis (blue line) represents inventory which has remained at elevated levels.

Charleston real estate June 08 sales and inventory

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

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