Back to school

August 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Back to school in the Charleston areaThis week, all the school districts in the Charleston area return to school and the cars and school buses will be on the roads once again. Drive safely and yes, a bit more congestion is to be expected as always.

Berkeley County kicked off the school year yesterday, Charleston County starts today and Dorchester County, District II begins on Thursday.

Links to school district websites:

Berkeley County

Charleston County

Dorchester County (District II)

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Helpful hints 

Try carbonite

July 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

CarboniteI was just talking with a friend and the subject of her recent computer crash came up and it was somewhat timely to me because I faced a blank screen the other day and was obviously worried about losing everything on my laptop.

Thankfully, turning the machine off and then back on miraculously got my screen back in working order but I had heard of an online backup service called carbonite that I had been intending to look into.

Hearing the story from my friend who wasn’t as fortunate sent me immediately to their website to sign up. You get a 15 day free trial and one year costs $49.95. It seems like inexpensive peace of mind. Click here for more info.

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Helpful hints 

How a bank failure might affect you

July 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment

IndyMac bank failsThe takeover by banking regulators of IndyMac Bank has been well chronicled and was caused in part by panicked depositors withdrawing their funds.

Any funds in excess of $100,000 in one bank is not insured by the FDIC. The best thing you can do is to spread your funds among several banks and stay under the limit.

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Helpful hints 

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.

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

Google is much more than just search

July 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Christina Laun writes about 57 useful Google tools you’ve never heard of. You may have used several but I’ll bet there are a few you never realized might exist.

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Helpful hints 

A big pantry is important

April 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment

bulk items from Costco When looking at Charleston real estate, make sure to find a home with a big pantry

I love Costco. I shop in bulk for items that make sense, things like paper towels, tissue paper, garbage bags, bottled water, food storage bags, aluminum foil and more. Actually the list can go on and on because when we leave Costco, we always seem to run our bill into the hundreds.

They have books at prices better than Barnes and Noble or Amazon; you can buy vitamins, shampoo, lotion and other personal care items and they sometimes have some nice clothes – don’t laugh, their polo shirts are great.

We shop at Whole Foods, Publix and Piggly Wiggly because each store has items that we prefer to buy there. We sometimes go to the Farmer’s Market for fresh produce. But if you love to save money and buy bulk, Costco is a great choice for many things.

So when you are looking at Charleston homes for sale, make sure to look at the pantry, if you’re like me, you’ll want to have a big pantry to hold everything you buy.

And don’t forget to splurge on a hot dog and diet coke for only $1.50 on your way out the door.

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

Crepe myrtles

April 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment

… are just getting started this spring.

crepe myrtles I’ve always followed Southern Living’s helpful tips on how to trim my crepe myrtles and every year they just get more and more beautiful.

If you don’t have one or more, now is a great time to buy a crepe myrtle.

Although there isn’t much to see just yet,I’ll post another picture in the summer and you’ll be able to see just how beautiful they grew this year.

 

 

From Southern Living, please read:

[tags] crepe myrtles, Southern Living

Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Charleston, Helpful hints 

A physical for your home?

March 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Your Charleston home might need a physicalI was talking with one of my clients today about a few requested repairs to be made in order to close the sale of his house. He’s lived there for about 15 years and has always taken good care of his home, he’s added some nice upgrades and fixed anything that broke. But when all is said and done, that’s reacting to problems rather than being proactive.

And as I was describing that all homeowners probably do pretty much the same thing as him, I used the analogy that most people visit their doctor and have a physical or checkup on an annual or semi-annual basis. I suggested that most homeowners would be well served to get their home checked out at least every 3 years by a home inspector so that any problems that were lurking out of sight could be addressed before they became major issues, kind of like preventative medicine. 

What do you think about getting a physical for your home.

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

For better Charleston homes

February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

owners of Charleston homes are thinking greenOne of the major trends in real estate for 2008 for homeowners and homebuyers is to think green. On my other website blog, I wrote a post today, “Think green, some easy solutions”.

While not as inexpensive or easy to do as some of the easy solutions offered, at the end of the article I linked to the PATH site which offered its Remodeling Top 10.

I also noticed another PATH page with their Top 10 Techniques, originally written in ‘04 and updated in ‘07, every bit as relevant today as when it was written. Click here for the article.

About PATH, from their website. “The Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing is dedicated to accelerating the development and use of technologies that radically improve the quality, durability, energy efficiency, environmental performance and affordability of America’s housing.”

Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Charleston Market Trends, Helpful hints