Sandlapper Classic Coming Up!

I received this note from Gettys Glaze, CEO and Broker In Charge of Sandlapper, and thought I should pass it along to you all! This really is a great event with opportunities for sponsorship, volunteering and enthusiastic cheering for your home team!

"Hello everyone! Sandlapper Real Estate Group is at it again – getting involved in the community. The 2nd annual Sandlapper Classic high school track and field event is Saturday, March 1 at West Ashley High School. We are expecting approximately 2000 student athletes from all over the state to participate in events from 1600 M dash, shot put, 100 M High Hurdles, Long jump, pole vaulting and many others.

Go to http://www.sandlapperclassic.com/ and see a video and interviews of the students that participated in the last year.

We are looking for area sponsors to help us make this a wonderful experience for these students. We have sponsor levels that range from $100 to $1500. Please visit http://www.sandlapperclassic.com/ to find out how you and your company can help. Click on the sponsor tab and you will see all of the ways you can get involved."

Sales Center Opens for New Cigar Factory Condos

I am pretty much always in favor of revitalization and mixed-use development, so this project looked good to me from the first. As the particulars take shape this property promises to be cool – very cool. Be sure to check out the link to their new site, which is not very informative, but does give a good feel for the tone they are trying to set. This should be fun to keep an eye on!

"The former industrial building known as The Cigar Factory at 701 East Bay St. downtown has opened a sales and information center as the building’s new owner moves forward with plans to convert the property into a mix of high-end condominiums, offices and retail space.

'As the largest historic building on the Charleston peninsula, Cigar Factory is a major part of the ongoing revitalization of the Charleston East side,' said Boyd Simpson, president of The Simpson Organization, the Atlanta-based real estate company that owns the property. The Simpson Organization purchased the former cigar factory in summer 2007 for $22 million and plans to create 37,000 square feet of retail space along with 26,000 square feet of condominiums priced from $349,000 to $1.5 million.

Tenants are expected to begin moving in summer 2009.

The Cigar Factory was built as an industrial plant in 1881 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been used as a cotton mill, a cigar factory and office space.

Condominiums at The Cigar Factory will include the original brick walls and 15-foot ceilings.
Owners will have concierge service, covered parking, a swimming pool and fitness center, a pet park, a club with individual wine storage, a private garden and a rooftop deck with views of Charleston harbor.

Retail and office spaces will be designed to accommodate dining, a gourmet-style grocery store, galleries and boutiques. Offices will have parking."

For the full Charleston Regional Business Journal article: http://charlestonbusiness.com/current/14_2/briefs/11214-1.html

For the Cigar Factory, Charleston website: http://cigarfactorycharleston.com/

$20M from Delfin USA for North Charleston Site

With Boeing, Vought and Global Aeronautica already in North Charleston, Google coming to Goose Creek, it looks we will soon add another substantial, international presence, suggesting that the north area really is the "coming" place! I love that I'm here, now to be a part of these exciting times!

"Delfin Group USA wasn’t looking to establish a manufacturing beachhead in North Charleston. But when the perfect opportunity arose at the Chevron Corp. property late last year, the Russian petroleum firm had no choice but to jump at it, said Tony Williams, who orchestrated the $20 million deal on the parcel for the company.

'What a nice piece of property,' said Williams, a Delfin Group USA vice president, recalling his reaction on his first visit to the shuttered Chevron plant on Virginia Avenue. 'I can honestly say that in 30 years of looking at facilities for sale, I’ve only seen one I thought was better, and that was several years ago in Antwerp, Belgium, and largely due to the fact that logistics in Northern Europe are so phenomenal.'

Delfin Group Russia, formerly Luxoil, has operated plants in Moscow and in Riga, Latvia, for decades, but it was only 16 months ago that Marcos Bagdasarian, a Delfin principal, established a North American division in Atlanta.

Enlisting Williams, a 30-year veteran of the oil and lubricant industries and a native of Manning, S.C., as his vice president, Bagdasarian wanted to simply set up a U.S. purchasing office. Williams, however, came with an expertise in land deals and managing international operations. His background included founding Global Alliance, a firm that managed three lubricant mixing plants in South America.

In 2007, the two had been scouting sites near Atlanta and Savannah to establish a scalable production facility, ideally with a rail connection. While searching, Williams and Bagdasarian received a call from a real estate agent they knew who had the 'perfect' location for them in North Charleston.

The Virginia Avenue property, which has changed hands numerous times over the past several decades, and which most recently went on the market in June for an asking price of $26 million, is expected to be operational by February, Williams said.

The site had been in use as a service station or lubricant oil terminal since 1910. Delfin plans to ship raw oils and additives to the facility, where they will be mixed, bottled and prepared for sale to automotive, commercial and industrial users. The product will then be shipped out to its principal markets of Europe and West and North Africa, and the Asian Pacific rim.

At full production, the plant is expected to manufacture 10 million gallons of petroleum products annually and employ between 120 and 170."

For the full Charleston Regional Business Journal article: http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/current/14_2/news/11204-1.html

For my website highlighting the area near the site: http://parkcircleonline.com/

Affordability, Affordability, Affordability!

It's looks like Lowcountry real estate might have a slightly different mantra this year with affordability trumping location, and those sales will get things going throughout the market. The blog is a little long again today, but even if you don't read the whole thing, be sure to read the last line! Remember here and now more than ever reasonable real estate is always a good investment!

"Though still mired in tepidity, the local housing market has its bright spots, and real estate experts pinpoint affordability — both of home prices and home loans — as the key to reigniting housing sales this year.

Cheryl Smithem, marketing director for Summerville Homes, said there has been a lot of interest in Baker Plantation, the company’s new community near the intersection of U.S Highway 52 and U.S. Highway 78. Homes there are priced from $199,000 to $239,000.

'There are a lot of people who are just beginning who want to buy a home and I think that’s why there’s a lot of movement in the lower part of the market,' Smithem said. 'They just want to get started.'

According to data from the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors, most home sales in Dorchester and Berkeley counties last month were in the $200,000 to $250,000 price range while most Charleston County sales were in the $300,000 to $350,000 range.

'If you’ve got a product under $400,000, it seems to be selling a little bit better,' agreed Philip Ford, vice president of the Trident Home Builders Association. 'There’s a lot of builders that are sitting in that over-$400,000 category, (including) custom builders, and that’s a problem from the banking standpoint. The higher the price point, the less buyers you have.'

In the midst of the sluggish housing market, the I’On Group in October found optimism when it launched sales of its first homes in Mixson, a new urban sustainable-development community in North Charleston.

Alyss Campaign, vice president for strategy and marketing for the I’on Group, said the company is building 29 homes in Mixson’s first phase and has 11 contracts. Homes are priced from the mid-$100,000s to the low $300,000s.

'We have a third of our homes under contract already, which we consider a great showing,' Campaign said. 'What we heard from the buyers was that they liked the price point and they trusted I’On Group and they really liked this type of walkable neighborhood.'

Teena Martindale, director of the Multiple Listing Service for the Trident Association of Realtors, agrees that the local housing market is heading for a rebound. 'I think it’s a fairly flat market right now and I think it will stay that way a little while, but I don’t think it will go down any further,' Martindale said.

She has studied home sales trends for the past 15 years based on MLS statistics, and it’s clear that what goes down always comes back up, she said. 'The further you go back, the more comfortable you can be with this market,' Martindale said. “You can see where we’ve had these trends before, and Charleston always recovers.'”

For the full Charleston Regional Business Journal article: http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/current/14_2/news/11222-1.html

The images above are from the Mixson Master Plan; for their website: http://www.insidemixson.com/home

For a look at the Mixson area and lots of other surprising features in the "affordable" market:
http://parkcircleonline.com/

30-Year Mortgages Lowest Since 2005

This is why it's so important to be aware of what's actually going on in the market, not just the surface trends touted in mainstream headlines. For many people this is an excellent time to buy!

"Long-term mortgage rates remain in a downward pattern, registering the third consecutive week of decline. According to Freddie Mac's numbers, average interest on 30-year fixed loans settled the week at 5.69 percent—the lowest level since July 2005.

Other rate declines include:

• 15-year fixed mortgages slipped to 5.21 percent from 5.43 percent a week ago.
• 5-year adjustable-rate average retreated to 5.4 percent from 5.63 percent.
• 1-year ARMs fell to 5.26 percent from 5.37 percent.

Observers generally agree that borrowing costs will remain at or near 6 percent for 2008 unless a U.S. recession surfaces—in which case they expect rates to decline further."

To read the article in Realtor Magazine Online: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008011802?OpenDocument

Lowcountry Real Estate 2008 Outlook

I usually try to use this blog as a sort of main point and highlights summary of the topics addressed, but today I encourage you to follow the link and read the whole CRBJ article. There is really no substitute for seeing the variety of experts and their slightly different perspectives all support the same conclusion: the Lowcountry real estate market is going to be just fine in 2008! I've said it before and I'll say it again, here and now more than ever reasonable real estate is always a good investment!

"The housing market is the big question mark in today’s national economic picture, and that’s not expected to change much in early 2008. The future of the slumping housing market doesn’t look as bleak, however, to those with a critical eye on Lowcountry residential real estate.

'We’re not going to see the bottom that the national economy will see, because we have a lot of people who want to move here,' said Gettys Glaze of Sandlapper Real Estate. 'The problem is, the people that are moving here are from the Northeast and the Midwest, and they’re having trouble selling their homes.

Glaze anticipates his sales to be flat in 2008 compared with 2007. But he also said he thinks the downturn in the Lowcountry housing market has passed its low point. 'The builders and the new construction guys have slowed their starts, which puts less inventory into the market and the people that have re-sales aren’t competing with new construction as they have in the past three or four years. The bottom line is, we have a great place and a wonderful city and a lot of people want to live here.'

Along with balmy weather and the beach, the Lowcountry has another advantage that could help boost tepid home sales sooner rather than later: Jobs.

'Personal income just went up this quarter in South Carolina,' said Frank Hefner, chairman of the College of Charleston’s Department of Economics and Finance. 'It’s nice, normal growth, and the unemployment rate is still very low.' Hefner expects local housing starts to return to a normal growth pattern by mid-2008.

'It bodes well for our area that we haven’t seen a significant drop in home prices like other parts of the country, and we’ve brought in industry like Google,' said Philip Ford, vice president of the Charleston Trident Home Builders Association. 'In talking to some builders, (I’ve heard) things have picked up a little bit toward the end of the year, when things are usually pretty slow. Everybody’s predicting the market will come back up probably the second half of 2008. Some are even saying 2009. For this market, though, I think we’re looking at 2008.'

Jon Wiley, interim director of the College of Charleston’s Carter Center in Real Estate, said the local housing market has just come through a period of major growth and seems to be at a tipping point.

'Things have kind of leveled off here in the Lowcountry,' Wiley said. 'We haven’t seen the awful price declines like in the rest of the country, but things haven’t jumped up either. Credit conditions have changed…and we don’t have as many investors flooding the market with extra money, so something has to clear the market. If nothing changes, we will see more of the same, this delicate balance of uneasiness.'

Among the positive factors for the Lowcountry housing market is the number of empty nesters, retirees and baby boomers who want to move to the coast, Wiley said.

'I think that’s where Charleston has the advantage over other housing markets,' he said. 'I don’t feel terribly nervous. I just bought a house myself.'"

For the full Charleston Regional Business Journal article: http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/current/14_1/news/11105-1.html

Builders Cut Options to Maintain Profits

Fewer options and better value may not be such a bad thing. Limiting the range of choices might also limit the stress of the whole process! On a larger scale this is definitely the sign of a healthy economy – self-adjustment by major players who recognize the potential in the market!

"Home builders are slashing the number of options they offer, seeking standardization and simplification as they attempt to save millions of dollars and survive the housing slump.

'If you don't like cookie-cutter housing, you're not going to like the next several years,' says Eric Landry, a Morningstar analyst. Beazer Homes USA Inc. says it reduced its carpet offerings by 85 percent. Pulte Homes Inc. cut back to 400 floor plans from more than 2,000, and Centex Corp. cut its roughly 4,500 plans in half, with more reductions under way.

''Everything's included' was born in times that were more like these,' Lennar Corp. Chief Executive Stuart Miller said in an earnings conference call this past summer. It brings 'better value to the ultimate purchase price for the home, and that's going to work well in the declining market.'

Not everyone is very enthusiastic about the scale back.

'I think that when they get a sort of cooler head and really look at the long term of what works in this industry, they'll realize [that scaling back] does not work. When somebody's spending a half-million dollars for a house, they want to be able to select some things that personalize it,' says John Fioramonti, senior managing director of Meyers Builder Advisors, a real-estate consultancy."

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Dawn Wotapka (01/09/2008)

Realtor Magazine Online article: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008011005?OpenDocument

HGTV Dream Home 2008

O.k. so maybe this isn't exactly the smartest thing in the world for a Lowcountry real estate agent to do, giving you all a link to enter to win (not buy) a fabulous house in Florida (not Charleston). But I have to say that I just think the Dream Home is fun, and if one of you were to win, I would be thrilled! Hmmmm, and now that I think of it, if one of you were to win, I would say that chances are good you would sell their Dream Home in Fl to buy YOUR dream home in Charleston . . . so maybe it's not such a bad idea on my part after all!

"Enter now for your chance to win the HGTV Dream Home in the Florida Keys, plus a new GMC Yukon Hybrid SUV. It’s a grand prize worth more than $2.2 million!" http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dream_home/0,1783,HGTV_10678,00.html

Understand Mortgage Pay Off Possibilities Before Writing the Check!

Almost everyone has heard some financial wizard recommend early pay off of your mortgage, but when it comes down to choosing how to use your year-end bonus be sure to get all of the facts for your particular situation!

"Getting a windfall and using it to pay off the mortgage sounds like it should reduce the monthly amount owed, but often it doesn’t.

Fixed-rate mortgage holders who pay off a big chunk of their mortgage are likely to shorten the payoff period, but the infusion of cash probably won’t reduce at all the amount they owe monthly.

Holders of adjustable-rate mortgages who are making fully amortizing payments will get a payment adjustment at the point where the payment is recalculated after a rate adjustment.

Mortgages with an interest-only option should see their payment decline – unless the servicer handles the reset differently than the industry norm. Many delay the payment adjustment for a year, sometimes more.

The most responsive type of mortgage to oversized payments is the home ownership accelerator, because it has no fixed payment requirement. The monthly amount owed fluctuates with the amount the mortgage holder has available to pay."

For the article in Realtor Magazine Online: http://www.realtor.org/rmodaily.nsf/pages/News2007122606?OpenDocument

Seabrook Getting Better and Better

For my tastes and to my way of thinking you really can't get much better than Seabrook Island – gorgeous natural surroundings, the pleasures and convenience of country club living, less than 30 minutes from downtown Charleston! It's hard to improve on that, but it sounds like they just might have a plan that will do it!

"Three decades after the first residents and golfers moved to this 2,200-acre oceanfront paradise, Seabrook Island is poised for a makeover. The circa-1974 amenities of the private island, including its stucco-and-steel Beach Club, Island House restaurant and golf clubhouse, will soon fade into history as a $31 million redo transforms the dated structures into a resort complex.

'It will change the whole face of Seabrook, and it will probably make it a much more upscale type of place,' said Jim Leib, president of the Seabrook Island Club. 'The clubhouse and Beach Club were really pretty grand facilities in their day. It’s just that their days are long
past.'
Work has already begun on the project, which is a joint venture of the Seabrook Island Club and the Seabrook Island Property Owners Association. About $10 million of the project will be funded by the property owners’ association and will pay for a community center and lakeside pavilion to be built near the entrance of the island on Palmetto Lake. The Seabrook Island Golf Club is shelling out $21 million for a new golf clubhouse and dining facilities, a new beach club, a remodeled 22-acre equestrian center with a new office and barns, and a reconstructed tennis complex.

'The club’s original business model was the resort rental business and conference business,' Salvo said. 'The buildings that are there now were essentially built for that business and are somewhat dysfunctional for our current business model. Truthfully, we were trying to do two things: be both a private club, a private island and be in the resort rental business. You can’t do both.'

The Seabrook Island Club is now focused on attracting more full-time residents to the island, Salvo said. There were 1,250 residents on the island at the time of the 2000 census.

The Horizon Plan, what Salvo calls the island’s adaptation to and understanding of what a new generation of Seabrook Island families wants, will also voluntarily reduce the footprint of the island’s amenities along its 3.5-mile stretch of beach. The current 30,000-square-foot Beach Club facility, which contained a number of oceanfront conference rooms that no longer are needed, will be demolished except for its pools and outdoor café.

'Trading old buildings right on the ocean for one smaller building and open spaces is going to be a real positive, visually and environmentally, for the island,' Salvo said. 'This is all about pride…building pride in your community.'”

For the full Charleston Regional Business Journal article: http://charlestonbusiness.com/pub/13_26/news/11042-1.html

For renderings of the Horizon Plan's additions and changes: http://www.discoverseabrook.com/news/details.aspx?nid=719&snid=731&lnid=-1&cid=3673

Clemson Connections Win Out

Whomever you usually root for, everyone pleased about the Charleston Trade Center should be glad that Gary Frederick is a Clemson man. The Center is poised to bring significant global interests to the area, which means money, jobs and a richer business environment! As I've said before there has never been a better time to be a Charlestonian! This place just keeps getting better and better!

"The Clemson University ties of a senior executive of Hillwood Investment Properties were a crucial factor in the office and industrial property development company’s decision to roll the dice on creating a 750-acre business park near Interstate 26 in Berkeley County. They also helped to ensure the project remained under the radar until all the agreements were sealed and construction at the development, called Charleston Trade Center, was about to begin.

'Those relationships mean more to me than anything,' said Gary Frederick, senior vice president of Hillwood Investment Properties.

'Our first look at this area, and in fact, at this exact site, which is located between exits 194 and 199 near the Piggly Wiggly Distribution Center, was when Mercedes was seriously considering the area for its manufacturing plant,' Frederick said.

'It looked pretty serious. The state had acquired all the options on the land, dubbing the effort Project Bluebell, and our plan was to build a commerce park adjacent to the site that would be home to Mercedes’ suppliers.'

After the Mercedes deal fell through, the state released its options on the land. But Frederick didn’t forget the site. When he learned it was still available in early 2005, he decided the time might be right to take a gamble on a speculative project.

'By then we had seen the emergence of the East Coast ports in the global supply chain and the S.C. State Ports Authority’s investments in expansion were becoming obvious,' Frederick said. 'A giant bridge was standing over the harbor, and it appeared that the Navy base terminal was going forward. Basically, it seemed like the stage was set for the Port of Charleston to be an increasingly important port in the United States, and I knew we could benefit from the due diligence the state had already performed in regard to the site.'

That’s when Frederick began to work closely with Carlyle Blakeney, another Clemson alum who also happened to be a broker at Palmetto Commercial Real Estate. Soon he was engaged in serious discussions with two other alumni of the university, attorney Neil C. Robinson Jr., of Nexsen Pruett Jacobs and Pollard in Charleston and then-Berkeley County Supervisor Jim Rosier.

But Clemson’s ties to the development deal didn’t end there. As it happened, the largest landowner involved in the sale was Tom Salisbury, a member of Clemson’s 1948 Southern Conference Championship football team. Salisbury passed away after Hillwood contracted for the land."

For the full Charleston Regional Business Journal article: http://charlestonbusiness.com/pub/13_26/news/11044-1.html

For the Hillwood Investment Properties' Charleston Trade Center site: http://www.hillwoodinvestmentproperties.com/Projects/tabid/61/Default.aspx?city=charleston