Can You Fix It? Yes You Can!

In addition to the benefits mentioned below, I have found that people who can do the work themselves tend to keep up with the regular maintenance all houses require, rather than waiting until they're ready to sell and facing a three-page list of minor repairs, half of which have gotten worse because they weren't dealt with right away. You might even consider teaching your teenagers how to do some of these things before they leave home!

"These are skills every home owner should master to save lots of money over the years. Most can be tackled without fancy tools, although it helps to have a variable-speed power drill.
Replace a door lock.
Change furnace and air conditioning filters.
Find a stud in wall.
Learn to install wall anchors.
Hang a ceiling fan.
Drive drywall screws (to repair drywall).
Master a caulking gun.
Replace the flapper ball in the toilet.

Here are some books you can read for more information on home do-it-yourself projects:
"The Reader's Digest Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual." First published in 1973, it was last updated in 2005. A great all-around book.
"Home Depot's Home Improvement 1-2-3" (Meredith Books, 2003, $34.95). Clear, helpful visuals.
"Home & Garden Television's Complete Fix-It" (Time Life, 2000, $29.95)."

For the Realtor magazine article: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008052006?OpenDocument

Simple Fix-Ups Pay Off Big for Sellers

Since matters of taste cannot be disputed – 0r dictated or even predicted very well really – it is best to focus improvements on areas where everyone can agree, no chipping paint, no weeds in the front walk, no doors that stick and so the list goes. With houses as with people you never get a second chance to make a first impression!

"Forget about overhauling the kitchen or redoing the bathroom. The fix-ups that pay off the most are often the simpler and more mundane, says Diane Saatchi, senior vice president at the Corcoran Group in New York. Her specialty is selling high-end properties in the Hamptons. She recommends that sellers focus their improvements on small exterior changes rather than big-ticket projects inside the home.

'Make the outside of the house look really great so that people fall in love between getting out of the car and the front door,' Saatchi says. That includes repainting the trim and adding new hardware, manicuring trees and shrubs, replacing old siding and replacing windows that aren’t energy efficient.

Nationally, returns for all major home-improvement projects are fetching 70 cents on the dollar, according to a Remodeling magazine’s survey of real-estate professionals conducted late last year. That's down from 80 cents in 2004.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, M.P. McQueen (05/15/2008)"

To read the article in Realtor Magazine: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008052003?OpenDocument

Home Sales, Prices Seen Rising in Late '08

Although Charleston maintained a more stable market than many areas of the country, it's nice to see the national picture looking up! After such a long haul of gloomy predictions for the future, I think some people were beginning to fear their next home would be much less comfortable, attractive and roomy than they had hoped . . .

"First, the good news: home sales have stabilized over the last seven months and should increase slightly in the second half of 2008, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun told a crowd of REALTORS® at NAR’s Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo Thursday. The other good news is that the subprime lending crisis is becoming a thing of the past. 'I believe 2008 will be the year when we have to clean up and recover from the subprime mess,' said Yun.

A brighter credit picture is a major contributor to this improvement, Yun said.

Prices also are expected to begin a turnaround later this year, although recovery will vary by market. Middle-America cities that performed evenly over the past few years – like Cincinnati, Milwaukee and the Kansas City, Mo., area – are likely to experience home price gains in the 20 to 30 percent range over the next five years, while markets like Miami, Las Vegas and Phoenix could see prices go up as much as 50 percent during that time period, Yun said.

The home buyer tax credit currently being considered by Congress would also encourage uncertain buyers to act. Stabilized prices will not only encourage sales but could help reduce defaults, he added. "

For the full Realtor magazine article: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008051603?OpenDocument

Home Decorating Tip: If You Want It to Last, Don't Go Too Fast

I was struck by the similarities in these two articles, the first from Realtor magazine and the second from the latest issue of Charleston Home. As important as the house itself is, having it feel like home usually has more to do with making it yours figuratively by filling it with things you love, than literally by simple purchase!


"Buyers are often in a hurry to decorate their new home. But advocates of a fledgling decorating philosophy known as 'slow design' say that's not the best decision. Instead, they urge home owners to feel comfortable letting their décor grow organically, adding one unique item at a time.'It's a big investment, and you're going to live in the space for a long time. Decisions shouldn't be made over a glass of wine on a weekend,' says Wynne Yelland, principal with Locus Architecture in Minneapolis.


Here are some suggestions for giving a home personality 'slowly' — and without spending a fortune:
Think heirloom. Seek out well-made pieces by local artisans.
Start small. Anchor each room with one piece that will have real character, depth and meaning that will last.
Be patient. Don't buy a roomful of furniture all at once. Let the décor evolve over time.
Don’t automatically throw away things that are old. Sometimes a coat of paint or a small repair can result in furniture that is better than new."

Now read Muffie Faith of Elizabeth Stuart Design as quoted in Charleston Home:

“'The rooms looked great, but it was void, hollow, it meant nothing to me,' she says. 'Here I had these little kids (Bobby, Stuart, and Beau, now 13, 12, and 10, were all under age four at the time) and I was worried about Disney stickers on the furniture. I thought, ‘this is crazy. Who are you? What really means something to you?’ It was a painful process for me to figure that out.'


Muffie began to take inventory of her own life, then to radically edit and rethink the rooms. Though still picture perfect, they’re now enlivened with kids’ drawings and art with personal stories behind it; heirlooms from her grandmother’s house are mixed with treasures found on family travels; French antiques meld with Oriental accents—a beloved and well-balanced jumble. 'No bird puts his nest together with one kind of stick,' she notes.

This revelation that style and soul are intimately connected was perhaps the biggest and most satisfying surprise that this house project held. 'Sure, I can make something photo-shoot ready in a minute,' says Muffie, who was a 2005 winner of HGTV’s Designer Challenge. 'But the real effort comes in putting emotion and meaning into it.' For Muffie, satisfying design doesn’t simply entail pairing the right fabric with the right painting in the right place, though that’s certainly part of it. In the end, it’s personal, it’s surprising. It’s an act of faith."


For the Realtor magazine article: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008051304?OpenDocument


For the Charleston Home magazine article: http://www.charlestonhomemag.com/feature1.html

Do You Have an Unused Crashpad in Your Home?

I already have one client looking into this! If you're in the right location, this could be a pretty painless way to take the edge off your monthly mortgage payment.
"Some property owners who live near airports are earning a substantial income each month by renting out spare rooms to airline employees who find hotel accommodations too expensive.

When airline crew members live in one state, but travel to another for work, the airlines are not always required to pay for their overnight accommodations. In most cases, flight crews are offered complimentary hotel rooms only when en route or on a layover. Residents of neighborhoods near airports solve this problem by renting out what the airline industry calls 'crashpads.'

These spots range from minimal accommodations – bedrooms outfitted with bunk beds and access to a bathroom – to plusher accommodations, including transportation to and from the airport, swimming pools, and a laundry facility.Residents charge from $250 to $350 per month per bed in most areas. Landlords can advertise their crashpads on niche Web sites such as: Airlinecommuter.com, Crashpads.com, and Airlinecrew.net."

For the Realtor magazine article: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008051305?OpenDocument

Short Sales Tips

Nothing like insider advice to help you effectively compete in the complex world of short sales. The thing to remember as you consider all the difficulties is how richly worth it a successful short sale can be!

"On Wednesday at NAR's Midyear Legislative Meetings in Washington, D.C., a representative from lender JPMorgan Chase & Co. shared some advice on how you can help move a short sale along as smoothly as possible. 'We’ve found a brave lender to stand in front of a room full of agents,' short-sales expert Robert Kutschbach, broker-owner of Carleton Realty in Westerville, Ohio, said in his introduction of Jim Satterwhite, vice president of prime default management at Chase.

A short sale occurs when the net proceeds from the sale of a home are not enough to cover the sellers’ mortgage obligations and closing costs, and the seller is unable or unwilling to bring sufficient liquid assets to closing to cover the deficiencies.

Satterwhite said that just as practitioners are being hit with a wave of short sales, they must recognize that lenders are too. 'Be patient. The decision process may take several weeks,' Satterwhite said, adding that a big lender may be dealing with a quarter-million delinquent loans at any given time. It can be a challenge to obtain approvals from everyone involved in the short sale, including investors and insurers, he said. He encouraged practitioners to stay in contact with the servicer of the mortgage to keep everything moving.

Another common problem he sees: When short sale offers are submitted days from an impending foreclosure sale, which is not an adequate amount of time for a lender to reach a decision.

Satterwhite shared these recommendations for practitioners:

• Find out if there are any liens on the property, which can become big problems for lenders and real estate professionals. Secondary lien holders may require money to minimize their losses and can balk at approving the short sale. Frequent objectors include tax lien holders and mechanic’s lien holders.
• Engage both primary and secondary lien holders at the same time because all parties will need to approve the contract.
• When working with the seller, ensure that all paperwork is completed and submitted on time. Also, make clients aware that they may be asked to reduce the lender’s loss by making a payment or by signing a promissory note.
• When working with a buyer, make a reasonable offer on the property. A ridiculously low offer is a waste of everyone's time, he said. 'The servicer’s primary goal is to minimize the investor’s loss on a property with a distressed borrower,' Satterwhite said. Therefore, the lender will try to obtain fair market value for the property, so offers way below fair market value just cloud the process, he said.

One audience member asked Satterwhite why lenders can’t provide some type of guidance on what price they'll accept so practitioners can avoid having multiple offers rejected. But Satterwhite said that would be too good to be true: Just as you wouldn’t try to sell your car by advertising the lowest price you’ll accept, lenders won’t do that in a short sale. 'We want to do what is reasonable, but we also want to do our best to recover our indebtedness,' he said."

For the Realtor magazine article: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008051504?OpenDocument

Prices Up in 1 of 3 Metro Areas

My mantra throughout the recent housing ups and downs is becoming more evident as the situation normalizes, "Reasonable real estate is always a good investment!" "One out of three U.S. metro areas showed rising home prices in the first quarter, according to the latest quarterly survey by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. The survey shows first-quarter median single-family home prices in 149 metropolitan statistical areas.

'It’s more important than ever to examine what’s happening with home prices at the city and neighborhood level,' says NAR President Richard Gaylord. 'The old real estate mantra of ‘location, location, location’ is perhaps more relevant today than ever before. Consumers should check with REALTORS® for local expertise on what’s going on in their own area because conditions can vary considerably from one neighborhood to the next.'

The housing slowdown is most pronounced in high-cost markets, dragging down the aggregate national median price, the report says. In the first quarter, the median existing single-family home price was $196,300, down 7.7 percent from the first quarter of 2007 when the median price was $212,600. The national median normally is a typical market price, in which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, warns that the numbers don’t tell the whole story. 'These are highly unusual results because there were very few jumbo loan originations in the latest quarter, so sales are much slower in high-cost areas, and at the same time foreclosures related to subprime mortgages rose,' Yun says.

'Neighborhoods with little subprime exposure are holding on very well, while prices have fallen in neighborhoods with a wide prevalence of subprime loans because more foreclosed properties are being sold at discounted prices.' Yun said that borrowers with subprime loans account for less than 10 percent of all home owners. 'Even so, subprime mortgages account for more than half of all foreclosures. Sharp price declines are principally in neighborhoods where subprime lending has been widely prevalent.'

Typical sellers in the first quarter, who purchased their home six years ago, saw a sizable equity gain despite a price drop from a year ago. The median increase in value for sellers who purchased that home in the first quarter of 2002 is 23.8 percent, and the median home equity accumulation is $37,700. 'The typical home buyer today plans to own that property for 10 years, and with that kind of long-term view most people will do quite well,' Gaylord says. 'Inventories have stabilized and mortgage availability is beginning to improve, so we expect overall prices to go positive during the second half of the year.'”

For the full Realtor Magazine article: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008051301?OpenDocument

The Tall Ships Are Sailing In!

The tall ships and the pirate camp alone make this a hugely fun outing for grown-ups and children alike, and this year's addition of extreme water sports and aerobatic flight demonstrations promise to make it even better! I love Charleston!

"We are very excited to announce the annual maritime festival is now called Charleston Harbor Fest and is scheduled for May 16 – 18, 2008. We have expanded this year to include locations on both sides of the harbor in a true harbor-wide celebration of the sea. A Water Action Village Expo (WAVE) at Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant will highlight extreme water sports and modern boating, modern marine sports equipment, water sports non-profits, and boat, kayak, kite boarding, and surfing vendors. In addition, a Maritime Village downtown at the Maritime Center and in Ansonborough Field will highlight traditional maritime activities and/or past times, pirate themes, marine related non-profits and vendors selling traditional marine items. A water shuttle and bus shuttle will provide transportation between the downtown location and the Patriots Point location (fees may apply).

Access to the Festival grounds is FREE to the public and we anticipate 50,000+ visitors throughout the weekend. Attractions downtown will feature tours of tall ships including the Amistad, Schooner Virginia, the Spirit of South Carolina and the Corwith Cramer, an authentic pirate camp, wooden boats, a children’s village, family boat building, an education village, food, music and more. Across the harbor at Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant attractions will feature extreme wake boarding demos, an aerobatic flight demonstration, the Water Action Village Expo (WAVE), a static boat display, helicopter harbor tours, a children’s village, food, music and more."

For the Charleston HarborFest website: http://www.charlestonharborfest.org/index.html

Don't Forget to Spolet!

For those unfamiliar with the verb "Spolet" – it is Charlestonese for the act of attending the cultural and performing arts festivals Spoleto and Piccolo Spoleto. As in, "Yes, I'll be taking off next Friday. My wife and I will be Spoleting from ten in the morning to ten at night!"

This year don't let the tourists have all the fun. Browse through the schedules and find something your whole family can enjoy!

For the Piccolo Spoleto schedule and other info

For the Spoleto schedule and other info

Certified South Carolina Grown labelling is a great step for those interested in eating local for better taste, to support our neighbors and go green! From the SC Department of Ag website: "The Certified South Carolina program is a new, exciting cooperative effort among producers, processors, wholesalers, retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture (SCDA) to brand and promote South Carolina products. Our goal is for consumers to be able to easily identify, find and buy South Carolina products."


And what better way to eat local than a trip to the Farmer's Market!

City of Charleston Farmer's Market

City of North Charleston Farmer's Market

Mount Pleasant Farmer's Market

All SC Farmer's Markets

Another tasty option for local flavor is the Fresh on the Menu program. From the Department of Ag website: "The new Fresh on the Menu program features the Certified SC Grown brand to highlight South Carolina produce and products in restaurants while also showcasing the Palmetto State as a rapidly expanding culinary destination. Restaurants pledging to take part in the Fresh on the Menu program offer menus that incorporate 25 percent Certified SC Grown produce and products in season."

YUM! With a forkful of her bounty and a napkin at the ready I most heartily declare, "What a gift to be at home in the Lowcountry!"

It's amazing to think that Berkeley County is definitely going to be one of those places where you say to your kids, "You should have seen this before you were born! None of this was here; nobody but cows lived in that neighborhood . . ." The incredibly strong, consistent growth trend in Berkeley County is part of what keeps the housing market throughout the Lowcountry relatively stable even in the context of nationwide economic slowdown. Which is in turn part of what makes it true that here and now more than ever, reasonable real estate is always a good investment.

"In the history of South Carolina, only twice has a county nabbed $1 billion in corporate investment in a single year. Both times it was Berkeley County.

In 1995, Nucor Steel moved in and BP Global expanded its plastic materials operation. In 2007, the county announced a major coup in securing a Google data processing center, and just a few months later DuPont announced it would expand its current site near Cypress Gardens on the Cooper River to include a Kevlar manufacturing facility.

'This business is a team sport,' said John Scarborough, who during this interview in mid-
April was the county’s economic development director. He resigned shortly thereafter under political pressure.

'Nobody does it by themselves. It takes a County Council with some vision and trust in what I do to let me make deals and back me up on them,' he said. 'It takes an administration in the county that is willing to go to council and say, ‘Here’s what we need; this may be a bit unusual, but can we get it done?’

Google and DuPont marked the county’s largest corporate investments, the two alone pushing the county over the billion-dollar mark, but there have been others coming in as well.

The county has pulled in such names as Belimed Inc., Associated Container Sales, Pegasus Steel and Nationwide Express. An additional 921 jobs were added to the rolls in 2007 with a combined $41 million in salaries.

Historically, Berkeley County’s role has been one of an industrial bedrock in the Lowcountry region. But the county’s residential base is growing alongside its commercial boom. New subdivisions are springing up in once-rural areas, tugging along the expansion of the retail sector. Hospitals are angling for real estate alongside projected population centers.

Last year, for instance, Trident Health System purchased 20 acres near the Cane Bay High School in the epicenter of three planned neighborhoods in Berkeley County, Cane Bay, Parks of Berkeley and Carnes Crossroads.

In mid-September, Roper St. Francis Healthcare purchased 66 acres just a few miles away.
With plans to build a similar office complex near the intersection of U.S. Highway 17A and U.S. Highway 176, Roper St. Francis is the first business to solidify a proposal to move into the neighborhood now under development by The Daniel Island Co.

'It’s a lot of jockeying for position,' Mark Robinson, Trident Health System’s chief operating officer, said recently. 'It’s a lot of understanding … what people are doing and where they’re living. That’s why you see Roper buying that land, and you see Trident doing the same thing.'

Between 1990 and 2006, Berkeley County’s population grew 18%, presenting new challenges to county staff. Where industries could once pick their plots of land on a whim, the county needed a plan to build commercial and industry alongside mass-scale neighborhoods, Scarborough said."

For the full Charleston Regional Business Journal article: http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/current/14_9/news/11895-1.html

For Cane Bay Plantation: http://cane-bay.com/

For the Daniel Island Company "lifestyle community" Carnes: http://www.carnescharleston.com/Default.aspx

This could be very good news for teachers! And it's great to see the state investing in them in a way that gets them invested in the community where they teach!

"South Carolina is luring teachers to the state with generous housing assistance.

The state Housing Authority is making $20 million available for home loans to new teachers. The loans carry a 5.9 percent interest rate.

The state expects to offer about 175 loans this year.The program also includes down payment assistance of up to $7,000 for teachers making less than 80 percent of the county’s median income, assistance that will be forgiven if they stay in the home for five years.

Teachers can get the loans, which have a maximum between $180,000 and $240,000, from more than 200 lenders around the state."

For the Associated Press article at Realtor magazine online: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008042206?OpenDocument

For more info from the South Carolina Housing Authority: http://www.sha.state.sc.us/index.asp?n=86&p=0&s=86&x=42

Short Sales

For those unsure of the meaning, the Nolo legal dictionary provides this definition of a short sale: "A sale of a house in which the proceeds fall short of what the owner still owes on the mortgage. Many lenders will agree to accept the proceeds of a short sale and forgive the rest of what is owed on the mortgage when the owner cannot make the mortgage payments. By accepting a short sale, the lender can avoid a lengthy and costly foreclosure, and the owner is able to pay off the loan for less than what he owes."

Despite these obvious benefits the following article makes it clear that the whole process must be executed carefully and patiently with buyer and seller working together, if the homeowner is to avoid the free fall of foreclosure.

"Short sales seem like a win-win for everyone involved, but as real estate professionals know, short sales can be hard to pull off. It can take months for the mortgage company to respond to an offer, and the lender or lenders often balk at the price.

Why doesn’t the process go more smoothly when it seems like a much better deal for everyone than foreclosure?

• Paperwork. Gathering all the information needed to evaluate a short-sale offer can take time, says Patrick Carey, an executive vice president with Wells Fargo. The loan servicer must first determine whether the homeowner really can't continue meeting the loan payments, then get an appraisal or broker's opinion of the home's value.
• Many steps, approvals. Mortgage servicers also try to ensure that the proposed sale is an 'arm's length' transaction between two parties rather than something like a sale to a relative on sweet terms. They must also determine whether the buyer has sufficient funds or the ability to get a loan. If all those hurdles are cleared, the servicer may still need to get approval from the investor that owns the loan and provide an analysis showing that the investor will be better off with a short sale than with another solution.
• Complications often arise. There are additional complications if the borrower has a mortgage and a home-equity loan. In that case, both parties must approve the deal – which is a challenge when the sales price may not even be enough to cover the mortgage balance.
• Minimize delays. Carey suggests that home owners contemplating a short sale immediately call the loan servicer to get the approval process started, rather than wait for an offer."

For the full Wall Street Journal article from Realtor magazine: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008041802?OpenDocument