Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Coming soon:

1] Barometers of the Villa Market in Sea Pines Plantation?

2] How to get the most our your investment rental Property

Monday, February 25, 2008

South Carolina Rides the Wave











Not every market is doom and gloom, not every market is facing a credit crunch, and not every market has mortgages being foreclosed on in the thousands daily. South Carolina has seen it's bruises from the national market trends, but we also have our "Hot Spots". Real Estate along the coast is still a good investment (see the MLS Stats chart below) If you had boght property in 2001 and wanted to sell it today, you would still have made a good investment. The median price in South Carolina rose 30% over that time period or a 5% annual increase per year.

What does this tells us about the SC market:

1. Real Estate is a long term investment five (5) years or more.
2. Location is the key to real estate investing.
3. Some markets are better than others.
a] Coastal and Lake properties over urban properties.

The market has been active in the last month with interest rates going down. We have seen more activity on Hilton Head in recent weeks that we had during the fall. Buyer's are begining to release we are getting close to the bottom of the market, and with inventory high it is a good time to buy, and South Carolina is a good place to buy.

Article from South Carolina Realtor's Association
CEO COMMENTARY
Statewide growth will boost home sales in 2008
COLUMBIA, S.C. (January 2007) — According to the South Carolina REALTORS® (SCR) real estate market data, 2007 was one of the best years on record for South Carolina home sales. With over 61,000 total sales last year, the year-end totals represent a 55% increase in sales and a 32% increase in median price since 2000.
While the total number of homes on the market is consistently higher than recent years, average prices are holding steady and even growing in some areas of the state. A total of 61,678 homes were sold in South Carolina last year, while the median price remained at $159,000. According to Nick Kremydas, SCR's CEO, “Although sales are off from the record peak in 2005, there was a historically high level of home sales taking place this year – one of the best ever. We are looking forward to a great 2008.“
“Look at the population growth, historically low interest rates, and our state’s healthy job market—you can see why we’re optimistic about the housing market in South Carolina,” said Kremydas. South Carolina is the tenth-fastest growing state in the country. The state has grown by 10% (400,000 new residents) over the last seven years for a total estimated population of 4.4 million, according to latest census estimates.

MLS Stats 2007 vs 2006

http://www.screaltors.com/mls/SC_MLS_2007_YearEnd(2).pdf

MLS Stats 1998-2007 Chart
http://www.screaltors.com/mls/SC_MLS_Totals_chart(2).pdf

Compared to sales in 2006, total sales in 2007 declined 10.6 percent to 61,585. The Rock Hill area (+8%) continues to lead the state in growth, while the Myrtle Beach area (-29.2%) and Beaufort (-22.7%) reported the largest sales declines. Despite the overall decline, only one of the 15 reporting regions (Southern Midlands) showed significant price declines this quarter, according to “We are already seeing increased activity on the coast, that’s a good sign for the next quarter,“ said Kremydas. Pending sales activity shows that home sales will to hold fairly steady over the next few months. Total sales are expected to rise later in the year and continue to improve in 2009, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors®.
“The market’s biggest challenge? - A lack of consumer confidence. Too many consumers are focused on the national numbers,” Kremydas said. “The challenge is that national numbers are pretty much irrelevant. Talking about national averages is about as effective as having a national weather forecast. Like the weather, all real estate markets are local. You can count on your REALTOR® to give you the facts regarding your local market.”

Charlie B. Fraser is President and Broker in Charge of Charles Fraser Realty Group specializing in the Hilton Head market. If you are interested in the "Island Lifestyle" contact his team at:

http://fraserrealty.net/ or charlie@fraserrealty.net

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Is it Time?



We all want to buy low and sell high. That is the optium in any kind of of investment strategy. In the real estate market, as like in other markets, it is difficult to predict when the market has peaked and when it has hit bottom. The traditional investment strategy for real estate is long term and hence will weather the highs and lows over time. Buyer's in the real estate market between 2005 and 2006 forgot the fundamentals of real estate investing. We were caught up in the price going up over night and kept on buying over inflating the market. As we all should know what goes up comes down.

Real Estate is a long term investment of five years or more. If you had bought a property on Hilton Head in 2004 and still had it today you would still have a good investment. By 2009 this piece of property should end up being a great investment. Why? You purchased your real estate with the guiding principals of owning the property for a minimum of five years.

So where are we today? We are caught up in the pademonia of the press that the "sky is falling". When in fact the real estate market on Hilton Head is doing fine. We have taken our hit in a price correction and with interest rates at near record lows it is time to start buying. We can never predict that one moment in time that the market has changed, we can only look in the past and see when it changed. Because real estate is a long term investment it does not hurt to be early in a changing market. Time will weather the short term change in market.