If You Don’t Buy a House Now, You’re Stupid or Broke

Ok, I didn’t come up with this title. It is from Mark Roth’s BusinessWeek article, and it is the title of an excellent piece he wrote about interest rates being at a historic low and what that means for home buyers.

For all you buyers waiting, waiting, waiting, he explains how you could be passing up the gift of a lifetime by not making your move now. I can help – contact me at Betty@BettyPoore.com.

December E-Newsletter

Well, here it is December 11th! Mark and I made it to sunny Sanibel in one piece and are enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. I understand from talking with family in Charleston that we got out just as a cold snap blew in to town. Compared to those temps this is a balmy paradise. We have osprey off the back deck, gators in the water, turtles on the bank and eagles in the pines – a cornucopia of animal life enjoying the temps as much as we are. Ok, ok, I know – quit rubbing it in.

This month’s E-Newsletter is just full of good reading. From the low interest rates on conforming loans, to record setting sales for 1st time home buyers to my favorite “Should I Take My Home Off the Market During the Holidays?” This last is a well written article for folks with listed properties and those considering listing.

And, get this, Forbes has listed Charleston as one of the  world’s Smartest Cities!. To read more about that, just click here or go to my Blog for that article and a host of other interesting tidbits.

Forbes Lists Charleston as One of The World’s Smartest Cities

Well, we all knew it and now the secret is out. Forbes has listed Charleston as one of the world’s smartest cities. To read all about it click here.

Are Doughnuts Good for You?

I was born and raised in New Orleans, a city famous for food. In the French Quarter at either Morning Call® or Café Du Monde you could enjoy a cup of café au lait along with freshly made beignets. Throughout the city and surrounding areas you could find local bakeries like Scharf’s, or Haydel’s that made fresh doughnuts. Then, of course, Dunkin’ Donuts® offers donut holes. Doughnuts, for all of my life were imitation beignets with a hole in the middle. They were great with or without coffee and those little donut holes from Dunkin’ Donuts® were fun to eat all by themselves!

Then I came to Mount Pleasant, SC  and donut holes had an additional definition that has nothing to do with food! That was back in 2002.

There is a little store on the corner of Ben Sawyer and Rifle Range. It is an eclectic place that offers cast concrete statures, produce and other items of interest. The little store stands out not because of the merchandise, but because of how it compares to the surrounding properties. It’s different.

I learned that the corner was a donut hole, meaning that it was not a part of the Town of Mt. Pleasant even though it was surrounded by Mt. Pleasant. Basically, the owner of that property had been able to avoid being part of Mt. Pleasant when the area was annexed sometime ago. It seems that some property owners could avoid being part of the town and the taxes that might be a cost of being in the town. On the surface, the property owner seems to save some tax money and is under the jurisdiction of the county instead of the town. But are these donut holes good for you?

The food doughnuts and doughnut holes are a real treat, occasionally! But since they are full of calories, mostly from fat, a steady diet of doughnuts is not good for you. What about these property donut holes, are they good for you, or me?

There are hundreds of these donut holes in Mt. Pleasant. Some are as small as a quarter-acre while others are much larger. Who responds to an emergency if it occurs in a donut hole? …Mt. Pleasant? …Charleston County? Since the property is not part of Mt. Pleasant and the owners are not paying Mt. Pleasant taxes, technically it should be Charleston County. But what if Mt. Pleasant Police, or Fire do not respond, is there a liability issue? And what if Mt. Pleasant does respond? What is the exposure to Mt. Pleasant and who pays for that response? Would Mt. Pleasant bill the property owner for services rendered?

The questions are not new. Brad Franko from Count On 2 News, did a story on 9/17/2009 that reminded us of the problem donut holes presented to fire departments responding to the Sofa Superstore fire in West Ashley. On 11/2/2009, ABC News 4’s Natalie Caula had a story about the issue in North Charleston and how it impacts property values. The Charleston Regional Business Journal Staff Writer Scott Miller wrote about the issue in the 2/4/2008 journal. None of them offer a real solution in site. I haven’t either.

What do you think? Are donut holes good for you- not the food variety, but the property type? Should individual property owners have the right to become donut holes?

http://www.thestate.com/154/story/998138.html?storylink=omni_popular

http://www.benhagood.com/inNews/inNews55_files/Annexation_laws_under_fire_for_’shoestring’_easements_CRBJ_2-4-08.pdf

http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/1109/674364.html

Mark R. Fuchs

MarkandPatriciaFuchs.com

mark@markandpatriciafuchs.com

New Homebuyer Tax Credit

Info for New Homebuyer Tax Credit

There is a great new article in my November E-Newlsetter regarding the New Homebuyer Tax Credit.
While it may not be right for you at this time, you might have friends and family to share it with. Click here to go to my website, then click on E-Newsletter at the top.

Charleston Continues to Rank High in Readers’ Polls

Charleston won the number 2 spot among US cities in Conde Nast Traveler’s 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards.  The rankings consider the best in travel, including cities, hotels and airlines. Charleston ranked first in friendliness.

Also, Travel + Leisure magazine readers ranked Charleston the top destination in the US for bed-and-breakfasts, the top spot to spend Thanksgiving and among the best places in several other categories.  This survey ranks cities on food, hotels, nightlife and residents.

Charleston took second place for romantic escape, for its antiques and vintage shops, its peace and quiet, and its notable neighborhoods.  Charleston placed third for relaxing retreats and most attractive people and fourth for historical sites.

And, I can add that Charleston, SC is a great place to live!

- Dave Landry

davelandry116@mindspring.com

Colonial Lake Fall Festival November 8 – Bring the Family for some Fun!

Everyone in Charleston, come on out Sunday, November 8th from 12-5 to enjoy our beautiful Colonial Lake Park and a fun family day of activities, games, music and getting to know your neighborhood residents and businesses.  The Real Estate Studio is hosting this event in honor of the Charleston Parks Conservancy and their Park Angels to support our local community.  Raffles will be held for some great items and proceeds will benefit the Conservancy.

Ashley Avenue will be closed to traffic from Broad St to Beaufain St so feel free to ride bikes and walk!

Honor Marks at The Real Estate Studio

One of my favorite things about working at The Real Estate Studio is that it really is a beautiful place to spend the day.  Besides the fact that it’s open and bright with clean, modern décor, the exposed brick walls offer the perfect backdrop for an ever-changing array of local art.  Every six weeks or so, we offer our downtown space to a different local artist or organization to exhibit new works, hang a retrospective, or organize a group showing. We don’t pretend to be a gallery.   We just love supporting the art community in Charleston.  This city is culturally alive, and that’s one of the things that makes it such an exciting place to live.

Next up at the Studio is painter Honor Marks, a Charleston native who paints luminous oils of indigenous wildlife and flowers. Honor says about her work, “I try to reveal the work of God that we see in the world around us. The unfurling of a leaf, the structure of a stem, the majesty of a single fading flower are all such amazing and complicated creations. As wild places disappear, we are increasingly surrounded by landscapes and places that are man-made. How will we retain a sense of wonder, awe, mystery, or humility when everything that was created by something greater than us is gone? We truly take for granted the enormity of the miracles that surround us. My work celebrates those miracles.”

We are terribly excited to show Honor’s work at the Studio.  Not only do her paintings radiate the pure essence of her natural subjects, but those subjects are specific to this region. This show will offer our guests a unique perspective on our local botanicals and wildlife, and it will also introduce them to a really talented local artist. Honor is featured in the Artist Profile this month in Charleston Magazine.

Stop by the Studio between November 1 and December 9, 2009 to check out this extraordinary work.  For an opportunity to meet the artist and enjoy some good company and some fine beverages, join us for the opening reception on November 5, 2009.

-Traci Magnus

Follypalooza!!

This Saturday, October 24 is the 2nd Annual Follypalooza from 12p-7p.  As you may have guessed, it is a music event that will feature many fantastic bands all throughout the day and into the evening.  A portion of Center Street will be blocked off for the event, which will feature Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, and lots of other bands. There will also be kids activities, crafts for sale, raffles, beer to drink, food to eat, and fun to be had by all.

The most rewarding part about this fun event is that half of the proceeds go to the Hollings Cancer Center and the other half goes directly to local Folly Beach cancer patients currently undergoing treatment.

Here on Folly, we love food, music, and fun… but mostly we love our tight-knit community of family and friends.  This is a wonderful place to visit and an even better place to live.  Check out the festivities this weekend and experience what makes Folly Beach so special.

-Susan St. Hilaire

Market Statistics…Downtown Charleston Inside the Crosstown

4 Trumbo Street, a Downtown Charleston Single, for only $550,000

So much has been written in the last week about the recent rise in home sales for the Charleston area.  The local news publications and stations all covered the 7% increase (compared to September 2008) with a cautiously optimistic outlook. The first sentence of the Post and Courier article declares “Charleston has finally hit a streak of strong home sales,” but the article goes on to clarify that the first-time home buyers tax credit, which will expire at the end of November, could have bolstered the sales. The Charleston Regional Business Journal agrees. But by all accounts, including the most recent posts on this blog, the news is promising and the current climate is still ripe for savvy buyers.

Downtown, at The Real Estate Studio, many of our walk-in guests are curious specifically about the Charleston peninsula inside the Crosstown.  We have a great customized software program in the Studio that allows our guests to immediately view all Charleston listings in seconds on our 50″ plasma monitors.  It makes searching the available properties inside the Crosstown (or in any specific area) a breeze.  If you’re not in the downtown area, simply visit our website to search.

Here are the most recent market statistics for downtown Charleston inside the Crosstown:

• There were 16 residential closings in Charleston inside the Crosstown in September, 2009 versus 9 in September a year ago.

• Through September, 2009 there have been 160 closings inside the Crosstown versus 233 last year.

• The price of the average residential sale through September was $834,722 versus $858,197 last year. That is a 2.8% decrease, the second time we have not seen an increase this year. These are macro numbers dependent on the products sold.

(stats courtesy of Dave Landry, davelandry116@mindspring.com)

Clearly this market is stronger than the US real estate market in general. This is a good time to buy real estate.  There is a good level of inventory, sellers are motivated, and the interest rates are still low.  If you’re in the Charleston area, stop by The Real Estate Studio, downtown at 214 King Street, to check out the best deals inside the Crosstown… or anywhere on the Charleston Coast.