The Spring Summer 2012 Charleston Coast Real Estate Buyer’s Guide

The newest edition of the Charleston Coast Real Estate Buyer’s Guide has arrived!  We publish this magazine twice a year and distribute them from our four local offices.  You can check out the “digital flip” version of the magazine HERE

Charleston County Market Report Through April 2012

Market Reports

Residential Real Estate Sales Volume Continues Growth; Prices Follow Suit
Inventory Continues Decline; Nears 6k Mark

CHARLESTON, SC—(May 11, 2012) According to preliminary data released today by the Charleston Trident Association of REALTORS® (CTAR), 831 homes sold at a median price of $183,000 in April. There were 24,213 property showings recorded by the MLS in April.

Last April, preliminary figures showed 776 homes sold at a median price of $175,000, following an almost equal number of property tours.

“The number of showings our REALTORS® are completing in 2012 is almost equal to the number of showings we saw in 2009, when the market was significantly depressed, but inventory was much higher. This tells us that the prospective buyers in today’s market aren’t just looking. They are serious buyers, making offers and closing transactions” said 2012 CTAR President, Herb Koger.

Heading into what is typically the busiest season of the year, year to date figures reflect a market that is in the midst of sustainable, healthy growth. Inventory is 29% lower than it was at this time last year; sales volume is almost 6% ahead and prices have increased a healthy 4% from this time last year.

“There has been a substantial decrease of inventory in the last 12 months and a far more serious mindset by those looking to purchase a home—there are fewer homes to choose from, prices are increasing and interest rates remain at unprecedentedly low levels. People have a renewed confidence in our market and buyers are moving much faster than they did in the past few years” said Koger.

There were 6,361 homes listed as actively for sale in the CTMLS as of May 10, 2012. On May 10, 2011, there were 8,899 homes for sale.

Charleston County
476 homes sold at a median price of $228,125 in Charleston County in April. This represents an increase in sales and pricing from April 2011’s 451 sales at a median price of $208,000.

Click here for the full page Charleston County report

Full article here on CharlestonRealtors.com

S.C. home sales continue to climb

In a report published earlier today in the Charleston Regional Business Journal, 1st Quarter in the Charleston Trident Market resulted in 898 sales, up 4.4%, with median price at $182,240, up 2.5%.  To see a list of 1st Quarter sales and prices for the entire state by region/market, read the entire article HERE.

Charleston Coast Market

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Charleston Coast Market in a Nutshell

Well, what can I tell you? It is busy here in Charleston. As a matter of fact, it is the busiest I have been in five years. Inventory is slightly down (a good thing), interest rates are down (another good thing) and prices are down – not so good.

Maybe everyone is heeding Warren Buffet’s advice (I am paraphrasing here): “Buy property now.” I’d sure like to think so.

In comparing most of the Charleston market in the first quarter of 2011 with the first quarter of 2012, nearly across the board sales are up. Only Seabrook Island and Wild Dunes are slightly off, but there are sales in the hopper on both islands which will even those numbers out in the second quarter. See the comparison chart below.

Let me know if I can help you add to the positive numbers!
- Betty Poore
You Connection to the Charleston Coast

Linda Elksnin hangs her whimsical paintings at the Studio

The Studio was buzzing this morning as local artist Linda Elksnin installed her show. You can check out her colorful paintings on display show at The Real Estate Studio, 214 King Street through May 8, 2012. Linda will host a “Meet the Artist” event on Easter Sunday, April 8 from 11am-4pm during Second Sunday on King Street.  With the street closed to vehicular traffic from Calhoun to Queen, it’s sure to be a beautiful time. Drop in and meet Linda!

Linda’s interest in art began early. Her grandmother, an artist/gallery owner in Alexandria (VA), encouraged her passion for drawing and painting. Her parents signed her up for classes at the Philadelphia College of Art when she was in third grade. Linda earned a BFA in illustration from Syracuse University. However, her career path took a different turn when she taught art to children with disabilities. After earning master’s and doctoral degrees in special education from the University of Virginia, Elksnin came to The Citadel in 1984 to coordinate the special education graduate program. She retired as Professor Emerita in 2006 and returned to painting full time. Elksnin’s work has been shown throughout the southeast in galleries and at juried outdoor art shows.Linda’s inspiration comes from eclectic sources, including textiles, self-taught and outsider artists, and mainstream artists such as Mark Rothko and Romare Bearden. The mixed-media works in the exhibit were created using watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil and include paintings from several of her series. The common thread of all of her work is color and graphically pleasing design.

Linda’s interest in art began early. Her grandmother, an artist/gallery owner in Alexandria (VA), encouraged her passion for drawing and painting. Her parents signed her up for classes at the Philadelphia College of Art when she was in third grade. Linda earned a BFA in illustration from Syracuse University. However, her career path took a different turn when she taught art to children with disabilities. After earning master’s and doctoral degrees in special education from the University of Virginia, Elksnin came to The Citadel in 1984 to coordinate the special education graduate program. She retired as Professor Emerita in 2006 and returned to painting full time. Elksnin’s work has been shown throughout the southeast in galleries and at juried outdoor art shows.

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2012 Folly Beach Sea & Sand Festival

The Annual Folly Beach Sea & Sand Festival is a fun way to kick off Summer… even though Spring just technically started.  Tell that to the 80 degree weather we’ve been having- feels like the beginning of Summer to me!  This Saturday and Sunday, the very heart of Folly Beach, Center Street, will become a block party for a good cause. A little less than 100 vendors will provide goods and artwork for viewing and purchase.

This family friendly, (and dog friendly!) 2 day festival and fundraiser will benefit the Folly Beach Parks and Recreation program. This year will begin at 9am with the inaugural Coffin Island Scavenger Hunt – registration is required ahead of the event. Our own Vannessa Carter was helping to organize the Hunt, and she says it’s going to be great fun. The regular Sea & Sand Festival activities begin at 10:30am and include climbing walls, pony rides, arts and crafts, musical entertainment, and of course, food!   On Saturday, there will also be live music on from noon – 5pm.  This is going to be a really FUN time.

On Sunday, there’s a surf competition at 8am and  the 2nd Annual Sand Sculpting Contest, organized by Dunes agent and Folly expert Vince Perna, will be from 11-2. Sunday concludes with Festival headliners the East Coast Party Band concert playing from 3-7 at Tides. Admission is free for all! Hope to see you there.

Historic Plantations In South Carolina

 

Did you know that South Carolina still has plantations? A plantation by definition is an estate on which crops such as coffee, sugar, and tobacco are cultivated by resident labor, or usually a large farm in tropical or semitropical climates. Plantations were developed and established long before the Civil War and are still around.

In today’s society plantations exist for many different purposes. Most are simply residential, used as family houses, vacation homes, or converted into inns for guests and visitors to reside. A few are open to the public as historic sites, used for tours, event use such as weddings or formal affairs, and in a few rare cases, some have petting zoos.

A handful of these plantations, however, are still functional today producing fruits and vegetables instead of the cotton or tobacco that helped shape their purpose hundreds of years ago. Original slave houses still stand on several plantations and offer a vast amount of history to those willing to learn.

Harriet McLeod, of the Chicago Tribune explains that finding buyers for these “antebellum plantations that one grew the indigo, rice and cotton that made South Carolina rich can prove quite the challenge.” In fact, ten plantations are up for sale in South Carolina according to www.plantationservicesinc.com. Heavy with history from colonial times through the Civil War,these Southern plantations were almost impossible to maintain without slave labor and most have fallen to decay.

As in the past, South Carolina looks to the North for help. ChipHall, real estate broker, claims, “An infusion of ‘Yankee money’ after the Civil War saved and preserved many historic Southern plantation houses and land.” His assumptions about Northern help are correct as most modern buyers do indeed come from the Eastern and Northern areas of the country.

Max “Macky” Hill III, whose family has owned Middleburg Plantation (built in 1697) for more than 30 years supposes that recent plantation buyers are looking for an investment, an area to hunt, or just a family vacation home. “Some are looking for the rarity of a surviving period house as if it were agigantic piece of antique furniture,” he said.

Plantations do cost at least $500,000 a year to maintain and those that are open to the public must charge an entrance fee to help maintain the property. It is normally a reasonable price to pay and well worth the history and experience. Four of the largest functioning plantations open to the public are Boone Hall, Magnolia, Drayton Hall and Middleton Place.

Boone Hall Plantation, located in Charleston County, is open daily for tours, special events, school field trips, and U-Pick season, where visitors can pick their own fruits and vegetables that the plantation produces. Their tour times and prices can be viewed at their website, and tickets purchased ahead of timeonline if desired.

Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, founded in 1676, is the oldest public tourist site in the Lowcountry and the oldest public gardens in America. This diverse property houses varieties of gardens, the plantation home, a nature train, boat tours, standing slave houses, a petting zoo and hold several weddings and events a season. Admission and tour costs can be found on their website with all children 6 and under free.

Drayton Hall Plantation is a historic home located in Charleston Countypreserved since its building in 1738 by the Drayton family. It is the oldest surviving example of Georgian Palladian architecture in the United States and remains close to its original condition today. Tours include the main house with readings from diary entries and photos of the family, an African American history with a walk through the cemetery on the grounds, and toursof the land and creeks that run through it. Prices are available on the website.

Middleton Place is 65 acres of gardens with something in bloom all year round, a house museum that was built in 1755 that still holds the family’s possessions, and plantation stableyards where costumed interpreters demonstrate life on a Lowcountry rice plantation. Special events are held regularly in the mansionand around the gardens, self-guided tours are available along with general tours and a restaurant is located on the grounds and open to all. Guests are also welcome to stay at the inn in one of the 55 spacious rooms. Tickets and admission information are available at the plantation’s website.

Whether you come to South Carolina to buy, stay in, or simply visit a historic plantation, it will be an experience you will never forget!

Middleton Place Gardens

Entrance to home on plantation

Plantation home

Drayton Hall Mansion

Gardens at Middleton Place

- Amanda Graham