Updates, Tips, Listings, Guides to Charleston
And a little more…
Purchasing a home is one of the most significant investments you will make in your lifetime, and getting a mortgage is the most common way people finance their homes. However, for first-time home buyers, the mortgage process can be overwhelming. From understanding the terms to navigating the various options available…
Read MoreThe last three years have been a whirlwind with the housing market going from scorching hot to icy cold quicker than Harry and Megan could cash in on a deal w/ Netflix! So what does the housing market have in store for the year to come?!?
Read MoreWhat a year. By all accounts one of the most interesting on record in terms of the overall housing market.
While much has been made in the news, here’s what the numbers have told us…
Read MoreOk so heading into the spring housing market, what areAfter almost two years of double-digit increases, many experts thought home price appreciation would decelerate or happen at a slower pace in the last quarter of 2021.
However…
Read MoreOk so heading into the spring housing market, what areAfter almost two years of double-digit increases, many experts thought home price appreciation would decelerate or happen at a slower pace in the last quarter of 2021.
However…
Read MoreOk so heading into the spring housing market, what are we going to see?!
3 Things we feel more than likely play out in amidst the backdrop of increased Interest Rates, Inflation, Ukrainian Conflict and whatever your neighbors on Nextdoor are ranting about this week…
Read MoreThe “warning signs” look all too familiar.
Escalating home prices have both buyers & sellers worried that the market is just “too good to be true,” and agents across the U.S. are getting bombarded with the ultimate question: “Are we in a housing bubble?”
Read MoreThis takes us back to 2018 to a property in Sullivans Island South Carolina we sold after it had been listed with 3 different agencies over the course of 2 years and could not achieve the desired price or make it to the closing table. I love this video because so much of what we did with this home set the foundation for other listings moving forward. We story told through video, design and a marketing package 99% simply can not produce. Even after several years in the rear view, so much of what I was preaching in 2018 has only been refined and what we deliver on today!
Read MoreIn 2022 I’m willing to bet most of you spend an absurd amount of time asking yourself ‘are tax deductions when selling a home?’
Of course you don’t. After the past 2 years, you’re just trying to figure out which way is up, how to not get canceled or hoping the kids don’t call you a Boomer for not having a Tik Tok account. Frankly most of us don’t think of this until the time comes or the tax man comes calling. Fortunately for you, and if you’re reading this, there are a few things you can (and should do) to keep your hard earned equity in your pocket after the yard sign says ‘SOLD’.
Read MoreA lot of people choose the Real Estate path, specifically brokerage. Below are a handful of reasons I choose this career and potentially why it may interest you:
1 - H E L P I N G P E O P L E
Fire up the fondue because here’s a little cheese. This is truly the part that my most altruistic, hippie side of me has enjoyed. Whether it’s helping someone buy their first place (usually their first big purchase and forced savings/tax shelter) or getting to work w/ investors on a 1031 exchange, the most rewarding part is teaching/sharing some industry insight that helps set themselves up for a solid buy/sell. I’ve been lucky to sell a bunch of places and getting a genuine THANK YOU from a client is as rewarding on a $200k buy as the $2 million sale.
Read MoreWe do this every year, but instead of getting too wordy, here’s a quick list of lessons we take from one of the most… unique… years I can remember. So without further ado, here’s the 20 lessons in Real Estate I take from 2020.
Read MoreDuring crisis we all want to know what the future holds. Some for security, some for peace of mind and others for opportunity. Regardless of why you’re seeking answers I often find it useful to gather as much information as possible from trusted news sources, opinions from some of you and telling data sets before drawing any conclusions. Perhaps it’s the little bit of retention I have left from Econ classes long since forgotten over a decade ago, but this data gathering has always served well.
Read MoreBoy have i railed against open houses for a while. You know what the funny thing is? I still occasionally do them.
What I said to the camera is 100% what I think and feel, but remember that old adage the customer is always right?… They aren’t but their perception is.
Let me explain…
Read MoreSpring is here and a lot of you are getting ready to sell your homes. Many of my listing appointments I end up imparting a lot of the same advice to folks looking to sell there homes. Here’s a few handy tips on how to make your home more appealing to buyers for under $100.
1.) Double Check the Curb Appeal
Whether you like it or not perspective home buyers will be flipping through 100s of properties and occasionally driving by them so the curb appeal is going to be the first thing they notice and draws them in. So make sure it’s photo ready!
Spruce up exterior, power wash, fresh pine straw, potted plants, clean/paint front door and swap any dated hardware
2.) Light Bulb Check
Whether seem like minutia, but if you want your home to tell perspective agents and their buyers you didn’t take good care of the home, give them subconscious hints like dirty lighting fixtures or burnt out bulbs. Simple fix that will go a long way in to alleviating any surface level concerns and negate the question, ‘if they didn’t tend to the small things we can see, what may be hiding under the surface?’
3.) Paint and Spot Touch Up
Want to know every Agent’s trick to fixing something that looks old and tired? Spot touch ups and neutral paint go a long way into breathing some life into a pre-owned home regardless of how hard a certain space has been used.
4.) Deep Deep Clean and Declutter
There’s no quicker way to turn off a perspective buyer entering home than a dirty space, w/ odd smells or cluttered rooms. Buyers will decide within 15 seconds of seeing a home whether they’d buy it or not. So don’t give them a reason not to in the last 5 when they open the door. Clean the baseboards, appliances, swap the air filters and deep clean the bathrooms/kitchens where. Also if you’re living in the home, that’s fine, but you’re going to be moving so it’s time to put a lot of the excess in boxes so buyers can focus on the space and not your family vacation to Wyoming 2014.
5.) Organize the Garage
You know why i love selling homes for engineers and mechanics? Most of the time their garages are the most organized space in the house. Most use it as the space where they store excess and becomes cluttered quickly. We’re going to keep playing on the buyer subconscious here, in that a clean and tidy garage says ‘I’ve kept up the space where most keep the dirtiest/disorganized, so clearly I've kept the rest of the home in tip top shape’. Think about it, at this point the other homes prospective buyers have seen will be the place of dirty lawn mowers, boxes of Christmas decorations thrown haphazardly on a shelf, and tools thrown about. If this one space stands apart from the rest, it's yet another reason to choose your home over another.
These are some of the most common I find from home to home that will help set yours apart and cost you mostly time. There are (of course), many more things you can do to prepare your home for sale (and should), but these easy tips will set you apart from most and get your home sold just a bit quicker.
This quick update will help answer questions like: whats the median sales price currently in Mount Pleasant? Has the West Ashley pricing peaked? What are the available number of homes in James Island? And much, much more...
If you own a home in the Charleston area or considering buying one, this data will help you with decision making.
Read MoreA big thank you for the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Charleston Trident Association of Realtors for putting forth the data to give all of us a comprehensive overview of this past year in the market. The data below and referenced in the the podcast reflects the entire year of 2017.
Sales: Pending sales increased 5.4 percent, landing at 18,726 to close out the year. Closed sales were up 3.1 percent to finish 2017 at 18,381.
Listings: Year-over-year, the number of homes available for sale was lower by 14.0 percent. There were 4,673 active listings at the end of 2017. New listings increased by 4.5 percent to finish the year at 24,054. Home supply was once again lower than desired in 2017.
Showings: Demand was high throughout 2017, thus showings were up. Homes for sale received, on average, 3.2 percent more showings. There were 13 showings before pending, which was unchanged compared to 2016.
Distressed Properties: The foreclosure market has dwindled from its peak several years ago. In 2017, the percentage of closed sales that were either foreclosure or short sale decreased by 8.1 percent to end the year at 5.7 percent of the market.
New Construction: New home building has improved acrossthe country but is not yet at a level to help sustain a balanced market. Locally, new construction months of supply finished 2017 at 3.8 months. While previously owned homes have seen months of supply drop from 6.0 to 2.8 months over the last five years, new construction supply has seen less change from a 2014 peak of 5.6 months.
Prices: Home prices were up compared to last year. The overall median sales price increased 4.7 percent to $251,333 for the year. Prices are expected to rise at a slow rate in 2018. Single-Family home prices were up 5.9 percent compared to last year, and Townhouse/Condo home prices were up 4.5 percent.
Kyle Dicke, owner of Outline (a Charleston Based design studio, web and PR company) chose to call Charleston home over 6 years ago. With business booming, Kyle wanted to lay some serious roots to Charleston by purchasing a home in addition to some Investment property.
After initially helping Kyle purchase a cash flowing rental unit, we found him a new, turnkey home in James Island just a couple years later. The investment property quickly became a 'cash cow', generating positive returns immediately. The new build we dealt with several challenges of building a new home; unreliable sub-contractors, elusive completion date and quality control. However, navigated through to end up with two great deals for Kyle's portfolio.
I'm honored to call a two-time client, but more so a friend! Thanks buddy!
What's the Charleston Real Estate Market doing? Have prices increased again? Is the inventory of homes going to increase? Find out that and more...
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843.730.4454 | gentry@843living.com
741 Meeting Street, Suite 101, Charleston SC 29403
Gentry Todd Radwanski is an Agent of Corcoran HM Properties
