Who wants to be on House Hunters????

Hello! I hope you had a very happy holiday weekend. If you are like me, you are trying to concentrate on work today, instead of that full feeling left over from the weekend’s festivities! I have been presented with a rare and exciting opportunity. I have been contacted by the show House Hunters, which is aired on the cable network Home and Garden Television (HGTV) and produced by Pie Town Productions. They want to come to Charleston to film an episode of their show, and they have asked me to participate. Unfortunately, the timing has been off to film my existing clients. If you or anyone that you know is thinking about buying in the very near future, please let me know. I assure you that your privacy will be protected during the actual transaction. I would love to talk to you about the details if you have any questions. I wanted to check with my friends first because you are the reason that I have been successful in the past.

National real estate prices, up down and stable

National real estate prices, up down and stable I've indicated that the Charleston South Carolina real estate market prices have been very stable for the past year despite declining unit sales and high inventory levels. The media has been nothing short of ferocious with negative headlines which serve to frighten buyers and generally will only serve to weaken prices further. But real estate is local, it always has been and always will be local. When real estate prices were soaring into the stratosphere in local markets in Florida or California, prices in many areas of the country were chugging along at a normal or somewhat better rate of appreciation. Some markets were appreciating a little better than average and some were probably even declining during the biggest short term housing boom of our lifetime. Take a look at this map courtesy of Loan Performance HPI, a division of First American Core Logic Inc. The graphics represent the percentage change in home prices in the past 12 months and you can easily see that California prices have declined by over 10% while Florida, Arizona, Nevada, previous housing boom states along with Louisiana (likely still impacted by Katrina) have declined between 5% and 10%. Many areas of the rust belt including Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania are experiencing difficulties. As to states with increasing prices, the South is well represented as expected with North Carolina and Alabama showing the largest price increases while prices in the balance of the South including South Carolina are at least stable to slightly higher. If you want to drill down into some really interesting statistics on home price increases and declines, click here and then look for this almost at the bottom of the page, instant downloads of excel spreadsheets are free if you provide your name and email address. LoanPerformance HPI Data LibrariesLibraries of current and historical HPI data—with analyses—are available free by clicking a link below and providing your name and email address: Monthly LoanPerformance HPI Notifications Historical LoanPerformance HPI Data Reports What you'll find is 24 months of pricing history for the 30 largest metropolitan areas and all 50 states. When you go back in time, you'll be amazed at the now apparently unsustainable price increases for real estate in various parts of the country. But real estate is still local. Take South Carolina. Charleston real estate is different than Hilton Head or Columbia or Greenville or rural parts of the state. The best analogy I can offer is the stock market. When the Dow or Nasdaq goes up or down, every stock does not perform the same. Here is an example. My favorite online sight for financial news is MarketWatch and they are celebrating their 10th Anniversary. (btw, Congratulations!) MarketWatch has a special report in honor of the anniversary and one item is the list of the 10 best performing stocks in the past 10 years. Chico's FAS, a ladies apparel chain is first with a 10 year gain of 3790% followed by Apple at 3504%. It's noteworthy that Steven Jobs returned to Apple exactly 10 years ago and transformed the once floundering company he originally founded. Those stock gains are pretty impressive so how did Microsoft and Cisco do in the last decade. Well, not too bad, on a stock split adjusted basis, Microsoft shares are up 125.7% from 16.25 to 36.69 and Cisco shares are up 266.5% from 9.04 to 33.13. While 125% and 266% are impressive, they don't match Chico's or Apple's price increases. All stocks and all real estate markets don't move up or down in lock step with each other.

33 Brockman #B

THIS IS A NEWLY RENOVATED TOWNHOME IN MOVE IN CONDITION. GRANITE COUNTERROPS, TILE IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM AND BATHROOMS, FRESH PAINT, FRENCH DOORS OUT TO YOU NEW DECK, BRAND NEW CARPET,STAINLESS STEEL APPLIANCES, AND A NEW EXTERIOR. YOU CAN FISH AND CRAB FROM THE DOCK. PLENTY OF PARKING FOR ROOMATES OR ENTERTAINING. 10 MINUTES TO FOLLY BEACH OR DOWNTOWN. BUYER TO VERIFY SCHOOLS AND SQUAREFOOTAGE.

1134 Village Creek Lane #3

PRICED TO SELL. CARPET AND FRESH PAINT COMPLETED AUGUST 23RD VERY NICE 2 BEDROOM, 2 BATH UPSTAIRS CONDO LOCATED IN THE HEART OF MOUNT PLEASANT, CLOSE TO THE BEACHES AND DOWNTOWN CHARLESTON - OPEN PLAN - SCREEN PORCH OVERLOOKS WOODS(VERY PRIVATE)- FIREPLACE - SMOOTH CIELINGS - CROWN MOLDING - UPDATED KITCHEN - WOOD FLOORING IN FOYER AND KITCHEN - TILE IN BOTH FULL BATHROOMS - CIELING FANS IN BEDROOMS AND LIVING ROOM - MOVE IN CONDITION - VILLAGE CREEK BACKS UP TO SHEM CREEK AND MARSH - THE AMENITIES INCLUDE SWIMMING POOL, TENNIS COURT AND CRAB DOCK - REGIME FEES COVER EXTERIOR BUILDING AND GROUNDS MAINTENANCE, FIRE, FLOOD, AND EARTHQUAKE INSURANCE, TERMITE BOND, PEST CONTROL, POOL AND TENNIS COURT UP KEEP.

Market Update from your HMC Team

Rates are holding steady for a 30 Year Fixed. The flight to quality trade continues as investors remain weary about the conditions of the economy as further write-downs are taken in the financial sectors. The spike in oil prices and uncertainty in the housing market has reduced consumer confidence. The University of Michigan confidence reflected this as it showed a preliminary November read of 75.0 versus expectations of 80.0. Chairman Bernanke’s comments last week were interpreted as dovish with an emphasis in risks to near-term growth, while still reiterating the risk to inflation that have been elevated by higher energy costs. This week we receive NAR’s Pending Home Sales and economic Optimism tomorrow. PPI and Retail Sales are released on Wednesday. CPI is released on Thursday as well as Empire Manufacturing and the Philadelphia Fed survey. We wrap up the week on Friday with Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization. Best Regards, Your In-House Lending Team Leah Odom Joel Greer Margaret Blalock843-813-0123 Cell 843 327-1575 Cell 843 437-0271 Cell843-795-3671 Office 843 795-3671 Office 843 580-0505 Office888-391-0739 Fax 888 248-3486 Fax 800 504-1884 Fax http://www.blogger.com/ http://www.blogger.com/ http://www.blogger.com/www.leahodom.com www.joelgreerloans.com www.homeloanswithmargaret.com

Please come and meet us and ask us questions about Charleston real estate!!

"Two Locals for Life" It only makes sense: Buy lowcountry property from two lowcountry experts! Sally and J. were both raised in the Lowcountry, where we spent our days playing on the beach and crabbing in the creeks. When we are not selling real estate, we still enjoy these same simple pleasures that the Lowcountry provides. We will pass on our love and knowledge of Charleston to our Children, Jack and Lisse, and we do the same for our clients who are moving into the area. As for the locals that we work with, we enjoy sharing our mutual interest for all that Charleston has to offer. With a combined ten years experience, we are both committed to a life long career in real estate. We are full time, full service professionals in the business of selling homes. When we work for you, we will make it a positive experience for you by answering your questions, listening to your concerns, taking care of the details of the sale, and most importantly, fulfilling all of our responsibilities to you. We are continuously enhancing our knowledge about the real estate market through education, each client interaction, and through our own life experiences. Our job now is to represent you in the sale or purchase of your home, but our ultimate payday comes when you call us again in the future, or refer us to others that we may serve. Our job does not end at closing table because we are "Two Locals For Life".