Executive Home on quiet cul-de-sac overlooking the Daniel Island Golf Course.  More details and photos will be ready this week.

New Listing in Stono Ferry on quiet cul-de-sac overlooking LogBridge Creek.

4 Bedrooms and 3 Baths, 3100 sf. List Price $650,000.

Click here for more information on 4703 Tattersall Lane.

Charleston SC Property Owners Be Aware:

Property owners across the country are being foreclosed on by their neighborhood Home Owner Association for not paying their HOA dues.  I checked around and found this happening in Charleston SC!  The Charleston County Master Auction List shows an HOA foreclosing on a property in Charleston for back HOA dues.
Just picture yourself struggling to keep the mortgage payment current due to the economy and you skip the HOA dues.  Next thing you know, the HOA is foreclosing on your home.  I believe this is wrong,  too much power has been given to the HOA’s.  The HOA should be able to file a lien but they should not have the power to foreclose on the property.  What do you think?

The Canadian real estate has not seen the housing bubble nor the foreclosure mess that the USA has seen.   Maybe we can learn from our Canadian friends.  I like the idea that banks hold on to their loans!

Charleston real estate sales are up 22% in February 2010 compared to February 2010 according to the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors. There were 509 sales in February.  The median price stayed the same.

The real winner was Mt Pleasant inside Hwy 41 with 66 sales compared to 34 last year (94% increase).   The lifestyle and community is drawing buyers to Mt Pleasant.

Here is the breakdown by county:

• Charleston County:  60% increase in Feb Sales,  288 sales
• Berkeley County:  16% increase in Feb Sales,  108 sales
• Dorechester County:  5% increase in Feb Sales, 91 sales

Let me know if you need more information in any of the other areas in the Charleston area. – Jim Near

There has been a 10% decline in housing inventory.

Existing Home Sales

Existing home sales slowed in January. According to Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, this is mainly due to the lack of urgency with the extension and expansion of the first-time buyer tax credit in November. January sales of 5.05 million remain 12 percent above the 4.53 million-unit level last year.

Median Home Price

Existing-home price was $164,700 in January, 3.4 percent below December and unchanged from January 2009. Distressed homes, which accounted for 38 percent of sales last month, continue to skew prices downward as they typically are discounted in comparison with traditional homes.

Inventory

The supply of homes continued to shrink, falling 0.5 percent to 3.27 million, representing a 7.8-month supply at the current sales pace. Compared to a year ago, there are now 10 percent fewer homes on the market. This is the lowest level of competing homes on the market since March 2006.  (Source: Keller Williams Realty)

I was speaking with one of our Charleston Short Sale specialist’s; he was very frustrated with how Indy Banc handled a recent short sale.  The agent had been working the short sale for over 4 months with a “clean” cash offer of $130K and Indy Banc decided to foreclose on the property.  At the foreclosure, the bank got only $60K for the property.   It seems to me, that the bank lost $70K on the deal, the seller lost by having a larger judgment, and the 1^st buyer lost by not getting the property even though he was willing to pay $130K.   What would prompt Indy Banc to foreclose when they have a cash offer for twice as much?  What do you think? This transaction does not make sense and is part of the crazy world of Charleston real estate.

Yesterday the Charleston Real Estate agents in the Bold class completed their 5th successful week in Bold.  For the week, they listed 42 more properties and placed 36 properties under contract. Bold is helping both the new and experienced agents.  One new agent placed one home under contract and listed 2 homes in one week.  One the experienced agents listed 5 homes in just one week.  Bold is having a positive impact on our Charleston real estate agent’s careers.

The Charleston Trident Association of Realtors (CTAR) has completed a nice video summarizing the Charleston Real Estate market in 2009.  It explains the gains that have been made in the local real estate market and areas that we still to improve on to have a strong real estate market. What do you think of it?

How would you like to improve your Internet lead generation by 60% in just 12 weeks?

Real Estate Agents who have completed this course have improved their Internet lead generation by over 60%!

Each week, we will address a different topic providing in-depth discussion and solutions to improve online lead generation.

Next series of Charleston Real Estate Technology Classes are starting February 2nd.

Time: 11am to Noon every Tuesday.

Location:

Classroom: Training Room 8992 University Blvd, Suite 300 North Charleston, SC 29406  Click here for Directions

Online Classroom: Fuze Meeting login For audio dial 1-775-269-3893 and select Room# 262501

These classes are open to all real estate agents.

Class Schedule

Feb 2nd: The Master Plan – Starting with your Website

Feb 9th: SEO with Google

Feb 16th: SEO with Bing and Yahoo

Feb 23rd: No Classes — At Keller Williams Realty Family Reunion

Mar 2nd: Optimizing your Listing Portals (Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow)

Mar 9th: Blogging for Leads

Mar 16th: Blogging using Video and Photographs

Mar 23rd: Developing Clients using Facebook

Mar 30th: Developing Professional Relationships and Clients using Linked-in

Apr 6th:  Broadcasting to Sphere of Influence using Twitter

Apr 13th: Tools to Improve your website (Walk Score, Dwellicous,Technorati, Real Estate Wiki etc)