Jim Near

Tropical Storm Hanna Brushes Past Charleston SC

Jim Near — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:41:00 GMT

Hanna brushed past Charleston SC late Friday night bringing much needed rain. Most of the heavy winds were East of the storm sparring Charleston significant wind damage. Yeh!!!!

There was some flooding in the low-lying areas that are prone to flooding. I am thankful that the tropical storm did not come a shore at Charleston SC.

Real estate activity last week slowed down as people prepared for Hanna. Next week, we should see more activity as we play catch up with the buyers who are looking for homes sale in Charleston SC and Stono Ferry.

Our prayers are with the people who are in the path of Hurricane Ike. Ike is a very destructive storm. Let’s pray that the wind shear intensifies and the Cuban mountains disrupt the wind flow causing Ike to weaken.

What Home Price Ranges Are Selling in Charleston SC

Jim Near — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:36:00 GMT

Recently, one of my clients asked what are the price ranges that homes are selling in Charleston, Stono Ferry and Hollywood, South Carolina area. The results of the research were interesting. In the above graph, out of all West Ashley Charleston homes that sold since Jan 2008, 94% (653 of 695) were priced below $400,000. The buyers are definitely picking up lower priced homes and passing by the more expensive homes. Homes for sale in Stono Ferry are significantly impacted these numbers since the majority of the homes for sale in Stono Ferry are priced above $500,000.

J.D. Power and Associates Reports: Among Home Buyers, Keller Williams Ranks Highest in Customer Satisfaction

Jim Near — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:04:00 GMT

Despite Popularity of Online Home Buying and Selling Tools,

Real Estate Agents are Key to Customer Satisfaction

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.: 23 July 2008 — Keller Williams ranks highest among real estate companies in satisfying home buyers, while Prudential ranks highest in satisfying home sellers, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Home Buyer/Seller StudySM released today.

JP Power Video on Real Estate Companies

The inaugural study measures customer satisfaction of home buyers and sellers with the largest national real estate firms. Overall satisfaction is determined by examining three factors for the home-buying experience: agent (65%); office (21%); and services (13%). Four factors are examined for the home-selling experience: agent (43%); marketing (38%); office (12%); and services (7%).

In the home-buyer segment, Keller Williams achieves a score of 831 on a 1,000-point scale, and receives highest ratings from customers in all three factors. Following in the rankings are Prudential (820) and Coldwell Banker (816). Prudential performs well in the agent and office factors, while Coldwell Banker performs particularly well in the services particularly well in the services.

Among home sellers, Prudential ranks highest with a score of 793 and performs particularly well in the marketing and office factors. Coldwell Banker and RE/MAX follow Prudential in the segment rankings, in a tie. Coldwell Banker performs particularly well in the marketing factor, while RE/MAX performs particularly well in the agent factor.

"When buying a home, customers particularly appreciate agent professionalism, responsiveness to calls and e-mails and the agent’s skill in locating and showing properties in the appropriate price range—all areas in which Keller Williams excels," said Jim Howland, senior director of the real estate and construction practice at J.D. Power and Associates. "When it comes to selling a home, marketing of the home is particularly critical, although professionalism and responsiveness of the agent are still important. Both Prudential and Coldwell Banker demonstrate considerable strengths in the area of marketing."

The study finds that despite the popularity of home-buying and -selling resources on the Internet, real estate agents are key to customer satisfaction with real estate companies. A large proportion of both home buyers and sellers rely on the Internet to facilitate the buying or selling process, with 68 percent of buyers saying that they used Internet tools to help them in the purchase process and 61 percent of sellers reporting that they used a Web site listing to market their home. In addition, among home sellers, online methods are the most important aspect of marketing. However, the agent factor carries the greatest importance among the factors that comprise overall satisfaction among both home buyers and sellers.

"Although the Internet provides home buyers and sellers with the ability to perform some essential tasks—such as listing a home for sale or researching a neighborhood in which to purchase a home—it still does not replace the importance of a good real estate agent," said Howland. "Particularly in an uncertain real estate market, professional advice from agents can be especially valuable to buyers and sellers. The knowledge and expertise provided by experienced agents is an important benefit of using a full-service real estate company."

The study also finds that the average time a home for sale remained on the market was slightly more than six months, although home sellers represented by the top-ranking real estate companies report that their homes were on the market for slightly less time—approximately five and a half months, on average.

"Satisfaction averages 794 among those customers whose homes sold within 5 months or less, but declines considerably to an average of 730 among customers whose homes took 7 months or longer to sell," said Howland. "A real estate company that provides agents who are skilled at determining the appropriate market value and listing price for homes, and who can effectively market properties, can help minimize the time that clients’ homes remain on the market—which can not only save the seller money, but also diminish inconvenience and anxiety."

Additional noteworthy study findings include the following:

* Nearly one-half of respondents (46%) report using recommendations from family or friends to find their real estate agent. Approximately 28 percent used the Internet, while 23 percent used an agent they had used previously and 11 percent used a printed real estate guide.

* On average, home buyers were shown approximately 13 homes before making a purchase.

* Home sellers report that, on average, their home was shown approximately 11 times and approximately five open houses were conducted before the sale occurred.

The 2008 Home Buyer/Seller Study includes 3,670 evaluations from 3,205 respondents who bought or sold a home between April 2007 and June 2008.

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2 Story For Sale in Plantation at Stono Ferry

Jim Near — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:01:00 GMT

"The Craft House"

• 3,171 sq. ft., 3 bath, 4 bdrm 2 story - MLS® $575,000 USD

Plantation at Stono Ferry, Hollywood - The "Craft House": A very private setting near the end of Timber Race Course with the back yard overlooking the pastures of Stono Ferry Stables. The home was designed for entertaining and hobby rooms for both the husband and wife. A large “man cave” workshop located off the garage with plenty of workspace and storage. Off the screened porch are two more workrooms (hobby rooms) one with a full sink for craftwork. All are heated and cooled. (These rooms could be used for another bedroom or den.) The main house is one story living with master suite located on the far side of the house providing privacy from the two guest bedrooms. The master suite opens up to the screen porch; master bath has whirlpool tub, shower and large walk-in closet. The second floor has a mother-in-law suite with plenty of storage, a full bath and small office. This could be used as bedroom or rec room. Home has a formal dining area with built-in cherry cabinets, large great room with fireplace for entertaining, open kitchen with eat-in area. Off the kitchen is a laundry room with room for an extra freezer. Outside the house, an ancient grand oak greets your guests in the front yard. This home has many more details that you would like! Square footage based on blueprints and includes the hobby rooms. Visit WWW.StonoFerryProperties.com for more information or for Stono Ferry Homes For Sale.

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Darkness to Light Training Charleston and Mt Pleasant SC

Jim Near — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:50:00 GMT

Will You Attend a Stewards of Children™ Training? Darkness to Light™ is an International, non-profit based in Charleston, SC whose mission is to reduce the incidence of child sexual abuse by shifting the responsibility from children to adults. Their award-winning program, Stewards of Children™, is a 2.5 hour training that teaches adults how to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. To bring Stewards of Children to the Tri-County area, Darkness to Light is hosting its 3rd annual Prevent-a-thon 2008 so that trainings can be provided to thousands of local parents, youth-serving organizations, faith centers, schools, law enforcement and military personnel. Held in August in conjunction with “Back to School”, Prevent-a-thon™ provides daily Stewards of Children™ child sexual abuse prevention workshops. The goal is to provide our community with the skills necessary to better protect children against child sexual abuse. The more than 50 scheduled trainings are sponsored in partnership with local businesses, so they can be offered to the public at no charge. For a listing of local trainings check our website http://www.preventathon.org and click on the calendar of events links. We will officially launch Prevent-a-thon 2008 on Thursday, August 7, at 8:00 PM, through a partnership with ABC 4/WCIV who will air our award winning documentary Childhood Stories during a Town Hall meeting being hosted by Community and State leaders at the Mount Pleasant Municipal Center. This is a great opportunity for people to learn why all adults need to get trained to prevent child sexual abuse and I hope you will join us. 1 in 5 children will be sexually abused before they are 18 and it’s usually by someone they know and someone who the parents trust. This is a problem of epidemic proportions and it’s happening right here in your community as you read this. It can only go away by making people aware of just how prevalent it is and by teaching people how to prevent it from happening in the first place. Here are the ways you can help: Email this to anyone your children come in contact with - they should be trained - your daycare, teachers, sports teams, friends, etc Request that they, their staff, and their families attend one of the free local trainings this month Email people you know and ask them to watch the documentary this Thursday evening, Aug 7 at 8:00 on ABC 4/WCIV Publicize the training calendar in your neighborhood newsletters, church newsletters, web pages, Facebook! Put together an audience of people and we’ll hold a free training just for you sometime after August! Our goal during Prevent-a-thon is simply to train as many adults as possible so that we can work together to better protect the children in our community. Our children need our help! Will you learn to prevent child sexual abuse?

Charleston Gets an Apple Store!!

Jim Near — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:16:00 GMT

The Charleston is Apple Store is opening on Jul 26th, 2008. The new store is located at 301 King St, Charleston SC. For Apple fans we can get our apple fix locally in downtown Charleston. They are giving away t-shirts for the 1000 visitors. The Apple Store phone number is (843) 727-0400. See you at the Apple Store!

2008 Stono Ferry Land Sales Forecast

Jim Near — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:11:00 GMT

Stono Ferry Land Sales History

Over the last 10 years, the numbers lots sold per year has dropped as more homes have been built.
Based on Charleston Tax Records there are only 91 vacant lots out approximately 307 total.
After taking out the spike in lands sales of 2004 and 2005, we could expect on average approximately twenty lots to be sold per year.
In 2007, there were only 6 lot sales.
Stono Ferry lot prices held up better than the greater Charleston area lot prices. The average lot price in the Charleston area dropped 10% from 2006 to 2007, while average Stono Ferry lot price only dropped 5%*

Forecast

In 2008, there should be 8 to 10 lots sales barring a natural disaster or another major economic surprise. For current listings of homes, townhomes and land for sale in Stono Ferry go to www.stonoferryproperties.com.

* Data based on CTAR MLS data. Data is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Stono Ferry Residential Home Forecast for 2008

Jim Near — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:43:00 GMT

Stono Ferry Homes Sale Forecast

History

Over the past 10 years Stono Ferry averaged approximately 12 home sales per year.
In the seller's market of 2005 the sales jumped to 28 home sales.
In 2007 the number Stono Ferry home sales dropped to 7.

Current

As of March 2008, the MLS data shows there have been no homes sold or placed under contract in Stono Ferry. Based on a normal history we should have 3 homes under contract or sold by now.
We are seeing increased showings and contracts being written in West Ashley and Mount Pleasant.
Subdivisions in the suburbs tend to lag 3-6 months behind the subdivisions in town when there is shift in the market.
Based on this, we should begin seeing more homes under contract in the Summer and Fall months.

Forecast

If there are no more major economic or natural disasters in 2008, we can expect 7 to 10 homes sell in Stono Ferry in 2008.
Right now, there are 28 homes in Stono Ferry on the market so it will take a while to work through the current residential inventory.
For current listing of homes, land and townhomes for sale in Stono Ferry go to www.stonoferryproperties.com.

Positive Trend in Charleston Real Estate Inventory

Jim Near — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:11:00 GMT

Interesting Trend in Charleston Homes For Sale

Over the past 6 months another positive trend has occurred in the Charleston real estate market. The number of homes listed for sale has dropped 21% in the Mount Pleasant area and 19% in the West Ashley area. With little new construction coming on to the local real estate market, the inventory has quietly been dropping.

Sales for February have not been released but we have seen a marked increase in the number of homes going under contract in February. Stono Ferry homes sales tend follow the West Ashley homes sales, so we should begin to see more real estate sales activity in Stono Ferry.

Jan 2008 Charleston SC Real Estate Showings

Jim Near — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:20:00 GMT

A forward looking indicator of real estate activity is the number of showings appointments that a home or area gets. If you see showing appointments going up, then the we should see more homes going under contract in the next 30-60 days. This graph shows the showing appointments for West of the Ashley in Charleston SC has picked up significantly in the last 30 days. This is a positive trend for the real estate market in the Charleston area.

Stono Ferry 10 Year Sales Volume

Jim Near — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:08:00 GMT

In the next few post I will be examining the 10-year sales history for Stono Ferry homes, land and Ironwood townhomes. If we look the historical trends, we can get a better understanding of what future Stono Ferry home sales, Stono Ferry land sales, and Ironwood townhome sales. No one can predict with the future but the historical trends can be a good indicator for the 2008 Stono Ferry sales.

For current listing of homes, land and townhomes for sale in Stono Ferry go to www.stonoferryproperties.com.

2 Story For Sale in Archfield Plantation

Jim Near — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 06:00:00 GMT

Low Country Charm

• 6,150 sq. ft., 5 bath, 5 bdrm 2 story - MLS® $1,749,000 - Deepwater Estate

Archfield Plantation, Meggett - Escape to Southern lowcountry living and charm at its best! Your boat is just steps from your porch for a day of deep sea fishing. Spend the afternoon fishing in Oyster Creek for Redfish and bass. Entertain, relax, and enjoy the sunsets from your grand estate overlooking the marshes of the South Carolina lowcountry.
Custom builder home with great views overlooking the water for the person looking for a private getaway. Grand entrance to this 12 room custom home begins with an elegant Mahogany door and foyer extending into formal living and dining area. Open floor plan with open kitchen that flows into the great room with all specials including subzero refrigerator, island prep area, kitchen counter bar seating area and separate breakfast area. Perfect for entertaining and relaxed living. Wired for surround sound and 2 room home theater. Kitchen, great room and living room all have views of the water. First floor master suite with large walk-in closets overlooks the water. Private bath includes double shower, with rain forest head, steamer, Whirlpool bath, double marble sinks and tile floors. Second floor has 4 bedrooms and a large game room overlooking the water. At the end of the second floor there is a separate living area with a separate stairway, a bedroom, den and a spacious exercise room. There is plenty of storage in the 3+ garage, with extras including a 250KV back up generator, propane, tank security, stocked private pond, and safety of living in a gated community. Banking, grocery, hardware, and gas are just 2 minutes away. Call for your special showing today.

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