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The truth about the Charleston Real Estate Market.

The truth about the Charleston Real Estate Market

We have had several calls into our office with Real Estate transaction hopefuls (buyers and sellers) questioning the slow Real Estate market. Thinking it impossible to sell with all the homes on the market and the worst time ever to buy a home with all of the adjustable rate mortgages out there, it is certainly a logical question. For our January 2008 blog, I felt it a good idea to accurately describe the current Real Estate market we are facing including certain threats and other opportunities. The most frequent question we are always presented with “When will the market hit bottom?” I don’t have a crystal ball to give a full proof answer, but we can look at certain key factors that will point us to our answer. We know that more homes are on the market than ever in Charleston but just how many more are really on the market compared to 1 year ago? What about all the negative national media hype about the suffering Real Estate market? Is Charleston doing better or worse off than the Real Estate market nationally? Have prices gone down and if so how much or what can I expect to get for my home presently? The simplest way I have found to determine this information is to have a look at current #’s.

As of January 2, 2008 there are 9700 homes currently for sale in the Charleston MLS (Realtor database of all homes for sale in Charleston by all companies). There are 1688 homes labeled as “under contract” (some know this as contingent or pending) which means that 1688 homes were desirable enough that a buyer is willing to write a contract to purchase on them. Additionally, there will be between 700-800 sales logged in the Month of December when all the final #’s have been received. Traditionally December is the slowest month of the year (as with this year) and there were still well over 700 buyers moving to or within Charleston that were willing to entertain the idea of a family move during the holiday season. (March through August being the best months with 1200-1300 average monthly sales) Overall last year, there were right in the neighborhood of 13,000 total sales (just over 1000 sales per month). Most simply, we have 9700 homes for sale and 13,000 sold in 2007 meaning if no more homes came on the market after today it would take around 9 months for all homes in the Charleston area to sell.

Sellers-If you own Real Estate in the North Area (Summerville, Ladson, Hanahan, North Charleston, Goose Creek, Moncks Corner) you fair better because the average home prices are much more affordable (around $197k as opposed to $305K) therefore allowing for a larger buyer pool.The North Area experienced around 6500 home sales in 2007 and currently has around 3200 homes on the market, meaning less than 6 months on average for a North area home to sell. It is much more likely to sell a home in the North area. The focus of our business and 80% of marketing dollars are spent in the North Area. If you are selling a home, how do you ensure that yours will be exposed to one of the 1000 buyers that are moving here each month several of which transact and buy a house? How do you get the buyer secured without giving away the house? In 2007, JeffCookRealEstate’s average days on market was 84.5 days and the homes sold for 99.07% of asking price, where the industry average was 97 days on the market at 96.51% of asking price. Translated, of the 80 families that we were able to help last year, the seller’s sold faster than average and kept an average of 2.5% ($5,000 dollars on avg. sales price of $200k) more money in their pocket when it was all finished. If you are thinking of selling, visit http://www.charlestonhomeevaluator.com/ (or call me direct) to determine exactly how much and how quickly your home would sell for in today’s changing Real Estate market using our innovative marketing solutions. As always it’s free and without obligation. Buyers-Today is labeled as one the best buyer market’s that Charleston has ever experienced. Charleston economy is booming unlike ever before. Google has announced plans to locate some of their supercomputers in a multi-million dollar plant in Berkeley county just outside of Goose Creek. Vought Corporation has just invested millions in its aircraft sector around the Charleston airport. These large corporations have invested a lot of time and energy in finding the best cities that will produce the largest and most stable growth in the years to come. Charleston has been rated the 12th best metro area for creating and sustaining jobs and 9th best place to relocate from another city. Whether the native’s appreciate it or not Charleston is at the forefront of moving from a small city to a larger more diverse city. Growth is imminent in this coastal area due to lower taxes and lower housing prices compared to other coastal areas. No wonder more people are moving here each and every month. The demand for more housing will continue to increase prices. Some ask “What about planning to buy in the next few months when the market finally hit’s bottom?” When the market does hit bottom and all of the would-be “deal searchers” decide to buy at that time, it would increase competition for you and cause prices to rise because of the higher demand. With interest rates bottoming out around 6%, I am proposing to go ahead and buy now at the price that they will all be competing for in the future! There is no rule that says we can not offer a seller what we feel the “bottomed out” price would be. Moreover builders that have overbuilt are practically giving away brand new houses and giving deep incentives for you to buy one. As a service for our Marketwatch Newsletter subscriber’s, my team and I have compiled a list of all of the homes in the Charleston area in many different price ranges and areas that are currently the best deals. These homes have been priced anywhere from $10K-30K below market value. We have included foreclosures, fixer uppers, sellers in trouble, divorce sales, builders overstock, company owned properties, vacant houses, estate sales, and relocation sales, many with financing already arranged. If you would be interested in receiving a free list of homes in your price range and area, visit: http://www.charlestondistresslist.com/ or just call me direct (reference “VIP buyer program” to the receptionist).Please don’t hesitate with any other questions or comments. Phone: 843.225.2002 Jeff Cook Real Estate Advisor Phone: 843.225.2002 JeffCookRealEstate.com /An AgentOwned Real Estate Co.

Buy a Home with NO Money Down!

Buy a home with NO $ down!
Buy one of our listings and if you are not satisfied in 18 months– we’ll buy it back!
Call for details at (843) 225-2002!
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Good Credit? Good Luck!

Lowcountry home buyers struggle to find financing during market crisis
SUMMERVILLE — Susan Brooks has found the house of her dreams. The perfect place to watch her 14-year-old daughter grow and fly the nest.
As a single mother of three, two of whom already are grown, Brooks, 47, has worked at Summerville Medical Center for 17 years and works a second job part-time in the evenings at a nearby Wal-Mart.
She has a contract on a home in the Archdale area of North Charleston and has 20 percent to put down on a mortgage. Her Bacons Bridge Road mobile home is paid in full and a buyer wants to move in Sept. 10.
Her credit could be better, she said, but she's almost debt-free and has labored to improve her score.
But no one's giving her credit for the hard work.
"I have the money, but no one will finance me," Brooks said. "I really want this house."
Six months ago, mortgage companies would've fallen over themselves to provide financing to borrowers like Brooks. Not anymore.
What started as a meltdown in the subprime market has spread to nearly all mortgages. Real estate closings are getting canceled as lenders around the country go out of business, and mortgage brokers can't find enough lenders willing to loan buyers money.
Today, as the lending crisis claims some of the industry's biggest names, buyers like Brooks increasingly are left out in the cold.
Across the board, lenders stuck with piles of loans that investors wouldn't buy are jacking up rates and imposing stricter requirements on even the most creditworthy borrowers. For some, that means waiting an extra week or two for closing. For others, the wait can be a bit longer.
Last week, local mortgage broker Beth Goodman Davis, owner of Carolina Home Mortgage Group, met with a Columbia-area builder who has 30 buyers who can't find financing.
And Charleston-area real estate agent Louis Russo, who represents only buyers, said he knows of one local attorney, whom he declined to name, who recently had eight closings canceled in one day.
Buyers today must have solid credit or be prepared to lay out sizable down payments. They also must prove what they say they earn and show a track record for payment, or "they're not going to get the house," Goodman Davis said.
She had one buyer recently who was told, while sitting at the closing table, that the lender had gone under and there was no financing. The deal was off until a new lender could be found.
"Every day I wake up and I'm scared to death," she said.
Her brother, Harold Goodman, a North Charleston real estate attorney, said he has seen a dramatic slowdown in his business this year. While he has no doubt the market will recover, there's still much uncertainty to come.
"I probably should have gone on vacation last January and come back January next year," Goodman said. "To me, it's a recession in the real estate industry."

Meltdown
The credit tightening is viewed by some as a return to sanity after years of lending excesses.
The shift started in mid-2006, when rising defaults on mortgages to people with patchy credit history led lenders to raise standards for approving loans to subprime borrowers.
Subprime loans typically charge higher interest rates and usually are the only option for home buyers with blemished credit records.
But already saddled with loans ineligible for sale, the tightening came too late for Wall Street, and the subprime squeeze evolved into a broader credit crunch.
Soon, mortgages in a category known as "Alt-A," which target borrowers with higher credit scores than riskier subprime consumers but whose credit histories are not always verifiable, were caught in the mix.
Such borrowers typically don't qualify for "conforming" mortgages, the type that can be sold to government-sponsored mortgage investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Then the money tree stopped bearing fruit.
Earlier this month, Melville, N.Y.-based American Home Mortgage, the country's No. 10 mortgage lender, closed its doors and shed most of its 7,000-person work force. In the Charleston region, at least 20 brokers, as well as support staff, lost their jobs.
In mid-August, the nation's biggest lender, Countrywide Financial Corp., caused widespread panic by tapping an $11.5 billion line of credit. The announcement put investors in turmoil and prompted a stock market free fall.
And as recently as Monday, Capital One Financial announced that it will close its wholesale mortgage banking business and slash 1,900 jobs.
As the companies came crashing down, it brought to an abrupt end a decade of easy lending, when buyers were allowed to borrow way beyond their means, and in doing so helped the real estate boom fuel its own fire.
"I can't believe as lenders we did what we did," said Goodman Davis, who worked for Wells Fargo & Co's. subprime lending unit for six years. She left her job with the bank in June. The following month, the lending unit was shut down.
"We could do anything with anyone six months ago," she said.

Mortgage meltdown
-The mortgage crisis has claimed some of the industry's biggest names and left others teetering on the edge. An estimated 23,000 workers in the financial services industry nationwide have lost their jobs since the beginning of the month.
-American Home Mortgage: The country's No. 10 mortgage lender closed its doors and shed most of its 7,000-person work force. In the Charleston region, at least 20 brokers, as well as support staff, lost their jobs.
-Capital One Financial: Closed its wholesale mortgage banking business and slashed 1,900 jobs.
-Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc: The nation's fourth-largest investment bank shuttered its subprime mortgage business and eliminate 1,200 workers at 23 offices. HSBC Holdings PLC: Europe's biggest bank by market value is eliminating 600 U.S. mortgage jobs.
-Countrywide Financial Corp: The nation's largest mortgage lender tapped an $11.5 billion line of credit, a move that sent the financial markets into free-fall.
-Toll Brothers Inc.: Profits of the nation's largest builder of luxury homes plunged nearly 85 percent as the housing downturn and credit worries triggered cancellations.

Tightening belts
Those days are gone.
During recent weeks, Countrywide has cut back on no-money-down 100 percent mortgages, even to people with good credit. Banks are curbing Alt-A loans and loans to people who can't document income, so-called "stated-income" loans.
Kevin Brookes, a mortgage loan counselor with Wachovia in Charleston, said that for years, many lenders went purely off credit scores and ultimately lent borrowers more money than they could afford to pay back.
Then, as the real estate market began to cool, values started to fall and owners had trouble selling their property or refinancing their loans to escape the prospect of costly debt.
"There were so many companies out there that were doing the aggressive lending," Brookes said. "I am having to give some bad news to people."
Even the ever-optimistic Russo is telling his clients not to be surprised if their closings are delayed. The buyers are still out there, he said, but getting the keys to their new home might take a week or two longer than they thought.
"I tell people not to panic," Russo said. "Their mortgage person will find them someone else."
But with an estimated 23,000 workers in the financial services industry nationwide out of work since the beginning of the month, that task is getting harder every day.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

-This article is courtesy of Charleston.net. For more information on the Charleston, SC area housing market visit http://www.jeffcookrealestate.net!

Glut of homes hits 16-year high

Sales slip but supply of homes on the market jumps to 9.6 months, pushing prices down for 12th straight month.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Homeowners trying to sell last month faced the biggest glut of homes on the market in about 16 years, as declining sales and growing problems in the mortgage market helped push home prices down for the 12th straight month.
The National Association of Realtors said sales by homeowners slipped to an annual rate of 5.75 million last month, down 0.2 percent from the revised 5.76 million pace in June. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast the sales rate would fall to 5.7 million in the latest reading.

Not only did sales slip but the number of homes for sale jumped 5.1 percent, the group said, meaning there is now a 9.6-month supply of homes for sale, up from 9.1-months in the June reading. It was the biggest supply of homes by that measure since October 1991.

"Forget 'location, location, location.' The most important factor in today's real estate market is 'supply, supply, supply,'" said Mike Larson, a real estate analyst at with independent research firm Weiss Research.
"We are literally swimming in an ocean of homes for sale. In fact, at 4.59 million units, we have the most raw inventory for sale in history," he said. "Until we work through this extremely large inventory glut, we're not going to see any momentum in home prices."
Even the Realtors' own economist admitted that problems in the mortgage market will continue to take a toll on home sales.
"Home sales probably would be rising in the absence of the mortgage liquidity issues of the past two months," said Lawrence Yun, the trade group's senior economist.

"Some buyers with contracts have been scrambling when loan commitments did not materialize at the last moment, while other potential buyers are simply waiting for the mortgage market to stabilize."
August has seen problems in the mortgage market cut deeply into the availability of financing for many buyers, particularly those needing subprime mortgages due to credit rating issues or a jumbo mortgage of more than $417,000.
The existing home sale numbers track sales that closed in the month. Closings typically occur a month or two after buyers lock in financing.
"These are 'PC' figures -- pre-crunch," said Larson. "The mortgage credit crunch that began very late in July and picked up steam in August will likely put more downward pressure on home sales and prices this month and into the fall."

The report comes after Friday's government reading that showed new homes selling at a better-than-expected pace. But the reports showed more weakness in prices - which have become a major concern for the U.S. economy as a whole.
The median price of an existing home sold in the month fell 0.6 percent from a year earlier to $228,900. It marked the 12th straight month that prices have been down on that basis, after the June reading was revised lower as well. The July 2006 median price was a record high for that reading, which measures the point at which half the homes sold go for more and half go for less.
Experts have tied weak auto sales at least partly to concerns among consumers about the decline in equity in their homes. Some fear that weakness in home values and reduced access to home equity lines of credit could soon affect a broader range of retail sales.
In addition, the downturn in housing has also fed investor concern about mortgage-backed securities, which in turn has created a credit crunch in financial markets, and sent stocks into a tailspin, as a number of corporate deals have run into financing problems.

Not surprisingly, results at the nation's home builders have been among the hardest hit.
While luxury home builder Toll Brothers (Charts, Fortune 500) managed to report a narrow profit last week that topped forecasts of a loss, it still saw earnings fall 85 percent from year-earlier levels. And the six publicly traded builders who are larger than Toll have all reported losses recently.
Lennar (Charts, Fortune 500), the nation's No. 1 builder, and No. 5 KB Home (Charts, Fortune 500) both reported a loss in the latest quarter. No. 2 home builder D.R. Horton (Charts, Fortune 500) and No. 3 Centex (Charts, Fortune 500) both reported losses far bigger than Wall Street had expected, while No. 6 Pulte Homes (Charts, Fortune 500) and Hovnanian Enterprises (Charts, Fortune 500) have reported losses for the last two quarters and analysts project losses for at least the next year.

- This article is courtesy of CNN Money.
For more information on the Charleston, SC area housing market visit http://www.jeffcookrealestate.net!