How Many Homes For Sale are in Spartanburg County?

The amount of Spartanburg County homes for sale is at an all time high.  from June 2008 to June 2009 the amount of homes for sale in Spartanburg county increased 97%!!! from 1,877 to 3,590.  That increase was driven by a poor economy and easy credit standards allowing virtually anyone to buy a home. Read more..

How Many Times Does the Average Spartanburg Home Get Shown Per Month?

When a residential home seller has their home listed for sale on the market expectations for a sale are usually high at first and then wane with time.  Each passing day seems to dim the hope of a quick sale and creates doubt and frustration.  Thoughts such as:  Maybe we should paint the living area?  The front really needs to be pressure washed.  Should we reshingle the roof?  Honey, I told you we should have remodeled the bathroom!  and on and on the thoughts go.  Many times these thoughts are valid but often they are just over kill.

Irrespective of our hopes and doubts, what is the proper expectation a seller in Spartanburg county SC should have as to the number of physical showings per month.  We all know that zero is too low but how many is too high?  Read more..

Spartanburg County Home Showings for 2010

A precursor to Spartanburg home sales is the number of home showings in the Spartanburg market place.

This chart is a large sample of showings from an appointment setting service that schedules a significant amount of showings in the Spartanburg market.  Therefore, it can be considered an accurate sample size for the Spartanburg county home showing rate. Read more..

How Long Does it Take to Sell a Home In Boiling Springs?

This is the question everyone wants to know when selling a home.  “How long will it take to sell my home?”  Beware of the person who has the fast and easy answer for you.  Unless they are willing to buy it themselves the fact of the matter is that no one can really know for sure.  What separates a salesperson from a consultant is the use of market facts.

In 2008 homes that sold took an average of about 120 days to sell, or 4 months.  2008 was just the beginning of the credit squeeze put on by lenders and loans became more and more difficult to get as large investors began to realize that their mortgage backed securities were not what they were told they were.  Fast forward to 2010 and we have those same large mortgage investors running from mortgage loan investments.  Because things got so bad, the government stepped in to buy mortgage loans as credit became tighter and tighter.  As a result, Days on Market (DOM) for homes that sold increased from 120 days in 2008 to about 160 days today.  Experts predict that DOM will increase going forward as the government recently announced that they will no longer be buyers of mortgages in the secondary market.  Speculation is that interest rates will have to rise to entice large investors back into buying these investments.  Increased interest rates will make the monthly cost of homes more expensive forcing some home buyers into smaller homes thus shrinking the buyer pool for larger homes and increasing the DOM for those homes.

However, the Spartanburg Board of Realtors data above only includes the Days On Market for homes that sold.  What about the homes that did not sell? Read more..

National House Value Trends Continue to Support Home Ownership

I was just sent the below housing trend chart from Tambie Caggiano at Prime Lending and thought it under scored a very important principle that serves as a great reminder to us with all the main stream negative news regarding the housing market.  That principle is that owning your own home can be the best investment one can make to build wealth and financial security. Read more..

FREE Homebuyer’s Seminar in Boiling Springs

One of my preferred Lending Professionals is holding a home buying seminar right here in Boiling Springs at the library on Double Bridge Road.  The First Time Home Buyer and the Existing Home Buyer Tax Credits are set to expire on April 30, 2010.

The word on the street is that they will not be extended again this time.  Interest rates are set to start rising at the end of March about a half a point and about 1.5 points by the end of this year.  The current LOW interest rates and the unique tax credits available make NOW the best time to buy a personal residence since most people can ever remember.  The tax credit expiration rush is just beginning now and if it is anything like the buying rush we had in October of 2009 the best deals will sell the fastest.

The take away from all this is that if you know of anyone who is considering buying a home make sure they know the facts and trends.  My business is based on referrals from satisfied clients because I tell it the way it is and then do my best to for them.  Of course you only want to send your friends and family to people you can trust.  I work hard to be that person.

Here is Joyce Smith’s invitation for her Home Buying Seminar:

Have you always dreamed of owning your very own home, but you aren’t sure about your credit record?

No worries!  We are offering a FREE Homebuyer’s Seminar that is totally focused on finding hope and professional direction to be able to own your own home and experience the American Dream!

There will be TWO seminars available for you to attend!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 – 6 to 8 PM – Boiling Springs Library

871 Double Bridge Rd, Boiling Springs

OR

Thursday, April 1, 2010 – 6 to 8 PM – Spartanburg Library: Main Branch

151 South Church Street, Spartanburg

Seating is LIMITED so call Rob Turchetta at 864-583-1995 to reserve your seat!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Why Rent in Boiling Springs SC?

Have you ever wondered why apartment buildings charge so much more for rent then Single Family Homes (SFH) charge? It really does not make sense or cents! Apartment buildings have lower over head costs because they have more income producing units per square foot of land and building material. Put another way, apartments give you LESS for your Money then renting a SFH gives you.

A Boiling Springs SFH gives you more square footage of home and a yard for the dogs, kids, or garden to flourish in. It also does not compromise your lifestyle by infringing on the neighbors likes and dislikes. If you like you music loud, play it loud. If you want to learn the tuba, learn it. Might want to keep the windows up on that last one.

Here is a Boiling Springs home located behind the Wal-Mart available for sale for ONLY $79,900. Yes the fenced in back yard, carport, and nicely stained wooden deck come WITH the home. It is a 2 bedroom 1 bath perfect for someone burning their money on rent. And oh yes, it qualifies for the government home buyer tax credit of 10%. The government will not be paying 10% of your rent this month but it will pay 10% of your home purchase up to $8,000. With low utility bills and not a repair to be found this is a great home for someone looking to keep expenses very low.

Click here for detailed information about this Affordable Boilings Springs Area Home.

For a private showing of this home call Rob at 864-621-7900.  Estimated monthly payment should be around only $500 per month.  Your lender can give you a professional estimate.  Stop giving Your money away every month.  Build equity for yourself and your family by paying off your own home.  Go here to search for more Boiling Springs homes for sale under 100,000.

Local Real Estate Market Outlook for 2010

Ok, no crystal balls, no magic hats, and no talking to spirit beings here. Just market observations and educated guesses for the Spartanburg county real estate market for 2010. It seems everyone is wondering where the real estate market will go in 2010. I’ve read rosy reports from main stream news to pessimistic sell everything now and leave the county perspectives. While nobody knows for sure the direction, we can at least be clear about what forces are most influencing our local market and predict trends for the short term.

Driver #1, the Tax Credit
During much of 2009 home showings lagged 2008 for the first 3 quarters of the year. Then, boosted by the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit home showings spiked beyond 2008 making the total year showings measure about equal to each other. The original deadline for the tax credit was in November ’09 and then congress extended the credit until late April 2010. Make no mistake this is having a big impact on home sales. Additionally, congress extended the 10% tax credit to include home owners who lived in their home for 5 consecutive years over the last 8 years. I’ve talked to many buyers in this category as well.

Driver #2, Interest Rates

There has been much debate among experts as to the direction of interest rates.  While almost all agree they will go up in the long term the uncertainty lies in WHEN they will go up.  This “expert” predicts interest rates to go up in June 2010.  If we assume this is the case then the monthly cost to borrow money to buy a home will go up.  For example, a $150,000 home at 5.0% interest for 30 years in $805 a month.  The same home at 7% will cost $997.95 per month, a difference of almost $200/month.  (does not include tax 7 insurance) This will result in a few things: 1) force many buyers to purchase lower priced homes, Read more..

Finding and Buying Foreclosed and Distressed Real Estate

I’ve been asked a lot lately about buying Spartanburg foreclosures and Boiling Springs foreclosures. Was there an infomercial running on late night tv recently that I missed? I did hear one on the radio how you can get a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath house with over 2,500 square feet for only $3,500 US dollars! Wow what a deal. I’ll take a few of those thank you!

That last ad was in reference to local county tax auctions by the way. Anyway, the Boiling Springs and Spartanburg area has recently been listed as the #2 real estate market in the country. However, as stable as our housing market has been that is not to say there isn’t a deal to be had now and then. Below is a re-post of a foreclosure report I wrote about 2 years ago that is just as valid today as it was then.

One truth to real estate is that the best deals sell the fastest. What appears to be a great deal to you probably appears to be a great deal to somebody else as well. Will “somebody else” get to that deal before you do? Read more..

Keller Williams Realty named #1 Real Estate Franchise

This company really is great and the Spartanburg / Boiling Springs Keller Williams office is no exception.  Our God first culture and approach to business is the reason why we are also ranked #1 in buyer satisfaction.  If you are looking to buy or sell real estate you owe it to yourself to at least consider Keller Williams.

If you ever thought about becoming licensed and want to work with one of the best give me a call and I will be happy to talk to you.

Here is the press release.

Keller Williams Realty Ranked as Top Real Estate Franchise by Industry Leader and Entrepreneur Magazine

AUSTIN, TEXAS (December 21, 2009) — Keller Williams Realty joined the ranks of the top franchises in the world Read more..

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