Zillow Names Spartanburg SC #5 Best City for New Home Buyers

Real Estate values across the United States are down, down, down.  However, just like any market segment, some areas are performing better then others.  While everyone knows this is true for stocks it is every bit much better for real estate.

Focusing just on First Time Home buyers, a Zillow study ranked the top cities for new home buyers with Spartanburg SC ranking the #5 Best City for New Home Buyers!

Here are the criteria used and the data for Spartanburg, South Carolina. Read more..

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..

Home Buyer Tax Credit Extended to September 30, 2010

Home Buyer Tax Credit Extended for 2010

After a close brush with the deadline, Congress has passed an extension of the Home buyer Tax Credit closing deadline, the Home buyer Assistance and Improvement Act (H.R. 5623). The extension applies only to transactions that have ratified contracts in place as of April 30, 2010 that have not yet closed. The legislation is designed to create a seamless extension the new closing deadline for eligible transactions is now September 30, 2010.  There is will be no gap between June 30 and the date the President signs the bill into law.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) worked closely with Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle to enact this important legislation. Extending the Tax Credit Closing deadline will help provide additional stability to real estate markets across the nation.

Mortgage Rates Drop To Lowest Levels on Record!

Spartanburg Mortgage Rates at Historic Lows

With the government sponsored tax credits expiring on April 30th just about all real estate experts expected sales to drop off the proverbial cliff in the following months to come.  Those months to come were the traditional home buying and selling season too where we annually see the highest amount of sales per month.

Surprisingly, sales in Spartanburg and Boiling Springs areas of South Carolina have been strong.  In fact I have had all the business I could handle while getting the tax credit rush transactions closed.  This month in June we have put 4 more homes under contract.  Not bad considering the rush of buyers in March and April.

So, why is the real estate market staying so hot?  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..