About Florence County, SC

This home is being sold strictly as an investment property only.

Asking Price: $40,000
Owner Financing Available
Rental Income: $650 / month
Property Value:$58,000

- 3/1.5
- 1400 sq ft
- detached 2 car garage
- fenced in yard

http://www.ss-investments.net/properties/81029506.html

It is time for me to move onto another property, so I am looking to free some cash.

This a great investment property for the new and experienced Real Estate Investor.

The tenants have been living in the property for over a year now.

We are able to work with some creative financing options to help you purchase the property. If you are interested in purchasing a property that will cash flow from Day 1, contact us to structure a deal that works for you.

Aaron

www.ss-investments.net

Getting It Right the Second Time: To Remodel or Not to Remodel

By Amy McCalman

Sometimes the house that was once your dream home is challenged by the changing realities in your life. Then it's time to decide whether to change the house you're in, or just change houses. Your family may not be the same one that originally moved in – kids arrive, or people start to work more at home, and the house suddenly seems smaller or unsuited to new needs. Or maybe your new-home search has just been taking too long, and you've decided to try and make your current one "new" instead. This is a major undertaking that calls for serious consideration before moving forward. Are you so happy with your current neighborhood that you'd like to do as much as possible to avoid moving, or are you ready for a change of area? Can your family take the strain, and your business the disruption, of a project that will demand a significant shift of routine and even displacement of living arrangements? There are practical considerations to add to these emotional and financial ones. You'll want to find out if the changes you have in mind are compatible with local planning, zoning and building rules. And you'll want to consult with designers and architects as to the feasibility – and approximate cost – of those changes. A related and crucial consideration is the future value of your house for resale if you remodel but still later wish to move. This is important because increasing your home's resale value through renovation is not necessarily a given. The reason is not just that remodeling can compromise a home's aesthetics and efficiency – though this is a significant concern; rather than buying another home to suit new needs, remaking one forces you to work around existing systems (such as plumbing) and can lead to eccentric and unwieldy spaces. The consequences of the renovation working "too well" could be equally disadvantageous to you: a house that is much bigger than others near it, or otherwise uncommon in its neighborhood, can disrupt its location and be priced beyond what anyone looking in that area is willing to pay. To make sure all of your domestic dreams are good ones, do some planning and consider consulting a real estate professional (who can help with everything from architect referrals to advice on what renovations are right for your market).

Old vs. New

Of the many concerns to weigh when buying a new house, a major one is whether to buy a new one in name only: both state-of-the-art properties and distinguished older homes have their attractions - and possible drawbacks.

In making this decision, it's important to literally leave your preconceptions at the door of any home you're considering. Quality construction can appear in any era, and you just have to be knowledgeable about the strengths and problems to look for in each individual house.

Surely newer homes assure a certain measure of structural integrity, energy-efficient features, and safer electrical wiring and heating systems. They can have less wear and tear, more modern conveniences built in, an aesthetic more suited to today's tastes, and often better handicap accessibility.

On the other hand, older homes can have a proven history of safety and stability, styles appealing to those looking for more old-fashioned elegance and charm, and a track record of repairs that leaves no surprises.

There are some pros and cons in which old and new houses are evenly matched. Newer homes, as part of newer economic growth, can be found in more promising areas just setting out on a boom of development (and thus presenting substantial investment advantages), while older homes can be found in more established, comfortable, and picturesque locations which have their own premium value to many types of subsequent buyers. Older homes can come with the headaches of aging structures and systems, while newer ones can be hastily made, with their own set of consequences. Old homes can harbor the health concerns of obsolete materials (like lead paint and asbestos), while new homes can include ones more recently recognized (like arsenic in outdoor wood and formaldehyde in carpets).

But either can still be your dream home, and this overriding point is tied more to the intangible interests that lead you to shop for homes in the first place than it is to scientific specifics. For any house you'll want to get a professional inspection done, but in the end you have to follow your heart.

Old homes and new ones have upsides and downsides of equal weight, so tip the balance with your own preferences and abilities - personal taste, financial resources, handy-person skills, available time and long-term goals. Which is the winner of Old vs. New? If you decide carefully, either one can be the winning choice for you.

According to the 2009 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 90% of home buyers use the internet.

To clarify where this data is coming from, according to REALTOR.org, "the 2009 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers is the latest in a series of large national NAR surveys evaluating demographics, preferences, marketing and experiences of recent home buyers and sellers. Among national surveys, NAR's Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers is unprecedented in size and scope."

Therefore, if you're selling your home, you need to be working with an agent that is up to speed on the latest technology.

The real estate community is a close one. We all work together to sell each other's listings. So we get to know each other really well. I grew up in real estate and have been involved in this industry since 1984. As a result I continue to be amazed at the agents who are apparently unwilling to learn and do all they can.

If you're considering an agent, you should consider whether they're using the latest techology. Don't just let them tell you -- anyone will tell you that. Look at the camera they're using. Does it have a wide angle lens to capture the entire room when they take photos of your home to put on the internet? Look at their other listings, do they have 1 or 2 photos or do they have 60+ photos? Sellers might not realize, but some web sites won't even showcase listings without a minimum of 6 photos. If your agent is only doing the minimum, he or she isn't doing you any favors!

Is your agent comfortable with email and text and can they respond to inquiries quickly? Our office utilizes the Lead Router System. We have an elite team of agents trained to respond to internet leads. Even if your agent is out on another appointment and is unable to respond, internet leads are immediately routed to the next available trained agent. Most times, Lead Router agents are able to respond before the consumer has a chance to contact anyone else -- often while the prospect is still sitting at their keyboard.

If you're considering listing your home, be sure to ask the hard questions! Any agent can say they are tech-savvy, make them show you!

Playing It Safe: Security Measures for Homesellers

Amy McCalman, ERA LEATHERMAN

Today we're all more conscious of security, and while we can all get impatient at its inconveniences from time to time, we are often thankful for the greater worries it helps us avoid. Selling a home is one area in which security concerns are nothing new; opening your home to strangers is a natural part of the process - and so should be your own safety considerations. It's not about living in fear, but taking a few common-sense precautions so that you don't have to.

Whether or not you are using a Realtor®, you can make sure the sale stays an occasion for business and not an opportunity for crime. Remove any valuables or lock them away before an open house or other showing of your home. Never leave an answering-machine message telling when you aren't home, and never divulge sensitive personal details like your work hours - it might seem like a selling point to tell prospective buyers how quickly you can get to your job from this location, but it can also clue would-be burglars in on when to return.

Though the safeguards are simple, there are many of them to remember, and that is one area in which using a Realtor® can strongly help. The businesslike approach of a real estate agent - limiting showings to certain hours, obtaining background information on potential buyers, etc. - might be more acceptable to customers coming from a professional. And in this day and age, Realtors® themselves have to take precautions which make them all the more alert and sensitive to your own security.

Many ERA® sales professionals, for example, take care to show the home to only one group of families at a time. The set number accentuates the feeling of the Realtor® giving personal attention to your potential buyers, and also allows him or her to keep track of their whereabouts.

Some of these procedures can even help expedite your sale: A good agent will introduce him or herself to the neighborhood, let your neighbors know that you have a house for sale, and ask them to report any suspicious activity; this not only helps protect your property, but also helps spreads the word of its availability to more possible customers.

In addition, a common practice of full-service real estate companies is pre-approval through a program such as ERA Mortgage; such a process not only enables a background check on the prospective buyer, but also helps determine their seriousness as customers and saves you time.

It's always a relief to leave the complex real estate selling process to the experts, and now Realtors® are experts in safety measures that can also put your mind at rest. It may be the way you want to go for both state-of-the-art service and a "real" sense of security.