Jenn Neumann Deer Surfside Beach Real Estate

Ok, I know I have been inactive for ...far too long! I love ActiveRain and logged in to write a proper blog post, but then something crazy happened and I have to let everyone know. It is snowing...in Surfside Beach, South Carolina! That just does not happen.

Well, actually it happened two weeks ago as well. But other than that, this is the beach! =)

I thought I would share some pictures. The snow we had in the middle of February this year was the best kind of snow. It was just enough to cover the grass and the beach, but did not stick to the roads or sidewalks so it wasn't treacherous. It was pretty and melted within 24 hours.

That's my kind of snow! No shovel required. I hope everyone around the country is having a great winter (but is gearing up for spring).

Just for giggles - this is my puppy (well, she's a little old lady but acts like a baby) getting ready for the snow. She was not a fan:

P.S. I do not dress her up often, but she shakes so hard it naers explosion when the temperature drops under 50.

I'm sitting in a technology class taught by Nick Kremydas, who is a wealth of knowledge. He has come to Myrtle Beach from Columbia today. So far, I have gained a lot of tips on how to better use Facebook and now he's getting into blogs. I have a lot of work to do on my ActiveRain blog to make it what I want it to be.

I will update later and get started on my 'better blogging' project. Also, I'll hopefully be sharing some tips and I am definitely open for any tips you are willing to share about what has worked for you and what has gone awry.

Have a happy Friday!

I read an article on my Yahoo! homepage today and it wasn't the greatest news but it's exactly what I have been seeing lately. Click here to see the article. I love to shop although I am very thrifty and I am pretty good about not impulsive shopping...although even I do hit the Coach outlet once in a blue moon...

The article talks about how people are still at the stores and still 'shopping' but somewhere between picking up the items in the cart and swiping the debit/credit cards, the items get left behind. This causes stores to need staff to do more work to keep the store tidy and organized while they are not making as much money for those non-sales. I work once a week for three hours a week at a store in Myrtle Beach. It's an upscale women's boutique, selling Brighton, Onex, Vera Bradley and other mid to higher end products. I know to some of you that isn't higher end, but Myrtle Beach is the capital of Wings and Eagles beach stores where you get three shirts for $10 and you can fill your car for $50. I have worked there for six summers at varying hours and since I became a Realtor I'm down to just 3 hours a week (gotta keep the discount and it's fun to work retail when you know it's only for a very limited time) so I have seen quite the spectrum of tourists and shoppers. This summer there is just as much traffic through the store as there has been in past years, and a lot of people are buying but they are buying $10 items, fighting me on sale prices, changing their minds at the register, asking for free items with purchases and other behavior I haven't seen in past years. So I am just as busy for my three hours of work ringing up customers but instead of Brighton purses ($200) and Onex shoes ($80), people are buying Vera Bradley lanyards ($10) and flip flops ($20). It's very interesting to watch how long people stay in the store to decide on what items they are going to purchase...and how much time a salesgirl will stay with one person picking out a collection of jewelry and then end up with a pair of earrings or nothing - saying they will come back another time and get it. So the owner still needs just as many people working because of the volume of shoppers but their sales are not comparable to years past.

People are still walking around with shopping bags, but the contents are much less expensive and the bags are much lighter than in the past. In a way it's good people are not overextending so much and spending more than they should, but they are still going through all the motions of shopping without the end positive result for the merchant.

This is my favorite quote from the article I linked: People "want to be in the act of shopping, but they don't want to be in the act of buying," said Joel Bines, a director at AlixPartners, a turnaround consultant.

I love to shop and am still stimulating the economy every chance I get but my shopping trips have lessened slightly from last summer...although that could be attributed for my love of online shopping as well. =) Happy Shopping!

We are still busy though selling houses (although much more lower priced homes), so people are tightening budgets but making big purchases! What are you seeing in your area in terms of spending habits?

My high school was ranked in "America's Top Public Schools" in a Newsweek annual study. The study covers the top 6% of U.S. High Schools. Our local paper says Socastee High School is ranked 1,096 out of the 1,500 which made the list. Not too shabby to be named in the top 5% of the high schools. Here is the Newsweek article.

As a certified teacher, I love to hear positive news about our area's schools. Although we can always use more funding and more teachers who love their profession, South Carolina often gets bad publicity on our schools. I had a wonderful high school experience and feel fortunate to have graduated from Socastee High School. It's not the prettiest school but it got the job done.

Another reason I love ActiveRain is for the wealth of information at my fingertips. This is a great and easy read not only helpful for me as a Realtor helping first time homebuyers but for the first-time homebuyers to have something to refer to during the process. It can be daunting and as much as I can tell them, this article is a valuable resource for homebuyers (not just first-time buyers) to keep on hand. It is not too wordy and just gives a great overview of what to expect and answers some questions which seem to have ever-changing answers in today's market.

So thank you Brandon Cornett and here is the link to his article: Top 5 Mortgage Questions Among First-Time Homebuyers.