Terry Edwards

The USDA rural home loan program is back!

A USDA Guaranteed Loan is a Government insured 100% purchase loan. These loans are offered in the rural areas of Richland County and include portions of Hopkins and Irmo.

Under the terms of the program, an individual or family may borrow up to 100% of the appraised value of the home.

Many of these USDA loans are available with no money down and no mortgage insurance is required, so you keep your payments low. A 620 minimum credit score is required for one of these USDA mortgages.

I recently helped a buyer purchase this nice home in Irmo with a USDA home loan

If you have already found the home you want to buy let me check the address for you to verify the availability of the USDA funding. If you are hunting for a rural home for sale in the Hopkins or Irmo area contact me to see the homes currently listed for sale with the local MLS.

Terry Edwards tedwards@sc.rr.com

803 920 5327

New & Existing Home Sales

USDA Rural Home Loans Available for Richland County SC

Columbia SC

I waited a couple of months for the grand opening hoopla to subside and chose a random Sunday afternoon to visit the new Mast General Store to see how business was going. Mast moved into the historic Lourie’s Building at 1601 Main Street in late May. Located at the corner of Main and Taylor Streets in downtown Columbia the building has housed retail operations since 1884. Columbia is the ninth location for Mast.

The store sells traditional mercantile goods ranging from penny candy and bird houses to cast iron skillets and rocking chairs, along with clothing on the main floor. Footwear and trail and travel gear are located downstairs. Mast is also making their stock specific to Columbia with a good assortment of USC Gamecock merchandise.

The store really had a good many shoppers present while I was there and this block of Downtown Columbia did not resemble the ghost town of recent years.

Barrels of candy......who doesn't like that?

Columbia City Council is using a $2 million federal loan to help the store. The Recovery Zone Facility Bonds -- the first issued in South Carolina--are low-interest bonds that come through the South Carolina Jobs Economic Development Authority, utilizing facility bond allocations that the City of Columbia and Richland County received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

This marker is located at the corner of Main and Taylor Streets. Columbia is full of Revolutionary War history.

New banner on Main Street celebrating the USC Gamecocks

Mast weekly ad link http://www.mastgeneralstore.com/Communities/mast/index.cfm/this-weeks-ad/

Lourie's link http://columbiaclosings.com/wordpress/?p=88&cpage=1#comment-464946

Columbia SC Real Estate & Business Report

Columbia SC The latest quarterly South Carolina employment data is a mixture of good news/bad news. Unfortunately over 71,000 employees were laid off by businesses that could not afford to keep them. Another 14,000 people lost their jobs due to businesses shutting down completely. These figures do not take into account the number of out of work independent contractors who are issued a 1099 rather than a W-2.

On the positive side a number of brand new businesses in the state have opened and hired 15,800 employees. The economic recovery is working for some businesses because existing companies added over 75,000 workers to their payrolls in the quarter.

The difference is roughly 6,000 employees on the plus side. Not enough to celebrate with a street party but a step in the right direction for our local economy.

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Columbia SC Real Estate & Business Report

Famously Hot Columbia SC Breaks 90 Degrees Every Day in June

The high temperature in Columbia was 90 degrees or above every day in June, 2011. The city has never before recorded a June without at least one day where the high stayed in the 80s. Our Famously Hot moniker held true. The last day of spring and the first day of summer hit 101.

Not a single daily high was broken. The closest came on June 20, when we reached 101 degrees. See this impressive calendar from the weather service:

http://www.accuweather.com/us/sc/columbia/29201/forecast-month.asp?mnyr=6-01-2011

Columbia SC Real estate developer Bob Hughes has received final approval to purchase the 165 acre State Mental Hospital complex in downtown Columbia. This is one of the largest land sales to ever occur inside the city limits.

The State Budget and Control Board approved the $15 Million sale this week. Plans are to sell the property in small parcels to independent developers. A 2005 design for the property consists of close to one million feet of retail and office space and more than 1,200 homes to be built.

165 Acre Complex Sold in Downtown Columbia SC

Columbia SC Real Estate & Business Report