Northern retirees looking for warmer weather and easy living are finding that other southern communities provide gated, carefree housing, cultural activities, and a lifestyle that rivals any beach, without the high prices, humidity, and tourism traffic.
Greenville, SC (PRWEB) October 10, 2008 --
Greenville, South Carolina is quickly becoming a bright spot on the map for many Americans looking to relocate for retirement or employment. Relocate-America.com's recent national survey named Greenville as the fourth best destination city in its top 100, and described it as, "Where the Old South meets the New South".
Greenville, South Carolina homes are a lower cost alternative to beachfront retirement, with all the benefits - including exciting riverfront attractions and scenic Greenville golf course homes. There are many reasons that visitors fall in love with the Upstate of South Carolina, but quality of life is probably the primary driving force.
I just got this in an email, and had to share. I had to LOL when I read it, so you can too...:-) We ought to think up one for "that's a Realtor"...haha.
1. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and say: "I am very rich.
"Marry me!" - "That's Direct Marketing..."
________________________________________
2. You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a
gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and
pointing at you says: "He's very rich.
"Marry him." -That's Advertising..."
________________________________________
3. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and get her telephone number. The next day, you
call and say: "Hi, I'm very rich.
"Marry me" - "That's Telemarketing..."
________________________________________
4. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. You get up
and straighten your tie, you walk up to her and pour
her a drink, you open the door (of the car)"Marry Me?" - "That's Public Relations..."
________________________________________
5. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. She walks
up to you and says:"You are very rich!
"Can you marry ! me?" - "That's Brand Recognition..."
________________________________________
6. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" She gives you
a nice hard slap on your face. - "That's Customer Feedback..."
________________________________________
7. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" And she
introduces you to her husband. - "That's demand and supply gap..."
________________________________________
8. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and before you say anything, another person come
and tell her: "I'm rich. Will you marry me?" and she
goes with him - "That's competition eating into your market share..."
________________________________________
9. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and before you say: "I'm rich, Marry me!" your
wife arrives. - "That's restriction for entering new markets..."
*******************************************************************************
Must include the link juice...
Kirsten Valle from the Charlotte Observer called my friend David O'Connell for some quotes the other day to pen an article about the risks and problems associated with preconstruction buying.
I think Charlotte came in late on this concept, long after Myrtle Beach real estate had fizzled out with it. We've had our share of nightmares here, what with the ill-fated Bahama Island Resort fiasco - for those not familiar - the developers allegedly have absconded with millions of dollars of loan monies and customer deposits, and the resort was never built. Anyway, for the most part, in South Carolina and I think most of Florida, the preconstruction condo market has slowed to a stop.
Kirsten's article begins telling a story of a NASCAR team manager named Michael Landis who invested over $30,000 in a preconstruction highrise in Charlotte...the 210 Trade in the Epicentre. He had planned to move into it by December of this year, however work on it ceased in February, and now he is stuck.
One of the reasons the preconstruction boom ended so badly was construction costs. Here in Myrtle Beach, the developers (and buyers!) who got into it early on...about 2003-2004 made a boatload of money. It was not uncommon to purchase an oceanfront condo in Myrtle Beach for $200,000 preconstruction priced, and flip it a year later for $500,000. One of the guys I did work for bought 9 units at a resort called Crescent Shores, and flipped 5 of them the first year, making double-plus on every one. He held on to 4 of them, on advice from his tax guy. I'm not sure if he held them too long and got stuck, or if he moved them the next year. But he's in the condo rental management business anyway, so it's not too bad of a loss for him either way, as long as he was able to find the money to close on and hold them.
The Causes of the Bubble Bursting
As the builders saw all this money being made here and in other resort areas, they started going up on their charges, trying to cash in on the gold rush too. This began to create problems because the developers had worked a certain cost into the budget for these multi-million dollar projects. The condos were price-pointed to give everybody involved their cut. When the builders reneged on their agreed-upon costs, that threw a monkey wrench into the project - who was going to absorb the extra cost? The original land/hotel owner? The Developers? The commissioned Realtors who were selling the units?
In cases where the deal had gone so far as to require the first 10% down payment and contract with the customers buying the condo, these buyers were protected from price increases. The costs had to come from the development teams. The beginning of the end started there. Many couldn't or wouldn't take a cut out of their profits, and building completion stalled...as the parties involved argued over who was going to ante-up. Sometimes the actual buyers weren't aware of this. Months went by that saw no work on the property, and the Realtors who sold the units had no answers to give the buyers either.
Projects began to fall apart. Sometimes the buyer got his deposit back, (with no interest) after a year or more of investing anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 in the down payment.
Sometimes the deposits were not so forth-coming. If the developers had spent it, they were hard pressed to find the cash to refund the buyer, and stalled for time as long as possible.
Some of the resorts got built and the ones that took the loss were the developers. And eventually even the real estate agents suffered, who ended up with only half of the commissions they should have received.
Sometimes the developers walked away and said, "Sue me". And many DID get sued. And a few of the projects are still sitting around half-finished, still hoping to find buyers. We have a handful like that now...I probably better not name names.
Anyway, it all came crashing to a halt, and for as many of the people who got in early and made enormous profit from them, there are those that got burnt in one way or the other. Greed destroys all good things, no matter who the greedy party is.
Back to the article... Kirsten reports that experts say preconstruction investing can be a good thing, "especially in Charlotte, where the market has remained strong - but that it's always a risk."
Quoting the article:
"Preconstruction sales have come to a halt in other cities, said David O'Connell, a Myrtle Beach, S.C. real estate agent and developer who owns a website called PreconstructionCondos.com." (one of our used-to-be-hot sites!)
"Preconstruction condos hit their peak nationally about two years ago, costing close to $600 per square foot, he said. The prices have been dropping since then, and developers are hard-pressed to pay off their debt, let alone make a profit. In harder-hit areas such as Las Vegas, people are finding foreclosed properties more attractive to buy than preconstruction condos. The risk simply is, you don't know what the price is going to be when it's finished. Those who bought at the peak are finding out that the market can go down."
The article continues to say that the 210 Trade has stalled, and offered the buyers a refund, now citing its completion date at 2010. Another project called "The Park" is going into foreclosure, and looks eerily similar to our Bahama Island nightmare. The developers owe the bank more than $27 million on it, and the foreclosure auction has only acquired a bid of $17.9 million. It goes without saying that the bank gets theirs first.
They report two other high-rise towers at a stall, and one called "The Catalyst" still selling well and in good order.
"O'Connell, the Myrtle Beach developer, said the market will turn around across the country by late next year.", she quotes David as being confident.
I agree. And if anyone should know, it's David O'Connell. He has lived, eaten, and breathed condos for the past 8-10 years. More than 3 of those years had me right along with him...:-)
Post-note: According to my two newest clients, Greenville SC homes and condos are still very popular and the market there is stable and good. Greenville never really went through the resort boom, however. And Jack Ragsdale, a Denton, Frisco and Flower Mound Texas real estate agent reports his sales of retirement and golf course condos are doing well too.
In an effort to offset the higher gas prices and boost vacation sales for Myrtle Beach condos and resorts, several are taking advantage of "gas rebates".
The Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce sent out a newsletter today that mentions some nice discounts and rebates being offered by Ocean Creek Resort, Grande Dunes, and others.
Like the old-time marketing of timeshares, this would be an ideal way for anyone interested in looking at Myrtle Beach real estate to take advantage of the discounts to visit for a few days and view some properties.
Here are some of the vacation deals they mention in the newsletter:
Litchfield Real Estate Company is offering a $50 dining card to their vacation guests. Pawleys Island condos and Surfside Beach vacation homes would benefit from this nice offering.
The Marina Inn at Grande Dunes says they will give a 10 cents per mile rebate to vacationers booking this elegant luxury resort. If you're coming from far away, this would be the one to take advantage of!
Sea Watch Resort will accept a gasoline receipt for 24 hours prior to arrival, and refund up to $75 for a 3 night stay, or $100 for 4 nights or longer. That is a great discount!
The beautiful Ocean Creek Resort is offering 25% off on stays of 4 nights or longer. Depending on the type and price of these North Myrtle Beach condos that you choose, this could mount up to a great discount package as well.
If you have been thinking of coming down to look at the best deals on real estate available in Myrtle Beach, this is an excellent opportunity to combine a wonderful vacation on the Grand Strand with your trip to look at some of our condos and homes. Prices are at rock bottom lows right now, and you couldn't pick a better time to buy.
If you Contact The Myrtle Beach Condo Store, we'll be glad to help you with finding a place to stay, and show you the best deals on Myrtle Beach vacation real estate to be found! You can also call us toll-free at 1-877-839-0005 and let us help you find that perfect vacation home of your own.
See our other blog - Myrtle Beach Real Estate News
Real Estate Marketing by Myrtle Beach Web Design, Inc.
Wall Street Journal columnist Cyril Moulle-Berteaux predicts the real estate slump will end in 2008, in his recent opinion column The Housing Crisis is Over.
He makes a very good argument for his opinion, reminding us that the current housing bust is now nearly 3 years old!
Hard to believe, isn't it? 2005 saw the peak of it all, when we were getting 50 leads a day and realtors were little more than order-takers. Here it is in mid 2008, and real estate agents everywhere have left their careers, many because they came on board when they didn't have to SELL, but do little more than answer the phone, reply to emails, and cherry-pick the leads.
According to the journalist, New Home sales are now down 63% from then, and new construction is less than 1/2 of what it was, back to the levels of 1982.
Mr. Moulle-Berteaux writes:
"The boom made housing unaffordable for many American families, especially first-time home buyers. During the 1990s and early 2000s, it took 19% of average monthly income to service a conforming mortgage on the average home purchased. By 2005 and 2006, it was absorbing 25% of monthly income. For first time buyers, it went from 29% of income to 37%. That just proved to be too much.
Prices got so high that people who intended to actually live in the houses they purchased (as opposed to speculators) stopped buying. This caused the bubble to burst.
Since then, house prices have fallen 10%-15%, while incomes have kept growing (albeit more slowly recently) and mortgage rates have come down 70 basis points from their highs. As a result, it now takes 19% of monthly income for the average home buyer, and 31% of monthly income for the first-time home buyer, to purchase a house. In other words, homes on average are back to being as affordable as during the best of times in the 1990s. Numerous households that had been priced out of the market can now afford to get in."
The author opines that in the past five major housing market crashes and corrections, when home sales bottomed, prices starting rising. He says that in 1974, 1982, and 1991, total market inventory got to 11 months of supply, and within 6 months, price declines slowed.
He says that inventories will drop to 7 months of supply by the end of 2008, and although the magic number is 5 months (he predict by 2009) there will be a significant impact on the prices this year.
Also, mortgage rates are presently at 5.7% for a 30 year fixed rate. In the 70's and 80's, it was in the teens - a big difference in payments and who can or cannot afford to buy. With lower payment come less foreclosures. Foreclosures lower market values which lowers prices, so everything working together will bring us back in the game.
Resort homes and condos in Myrtle Beach are traditionally more of an investor driven market, so may not follow the exact path of regular housing, but it's still a ray of light and hope in the horizon for Myrtle Beach real estate sales overall.
See our websites for the available Myrtle Beach MLS listings and find the best deals on Myrtle Beach condos for sale. Coming soon, a new website for cheap oceanfront property on both coasts.
See our real estate blog for Canadians!
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