Spencer Hill #1 Financial Planner -- South Carolina

Kingstree has a new sandwich shop - Frances Calhoun owned by Wendy Morris. The restaurant is located in the old Dubin's Men Shop building at 109 N. Academy Street. Their menu consists of classics like chicken salad, the Dubin Reuben and mix and match meat, bread, & cheese combinations.

The lunch I had there was great from a sandwich lovers perspective. It was salami and ham on fresh rye bread served with a side of potato salad and a chocolate chip cookie for desert. Add a soda and the combination came out to $6.95 plus tip.

In February, Frances Calhoun was awarded the Williamsburg Hometown Chamber's Image Award for the work Ms. Morris did the building. By bringing back a local business landmark, an award is a small token of apprecitiation.

I am always looking for positive signs in the economy. Last week i shared an article with you about Pittsburgh, PA (congrats to the Steelers , yesterday) that had their unemployment below 5% and their home prices 3% above last year. There are other economic bright spots:

• Fort Mill, SC prices are stabilizing. the Average price of a December home sale was -3.55% less than last year, but was on a 5% smaller house.
• Hourly wages in December were up 0.3% and 3.7% over December 2007 with an expected decline in the CPI of 1.2%, that would make wage growth the fastest since 1972.

There are still many viable mortgages available out there for primary residence purchase. It is not as bleak as the media makes it. Yes, it is more difficult than it was a few years ago. With good credit and viable income ratios many homes could easily be purchased. Get completely prequalified down to the credit reports and supporting documents of income and assets (everything except the purchasing contract and the appraisal), know what you can spend. Find the property you want at your price, then make an offer with the help of your loan officer( he can help you structure the offer better with sellers providing some of the closing money) and RE agent.

I am constantly on the lookout for good economic news. The New York Times yesterday had an article on the current economic situation of a rust belt city, Pittsburgh. Given all the bad news about manufacturing, one wouldn't think that they wouldn't have 5.5% unemployment, housing prices up 2.2% for the year ending September 2008, and foreclosures being fairly uncommon.

Why can't the rest of the country be forward thinking enough to position themselves (bite the bullet) and make positive changes in their local economies.

My question to you - are these numbers correct? and where are there more positive stories like this one?

Many Thanks to Amy Feldman (@amyfeldman) of Businessweek for pointing out this article on Twitter.

On November 1st, 2008 will be the 13th edition of the King's Tree Trials. Its held at the McCutchen Training Center in the Cedar Swamp community outside of Kingstree, SC. This event has grown annually to about 3500. bring your tailgate supplies and join us. Individual tickets are $15 with infield parking available. For more information call the Williamsburg Home Town Chamber at 843-355-6431.

Just thought that was passed onto me today. if you have closings coming due in the next week or so you might want:

• If you have any purchases upcoming over the next two weeks, then I would suggest that you go ahead and get the binder for insurance in place. Generally, the insurance companies will stop binding coverage within a few days of an impending storm. Be proactive on your purchases with respect to the insurance.

• If you have any purchases or refinances upcoming over the next two weeks, then I would suggest that you anticipate having to order a 442 to insure that the collateral was not damaged by the storm. All investors are going to require these to be in the file prior to purchasing loans .

Just some thoughts with 'Canes in the area.