What a difference 2 3/4years makes. We opened Freedom Real estate in September of 2005, and in such a short time went from non-existent to #9 out of 76 companies in the market and growing. I attribute that to great ownership and great people. And now, with the addition of our Weichert Franchise, the future is so bright I gotta wear shades. We just completed our RELO affiliation this week and started adding our agents to the Weichert Lead Network. The mortgage company is seeing steady growth, and our Realtor/Originators are enjoying the benefits of being able to offer both, real estate and mortgage services. It's just simply amazing to see how our clients and prospective clients respond to getting so many services in one place. Everybody wins!

So that's the introduction. And on the subject of introductions, Barry, Brett & Andrea, and I just got back from the Weichert Management Academy at the headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey. What a fantastic trip it was. I guess we had about 40 other managers from throughout the country there with us trying to, as our instructor Kirk Miller put it, "sip water from a fire hose". We learned volumes about building, educating, training and managing our team. And immediately we've put the new stuff into action. It's all about Core Values, S.U.C.C.E.S.S. and activities.

I hope this gets read by prospective agents and clients. There's a lot going on at Weichert, Realtors - The Freedom Group. We're off on the right foot. And please be assured that the owners and I are carefully watching and working to serve each and every client and agent. The support is in place. We're confident in knowing we have the best team, and that team and the clients have the best of everything. It's an honor to serve you.

Thanks for checking out my blog. Much more to come.

David McDonnough, ABR

Recruiter - Sales Manager

Weichert, Realtors - The Freedom Group

Coffee Underground, at the basement level of Coffee and Main Streets in downtown Greenville, has purchased additional space which will allow them to expand their kitchen and serve dinner. The popular coffee house has long been a haven for those who like to sit down and enjoy their coffee in a cozy, warm atmosphere rather than get it on the run. To find real estate close to downtown greenville call us.

Dr. Sarah Fletcher has retired after 15 years of service to the Furman University Learning In Retirement (FULIR) program which she had grown and turned into a well oiled machine. The program now offers more than 70 courses and has a membership of 650. Lucy Woodhouse has been chosen as the new director of the program which will coincidentally change its name as well. The new name will be the Osher Lifelong Living Institute (OLLI) since it is now funded by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Furman's program will be one of the 119 U.S. learning in retirement organizations in the OLLI family. For information on Greenville real estate near Furman contact us.

If someone would've asked me last year what my market was I would've answered, "Vacants."

Property owners now are getting more familiar with the benefits of staging and are seeking Accredited Staging Professionals before they even sign with a Realtor.

Occupied homes now make up a large portion of my market. It's a different way of working for someone like me who got very used to the isolation of a vacant and working until dawn if I wanted with no one to inconvenience.

This business calls for flexibility and being knowledgable in many different aspects of home staging to remain successful.

Joan Inglis, ASP Realtor, ASP Stager, ASP Master, Charlotte IAHSP Chapter President

Charlotte IAHSP - 2008 IAHSP Chapter Excellence Award Winner!

The thought has crossed my mind lately that the Mortgage Meltdown should eliminate big banks wanting to get into the real estate business. The old adage "clean around your own door step before you start cleaning around mine" is apropos. Although it appears the majority of the mortgage issues were brought about by unscrupulous mortgage brokers, the buck does not stop there. Florida was the first major problem area and that may have been fueled by speculators creating the tremendous rise in home prices. Other culprits were the politicians who, wanting to get the vote of that segment of people who could not afford a home, declared everyone should have the right to home ownership. They do have that right already. Governments then created programs to allow assistance with buyer down payments and or closing costs, which resulted in the sellers increasing the home price to cover what he would have to pay to the buyer to sell the home.

Those homeowners then maybe only stayed a year or two years and expected to sell the home for a profit, when that home had not appreciated to include the costs added on to the sales price. Some appraisers participated by appraising generously. Realtors found a lucrative market by selling homes to those buyers. And it goes on and one and on. No one did anything illegal, in fact it was sanctioned, but it ended up creating a problem for the home owner and home values.

There is a program in Greenville, SC (city) where nice homes are built and sold at reasonable prices and if the buyer needs down payment assistance, can qualify if they meet certain income/prior homeownership criteria. If they sell the home within the first 5 years, the profit is shared with the developer as he made a lower profit in order for this to work for people who wanted to buy, but could not afford to buy. The City development group, in conjunction with the developer/builder manages the criteria and provides some of the assistance through funds for that purpose. This sounds like a very fair way to assist people who need help to become homeowners. (This is the general idea, not all of the specifics)

Ultimately, all this should keep lending institutions busy enough for awhile that they may not be so anxious to be in the Real Estate business by having their own Real Estate Brokerages, under the control of the lending institution. It will certainly be interesting to see how this plays out.

Since moving to Greenville, SC last year, I have noticed that there is a lack of deer here. (at least by Pennslyvania standards where I am originally from) I have seen zero roaming around and only one that met it's maker on the side of the road. I kinda miss seeing them eating every plant and flower in my yard! I guess it didn't help that my husband would feed them, so I guess they just assumed my daylillies were theirs for the taking. Spring was especially neat when the babies would come around. The pictures below are my husband (who sometimes believes he is St. Francis of Assissi) feeding them.

No sausage jokes, please....

We have passed the halfway mark for 2008.

2007 closed out the year with just under 13,000 closed transactions. We are behind the mark as of June 30, 2008. During the same time frame in 2007, January through June, There were 16,223 new listings that came on the market. 7634 went under contract or pending and 7015 sold with an average list price of $300,975 with an average days on market of 78 days. The median price was $209,142 and sellers received 96% of list price.

From January to June, 2008, there were 12,706 new listings. As of June 30, 2008, 4,677 properties were contingent or pending. And 4,777 sold with an average sold price of $305,795 with an average days on market of 107 days. Seller received 95% of list price and the median price was $205,000.

What does this mean? Here's how I interpret the numbers.

The good news is that the number of new listings has decreased by over 3500 homes. That's a 22% reduction. This is an important piece of the local market dynamics. The reason for the seller's market in 2003-2005 was due to the lack of supply. Currently we have about 11,000 homes to choose from whereas at any given time in 2003, there were only about 3,500 available. So they started flying off the shelves like hotcakes. Builders couldn't build them fast enough to meet demand. Part of normalization in the Charleston SC real estate market will require a reduction in inventory where supply and demand is more balanced. We need to be closer to 7,000-8,000 in active inventory for days on market to get back down to 4-5 months. This means that sellers that don't have to sell and builders not being spec homes will help significantly in this area.

As far as pending properties, we are down by 39% closely followed by 32% down on sold. The good news is that earlier in the year, we were close to 40%. The lack of pending and sold properties can be related to many factors. Lack of financing alternatives and low consumer confidence are the 2 greatest factors. Interestingly when I pulled stats back to 1991 from the Charleston MLS, we have never had one single year where there was an across the board depreciation. There were years of slower appreciation as low as .46% but then there were double digit years also. The most interesting part was that for every 2-3 years of slower growth, it was followed by 2 years of faster or greater growth. Charleston is an exceptional market and the numbers are fascinating.

The further good news is that the average sales price has inched up and has continued too which also delineates to strong appreciation. The most noticeable difference is the extension of days on market which jumped 29 days up to 107 days for sold properties. That doesn't even include the average days on market for active listings which is current 161 days. Sellers are noticing this the most! However, given the average is selling in 107 days, there are way to shorten the timeframe! Price, condition, staging and incentives are just a few! Not to mention...marketing. It's a tough market out there and it's important to be proactive and armed with the facts! For a FREE NO OBLIGATION consultation, contact the Charleston Relocation Expert!

Michele Reneau

michele@CharlestonRelocationExperts.com

I have a passion for photography. I love it!!! So the other day I went over to the Cotton Mills in Simpsonville to take some photos for fun. As I was there I was thinking how cool it would be to know the stories of what went on there. Can you imagine what the brick has seen while sitting there?

For those of you who aren't familiar with the area and the Mills revitalization here is the story. We have a lot of empty mills in South Carolina that were once textile mills. At one point, that was the industry of the area. Those mills haves since shut down, but what to do with the buildings? Well they are taking the wonderful brick buildings with exposed beams, large windows, wood flooring and turning them into lofts. They are beautiful and during the restoration, they are trying to keep as much of the original structure that they can.

Well here are some of the photos I took on the Cotton Millsin Simpsonville before it was ready to move into. Hope you enjoy.

New Urbanism is just starting in the Greenville area, but I know that this is going on all over the country. The return to the layout of small towns and villages of America or traditional neighborhoods. So basically cookie cutters are out and villages return. They are even getting schools closer to the neighborhood so kids can walk to school, shopping, local markets, coffee shops and everything right at your finger tips.

So we are returning to the time of neighbors knowing one another. Smaller lots. Walking the kids to school, grabbing last minute items for dinner that night at the corner market.

So in the Greenville area, we now have Hollingsworth Park, Griffin Park and Acadia that are taking shape to be new urbanized...i guess that would be the correct use of the word.

So I ask out there how many agents are seeing this trend in your area. Has it been well precived. The prices of these homes seem to be a bit more then cookie cutter, but you get what you pay for. I know there will always be a place for cookie cutter neighborhoods, but are we beginning to move away from that?

Kids are about to head back to school, but you need a few things to do with them before hand. Well here are a few things to consider in the month of August.

July 24-27 The South Carolina Yippy Yi Yea Horse Show in Pendleton www.clemson.edu/garrison

August 1,8, 15, & 22 Creek Ranger Hikes for Families in Paris Mountain State Park www.southcarolinaparks.com

August 1,8,15,22 & 29 Main Street Jazz at the Hyatt Regency www.mainstreetevents.com

August 6, 13, 20 & 27 Reedy River Nighttime Concert Series at the Peace Center's DowBrands Amphitheater www.greatergreenville.com

August 7, 14, 21 & 28 Downtown Alive at the Hyatt Regency www.mainstreetevents.com

August 7, 14, 21 & 28 Downtown Sounds at the Anderson County Courthouse Plaza www.mainstreetevents.com

August 7, 14, 21 & 28 Larkin's on the Rhythm on the River www.rythmontheriver.com

August 9 Sizzlin' Summer at Roper Mountain Science Center www.ropermountain.org

August 9 Paris Mountain Trail Run at Paris Mountain State Park www.gvltrackclub.clubexpress.com

August 16 Summer Gospel Show at Hagood Mill Historic Site and Folklife Center www.co.pickens.sc.us/culturalcommission

August 17 Greenville Triathlon www.setupevents.com

August 28-September 7th Uppper South Carolina State Fair at the Greenville Pickens Speedway and Fairgrounds. www.upperscstatefair.com

Hope you take the time to check out a few of these great offerings in the up state!