Charleston, SC

Gift cards have been around for a long time and many of us like giving them as gifts, especially around the holidays. BE CAREFUL with it this year! Many stores will be closing in 2009 and your gifts may become WORTHLESS pieces of plastic.

A technique called "Bankruptcy Planning" incorporates the selling of gift cards as a strategic business move for companies that are having financial issues. They sell the gift cards, yet later on, many of them will not honor the very gift cards they sold mere weeks prior.

It is all perfectly legal and the consumer has no recourse. The following stores MAY present this problem with their gift cards:

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)

Ann Taylor 117 stores nationwide closing;

Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide;

Eddie Bauer to close stores27 stores and more after January;

Cache will close all stores;

Talbots closing down specialty stores;

J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots);

Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots);

GAP closing 85 stores;

Footlocker closing 140 stores, more to close after January;

Wickes Furniture closing down;

Levitz closing down remaining stores;

Bombay closing remaining stores;

Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January;

Whitehall closing all stores;

Piercing Pagoda closing all stores;

Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.

Home Depot closing 15 stores, 1 in NJ (New Brunswick);

Macys to close 9 stores after January;

Linens and Things closing all stores;

Movie Galley closing all stores;

Pep Boys Closing 33 stores;

Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores;

JC Penney closing a number of stores after January;

Ethan Allen] closing down 12 stores.

Wilson Leather closing down all stores

Sharper Image closing down all stores

K B Toys closing 356 stores

Loews to close down some stores

Dillard's to close some stores

Myrtle Beach Real Estate by Mirela Monte Join The Optimist Group!

The last time that Odell Barnes was interviewed he had over 400 would-be homeowners from all over the United States send hime their contact info in hopes that he would finance a home for them.

When "Nightline" first met Odell Barnes, the man known to some as the Foreclosure King, he was on his cell phone constantly, buying foreclosed homes by the dozens from his front porch in South Carolina. (ABC News)A year later, he's still answering the phone, but he's off his porch and in Detroit.

"It's too big for me," he said of the current housing crisis. "One thousand houses a week? It outgrows you." Sitting on another front porch - this time at a burned-out house in Detroit - Barnes has plunged face first into the nation's housing crisis. He's always bought houses in bulk from banks, but what's changed is that, in the last year, mortgage insurer Fannie Mae has begun dumping foreclosed houses on him. The original owners are gone and Fannie Mae and the banks can't sell any other way.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=6249208&page=1

http://bestcelebscoop.com/foreclosure-king-odell-barnes-says-the-best-thing-for-distressed-neighborhoods

I have been twittering my booty off and have totally neglected my ActiveRain blogging commitments. I took a class on "Twitter for Business" on Tuesday and learned some very helpful tidbits and connected with some folks that up to that point I had only known by their Twitter handle. If you are an avid twitterer and have not yet downloaded tweetdeck - I highly recommend it. it automatically converts your URLs down to a manageable size and can be set up to run on your desk top so that you can actually work on other things while keeping an eye on those all important twitter updates.

I learned how to effectively use the "search" button at the bottom of the twitter page to find people and topics that I am interested in. Learned how to use #hashtags too. I'm actually very interested in the NPR Pirate updates coming out of Somalia. (not sure why..but I am)

Now that I have been twittering for awhile I am becoming more discriminating...I am "un-following" lots of folks (sorry guys) that I'm really not interested in or those people who get a little wild and downright nasty (yep, they are out there) and adding people who have content that I do want to know about such as Charleston, South Carolina, Mortgage, the Arts, Facebook, Social Media Optimization, pirates and so on.

I'm posting this blog from a MAC (yuck) at The MUSC Library..hence, no pictures or handy linkage going on. Sorry.

Melissa "The Mortgage Maven" Breeland

If you had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dine with your local tax assessor...what would you ask?

"How often is my property is reassesed?"

"How do I appeal my assessment?"

"I just moved here two years ago and didn't know that I had to apply for a "Homestead Exemption"..how do I get a refund on the taxes I have already paid?"

Last night at our Charleston Real Estate Investor's Association, we were honored to have as our guest speaker, Wayne Welch, Dorchester County Tax Assessor.

Wayne gave a real life example and great explanation as to why property taxes on a $96,000 home went from $459 a year to $2689 (This actually happened this week!) and the "Real Property Valuation Act of 2006 and how it effected everyone in the county.

Questions?

There were lots of them...and great feedback from our members:

"The best part was being able to ask questions directly to the tax assessor! I learned some valuable information that as a real estate agent will be invaluable to my clients in the future"

Lisa R.

"I need to have a much closer look at local candidates during the next election to changes some of this legislation.."

David R.

If you are a Realtor, Investor, Appraissor, mortgage lender, or any any way connected to the real estate business and you ever get the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with your local Tax Assessor, it will well be worth your time for you and your clients (Even if you have to buy lunch)

Thanks you Mr. Welch, for sharing your knowledge with us!

The retailing herd is getting thinner; sadly, it is a sign of the times.

Charleston area building supply retailer, Stock Building Supply announced that they were closing their outlet on Innovation Drive in Summerville, along with locations in Anderson, Florence and Pawleys Island.

Stock still has branches on Ashley River Road in Charleston and Azalea Drive in North Charlesto and is down to about 200 locations after closing 86 locations and laying off nearly 3,000 employees.

http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/nov/17/supplier_closes_s_c_outlets61857/