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March 2007 - Posts

Friday, March 30, 2007 9:51 AM

Flowertown festival in Summerville means azaleas are at peak bloom

There is a very good reason the Flowertown Festival in Summerville is always held the first weekend in April (this year, starting today, Friday March 30 and continuing through Sunday April 1) and quite simply, the azaleas in the Charleston area are usually
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Friday, March 30, 2007 8:58 AM

Beazer Homes receives federal subpoena

Beazer homes, headquartered in Atlanta, received a federal grand jury subpoena for documents relating to its mortgage origination business. Beazer, the 6th largest homebuilder in the country and a very active builder in the Southeast including many Charleston
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Friday, March 30, 2007 6:49 AM

Lead generators

In a previous post about "why do I have to register to search the MLS", I discussed lead generators . "Why might a site do that? In real estate, you have to differentiate between sites that exist to help you with your future real estate
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 4:58 PM

Web 2.0 - from yesterday to tomorrow

Technology and Web 2.0, as we move from yesterday to tomorrow on the internet. A real estate blog is just one example of Web 2.0 because of your opportunity to comment and share ideas and information through your active participation with other readers
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Tuesday, March 27, 2007 9:08 AM

The Ponds of Summerville

The Ponds is a 2000 acre master planned mixed use community set between the Town of Summervillle and the Ashley River off US 17-A and Dorchester Road on the site of a former plantation and hunting lodge. The plantation farmhouse will be restored and used
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 8:30 AM

Case-Shiller index

The 10 city Case-Shiller index of housing prices was released and real estate prices have declined in January on a year over year basis. The headline is far more alarming than the actual news but we've discussed media coverage of this issue before.
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Friday, March 23, 2007 2:22 PM

Spring is blooming

A couple of days into spring and activity in Charleston real estate is picking up quickly, by 1PM today I wrote an offer to buy for one client and listed a home for sale for another. Wouldn't it be nice if every day was like that. Spring is blooming
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, March 22, 2007 9:25 AM

United States Congress takes mortgage

The United States Congress takes mortgage companies to task for the subprime mortgage meltdown by inviting leading companies to testify as to what happened and why today. Catchy headline, don't you think? At any rate, and pardon me just a bit more
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Tuesday, March 20, 2007 10:41 AM

Subprime mortgages and you

Just about the best explanation of the rise and fall of the subprime mortgage market and the impact on you and me by Brian Brady on the Bloodhound Blog.
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
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Tuesday, March 20, 2007 9:14 AM

Mortgage pre approval

Don't get pre qualified for a loan, get mortgage pre approval before you start house hunting. Do you want to buy the best house you can for the least amount of money. Make sure you are in the strongest negotiating position. Price is only one of the
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Monday, March 19, 2007 11:27 AM

Charleston real estate today...still flipping

I wrote a post about flipping houses in today's Charleston real estate market a few months ago and after viewing a different attempt at a flip this past weekend, I thought it would be timely to review the outcome of the first and talk a little about
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Friday, March 16, 2007 11:40 AM

Summerville is...Flowertown in the Pines

Mid March and everything is starting to bloom, especially the azaleas in Summerville. Known as Flowertown in the Pines, Summerville hosts the Flowertown Festival, an annual arts and crafts festival the first weekend in April, this year the event is being
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Wednesday, March 14, 2007 1:04 PM

Mortgage madness

It's March and we should be celebrating March madness and college basketball, not the mortgage madness gripping the media with the implosion of the subprime lenders and the impending foreclosures of those who cannot and may not make their mortgage
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, March 13, 2007 11:36 AM

Daylight savings time

I love daylight savings time. Even better, it came earlier this year and apparently will last one extra week in the fall. Even though I am a morning person and I generally wake up before sunrise, I love the fact that you can sit out on your front porch
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Monday, March 12, 2007 10:00 AM

Buying foreclosures

Charleston real estate buyers are looking to buy foreclosures today as the media relentlessly reports the slowing sales in the housing market and the problems in the subprime mortgage market. Clients of mine stumbled across an interesting property that
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Friday, March 09, 2007 6:41 AM

Daniel's Orchard

A new neighborhood, Daniel's Orchard, is coming to Summerville on a 69 acre site that formerly was the Summerville Floral Nursery. The mixed use planned design includes single family homes, townhomes, condominiums and a small commercial village and
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Thursday, March 08, 2007 12:26 PM

Builder price reductions

I noticed an interesting question posed to Nationally syndicated columnist Lew Sichelman about whether there is any recourse if the builder in your neighborhood slashes prices to attract new buyers and you purchased previously at an obviously higher price.
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, March 06, 2007 8:20 AM

Charleston market report - February

The Charleston market report for February sales are available and the trend for Charleston real estate remains the same. Please note that February is traditionally a very slow month for closings since few buyers are looking for homes during the last 5
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Monday, March 05, 2007 1:05 PM

Sandlapper Classic

The inaugural Sandlapper Classic for high school track and field teams was this past Saturday and a great time was had by all. Most interesting to me was Jasmine Stowers, a freshman from Pendleton High School who ran the 100 and 400 hurdles. As an 8th
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Monday, March 05, 2007 10:25 AM

Newly licensed agents

I noticed an interesting article today in the Charleston Post and Courier about newly licensed real estate agents finding today's Charleston real estate market to be challenging. There has been a significant increase in the number of real estate agents
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Friday, March 02, 2007 12:30 PM

More on buyer representation

In the post I wrote yesterday regarding an agent bonus , I talked about truly representing the buyer's interests ahead of my personal financial interests. Today, I came across a very interesting post by Kris Berg from San Diego on the Bloodhound Blog
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, March 01, 2007 2:38 PM

Agent bonus - real estate transparency

I saw a listing today offering a selling agent bonus of $5000 for a full price offer in addition to the commission. In the interest of real estate transparency and understanding how real estate agents are paid, I wouldn't mind receiving a nice bonus
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments