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September 2008 - Posts

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 12:27 PM

Charleston real estate market report, Aug 2008, home prices

You'll notice some additional information with this month's Charleston home price report. In addition to comparing prices by housing classification, single family homes and condos / townhomes less than and more than $600k, statistics for all Charleston
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 4 Comments
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 6:41 AM

The price of failure

No one seems to approve of Congress, The President, those running for President, The Fed, The Treasury, Wall Street, Banks or almost anything else these days. Interestingly, while a majority of people disapprove of the job Congress is doing, almost all
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Monday, September 29, 2008 4:40 PM

Charleston real estate market report, Aug 2008, unit sales

Unit sales in the Charleston real estate market continue to decline from previous years. All the usual reasons continue to remain in place, fewer buyers either because of tighter lending standards, fear of overpaying or that home prices will decline in
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Monday, September 29, 2008 3:06 PM

Charleston real estate market report, Aug 2008, inventory and absorption rate

Inventory remains at elevated levels but has stabilized at these current levels for more than 12 months. The absorption rate however has increased somewhat because of declining monthly sales. The absorption rate really isn't that bad for single family
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Monday, September 29, 2008 8:48 AM

Trying times on South Tryon

Charlotte's banking landscape changed dramatically this morning when Citibank took over Wachovia in a deal brokered by the FDIC and the Treasury. Wachovia's downfall can be traced to the ill timed purchase of Golden West Financial and the Option
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Saturday, September 27, 2008 9:49 PM

Too cool, too blue, too sad

Paul Newman, and with the greatest respect for everything he did, on and off the screen.
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Saturday, September 27, 2008 6:46 AM

Funny [phony] of the day

Sheila Bair, Chairman of the FDIC, approved and endorsed a new bank. Washington politicians follow her lead causing a run on mattress stores in the Greater Washington area and mattress stores around the country report unbelievable sales since Ms. Bair's
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
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Friday, September 26, 2008 10:09 AM

The new dollar

Hat tip, Doug Heddings, True Gotham .
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Friday, September 26, 2008 7:19 AM

How the market works

To understand how the market works, supply and demand will usually determine prices. If there are more buyers than sellers, prices will go up, if there are more sellers than buyers, prices will go down. Where there is an equilibrium, prices will be stable.
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, September 25, 2008 4:46 PM

Google celebrates its 10th birthday

... and the world is a better place. I don't think I searched for information as much 10 years ago, maybe I wasn't as inquisitive as I am today, maybe I didn't need to find information quite as quickly (or easily) but I don't know how
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Thursday, September 25, 2008 9:37 AM

Historic Charleston city market expansion and makeover

The Historic Charleston city market will get a long overdue expansion and makeover with the announcement that Hank Holliday and Steve Varn, principals of City Market Preservation Trust, LLC will take over management of the market on October 1. Immediate
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 8:59 AM

Is that house really only $2,634

I had an inquiry yesterday about a home for sale that was listed for just $2,634. Is that really possible with all the talk about today's distressed housing market. In a word, no (it was simply a data entry error by the listing agent putting the street
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, September 23, 2008 2:46 PM

Chicken or egg, which comes first

When it comes to buying a home for sale in Charleston, which comes first, the chicken or the egg. Or to put it another way, do you find a house or find a mortgage. Lots of people spend a lot of time searching the Internet for Charleston real estate. On
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Monday, September 22, 2008 8:22 AM

Charleston's four seasons

As the calendar turns to the first day of fall today, one of the questions I get from many people who are considering relocating to Charleston is about the weather, most importantly, is summer really hot and humid and how is winter. Actually, I think
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Sunday, September 21, 2008 6:42 AM

Tree trimming gone wild

The Charleston area is blessed with many grand oak trees and some trees are hundreds of years old providing a spectacular canopy of shade and framing many beautiful homes and gardens. Any while many Charleston neighborhoods have the power lines buried
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Friday, September 19, 2008 9:40 AM

Is this the mother of all bailouts

With all the talk about taxpayer bailouts lately, is today's announcement by Hank Paulson the mother of all bailouts. I don't think so. I think there is so much money involved that it is now divorced from reality. And I think that the government
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Friday, September 19, 2008 7:39 AM

Too many pics [might] spoil the listing

More often than not, today's do it yourself consumer searching for Charleston homes for sale would like as much information as possible about every single listing and most especially they would like to see more pictures. And I think it is great to
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, September 18, 2008 3:32 PM

The long and short of short sales

... and I'm not talking about short sales of stocks which are at the epicenter of falling prices on Wall Street. No, I'm talking about real estate "short sales". And what it means is that after the proceeds of the sale, the seller will
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Wednesday, September 17, 2008 6:24 PM

Update: Charleston real estate

It's not that I haven't been working the Charleston real estate market this week, simply, the events of the past days have been so extraordinary and compelling that I haven't written about Charleston real estate lately. So while the world
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Wednesday, September 17, 2008 7:44 AM

Evaporated wealth

Yesterday, I wrote about how to lose a Trillion dollars. I may have underestimated. The NY Times has a wonderful interactive graphic showing how much wealth has evaporated in the last year and calculations are from Sept 12 and losses by these firms have
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Tuesday, September 16, 2008 2:04 PM

How to lose a trillion dollars

The simple answer. Take financial risks and leverage your risk to the maximum. Now, a little more detail. Let's use the Case-Shiller index that shows that homes have declined in value by approximately 15% across the country in the last year. Of course,
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Monday, September 15, 2008 9:44 AM

Just another Monday on the street

... Wall Street, that is. After a wild weekend hosted by the NY Fed, Lehman will liquidate after getting no buyers since Hank Paulson finally drew a line in the sand and wouldn't put taxpayer money at risk to bail out Lehman and no one wanted to touch
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Saturday, September 13, 2008 7:08 AM

Houston, we've got a problem

Ike slammed into the Texas Gulf coast and unfortunately there will be massive devastation. I can only hope that reports of too many people who failed to heed the warnings to evacuate are overstated. This was a monster storm and property can be replaced,
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Friday, September 12, 2008 6:12 AM

Anticipating my immediate reply

There are always one or two buyers not worth helping to buy a home; for example, when you discover that a buyer doesn't really know what they want, it will generally be a waste of your time and money because no house that you show is ever just right.
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, September 11, 2008 7:04 AM

After a brief pause for irrelevance and irreverence

... we will return to Charleston real estate. There are more important issues facing this country than lipstick on a pig. And whether you favor the left, right or center, is this really an important issue on which to base your vote. Photo courtesy of
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, September 11, 2008 6:50 AM

[9/11] Take a moment to remember

... a day 7 years ago.
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008 5:42 AM

Oil and gasoline prices

... seem to be moving downward at different rates. Since a barrel of oil peaked at $147 in July and to the best of my recollection, gasoline at the pump was just about $3.99 per gallon here in the Charleston area, oil has dropped by almost 30% to just
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Tuesday, September 09, 2008 7:33 AM

One day in the Charleston MLS

... and a peek at the numbers recorded. The Charleston MLS provides a hot sheet for agents to view the latest activity in the Charleston real estate market. Most often, real estate agents use it when actively looking for the newest properties that come
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Monday, September 08, 2008 9:26 AM

Fannie, Freddie and you

As expected, the US Treasury has seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The obvious question, what does that mean for you. Actions by the Treasury were meant to stabilize financial markets and ensure mortgage availability and affordability. Mark
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Saturday, September 06, 2008 6:49 AM

Finding the perfect home

Can you find the perfect home or maybe you aren't quite sure. Many buyers search intently to find the perfect home in today's Charleston real estate market. But is any home really perfect? Let's narrow your search with whatever may apply.
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Friday, September 05, 2008 7:15 AM

[Short term - Long term] housing prices

With all the attention focused on sharply declining home prices, I was curious about how prices appreciated and declined in one of the more overheated markets and while I'm not the biggest fan of the Case-Shiller index, on the slimmest of chances
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, September 04, 2008 7:05 AM

What does motivated seller really mean

An ask the agent question, "why is this seller so motivated and what does it mean?" Many sellers in today's Charleston real estate market are motivated. They want to sell their home in today's buyers market. Many listing agents will
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Wednesday, September 03, 2008 2:27 PM

Preparations for Hanna

We spent some time in the office this morning discussing plans and preparations should Hanna (or any other hurricane) hit the Charleston area. And I know the City of Charleston and the Tri-County area are ready as is the media with lots of reports during
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Tuesday, September 02, 2008 5:46 AM

Next in line?

Thankfully, Gustav didn't devastate New Orleans and the Gulf Coast like Katrina 3 years previously and now it appears that Hanna may pay a visit to the Charleston area later this week. I don't expect a repeat of what Charleston faced from Hugo
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Monday, September 01, 2008 7:35 AM

Our Mini Cooper

... has arrived. And it's cute!
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 4 Comments
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