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October 2009 - Posts

Saturday, October 31, 2009 5:32 AM

There are some great deals in Charleston real estate

... and surprisingly, some not so great deals. I've been looking at foreclosures with several clients recently and there are some great deals to be had in the Charleston real estate market right now. The very best deals seem to be bank owned homes
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, October 29, 2009 3:04 PM

The impact of Boeing on Charleston real estate

Boeing's announcement yesterday that Charleston has been selected to be the location for it's second final assembly site for the 787 Dreamliner was cheered locally and covered intensely by not only the mainstream media but by blogs, tweets and
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, October 29, 2009 5:59 AM

Charleston real estate blog post number 1000

1000 is a big round number and who would have thought when I started writing the Charleston real estate blog almost 3 years ago that I would be celebrating the writing of my 1000th post. So what should I write about? Maybe I should write about writing
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 3 Comments
Wednesday, October 28, 2009 7:18 AM

Home buyer tax credit expected to be extended and expanded

11/06 UPDATE : President Obama has signed the bill and it is effective immediately. For complete details , click here . 11/05 UPDATE: House of Representatives has passed the bill 430 - 12 and President Obama is expected to sign it on Friday. 11/05 UPDATE
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 6:40 AM

Another home price forecast

CNN is reporting where home prices are headed in typical alarmist fashion, down and much cheaper. But the good news is that Charleston appears to be spared the pain predicted for some other cities. With Fiserv predicting prices nationally to decline by
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Monday, October 26, 2009 6:48 AM

Welcome to Summerville

Summerville is the most active location within the Charleston real estate market based on the number of transactions year to date. That shouldn't surprise you since Dorchester County including Summerville has been one of the 50 fastest growing counties
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Saturday, October 24, 2009 7:30 AM

Charleston existing homes sales up year over year for the first time since Feb 2006

Existing home sales in Charleston were up on a year over year basis for the first time since February 06. Now before you get to excited, there have been 733 sales recorded in the Charleston MLS for September 09 compared to 732 sales in September 09 08
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Friday, October 23, 2009 6:18 AM

IRS uncovers fraud and abuse of homebuyer tax credit

... and should we be surprised. From the "could have told you this would happen" files, the IRS has uncovered tens of thousands of fraudulent cases of people claiming the $8k first time homebuyer tax credit. From WSJ : "Some 580 filers
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 4:47 PM

Charleston real estate trends [5 yrs, quarterly sales and prices]

You might think that prices would correspond to sales because supply and demand is a tried and true concept. But take a look at the chart below of Charleston home prices and home sales by quarter for the past 5 years. The left axis corresponds to the
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 7:23 AM

Are some homeowners associations in financial trouble

... and what does that mean if you are living in or buying a home or condo in a community with a homeowners association (HOA). Many people relocating to Charleston (or many cities in the Southeast) from the Northeast or Midwest are surprised to find that
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Monday, October 19, 2009 6:09 AM

Our 7th Wedding Anniversary

Polly and I are celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary today. I scanned a picture from our wedding album so the quality may not be as good as digital but apparently our wedding photographer didn't provide us with digital copies. Looking back, we
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Saturday, October 17, 2009 7:04 AM

Charleston's accidental landlords

Some people just hate to lose money and I don't blame them for that. After all, who would want to lose money. But, in an effort to avoid losing money, some people may be doing exactly that by renting their homes because they can't sell them for
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Friday, October 16, 2009 6:25 AM

5 stories for your Friday reading pleasure

Pay CZAR takes BofA CEO Ken Lewis' 2009 paycheck. Ouch, watch your wallet when the czars are around . From Bloomberg Goldman Sachs makes money and will pay large bonuses to employees. Wait, that's not news . From the NY Times Social Security recipients
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Thursday, October 15, 2009 6:30 AM

Hope for Homes Charleston October 24, 2009

Hope for Homes, a FREE foreclosure prevention event, will be held at the North Charleston Convention Center on Saturday October 24, 2009. The event is sponsored by the City of Charleston, the City of North Charleston, Homeownership Resource Center, the
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 8:22 AM

[Bubbling up] Hong Kong apartment sells for $56.5 Million

If you're looking for the next bubble in real estate, you don't have to look further than across the Pacific to Hong Kong where an apartment on the second highest floor sold for $56.5 million USD. The total square footage of the apartment including
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 6:35 AM

[Where] are you searching Charleston homes for sale

Since just about everyone starts their home search on the Internet these days, it amazes me how many ad based real estate websites have sprung up trying to get "eyeballs" to their sites so they can sell advertising. Of course there is Realtor.com
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Monday, October 12, 2009 7:55 AM

FTC to regulate new social media

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will be regulating bloggers and new social media users on Twitter and other sites beginning December 1, 2009. According to Carl Franzen writing in The Atlantic Wire , paid product endorsements and material connections
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Saturday, October 10, 2009 6:41 AM

Susan G. Komen Lowcountry Race for the Cure October 17, 2009

Just a reminder about a very important event next Saturday in the Lowcountry; the 16th Annual Susan G. Komen Lowcountry Race for the Cure will be held at the Family Circle Tennis Center in Daniel Island. Race Info | About | Donate
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Friday, October 09, 2009 8:21 AM

Meaningful [or not] price adjustments

Trulia revved up their computers yesterday and announced that 25.6% of homes currently on the market in the United States experienced at least one price cut. Yawn. but you can read more about it . The Charleston real estate market was not included in
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, October 08, 2009 7:24 AM

Awesome mortgage rates!

Awesome rates was the subject line in an email from one of my preferred lenders yesterday and awesome (or even amazing) are the best way to describe them. Conventional and FHA 30 year fixed are quoted at 4.5%. Yep, you read that right, 4.5%. What that
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 7:46 AM

Todd Harrison's Memoirs of a Minyan

One of my favorite columnists at MarketWatch is Todd Harrison and I eagerly followed his 18 chapter e book, Memoirs of a Minyan. Marketwatch published a chapter every Wednesday chronicling his career from Wall Street trader to founding the award winning
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, October 06, 2009 7:42 AM

Charleston real estate year end outlook

Brr. It's actually cool, granted I'm a bit of a weather wimp but yesterday I wore a long sleeved shirt for probably the first time since March so it's a good time to take a look at the outlook for the Charleston real estate market for the
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 6 Comments
Monday, October 05, 2009 6:40 AM

There are [lots of lots] for sale in Charleston

Are you thinking about building your dream home in the Charleston area one day. Now just might be the perfect time to select a building lot because there are lots of lots available for sale right now and prices are down from just a few years ago. With
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Saturday, October 03, 2009 6:24 AM

All short sales aren't created equal

You might think that a lot of short sales are due to the combination of high unemployment (yesterday's report by the BLS was 9.8%) and homeowners who happened to buy their home at the top of the housing market and having to sell for less than what
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, October 01, 2009 10:53 AM

Charleston real estate market report, home prices, October 1, 2009

Even though sales declined in August from July, prices actually increased slightly month over month but of course were down on a year over year basis. But I think that rather on focus on what the median and average price may be, it is more important to
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments