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July 2010 - Posts

Saturday, July 31, 2010 6:21 AM

Charleston home sales from the lows to the highs to where next?

Aside from normal seasonal trends, home sales in the Charleston real estate market has been pretty much a roller coaster ride for the past two years as seen by the chart below. Highlights: Stock market begins a serious slide led down by financial sector.
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Friday, July 30, 2010 8:35 AM

Maintain your curb appeal if you're selling your home in Charleston

My home isn't for sale ... yet (but I'll let you know when it is). With this summer's hot temperatures and lots of rain, flowers and shrubs are either growing wild or dying and if your home has been for sale in Charleston for a few months
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, July 29, 2010 6:51 AM

Can America refi its way out of the housing mess

An interesting post by Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture got my attention. Barry dismissed the idea of changing the loan to value requirements for refinancing to stimulate the economy suggested by Morgan Stanley economist David Greenlaw because lowering
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 7:47 AM

Charleston home buyers want pictures and detailed information

Would you buy this home based on this listing information? Today's Charleston home buyers start their search for homes online. They want lots of pictures and detailed information to determine if they might be interested in a home. Of course, sometimes
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 7:34 AM

Fall listing special - FREE pre inspection

Sure, it's summer and the heat index is over 100 degrees but here's a cool deal if you're thinking of selling your home in Charleston this fall. If you list your home with me before September 30, 2010, I will pay for a pre inspection. A pre
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Monday, July 26, 2010 6:54 AM

Home sales all around the Charleston area

Some Mount Pleasant real estate agents probably only sell in Mount Pleasant and some Summerville real estate agents might specialize in Summerville and occasionally sell a home in Goose Creek or North Charleston. And I'm sure there are some Charleston
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Saturday, July 24, 2010 6:36 AM

Charleston places third in Travel and Leisure's world's best cities awards

Travel and Leisure readers awarded Charleston 3rd place behind New York City and San Francisco as the world's best city in North America. Not only is Charleston a great place to visit but it is even a better place to live. Visit and find out why and
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Friday, July 23, 2010 7:03 AM

[planning and preparation]Consider a home inspection before listing your home for sale in Charleston

I doubt very many people who are thinking about selling their home in Charleston wake up in the morning and try to find the best Charleston real estate agent to put their home on the market that day. Or in a totally unrelated subject that is a post for
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Thursday, July 22, 2010 6:32 AM

Charleston short sale tales [contract addendum]

I'm showing a home in Mount Pleasant indicated to be a possible short sale today which is attractively priced at about 15 to 20 percent below market (I know some people want to be able to buy a short sale at 50 percent off but that isn't going
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 9:45 AM

How this Charleston real estate agent stays cool this summer

Sometimes, it isn't easy. The other day, I showed a lender owned home on Daniel Island to a client and of course, the electricity was turned off and that means no air conditioning. It was blazing hot. And with temperatures in the 90's for 40 of
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Monday, July 19, 2010 7:59 AM

The Charleston real estate market is busy

Observations from the weekend. The Charleston real estate market is busy ... and of course, that's a good thing. Yesterday, I showed several homes to an out of town buyer who will be relocating to Charleston in the next 6 months to a year. One of
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Saturday, July 17, 2010 6:15 AM

Charleston MLS listings to be more accurate

... beginning in August. Charleston real estate agents have rules and regulations to follow when listing homes for sale in the Charleston MLS. Sometimes, the listings don't have pictures, good directions or complete and allowable information so the
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Friday, July 16, 2010 7:02 AM

AgentOwned led all major Charleston real estate agencies in year over year sales increase

The AgentOwned Realty Co. isn't a familiar name to many people considering relocating to Charleston. AgentOwned is the second largest Charleston real estate agency but based on residential sales during the first half of this year, AgentOwned led all
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Thursday, July 15, 2010 7:00 AM

Search Charleston homes for sale with a new map based search

In my continuing effort to offer the best Charleston MLS search experience for Charleston house hunters, I discovered a new map based IDX search solution developed by some very tech savvy geeks (and of course I mean that affectionately) who live right
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 6:18 AM

Over half of Charleston homes for sale fail to sell

Even though it's been a very good first half of the year for home sales in the Charleston real estate market, there is still a lot of inventory and the basic reason is that more than two homes are listed for sale in the Charleston MLS for every home
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Monday, July 12, 2010 7:22 AM

A new look for CharlestonOnlineHomes

I've had this website since 2003 and have rarely changed the basic look. I've been very fortunate to have received many compliments from visitors regarding the content and how easy it is to navigate and most everyone enjoys the fact that no registration
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Saturday, July 10, 2010 6:23 AM

Charleston monthly home sales top 1000 in June

... for the first time since July and August of 2007 when monthly home sales totalled 1190 and 1180 respectively. It's certainly a reason to celebrate. The other day, I indicated in my monthly newsletter that June would be another good month in the
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Friday, July 09, 2010 7:05 AM

If you're searching the Charleston MLS, what's most important to you

With the news that Trulia and Zillow have partnered their real estate searches with CNN Money and Yahoo respectively, I wonder what is most important to the Charleston house hunter who is searching online for homes for sale in Charleston. Accuracy Easy
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, July 08, 2010 7:39 AM

Garage picture fun from the Charleston MLS

Sometimes it seems like all you see on a streetscape are a lot of big white garage doors. And for a Charleston real estate agent listing a home for sale, it's sometimes difficult to get a good picture of the front of the home without having the garage
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Wednesday, July 07, 2010 5:32 AM

Seasonal trends in the Charleston real estate market

There is a spring selling season in real estate and while people buy and sell homes throughout the year, more do so in spring than any other time. A glance at the chart to the left shows that immediately after the Holiday season, interest starts strong
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, July 06, 2010 6:09 AM

Charleston real estate market report, sales, inventory and home prices, July 6, 2010

It was another banner month in the Charleston real estate market during May with the highest number of sales in three years. But a sneak peak ahead will show that June will be even better with 956 sales, 19 percent higher than June of 2009 and beating
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Sunday, July 04, 2010 6:27 AM

Happy Birthday America, it's the 4th of July

... and the weather today in Charleston is absolutely fantastic. It's a great day to go to the pool and grill out. Enjoy and be safe!
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Saturday, July 03, 2010 7:01 AM

[Discounts to retail] what are distressed homes for sale in Charleston really selling for

RealtyTrac recently released a report analyzing the average discount for foreclosures and short sales to retail sales and my friend Jonathan Dalton didn't think the numbers indicating distressed sales at a 30 percent discount seemed kosher based on
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 1 Comments
Friday, July 02, 2010 6:37 AM

Charleston mortgage report, the trend is your friend

It has been just an amazing trend in mortgage rates over the past 3 months and as they say, the trend is your friend. According to Holden Lewis at Bankrate , "the last time mortgage loan rates were this low, Grace Kelly wasn't yet a princess".
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Thursday, July 01, 2010 7:02 AM

What does Canada Day and the Charleston real estate blog have in common

Pictures, or actually a lack of them. Yesterday, I noticed that some of the pictures on the Charleston real estate blog weren't viewable so I called my website provider and wound up on hold for a while waiting for customer service until I hung up
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments