Sandy's Blog

Home on Jack Nicklaus signature golf course in Long Bay.  A 3 bedroom 2 bath all brick home with large rooms and plenty of storage.  New roof, 3 year old HVAC and hot water heater with an asking price of $269,000.

Home in Little River, South Carolina for sale just five minutes from North Myrtle Beach with 3 BR 2 BA plus a bonus area loft.  Just about everything is new in and out with this home sitting on a double lot. Now Asking $139,000

The neighborhood of Pinebrook is a hidden gem with its entrance directly off of Hwy 17 which is close to everything North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach has to offer. The town of Little River begins at the state line of North and South Carolina so this home offers location, location, location.  

Community POA fees are only $45 per month and cover the swimming pool and trash pickup.  Cable TV is available in the neighborhood but there is a not easily seen satellite dish in the yard.  The large master suite and one guest bedroom are on the 1st floor.  The third huge bedroom and bonus loft area are upstairs (spiral staircase).  New appliances and a washer/dryer are included with the purchase of this home.   

After speaking with several other realtors it seems clear that the buyers who come to Myrtle Beach looking for real estate have begun to hesitate signing the contract to make an offer.  They may be people we have been working with for a long time or vacationers who decide they would like to take advantage of the fantastic deals available but when we find them exactly what they say they want, they hesitate and begin to second guess their real estate purchase.

Personally, I do not want anyone to purchase real estate today that they will not be happy with tomorrow or that they can not afford.  The sad thing is letting the chance of a lifetime pass bye and regreting it tomorrow.  

How is real estate moving in other parts of the country?

Since last year I had had three real estate sales in Brunswick County, North Carolina I decided it might be worth it to declare myself as my own Broker-In-Charge.  This week my license from the State of North Carolina arrived so yesterday I rejoined the Brunswick County Association of Realtors (BCAR) for access to the official MLS system for their North Carolina area and their lock boxes.

I will now need to purchase Errors and Omissions (E & O) insurance and find a North Carolina real estate attorney to put any earnest money checks into their trust account.  Many people have said, "Why bother?" because I was licensed, could take clients into North Carolina and represent them as I prepared the offer's to purchase agreements just as I do in South Carolina.  My thought is that I like to know the details about a property when I send my client a listing to take them to see a property.  Plus, who wants to run all over town picking up keys to homes or condos you want to show.

I will be taking my clients to Calabash, Carolina Shores, Sunset Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, and Shallotte, North Carolina.  

I recently took some clients to North Beach Plantation and we all felt like we had arrived at a Caribbean luxury resort and since it is such a unique neighborhood in North Myrtle Beach you may want to know what it has to offer.

North Beach Plantation spreads from Hwy 17 to the ocean beside 48^th Ave. S in the Windy Hill section of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A private beach with no street to cross as you walk or use your golf cart type vehicle through the Plantation to the beach.

Oceanfront condos are available in the Towers and single family homes are clustered in their own neighborhoods within the North Beach Plantation.

The Cinzia Spa, a Fitness Center, a Lounge / Restaurant and more make North Beach Plantation a place to consider as home.  The Cinzia Spa has 17,000 square feet within the grand Plantation building and presently has a physician on site. The Spa is not included within the low monthly POA fees but the huge state-of-the-art Fitness Center is included (personal trainers and aerobic exercise classes are available for a fee).

The Towers offer one to five bedroom units while the Bridge between them is actually a lounge and restaurant. In the fall of 2010 an up-scale restaurant will open in the grand Plantation building for an additional dining experience.

Single family homes are now available in the Appleton Neighborhood and the Cottages on Margaret. Some areas that are marked on the North Beach Plantation - Plan as future development are actually under development and they include a single family home neighborhood closest to the ocean that has plans for a gated entrance.

I hold a real estate agent license in South and a real estate broker license in North Carolina, have membership in the National Association of Realtors, the South Carolina Assocation of Realtors, the Coastal Carolina Association of Realtors and until a few months ago the Brunswick County Association of Realtors in NC.   Both States require a Broker-In-Charge over each office to be responsible for the agents and / or  brokers who are affiliated with that office. 

When I changed real estate company affiliation I kept all my licenses and memberships but because my new Broker-In-Charge, even though licensed in North Carolina, was not a member of the Brunswick Association of Realtors, I had to give up my membership.  Now I have to go to the North Carolina  Real Estate Commission and declair myself as Broker-In-Charge and pay very high Broker fees just to have access to their inner MLS system.  The sad thing is anyone can access the public site for the MLS listings but you have to be a Broker member to access additional details about property listings that are vital when I am showing my clients properties in Brunswick County, North Carolina. 

After five years of working on my websites, blogs, and networking my friends, site visitors, associates and Realtors from around the Country are sending me referrals of people interested in purchasing real estate in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina coastal Grand Strand area.

The work never ends and the almost 24 / 7 schedule is not for those who want an easy task.  While many other real estate agents have disappeared those of us who evolved into the internet are still here.  Many late nights sitting at the computer trying to tell the world what it wants to know is much harder then taking people out to view real estate but it is paying off with more then just direct contacts from buyers and sellers.   How?  Referrals, referrals and more referrals! 

I recently received a call from a man who wanted to look at real estate in the Myrtle Beach area.  He gave me his list of "must have" so I did a search and emailed listings to him.  He called me again and said for me to make sure the houses were in neighborhoods with friendly people that didn't have an attitude. 

After explaining that even though I was familiar with a neighborhood I had no way of knowing the personality of the residents.  I suggested that once he choose a few neighborhoods he should spend some time walking around them and introducing himself to the residents.  His reaction was that he didn't want to go walking up to strangers and how dare I suggest such a thing.  After he yelled, "Just forget it!" I said, "I already have" and hung up the phone.

It sounded like he was the type of person he didn't want to live near and I wouldn't want to either.  People who are used to the big cities and people with attitude need to realize most people who want to retire in the Myrtle Beach area want to leave all that nonsense somewhere else.

Everyone who wants to buy real estate, especially in a coastal area, has an idea of the perfect property.  Many during the current market think that a foreclosure or short-sale automatically means they are getting the best deal so they are asking for a "fixer-upper".  The facts that those of us working in the Myrtle Beach area have discovered are a foreclosure or short-sale could be a new construction and if any foreclosure or short-sale was a purchase made during the "boom" in real estate they may be priced well above a similar property selling normally.

Custom all brick home with over 3100 square feet under roof on the Jack Nicklaus signature golf course at Long Bay Club.  Minutes from North Myrtle Beach a beautiful neighborhood of custom homes ranging from fifteen years old to brand new.  3 BR 2 BA Asking Price $269,000