Sandy's Blog

During the past two days I have been contacted by five potential real estate buyers, one of them was through ActiveRain:) so I have been busy emailing listings and information.

I have also been working on my web site and this morning I added the ability to search for Foreclosures through the official MLS.  You have to bring up the MLS Search page, click "Stipulation of Sale List" to add Foreclosures to your search criteria but my search is real-time directly from the Coastal Carolina Association of Realtors (CCAR) official MLS system and not a feed through a third party.  Later today I went into my Google webmaster dashboard and created a Google Base where you can be found by search engines even if you don't have a web site. 

Visit my web site Myrtle Beach Real Estate

If you have even seen a hamster on a wheel in its cage you'll know that they run as hard as they can but they stay in the same place.  I'm beginning to think some portions of our real estate market don't know how to get off the wheel and out of the cage. 

Many of us that have applied for a mortgage may have heard the word "underwriters".  They are the ones who actually approve or disapprove the loan, prepare the lending package, and send it to the place where the closing (settlement) takes place.  Some lenders have "in-house underwriters" which may help a bit but lately we're hearing the word "underwriters" days before the scheduled closing as the entire mortgage loan is cancelled.  The reason has nothing to do with the people applying for the mortgage, it has to do with the lender not accepting the appraisal done by the appraiser they hired or the lender only allowing comparables that had sold and closed within the past year in the same neighborhood.  Comparables within a couple of miles radius would not be acceptable.   Those examples were from national mortgage lenders.

"Appraisers" had become a bad word because appraisals can be much lower then the true value since appraisers got into trouble during the "boom" and they are using foreclosures as the comparables.  "Underwriters" following the lender's requirements or their own may take over the bad word status as people remember who started the problems in the real estate market. 

Myrtle Beach Real Estate

This morning I had an appointment with a video photographer to shoot a promotional video to replace the one I have on YouTube.com/Coldwell Banker.   Since today is a Saturday l wondered if the Life Guard who was in my first promo would even be on duty.  My second thought was before 10:00 A.M. there would not be many people on the beach.  I was wrong on both counts, since the Life Guard and a crowd of people had already taken their places for a day at the beach.

I think I had my "fifteen minutes of fame" after the camera was set up and I began to speak, people began to stop and look.  You could almost hear what they were thinking.  It was fun but only for the moment. 

I was on the Coldwell Banker site for agents and saw a link for an article from The Wall Street Journal and when I opened it I was shocked.  Here's a link to the article "What's With All the Moaning about Home Appraisals?" 

Here's my blog comment to that article:

• 9:57 pm July 12, 2009
• Sandy Keller wrote:

I am very disappointed with the Wall Street Journal for allowing publication of an article written by someone who does not have a clue about the subject. I worked for the Federal Government in Washington, D.C., was President and CEO of several corporations, and now I am one of those Realtors that you want to blame for moaning about appraisals. Since lenders and the media started the problem with the housing market common sense should have you and the lenders lead the way back, not to the "boom" but to a normal market. Recently the lenders own underwriters are not accepting appraisals done by appriaers hired directly by the lender. Lenders are using appraisers from other States. Entire communities are losing value if there has been one or two foreclosures. You need to do your homework and stop blaming Realtors.

If you are planning to obtain a mortgage when you purchase a condo be prepared to put down at least 25% or your mortgage will have additional fees. 

Fannie Mae has implemented two new mortgage fees:   Condo Buyers .75% add on fee and an additional 1.75% fee for Investors and they are applicable to loans that exceed 75% of the condo value.  If you are able to pay at least 25% of the condo value the fees are not applicable.

Note:  Loan-to-value may not be based on the purchase price, it will probably be based on the mortgage companies appraisal and appraisers are coming in with some low amounts based on the market. 

Today is Saturday, June 13, 2009 and Myrtle Beach is booming with vacationers.  They seemed a bit slow coming to town this year but during the past few days they must have decided this was the place where they wanted to come for some R & R.

Myrtle Beach is a place where we have visitors, snowbirds, golfers, and second home owners all year long but there is an increase in traffic during the summer months. 

One helpful tip if you are planning to visit Myrtle Beach in the summer and do not like to wait in line at a restaurant or you have children with you when it is dinner time.  Be at the door by 5:00 P.M. or 4:30 P.M. if they happen to open early.   

Less then a year ago I took some clients to a housing community being built by a large national home building company in the coastal southeastern area of North Carolina.  The on-site salesperson told me that there were discounts available for standing inventory plus the builder gave additional upgrades at no cost to the Buyer when they were represented by their own Realtor because it was good PR and that Realtor would probably bring more Buyers.  My clients insisted on making an offer much less then the "Asking Price".  I had to hide my surprize when it was accepted. 

Last week I talked to the same salesperson and told her that within a few days I would be bringing some potential buyers to her development.  She said the builder probably wouldn't approve a deal as great as my former clients had received but she would put together a packet of standing inventory homes that had some potential for price negotiation because she was going to be out of the office when we were scheduled to visit.

Yesterday I took my clients to the development and there was no packet.  Another very nice salesperson took us to see the standing investory homes.  After looking at a few other developments my clients wanted to go back to the first one and make an offer on one of the standing inventory homes.  They had decided on an offer amount based on resent sales data I had provided.  The response from the builder was "NO, we're not accepting anything less than the posted Asking Price."  That was it, period, no counter, no make a better offer, nothing.  I was embarrassed and do not plan to include that neighborhood in what I show my clients unless they specifically ask to see their homes.

PS - We found a house in another new development tonight and our offer was accepted by the builder.

Todays buyer clients found my website Myrtle Beach Real Estate after looking on ActiveRain. 

The News today is that the NAACP is trying to block the ACC Baseball conference from coming to Myrtle Beach because they have a problem with the State of South Carolina.  They say there is an ongoing boycott by the NAACP against the State based on the Confederate Flag at the capital. That boycott has evidently been in place for years but has not been mentioned since its inception.  Blocking college baseball in Myrtle Beach when nothing has been said by the NAACP to participants coming to the Atlantic Beach Bike Rally that is held annually caused me to be confused.  Boycotting a few days of baseball or having the games moved to another State is not going to hurt the Capital it's going to hurt the people.  

BB&T Coastal Field in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina will host the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) five day baseball tournament annually on Wednesday through Sunday during the Memorial Day weekend each May of 2011, 2012 and 2013.  The games usually draw over 70,000 fans and will be a great benefit to the local economy.

In 2009 the tournament location is Durham, North Carolina and 2010 the location is Greensboro, North Carolina then Myrtle Beach is set for the following three years.

Myrtle Beach Real Estate

According to a May 5, 2009 article on Forbes.com - Indicators point to a fast approaching end date: May 2009.  It appears that several indicators are favorable for a turn around in the economy. 

Also on May 5, 2009 the state Supreme Court in South Carolina temporarily stopped thousands of pending foreclosure sales.  The ruling involves properties guaranteed by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae or a mortgage company that has signed up for a federal assistance program.  In the Myrtle Beach area the majority of foreclosures are second or vacation homes that do not normally qualify for any assistance programs and they were not addressed in the court ruling.