Plantation Lakes Blog!

It can feel a little like a trip to the shore in springtime, before the summer sun has warmed the water. The water might be okay—but it also might be bone-chilling! Most Myrtle Beach residents will choose caution, and stick their toe in, first…

Deciding whether to buy a house when you have been renting for a while means taking a much more significant plunge. And there’s no way to test the waters, either: you’re either going to buy a Myrtle Beach house or, you aren’t. It’s in or out. And it’s also a deeply personal decision.

Momentum can be a deciding factor. Many people defer buying a home because it comprises such a major change. Especially if they are satisfied with their current rental—and even more if buying a house would make them homeowners for the first time —it would seem to require a major event to get them motivated.

There actually has been something like a major event, but it’s a slow-moving one that doesn’t rate banner headlines in the newspapers. It’s not an earthquake, or fire, or outbreak of war or pestilence. It’s simply a finding by the Federal Reserve. They published it in their triennial Survey of Consumer Finances. It states:

“In the past 15 years, the net worth of the typical homeowner has ranged between 31 and 46 times that of the net worth of the typical renter.”

It’s a simple fact that homeowner equity is a substantial component of homeowner wealth. And you can’t build equity without…well, buying a house!

Many thoughtful would-be Myrtle Beach homeowners have hesitated during the last few years as the logical result of the tumble of residential real estate. If you didn’t have to sell your home, that part of the financial turmoil may have caused scare headlines, but was an otherwise abstract event. But if you had to move and sell, it could have been painfully real (unless you immediately bought another house at an equally depressed price level).

The real estate recovery that is still under way is a less jarring, slow-moving event—much less of a headline-maker. But the financial reality the Fed points to is surprisingly relevant. It was conducted in 2013, after the housing industry meltdown. Homeowner wealth registered a full 36 times the net worth of renters. Evidently, the financial wisdom of buying a house seems to remain a constant, no matter what!

Buying a house in Myrtle Beach is a traditional way of building a solid financial picture, but it’s also a source of pride and family cohesiveness. If you have been thinking about wading into homeownership this spring, I hope you won’t hesitate to give me a call. I have all the information you’ll need to decide if the water feels fine to you!

In today’s globalized economy, purchasing a foreign property has become an option for Myrtle Beach buyers who in earlier times would never have even considered it. As an investment, a vacation or retirement property, or as an accommodation for children studying abroad, there are many reasons why you might decide to look into purchasing a property outside of the Myrtle Beach market. Here are some general tips for how to go about making a real estate purchase overseas:

1. Research the Foreign Market

Research the local real estate market carefully. Its cycles and trends are likely to be markedly different from ours here in Myrtle Beach. Don’t assume that because real estate prices are on the rise here, the same is true in any given foreign market. You should also step back to make a realistic appraisal of the overall stability of the country’s economy—it will affect your investment.

2. Check the Laws Regarding Foreign Ownership

Many countries place ownership restrictions on foreigners. It’s a favorite ploy of fraudsters to “sell” foreign property in markets were non-citizens are not legally allowed to own…and it’s only one good reason why you will be wise to—

3. Retain an Independent Local Lawyer

You will want to consult a lawyer when purchasing any foreign property. That lawyer should be representing you and you alone. Make sure you can communicate clearly and easily with your lawyer, and that your queries are answered in a timely manner. If you find yourself having major difficulty in selecting the lawyer, that may indicate more serious issues to come.

4. Visit the Property

You or a trusted representative should visit the property before buying. This may sound like a no-brainer, but persuasive pitches and affordable prices can be powerful inducements. Photos, videos, and other marketing materials are designed to present the property (or even a nearby property!) in the best possible light. At a minimum, have a friend or family member look over and photograph the actual site. You need to be firm in your insistence that the property lives up to your expectations.

5. Plan for Changes in the Exchange Rate

Unless you are purchasing the foreign property outright, you may be contracting to make payments over decades—years during which exchange rates might shift significantly—impacting the actual total purchase price. Too, if you are paying for the property outright in cash, there can be a delay between when you agree to the purchase price and when the funds are transferred.

6. Translate all Documentation

Once you have signed the foreign property transfer documents, you will be legally obligated to abide by all its terms, so before signing any documents, make sure that they have been accurately translated. Even relatively small differences in wording can create problems.

Purchasing a foreign property can be a legitimate way to diversify your real estate holdings. Approach the foreign market carefully, do your research, and have the right local representation. But before you make a final decision, think about giving me a call to see how today’s comparable Myrtle Beach properties compare!

A 2013 National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Google survey found that 68% of people looking to buy a home found themselves using one or another of today’s popular mobile apps at some time during their odyssey. 2013 was ancient history in terms of the ascendance of mobile devices, so you’d have to guess that today’s percentage must be well north of that. It’s not surprising, since Google Maps (or one of the navigation programs built into many new autos) is becoming so indispensable for locating unfamiliar addresses.

Most of the time, I accompany clients on tours of the listed homes in Myrtle Beach they’re interested in checking out; but there are other occasions when they do some investigating on their own. With the sheer number of apps designed to aid in such endeavors, it's good to know which apps actually help (those that won't just take up space on your smart phone).

Need to know more specifics about the Myrtle Beach neighborhoods you’re considering? Although it’s primarily thought of as a traveler’s aid, the AroundMe app can be a handy house hunter’s timesaver. You can canvass the immediate area to see how close you are to banks, gas stations, restaurants, hospitals, movie theaters, bistros, and much more. This is a great app to use when you're trying to narrow down your choices between multiple locations. AroundMe is free and available for iPad, iPhone, Android, and Windows devices.

You want to comprehensively check out the Myrtle Beach listed homes that fall within your search parameters—but as the number of possibilities expands, that can become a mind-numbing exercise. Unless you have encyclopedic recall, after visiting many listed homes it becomes more and more likely that you will forget what it was that you liked or disliked about each one, or even to mix up the details of one with another’s. Enter House Hunter, an app that lets you keep score of each home as you view it. The app comes with a standard list of features that you can customize. As you view each home, check off and rate each feature—you’ll wind up with an overall score for comparison. House Hunter costs $3.99 for iOS devices.

Even before any serious house hunting begins, it's a good idea to get pre-approved for a mortgage. Once you know the loan amount you will qualify for, the Mortgage Calculator app from Quicken Loans helps you approximate—on the spot—the monthly payments for listed homes. Simply enter the insurance payment and property tax information along with the interest rate to give you a good approximation of the monthly amount different homes will cost. The Mortgage Calculator is free for both iOS and Android devices.

Between your real estate agent and your smartphone, today’s house hunters can capture and digest more information about the listed homes in Myrtle Beach than was common just a few short years ago. More apps seem to be appearing almost every week, so if you decide to give me a call to begin investigating today’s market, I’ll let you know if any of the newest ones are getting rave reviews!

In the weeks before you decide which of our local real estate agents will represent you and your home once it goes on the market, you’re probably looking for a Myrtle Beach Realtor® with the qualities that make a great sales person: knowledgeability, directness, personality, trustworthiness. Likeability is always helpful, but it’s only one among many qualifications. This is a business decision, and an important one for you and your family.

Then, the instant you make your selection, the landscape changes completely! You are no longer on your own: you and your Myrtle Beach real estate agent are members of a team that’s ready to get to work on the project. You both want your home on and off the market as quickly as possible, so the smoother the workflow with your real estate agent goes, the better.

Your real estate agent will already be hard at work assembling the marketing program that will attract prospects from near and far, but you can be helpful even with that effort. It’s the first of three key ideas that are often pointed to as key contributions owners can make:

Help your agent with unique selling points

What makes your home different from all the others that will be listed for sale? Every property has unique selling points that don’t fit into the standard check boxes, so let your agent know. Qualified agents are already thoroughly familiar with Myrtle Beach’s broad attractions, but you’ve experienced specific advantages to living in this home, in this neighborhood. Each selling point is another facet that could fire a buyer’s imagination. Having a rich store of real life anecdotes to draw upon will strengthen your agent’s ability to put your home in the limelight.

Keep it cozy without clutter

Most times, an owner is still living at home, so your Myrtle Beach real estate agent will be working with what you have available when it comes to furniture and home décor. It’s a strongpoint when prospective buyers are able to project themselves into being the comfortable homeowners. If they’re prevented from envisioning your home as their own, they’ll be out the door and onto the next! Clearing away personal items helps with that—and keeping the clutter level low increases the sense of spaciousness. If buyers see an overstuffed closet, they’ll sense a house that lacks storage space. If kitchen counters are cluttered, they’ll think the space is too small.

Be flexible with your schedule

Your real estate agent lists your house, makes sure to market it in all the many venues available, arranges open houses and showings, and spreads the word throughout the industry. During this part of the process, you help greatly by being as flexible as possible when it comes to showings. Sometimes potential buyers may seem to be placing insensitive scheduling burdens on the team—but as any serious-minded house hunter can tell you, they have their own scheduling issues, too!

Selling a home is a team effort, for sure; one you can decide to launch with a simple phone call to me at my office!

In Myrtle Beach real estate as in many other businesses, successfully drawing the public’s attention, then communicating value, are what separate can-do practitioners from the pack. It’s pigeonholed under “marketing” instead of “selling” because the latter sounds more like a one-on-one activity, whereas “marketing” depicts the kind of effort that goes out to the world at large.

The past couple of decades have produced sea changes in the way Myrtle Beach real estate brokers and agents need to approach their marketing approach. It’s not just the way all the advertising and communications media have been transformed; it’s also the expectations of the people they are intended to reach—the buyers. When a homeowner intends to put his home up for sale, one way to insure success is to be aware of the elements that make up any marketing plan designed to take advantage of today’s 2015 Myrtle Beach real estate marketplace.

• Technology is at the forefront of good marketing, and today’s Realtors® can choose to put it to their clients’ advantage. A responsive website, striking visuals, good content, and specific details to accompany their business cards, brochures, and other traditional marketing materials build more than their own brand—they launch every client’s Myrtle Beach real estate listing across the virtual Universe!
• Today’s real estate market rewards creativity more than was hitherto the norm. Because the web has made so much information so accessible, having a knack for standing apart from the crowd is more important than ever. Using techniques to attract attention is the first step in guaranteeing marketing success, so understanding search engine optimization (and using that knowledge regularly) is vital. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I make sure to post this blog regularly!
• A social media presence is a must for anyone conducting real estate in Myrtle Beach —and it just so happens that it’s the perfect venue for Realtors® to shine. It’s a very personal (well, not quite an in-the-flesh handshake—but as personal as electronics allow!) way to expand networks and engage people in a diverse cross section of prospective audiences.
• Using electronic and social media is part of the story, but monitoring their effectiveness (“the metrics”) is a necessity to track how well they are working. By tracking this information and using the results to take advantage of what works best, every Myrtle Beach real estate client shares in maximizing their listing’s exposure.

Effective real estate marketing uses ongoing research—and the strategy and energetic tactics that reach out to take advantage of the whole spectrum of today’s communication resources.

If you are thinking of listing your own home, I hope you’ll give me a call to see all that I can do for you!

Just as the kitchen is a magnet for family activity, when a Myrtle Beach home goes up for sale, it’s the one room guaranteed to get rapt attention at every showing. Older Myrtle Beach homes can be at something of a disadvantage here, especially when structural design elements prohibit their being transformed into one of today’s popular airy open plan kitchens.

Perhaps you've already taken a paintbrush to your cabinets to give them a new look, or discovered the transformative power of inexpensive subway tile on a dingy backsplash. If your kitchen is still looking a bit uninspired, enhance it before the home showings start with a final inexpensive tweak or two.

Where empty wall space is present, you may be able to create additional storage space. Open shelving is a trendy look that’s both aesthetically pleasing and functional. A blank wall can be transformed by installing rustic wooden or sleek metal shelving units…but with one proviso: open shelving does double duty as display space—and that’s no place for mismatched or over-the-hill china and glassware!

A little of the right kind of handiwork can go a long way toward adding some 21st Century features to an aging Myrtle Beach home. Where an outlet is handy, transform a cabinet shelf into a docking station for smartphones and tablets. A small wall-mounted flat screen monitor can bring TV (or web video) to liven up the area. Hooks mounted near a back door can be made available for hanging backpacks, grocery bags, keys, or leashes. A bottom kitchen drawer can be transformed into a rollout pet feeding station.

No matter what else, it’s a plus whenever a kitchen space can clearly function as a gathering place as well as the meal preparation hub. It may be as simple as placing stools on one side of an island, adding a pub table and chairs, or transforming a neglected corner into a coffee station (those Keurigs make it a snap!)—giving your Myrtle Beach home yet another spot for a family to congregate.

The National Association of the Remodeling Industry reported that kitchens were the top remodeling project in last year. In fact, 82% of NARI members stated that kitchen remodels represent their primary work—and I think we can guess what the results for 2015 will be. It makes a good argument for putting in a little elbow grease and creativity to spruce up the kitchen before you put your Myrtle Beach home up for sale.

You can also give me a call: I’m pleased to do a no-obligation walk-through for my feedback on how your listing should fare in today’s market!

Inside Mortgage Finance is a periodical that precisely lives up to its name: Myrtle Beach residential real estate professionals can turn to it for the latest word on national trends inside the mortgage industry. Admittedly, this usually makes for pretty dull reading for outsiders (that is, everyone else); but one story in last week’s edition was interesting enough that it was picked up by the general business press.

The topic was jumbo loans. In Myrtle Beach real estate circles, the issuing of jumbo loans is of particular interest because of their indicator status. Jumbos are the ones with mortgage amounts exceeding the limits for government-backed loans. They’re also known as ‘nonconforming’—and like all the other non-conformists in life, they don’t quite behave like everyone else. Myrtle Beach jumbo loans tend to be slightly harder to qualify for than run-of-the-mill mortgages, and as a rule carry higher interest rates. If their share of the home loan market grows, it indicates that high-end home sales are improving.

And that’s what happened in the U.S. in 2014, according to IMF. “Jumbo Lending Stronger than Overall Market, Hits Highest Share in 10 Years” was the headline in a report that pegged fourth quarter jumbo loan volume at $67,000,000,000. That’s a lot of high-end real estate!

When The Wall Street Journal picked up the story, they pointed to a decrease in mortgage lending overall, but pointedly less so for jumbo loans. Bank of America reported a 3% growth in the number of first-time home buyers who took out jumbos in 2014—and applicants were a younger bunch, too: their average age decreased from 46 years to 44. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the largest jumbo provider, observed a similar trend: more first-timers taking out jumbo loans.

If this has local real estate watchers wondering whether the popularity of jumbo loans in Myrtle Beach will follow the national trend (and if so, why), there was at least one straightforward explanation. HSH, the housing and mortgage data firm, reported that by the end of this January, the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed jumbo mortgage “dropped below 4% and was at a historic low of 3.92%....” With rates like those, the WSJ wrote, “Low interest rates are spurring more older affluent Americans to consider a mortgage.”

You don’t have to be in the jumbo market to seize the financial advantages this winter’s favorable real estate climate offers. Just call me!

Home buyers direct a series of major decisions when it comes down to finalizing their Myrtle Beach property purchase. Among the most important are two with decisive ownership and financial consequences: who will be the primary borrower for the mortgage; and who will be named on the deed?

The answers to these questions are the opposite of the fine print details that few of owners ever need to concern themselves about. These cast defining roles in determining the eventual ownership of the Myrtle Beach property and in assigning financial responsibility for loan repayment.

Whose Name Goes On the Loan?

Determining who is to be the primary borrower may not be as simple as you would think. After all, one person might have the excellent credit needed to insure the best interest rate, while the other person currently brings in a higher annual income—providing the cash flow boost that enables a sufficient mortgage. It is often necessary for both members of a couple to sign on the dotted line to get a Myrtle Beach property financed. A loan officer will walk buyers through the process, explaining which combination will offer the greatest loan amount at the most favorable terms.

Whose Name Goes on the Deed?

It’s important to keep in mind that the deed is almost completely separate from the loan. Even if only one person signs for the loan, several people can be listed on the deed. Placing a name on the deed shares ownership of the property. That can be helpful in the event of an untimely death or to avoid probate during an estate settlement, but there can also be drawbacks.

Since those named on the deed share in title rights to the property, that can empower them to prevent a sale—and also leave the property vulnerable to their debts. That’s why it’s important to be clear about all outstanding obligations before adding people to a deed, lest a pre-existing debt result in a lien being filed against the property. It's also good to remember that until the loan is paid in full, the bank or lender also has an ownership interest, which is why the bank can take possession for non-payment.

Making the Decision

Making the most of your Myrtle Beach property is a continuing planning exercise that begins with these first ownership decisions. For individuals as well as couples, the multiple issues that come into play have financial and tax ramifications that merit careful consideration.

Before buttoning up those final decisions, I always advise clients to consult with their accountant and lawyer to get the whole story—it’s a story which begins with your first call to my office!

There is a seven-year window for some past Myrtle Beach homeowners—and it’s one that’s opening, not closing. The ‘window’ in question is the one that could activate Myrtle Beach “Boomerang Buyers”—which would come as good news for the local home sales.

Some background about Myrtle Beach Boomerang Buyers. It’s a term coined in the wake of the subprime mortgage fiasco, describing those burned by the housing crisis. They were, on the whole, Baby Boomers and GenXers who were caught up in the Great Recession. For many who became enmeshed in the effects of the nasty confluence of the cliff-dive of the subprime mortgage bond market and collapse of residential valuations that swept the nation, foreclosures or short sales became, literally, offers they couldn’t refuse. Not only did the bitter aftertaste leave many with a spoiled appetite for homeownership, but the damage done to the credit ratings of millions made that a moot point: they had fallen off the scale when it came to qualifying for a new mortgage.

But that was then; this is now. It’s a now that, in RealtyTrac Newsroom’s breathless phraseology, “the first wave of…homeowners who lost their home to foreclosure or short sale during the foreclosure crisis are now past the seven year window they conservatively need to repair their credit and qualify to buy a new home.”

Soon, more and more Boomerang Buyers in Myrtle Beach will be in the clear, if they choose to be; and they are only the first wave. “Nearly 7.3 million potential boomerang buyers nationwide will be in a position to buy again from a credit repair perspective over the next eight years,” says Newsroom. Bankrate, the mortgage and financial advice website, sees the group as particularly well-qualified. They quote a broker in North Carolina to that effect: “If you’ve been through a foreclosure, you’ve already been a homeowner…you know the process. You’ve been through hell sometime in the last seven years…”

That word ‘sometime’ is apt, because the seven year period has been anything but uniform. Guidelines for that “waiting period” have sometimes been three years for FHA qualifiers, or even shorter for portfolio loans that lenders keep on their own books. But whether it’s three or seven years, the clock usually starts ticking only when a foreclosure has been completed. But according to FICO, although a foreclosure remains on a credit report for seven years, “the negative impact will fade as time passes.”

For potential Myrtle Beach Boomerang Buyers still waiting for a foreclosure to disappear altogether from their credit reports, there are other routes that can lead to a homeownership reboot. For more on buying or selling, I’m always pleased to sit down and discuss some of the great opportunities in our current market!

The Myrtle Beach foreclosure situation is a good deal different from what we were discussing a few years ago when the tidal wave of 7.3 million foreclosures and short sales swept the nation. When The New York Times “Dealbook” recently pronounced that the supply of cheap foreclosed homes in America is dwindling, it came as news to…well, no one.

Let’s face it: Myrtle Beach investors wouldn’t need to look up the latest statistics to guess that number of offerings would be down. The continuing rebound in home values, slow but steady improvement in the overall economic picture, and even just the passage of time has to mean that the glut of subprime-crisis-era foreclosures would have worked their way through the system.

But there are always new foreclosures, and for anyone hoping to make a bargain buy in today’s Myrtle Beach foreclosure market, the same qualities that brought post-crisis success still apply today:

• Knowledge of (or willingness to research) comparable neighborhood values
• Realistic appreciation of rehabilitation costs
• Decisiveness (willingness to act swiftly)
• Ready access to investment capital

The principal difference in today’s Myrtle Beach foreclosure milieu is that far fewer are available, and the difference between market value and listing price has narrowed. There may be fewer competitors to worry about, but some are still out there, as always. Today sees fewer institutional investors—in fact, some are leaving the market altogether, taking their profits and selling out to groups more committed to long-term property management.

Aside from the qualities described, there is still no blanket formula for landing the best Myrtle Beach foreclosure deal. But among other observations, there are two that are worth considering.

First, despite the lessening of the impact institutional investors previously had on the market, it may still be necessary to prepare to offer more than the listed price. The dwindling number of foreclosed homes tends to create an imbalance between supply and demand. If other buyers are offering higher amounts than the asking price, it can easily result in a bidding war situation. As always, by researching underlying values, the best investors avoid foreclosure buys that wind up being little more than break-even propositions.

Another wrinkle to be aware of is the possibility of future cost increases. For instance, it can transpire that an investor succeeds in purchasing a property significantly below its true value, only to find that a reassessment by taxing authorities raises its property tax bill through the roof! Canny investors prevent this surprise by finding out how the local Assessor’s office sets rates and schedules appraisals.

The Myrtle Beach foreclosure picture changes constantly. If you are interested in the investment possibilities—or are looking for a buy on your next home—don’t hesitate to give me a call to discuss the latest offerings!