Fake Seller/Fake Buyer Scam Alert – Sale of Vacant Lots

The South Carolina Real Estate Commission has made us aware of a rise in fraudulent sales and mortgages, most commonly associated with vacant lots.

The scam targets unencumbered, vacant lots owned by persons out of state.

If you know of someone who has been a victim of an attempt to sell their property without their consent, please contact the FBI to report the fraudulent activities and get assistance in stopping the perpetrator.

More information regarding contacting the FBI can be found at the following link: https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/safety-resources/scams-and-safety.

Charleston, SC - January 26, 2023

The Post & Courier reported today that construction on the new access road to Charleston International Airport could begin by mid-2024, after South Carolina officials committed to help fund the nearly $144 million project.

Read more here.

Interested in learning more about Charleston, SC? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

JANUARY 2023 EVENTS

It’s January… the start of 2023! It’s a quieter month, with fewer major holidays, events and festivals than the flurry we experienced in November and December. Nonetheless, in January we celebrate New Year’s Day (1st), National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day (9th), Martin Luther King Jr. Day (celebrated on the 18th), the Chinese New Year - the Year of the Rabbit (22nd - February 5th), plus some other holidays listed here. We have polar bear plunges on the 1st, oyster roasts and food festivals throughout the month - such as Charleston Restaurant Week (12th-22nd), Taste of Folly (13th-14th) and the Lowcountry Oyster Festival (29th) - plus the Charleston Boat Show ...

JANUARY 2023 NEWS

SC’s Largest Economic Development Investment To-date Coming to Berkeley County

Redwood Materials, a domestic recycler of lithium-ion batteries and re-manufacturer of anode and cathode battery components for electric vehicles, will invest $3.5 billion to establish a new Battery Materials Campus and a “circular supply chain for electric vehicles” on a 600-acre site in Ridgeville in Berkeley County. This is the largest economic development announcement in the state’s history and one that will create 1,500 new jobs, help address the need for domestic sourcing of supply, and drive down costs and emissions. Groundbreaking is planned for early 2023 and the first recycli...

In real estate we take it for granted that demand and supply drive home prices up or down. However, recent market behavior in some markets in the U.S. are defying this assumption!

The following is an excerpt from a blog post by CalculatedRisk.com which shows that the last few months home prices fell in some markets DESPITE their low inventory level compared to their level of demand (the Months of Inventory Index measures the relationship between demand and supply. We consider a 6 months supply a "balanced or neutral" market. Below 5 months it is a "sellers' market" (undersupplied) and above 7 months a "buyers' market" (oversupplied). 

----

House Prices and Inventory
This graph below sho...

December 2022 Events

It’s December… and the holiday season is upon us, with Chanukah (12/18 - 12/26), Christmas (12/25), Kwanzaa (12/26 - 1/1) and New Year’s Eve (12/31), plus some other holidays listed here! There’s a great mix of traditional and new events happening across the Lowcountry to help us celebrate, including holiday craft workshops, markets, parades, performances, tree lightings and visits with Santa. You can even pick from a number of interpretations of The Nutcracker. New this year are Spiegeltent (12/1-30) at The Gaillard Center in downtown Charleston and Skate the Stadium (most Thursdays - Sundays) at the CapitalOne Stadium on Daniel Island. Summerville also cele...

$1 Billion Medical Campus Planned for North Charleston

Roper St. Francis Healthcare is planning to invest $1 billion to develop a major medical facility on 27 acres along Mall Drive in North Charleston that would replace its current downtown complex as part of its 2030 strategic plan. It is expected to consist of a new full-service hospital with an emergency room on the site of the former city hall as well as a medical office building with specialty care and outpatient facilities across the street and next to the new city hall. The complex, which could require five or so years for completion, would have easy access to I-26, I-526 and rapid transit. Read more here.

FAA Designation Gran...

November 2022 Events

It’s November, Native American Heritage Month, and here comes cooler weather, more festivals (some are new!), seasonal holidays and related events! There’s the Coastal Carolina Fair (1st-7th), AfroSouth Film Festival (4th-6th), Charleston Literary Festival (4th-13th), 51st Annual Charleston Scottish Games and Highland Gathering (5th), 1st Annual Charleston Oyster Week (6th-18th), 16th Annual Nuovo Cinema Italiano Film Festival (10th-13th), YallFest young adult book festival (11th-12th), Annual Holiday Festival of Lights (11th-12/31) and other festivals.  Holidays this month include Election Day (8th), Veterans Day (11th), Thanksgiving (24th) and some fun ones...

NOVEMBER 2022 NEWS

Kudos to Charleston… Again & Again & Again!

Charleston continues to earn accolades and not just for our visitor appeal. Just last month, we earned the top spot in Condé Nast Traveler’s 2022 Reader’s Choice Awards for the Best Small City for our history, culture, food and charm. This follows on the heels of other recent rankings, including: #1 Top U.S. City by Travel + Leisure (10 years running), #1 Best Place to Retire by WalletHub, #1 Minor League Sports Market by Sports Business Journal, #2 Most Profitable City for rental property owners by HomeAdvisor and #19 Best Foodie City by WalletHub. Read more here.

Our Growing Manufacturing Base

Sweet Grass Vodk...

If you’re planning to sell your house this year, you likely have questions about what the shift in the housing market means for your home sale.

You might be wondering:

Should I wait to sell?

Are any buyers still out there?

And can I afford to buy my next home?

Let’s connect so you can get answers to these questions and learn about the opportunities you still have in today’s housing market.

Call/text 843-900-0155 to get a one-on-one, personalized appointment with us. 

Charleston Voted the No. 1 Place to Retire by Wallethub

Cities in Florida still take nearly half of the top spots, according to WalletHub’s 2022 Best and Worst Places to Retire survey. This year Charleston, SC edged out Orlando, FL as the top place to retire in the country! The survey assumes that retirees will live on a fixed income and ranked 182 cities based on four key categories of equal weight: affordability, activities, quality of life and health care. Read more here.

Volvo to Debut SC-Built All-Electric SUV Successor in November

On November 9, Volvo Car will unveil their South-Carolina-built EX90, the all-electric successor to its best-selling XC90 sport-utility vehicle. Ac...

Wow! It’s already October and we have festivals galore to enjoy across the Charleston area this month: Oktoberfest (8th), MOJA Arts Festival (through the 9th), Latin American Festival and Summerville Italian Festival (9th), SC Reggae Jerk & Wine Festival and Edisto Beach Fall Festival (15th), Children’s Day Festival (16th), FollyPalooza (20th), several fall and harvest festivals, The Fall Tours of Architecture, History, and Gardens (5th-29th) and the Coastal Carolina Fair (15th - Nov 7). For holidays to celebrate this month, there’s Columbus Day (10th), Halloween (31st) and a host of others highlighted on this page. We’ve also listed lots of weekly and individual events below - with lin...

Have you been appointed as the Personal Representative for an estate in probate in Charleston, South Carolina?

Are you finding it difficult to navigate the paperwork? Need any help or guidance in dealing with the real estate? 

As Certified probate Experts (CPE), we have built a network of local professionals and service providers to help Personal Representatives in their functions.

In the video below, we invited attorney Morgan Insley of Blanco Tackabery, to talk with us about how to handle an estate in probate, and how to avoid it by planning ahead. 

Her contact information is below. 

Morgan Insley, Blanco Tackabery mmi@blancolaw.com (336) 293-9006

Alan Donald, Broker Associate...

ESTATE PLANNING 101

We invited attorney Morgan Insley of Blanco Tackabery, to talk with us about estate planning, a topic that is important for seniors, children of seniors and even for young families. 

Her contact information is below. 

Morgan Insley, Blanco Tackabery
mmi@blancolaw.com (336) 293-9006

Alan Donald, alan@alandonald.com

It’s September and we can look forward to cooler temps and several festivals in the Charleston area this month, such as the Edisto Beach Shag Festival (2nd - 4th), Lowcountry Jazz Festival (3rd - 4th), Fall Food Truck Festival (10th), Pechakucha (15th), Resonance Music and Arts Festival (15th - 17th), 3rd Annual Cookin’ On The Creek BBQ Festival (16th - 17th), Sweet Tea Festival (17th) and MOJA Arts Festival (29th - October 9th). Plus, there are some major holidays, including Labor Day (5th), Hispanic Heritage Month (15th - October 15th), Constitution Day (17th), Yom Kippur (24th) and Rosh Hashanah (25th). The Autumn Equinox - when fall officially begins - is on the 22nd. We’ve listed m...

SEPTEMBER 2022 NEWS

Pickleball Restaurants Coming to the Lowcountry
Have you heard about pickleball? It’s claimed to be the fastest-growing sport in America. Perhaps closer to ping pong and badminton, it’s played on a court that is similar to but smaller than a tennis court and even comes with a kitchen. To learn more about it, watch this video. And if you are already a local player, have you heard about the two new pickleball developments being developed in Mount Pleasant and Summerville? Crush Yard is a club and casual restaurant complex that will soon open off Highway 17 in Mount Pleasant. The 40,000-sf complex will have 8 indoor courts, shuffleboard, outdoor fire pits, live music, a...

August 2022 Events

School resumes later this month, but there’s still time to take advantage of many fun events occurring across the Charleston area. Looking for something to do with your children? Goose Creek hosts Kids Fest on the 6th, with plenty of activities and food for everyone. Want to boost your spirits? On the 27th, you can join the SC Reggae Jerk and Wine Festival in downtown Charleston or head over to Deepwater Vineyard in Wadmalaw for the 2022 Grape Stomp Festival. Schedule tee times for Sunday the 5th to celebrate both National Golf Month and International Beer Day. On the 26th, break out the leashes and take your dogs for a walk in honor of National Dog Day. For more t...

AUGUST 2022 NEWS

New and Upcoming Attractions for Greater Charleston 

Two new museums are coming to downtown Charleston and new rides will be on offer at this fall’s Coastal Carolina Fair in Ladson. The Charleston Digital Corridor (CDC) has just opened the Charleston Apple Museum, with over 75 exhibits showcasing the evolution of Apple devices and related items from its 40+-year history. The museum, located at the CDC’s Flagship on Morrison Drive, is open to everyone with free admission, and the founders hope schools and children interested in technology will visit to discover how far technology has come. Donations are also accepted. Read more here. Charleston will soon welcome the $1...

The housing market is at a turning point, and if you’re thinking of buying or selling a home, that may leave you wondering: is it still a good time to buy a home? Should I make a move this year? To help answer those questions, let’s turn to the experts for projections on what the second half of the year holds for residential real estate.

Where Mortgage Rates Will Go Depends on Inflation

While one of the big questions on all buyers’ minds is where will mortgage rates go in the months ahead, no one has a crystal ball to know exactly what’ll happen in the future. What housing market experts know for sure is that the record-low mortgage rates during the pandemic were an outlier, not the n...