Posts by : Alan Donald

This Sunday from noon to 6 pm, the traditional "Festival Hispano" takes place at North Charleston's Wannamaker Park. The festival has a new name this year - "Latin American Festival" - since it focuses mostly on Central and South American culture, music and foods. 

The activities include a demonstration of the Brazilian martial art/dance capoeira by Capoeira Charleston, as well as a salsa dancing competition with music from DJ Luigi from Latin Groove, the premier Latin DJ in the Charleston area.

In addition to the music and dance, the festival provides a great opportunity to sample some of the traditional foods of Latin America, including tamales, tortillas, empanadas and chorizos. 

Th...

Short Sales (Part 1 - The Short Sale Process: Definitions, Timing and Consequences

By Alan Donald, BuyHomesInCharleston.com

Well publicized changes in the real estate market, the job market and the U.S. economy have left many homeowners in distress, with few options to avoid foreclosure or bankruptcy.

As a REALTOR, I don't like the fact that many people are losing their homes, many surrendering the home to foreclosure without even knowing all the options available to them.

Since many clients started to ask me about options, I elected to write a list of some options  that could be available for homeowners facing difficult times. (contact me to receive a free copy).

In the Charleston...

Charleston Named #2 "Next City" by Next Generation Consulting

Next Generation Consulting (NGC) has recently published a ranking of North American cities including the 80 best cities for young professionals in the United States and Canada.

"What is a Next CityTM?
Next CitiesTM are places with the assets and amenities that attract and retain a young, educated work force. They have bustling city centers, walkable neighborhoods, diverse career opportunities, and vibrant art and music scenes..."

The article discusses the criteria that younger generations use for desirability of a city and the implications for employers and site selection professionals.

The ranking is based on the following...

PGA TOUR COMES TO DANIEL ISLAND IN OCTOBER

Daniel Island Club will host the PGA Tour's Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island October 19-25. This will be the season-ending event for the Nationwide Tour, and will be televised nationally. 

Many of golf's future stars will compete for the 25 highly coveted PGA TOUR CARDS for this exciting and reputable event. Thousands of golf enthusiasts will be eagerly watching the championship each day on Daniel Island's Ralston Creek Golf Course. 

Shake off the Fall blues! Come to visit Daniel Island and watch some of the world's golf elite players! Click on NationwideTourChampionship.com for ticket information.

For more informatio...

There are lots of activities in Charleston for a multitude of tastes. The inaugural "Museum Mile Weekend" promises to be very interesting and cost-effective! 

This Saturday and Sunday, you can buy a single pass and get admission to many museums and historical and historic sites in Downtown Historic Charleston. The $20 Museum Mile Weekend pass will give you access to five historic homes (Aiken-Rhett, Manigault, Russell  and others), to The Powder Magazine and to the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, plus six museums (including the Gibbes, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, Children's Museum of the Lowcountry and Confederate).

There will be special peripheral activities for the weekend, su...

If you love the beach but lying down in the sun is too passive for you - here's a great activity: Beach Volleyball. The Charleston Beach Volleyball and Social Club organizes regular league play and drop-in matches on Sullivans Island. Here are their upcoming events:

Sept 27th

Fall Leagues
Sunday
Week 3
Sullivans Island
Station 22
Sunday- 4:00-7:00 pm- Competitive A & B

September 29th
Tuesday Pickup- 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Station 22
Sullivans Island
Come join us for Pickup games and for drink and food specials, and trivia at Wild Wings in Mount Pleasant. $5 per person

Oct 4th
Sunday
Fall Leagues
Week 4
Sullivans Island
Station 22
Sunday- 4:00-7:00 pm Competitive A & B

Oct 6th
Tuesday Pickup- 5:30 pm
Sta...

If you are trying to sell your home, you will know how hard is to generate enough showing traffic.

Well, count yourself lucky! The Chicago Tribune reported that President Barack Obama's next door neighbors in Chicago are trying to sell their home, which they bought back in 1973 for $35,000. The listing agent said that the selling price will ultimately be defined by the "Obama Factor", but homes in the area are selling for between $1 million and $2.5 million.

However, how's this for a damper on showings? In order to SCHEDULE A SHOWING for this home, any prospective buyer will have to prove that he/she can afford to pay at least $1.5 million AND will have to be vetted by the SECRET SERVIC...

"We have MULTIPLE OFFERS!"

This is a dreaded call from your REALTOR if you are a buyer, but a welcome call if you are a seller.

Murphy's Law says that if anything can get more complicated, it will. Multiple offers is one of those situations where many people may freak out because they don't know how to handle them. So here is a brief guideline on how to deal fairly and smartly with this situation to avoid potential problems:

SELLERS

In some (lucky) situations (more common in "hot" property markets), sellers will have two or more competing offers to consider. They have several ways of dealing with them:

• Accept the "best" offer
• Inform all buyers that there are other offers on the ta...

Lenders require mortgage insurance for conventional loans when buyers don't bring 20% or more of the purchase price as equity to their closing.  Mortgage insurance only protects the lender in case you default on the loan. It doesn't provide any benefit to you! The sooner you can get rid of it, the better off you are.

So, it is essential to make sure you calculate your percentage equity in your home regularly, so you can eliminate paying mortage insurance as soon as possible! 

First, you have to know what TYPE of loan do you have: Is it a CONVENTIONAL, VA, or FHA loan?

VA

VA loans are designed so that veterans can borrow up to 100% of the value of the home WITHOUT mortga...

 
So, you noticed that three years ago, your next door neighbors put their house on the market one morning, and by that afternoon they had multiple offers to choose from. Now you have been trying to sell your home for eight months and there's just no action...!

The real estate market is unpredictable in the short term, since many factors (like interest rates, the amount of new homes being built and the economic health of the area) come into play. In the long term, the real estate market behaves just like other economic markets. It is a cyclical market (and in many places also seasonal). And it is driven by underlying supply and demand.

In a strong seller's market (defined as one with l...

The $8,000 Federal Tax Credit has proven to be extremely popular. According to Realtor.com, the most visited real estate website in the U.S., 10.8% of buyers say that this and other state incentives are the most important reason motivating them to buy.  The IRS reports that about 1.14 million buyers have filed for the $8,000 first-time tax credit, and expect many more buyers to file paperwork to qualify for the credit when they submit their 2009 tax return.

However, tax credits don't deserve all the attention. More importantly, the key driver for first-time home buyers today is the improved affordability throughout the country. In July of 2009, the National Association of REALTOR®'s (NAR's...

... There's a buzz going around about the real estate market in Mount Pleasant having "bottomed out" and on its way to recovery...

... Is this Fall/Winter the best time to buy...?

... What do you think...?

... Share your opinion with us!

Fill out our ONLINE SURVEY (it takes only a minute) - we'll publish the results in the near future...

I found this website to check out homes anywhere in the U.S.

By Alan Donald, BuyHomesInCharleston.com

Here is a situation that unfortunately is becoming very common: Appraisals that are coming substantially BELOW THE CONTRACT PRICE!

Why is this happening?

The main reasons for this new trend are:

1. Recent CHANGES IN GOVERNMENT REGULATION (namely the Home Valuation Code of Conduct - HVCC) that dictated that lenders cannot choose an appraiser directly any more (lenders normally would choose an appraiser they know is familiar with the neighborhood). Instead, they have to order the appraisal through a third party company, who in turn has a "pool" of registered appraisers to whom they farm out the jobs. This has caused some appraisals to be conducted...

I think this listing is priced very well, Longpoint neighborhood is very nice, great schools, convenient location. Should sell very soon!

CALL ME TODAY TO ARRANGE A SHOWING!!

5dckhpj874

Great new listing in Bedford Chase, a nice section in Crowfield Plantation, the premier subdivision in Goose Creek. Very close to the Naval Weapons Station and close proximity to Google, Charleston AFB and great shopping at Northwoods Mall.

Click for Details

One of the difficulties of executing a Forward 1031 Exchange is that there is limited time to identify suitable properties and an investor may miss the window to qualify for the 1031 "tax-free" exchange. Many of the current buying opportunities are either short sales or lender-owned properties. The timing uncertainties these generate make a Forward 1031 Exchange risky to execute well.

A Reverse 1031 Exchange allows investors to take advantage of current market opportunities by purchasing the replacement property FIRST, and then identifying the relinquished property within a designated time frame (most times investors KNOW which property they want to get rid of in advance).

As an investo...

Only 9 Weeks Left!

If you are a first time home buyer and want to be eligible for the $8,000 Federal Tax Credit when you purchase a primary home, there are just 8 weeks left to CLOSE the transaction!! (unless Congress extends the deadline, this tax credit expires on December 1st, 2009). This means you better get cracking! You will need to find a home, negotiate a contract, do your buyer's due diligence and get your loan approved before you can close!!

If you are in this situation and need to buy a home urgently - please contact me ASAP! We can still do it....

TO "LOCK" OR TO "FLOAT"?

It is very important for home buyers or for those who want to re-finance to be aware that in these volatile financial markets we are living in, interest rates on mortgages can fluctuate substantially in a matter of hours! I have heard many stories from mortgage lenders about how they were able to lock a fantastic interest rate for a loan using a 2-3 hour "window of opportunity" that disappeared afterward, or others that missed out because they floated the loan (to "float" means to let the interest rate fluctuate with the market). Understanding how "locking-in" a rate works may help you evaluate your options and could result in thousands of dollars in savings!

So...