Posts by : Alan Donald

Mount Pleasant (SC) real estate market continues its steady improvement and inventory reduction.

Although in September sales were a bit slower (123 sales compared to 147 sales in August) the same number of homes were sold this year than in September 2010 (122). 

The slowing down in monthly sales is a "normal" seasonal slowdown that is experienced after the busy Summer season. 

As the attached table shows, the "bottom" of the real estate market (under $500K) in Mount Pleasant shows a "balanced" market, where prices are now largely stable. 

Higher priced homes (over $500,000) have seen a slight increased in activity, with 258 homes changing hands in the last 12 months (compared with 2...

The Alan Donald Real Estate Team is now a member of MilitaryReferrals.com. In order to provide our real estate relocation services to members of the U.S Armed Forces including Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and SPAWAR. 

Looking for an effective real estate team to help you?

Call Us! We understand your situation and will provide excellent references from military clients. 

Distressed properties normally go through 3 stages. Each has different advantages and disadvantages. 

Mount Pleasant (SC) Real Estate Update - Fewer Listings, Lower Inventory!

The Mount Pleasant residential real estate market continues moving forward toward recovery:

The Charleston Trident Association of Realtors reported for Lower Mt Pleasant (Area 42) a 30.1% decrease in the number of new listings and 31.7% change in inventory of available homes, with a 1.5% increase in closed sales for the month of August, 2011.

For Upper Mt Pleasant these numbers were 22.4% decrease in new listings, 22.3% decrease in inventory and a 10.1% increase in closed sales!

These numbers reflect what we (active Mt Pleasant Realtors) have been saying for a while: The Mount Pleasant real estate...

Top 10 Tips When Selling a Home

Selling a home in a down economy can be a painstaking decision. Use the following 10 tips when selling a home to get the most out of your investment.

Home Selling Tip #1: Hire a reputable real estate agent.

Selling a home can be stressful, and you want a reliable real estate agent you can trust to take some of the burden of selling a home off your hands.

Home Selling Tip #2: Give your home curb appeal.

When selling a home, you need to keep your home looking its best. If a buyer is turned off by what your home looks like from the street, you will never get him or her inside to look around. Clean up your lawn, patch brown spots in the grass, clear si...

Time is a scarce resource. When you are searching for the right home, it pays to have the best technology tools at your disposal! We are now offering a new service: Automatic daily, weekly or bi-weekly alerts, which sends all new listings that fit your search criteria AUTOMATICALLY to your email. So you don't have to spend as much time looking online, or starting from scratch every time you sit down to search.

If you would like to set up your own listing alert, please visit our sister website, FindHomesInCharleston.com . Just click on "My Tools" and scroll down to "My Alerts.

You are renting. You pay on time. Your landlord loves you! You know it may be a good time to buy...but you have heard all these horror stories about people who bought and got burned... What should you do??

1. Keep renting. Pluses: Flexibility to move - after the lease expires. Minuses: You are paying someone else's mortgage but not building up your net worth. Your rent may go up in a year. You cannot customize the place to your taste. And they give you a hard time if you want pets/visitors, etc. ...

2. Purchase. Market conditions are very favorable, the affordability index is high (super-low interest rates, prices are low and very negotiable), tax benefits of owning a home (lower your t...

I recently read this article on paint sheens, which I found interesting to share:

Guide to Paint Sheens: Oooo, Shiny!

By: Pat Curry  Published: March 25, 2011

You think choosing the right color for your paint job is hard? Try picking the right sheen. HouseLogic will help you tell your semi-gloss from your satin finish.

In the painting world, very shiny translates to very durable. High sheen can take a lot of abuse and a lot of scrubbing. The lower the sheen, the silkier the effect; but, like silk, scrubbing will damage it. 

High gloss: The most durable and easiest to clean of all paint sheens, high-gloss paint is hard, ultra-shiny, and light-reflecting. Think appliance-paint tough. Hig...

The Mount Pleasant (SC) residential real estate market starting to turn around.

As this price band chart for July 2011 shows, the lower price ranges are now in either a "Balanced" or "Normal Seller's Market" stage in terms of absorption (we consider 6 months' inventory a "neutral" or "balanced" market in which neither sellers nor buyers have the advantage...

This modern townhome just came on the market:

http://ctarmls.com/CharlestonReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=0319356660

Como todos los años, las autoridades de Charleston, SC y el Departamento de Emergencia se encuentran  trabajando para proporcionar la información necesaria a la población en cuanto a la prevención y preparación para un desastre naturaL, como puede ser un huracán o un terremoto. 

La oficina ha activado una línea telefónica en Español, el número es:  (843) 202- 7191, Normalmente atenderá sólamente de 9:a.m. a 5:00pm  de lunes a viernes, pero durante un período de emergencia estará activada las 24 horas del día. 

Líneas de Emergencia en Inglés (Emergency Lines for Charleston County):  
Emergency Management Department (843) 202-7400
EMD Duty Officer: (843) 202-1700

"In today’s world we often find our experiences with people to be brief and selfish.  Rarely do we find honesty and empathy in our contracts with people in business. Occasionally, however, there are those who practice honesty, kindness and empathy in all their affairs.  I found Alan Donald to be such a person.

During a difficult time in my life, facing foreclosure, Alan worked diligently, for 19 months to turn my situation around.  There were many times that I ran short on patience.  Banks can be heartless, not to mention towers of inefficiency. 

Alan persisted, patiently, one day at a time, going forward, never giving up.  Never did he show signs of frustration.  I am grateful – for Al...

The Charleston Trident Association of Realtors (CTAR) put together this market update (click to view presentation):

The USDA Rural Mortgage Loan was one of the only remaining 100% loan-to-value opportunities for lower income buyers who do not have a lot of savings for downpayment. Bobby Wallace from Anchor Mortgage sent me a very timely reminder email that I thought would be good to share with the followers of this blog:

The changes being implemented as of October 1st are:

1. "USDA will now start requiring a Mortgage Insurance Premium on these loans.
2. USDA will now require a 0.3% annual mortgage insurance fee. While this fee is an annual fee, it is collected monthly in escrow like most Mortgage insurance payments. Another major difference between USDA’s annual MI premium and most other premiums. USDA’...

Robert Weaver from Ikon Mortgage put together this information - which I found really informative - about the maximum allowed contribution from Seller to Buyer depending on the LTV (loan-to-value ratio) and the use of the home:

For more information contact Robert Weaver.