Our current clients are buying by borrowing.   At least, they’re attempting to borrow.

Theirs is a standard mortgage through FHA with reasonably standard issues, all handled professionally by the lender but very clumsily managed by the government underwriter.

We’re confident the lady at FHA is competent enough, but why when our president declares lending must be kick started to get our economy rejuvenated is there a critical someone in the government who has inefficiently created delay after delay, frustration after frustration to the point our buyers tell us the pleasure of the experience has been compromised?

Dear President Obama,

We’re behind you and agree that getting the lenders lending again is a critical step toward recovery.  In our current case, the lender is lending.   It is the government which is generating the problem.  Careful review by the FHA is absolutely understandable.  A clumsy review is not.

Please ensure your folks in DC are not needlessly birthing bureaucratic quagmires for those of us bringing the business back to America through your employees.    As part of our Change, can we also take a look at pruning out government employees who don’t deserve the position they’ve inherited?

Respectfully,
Edward Faircloth
Gooden + Faircloth

PS:    We finally gathered for the overly delayed closing today.  Our clients had taken the day off.  Several of us structured our day around the closing.  Alas, it didn’t happen.  The FHA underwriter took the afternoon off, with the poorly managed file sitting on her desk.   Dear President Obama,  we’re confident this is the type situation you’re going to correct.

Hobcaw Creek Plantation is the ideal neighborhood for those seeking the ‘ ideal ‘ neighborhood: family oriented, safe, manicured and lush mature vegetation.

The majority of homes in this very desirable neighborhood are large and upscale. Most of the homes in Hobcaw Creek were built during the 1990s.

At the back of Hobcaw Creek, you’ll find the largest homes, many with private docks. Hobcaw Creek Plantation is adjacent to some of Mt Pleasant’s premier shopping and dining options. At any moment, there are only a few homes for sale in Hobcaw. It’s that desired.

Homes in the neighborhood average between 3,000 and 4,500 square feet with prices generally starting in the $450,000 range. The neighborhood’s clubhouse features tennis courts, a children’s playground and a swimming pool. Residents also have access to a community dock and boat landing.

I admit it, Hidden Lakes is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Mt Pleasant / Greater Charleston. Virtually every home in the entire neighborhood peacefully rests on a canal or lake. The homes are generally traditional, very well built, diverse and well – maintained.

Click on the image above and enjoy our new Hidden Lakes video tour. You’ll see what we mean…..

I’m feeling pretty positive having concluded the sale of one of my personal properties in Florida, not an easy task in that way overly saturated market. The condo canyon walls get further up and down the intracoastal and higher by the quarter.

I’ll miss the Miami / Ft Lauderdale area but since purchasing this particular home, the number of shiny new 40 story high-rises which have gone up in the neighborhood is staggering, and problematically gluttonous.

I tell you this because we used some impressive new techniques and services to successfully sell this unit.   The same techniques are being utilized for our clients at Gooden+Faircloth.

To sell the Florida condo, I credit techno-marketing techniques and services.  We attracted a goodly number of buyers to visit and sure enough one of them ( only takes one ) made an reasonable offer.  The condo sold after about 90 days on the market.  We did the right things from staging to pricing to the ‘ techno-marketing ‘.

At Gooden + Faircloth, we’ve chosen to focus on high tech approaches to marketing homes.  It makes dollars, cents and sense since 80% of buyers sensibly begin their search by adding a few search words in the Google box upper right.

I need those searching souls to discover our listings ASAP.   I want other realtors, especially those with buyer clients, to also land enthusiastically on my listings whether they do so via Google, youtube, Point2, Trulia, Zillow, Realtor . com or an email from me sitting in their Inbox.

A home is not a home….

My listing clients are placing in our team the responsibility to manage the marketing of a million dollar piece of real estate.   As a result,  I strongly believe in branding.  Our listings are given a complete once over.  From that review comes a well-conceived, dynamite package of images, videos, descriptions clarity of direction, all consolidated into a package with a powerful punch.

So, can you improve your chances of a successful home sale?

In today’s difficult market with a bloated ( and foreclosed ) MLS inventory, we have to look for any edge to help sell a home.  So what gives  you an edge?

Anyone can live in it, but can they sell it?

There are several factors to consider when you make that decision to sell your home.  In all likelihood, your home will not be the only one of its type on the market, maybe not even on your street.  Therefore, the marketing for your home has to be hitting on all cylinders, or else.

There are several ways to improve your properly priced home’s appeal and sell-ability.

Location is an important factor when it comes time to sell, but you can’t control that, so concentrate on the other factors – sales price, condition of your home, light remodeling, marketing, and incentives/sales terms.

Marketing is incredibly important when you are selling your home.  The more people who know about your home, the better chance there is that the perfect buyer will come along.

If you actively address all key factors, your home should be in a good position to positively appeal to buyers.  Though the current real estate market is a rough sea,  those who get the right people rowing at the right time will land on solid ground.

2008-2009 Seaside Farms Real Estate Sales Report

Seaside Farms is one of coastal South Carolina’s most popular neighborhoods.  Nestled up to the intracoastal and marsh expanse separating mainland Mount Pleasant,SC and Isle Of Palms on the barrier islands, Seaside Farms is actually several beautiful neighborhoods.   Enjoy a closer look at Seaside Farms in the video tour below.

Gooden+Faircloth has compiled 2008 real estate sales data into the new Seaside Farms Real Estate Report 2008/2009.

The highest priced home sold over the past 12 months was in the Cathedral Oaks neighborhood.  1712 Canyon sold for $ 1,175,000 or $ 285 per square foot.

Over the past 12 months, homes averaged remaining on the market from a low of 127 days in Magnolia Woods to a high of 207 days in Windward / Marais.

Click here to learn more.

Nestled up to the mainland shoreline overlooking Intracoastal Waterway, Seaside Farms is actually composed of several different neighborhoods. Cathedral Oaks and Magnolia Woods are single family home neighborhoods, Long Grove and Windward are condominium communities and Marais features gorgeous town homes.

Click the image above to see why Seaside Farms is one of Mt Pleasant’s most respected and appreciated developments.

Rebecca and I had the wonderful pleasure of participating with our fellow Rotarians in Happy Feet, an outstanding Rotary project which provides new tennis shoes to disadvantaged children in the Mt Pleasant, SC area.

We distributed 120 pairs of shoes to 120 area children who all had the cutest of appreciative smiles!

Happy Feet: Another great Rotarian project

Rotary Mt Pleasant organized the effort and again proves the worth of this worldwide organization which single handedly has virtually wiped Polio out around the world.

Thanks to Lou Mello for his great management of Happy Feet.

Happy Feet: Another great Rotarian project.

Edward Faircloth

The lighthouse for home value directions, like the stock market, is perpetually dim.

Predicting the rise and fall of stock value is a devilishly difficult, if not impossible, task.   But what moves down, almost certainly will move back up.  By the time most of us are secure enough to return to the market, the most profitable opportunities are somewhere over the horizon, sailing away from us.

The real estate market will rebound.  I know it.  You know it.  We all know it.

The price of the home in Mt Pleasant, Charleston, Isle of Palms or Sullivan’s Island which I help you purchase this week will quite possibly be lower than what you will pay in the not so distant future.

I always advise caution, care and fiscal prudence.

But, don’t you feel in your gut real estate market prices are about as low as they’re likely to go in the Low Country?

Don’t you feel now just may be an excellent time to buy, or invest in real estate?    My mortgage broker friends tell me there is mortgage money available.   My instincts tell me the dark clouds of the past year are beginning to clear away and health will imminently return to the market.

Don’t you have the feeling in the near future we will frequently hear ourselves and others lament, “I wish I had purchased a home, or homes, several months ago?”

The real estate lighthouse is truly dim.   I don’t have special future visionary powers and these are uncertain times.

Did you read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell?  The subtitle is The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.

Do you sense the sky is brightening and 2009 just might be an ideal time to purchase the home of your dreams?

I do.

Rebecca Gooden

A few nights ago, Edward and I attended another public meeting to discuss the Town of Mt. Pleasant’s Comprehensive Plan.   The plan is still in an early stage, the ideal time for those of us who choose to be an active part of our city to become involved.

We’ve joined a citizen’s committee formed to provide ongoing direct input to the city and the consultant. Mt Pleasant is better off with all of us contributing and focused on its future.

Among the conditions presented and discussed was that growth in Mt. Pleasant has been significant over the last decade but is slowing, while traffic and congestion are increasing.

This was the first of many such meetings that will take place before the plan is finalized in July of 2009. The planning team includes staff from the Town of Mt Pleasant Planning and Development Department and an Atlanta based consulting firm named EDAW.  www.edaw.com

I encourage you to attend these meetings whenever possible.   The option is to  put all input and decisions into the hands of others.

At the meeting, the concept of “sustainability” was introduced as a foundation for future growth in Mt Pleasant.  Sustainability means “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of  future generations to meet their own needs”.  We all have the responsibility to preserve and protect our beautiful area for our children and grandchildren.

Going forward, other important government responsibilities addressed were:

* Insure fiscal soundness
* Serve the entire community
* Guarantee environmental protection

You can make a difference.   Important decisions are being made and your insight, experience and interests are needed.