Every time a major manufacturer considers making a move within the US, there are 15,000 Economic Development Directors sealing large envelopes containing a packet filled with lovely and inviting brochures hoping to win jobs through private investment.

Boeing’s expansion announcement for Charleston is the national coup of the year for the Lowcountry.

We don’t know if there were 15,000 involved in the recent site review by Boeing, but we have to believe the competition was fierce.   The winner was the Charleston area, North Charleston to be exact.  The loser was Seattle, Boeing’s hometown for decades.

Boeing plans to break ground on a 584,000 square foot expansion near its existing North Charleston factory within the next few weeks.   They’ll begin rolling 787 Dreamliners out of Charleston in 2011.  The 787 is Boeing’s first new jet in more than a decade.

Boeing’s $450 million investment will produce at least 3,800 jobs.

The announcement is massively positive news for a state currently suffering one of the country’s highest unemployment rates and still reeling from recent political embarrassments.

Gooden + Faircloth welcomes Boeing and predicts everyone associated with the company moving into the area will love Charleston as much as we do.

I hear these statements every single day;  “I can’t find a job”, “I can’t pay my bills”, “Can you help my child find a job”, “The phones aren’t ringing”.

There are plenty of people fortunate to have salaried positions, reasonably well isolated from the financial struggling so common for so many of our neighbors and their businesses.   I personally see a great deal of struggling among my middle-class neighbors and friends.

A couple of thoughts for this period:

1)  Think positively.  There is going to be an end to this recession.  There is.

2)  Be kinder, gentler and more supportive to others.  Most are having problems.  Share a smile.

3)   Shop locally.  Avoid online purchases during this period.  Money spent locally circulates locally.

4)   Use this period to push yourself out of your same traditional line of personal and professional thinking.  Get out of your box.  Decide this downturn is going to have proven beneficial to you and your career.

Niels Bohr, the Nobel Prize-winning Danish physicist:  “Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution.  It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it.”

Note:  Gooden+Faircloth has been informed by National Association of Realtors representatives the plan described below is likely to become reality within the next few weeks.   Both Congressman Henry Brown and Senator Lindsey Graham support the plan.

The Democratic Leadership Council was formed during the Bill Clinton presidential years.   It is known for its moderate positions, positions which often mirror classic moderate Republican positions.

The DLC has recently released a report which it believes contains the key to reinvigorating the American economy.  Gooden + Faircloth agrees.

According to the DLC, reticence among many potential home buyers to move into the market is preventing recovery. Few doubt that the housing bubble’s implosion drove the nation into its current recession. The authors suggest that an upswing in the housing market could also play a crucial role in turning the broader economy around.

Newly-installed DLC CEO Bruce Reed commented: “The housing market helped start this economic crisis. Getting homes moving again is crucial to speed the nations recovery.”

The Report, titled Moving Houses: How Sparking a Housing Recovery Is The Key To America’s Economic Recovery, makes several recommendations, including:

• Expand the $8,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit to individual and family homeowners looking to move or buy a new home, regardless of whether they previously owned another. This expansion is estimated to cost $11.4 billion;
• Limit the credit by ensuring it expires at the end of the year, forcing those intent on taking advantage of the credit to get into the market in the short term; and
• Ensure that homeowners have access to the credit at closing by directing the Secretary of HUD and/or the Secretary of the Treasury to use existing authority (possibly through the Home Program or the Troubled Asset Relief Program) to set up a fund that would advance some of the down payment and closing costs.

Among the report’s key findings:

• The turning point in five of the last seven recessions has been marked by the moment housing sales began to swing up again.
• The housing sector was responsible for over 75 percent of all job growth from 2004 through 2007.
• In the past year alone, existing and new home sales have fallen by 13.1 percent and 37.6 percent, respectively.
• Nationally, sales of existing homes fell 10.3 percent in February from a year ago, and the U.S. median sales price slid almost 16 percent to $165,400.
• The housing sector makes up approximately 10 percent of the nation’s GDP.

To access the full report, click here.

At yesterday’s Mt Pleasant Rotary Club meeting I overheard my lunch neighbor tell someone he and his business are feeling better about the economy.   He has noticed a slow but steady increase in shoppers, shopping not related to tourist season in the Low Country.

This is very very new territory for our government.  This is a very very problematic period in our history.  There is no supplied set-up documentation for him to follow.   He has clearly surrounded himself with brillant minds, clearly weighed his options and clearly moved us in what appears to be an intelligent direction with calm and confidence.

And it is that calm and confidence which I believe has resulted in increasing numbers of shoppers coming into my lunch neighbor’s store.

Bloomberg News says consumer confidence in the U.S. jumped by the most since 2005 this month as stocks rallied, mortgage rates dropped and Americans anticipated more jobs would become available.

“There certainly is starting to be a shift here, where the data is either less bad or even starting to improve,” Michael Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners LP in New York, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. While “we certainly haven’t turned the corner yet” the economy “could bottom out between June and October of this year and then start” growing.

The gain in confidence raises the odds that recent gains in consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy, will be sustained.
Gooden + Faircloth’s real estate business has in the past month also seen a welcome uptick and movement toward the light.  Like our president, let us remain calm and confident that better days are ahead for Mt Pleasant and America.

I found myself in the Mt. Pleasant Real Estate business in 2008, in the depths of the national real estate ‘depression’.   Real estate prices were falling, interest rates were falling,  employment rates were falling and consumer confidence was falling.    And here we were, rising and making it despite the gloom.   My top rated Mt Pleasant restaurant Crave Kitchen, opened a year prior, was also doing very well.

I attribute my real estate success to several factors but location, location, location surely has to rate highly ( as does hard and smart work ).

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Just a basketball?

Weeks before they won the NCAA National Championship, my friend bought a basketball autographed by the University of North Carolina basketball team. He paid $ 160.   This is the team that went on to become the most successful college basketball team in the world, at least for the 08/09 season.

On this basketball, were the signatures of Hansborough, Lawson, Ellington and Williams, historic quick strokes of a magic marker in the hands of champions.

A lifelong Tar Heel fan, my friend saw an opportunity to achieve his own victory, that of making a winning contribution to his daughter’s Mt Pleasant school fund raising effort.

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Looking for a truly special Mt Pleasant neighborhood, older more established, diverse, lush and lovely?

For several decades, Wakendaw Lakes has been one of Mt Pleasant’s most desirable neighborhoods.

Gooden + Faircloth has just completed an informative summary of real estate sales activity in the Wakendaw Lakes neighborhoods, as well as a wonderful new video tour. You can access both on the Wakendaw Lakes neighborhood page by clicking the link below.

Wakendaw offers gorgeous, huge trees, several beautiful lakes, lots of surprising little gifts from nature, young and old strolling tranquil streets and a sense of true neighborliness.

Wakendaw Lakes is actually a series of four separate developments: Wakendaw Lakes, Wakendaw Manor, Wakendaw-on-the-Creek, and Wakendaw East.

The area has a rich history having been part of the Woodlawn Plantation, a 300+ acre working farm of pecans trees, acres of fields and over 9,500 head of livestock, mostly hogs.

During 2008, a total of 9 home sales ( excluding For Sale By Owners ) occurred in the combined neighborhoods of Wakendaw. There were no homes sold in the Wakendaw-on-the-Creek neighborhood.

The average sale price in Wakendaw Lakes was $ 501,557. In Wakendaw Place, 2 homes were sold, at an average sale price of $241,700.

Click here to acces the Wakendaw Lakes Real Estate Sales Report or to enjoy the new Wakendaw Lakes neighborhood video tour.

How did home sales in one of the area’s popular neighborhoods fare over the past year?

I have just released an updated version of a key neighborhood real estate report.

Ivy Hall is in one of the fastest growing areas of South Carolina, the Highway 17 North corridor in Mt Pleasant, just outside Charleston.

Find out more about real estate in this popular neighborhood by clicking the image to the left.

Take a tour of Ivy Hall. Click the play button to begin.

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 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.