864-335-8490

Congrats to the Greenville Girls for beating Eastside last night in a tough soccer game at Sirrine Stadium.  1-0.  Hopefully we can take JL Mann Monday night!



Also, I want to mention that the new Main @ Broad Courtyard by Marriott will be opening today at 4:30 today.  Folks, I tell you that's pretty exciting news.  What a project, it's mixed use with the hotel of course and shopping and restaurants.  It's right across from the Peace Center for The Performing Arts.

And this built in a slow down of the ecomomy, folks I tell ya, it's still happening in Greenville!

I also want to comment on a email I got yesterday..Nice fellow emailed me about a home and wanted information on it.  Well, I looked it up in the MLS and just sent out a quick email stating that it needed work and was being sold "as is".   It's in a nicer section of town so you really have to be aware of what you are paying especially if you are going to have to put a couple of hundred thousand dollars in it.   Anyway, I think he was dissapointed with my response because I didn't give him more information and opinion on the home.

Folks, there's over 6,000 homes for sale in Greenville at the moment and I can't be aware of them all.  Furthermore if you're not a buyer client then really all I can offer up on the home is what's readily available in the Greenville MLS.  That's not my rule, that's in the Realtor Code.  
 
What I'm really getting at is, any Greenville Realtor can sell a house, I help buyers make good decisions.. and at a minimum I need a conversation with an interested buyer to have assurance they will be working with me so I can really put my expertise at work.  Cause folks, the truth is that a lot of buyers contact numerous realtors to ask opinions on areas, pricing, location, schools, etc, etc, etc.  But the best way to buy is to work with one realtor you trust, cause every realtor will have a different opinion and especially if they list, they will always have something to sell you. 

Just a few thoughts, I've got a full day showing tomorrow, I really hope you have a wonderful weekend.

April 29:

"You've got to List to Last"...Have you ever heard that expression?  Probably not, if you are not in real estate.....It's an old saying.  What's it mean?  Well, it implies that if you want to successful in real estate then you have to "list" homes.  I get this all the time from other realtors.  Many can't believe that I've been in real estate so long and still don't "list" any homes. 

The comments usually are "you could make a lot more money if you list"  Hey, you know what, I'm not starving and I enjoy what I do, that's helping buyers.  You see, anybody can be a buyers agent.  But very few realtors are exclusive buyers agents....why?  Mainly because of the money, there is more potential for more income if you list.  I prefer being an exclusive buyers agent because that is true to the nature of how I do business.  I can't work in the best interest of two different people at the same time.  Could you?

By the way, I got a very nice email yesterday from a couple that want to relocate to Greenville.  They visited here a couple of weeks ago an fell in love with the area, hey folks that's the words they used...and are moving to Greenville.  Anyway they loved the video of my downtown city real estate tour here.  I'll be adding many more of these soon. 

Call me if you're coming to town, I'll be happy to tour you and tell you about Greenville and the Upstate.  Well that's my blog...I mean writing for today! :-)  Oh yeah, I'll be shooting the Greenville/Riverside Girls soccer game tonight.  Go Greenville!

Ya'll have a good one!

You're mine now!

April 28:

Good morning!  I had a past buyer client call me the other day.  She and her husband relocated to Greenville and it had been a couple of years since I had spoken with her.  Folks, I tell you it's nice to hear from past buyers.  She's just loving it here, lives in Simpsonville, great yard.  She's in interior design, so I really need to get by and see her place. 

Anywho, she is getting into a home staging business and wanted some stats for year to date real estate sales in Greenville County.  That's easy for us Greenville Realtors to look up in the MLS so I'll just post a bit of the info. I just sent her in the email.  Now in this stat I'm including all sales, even below $100,000.

Another Loyal Friend!

Hi everyone, sorry I've been away from my Greenville South Carolina Blog for a few days but now I'm back!  

Hey, I had a great weekend and got to photograph a wonderful group up at the Pumpkintown Opry in Pickens Saturday.  They are the Greenville Light Opera Works (GLOW) and they are the Southeast's only non-profit arts organization specializing in operetta and musical theatre!  You know I love doing the photography but I got to see a great musical too! 

They will be at The Warehouse Theater April 29th and 30th at 8pm performing The Impresario and at The Pumpkintown Opry on May 1 at 8pm performing Glow Goes to the Opry!  Folks, if you get a chance, go see them, I promise you will enjoy the show.....

Greenville Light Opera Works (GLOW)

We had a couple of days of good rain here in Greenville and look what showed up!  Enjoy, and have a great Sunday with your family.

April 22:

Good morning!  Hey, I got an email from a nice lady who is relocating her family to the Greenville area and I thought I'd share a few thoughts with you.

She is concerned with the move and says it is very stressful.  Well folks, of course it is.  How do I know?  That's mostly all I do, help families move to the area.  See here's the thing, movin's easy, finding the right place to live....that's stressful, why?  You don't know where to buy. 

And trust me, there are a lot of realtors in the Greenville SC area that will tell you their listing and neighborhood is the place to buy.  Why?  Well that's their job....and that's how they get paid.  Is there home a good buy and the best place to live.....well that's another story. 

So, why not get somebody on your side?  Why not get an exclusive buyers agent?  Folks, I know I harp on this over and over but you know what?  The message is getting through.  I had a showing yesterday with some nice people who had always bought through the listing agents and now they are understanding that I really have nothing to sell but I am there to help them make good decisions!

I always tell people, if you decide you want to live in Greenville or the Upstate, we'll find a home!   By the way, all you first time homebuyers, time is running out, call me today!  864-335-8490! 

A Loyal Friend...

 April 21:

Good morning, got my Greer SC Video Tour uploaded this morning!  It's here

Early morn in Greenville SC

April 20:

Hey just uploaded a  Taylors SC Video Tour for you Here!  Enjoy....
 

It's just about Lake Time!

April 19:

Good morning and I certainly hope you had a great weekend!  Was really pretty here.  Sunny and in the 70's.  Put one under contract for a couple relocating from Pennsylvania.  They are just as nice as they can be and I'm really excited for them.  Showing another family from out of state today that are relocating to Greenville!  I tell ya folks, people are still coming, they love it here.

Just remember to get a Greenville Realtor who is an exclusive buyers agent!  Any realtor can be a buyers agent.  Anybody can be a jack of all trades.  But only buyers agents who don't list any homes are considered exclusive buyers agents!  Now as a buyer....why would that be a benefit to you?  Well, wouldn't you want to work with someone who specializes?  I would, especially since it doesn't cost you one dime extra.....you know to get someone who is on your side and has a fiduciary duty to you....folks, you'll never see me involved in dual agency, go look that one up and call me to explain it, cause I just don't get it :-).

Do you know where the most problems in a real estate transaction arise?  Or at least it used to be..... The buyer thinking the listing realtor was working in their best interest when in fact the listing realtor always puts the seller first.  It's sort of funny and I've mentioned this before the way listing realtors disclaim on the mls info.  It goes something like this "If sq. footage is important, buyers agent to verify" or something like this "buyers agent to verify school, sq footage, etc. etc. etc."  Pretty soon they will be telling us to verify that the home actually exists and is not a figment of our imagination :-)!  

I'll take it a step further, most companies will not pay another realtor with another company unless that realtor has a buyer agency agreement with the buyer but the listing company sure will take the buyer on as a customer and let the listing agent sell the home to the buyer.  Say what? I mean I'm not trying to bog you down, but folks that's very interesting to me.   

I believe some states will not let the listing agents sell their own listings.  Honestly I'd like to see that here, why?  Well, I believe that is in the buyers best interest and really we should be protecting the buyer.  The seller should be protected by the listing agent.   The buyer should be protected by another party who is working in their best interest.  

But hey that's a dream folks, you'll never see that here.  The big companies would freak if listing agents couldn't sell their own listings. 

Hey Freedom Weekend Aloft will be back in Town End of May!  Come on down, or up (if you are from Florida) or sideways (if you are from California) and visit. 

I Sure Hope The Weather is Better This Year! Freedom Weekend Aloft.

April 16:

April 15:

Happy Tax Day, hey you can't stop it so just enjoy it!  You know there is nothing like coaches pitch softball for the girls is it.  Shot a game for a fellow the other night.  The games are as fun as they can be! 

Good news, got two offers in, one for a couple in town and another for a couple relocating to Greenville SC!  Actually they are going to buy in Greer, listen I go every where, from Pickens to Laurens, from Spartanburg to Anderson and all places in between.  Call me if I can help!  By the way, I'll have some Taylors and Greer Video up soon.  Hope you enjoyed the Greenville City Real Estate tours.  I'll keep updating and keep those nice comments coming.  Let me know if I can help you find a home!

April 14:

Hey folks, I have got to run, very busy day but I did want to mention that I've got a new video tour of Downtown Greenville City Real Estate located here!

Have a great day!

April 12:

Hope you had a great weekend.  I've got to fly, got a busy day showing then doing quite a bit of photography and video tours for you!  Greenville South Carolina Real Estate and the Upstate at it's best!

April 11:

Pollen Alert!  We've got 4 times the pollen we normally have for this time of year!

April 10:

Hey, got out and enjoyed a little music at Main St. Fridays right outside my Wow Upstate Realty office last evening.  Beautiful evening, big crowd!

Jim Fritzsche, my Broker in Charge displays His Form...
(Jim played professional football, no he wasn't a quarterback :-))

Good Music in front of the Hyatt


Good Crowd, Beautiful Weather at Main St. Fridays Downtown Greenville!

April 9:

As you know I always like to give you a heads up on what's happening in Greenville South Carolina over the weekend, so here we go!

The Annual Garden Tour: Historic Garden Traditions in the Crescent Avenue Area, The Art of Dr. Seuss at Midtown Artery, Greenville Drive hosts the Delmarva Shorebirds at Fluor Field, Sleuth is playing at the Greenville Little Theatre, and of course Main St. Fridays will be going on right outside the Downtown Greenville Hyatt. 

Greenville Force is hosting the Louisiana Swashbucklers and enjoy an evening with The Maestro at the Gunter Theatre with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra.  There's an educational tour "River Walk" along the Reedy River,  Top of The Hops Beer Festival is at the Bi-Lo Center, wow free beer?  And Alan Jackson will be at the Bi-Lo Center on the 11th. 

Enjoy!!!  I'll be out helping some fine folks find some great Upstate Greenville Real Estate.... :-)

Greenville South Carolina Chamber of Commerce

April 8:

Good morning!  I've got a busy day with out of state folks in town looking to relocate to the Greenville area so I've got to run.  Got to get out and finish up some pictures for you, if it doesn't rain.  And man we need it, the pollen is really out this year. 

I do want to mention that the first time home buyer credit is coming to an end so if you are able to buy, you should.  I guess I helped about 10 or 15 first time home buyers last year.  It was very exciting to see these people get their first home!  Hope you have a wonderful day and let me know if you have any questions regarding real estate or homes for sale in Greenville SC or the upstate!  By the way, the flowers are just beautiful this time of year!  Enjoy!

April 7:

Good  morning!  Hey, got a little story for you on something that occurred last week.  I've got a very nice young family I'm working with and we've been out to look at quite a bit of real estate in the Greenville area.  Well they had narrowed it down to a couple of homes in Greer and Simpsonville and we were going to make an offer on the Simpsonville home. 

Well folks I have to say I was a little bit irritated with the listing realtor on the Simpsonville home for sale.  Again, there are a lot of good, experienced listings realtors out there.

But here is what bothers me.  Ok, the home is in very good condition in a nice neighborhood in Simpsonville.  Pricing seems to be ok based on the comps.  Well, after our second showing, I call the listing agent to tell him we are going to make an offer.  My couple are all excited and we are going to make a fair offer.  Well, the listing realtor mentions that this is a RELOCATION deal and that I would be negotiating with the seller but working with the Relo company since in the end it's the relo company that sells the home.  Well folks, that really should be disclosed in the comments section of the MLS in my opinion.  As a matter of fact in my entire career I have never not seen a relocation deal disclosed.  I'm not sure it has to be, but out of of courtesy it should be.  Usually and I mean 99% of the time in the remarks there will be a note on "see associated docs" or something to that nature to alert the buyer's realtor that this is a relocation company deal.  

Well, I don't know if the realtor was just inexperienced or knew exactly what he was doing.  Why, you ask?  Relocation companies can be very difficult to deal with.  And it's in those associated documents you learn why.  You see the relo company has anywhere from 20 to 50 pages of addenda that the buyer has to sign and make a part of the contract.  As a matter of fact in their addenda they state that their contract supersedes our contract....well imagine that!  Now why would they want to supersede our contract?    

Let me tell you just a couple of things that crawl all up under my skin on their contracts.   They insist on my buyers using their closing attorneys,  they will not mediate according to a system set up by the National Association of Realtors if there is a problem....Folks, that's just the beginning, their protective language goes on and on.  And it ain't protecting the buyer.....

So do you see why a realtor or buyers agent like me would like to know before we go look at homes like this?  First of all I will not ever let my buyers use their attorney to close, in South Carolina the buyer has the right to choose their own closing attorney, nuff said.  I also have stricken other things in their contract but the bottom line is if you get into a transaction like this you're always at a disadvantage as far as leverage, because the relo companies have so much more money and they are not going to mediate if there is a problem, they will litigate.  Listen, I'm not knocking the families who use them to sell their home I'm just saying that they can be very difficult for the buyers and it should be disclosed up front in the MLS.  

And here is the most perfect example.  My couple is going to pay cash.  Now can you imagine wiring in a couple of hundred thousand dollars into the relocation company's attorney's account to close?  Not me brother.... Now let's say you didn't think to get a buyer's agent to assist you and the listing agent is selling you the home, that's a double WOW.  According to this realtor, not so sure I believe it, he said this was his first relo. deal.....say what, now you've got the buyer on your listing and the true seller is going to be a big relocation company with all the leverage.  

Folks, I'm telling you buyers every day still call the listing realtor cause they think they can do it themselves, or they are going to save some money.  To those who do, you're making a huge mistake.  A lot of people still don't understand buyer agency.  None of the listings on this site are mine but I can show you every one of them and help you purchase any one of them and work in your best interest, not the sellers!  Oh, by the way, there is no charge to you.  

So, did we make an offer?  Nope, we'll pass, there area plenty of nice homes in the Greenville SC area we can find.  Ya'll have a good one, and let me know if I can be of service as your exclusive buyers agent! 864-335-8490.

April 6:

10:23 am, I accidently deleted an email from some nice folks interested in relocating to Greenville who had a son at Clemson.  If you are reading this, please resend and my apologies, I'd love to help.

Good morning!  I hope you had a wonderful Easter!  Took a few days off but I'm back in the saddle again.  Hey, let's start off with a look a the real estate market in the Greenville MLS for the first three months of the year as compared to last year same time.

Ok, my criteria is Jan 1 through March 31, $100,000 and above in single family and condos/ Townhomes in Greenville County.  We had:

Closed Sales 436
Average Sold Price $215,215
Average Sold Price to List Price 95.6%
Average Days on The Market 113
High Sold Price $1,065,000

For the same period in 2009 we had:

Closed Sales 774
Average Sold Price $205,388
Average Sold Price to List Price 96.1%
Average Days on The Market 107
High Sold Price $1,500,000 

So you say.... "Whats it all mean Don?"  I  can tell you sales are starting off slower this year and I know a lot of Greenville realtors that are hurting.  If you read here on my Greenville SC Realtor and buyers agent page you will see the number of realtors that had gotten in the real estate sale market a few years back.  Yes that number climbed to about 2,400.  Well folks, do you know how many realtors are in the Greenville MLS now?   Yep we are right back to around 1,300.  The market is the great equalizer.  Why am I still here?  Well buyer agency of course.  There are still plenty of buyers out there needing help, first time homebuyers, folks relocating to Greenville SC, and even people listing that want a specialist.  

But anyway back to the numbers.  If you are not a realtor or familiar with the market, what do you infer?  Folks, really about the only thing you can infer is that sales are about half what they were at this time last year.  Now you ask, "Don why do you pick Greenville County only to always do your analysis?"  Well, Greenville County is the benchmark friends.  The Spartanburg and Anderson real estate markets are a completely different animal.  By picking Greenville County I get enough of the good and bad with a focus on the uptrending market where most people buy to give you a real good feel for what's happening here.  

Ok, if we move by closed sales, average days on the market is about the same, and average closed sales price is about the same.  Now, the thing that will really fool you is closed sales price to list price.  Don't infer anything from that, if you will call me I'll explain why, that is very misleading.  

Anywho, I've got to get to work people....both my dogs recently got injured and I've got a $525 vet bill I've got to pay!  Hey call me 864-335-8490 and please have a wonderful day.

Don

Happy Easter!

Saturday:

Good morning everyone!  If you're in town and visiting and looking for a place to worship this Easter Sunday, I just finished my Downtown Greenville SC Church page.  By no means are these all the churches in Greenville but they are ones that are located in the downtown area if you are interested.  I hope you have a wonderful Easter.
 

St. George Greek Orthodox Church, Downtown Greenville SC

Good Friday

The Eye of God

March 2010 Greenville South Carolina Blog Updates 

 February 10 Blog January 10 Blog  December 09 Blog  November 09 Blog 
October 09 Blog Updates September 09 Blog Updates 
August 09 Blog Updates July 09 Blog Updates
June 09 BlogUpdates May09Blog  Updates April 09 Blog Updates 
March 09 Blog Updates   February 09 Blog Updates 
Jan 09 Blog Updates  December 08 Updates Past Real Estate Blog Updates