864-335-8490

May 28:

Good morning everyone.  Hey, you saw the news yesterday from the write up that Fortune Magazine did on the web about Greenville South Carolina.  Good article although short.  One thing I did want to repeat is that don't let the population figures that Fortune quoted mislead you.  They show Greenville's population at around 58,000.  Hey like I said before Greenville's city limits are pretty small, but if you take into account Taylors, Simpsonville, Greer etc, the metro area, then you're looking closer to 400,000.  Greenville is exactly what I've said before a "big, small town", lot's of city stuff, but not the big problems. 

Anyway, I've got a closing today with a very nice couple relocating to Greenville from the Northeast!  Ya'll have a good one and here's a shot from downtown Greenville last night at Rhythm on The River! 

Larkin's Rhythm on The Reedy River

May 27:

Good morning folks, sorry I haven't been blogging for a few days but I tell you I've been covered up!  Hey, I'm not complaining...

Anyway, the big news today is..... drum roll...... Fortune Magazine has picked Greenville SC as one of the top places to retire!  Yep that's right, another award or let's say article about good ole Greenville South Carolina and guess what?  They interviewed me for part of the story!  Hey, I'm not bashful when it comes to Greenville so I told them just how great I think it is here and how many seniors and just people in general I've helped relocate and retire to Greenville!  For more on the article, please click here.  Actually, I've had a couple of interviews about Greenville South Carolina lately!  Man, you just can't keep a good thing quiet!

May 24:

Good Monday morning!  I sure hope you had a wonderful weekend!  I did, actually got a little time off for yard work and relaxing by the pool.  The big thing coming to town next weekend is Freedom Weekend Aloft.  I thought I'd go ahead and mention it in case you are visiting Greenville next weekend.  I sure hope the weather is better this year.  We had a lot of low cloud cover last year which just didn't work out well. 

So, what's going on in the world of Real Estate in Greenville SC and the Upstate?  Let's take a look at last Friday.  Friday's generally are a popular day to close on.  We had:

50 Closings from a low of $23,000 to a high of $453,000.  Average sold price of $141,216.  Highest sold price per sq. foot $125.07 in Asheton Springs.   This happened to be the most expensive sale by the way too.  It first came on the market on January 26 of this year.  It sold at 96.5% of the original list price.  This would not be uncommon for a popular neighborhood like Asheton Springs.

Freedom Weekend Aloft in Simpsonville SC!

May 23:

May 21:

Wow!  The weekend is already here!  Man I've had a busy week and currently I don't have any showings this weekend....it's a double edge sword, nice to have a little time over the weekend but also good if you're out helping some great people find a home in Greenville and the Upstate. 

So what's going on in the world of real estate today?  The biggest thing is all the interest in little ole Greenville South Carolina.  I got interviewed the other day for a story about Greenville Real Estate and the area.  I tell you folks, it's just a nice place to live. 

I've got over six calls yesterday from people interesting in relocating to Greenville!  One from a very nice lady in Florida who had pretty much been there all her life.  So what are they doing?  Well they are bringing their family to visit Greenville and see if they like it.  I recommended our newest hotel, the Downtown Greenville Marriott Courtyard.  I like them all but this one just opened and she and her husband have Marriott points.  I'm going by there today to check it out and will post some pictures for your review! 

Real Estate Sales are really picking up which is normal for this time of year, a lot of families with children are buying now to make the move after school's out.

So what's happening in Greenville South Carolina this weekend? The Greenville Drive is hosting the Augusta GreenJackets at Fluor Field.  13th of Paris is playing at the Warehouse Theatre, Upstate Shakespeare Festival is going on at Falls Park, Riverdance is at the Peace Center, XTREME Cagefighting at Bi-Lo Center, Carolina First Saturday Market at Main and McBee tomorrow morning.   The South Carolina Governor's School dance program will be performing Spring Dance at the Gunter Theatre, Shriners Car Show at Sticky Fingers Sunday, and of course Main St. Fridays Music right out my office at the Hyatt. 

Ya'll have a good one and let me know if you want to see some great homes for sale in Greenville this weekend.  335-8490.

May 19:

Good morning!  Hey, I thought I'd write about real estate appraisals today.  I've got two deals pending right now that are cash, no mortgage.  I always recommend writing real estate sales contracts contingent upon a number of things including appraisal.  If a mortgage is involved the bank is going to require an appraisal but even on cash I recommend the same.  Why?

Well I've got a very nice gentleman buying a home in Simpsonville and he is paying cash for it.  We are getting the inspections and appraisal set up and he was going by the appraisers to drop off a check but stopped and called my assistant to ask why we are doing an appraisal. 

I called him back and told him "it's just another layer of protection".  Folks, yes they cost about $350 but hey if you're going to drop $160,000 cash on a home let's go ahead and spend the $350 just to make sure the real estate value is there!  Yes, I pull comps and the home looks to be priced in the market, but hey....let's make sure by ordering a professional appraisal.  Just good thinking folks!  Again, buying a home in the Greenville, Simpsonville, Greer or for that matter anywhere in the Upstate is a process!  We just want to be sure we are doing the right things! 

So anywho, let's check out some great Greenville SC Real Estate in the MLS this morning!  Over the past week we had:

318 New Homes Listed
355 Price Changes
142 Closed Transactions
65 Listings Expired
773 Pending Transactions

Let's look at the new homes for sale today.  I see a very cute 3 bedroom bungalow in the Augusta Rd. Area.  Around 1100 sq. ft. priced at $209,000.  $30,000 price reduction in Autumn Trace.  New condo for sale in the Field House for $214,000.  Around 800 sq. ft.   New listing in Half Mile Lake which is over there close to Paris Mountain.  There is another one in Neely Farm that has been reduced again.  And a small bungalow in the North Main area.

Hey, I've got a busy day so I've gotta run.  Call me if you need anything!  864-335-8490!    

May 18:

Congrats to Riverside High Girls Soccer Team for Winning The Upper State Championship over Greenville 4-2 Yesterday at Sirrine Stadium

May 17:

Good morning!  Hey, what a great rain we got last evening.  Had to be at least an inch.  I'm glad cause I got some yard work done this weekend and put some pine needles down.  Man, what a honey do list I had. 

Anyway, let's blog a bit about very nice homes for sale in Greenville SC!  It's a dilemma folks!  Here's the situation.  I met a fellow that had bought a home from me years ago in Holly Trace.  Well he sold it and had been living with friends and this weekend he found a home that he wanted to see.  So, I schedule it and we go see it.  Well folks here's today's Greenville Blog about very nice homes for sale in Greenville and why they can be a problem.  And here's the catch!

What if they are overpriced for the neighborhood???  Cause I'm gonna tell you....this pretty little home we saw was about as nice as I've seen for the sq. footage.  I mean it was pristine, open floor plan, hardwoods, the whole proverbial nine yards!  Fully sodded yard, etc!  The problem is that it's around 28% higher on a per sq. foot basis than the best comp sold there in the past year.  I've had this happen before and this is what bothers me.

The owners have taken great care in ownership and it is move in ready.   And I like the home and my buyer doesn't mind paying a premium for the upgrades and qualities of the home.  But folks, "should you pay for seller updates" is the first question, and then the next is will it appraise?  My buyer has made an offer lower than list and the seller will probably counter it.  So let's say we get agreement.  I am afraid the home will not appraise and the seller will not be able to drop the price to appraised price because of what they have in it.  So can they bring money to the table?  Hey folks, most sellers don't like doing that unless they absolutely have too.  And if they have a very nice home, well then ego get's into play and they start disagreeing with the appraisal.  Worse yet is you've got a listing agent who is supporting the seller, when the value is there in black and white.

I mean, here we go again.  Ya'll have a good one and I'll keep you posted, I mean blogged, I mean updated :-)!

Check out The Village Cup in Laurens at Their New Location on The Square!

May 16:

Congrats to the Greenville High Girls Soccer Team who will be playing in the Upper State Finals against Riverside High School tomorrow evening!  Go Greenville!

GO GREENVILLE!

May 13:

Hey!  I've got a nice couple I met last night for a couple of showings and WOW, was the home or should I say homes overpriced!  Based on the average sq. footage for the homes for sale, one was right at $153 a square and the other at, now sit down folks..... $173 a square, HEY that's Downtown Greenville SC Condo pricing!  Now I will agree these homes were appointed nicely but quality of work was a bit lacking and I actually saw some laminate counter tops in the laundry area.  The home really felt small too, I believe they had it listed at about 3800 sq. ft., that's small for a $600,000 home around here. Not much entertaining area either. I bet those folks didn't use a buyers agent when they bought that home! 

Why, well let me just point out the negatives briefly, LAMINATE COUNTER TOPS IN LAUNDRY AREA.  TINY LOT THAT BACKS UP TO A BUSY ROAD.  ALL THIS FOR AN AMAZING $599,000!  No wonder they can't sell the home.  Folks, I tell you, you need to think about these things before you get talked into the home by the builder or on site agent.  Remember who they are working for.  Anyway I've got a nice couple in from Florida looking for a home for their daughter and we'll be "getting after it" tomorrow with 10 to 15 showings!  Ya'll have a great day and stop by the office this afternoon for Downtown Alive!

Congrats to The Greenville High Girls Soccer Team who Won Their Conference Championship Against JL Mann!  They are 2 and 0 in The Playoffs!

May 12:

Hi Folks!  Great news.  Looks like Southwest Airlines is coming to Greenville!  Yeah!  Also, I've just finished a great new site for you to do all your Greenville SC related searches!  It's a portal and the Google search is tuned into Greenville and the Upstate!  Bookmark and share this page, it will be a quick and easy way to search for all things Greenville SC related.  Now the neat thing is I'm going to be adding photos daily there too, since so many people comment that they enjoy the pictures.  I'll link to even larger photos for your enjoyment of the Greenville area!  Greenville SC Online is here!  Enjoy, but let's don't forget that my job is just helping everyone I can to make good decisions as a Greenville SC Realtor/Buyers Agent. 

I'll update pictures, have some great Greenville links and a little Shaggin music at Greenville SC Online!

Ya'll have a good one!

Don 

May 11:

Good morning!  Got a little rain last evening which was nice.  So, we haven't looked at the Greenville SC MLS lately.  I say we jump in!  Over the last 5 days:

199 New Listings

205 Price Changes

93 Closed Sales

65 Listings Expired

782 Pending Contracts


I usually talk a lot about the new listings but let's take a look at what sold.

The average sold price was $165,523 with a high of $555,000 and a low of $15,500.  Average days on the market was 101.  Let's look at a few homes, land and real estate that sold.

Augusta Rd. is a very popular area.  One closed in that area for $254,000.  It had an original list price of $269,900.  So, the sold to list price was 94.1%.

We had one close in Autumn Trace, a popular Simpsonville neighborhood.  It sold at  $259,900 with an original list price of $305,500.  Wow! that's 85% of the original list price. 

We had one close in Country Meadows, a Greer neighborhood for $172,500 on an original list price of $179,000.  96.4% of sales price.

A home closed in Edwards Forest, a Taylors neighborhood for $127,000 on an original list price of $179,900!  That's 71% of original list price!  Now Greenville MLS shows original list price of $164,900 which is what I bet Zillow and other sites show.  Which is incorrect.  You see they didn't pick up the history far enough or it was relisted.

We had one close in Pelham Falls, a popular Greer neighborhood for $201,250 on an original list price of $285,000.  So what's up with that, Foreclosure!  That's 71% of list price.

Let's check out Sugar Creek another popular Greer location.  Home sold for $240,000 on an original list price of $254,900 or 94% of list.  

"So what's it all mean Don?"  you ask.  It means no one can give you an accurate number on what "Greenville" sells for as a whole, cause folks, it's all over the place.  You may want to think about getting an exclusive buyers agent on your side...know what I mean? :-)

Anywho, ya'll have a good one and call me if need help! 864-335-8490.

Sush Koji and The Blue Martini in Downtown Greenville SC!

May 10:

Hey!  What a great weekend!  We've had some unusually warm weather so I was actually able to swim in my pool this weekend.  A lot of buyers ask me just how long you can use a pool in the Greenville area.  Well, normally I open mine first of May and close it about mid September.  With the temps. in the high 80's that we've been having I was able to swim this weekend.  Water temp. was about 76 which is fine.  Hey, I've got a busy day so I hope you have a good one.  Call me if you need me and I'll be glad to assist you with your Greenville South Carolina Relocation or help you locate real estate in the Upstate!

May 9:

 Happy Mother's Day to All You Great Moms Out There!

May 7:

Have a Great Weekend!

May 5:

Good morning!  Hey I wanted to review my Greenville Real Estate search functions, I know I've done this before but here we go:

There's a lot of ways to search for real estate in the Upstate.

Basic Search is what you see on my home page.

Map Search let's you Search By Dragging a Google Map.

Address Search, well you can enter an address.

Listing Search is the place you put MLS numbers in if you know them.

And finally the Advanced Real Estate Search allows you to enter many different criteria from lot sizes to schools, to style of home, even search for homes with an out building with electric!  Some Greenville SC Realtors claim that you need to "sign up" to have full access to the MLS....Say what?  Don't even get me started.  We realtors all have the same date feed from the GGAR.  There might be one that's a little different but no better.  We all get the same information, pictures, etc. and it's updated daily.

So search you heart away! But please be cautious of "pretty pictures" they can fool you..... 

I've got to scoot, meeting a fellow at 9 who is relocating to Greenville!

Ya'll have a good one!

May 4:

5:18pm

May 3:

Good morning!  Got a little rain coming down this morning.  Thank goodness, we can always use it! Well, let's get to blogging!

Hey, I think I've got something nice for you.  GGAR (Greater Greenville Association of Realtors) has contracted with a group to provide monthly statistics for our area Greenville MLS.  I'm going to start including highlights from this report.  Now remember, I pull my numbers differently, because I don't include all the Greenville MLS only Greenville county and I don't include sales below $100,000, nor mobile homes.  Now there are a few other differences but I though you may find this interesting for Greenville as a whole.  Below is the March 2010 Monthly Indicator.

Alright folks, I just tried to insert it and it's too small and I hate to put in PDF's so I'm going to put it on another page.  If you want to read some of the report it's located here.  The page is mainly for you to see the nice graphical representation.  I've scanned through it and I want to touch on the highlights here. 

Finally, I can actually answer a question I get from all buyers interested in real estate in Greenville SC!  Yeah,  I have always quoted sales price to list price and to many think it seems pretty high.  Well the reason is there's no practical way for me to dig into the numbers to give you that figure based on original sales price to sold price.  This is the true closed sale price to list price.  Well apparently the company that has done the stats did this.  So here we go with my comments.  Now I want to say something first, again this is for the whole MLS which folks, I don't think this is representative of Greenville, I have my reasons, mainly because Spartanburg and Anderson along with Pickens County and some other areas are totally different real estate markets.  Anywho, here we go:
 
New Listings Year to Date

One year change +4.6%
Two year change -8.1%

Pending Sales Year to Date

One year change -0.3%
Two year change -30.1% DOUBLE WOW!

Closed Sales Year to Date

One year change +3.7%
Two year change -30.2%  DOUBLE WOW!

Now folks here is the one I get asked about a lot and finally I can give it to you!

Percent of Original List Priced Received at Sale

Year to Date

91%

So to answer your question, Greenville MLS as a whole sells at about 91% of list price.  But hey folks, again that can be very misleading because you are looking at the entire Greenville South Carolina MLS as a whole.  My point though is it's certainly not up there around 96% which I've had to quote before.  But guess what, some areas sell at close to list price, hard to imagine isn't it.  What's that old saying about location, location, location?

I hope you have a wonderful Monday, we've got a nice steady rain falling and I've got to get another cup of coffee and some more banana nut bread!  Ya'll have a good one!

Hey, if you're visiting, grab a room at the Hyatt Downtown Greenville SC, then you can just walk across the lobby to my office!

Stayed Here when we Saw Michael Buble at the Bi-Center!

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 
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March 09 Blog Updates   February 09 Blog Updates 
Jan 09 Blog Updates  December 08 Updates Past Real Estate Blog Updates