ANSWERS TO THE TEN MOST COMMON QUESTIONS HOME SELLERS ASK. Selling a home or condo can be daunting, even for experienced property owners. That’s why information is such an invaluable commodity… and that’s why I’m writing this Monday morning series of ten common questions and answers.

Question #2 - “How do I find out what market conditions are like in Myrtle Beach?”

Do Your Homework - After sellers know why they want to sell, the next step is to get a clear picture of the current Myrtle Beach real estate market to determine whether factors favor them achieving their goals. Potential sellers can compile this information themselves by researching sales to find out what comparable properties are selling for, or they can talk to a Realtor® they trust who can provide them with this information as well as current insights on the market.

The general market trend is easy enough to discover on your own, e.g. right now it’s a buyer’s market in Myrtle Beach – there is a lot more property for sale than there are interested buyers. It’s a tough market for sellers, and that makes accurate research on sales of comparable properties all the more important. Most property owners, particularly those who live out of town, rely on an experienced Realtor® to do the research for them – it saves them time, reduces frustration, and eliminates costly mistakes.

Next Week – “How much can I expect to get for my home?”

If you just can’t wait for this series to unfold, all Ten Answers are available on request. Just call my 24/7 hotline, toll-free, at 1-888-494-8654, Ext 225 and follow the recorded directions. I’ll get them in the mail to you within 48 hours.

Bottom Line: Home Sales down 26.77%; Home Prices down 3.48%

Myrtle Beach area home sales during the third quarter declined 26.77 percent compared with the third quarter last year, according to the S.C. Association of Realtors’ report released this week.

The median sales price in the Myrtle Beach area also fell to $194,000, a 3.48 percent decline compared with the third quarter of last year. Homes spent an average of 209 days on the market - an 11.15 percent increase.

Myrtle Beach statistics include Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Conway and Georgetown.

Real estate sales on the Grand Strand are still falling from last year’s levels, but the amount of condominiums on the market has dropped _ signaling that buyers are likely pulling units off the market.

• Homes are selling at the same pace they did in 2004, but down 19 percent from last year, according to third quarter statistics from the Multiple Listing Service released Thursday.

• Condo sales have dropped 38 percent from last year, and are selling at the same pace they did in 2003.

Outlook

“Well, it’s not getting worse. I don’t look for numbers to start turning around for probably another year,'’ said Tom Maeser, president of the Fortune Academy of Real Estate. “People need to hang tight. Sellers need to get realistic in pricing and buyers have to realize they can’t wait forever for good deals. There are definitely good deals out there, and it’s the time to buy.'’

• Falling condo inventory is a good sign that the market is correcting. There are currently 8,975 units on the market compared to 10,493 last year.

• But single family home inventory is up 20 percent to 6,344 homes from 5,291 last year.

Third quarter MLS stats recorded year-over-year price increases, but analysts say that is mostly due to more upper end product selling and a large number of preconstruction condos that closed this year.

Source: Jenny Burns, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC

Only a few of the 50 properties offered had final bids above what the auctioneer sought as opening bids… at a real estate auction Saturday morning at the Myrtle Beach Marriott Resort at Grande Dunes, . A number were withdrawn because they had no bids at all and others likely won’t make it to the closing table.

• The auctioneer refused to even consider a $1 million bid on a 7.5-acre Myrtle Beach property with a 3,700-square-foot house. The property was estimated to be worth $10 million and the auctioneer was looking for a $4.5 million opening bid.

• Except for two condominiums near Coastal Carolina University, sellers didn’t have to accept the final bids. The two condominiums, two bedroom/two bathroom units in a building on S.C. 544, were sold as absolute, meaning sellers agreed to accept the final bids before the bidding began. The sellers got $70,000 and $71,000 for the units, $5,000 to $10,000 above what was bid for two other condominiums in the same building.

Bidding opened to a crowd of a couple hundred, at least, but most ended up as lookers, not buyers.

• The auctioneer said he expected more activity at Saturday’s auction from a variety of buyers, but what he saw was a roomful of hesitant buyers and sellers.

• Properties that got no bids included several multimillion dollar homes in Grande Dunes and two vacant, oceanfront lots in Atlantic Beach.

Source: Steve Jones, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC

BOTTOM LINE ADVICE FOR OWNERS: If you want to sell, then price your property right. If you don’t have to sell, then keep it. If you’re not living in it, then rent it out.

As home sellers realize how much they’ll have to drop their price to sell - or how long it will take to sell - some are choosing to rent out their properties instead, leaving renters with more options and the ability to be picky about their price in some areas.

Rental agency managers say rents for the most part are continuing to tick upward in price, but in some pockets, like annual condominium rentals and three-bedroom homes, rents are falling.

Unlike home prices, no one tracks long-term rental rates on the Grand Strand.

• However, rental agents say that in some Carolina Forest neighborhoods where there is an oversupply of three-bedroom homes on the rental market… rental prices are dripping.

• Some condominium complexes, like Windsor Green, are also seeing rents fall. Three-bedroom units were renting for between $950 and $995 a month a year ago, but in July six owners dropped the price to $850.

• One-bedroom condos are in the highest demand, and rental rates have not fallen on those.

• Some single-family home neighborhoods such as Hillsborough have all their units rented, and rates are holding steady.

More Realtors are seeing clients pull their home from the market and choose to rent. They do not want to rent it. But they can’t sell. They are frustrated. They feel like they have come down so low in order to sell.

Source: Jenny Burns, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC

Prices for oceanfront condominiums along the Grand Strand have been on a roller coaster in recent years - and have now plunged to levels seen three years ago before the condo boom.

Condo prices skyrocketed in 2005 - increasing $100,000 in less than six months in many cases - but since then have fallen to the levels in late 2004 and early 2005.

• “We’re exactly where we were three years ago. If we’re not there, we’re really darn close. It’s like we erased the spike,” said one real estate agent who specializes in oceanfront condos.

Re-sale prices have dropped

As prices grew higher, investors couldn’t afford to buy units that wouldn’t generate enough income to cover their mortgage. Flippers got caught with a property worth less than they bought it for, and supply ballooned. Then insurance spikes and mortgage tightening slowed the market to a crawl.

• Real estate agents are telling clients it’s like getting a second chance to buy that condo that they didn’t buy three years ago.

• Only resale condos have seen these dramatic price drops.

• Case in point: Camelot by the Sea, a themed 230-unit condo tower that opened in 2001 in Myrtle Beach, sold a one bedroom unit in January 2005 for $209,900. The sales topped out at $345,000 six months later. In June, one sold for $176,000 - lower than the 2005 price.

New Construction prices are holding

Newly built condominiums seem to be holding their value better, agents say.

• “Preconstruction oceanfront is still doing pretty well,” said Tom Maeser, president of the Fortune Academy of Real Estate. “It’s the resale that’s taking a hit.”

The tide of the condo boom turned so quickly few saw it coming.

• Economists say it’s not necessarily bad that condos on the Strand’s oceanfront have fallen so much. It makes them more affordable to potential buyers, and the price adjustment has happened quicker here than other areas like Florida, said Mark Vitner, economist at Wachovia in Charlotte.

• But he doesn’t think prices are done falling. He expects they’ll go a little further - and sales will rise before prices do.

Agents say these low prices should spur renewed interest in Myrtle Beach’s oceanfront - but they’re not sure when.

• Investors are waiting, looking for signs that prices have hit the bottom.

• High prices had caused many investors to get rid of their oceanfront condos because the rental income wasn’t enough to cover their mortgage costs, analysts say. Lower prices should make that more doable, Maeser said.

• “For the consistent rental investor - those that don’t plan to flip properties - this is a good time to be looking at properties,” Maeser said.

An influx of speculators to the Grand Strand’s oceanfront caused the lightning fast spike in prices. At the height of the housing boom, Myrtle Beach ranked 20th in the nation for the amount of mortgages to investors, Vitner said.

• “The run-up in prices was way overdone. It priced a lot of buyers out of the market, who were hoping to flip properties and make a quick profit,” Vitner said.

• Insurance increases, high prices and now mortgage tightening brought the market to a crawl.

• But the pace at which prices have adjusted is a good sign, Vitner said, although sales will grow before prices will creep up.

So how low will they go?

• Vitner thinks they’ll fall a little bit further.

• “We’re not going to see strength return to the market for another year,” Vitner said.

• Basic economics dictates that prices may still have room to fall because inventory is still slowly rising.

Source: Jenny Burns, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC

The new president of Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc. - the Grand Strand’s largest local real estate developer - says the company is closely watching the habits and decisions of the baby boomer generation as the company makes plans for future development.

Jim Rosenberg, 54, has taken over as the head of B&C with 30 years of real estate development experience - and the mission of transforming the company to focus specifically on residential and commercial development and broadening it into the Southeast.

And what he’s tracking is the boomers - where they’re going, what they want and how much they’ll pay for it.

• While the market is dipping, Rosenberg expects that boomer relocation - as the oldest of the 78 million of them start retiring in the next few years - will change that.

A study from the National Association of Realtors says 42 percent of them want to retire to the South.

• “Myrtle Beach and South Carolina are going to boom,” he said Aug. 2, his first day on the job. “If you think the last 14 years was high growth, fasten your seat belt.”

• Rosenberg said Tuesday that the long-term market is headed up.

• “You’re always going to have dips, but if you look over a 10-year period, it’s consistently growing. It’ll pick back up. All this loan disaster will straighten out,” he said. “Construction has slowed down. Everybody is kind of holding back. Dips happen, but I think prices have gone about as low as they’re going to go.”

Boomers seen in Myrtle Beach’s future

• Boomers want communities with 500,000 people or less, they represent 70 percent of the nation’s net worth and they buy second homes - all factors that look positive for Myrtle Beach, Rosenberg said.

• Boomers also take long trips, he said, so Myrtle Beach’s recent ranking by a national traveler survey as the second-most-popular family summer destination, behind Orlando, Fla., bodes well for the area, too.

The company is doing its own demographic research, and combining it with sources such as The Brookings Institute and the National Tour Association’s Research & Development Council.

• That boomer research will effect what happens at the former Pavilion and Myrtle Square Mall sites, both of which B&C owns. Rosenberg says boomers like self-contained walkable villages offering a mix of residential and commercial. Those preferences will drive plans at those high-profile sites still to be developed.

Source: Jenny Burns, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC

Home prices on the Grand Strand are now showing declines for the first time, according to July sales statistics from the Multiple Listing Service.

• Analysts had been baffled for months about why the Strand’s home prices continued to show year-over-year increases.

• An adjustment was inevitable, and some analysts say it could be a sign the bottom is near, while others are less certain.

PRICES & SALES DOWN ~ Good news?

• Average single-family home prices in Horry and Georgetown counties fell more than 9 percent, from $294,135 to $266,926.

• The median price - meaning half sold for more and half for less - dropped about 2 percent to $220,000 from $224,155.

• The good news is that stability in the market wouldn’t happen until this price correction showed up, said Tom Maeser, president of the Fortune Academy of Real Estate.

CREDIT CRUNCH ~ How long it will last?

Maeser isn’t sure how much longer, and Mark Vitner, economist at Wachovia in Charlotte, said the last few weeks of tightening in the lending industry won’t help things.

• “I’d like to think the market is near bottom. We had projected that sales would bottom out this year, but the abrupt lending tightening means we could see more” sales drops, Vitner said.

• Buyers will have a hard time finding interest-only loans and may have to put down at least 20 percent of the purchase price, hurting the price of a home they can qualify for.

• Rates on jumbo loans, which are often used to finance beach properties, have risen dramatically in the last week, he said.

FEWER BUYERS

“The pool of qualified buyers is smaller than it was a month ago and much smaller than a year ago,” Vitner said. “We’ll see sales weaken over the next several months depending on how long this credit shake out takes.”

While Vitner does think we’re “very close” to the bottom - he says that just means that prices will stop falling.

“That doesn’t mean all is well in the housing market,” he said, because some buyers who have contracts on homes may not be able to get the loan they thought they could.

SELLERS CUTTING PRICES ~ Buying opportunity?

Sellers are finally getting the message that they have to cut prices to sell. They’re either doing that or if they don’t have to sell now, they’re taking their homes off the market.

With prices down, now may be a great time to buy.

BOOMER RETIREMENT

In the long term, Vitner says Myrtle Beach’s appeal and retiring boomers will keep the market on the upswing.

“There’s no question the housing market will recover. It’s just a question of when.”

Source: Jenny Burns - The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC

A new study of six price categories shows the highest number of homes for sale on the Grand Strand market are in the $150,000 to $250,000 price range, with 2,095 homes. That’s a year’s worth of home inventory.

Agents listing homes in this price range say they’re battling builders’ new incentive packages - and sellers have only one choice if they want to sell: lower the price.

The study, which looked at the number of listings and sales in Horry and Georgetown counties’ Multiple Listing Service, shows a “shortage” of supply in the under-$150,000 range, said Tom Maeser, president of the Fortune Academy of Real Estate, who conducted the study.

• But the other price ranges, starting at $150,000 and up, show an oversupply as they grow from 11.5 months of supply to 54 months of supply for million-dollar homes, he said.

• What’s interesting is the higher price ranges are selling at about the same pace they were a year ago, but the sales pace for homes under $250,000 has slowed dramatically.

• Maeser said that’s because of the loss of investors and tightening on subprime loans and higher interest rates.

The lesson from the study is to price your home right and make sure you’re competitive with builder prices including incentives, he said. If the resale market becomes at least 20 percent cheaper than new homes, buyers will start taking notice, he said. It’s about a 12 percent difference right now.

Here’s an overview of the study’s price ranges and recent activity.

• Homes under $150,000 have the fewest months of supply - with only 665 on the market - and analysts say there’s room for more, especially since that’s the price range that the Strand’s work force can afford. Condos in this price range have the second-largest inventory amount of 2,047. That’s a 19-month supply.

• The $150,000 and $250,000 price category has the highest number of homes and condos on the market. It’s the popular price point for many national builders. Analysts say sellers must price right and keep a close eye on builder prices. There are 3,597 condos in this group - the highest of any price range. That’s 37 months of inventory - the longest of all the condo pricing categories.

• Homes between $250,000 and $350,000 have the second-highest supply of homes, taking 16 months to sell based on today’s sales pace. For condos, this category will take the longest to sell, with a 37-month supply.

• The $350,000 and $450,000 range has 704 homes on the market for a 21-month supply. Agents say homes in this price range must really be the best value in the neighborhood. Condos in the price range are seeing a 29-month supply with 929 units on the market.

• The $450,000 to $1 million category has 1,195 homes on the market with a 3-month absorption rate. Sales in this price range have dropped since last year from 531 sales to 420. Among condos, the absorption rate is smaller - 24 months - with 1,285 units on the market.

• There are 487 homes above $1 million on the market with a 54-month supply. Sales are down 24 percent since last year in this price range. About 91 condos are for sale above $1 million with a 35-month supply.

Source Jenny Burns, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC

IT’S AN OLD-FASHIONED STANDOFF… with large inventories, picky buyers and frustrated sellers.

• Sellers don’t want to give away their property - but that’s exactly what buyers are itching for them to do.

• Buyers, on the hunt for slashed prices, great deals and the best price tag in the subdivision, are being patient - because they can - with a huge amount of inventory on the market

RESALE PRICES… on condominiums and townhomes have dropped since last year, but single-family prices are showing gains.

• Sales are down from last year… falling 59 percent for resale condos and 33 percent for single-family homes in Horry County.

• The median price - meaning half sold for more and half sold for less - of resale condominiums dropped 5 percent in the first quarter of 2007 from $178,350 last year to $169,000 this year in Horry County. Resale townhomes also dropped 9 percent to $135,000 from $148,000.

• Yet resale single-family homes are still inching up - increasing 9 percent to $205,000.

RESALE MARKET HIT HARDEST… “As we continue going through this period of correction, it’s hitting the resale market much harder,” said Don Schunk, research economist at Coastal Carolina University.

• That’s because builders are able to offer free TVs, upgrades or no payments for a year to get buyers interested. New home sales are dropping by smaller margins than resales.

• Sellers are wrestling with how much they can afford to cut their home price versus having to rent the home out and risk it being damaged.

BUYERS EYE PRICE DROPS… Buyers are expecting a discount and making offers below list price.

• Buyers are more educated now than ever. They know value.

• Buyers are waiting for prices to go down.

• Buyers are looking for bargains.

THE NEW MARKET… sellers are in competition with builders and their neighbors. Sellers have to monitor what local builders are doing - and their fellow sellers - to keep their prices right.

• Sellers who bought homes a few years ago still have gains.

• Sellers who bought over the last 18 months will do well to break even.

THE MARKET CHANGED QUICKLY… Two years ago, there were 3,036 homes on the market on the Strand. Today, there’s 6,450, according to the Multiple Listing Service for Horry and Georgetown counties. That doesn’t count the number of houses for sale by owners not using agents.

WHAT’S TO COME… The first quarter statistics, with its large sales drops and price declines, were worse than anticipated.

• The single-family market is expected to stabilize by year end.

• The condo market looks like it will continue to slide… because of the larger imbalance of inventory.

Source: Jenny Burns, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC

The National Association of Realtors revised forecast calls for 1.3% drop in median existing-home prices, following a downward adjustment last month.

SALES: Existing-home sales are expected to fall 4.6 percent this year to 6.18 million, compared with 6.48 million in 2006, with new single-family home sales dropping 18.2 percent and housing starts dropping 20.4 percent. Housing starts for single-family units are expected to decline 23 percent this year compared to 2006.

PRICES: Median existing-home prices are expected to drop 1.3 percent this year to $219,100, while new-home prices are expected to fall 2.3 percent to $240,800, according to the association’s latest forecast. The forecast calls for home prices to recover in 2008, with the existing-home price rising 1.7 percent and the new-home price rising 2.6 percent compared to 2007.

2008 FORECAST

Existing-home sales are expected to rise to 6.41 million in 2008, while new single-family sales are expected to rise from 860,000 this year to 901,000 in 2008 and total housing starts are expected to rise from 1.43 million this year to 1.49 million in 2008, the Realtor group reported.

Source: Inman News

The Grand Strand’s economy will keep growing this summer - especially the number of jobs - though tourism will tick up only slightly and housing starts will continue to drop, according to a local economist.

In a market where inventory keeps growing and sales keep slowing, sellers and builders are turning to feng shui, the unseen world of energy, and Catholic saints to get their homes sold.

INVENTORY: The number of homes on the market today has grown 28 percent since the end of 2006 to 6,203 homes.

Condo inventory is up 11 percent from the end of 2006 to 9,598 condos, according to the Multiple Listing Service.

PRICING: “Any time you get a changing market where we’ve got a heavy inventory, you see all of these things come out,” said Tom Maeser, president of the Fortune Academy of Real Estate. “I hate to disillusion everyone but there’s only one reason a house doesn’t sell and that’s price.”

Offer to pay your buyer’s closing costs even if you have to raise the price of the home. Buyers usually need more help with upfront costs than they do on their monthly mortgage payment.

STAGING: Home stagers on the Grand Strand are seeing a surge of interest from real estate agents, who are filling up staging classes in order to learn how to make a home “pop” for guests.

The goal is to make the home feel good, so buyers stay longer, and focus their attention on the home’s best points.

Michael Corbett, author of the book “Ready, Set, Sold!,” talks about home staging: the importance of curb appeal; making it smell good; adding flowers and plants.

Corbett says the main thing is to make those needed repairs, declutter and depersonalize, and take your pets out. He says, “Save it, store it, sell it or chuck it.”

Source: Jenny Burns, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC

Grand Strand condominium sales dropped 41 percent in the first quarter, falling to a sales level that’s lower than in the same quarter in the past three years - and the largest quarterly drop in sales in the past year.

• The drop didn’t surprise real estate analysts, considering the market’s investor exodus and skyrocketing insurance costs.

• But they were surprised that condo sales didn’t at least grow above 2004 levels, when 1,040 condos sold on the Grand Strand.

• This year in the first quarter 901 sold on the Strand, according to the Multiple Listing Service for Horry and Georgetown counties.

The question is: when does the condo market stop dropping and start going up?

• “We have about 9,000 condos [on the market] and sales about 10 percent of that. That’s a pretty large imbalance,” said research economist Don Schunk at Coastal Carolina University.

• Schunk says condos will take much longer than single family homes to get back into balance.

• The investors that bought when prices were high don’t have much wiggle room to drop prices, said Tom Maeser, market analyst and president of the Fortune Academy of Real Estate.

• “They’re not wanting to take a loss, so they’re holding on. It’s kind of a standoff right now,” he said. “Everybody I know is starting to feel that buyers are starting to make more decisions realizing that [reducing prices are] not going to last too much longer.”

Single family homes

First-quarter sales for single-family homes also dropped - 17 percent, to 1,090 from 1,311 - also the largest quarterly drop in the past year.

• In the fourth quarter, single-family-home sales fell 4 percent.

• But it’s the second-best year since records have been kept for home sales, down from 2006 but up from 2005 when 932 homes were sold.

• While the single-family market looks like it’s experienced a sharp drop, Schunk said it’s just getting back in line with sales for a normal market after a market peak in the first quarter of 2006.

• “The drop in single-family sales is not that big of a concern. The overall trend is still going up,” he said. “But with the condo market, it’s a different story.”

• Maeser and Schunk expect a pickup in single-family sales from first quarter to second quarter, but not enough to beat 2006 sales levels.

Source: Jenny Burns, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach

The Grand Strand’s continuing expansion challenges planners, marketers. The area’s population grew 21 percent between 2000 and 2006.

• From 2005 to 2006, the Myrtle Beach area was the fourth-fastest-growing area in the nation, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau released today.

• The Metropolitan Statistical Area identified as Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach ranked 17th in the nation between 2000 and 2006, according to Census Bureau data.

The boom isn’t going to stop anytime soon, thanks to the region’s geography, weather, quality of life and seemingly endless supply of retiring baby boomers, experts said.

• The growth can mostly be attributed to the rapid influx of retirees, said Bob Becker, director of the Strom Thurmond Institute at Clemson University. Their movement has created more jobs in the service sector, bringing even more people to the area that weren’t already here.

• “It’s an attractive area, and the growth will continue,” he said. “The numbers are going to increase as we see the baby boomers retire.”

And many of them aren’t looking to retire in Florida, making the Carolinas one of the prime coastal destinations on the East Coast, he said. Since much of the land along Georgia’s coast is wetland that cannot be developed, and much of North Carolina’s coastline is protected by barrier islands, South Carolina is the next most logical option.

• “Hurricanes have gotten people thinking about a lot of issues in Florida. So, we are seeing a lot of redirection to the Carolinas,” Becker said.

• The market’s diversity is what makes the Myrtle Beach area such an attractive spot in the state, said Gary Loftus, director of the Coastal Federal Center for Economic & Community Development.

• Many retirees are looking to move to Horry County rather than Florida or the Gulf Coast because of hurricanes that have damaged those areas in recent years, said Janet Carter, county planning director.

• The shopping, beach, golfing and availability of jobs also make the Myrtle Beach area attractive to young families.

The Horry County school district expects a need for between nine and 19 new schools in the next decade to accommodate between 11,000 and 20,000 new students, according to district projections.

Locals have learned to adjust in their growing community. They enjoy the benefits the growth brings - new stores and attractions - while dealing with the drawbacks, such as busier roads and longer lines at restaurants.

Source: Dawn Bryant, Jessica Foster and Josh Hoke, The Sun News, Myrtle beach, SC