Myrtle Beach Real Estate News

Gene Carter and The Beach Pro Team

1-800-872-4488

GeneCarter@BeachProTeam.com 

www.MyrtleBeachAdvantage.com 

May 2015
Volume 2015   Issue 05
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In This Issue

Gene Carter CDPE
Gene

Professional, Courteous Service /
28 Years Experience / Oceanfront, Waterway & Golf Real Estate Specialist in Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Little River, Surfside, Garden City, Murrells Inlet, Litchfield, Pawleys Island, Carolina Forest
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2200 Premier Resorts Blvd

North Myrtle Beach
South Carolina  29582
 

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News Flashes

   

 

IMPROVED CONDOTEL FINANCING

 

Interest rates continue to drop and more options have become available.  Contact me for details.

 

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Click on the "Calendar of Events" below for more happenings. 

 

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Quick Links...

 


 

Greetings from the Grand Strand!

 

My busiest April in 8 years was followed by my busiest May in 8 years. Lots of buyers, lots of sellers, and the typical profiles and motivations for each seem to be changing. I'll cover this in more detail below but first, the good news continues for real estate sales and rental incomes!

 

As reported in a Sun News article on May 28, year-to-date single family home sales were up 11.5% and condo sales were up 10%. Pending sales were even more impressive, up 29.7% for single-family homes and 21.8% for condos. Here's a link to the complete article, Condo Sales Surge the Surprise of Spring Home Market

 

A Sun News article published May 3 offered some impressive spring rental numbers. For condos, hotels, and campsites, from March 8 through April 18, lodging occupancy was about 61%, up 5% compared to the same period in 2014. The average daily rate was up 12%. This led to a 17% increase in revenue per available room, or RevPar, a key gauge in the lodging industry. Here's a link to the complete article, Spring Tourism Solid Along the Grand Strand.

 

I mentioned in the opening paragraph that I've noticed changes in the types of buyers and sellers I've been working with this year. It's not so much a change as it is an expansion to a much greater variety. This may be why the number of transactions has increased, both for me and for the area in general.

 

Over the past 6 or 7 years, the majority of the buyers I've dealt with have been bargain-hunting investors looking to take advantage of the depressed prices and the resulting favorable cash flows (compared to historical norms). Although investors still make up a large percentage of my buyer clients, in recent months, I've worked with:

 

True second home purchasers who don't plan to rent at all.

 

Second home purchasers who plan to rent to offset some of their carrying costs even though they don't consider these to be investment properties.

 

Purchasers of oceanfront condos as primary residences.

 

Trade-up purchasers who sell their smaller one-bedroom and efficiency condos in order to purchase bigger, nicer, two, three and four bedroom condos.

 

Current owners purchasing additional properties. These are typically investors who have been happy with their initial purchases and see more opportunities available in our market.

 

As with my buyer clients, many of my seller clients over the past 6 or 7 years have been similar to each other - generally distressed owners who had no choice but to sell because they were upside down and experiencing significant negative cash flows. These truly desperate sellers are becoming rare, as evidenced by the fact that there are very few distress sales currently available in the resort condo market. A client recently asked me to send him a list of all the oceanfront bank-owned condo listings (foreclosures) on the entire Grand Strand. My MLS search only turned up 4 active bank-owned listings- out of almost 1300 total oceanfront condo listings.

 

The variety of seller types and motivations has also expanded. Although I still occasionally work with sellers who are upside down and need to sell, in recent months, my seller clients have also included:

 

Sellers with no mortgages on their properties who have simply decided it was time to sell even though they could have continued to carry the properties indefinitely. Some of the reasons for selling included infrequent personal usage, a desire to simplify and/or consolidate a personal financial situation, and plans to use the proceeds to buy property elsewhere or for other purposes.

 

Trade-up sellers who wanted to purchase larger properties because of growing families, increased financial capabilities (They bought a nicer place just because they wanted it and they could afford it now!) or other reasons.

 

Sellers (typically investors) who wanted to shuffle their real estate portfolio by selling low return properties and replacing them with higher return properties.

 

You may notice that a number of these buyer and seller categories included individuals who were both buying and selling. This has also resulted in a growing number of 1031 tax-deferred exchanges. This strategy, under certain circumstances, enables an owner to sell a property with a taxable profit and defer paying the taxes on this profit. Please contact me if you would like more information.

 

Whatever the reason, if you want to buy or sell (or both), my team and I will be glad to help!

 

That's it for this month. Read on for the latest monthly reports and my Best Buys.

 

Come see me at the beach!

April Reports

Below are links to several detailed reports on the current state of our local real estate market complete with statistics for just about anything imaginable.  Please keep in mind that these statistics cover a broad range of properties and that particular areas or developments may behave quite differently.  

 

As always please contact me if I can be of service in any way.

See link below to interpret terms used in these reports.


News to You

This new monthly newsletter feature shares press releases that caught my eye in the previous month.  Here they are.  (These articles are on my website under "News/Useful Info"). 
Best Buys (My Picks)
 

The following current listings are exceptionally well-priced and represent great values.  The spreadsheets are sorted by price.  These are live links to listing details and they will change according to changes in the MLS (Pending, Sold, etc.).  The listing details are in the same order as the spreadsheets. Please call me directly if you find something of interest to you.

 

OF/OV Homes Brochures:         Link to Listings 

OF/OV Homes Spreadsheet:    Link to Spreadsheet 

 

OF/OV Condo Brochures:         Link to Listings

OF/OV Condo Spreadsheet:    Link to Spreadsheet

Non-OF Condo Brochures:        Link to Listings  
Non-OF Condo Spreadsheet:   Link to Spreadsheet  
If you are considering buying or listing any property on the Grand Strand, or if I can be of assistance in any other way, please contact me.  Also, please feel free to forward this newsletter to friends or acquaintances and of course I will be happy to add them to my email list.

Finally, please let me know if you are going to be in the area and would like to get together.

See you at the beach!

Gene Carter
Beach Pro Team
Cell Phone:  843-455-4785
Email:  GeneCarter@BeachProTeam.com
Website:  www.MyrtleBeachAdvantage.com

The material provided is for informational and educational purposes only and sometimes contains current or forward-looking statements on real estate market conditions, and should not be construed as legal, investment and/or real estate advice.  Although the material is deemed to be accurate and reliable, we do not make any representations as to its accuracy or completeness and as a result, there is no guarantee it is without errors, and is not necessarily the opinion of The Hoffman Group or its agents.