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First time home buyers and investors in the Mount Pleasant, Hanahan, and in the Charleston, SC are finding great home deals. But many first time home buyers and investors are sitting on the fence, due to the current economy and job security concerns. If your current employment is with company not being affected by the economy (i.e. healthcare or defense fields), this would be a great time to buy. Home buyers are being able to negotiate lower prices and great terms when it comes to buying a home.
Home sales are scarcer, but they haven't dried up
Katy Stech, The Post and Courier, Monday, March 23, 2009 - In step with a devastating national real estate slump, the Charleston area market has posted double digit declines in the number of homes sold each month for more than two years. Problems stemming from a lack of available credit worsened when consumer confidence shrank after the country's economic crisis turned global. But despite the gloom, some local residents have found that — for them — now is the perfect time to buy a home. Some investors, for example, are able to buy distressed properties at low prices. And many first-time buyers are able to get an $8,000 federal tax credit that, unlike an earlier $7,500 tax credit, doesn't need to be repaid.
Here's now some buyers made the ailing real estate market work for them.
The Young Professionals
For Shauna and Will Morris, the timing behind their first home purchase was less about a recession and more about their relationship.
The young couple have been married for three years, which Shauna describes as a "comfortable" length of time, and they both felt well-enough established at their jobs at the same North Charleston defense contractor.
"We're both in a good place," she said. "It was time to take the next step."
Armed with patience, the two began looking for a newly built home, knowing they'd have the upper hand when negotiating with builders eager to unload inventory.
At first, the floor plans they looked at didn't offer the expansive square footage that they wanted. But the terms of the deals gradually improved and in October they heard about a two-story, 2,300-square foot Centex home in Mount Pleasant's Cane Bay neighborhood.
They picked out a lot on a street checkered with new houses and roped-off home sites. The couple paid $191,000 after upgrading to hardwood floors, granite countertops and a gas fireplace.
Being able to pick and choose those decorative details was the key reason the couple looked exclusively at new homes instead of resales, which they might have had to renovate themselves.
"I don't think there's anything in here that I'd change," Shauna, 29, said from her large kitchen.
Job security has become an obstacle for the real estate industry and some young professionals such as the Morrises. Fears of sudden unemployment have scared away some would-be buyers from the closing table or even looking at homes.
But defense contracting work has held up reasonably well, Shauna said. And the couple's employer secured a large contract shortly before they bought the home Feb. 9, easing some of their anxiety.
The purchase meant moving out of their smaller West Ashley apartment complex, where the management tried to get the Morrises to stay by offering to lower their monthly rent. They declined, much to the relief of their dogs: Lily, Patches and 7-month old German shepherd Jake.
"We had already decided to wanted to buy a house at that point," Shauna said. "We needed something bigger. Three dogs and an apartment don't work too well."
The Investor
The modest, 1,200-square-foot house in Summerville's quiet Evergreen subdivision originally was listed at $60,000.
But 46-year-old investor Leroy Godfrey Jr. drove a hard bargain, all the way down to the closing price of $37,165.
The home isn't perfect. It has uneven floors. Some doors don't close right. And the wiring to the broken air-conditioning system was rigged to look as though it worked properly, which helped reduce the sale price.
Still, Godfrey knew the neighborhood was safe enough to draw a family in need of a home. He rents out a similar residence two doors down for $750 a month.
"God isn't making more land, and people are always going to have to rent. So why not buy it and rent it out to somebody?" he said, surveying the property's expansive yard. In his hand, he held the sales information for another possible investment: a four-bedroom home in Hollywood listed for only $20,000.
To read the rest of the article, http://www.charleston.net/news/2009/mar/23/in_market76117/
For more information on Buying a Home in Hanahan & Mount Pleasant, SC and Surrounding Areas contact Matt Naumann.
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