Last week in The Island Packet, the headlines on the front page read, “Island Tourism Picking Up: Real Estate Still Slow”. 

At first glance, that might not make sense to people.  But for those of us in the business it makes a lot of sense.

It is the same reason that sometimes auto part stores do well in a recession; people don’t buy new cars, they fix up existing cars.  Remodeling contractors are doing well because people are not buying new homes; they are fixing up existing homes.

People will take a vacation in the United States as opposed to going overseas. 

I talked to my friends in the rental business and they tell me that their business is down between 5%-10%.  Wow – every real estate company in the state of South Carolina would be happy with this small reduction in business. 

People want to take a vacation and they want somewhere they can drive.  Since Hilton Head is a drive to destination they come here as opposed to flying somewhere else.

People who cannot sell their condos can continue to rent them weekly and get a fairly good rental income which will offset some of their expenses.

Can you imagine the fiasco our real estate market would be in if rentals were down 50%?  It would double the number of properties presently listed for sale which would have a multiplier effect of price reductions by another 20%-30%.