I was visiting with a client yesterday who has been a stock broker for 42 years.  We were discussing markets and how you can detect the bottom.  He said that when it comes to stocks, you can’t determine the bottom – you know you’ve hit is after it has already happened.  I feel that it [...]

I recently received a phone call from an appraiser in Savannah, Georgia who was going to be doing an appraisal on a home in Sea Pines Plantation.  We spoke of the house and at the end of our conversation he asked me for directions to Hilton Head and more specifically Sea Pines.  I knew at [...]

I received a call from a client mentioning that they read my blog about the election; they wanted to remind me that they were a Democrat and that they were not so excited about the election results.  I am a Republican and I don’t pretend to hide that; but I think the thing that excites [...]

The election is over!  Hopefully this means that people can get back to making decisions as it relates to real estate. I think it is evident from the election that people were not satisfied with the direction the country was headed in.  For about a month I have noticed reluctance from purchasers; I felt they [...]

That’s right; elections are right around the corner – just 6 days away.  I think political uncertainty is causing consumer confidence to be low for various reasons – causing people to be slow in making a decision as it relates to real estate.  One of my worst months for real estate was October of 1988 [...]

Last night I was listening to the radio and the hot topic was real estate and when it was good to buy versus renting. All of the panelists had different answers and reasoning, but I thought there was one particular response in particular that I liked.  When you own your own home you can change [...]

In almost 30 years of selling real estate on Hilton Head Island, I have only had two months with no sales.  One was the month after Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston – nobody wanted to buy in Hilton Head when they knew that Charleston had just been devastated by a hurricane. The other month when I [...]

I spent the weekend with a friend in the North Carolina mountains.  We spent one afternoon driving through several neighborhoods that had not been completely developed.  In fact, these were neighborhoods that were expected to have 300 homes and currently there are only 3 or 4.  I felt so bad for people who are in [...]

I was watching the cable news last night and the headlines are saying that the recession is over.  It might be over for some, but if you talk to the people of Main Street I think they would say that they are still hurting and if you talk to real estate sellers on Hilton Head [...]

Today marks the beginning of tax free weekend in South Carolina.  Shoppers in Hilton Head and Bluffton will be hitting the stores looking for bargains and getting them tax free.  What’s covered: During this time, the 6 percent state sales and use tax — and any applicable local sales and use tax — will not [...]