In a typical calendar year, Rusty Findley’s construction company will build seven to eight new homes in and around the Aiken, S.C., area.
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The South Carolina housing market continued to buck national trends around Anderson, so it was no surprise to some lenders that they aren’t seeing the huge increases in foreclosures making headlines in national media.
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Homes are staying on the market longer and real estate sales are falling more on the Grand Strand of South Carolina than in any other area of the state.
A crisis in the coastal insurance market continues to drag down home sales numbers throughout South Carolina — despite significant gains in parts of the Upstate and an ever-steady Midlands market.
Whatever doors through which mortgage fraud is continually perpetrated need to be slammed shut in South Carolina.
That was the message of the state’s consumer protection agency Monday.
According to the Myrtle Beach Sun-News, the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs called Monday for tighter regulations on area mortgage brokers and other lenders and more state laws regulating the industry.
“The [South Carolina mortgage] lending industry essentially goes unregulated,” said Charles Knight, a staff attorney for the consumer affairs department.
The department wants lawmakers to create a bill that would license both brokers and providers of mortgages. However, no lawmaker has yet signed on as a sponsor, according to Brandolyn Thomas Pinkston, administrator for the consumer affairs department.
Pinkston and Knight spoke during a news conference with U.S. Attorney Reggie Lloyd and FBI and IRS officials.
The FBI lists South Carolina as a “hot spot” for mortgage fraud, and an independent research institute ranks the state 19th compared to rates of mortgage fraud in other states.
However, South Carolina’s standing in the independent research institute’s ranking has dropped since it was ranked highest in 2001.
Pinkston credited the improvement to increased prosecution of people who commit mortgage fraud.
In the last three years, Lloyd’s office has obtained convictions against 80 real estate agents, mortgage brokers, home appraisers, closing attorneys and others involved in real estate and lending.
Mortgage fraud comes in several forms, Knight said.
Some people report inflated incomes on loan documents so they qualify for larger home mortgage loans for bigger houses they cannot afford.
Others submit two separate mortgage applications for one piece of property and pocket the extra money when both are approved.
SOURCE: Myrtle Beach Sun-News
Home sales in the Charleston housing market fell by almost 11 percent last month, while the inventory of residential listings climbed by 72 percent compared to February 2006, offering further evidence of a buyer’s market.
In all, the number of residential sales, including condominiums, dropped to 881 for February, according to the latest figures from the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors.
Year to date, transaction volume is off 17 percent to 1,734 sales, the group said Monday.
The median home price, meanwhile, has risen slightly through last month, up about 4 percent to $209,009. That’s despite the fact that there were 7,381 existing residences listed for sale as of Feb. 28, or nearly 3,100 more than in February 2006.
Some of the steam began to seep out of the housing market about a year ago, after a lengthy run-up. On a year-to-year basis, sales volume has been on the decline ever since, while prices have edged up modestly.
While the slowdown has made the business more competitive, local agents have said the market is more balanced and healthier than it was in 2005, when homes that went on the block in desirable locations were getting snapped up by South Carolina mortgage borrowers within hours or even minutes of being listed.
Unfortunately for sellers, that’s no longer the case. Last month, homes sat on the market for 97 days on average before they sold, up from 60 days in the same period last year, the association said.
“It’s a great time for buyers to enter the market,” said David Kent, president of the association. “Terms are more favorable for them than they were in the boom of 2005.”
The spring is typically the busiest time of year for home sales. As mortgage rates remain low and sellers come down on their prices, now is the best time to jump in.
SOURCE: The Post & Courier
According to today’s Charleston Post and Courier, Barbara Julius thought becoming a real estate agent would fit her busy lifestyle and still give her the income she sought.
But shortly after passing her exam last April, the mother of two realized selling houses in a slow South Carolina real estate market would be tougher than she thought.
With mortgage costs high and inventory even higher, prospective buyers were difficult to find, and thinking of new people she met as potential clients made her uncomfortable.
With no current listings and no home sales credited to her name, Julius, 58, said she probably won’t renew her license when it expires.
“I think if the market had been flush and I got swept away, I could have gotten beyond this point,” she said.
More real estate agents such as Julius are questioning their career path as slower home sales make it harder to earn a living.
Hundreds of would-be real estate moguls jumped into the business amid the housing boom, enticed by the idea of making hefty commissions after a few weeks of training.
But now, some are opting to get out, while some in the industry are calling for stricter licensing standards.
“You see a situation where it starts taking more effort and more energy to make a sale,” said David Wertan, a mortgage broker associate with Re/Max Professional Realty. “Not a lot of people are just willing to do that, and they start getting out of the business once they see that it’s not as easy as it was. It’s happening now in droves.”
In the past few years, the pool of seasoned agents has been flooded with newcomers, and not only in Charleston. Four years ago, 12,399 agents were licensed to sell real estate in South Carolina. Since then, their ranks have jumped 64 percent to 20,343 in 2006.
The result: Competition has heated up among the new and experienced agents who are looking to stay in the game. With far fewer people applying for South Carolina mortgage loans, it’s become more difficult to sell enough properties a year to earn a living.
Of the 3,856 agents who sold at least one home in 2006, fewer than a third of them sold more than eight properties. By conservative estimates, a full-time agent needs to make a minimum of eight mid-range deals a year to earn a living. In 2003, about 42 percent had at least eight sales.
Also, although the area’s housing prices haven’t yet tumbled, properties are taking a lot longer to sell, which slows the flow of commissions and puts more pressure on incomes.
The average number of days on market has slipped from a low of 52 days, set in November 2005, to 89 days in January. So not only are there fewer buyers, they are increasingly choosy.
Veteran real estate agents say that, although selling real estate looks like it would be easy, newcomers sometimes don’t understand how much time and effort it takes to earn listings and commissions.
Follow the link to continue reading this article in the Charleston Post and Courier …
It doesn’t take long for casual conversations around the Grand Strand housing market to turn to how much insurance rates are going up and how much high-end development is changing Myrtle Beach’s “blue collar” persona.
And you’ll often hear the local work force expressing dismay that they can’t find an affordable South Carolina home - especially with the price that $120,000 condo might cost to insure.
The forecasts call for coastal insurance rates to continue rising - the Insurance Information Institute expects an increase of 20 percent to 100 percent in 2007.
What happens in the legislature this year concerning insurance reform will play a key role in predicting the coast’s real estate future - answering the question of whether the Myrtle Beach housing market is still affordable for buyers.
As for the real estate market, there’s more correction to come in the marketplace before sales and appreciation pick up, economists say.
“It will take 2007 to work through inventories,” said Mark Vitner, economist at Wachovia in Charlotte, N.C. “But by the end of the year, the process should be complete.”
Vitner expects continued declines in sales, but he expects that to bottom out by the middle of the year and for demand for mortgage loans in the state to return by then.
The Strand’s sales numbers showed a 4 percent decline in home sales from 2005 to 2006 and a 30 percent decline in condo sales in the same period.
Vitner expects little to no appreciation overall in 2007. Nationwide, the forecast calls for a 1 percent drop in median price, but Vitner says markets like Myrtle Beach that saw the boom may have more outright price declines.
While quarterly stats haven’t shown price declines - actually double-digit increases have been the norm - Vitner says price appreciation has largely stopped, but it takes a while to show up on a year-to-year basis.
“Myrtle Beach still remains a relative bargain compared [the Florida housing market]. I really think we’re going to still find plenty of demand, it’s just not quite as strong,” he said.
Because so many baby boomers itching to move to the sunny Grand Strand are having trouble selling their homes in the Northeast or Midwest, Vitner said “the national housing market must bottom out and improve before we’ll see Myrtle Beach pick back up again.”
Some experts say insurance issues could threaten the local real estate market’s lifeline: savings-rich baby boomers who choose the S.C. coast as they retire in droves and take our home mortgages in the region.
Most of the new development on the Strand is holding this vision - the lavish North Beach Plantation, the Riviera, expected high-end development at the site of the former Pavilion Amusement Park and Myrtle Square Mall, as well as The Market Common and Withers Preserve.
The belief that the Strand could compete with wealthy destinations like Hilton Head and Florida cities was ushered in about five years ago with the advent of Grande Dunes - which took off in sales and popularity as real estate boomed. But an investor exodus and hesitant second-home buyers have left many lavish homes without any takers, like the 59 homes in Grande Dunes on the resale market.
Analysts say the luxury second-home market may be the first to pick back up because wealthy buyers are the least affected by insurance increases and mortgage interest rates.
Click here to continue reading this Myrtle Beach Sun article.
The housing market in Anderson County, S.C., is slowing slightly as buyers take a wait-and-see approach to the market, according to the 2007 Housing Market Prediction presented to home builders Tuesday night.
The Independent Mail reports that the number of building permits issued in the Upstate region of the Palmetto State decreased 1.8 percent in 2006 and will likely be off about 5 percent in 2007.
Dale Atkins, founder of The Market Edge Inc., a Knoxville, Tenn.-based information service that tracks building permit reports and other economic data for 62 counties, reports that it could be a lot worse.
The slight decrease is good news compared to other parts of the country, such as the Florida housing market and much of the East and West Coast, Atkins told the Home Builders Association of Anderson.
“There’s a lot of markets we’re in that would love to see a 1.8 percent decline,” he told an audience of more than 100 people.
Even with South Carolina mortgages so affordable with current low rates, Anderson County issued 9.9 percent fewer building permits last year, dropping from 1,583 in 2005 to 1,426 in 2006. Home sales dropped as well, declining 7.5 percent from 6.700 homes in 2005 to 6,200 in 2006.
Housing demand increases when employment increases, and based on employment numbers the decrease in home sales is likely to continue, Atkins said. The employed portion of Anderson County’s labor force has decreased steadily since 2004, dropping from 77,458 then to 76,606 in 2006.
“It’s more of a leveling of the industry,” said Tim Roberts, co-owner of A.B. Roberts Construction Co., and past president of the home builder association.
Area custom home builders’ business has remained steady, but production and tract home builders — both of which build on market expectations — will be most affected by the slowdown.
They’ve had an unparalleled interest in Anderson County and saturated the market. As a result those companies will likely build less in 2007 as the market catches up, he said.
Anderson wasn’t the only Upstate county to see a housing decline, despite the continued affordability of mortgage loans in the area. Pickens County saw an 18.3 percent decline in building permits issued, down from 633 in 2005 to 517 in 2006.
Permit increases in Greenville and Oconee counties kept the overall decline minimal. Oconee County saw a 5.3 percent increase from 804 permits issued to 847, while Greenville County saw a 3.8 percent increase from 4,047 permits issued to 4,200.
Greenville is a faster growing market where South Carolina mortgage activity has boomed in recent years, and Oconee County has seen an influx of development catering to retirees. The Lake Jocassee and Lake Keowee areas have been especially active.
A report from the U.S. Census Bureau and article in The Greenville News ranks South Carolina’s population growth rate as the 10th-fastest in the nation over the past year, with the state adding 74,316 people, mostly from relocations.
The state’s population increased 1.7 percent, according to the estimates covering July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2006. About 48,000 U.S. residents moved to the state with a South Carolina mortgage - and nearly 7,700 foreign nationals joined them.
Births accounted for more than 18,000 of the estimated population of 4.3 million.
David Fuller, a Greenville area real estate agent, said there’s no question his out-of-state business has increased. His last two big deals - and about six of the last 10 - were home buyers moving from outside South Carolina, he said.
The reasons vary, from retirement to job transfers, but Fuller said it’s ultimately about location, or Greenville’s prime position between the Charlotte housing market and Atlanta.
Neighboring states Georgia and North Carolina ranked fourth and seventh respectively with growth rates of 2.5 percent and 2.1 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The annual estimates provide no details on where newcomers come from or what drew them to South Carolina for mortgage loans.
State demographer Mike MacFarlane said past trends show many choose the Upstate because of its economy and jobs and the coast for its retirement communities.
“The upper tier of I-85 and the coastal counties have generally had the most growth,” MacFarlane said. “Employment is one of the motivators for (Upstate) growth.”
People who move to Upstate tend to be younger and in the labor force, he said.
MacFarlane said data from the Internal Revenue Service on where people file their tax returns show South Carolina draws people from the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest.
The New York, New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania housing markets were the top five states that sent people to South Carolina, according to IRS migration figures between 2000 and 2005.
“A lot of people are coming for the new economy-type of jobs. I think that’s one of Greenville’s strong points,” Carey said. “It’s sort of like the ‘Field of Dreams.’ If you build it, they will come. If you get a company to locate in one place, other (similar) companies will locate there.”
But like MacFarlane, Carey noted South Carolina faces tough competition from nearby Atlanta and North Carolina’s Research Triangle. Both are established areas that are regional economic giants. Recent Georgia mortgage activity shows this.
Still Carey said the state can hold its own by touting its job opportunities, scenery and room to expand.
Douglas C. Bachtel, a University of Georgia demographer, said South Carolina is benefiting from the dynamics that have made the South one of the nation’s fastest-growing regions.
“One of the things that is getting people to move to the region is jobs. If you take (Interstate) 85 north, you’re going to see tremendous industrial development in South Carolina. The South has been a business-friendly region,” Bachtel said.
“The second kicker is [available and affordable housing].”
Bachtel said the influx of Hispanics, both U.S.- and foreign-born, have fueled growth in South Carolina and elsewhere in the South.
The population estimates released Friday don’t address immigration other than to indicate the number of people moving directly from a foreign country to a state.
The Census Bureau says between 2005 and 2006, just under 8,000 people from foreign countries moved to South Carolina, but it doesn’t indicate their home countries.