Tagged : 1

Found 89 blog entries tagged as "1".

It’s a great time to buy real estate in Charleston right now. Four factors benefit home buyers in Charleston’s real estate market:   1) Low interest rates – We’re seeing interest rates in the 6% range. A lot of home owners are refinancing right now. Most of what you hear about refinancing in the news right now is related to adjustable rate mortgages. But, there are also a lot of people refinancing to take advantage of the good rates. So, the rates are good news not just for home buyers, but also for current home owners.   2) Large selection of homes – Right now there are a little over 10,000 active listings on the Charleston MLS. Believe it or not, this number is actually lower than it was a few months ago, when there were almost 12,000. It’s…
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You’ll find a large selection of newer homes in Mt. Pleasant, SC. Below you’ll see popular neighborhoods with newer homes. In these communities, the majority of the homes were built after 2000. We’ve ordered them by the most current year built – newest to oldest.   Darrell Creek
  • 2002 to 2008
  • $470K to $1.3 million
  • Low country style homes
  Rivertowne
  • 2001 to 2008
  • $350K to almost $2 million
  • Has golf course
  Park West
  • 2000 to 2008*
  • $250K to over $2 million
  I’on
  • Mostly 2000 to 2008
  • $600K to $3 million
  • Charleston style homes
  Dunes West
  • Late 1990s to 2008*
  • $250K to over $2 million
  • Gated and has a golf course
  Carol Oaks
  • 2006 and 2007
  • Low
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We’ve included below some of the most popular Mt. Pleasant neighborhoods with older homes. These neighborhoods will have mostly homes that were built before 2000. Also, you can use the links to search for homes by neighborhood! For each community, you’ll find dates that most of the homes were built along with current home prices.   Ordered by starting price, from lowest to highest:    Longpoint
  • 1990s
  • Low $200s to low $600s
  Snee Farm
  • 1980s
  • $240s to high $700s
  • Has a golf course
  Charleston National
  • Mostly built in the mid to late 1990s
  • $270s to $850s
  • Golf course
  Wakendaw Lakes
  • Mostly 1970s and 1980s
  • Low $300s to mid $600s
  Horlbeck Creek
  • Late 1990s
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We’ve included some of the newest condo developments in Mt. Pleasant. You can use the links to search all the condo MLS listings by neighborhood! We’ve listed the condos by starting price – from lowest to highest.   Park West has two popular subsections with new condos. Madison has some of the most affordable condos in Mt. Pleasant, with prices starting around $110K and going up to $160K. The Battery also has relatively affordable condos, ranging from about $160K to $250K.   Southampton Pointe is located close to Towne Center. This new condo community has good landscaping and really nice amenities. Condo prices range from $160K to just over $240K.   Seaside Farms is also a popular newer condo community in Mt. Pleasant. It has several…
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Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is an insurance policy the borrower pays for which protects the lender in case of foreclosure. You’ve probably heard about PMI before, since most loans over 80% usually require PMI. It has actually gotten harder to get PMI with recent FICO changes. Many of the insurance companies are not writing policies unless you have a 620 credit score.   So, you want to make sure that if your loan requires PMI, your lender orders the policy upfront and you have no trouble getting it. Most people don’t realize that the money they pay in monthly mortgage payments is collected by the lender and paid to another institution (most people think the lender keeps this money).    There are loans now available called “lender paid MI”…
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One of the most important parts of choosing a lender is usually the last thing people think of. Make sure that the lender you choose is actually going to have the money at the closing table. Believe it or not, this has been one of the biggest problems over the past year. Work with a bank that closes on the loans they approve or commit to. When I give approval to my clients, I’m committing with a few conditions (such as satisfactory appraisal). But, outside of these conditions, I’m committing my loan to you.   One way to make sure your loan will close is to make sure you’re working with an in house underwriter. For example, since I’m my own underwriter, when I approve a loan it has already been signed off on and approved. Some home loan officers have…
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The best advice I can give is to own your credit report. And, make sure it’s accurate before it gets pulled by a lender. There are several websites available to help you check your credit. For example, Equifax.com allows you to see your report. You don’t get to see your credit score, but you can make sure the report is accurate. If you see any errors, talk with your home loan officer to get them fixed before buying a house.    And, remember that any changes or corrections you make to your credit report need to take place well before buying a house.  You should not make any changes up to 60 days before buying because you can actually do more harm than good at this point. But, if you correct errors in advance, it can really help when it comes time to…
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What credit score do you need to buy a home?  The credit score you need largely depends on which home loan you choose. For example, with FHA loans, no credit score is even required.   There is a magic myth that rates change everyday. Actually the only thing that changes is what it costs to get that rate you want. This cost is called discount points, and sometimes it is referred to just as “points.” When a lender reviews applications and assigns a rate for a loan, he or she has to take into account what the buyer’s FICO score is.    As of December 17, 2007, Fannie Mae (which is the bulk of loans written) introduced new changes to how that’s done.   If your FICO score is less than 620, it’s going to cost 2 discount points (or 2% of your loan)…
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There has been a lot of talk recently that the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates. This is not for mortgage rates, though – it’s for short term lending rates. In our business of home mortgages, it affects home equity lines of credit.  Typically when the Federal Reserve cuts the rate, mortgage rates actually go up. Not by much, but they do go up. The last time the Fed met, we saw that mortgage rates went down, which is not what usually happens. The only way to explain this is that there is nothing traditional about this economy.    So, why does this matter? When the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates, people with short-term loans (credit cards, car notes, etc.) get better rates than previously. These people spend less for their short-term loans,…
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Since many of our buyers want to live on a golf course in Charleston, we’ve put together a list of options for buying golf real estate in the area. We’ve included the general areas and (where appropriate) the specific Charleston communities that have a golf course.   Town of Mt. Pleasant
  • Rivertowne Country Club
  • Dunes West
  • Charleston National
  Johns Island
  • Hope Plantation
  West Ashley
  • Shadowmoss Plantation
  Summerville
  • Wescott Plantation
  • Legend Oaks Plantation
  North Charleston
  • Coosaw Creek
  Goose Creek
  • Crowfield Plantation
  Rural West Ashley
  • Stono Ferry
Wild Dunes Resort   Kiawah Island   Seabrook…
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