Posted By Gene Carter @ Aug 27th 2020 10:53am In: Monthly Real Estate News


Grand Strand Real Estate News

July 2020


Volume 2020 Issue 7
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Dear Gene Carter Team,


Summary

We are continuing to see an increase in buyers for oceanfront and resort condos who plan to use them as primary residences or true second homes (rather than vacation rentals). Also, we’re seeing lots of purchasers choosing large, relatively expensive condos. Covid may have accelerated these trends because the widespread use of Zoom and other virtual tools have made it easy to work from anywhere. If you can work from anywhere, why not live in a warm climate with low living expenses/taxes with an ocean view! Two of Teressa’s oceanfront buyer clients in the past couple of weeks have cited this exact reason for purchasing. This is also fueling sales for single-family homes and condos throughout our area. For those of you working virtually, you may want to give this idea some thought. We can help you find your new office on the ocean!

Oceanfront condos continue to sell well. Over the past five weeks, new contracts for condos in oceanfront buildings were up 13% year-over-year (See Chart). New listings increased by 28% year-over-year (See Chart). I had been anticipating this increase because of the lower than normal rental incomes (due to Covid). Sellers should list sooner rather than later. Good opportunity for buyers - lots of resort and oceanfront condo inventory.

Reminder: If there’s a possibility you will be selling in the next 12 months, it’s better to list in the fall rather than waiting until the spring. (See seasonal cash flow chart).

RE/MAX Southern Shores, the brokerage firm which the Beach Pro Team is part of, has led our area in sales volume for 8 straight years and we are doing it again for the first 6 months of 2020 (See Chart).

Keep in mind that the Beach Pro Team is extending its reach into new home sales and inland condos. Don’t think of us just for the oceanfront!

Check out our usual Grand Strand Market Reports, Sales and Listing Updates, new Beach Pro Team reviews, and my Best Buys.



Greetings from the Grand Strand!

I hope you are all staying safe and healthy. Welcome to the many new readers this month who just subscribed. Thank you. There’s good news locally for Covid but once again I’m going to cover other issues first. 

I mentioned last month that we are seeing an increase in buyers for oceanfront and resort condos who plan to use them as primary homes or true second homes with either no vacation rentals or rental income being unimportant. This trend is continuing. The majority of our recent sales fit this pattern. Also, we’re seeing lots of purchases of large, relatively expensive condos – three and four bedrooms - house-size. Of the 7 oceanfront condos we’ve most recently put under contract, two were sizable 2BRs and the other 5 were large 3BRs. 


Ironically, I think Covid has accelerated this trend. Several of our recent buyers have bought here specifically because the widespread use of Zoom and other virtual tools have made it easy to work or go to school from anywhere. For example, Google and its parent company, Alphabet, have announced they will allow almost all of their 200,000 employees to continue working from home (or wherever they want to be) until at least June 2021. Twitter, Square and Facebook have announced they will continue their current remote work set-up “for the foreseeable future”. Jack Dorsey, the CEO for Twitter and Square, said that he’s open to having his employees work from home forever. Many other companies are following the same path.

So if you can work from anywhere, why not live in a place with a warm climate where you can visit the ocean or even live next to it each day rather than slog through the cold and snow half the year? Two of Teressa’s oceanfront buyer clients in the past couple of weeks have cited this exact reason for purchasing. Of course the same logic applies to people buying single-family homes anywhere on the beautiful Grand Strand. This is why new home sales are booming too - with no end in sight. For those of you working virtually, you may want to give this idea some thought. We can help you find your new office on the ocean!

Also, our living expenses (taxes, utilities, etc.) are very low compared to most parts of the country, particularly the northeast. By the way, for those of you who think our real estate taxes are high because the second home taxes are relatively high, you should take a look at the taxes for a primary residence. Several of my clients who have purchased half million dollar properties pay yearly taxes of around $1000. Yes, not a typo, $1000 per year.

For all of the above reasons (along with historically low interest rates), sales for our resort condos, as well as for single family homes, have remained strong even during a pandemic and a recession. 

Here’s this month’s update on oceanfront condo sales and listings. As always, these sales figures are representative of resort condos in general.

Over the past five weeks (from July 13 to August 16) new contracts for condos in oceanfront buildings were up 13% from the same time period last year (as illustrated in the chart below). This is a slightly lower increase that we’ve experienced over the previous 8 weeks but still impressive.


There was a big change in the numbers for new listings. After tracking along at about the same pace as last year for the previous 8 weeks, the past 5 weeks have produced 28% more new listings than the same time period in 2019. This is the surge in listings I’ve been anticipating because of the lower-than-normal rental incomes this year (due to Covid). If any owners are thinking of selling, I suggest listing sooner rather than later. For you buyers out there, there will be plenty of inventory from which to choose. Assuming there is an effective vaccine by early next year, I am cautiously optimistic that rental incomes will return to normal in 2021, hopefully even better. Here’s the new listing chart.


Please keep in mind that my team continues to extend its reach into new home sales as well as condos off the beach. We sold two pre-construction homes in the past few weeks and we’re continuing to list and sell more inland residential style condos and townhouses. So don’t just think of us for the oceanfront!


Once again (and for the next few months) I’m going to mention that if it’s a possibility you will be selling in the next 12 months, now is the time to do it rather than waiting until spring. If you rent out your property, take a hard look at the seasonal cash flow, not the yearly cash flow. Check out the cash flow chart below. If selling is a possibility, please contact me to discuss. We make it quick and easy to list.


I talk about my Beach Pro Team often but I don’t brag enough about RE/MAX Southern Shores, the parent company I work for. After leading all Grand Strand real estate firms in gross sales volume for 8 straight years, we’re doing it again and it’s not even close. Here are the rankings through the first six months of this year for the top 10 firms (out of 497 firms with at least one sell). What’s even more impressive is that we’re achieving this with significantly fewer agents than the number 2 and 3 firms.

I’ll end with the local Covid update. The widespread (mandated) wearing of masks and the limited number of tourists seems to have had a positive effect on the stats. Back in June the number of new cases per day peaked in the 250 range. Lately, the number of new cases per day has drifted below 50 most days. Because our percentage of positive tests continues to run slightly above 10%, South Carolina is still on several state’s “14 day quarantine” list but hopefully this metric will keep declining as well.

That’s all for now. Check out all our usual Grand Strand Market Reports, Sales and Listing Updates, new Beach Pro Team Reviews, and my Best Buys.

See you at the beach!
Beach Pro Reviews
Here are some new reviews published in Zillow. 


  • Gene has helped us over the course of the last two years To try to find the rig fit for us. He Gave great advice and once we decided to sell our condo It sold in a week. He then helped to find our next Property. Gene Was great to work with. Paul and Doreen. Myrtle Beach.

  • Gene Carter has sold five condo's in Myrtle Beach for our partnership in the last 3 years, the last closing 7/1/2020. His knowledge and expertise is second to none. The most recent sale had a number of twists and turns. Had it not been for Gene's experience and knowledge and ability to get things done, we would still be trying to hold the sale together! He had the answer for every hurdle. His research of sales in our building and with like units at the beach enabled us to price our unit in the range it would most likely sell. This saved a lot of time negotiating before a contract was offered. We sold at the upper end of his market analysis. I highly recommend Gene to represent you either as a buyer or seller. He's the consummate Real Estate Professional and has an outstanding team working with him. Bob. The Savoy. Myrtle Beach.

We have chosen to utilize Zillow's review platform. This is not an endorsement of Zillow (Please ignore the ridiculous "Zestimates") but we think an online third-party review service provides more credibility than simply printing reviews ourselves. At this time, we have over 80 reviews with more coming in each month. To see all of the reviews at any time, you can visit Zillow Beach Pro Team reviews
Grand Strand Market Report

Below is a link to a detailed report on the current state of our local real estate market complete with statistics for just about anything imaginable. Please keep in mind that these statistics cover a broad range of properties and that particular areas or developments may behave quite differently.  

As always please contact me if I can be of service in any way.

See link below to interpret terms used in this report.

Grand Strand Market Report - July 2020
Best Buys

The following current listings are exceptionally well-priced and represent great values. The spreadsheets are sorted by price. These are live links to listing details and they will change according to changes in the MLS (Pending, Sold, etc.). The listing details are in the same order as the spreadsheets. Please call me directly if you find something of interest to you.
  

OF/OV Homes Brochures:    Link to Listings 
OF/OV Homes Spreadsheet:   Link to Spreadsheet 
 
OF/OV Condo Brochures:    Link to Listings
OF/OV Condo Spreadsheet:   Link to Spreadsheet

Non-OF Condo Brochures:     Link to Listings 
Non-OF Condo Spreadsheet:  Link to Spreadsheet
If you are considering buying or listing any property on the Grand Strand, or if I can be of assistance in any other way, please contact me. Also, please feel free to forward this newsletter to friends or acquaintances and of course I will be happy to add them to my email list.

Finally, please let me know if you are going to be in the area and would like to get together.

See you at the beach!



Gene Carter
Beach Pro Team
Cell Phone:  843-455-4785
The material provided is for informational and educational purposes only and sometimes contains current or forward-looking statements on real estate market conditions, and should not be construed as legal, investment and/or real estate advice. Although the material is deemed to be accurate and reliable, we do not make any representations as to its accuracy or completeness and as a result, there is no guarantee it is without errors, and is not necessarily the opinion of RE/MAX Southern Shores or its agents.


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