Beach Pro Team, Gene Carter REALTOR
https://www.beachproteam.com/blog/grand-strand-real-estate-news-june-2020


Grand Strand Real Estate News - June 2020

Posted By: Gene Carter In: Monthly Real Estate News
Date: Wed, Jul 22nd 2020 1:07 pm



Grand Strand Real Estate News


June 2020


Volume 2020 Issue 6

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Dear Gene Carter Team,


Summary

Despite Covid, real estate sales activity remains strong. New contracts for condos in oceanfront buildings were up 26.5% year-over-year from June 15 to July 12, on pace with the 27% year-over year pace of the previous 4 weeks (See chart below). A high percentage of our most recent oceanfront and resort condo buyers want true second homes or primary residences with little or no interest in rentals. New listings for oceanfront condos increased slightly during the past 4 weeks. 

Owners, now is the time to take 10 minutes to think about whether you may plan to sell In the next 12 months. Most oceanfront and resort condo owners inexplicably wait until spring to sell when it makes so much more sense to list in mid to late summer. Take a hard look at the monthly cash flows – not the yearly cash flow. You might be shocked at how financially advantageous it is to sell in late summer or early fall (see charts below). If selling is a possibility, please contact me to discuss. We make it quick and easy to list.

This is not to say that buyers should wait until spring to purchase to try to max out their cash flows.Finding the best property for you and your family is the most important thing, regardless of the season.

Covid Update: By the beginning of June, most businesses had reopened. Tourists flooded in. Inevitably, Covid cases increased dramatically. Also, there were reports (unfair in my opinion) in several states about people coming back from Myrtle Beach with Covid. Most involved groups of young people traveling to and from our area packed in buses and practicing no precautions while here. Several governors from states that send large numbers of tourists our way advised people against coming here and instituted 14 day quarantines for those who chose to visit. As a result, rental incomes for the remainder of this season will undoubtedly be much lower than normal. What we all need to remember is that this will be over, hopefully in time for next season. If so, expect a huge rebound.

There’s good news though. Local Covid cases have been declining over the past few weeks, partially because of the decreased number of tourists but also because a mandatory mask-wearing policy was implemented and compliance seems to be strong.



Greetings from the Grand Strand!

I hope you are all staying safe and healthy. Covid has dominated my newsletters (and news in general) for months now so I’m going to give my readers a break and cover it last.

Real estate sales are still busy, well ahead of last year’s pace during this time of year. New contracts for condos in oceanfront buildings were up 26.5% from June 15 to July 12 (143 to 113), as illustrated in the chart below. This is right on pace with the previous four weeks which also showed a 27% year-to-year increase over 2019. By the way, oceanfront condo sales figures are generally representative of resort condos in general. I didn’t analyze the stats this time but I know that residential sales have also been strong.



One interesting observation - A very high percentage of our most recent condo buyers want true second homes or primary residences. They don’t want to rent at all. In my many years of selling oceanfront and resort condos on the Grand Strand, rental income has always been a big part of the buying equation for most purchasers. I think the percentage of second home buyers seems higher partly because investors are holding back at this time. Still, it’s encouraging to see more true second home buyers and primary residents on the oceanfront. Now we just need to get more of the investors back too.

Listings for oceanfront condos also increased but only slightly. During this four week time period, there were 206 two oceanfront condo listings compared with 193 in 2019, an increase of 6.7%, as illustrated in the chart below.


Speaking of listings, I’m going to bring up a subject I always cover this time of year. For those of you who’ve been following my newsletters for the past few years, this is going to sound familiar but I think it’s important, especially this year. Most oceanfront and resort condo owners inexplicably wait until spring to list their properties for sale when it makes so much more sense to list in mid to late summer. 

Owners, now is the time to take 10 minutes to think about whether you may plan to sell In the next 12 months. Upgrade to a bigger or smaller property or one in another area? Move the assets into another investment? Sell one or more properties if a multiple owner? If selling is a possibility, please contact me to go over the market conditions for your property. 

In particular, take a hard look at the monthly cash flows – not the yearly cash flow (which averages all the months). You might be shocked at how financially advantageous it is to sell in late summer or early fall. Take a look at the charts below. Note that these are for a typical year but I believe this year’s seasonal income differences will be even more pronounced because of Covid. There are other reasons as well to sell this time of year – avoid the impact of possible storms, avoid required rental company upgrades which are typically announced late fall,…




If the answer after 10 minutes of soul-searching is “No” – not planning to sell in the next year – it was still a wise use of a few minutes (and you should do it every year - I’ll remind you). As previously mentioned, if you are not sure whether you want to sell or not and (or if you want to trade up or buy an additional property) please contact me and we can go over the market conditions and cash flow for your property and any other details you want to discuss. If you do decide to sell, we make it quick and easy to list – a couple of phone calls and a few emails and we do all the rest.

This is not to say that buyers should wait. New buyers typically own for quite a while so the seasonal ups and downs even out over time. Finding the best property for you and your family is the most important thing, regardless of the season.

Last month I focused on the incredibly low interest rates and the fact that we’re able to get conventional financing for more oceanfront and resort condos now. I should’ve also mentioned that the condotel rates are also lower than they have been in recent memory. Most dropped another half percent in the past few weeks. For our updated lender list, click below or on our website.


Now for the Covid update. By the beginning of June, most businesses had reopened. Tourists started flooding in. The area was packed. Inevitably, Covid cases increased dramatically, climbing to over 200 new cases per day in Horry County. Also, there were reports in several states about people traveling to Myrtle Beach and coming back with Covid. You may have read some of these. Most involved groups of young people. 

I don’t think the criticism of our area was fair. One widely publicized incident involved 40 young people staying in a private house. They had a party attended by over 100 people, none of whom were wearing masks or practicing social distancing. This large group of young people then rode home together on a bus. Not surprisingly, a large number tested positive for Covid upon returning home. The governor of this particular state was very critical of Myrtle Beach and wondered why we did not put a stop to this. I guess we were supposed to arrest their kids at a private party for endangering themselves by not following local common sense rules? Anyway, several governors from states that send large numbers of tourists our way advised people against coming here and instituted 14 day quarantines for those who chose to visit. 

Needless to say, this has had a big impact on tourism in recent weeks. I haven’t seen any figures but I’m sure that rental incomes for the remainder of this season will be much lower than normal, despite the strong June we experienced. What we all need to remember is that this will be over, hopefully in plenty of time for next season. If so, I think next year’s rental season will be huge.

There is good news on the local Covid front. In response to the increase in local cases, a mandatory mask policy was adopted several weeks ago. Basically, everyone must wear a mask in any indoor business of any type although, of course, diners in restaurants can take them off to eat or drink. Even guests inside resorts are required to wear them (except when outside or in the pools). Compliance, for locals at least, has been good. This, in combination with the lower number of tourists, seems to have made a difference. The number of new cases per day has now dropped into the 100 to 150 range in the past week or so and a couple of days there were less than 100.

The other good news, as earlier reported, is that, in spite of the current (temporary) dip in rental guests, real estate sales remain strong. Buyers seem to be taking the long view and moving forward regardless

Even though the focus of this month’s newsletter was oceanfront and resort condos, keep in mind that, in addition to being a great buyer’s agent for condos, Teressa is an expert on new home sales as well.

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

Stay safe and healthy and I’ll see you at the beach soon!

Beach Pro Reviews

Here are some new reviews published in Zillow. 


  • Teressa is an awesome real estate agent. She was extremely helpful in helping us to find the perfect beach house to meet our needs, showing us many different properties during our search for the right place for us and our family. She was wonderful to work with and we are grateful for all her help. We highly recommend her. Todd. Windy Hill Dune. North Myrtle Beach.

  • We contracted with Gene to handle the sale of our ocean condo. Gene kept us informed and updated throughout the process. His assistant Bea was very helpful and very pleasant to work with on the documentation. Gene and his team are detail oriented and very professional. We enjoyed working with them and definitely would recommend them for your real estate needs. Sharon. Ocean Reef. 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 - May 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.