myrtle beach real estate | Myrtle Beach Homes | Carolina Forest Homes

Feb 09 2015

How To Spend A February Day In Myrtle Beach

While many of our northeastern friends are currently dealing with a snowstorm for the third Monday in a row, down here in Myrtle Beach, we are currently enjoying some really fantastic weather. Today is a sunny, warm 65 degrees fahrenheit with a gentle breeze day.

To give you an idea of how awesome the weather is today, here’s a great video by local Myrtle Beach Videographer, Thomas Hart of Heart Media. He was out just testing his new aerial drone at the beach, but I thought it was some really great footage showing how awesome a day we are having. Check it out.

While not every day is this warm at this time of year, it is not uncommon for us to experience several days during the winter months with warmer temperatures. Here’s a graphic showing our average temperatures each month versus several popular northern cities.

Personally, as someone who used to live right outside of Philadelphia, PA, I don’t miss those cold winter days spent outside shoveling inches of snow while battling sub-zero winds trying to stay warm under four layers of clothing. Instead, I’d rather spend my time relaxing on a beach chair with my toes in the sand.

If you are tired of fighting the winter blizzards, maybe it is time to consider a move to Myrtle Beach, SC? Fill out this simple form and I will send you a copy of my Myrtle Beach Relocation Guide for free.

Jan 22 2015

2014 Sets Single Family Homes Sales Record For Myrtle Beach

2014 was a great year for Myrtle Beach real estate. In fact, I didn’t realize how good the year was until I recently read an article published by The Sun News that stated that our area set a record in 2014 for number of single family homes sold. With 5,843 single family homes sold in 2014, this passed the previous record which was set in 2013 by more than 500 homes.

Not only did the number of homes sold in 2014 go up, but so did the prices. The median single family sales price rose 5.6 percent this year to $193,899 in Horry and Georgetown counties. This increase was believed to be caused by the decrease in number of foreclosures in the market. Another sellers market is believed to be on the near horizon.

That being said, sellers who have been waiting for a shift in the market to sell your home, that time is now. Spring has historically been known in our area as one of the strongest markets year after year. As I mentioned recently, this year appears to be thriving even earlier as I’ve tracked a 300% increase in buyer leads already in January.

While now is the time to sell your home, it’s still crucial to find an agent that can get your home sold quickly and for the most money. You may be shocked to learn that the average agent does only 5 transactions a year. The map on the right shows that I was able to do twice that amount of business in just my first 7 months back into real estate.

My aggressive online marketing plan provides great exposure for my listings to my over 30,000 connections online. This results in homes getting sold quickly for closer to listing price. If you have been considering selling your home, fill out the form below and I will contact your with a free market analysis of the current value of your home.

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Nov 12 2014

5 Things To Under $200 To Help Sell Your Myrtle Beach Home Faster

Today I wanted to share 5 simple things you can do for under $200 to help sell your Myrtle Beach Home faster. The reason for this post is that I was watching HGTV the other day and on the show the agent was recommending the sellers spend close to $30,000 in renovations including moving walls in the house, upgrading the entire kitchen, and replacing the master bath. As I watched the show I kept thinking to myself that while on TV the sellers have an extra 30K sitting around as well as a full crew to do all this major construction in under two weeks, what about normal sellers? Most don’t have that much extra cash to afford these types of major expenses when selling a home.

That being said, I began to think about what types of projects could any seller do on their home that would be affordable and help to sell the home for a higher price in a quicker time period. I came up with the following 5 things:

1. Freshen up the landscape. A couple bags of $3 mulch and some seasonal flowers can make a dramatic difference to the front of a home. Adding some $3.00 seasonal flowers framing the entrance to the home can make a huge difference to curb appeal. Also, make sure to keep the grass cut and well manicured. First impressions matter!

Estimated cost $50-$150. Time: A Saturday afternoon.

2. Pressure wash the exterior. Borrow a neighbors pressure washer or hire a professional to clean the exterior of your home. Washing off a layer of dirt and grime from the outside can definitely help. Here in the south with our warm humid climate, houses can get a layer of green mold in a matter of months. If you own or can borrow a machine you can do this task in a matter of hours. Make sure if you use chemicals that they do not contain bleach or your flowers and grass will die wherever the water touches them. Or you can hire a professional to do it for around $100-$200. *pro tip* If you hire a professional, see if they can also do the concrete patio & driveway. You don’t realize how dirty the concrete is until you start cleaning them.

Estimated cost: FREE- $200 Time: 2-3 Hours

3. Give the front door a fresh coat of paint. The front door is the gateway to the inside of your home. If the first impression someone gets when reaching your front door is an impression that is dirty with peeled paint and all scratched up from a pet, it sets their mentality for the rest of the house. You might already own the paint to do this task or can buy a small container at the local hardware store for little money.

Estimated cost: FREE- $25 Time: 30-45 minutes

4. De-Clutter. This might be the biggest thing you can do when selling your home. Some of the clutter you can place in the garage, but if you have too much, you might need to rent a storage unit or one of those PODS to store some of the “stuff” that is all over the house. By removing clutter you will make the rooms feel larger and and more inviting.

Estimated cost: FREE- $100/month Time: A few hours

5. Clean, Clean, Clean! You would think this one is a given, but you would be shocked how many people won’t give their home a good cleaning when they place it on the market. A few areas to pay extra close attention to:

The Range/Oven- Do the self clean function to handle inside the oven. Then, if your cook top is coils, go to the store and buy brand new inserts. These shouldn’t cost more than $10-$20 but make the range look much more appealing. If you have a smooth top range, then buy a bottle of Cerama Bryte and make the range top look like new.
Toilets/Tubs/Shower- Next to the kitchen, the bathrooms are the next place buyers pay close attention when purchasing a home. If the shower glass and tub have a layer of soap scum, use a Magic Eraser to clean off the layer of soap scum quickly and easily.
Carpets/floors- If you have carpet in your home, you might want to use a carpet cleaner on those accidental spots. You can either borrow one from a friend or rent one from several stores for under $100.

A clean home will keep people in the home for a longer period of time. The longer the buyer stays, the more they will remember about your home.

Estimated cost: Free- $150 Time: 3-4 hours

So there you have it, 5 simple things you can do on your own for under $200 that can help your Myrtle Beach home be more appealing to buyers and hopefully sell in a faster time period. If you own a property here in Myrtle Beach and are looking to sell, feel free to contact me to learn how I can help your home get sold with my online marketing plan.

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Oct 09 2014

Protect Yourself From Identity Theft When Selling Your Myrtle Beach Home

When selling your Myrtle Beach property it is imperative that your your home and your belongings are as safe as possible. There are professional theives that contact agents to view homes. They obviously are not wanting to see these homes to purchase, but to see what type of items they can pick up.

They may have visited during an open house, or seen a picture online of the home and think this home may be a good target. As an Myrtle Beach real estate agent, it is our duty to try and keep everyone together when showing a home, but if there is an entire family along, it is virtually impossible to keep an eye on everyone. The really good pros have partners that they visit with, or even bring along children to help cause distractions.

So, below are a few tips to help keep your house safe.

1. Put away all jewelry. If there is jewely laying around on a dresser or nightstand, it is a very big & easy target for someone to pick up. Either put the precious gems in a locked safe, or if you do not have one, place the gems in either a drawer or in a box. A safe place to place them is in a shoe box in the closet. Or, put in a flat envelope that you can hide in between stacked sweaters on a shelf.

There are plenty of ways to hide them. The key is to make sure they are out of site.

2. Hide the credit cards & bills. With the identity theft on the constant rise, it is crucial that any type of credit cards or mail that you have is secured. Place any mail or cards in either a filing cabinet that can be locked, or in a desk that can be locked. Crooks can be sneaky and will try and find a way to get alone in a house.

3. Remove the Personal Pictures. It is a good idea to put away any personal pictures. One of our clients that is a single woman was very uncomfortable having her house listed for sale because of safety.

One of our suggestions to her was to put away all the pictures that were just of her and only leave out the ones of her with her one cousin. Nobody knew if it was a husband, or relative. This gave her peace of mind.

4. Put away your money! You would think this one would be a no brainer, but I cant even begin to count the number of times I have gone to show homes that have had money sitting around on the kitchen table, or on a dresser, or nightstand. Sometimes there have been rather large amounts of money there too!

Like your jewelry, put this in a locked safe, or safe hidden place.

5. Hide anything with your name, address, phone number, social security number, etc… Just the other day I walked through a home that had prescription bags on the refrigerator with the persons name, telephone number, social security, and address. Some that you may not think of would be the kids softball schedule, or your nursery schedule for church.

These all have enough information that someone could use to steal from you. All they need is your name & phone number, they already have your address, and it can be a giant nightmare.

Here is a funny video, but I think gets the point across as to what could happen!

These are just 5 simple ways to protect yourself when selling your home. If you are currently thinking of selling your home, do not hesitate to contact me.

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Aug 25 2014

How Much Earnest Money Do I Need To Buy A Myrtle Beach Home

One of the questions that arises on a regular basis when helping someone buy a Myrtle Beach home has to do with earnest money. First, what is earnest money? Wikipedia gives a wonderful definition of the term here. Basically, it is the deposit made towards the purchase of real estate and is part of your down payment. In South Carolina, this money is held in a trust account of a real estate company or closing attorney. It cannot be used by the real estate company for any other purpose.

So, here is the big question that normally comes up in regards to earnest money is How much should I give for earnest money? People are looking for some sort of formula to calculate out how much is needed. Unfortunately, there is no exact formula to determine how much for your offer. Some use the 1% of purchase price principal, but that does not always work. For example, if you are buying an $75,000 condo, you may want to offer more than 1% or $750.00. In this scenario you may wish to offer $1,000.00. On the other hand, it could be some sort of offer where you are limited on money for down payment at the time of making the offer and only have $500.00. This amount is something that can be negotiated just like any other part of the offer.

The key concept behind earnest money is that it is the money you use as part of a down payment and is given at the time of presenting the offer to show good faith or earnest in a property. The more that you put down shows a higher level of genuine interest. You do not want to put too much money down because you do run the risk of possibly losing that money. However not enough can offend a seller. Here is an example.

A few years ago we had a gentleman in town that wanted to purchase a 22 unit motel that was for sale for $660,000. The gentleman made a fairly reasonable offer on the property and wanted to close in a rather short time of just over 30 days. He was supposed to pay cash for the deal. So, when we asked how much he wanted to put down as earnest money, he stated that he didn’t have the money at this time, but it was “coming soon.” He never would tell us where he was getting the money or could provide us with proof of funds. So we asked once again, how much would you like to use as earnest money.

The gentleman reached into his pocket and pulled out a dollar bill and slammed it down on the desk and said: “Here is my earnest money. And I am not putting another penny down!” A single dollar, that was his earnest money. Needless to say when we presented the offer to the seller, they were not amused by this offer. In fact, they were so annoyed that they flat out declined the gentleman’s offer.

This is a prime example where not enough earnest money caused a seller to not even want to negotiate with a buyer. The reason the seller was so offended is that if the gentleman changed his mind about purchasing and walked away from the deal, the seller would only receive $1.00 for incurring all types of expenses for various tests, inspections, attorney fees, etc, all while taking their property off the market during that time.

Hopefully this clears up the issue of earnest money a little bit. In closing, I leave you with this piece of advice in regards to earnest money. Each and every market all around the US is very different in regards to how much is enough/not enough. I would strongly urge you to ask a local REALTOR® for guidance when determining how much to give.

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