According to last month’s National Association of Realtors® announcement, existing home sales are up across the U.S., at the same time that home inventories are on the rise. In Myrtle Beach, it may point to a brisk fall market, with more prospective buyers deciding the time is right for buying a house.

It’s true that a few lucky prospects will find the perfect home after just an afternoon or two. But that’s not often the case: for most people, buying a house requires a good deal more shoe leather. Buyers who aren’t really certain of what they want in their future house may have to visit a few…or 40! But if you and/or your Significant Other can’t spend months touring houses, you’ll need to pin down the factors that are most important to you. It’s the most direct way to avoid wasting time on houses that don’t measure up.

So that makes the most important time-saver this—make a list!

First, narrow down the features you absolutely must have in a new home. You might decide you need a minimum of four bedrooms, a family room, and a two-car garage. You might also want a house that’s no more than 30 minutes from the office. It’s best if you keep the “must-haves” to no more than 3 to 5 non-negotiable elements.

• Next, add features that would be nice to have, but aren’t absolutely essential. You might prefer a house with a fenced yard for your dog, but would be willing to build your own fence if the price were right.
• Finally, add your deal-breakers. These might include a location on a busy street, a small kitchen, or the absence of a garage.
• When it’s finished, the full list will help you and your Realtor eliminate many of the homes that aren’t appropriate for you.

Everyone who is buying a house in Myrtle Beach today has another tool—a new one—that can further narrow the field: Google Earth. The traditional photos in the Myrtle Beach real estate listings focus on the house itself, rarely showing much of the neighborhood. Although the house might be attractive, it may lose some of its luster if you discover it’s next to a gas station or a on a street full of ill-kept homes. Use Google Earth’s Satellite and Street Views to virtually visit the neighborhood. It’s a truly efficient way to make a first pass at determining if the area looks promising.

Weekends are prime time for home touring, but since many homeowners require an advance appointment so they can vacate their houses for showings, scheduling consecutive time-slots can be problematic. You’ll see more houses efficiently if you take a weekday morning or afternoon off, taking advantage of a low-traffic day to schedule back-to-back showings.

For most of us, buying a house is most critical shopping we ever do—but that doesn’t mean it has to be endlessly time-consuming. If you are considering buying a house in Myrtle Beach this fall, contact us today to discuss which of Myrtle Beach’s upcoming properties best fit your wish list. Then let’s go take a look! Contact our Office at (843) 796-2111 to speak with a Myrtle Beach Real Estate Expert!

In an improving residential real estate market, first time buyers may flinch at the greater loan amounts that accompany larger price tags. Lending standards have also put some first time buyers through a tougher gauntlet than faced during many previous eras. Although some easing is now beginning to take place, some Myrtle Beach first time buyers can still find it difficult to secure the level of funding they seek. For them, there are a number of alternative funding possibilities that first time home buyers in Myrtle Beach may wish to explore. Here are some of the assistance programs that can serve buyers as they go about buying that first home:

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Home Loan Guaranty Service is the most well-known of the programs, providing government guarantees for loans to service veterans and those on active or reserve duty. It also provides assistance to widows or widowers of veterans. Some VA loans require no deposit, and although the size of loans are limited and vary by area, the limits aim to make possible purchase of a mid-sized home. The actual loans are made by private lenders; the portion that is guaranteed by the VA protects the lender from losses should the veteran prove unable to repay the loan.

The HUD Basic Home Mortgage Loan 203(b) is a program that provides mortgage insurance to purchase or refinance one-to-four unit principal residences. Applicants who meet standard FHA credit standards and who pay the insurance premiums are eligible for approximately 96.5% financing provided by FHA-approved lenders.

The USDA Rural Development Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program is a rural development grant designed to help low- and moderate-income rural applicants purchase a home. The rural development program works with local lenders to provide 100% financing for eligible home buyers. In order to qualify for the program, an applicant must live within one of the eligible rural areas and have a total household income that does not exceed the established limits for that area.

The Community Development Block Grant is one of the nation’s oldest housing assistance programs. The goal of the CDBG is to make funds available to urban communities to be disbursed to citizens in the low and moderate income range. The money allocated to the CDBG is provided to local government authorities, who have broad latitude in how they allocate the funds to create and upgrade local housing conditions.

Each program has its own specific application format, which may involve completing a grant application package or simply applying for a loan from an approved lender. More detailed information can be found on each relevant agency’s website.

Securing financing is just one step of the home-buying process—though a first time buyer may be excused if they find it an intimidating one. Whether you are a first time buyer in Myrtle Beach or a seasoned homeowner, trust in your Local Real Estate Experts at Plantation Realty Group! (843) 796-2111

With summer drawing to a close (say it isn’t so!), it’s time to cast an eye towards the prospects for this year’s fall home sales market. Fall can be a great time to list a home, but it can be especially opportune for luxury home sales in Myrtle Beach. It’s a season that traditionally brings out serious buyers—those looking to find a home and complete the move before the holidays. If you are selling a property that falls into the luxury home category, before you roll up your sleeves and get to work in earnest, here are some broad-brush pointers real estate writers cite most often:

Make Sure You Work With the Right Agent

Before you even begin other preparations, you can make the most efficient use of your time by first being sure you have recruited the right agent. Aim for a professional who has earned a reputation for successful luxury home sales in Myrtle Beach. A solid portfolio is the best demonstration that you’ve identified someone with the know-how (and the right contacts) that so often make the difference in luxury home sales.

Details Matter

Even more than with an average listing, Myrtle Beach luxury home sales depend on every detail being well handled. Don’t just have the windows cleaned—scour the screens, too. Don’t just put out a vase of flowers in the dining room—where tasteful, think about placing them by the beds; in the bathrooms, too. Make sure the entryway is always clear at every showing. In short, sell the dream of the picture-perfect luxury home. By treating every detail with care, you validate your luxury-level asking price!

Highlight Features

You know your property best—which gives you valuable insight into the features that make your home a standout. Make a list of additions, enhancements and luxury touches you have added, and other elements that would make any new owner proud. Where is the light most magical? When do the gardens burst with color? Your agent can determine which details will have the most impact in the each of the marketing media.

Know What to Expect

With luxury home sales, it’s a good idea to always keep the nature of the market in mind. Luxury home sales in Myrtle Beach can happen quickly, but more often than with an average property, success can take a little longer. A good agent will let you know how long similar homes have taken to sell in your price range—it’s useful background knowledge. Most often, the key to luxury home sales is the quality of showings rather than the quantity.

If you’d care to hear more about what we can expect for this fall’s luxury home sales in Myrtle Beach, contact me today. I’ll be happy to share an up-to-the-minute market analysis—the best way to project the outlook for the upcoming market. Trust in your Local Myrtle Beach Real Estate Experts at Plantation Realty Group! (843) 796-2111

For any Myrtle Beach resident who has ever been stymied by seemingly arbitrary (or, put another way, nutty) lowering of his or her all-important credit score, next month’s beginning rollout of Fair Isaac’s new credit score model should be welcome news. It will be known as “FICO 9”—and promises to correct a few of the previous model’s inadequacies.

Why now? It’s been six years since San Jose’s Fair Isaac Co. last tinkered with their credit score methodology. Hmmmm…it’s been six years, too since the financial crisis of 2007-08, which Wikipedia correctly describes as “a major global recession characterized by various systemic imbalances…including high levels of household debt...”

You might expect that the accuracy of many a Myrtle Beach credit score could have been thrown off-kilter during the crisis—if not throughout the painfully slow recovery that’s followed. If, for example, someone is laid off, then suffers a sudden medical emergency, a formerly spotless credit history would be seriously distorted. Add in regulatory pressure on the banks, and many truly responsible individuals could suffer unfairly. As The Wall Street Journal summarized in a recent article: “Since the recession, many lenders have approved only the best borrowers, usually those with few or no blemishes on their credit report.”

Keep in mind that the whole purpose of a FICO credit score is to help lenders predict the likelihood that an individual will repay a debt. Lenders pay for accuracy in credit scores—and last year they bought 10 billion of them!

BUT…because of two specific problem areas, the scores gradually were becoming less reliable as predictors. First, there was the fact that once a bill was sent to collection, it showed as a black mark—one that could lower a credit score by as much as 100 points—even after it was paid. For as long as seven years after it was paid! So FICO 9 will not penalize borrowers with a collection on their report once no balance remains.

Then there was a problem with medical debt scoring. According to WSJ, as of last month, more than 64 million consumers had a medical collection on their credit report. That would account for many a Myrtle Beach credit score being adversely affected—sometimes even when it had been an insurance company which rejected the charge…and sometimes when the consumer wasn’t even notified of the situation! Worse yet, when a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report came out in May, it found that many borrowers’ credit scores weren’t being raised even after they repaid such a debt. FICO 9 will count medical debt sent to collections as less important than other kinds of debt.

The new scoring changes are expected to ease access to loans—Myrtle Beach mortgage loans included—without materially raising the risk exposure to lenders. But if history is any indicator, wholesale rejoicing may have to hold off for a while, because mortgage lenders can be slow to adopt changes in credit scoring.

Nevertheless, if you are soon to start looking for a new Myrtle Beach home, I’d recommend checking your current credit report to be sure all is accurate. Trust in your Local Myrtle Beach Real Estate Experts at Plantation Realty Group! (843) 796-2111

A newly-updated NAR survey confirms that 51% of agents with smartphones use iPhones. This fact is hardly startling, since these phones have been such a boon to the real estate business. Today’s agent can use apps to quickly scan and electronically sign documents, instantly get property details for clients, access key boxes—it’s almost hard to remember how we got along before!

But what about the 9% of homeowners who choose to go the FSBO (For Sale by Owner) route? As many a do-it-yourself home seller has learned, just planting a sign in the front yard does not constitute much of a marketing campaign. For those who will be selling a Myrtle Beach home this fall, creating a virtual tour is an all-but-indispensable way to take advantage of all an iPhone has to offer. For anyone who would like to shoot a virtual tour as a market aid, here’s the lay of the land:

· A Myrtle Beach virtual tour doesn’t need to be an all-out professional Hollywood production. You can keep matters as simple as possible using nothing more than your iPhone’s camera.

· More ambitious self-producers can invest in devices like the GoPano. This attaches to your phone: its curved mirror collects light and streams it into the camera as you walk. The free app converts the image into a moving scene which allows viewers to pan in any direction.

· If your Myrtle Beach virtual tour will be assembled without any add-on equipment, it’s still possible to meld your photos into panoramas using one of the many apps devised for that purpose. Just make sure the results meet your quality standards—not all apps are created equal.

· Follow the conventional tips for video shooting: in motion, walk slowly, keeping the iPhone as steady as possible. For stills, an iPhone tripod is a valuable addition. Not only does it prevent hand motion blurring; it also allows you to rotate the camera for a 360-degree view.

· Free or low-cost apps allow you to assemble your virtual tour from stills and video. Search for “real estate virtual tours” in the app store for a comprehensive list. Look for apps that have high ratings—especially those that score well on the ‘user-friendly’ scale. You can also find services through the app store that will take your uploaded images and create the tour for you.

· After you have made your Myrtle Beach virtual tour, if at all possible, preview the result on an iPhone, iPad, PC, and an Android device. It’s an unfortunate fact that a virtual tour that plays well on one device does not necessarily display the same way on the others. If you used an app to create panoramas, you should definitely watch it on a PC before releasing it to be sure the image quality is adequate on a larger screen.

Virtual tours in Myrtle Beach listings are just one part of an effective Myrtle Beach real estate marketing effort. Of course, the easiest way to have a professional-looking production is to forget about FSBO altogether and just call me! After all, it’s my full-time job to create and assemble a comprehensive marketing plan that gets your home sold for top dollar. Trust in your Local Myrtle Beach Real Estate Experts at Plantation Realty Group to help you this season! (843) 796-2111

If you’ve been following foreclosure news, you already suspect that cashing in on foreclosed home opportunities in Myrtle Beach must be getting more difficult. According to CoreLogic’s Insights report at the end of last month, foreclosure inventory across the nation had dropped 35% from a year earlier. Whenever the number of available bank-owned homes shrinks, the tighter market produces some predictable results: the best deals are usually snatched up quickly with multiple offers and/or higher-than-asking prices, while questionable deals—foreclosed homes priced over market or requiring too many dollars in repairs—seem to predominate.

If you are investigating the market for foreclosed homes in Myrtle Beach, that doesn’t mean you will have to settle for a dubious acquisition. It does mean that you should plan to do some tough-minded calculating (with a freshly sharpened pencil)!

If you are newly interested in buying a foreclosed home in Myrtle Beach (and some good ones are still coming onto the market), experienced foreclosed home buyers tend to agree on some basic precepts:

1. Factor in All Costs

A very low price tag on a Myrtle Beach foreclosed home is a tempting opportunity—and a signal that you’ll need to do more than the usual amount of investigating. Especially in a tight market, a price that’s lower than expected often signals a high degree of disrepair that will require a great many improvements—ones the previous owners weren’t able to make. Such a deal can still be worthwhile, but requires doing the research to determine what kind of time and money it will take to make the place livable.

2. Offer Your Best

Whenever the foreclosure market tightens, the properly priced offerings begin to sell quickly. If so, when you find a foreclosure you know is one you want, be prepared to write your best offer earlier rather than later. If the home is attractively priced, it’s risky to go in low, hoping to nudge the banks’ price lower. It will be worth spending the time to double-check the comps and fine-tune your initial offer. If you don’t, it is increasingly likely that someone else will.

3. Work with a Specialist

Since all real estate agents don’t have the same amount of experience, if you’re looking to purchase a Myrtle Beach foreclosed home, there’s no substitute for working with someone who is well-versed in these specific transactions. Not only will an experienced agent be able to help you identify prospective buys, but dealing with the bank to successfully nab a foreclosed home isn’t always a cut-and-dried process. It may take more than one attempt before you succeed in writing a winning offer—but whatever it takes, it’s certain you’ll be ahead of the pack when you have a knowledgeable pro by your side.

Thinking of buying a home this fall? Whether you’re specifically searching for a foreclosed home in Myrtle Beach —or simply looking for your next home—I’m here to provide the resources and up-to-the-moment information that helps create winning offers! Trust in your Local Myrtle Beach Real Estate Experts at Plantation Realty Group to help you! (843) 796-2111

“At the end of the day...” “The bottom line…” “When all is said and done…”

The final verdict on whether any activity is ultimately deemed a triumph comes down to how successfully it addresses future circumstances. It’s especially relevant when you find yourself at the outset of searching for a new Myrtle Beach home.

That’s not always as easy as you might think. The pressures of the moment (especially when the change of residence is mandated by outside factors—like a job transfer or quickly approaching school registration deadline)—can loom so large that when you find a house that’s perfect for the family now, second thoughts about the distant future don’t even surface.

Better idea: before you even start, take a breath! The search for your new home in Myrtle Beach will ultimately be much more successful when you start out with an unhurried appraisal of your family’s requirements, not only as they are in the immediate future, but further downstream as well.

To accomplish that, the first order of business is to make as good an approximation as you can of the likely longevity of your family’s stay in your new home. If it’s quite likely that you’ll be moving in five years or less, your planning horizon can more comfortably center on today’s requirements. If a longer stay is possible, longer-term considerations really need to be addressed seriously. Not doing so can wind up creating a lot of extra effort and expense you might have been able to avoid.

Of course it’s the unique makeup of the household that will determine the size, type and features you target for your new home in Myrtle Beach. Especially when children are part of the picture, their ages will be a leading factor in your house hunt. Families with toddlers usually find themselves automatically gravitating towards properties with smaller, more contained yard spaces that are easily child-proofed. But when they hit the 5-to-10 year-old age group, the target is more likely to include properties with ample space for children to play—and a neighborhood with a lot of other kids. It’s an important time for them to be discovering their talents, interests and abilities.

It might seem to be an abstraction right now if you are under the gun, but later on, how valuable might it be to have a house with a guest suite on the main level for visiting in-laws? And if the kids are nearing adolescence, most parents and their offspring will value a new home that enables the teen to have a room of her or his own—welcome respite for everyone!

If there truly is no way to realistically appraise how long your stay will be, rather than just shrugging off the possibility of taking the long term into account, you might be on the lookout for a new Myrtle Beach home that features a layout with a lot of flexibility, such as one with a semi-detached bedroom that could be converted into an office (or even rental space).

Buying a new home in Myrtle Beach is always a substantial commitment—one that warrants going the extra mile to project how it will fit your unique household now and into the future.

If you will be looking for a new Myrtle Beach home in this fall, I hope you’ll contact me to discuss today’s choices and those that will be coming on the market!

If you have been doing groundwork with an eye toward investing in Myrtle Beach real estate, chances are you’ve also been watching some new national movement in housing sales. Last month’s Real Trends Housing Market Report showed U.S. sales of 5,880,000 units (a 5.1% increase over June 2013 numbers): “a substantial improvement over the five prior months.” Prices also continued to rise across most of the nation, though at a slightly slower rate. It’s the consistency of the appreciation that has continued to attract investors.

Those investors are drawn for differing reasons—since investing in real estate in Myrtle Beach can advance a variety of financial strategies. For investors who purchase residences in order to rehab and flip, any continuation of price appreciation and rising sales volume is encouraging news. For others who plan to hold long term to maximize rental income potential, still low mortgage rates continue to undergird a historically attractive environment.

Whether investing in Myrtle Beach real estate becomes the high point of a portfolio or a footnote depends on such a wide variety of factors that entire books continue to be written about them. Here are a few—with a couple of the ways they can be viewed:

Not only does location play a critical part in how the underlying property is valued, it also can be the deciding factor influencing rental income where rental income is the main goal. Some of the best performing rental property investments can be those located close to transportation and other amenities like restaurants, shopping and parks: key attractions to tenants (and buyer-investors) alike. On the other hand, a good deal in an iffy location can pay off—but only if it passes a critical analysis.

A storied strategy for winning a higher ROI on a Myrtle Beach real estate investment is to target properties situated in less-developed areas—areas promising a better-than-average pace of development in subsequent months or years. Such properties hold the likelihood of outstanding appreciation for the long term investor with ample time and patience.

Investments can be acquired only when sufficient capital is available–but successful investing is about more than just finding the least expensive property. Success means creating a budget in line with the expected return, leaving padding for unexpected expenses, and then scouring the available properties that can realistically fit that template. It’s a simple truth that hard-headed budgeting is a skill worth developing: often the best deals materialize from the best plans.

Whether you’re looking to buy and flip or buy and hold, investing in Myrtle Beach real estate can be both profitable and exciting. The assistance of an experienced and well-connected agent will prove invaluable when it comes to uncovering potential Myrtle Beach real estate investment opportunities.

For all of your Myrtle Beach Real Estate needs, please Trust in your Local, Real Estate Experts at Plantation Realty Group! (843) 796-2111

As a homeowner in Myrtle Beach, you are pleasantly reminded each April 15th that the interest portion of your mortgage payments is 100% tax deductible. When you own Myrtle Beach rental property, though, the tax implications are considerably different. You need to report rental payments you receive from your tenants as income—but you’ll also be able to write off some related expenses, as well.

Each of the more than 22 million landlords in the United States are subject to the same rules and regulations. If you’ve recently become one of them (or will soon join their ranks), here is a quick look at the kinds of items you will want to track to take full advantage of the tax benefits:

• Almost everything you do to improve, fix, or maintain your rental is a potential tax deduction, so you’ll want to save all receipts and documentation. It’s easiest to set up a file, folder, or box at the beginning of each year—and keep it handy. If you don’t, it’s all too easy to let some money-saving deductions slip past.
• If you plan to manage your Myrtle Beach rental yourself, it’s helpful to use one of the popular computer financial programs to keep track of receipts. The reporting features in these software packages make tax preparation a lot easier—and lessen the likelihood of mistakes in your income reporting. If you’ve hired a property management firm, no need to worry about this detail: they will handle the tracking.
• If your Myrtle Beach rental has a mortgage, the interest portion of the payments will generally be deductible. One exception: if you refinance for an amount greater than that which was previously owed, the excess is not considered a rental expense.
• How you use your Myrtle Beach rental is a major factor determining its tax treatment, so it will be advantageous for you to acquaint yourself with the rules right off the bat. An early discussion with your tax consultant will clarify the choices. While a reliable property management company will do the lions’ share of the record keeping, at least until you have experienced a year or two of filing as a landlord, it’s wise to have an accountant prepare your returns.

For more information about the Myrtle Beach Real Estate Market, please Trust in your Local Real Estate Experts at Plantation Realty Group! (843) 796-2111

When you are selling a home in Myrtle Beach, two underlying unknowns are always present. How long it will take? Is one. The second is what will the final selling price be?

The answer to that second one at least partially depends on actions the person selling the home controls, since performing renovations and add-ons boosts a property’s salability. But which renovations add the most value? Even though considerable study has been given to the issue, for any given home it’s difficult to pin down which are most likely to have the greatest impact.

Even so, some general observations are widely accepted:

ITEM: Some kinds of renovations show a much higher return than others. Replacing a traditional entry door with a steel door, for instance, often generates about a 100% return on the investment. A sunroom addition, on the other hand, is likely to result in closer to a 50% return when the home is sold. The web site remodeling.com presents national averages tabulated each year.

ITEM: The old focus on “location, location, location” applies to improvements, too. Selling a home in different areas of the country can influence how much you can rely on the previous item. For instance, some reports say that a backup generator is one of the worst investments a seller can make if they hope to recoup the add-on cost. Yet in areas where dangerous storms have a history of knocking down the power grid for days on end, a well-integrated generator can prove to be a highly marketable add-on.

ITEM: Some repairs that are not undertaken constitute such red flags that, though minor, they can seriously retard a sale. A broken screen door is a good example of an easy-to-remedy detail that can have a disproportionate effect, drawing prospective buyers’ attention from an otherwise well-maintained property.

ITEM: Some other kinds of repairs are essential for a different reason. A homeowner selling a Myrtle Beach home might be tempted to decide that replacing the garage roof, for example, simply isn’t worth the expense. Although it could be true that the garage roofing might not be important to buyers, it could prove vital if it prevents the bank from lending on the property.

So, how can a seller know what to do? Luckily, the answer is simple. Your veteran Myrtle Beach Realtor® will be able to offer expert advice based on current market experience—to advise you on which repairs or improvements are a good or necessary expense (and which can be tabled for now).

If you are thinking of selling your Myrtle Beach home in the future, please contact your Local Myrtle Beach Real Estate Experts at Plantation Realty Group to help you! (843) 796-2111