Stale Cigarettes = Turned Off Buyers We have all been in homes that smell like smoke.  Last winter an old friend called to say he needed to sell his older sister's house who had passed away.  I met him there and the house reeked of smoke.  We talked about this and he stated his sister had lived there since the early '70s so the smoke molecules were embedded everywhere. He said he would correct the problem before we listed it. About 10 days later I met him at the house and what a difference!  He had replaced all the carpeting and added 2 heavy coats of KILZ to the walls along with 2 coats of Glidden oil-based paint.  The Glidden rep told him that latex paint would not work during periods of high humidity.  Over the next 3 months I was in the house several times and not once did I detect ... 10/06/2008

Over the weekend I watched probably 10 games on TV.  Baseball, college football and NFL and I noticed that all the stadiums were packed with 40,000 to 80,000 fans each.  Obviously the word that we're in a recession hasn't reached these people yet. Terry Edwards in sunny SC www.FeaturedColumbiaHomes.com 10/06/2008

Columbia SC Real Estate, Market Report September 2008 All In all a good month for Columbia South Carolina Real Estate. A total of 316 homes were reported sold by the public information.The lions share of sales were from 200 to 250K and again at the 300-400K market range. With that making up well over 60% of the sold homes. There are still 2900 listings still active as of today. So finding a home shouldn't be a problem for most. There are alot of incentives being offered by builders as well as by the private seller. Market times are decent depending on the area and price. the lower the price the lower the market time. I would say 90 days would be a good average for all price ranges.And some below 150K is being sold in less than 30 days. Financing statistics come in almost dead even with ... 10/06/2008

Right Place At The Right Time I stopped by a listing to check that the screen on the back porch had been repaired and when I walked outside the neighbor was hammering a FSBO sign into his yard.  I walked over and introduced myself and he asked if we had any buyers looking?  I said "In fact, we accepted a contract on the house this week".  He was amazed because he knew it had been on the market only a month. He asked me what I could get for his house and he gave me a tour.  After talking it over with his wife he called me the next day and I went over with a contract. After attending a David Knox seminar and watching a few of his videos I realize he is dead-on with the statement "You've got to be there."   Terry Edwards in sunny SC www.FeaturedColumbiaHomes.com 10/04/2008

First the wrap up on the week, then the move forward ideas and suggestions. Our benchmark FNMA 5.5% mortgage bond was in the red most of the day before recovering losses late in the session to move 6bp higher to close at $100.25. Mortgage bonds moved lower and stocks higher initially following a worse than forecast Jobs Report. Payrolls in September were worse than forecast with a loss of 159,000 jobs vs. the estimated loss of 104,000. That makes 9  consecutive month of job losses. Investors had been expecting an even worse number and the bad jobs data made it more likely the $700 billion bailout bill would be passed today so the equity markets were viewing this as a positive. It was a case of 'buy the rumor, sell the news' as the stock market traded substantially higher leading up to t... 10/04/2008

I have been fortunate enough to launch my real estate career by helping several first time home buyers and Columbia SC relocation clients. Both to these types of clients usually ask.... What's the first step in buying a home or Who should home buyers call first for help in buying a home? With today's post, I would like to address another common question. What are the current mortgage interest rates? If you ask any real estate or mortgage professional that is worth their weight in silver, they can give you an accurate estimate of today's 30-year Fixed Interest Rate. However, questioners should also ask about the fine print that is attached to those rates. For example, here's a section of this morning mortgage flyer... Loan Type Rate APR 40 Year Fixed 6.750 6.990 30 Year Fixed 6.000 6.270... 10/03/2008

Updated: 2:35 pm- Congress passed the rescue bill this afternoon. Stocks pare a decent amount of their earlier gains, the Dow is up 81 points compared to the 250 it was up to earlier in the day. Nasdaq has cracked 2000 and stayed there, up 24 so far and the S&P is looking at 12 points higher since the open. Mortgage Bonds are showing zero gain on the day, but this is up anywhere from 16 bp to 34 bp from when this mornings rate sheets came out. If this rally continues by moving up a little more even showing the stamina to hang on to current levels, Lenders will be in a position to reprice for the better. I'm not putting a "float!" strategy on the table yet for loans closing in the next 10 days, but I'm very close to that. Anything 30 days out, I am floating and locking over the weekend i... 10/03/2008

-159,000 jobs lost compared to an estimated -104,000. Unemployment rate 6.1%, as expected. Hourly Earnings +.3% on a +.2% estimated. Average work week 33.6 on an estimate of 33.7. Jobs lost was more than expected but other figures come in close to or on the number. Markets react positively to the bad news which is odd and pointing towards the fact that the wait is more on the news coming from Washington. 159,000 jobs lost is not a good thing, worst is 5 years, no reason in the world that should push up the Dow and NASDAQ but it did. Mortgage backed securities pay for the increase in equity markets and move into the red. Down 12bp as of 8:41 this morning. 10 year Treasury also down 12 bp. Bonds taking a hit for "not as a bad as we thought" report. Cooler heads will be reminded that the r... 10/03/2008

Dow points lower, NASDAQ as well. MBS open up 9bp ahead of the jobs number. More to come after the jobs report is released. 10/03/2008

Holes In The Walls, Holes In The Ceilings.... Yesterday I previewed 7 foreclosed houses for a client and what a mess.  Every one of them had ripped up carpet, bare wires exposed from yanked out ceiling fixtures and holes the size of a 16 oz. hammer head in the walls.  Even the closet walls had hammer holes. It seems like every neighborhood has their "Munsters" house, with vines and cobwebs taking over the windows and an un-mowed yard.  It's funny on TV but not so funny to the community of hard working people that are proud of their homes.  It's a shame but some people don't deserve to be home owners.  Then again I sure wouldn't want them for renters, either. Certainly not all foreclosures are in this condition but I'm seeing more of them with the bad economy. Terry Edwards, ABR in sunny... 10/02/2008

We've had, to say the least, a very interesting week. The markets have gone to great length to prove how bipolar they are and just how volatile they can be. One 800 pound gorilla is the bailout plan that passed, didn't pass, was re-passed, and now on the table for the house to revisit tomorrow. This needs to be passed, if you want further dialog and dissection of this side of the issue:  http://www.scmortgagenetwork.com/cln_000001_mortgage_101.html But now to the events of the day and the look ahead to tomorrow. Today's factor orders report fell by it's largest amount in 2 years while both consumers and manufacturers struggle to find financing in this locked up credit market where financing is much more difficult to obtain. Also, weekly jobless claims were estimated to come in at 475,00... 10/02/2008

September 2008 Home Sales In Columbia SC While home sales have slowed recently the market around Columbia is still chugging.  I broke down the closed deals during September:           $125-150K   97 sales           $150-200K   95 sales           $200-250K   42 sales           $250-500K   51 sales That's 285 happy Buyers last month.  Would you like to be happy this month?   Terry Edwards      Russell & Jeffcoat Realtors    www.FeaturedColumbiaHomes.com Shandon     Rosewood     Forest Acres     Arcadia Lakes     Hopkins 10/02/2008

No one can sell anything unless you believe in your product, believe in yourself, and project a positive and upbeat attitude and disposition. That means having the ability to spin anything as a positive. Stocks are down, the dow has lost 290 points as of 11:22am, the NASDAQ has lost 85 points and the S&P is down 42 points. So the financial markets are in complete turmoil right now. We're awaiting the final word on the bailout vote and it's not out of the question that the Wachovia news is enough to prevent an immediate rally in stocks regardless of the congressional vote. So how in the world can you spin that as a "good thing." Depends on what you do and how you look at it. The result of the stock performance today is a flight into bonds. The 10 year treasury is currently up 159bp on th... 09/29/2008

Normally when I come up with a good idea the shine disappears once I try to implement it.  I had sprayed and scraped off the foyer popcorn ceiling and made a huge mess a year ago and pretty much swore off ever doing this again.  Then I started thinking about tackling one of the bathrooms when the Ford-Has-A-Better-Idea light came on.   If the scraped ceiling never reached the floor there would be no mess.  I attached the hose of my wet/dry vac to the handle of a 4" scraping blade with 2 cable ties and all the scraped pieces got sucked into the canister!!  I could not believe how well this worked.  I probably cut the clean-up time by 50%.   Terry Edwards, ABR Russell & Jeffcoat Realtors www.FeaturedColumbiaHomes.com 09/28/2008

Indymac- check. Countrywide- check. Bear Stearns- check. Lehman Bros- check. Who are we missing? That's right, Washington Mutual. I knew I was leaving out the largest bank failure in US history. Anything else? Oh, yeah, the bail out stalled I think immediately after I posted last nights entry. I didn't realize that the House of Reps not only read my blog but also were out to get me like that. Learn something new every day. Now is seriously not the time for the panic that I already feel rushing into the day that we have in front of us. I walked into the gas station on my way in this morning and the cover of USA Today and the local paper both just oozed with panic and anxiety. We have to remember a couple of things in order to truly put this all into perspective. 1- People and companies w... 09/26/2008

Although it was not as initially proposed by The Hammer Hank Paulson, the bail out was agreed on in principle today. The $700 billion plus proposal was scaled back to $250 billion of immediately available funds with and additional $350 billion that could be accessed and only prevented from access via a congressional vote. That is the initial information I have an tomorrow morning I will go more in depth. The bottom line is that it is certain SOMETHING will be done and the markets reacted for sure. In other news today, Durable Goods Orders fell by a greater than expected -4.5% in August vs the -1.3% consensus estimate. Largest decline in 19 months. Initial jobless claims shot up by 32,000 in the latest week to 493,000, their highest level in seven years and more than the estimated 450,00... 09/25/2008

Existing home sales came in lower than expected. 4.91 million compared to the consensus estimated of 4.93 million. Even bigger news was the fact that the median home price in the US declined 9.7%. Down to $203,100 average sales price. So let's talk about why this is so important if you want to succeed. A 9.7% depreciation in home values, the product you sell, means that you are asking clients to purchase something that according to the news is going to be worth less a year from now than it is currently selling for. No one is ever going to buy that so you better know this little nugget of info if you plan on closing another sale anytime soon. "That's not happening in our market" doesn't work with any consistency, "Don't listen to the media" isn't going to work with many clients. Percepti... 09/24/2008

Big day in the financial world today. Bernanke and Paulson testified on The Hill about the $700 BILLION, I still don't even think that's a real number, plan to bail out the markets and bring an end to this mess. Of course the government has always been oh so efficient at "fixing things" so I'm sure everyone is breathing easy..... The little shindig on Capitol Hill started at 9:30am I believe they wrapped it up about 3:30pm this afternoon. I hate that I missed it because you know it was riveting stuff. Congress is all of a sudden "concerned with the tax payer", which in my opinion means "it's an election year." Both Bernanke and Henry Paulson made a strong case but when it was all said and done, they wrapped up in a state of uncertainty. The markets absolutely hate uncertainty. The effec... 09/23/2008

We all remember the old "Mission Impossible" theme song I like to call "da -da- dada - da-da-dadda" In case you don't have perfect pitch while reading it sounds like this :   Okay - now humor me for a minute - keep the Mission Impossible theme playing while you read the rest of this post AND while you watch the video -come on, it's gonna work and it's what I had playing in my mind when I wrote this post so you might as we ll get inside my head no matter how scary it is .... This past Friday, September 19th the "Today Show" aired a segment by Michael Okwu that I have provided in the video below from the "Today Show" website. Pay special attention to what is said at 46 seconds into the video "Gone are $0 down loans often replaced with 20% down..." Here we go - click they play button again... 09/23/2008

Details   Photo Gallery Heathwood (Columbia, South Carolina, US - 29205) MLS® $297,900 Desirable Heathwood Quick Links Virtual Tour Request More Info Mortgage Calculator     Details Address: 733 POINSETTIA STREET Type: Residential Style: 2 Story "Traditional Williamsburg" Bedrooms: 3 "Huge master" Bathrooms: 3 Garage: Double, Detached "Carport" Size: 1,990 sq. ft. "Lots of space" Lot Type: Rectangular Year Built: 1980 MLS®: 219665   Description Beautiful Townhouse in desirable Heathwood. There are only 16 Units in this pristine neighborhood. Master Suite down with two large bedrooms up with private baths. Courtyard Garden Setting, private entry from Gated (covered) rear parking w/Additional space in front. Guest half bath and wetbar off of Living Room makes this home great for entertai... 09/23/2008