Hilton Head Real Estate Blog

This is the least expensive condo in all of Bluffton and it’s a show piece! New wood flooring, carpet, carpet padding, and paint. Model condition, and a real must see! Regime fee is $164.99/month. First time home buyers might also qualify for a $7,500 tax credit issued by The Housing and Economic Act of 2008!    Asking $77,900    ML# 254246

Please call me if I can be of assistance. 

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Time to stop surviving and shift to thriving. It’s an ill wind that doesn't blow some good, and you need to make the most of the opportunities that are out there. 

Energize your career. Don't just worry about keeping your job–make it better. Lean times present an opportunity for niche employees to put other skills to work and rebuild their reputations as go-to multitaskers. Employees should actively try to pick up the work of their departed peers. Also, volunteering to take on new responsibilities can pave the way for a negotiation in six to eight months, when an employee can prove that the job has evolved and is now worth more on the market. A new outlook and approach like this will help you hold on to your current job, or pave the way to your new career. 

Refinance your home. Recent Federal Reserve announcements intended to ease the financial crisis have sharply reduced 30-year fixed mortgage rates, to 5.5 percent at the start of the week vs. 6.2 percent just two weeks earlier, according to HSH Associates. “Recession equals lower Treasury rates, which equals lower mortgage rates, which equals a great opportunity to refinance,” says Mike Larson, a real estate analyst at Weiss Research. 

Buy a home. Home prices nationally have already fallen more than 20 percent from their 2006 peak, and in certain boom-and-bust states the declines have been even more precipitous. So if you've got a stable job, good credit, a down payment, and a strong stomach, there are certainly buying opportunities out there for you. “I can point to properties here in [Florida] that are off 40 to 50 percent from their peak bubble levels,” says Larson, who is based in Florida. “This is creating an opportunity.”

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Over a week ago (over Thanksgiving), we saw the lowest fixed rates in history—we were at 5.25% with no origination, again for a short time.  So what happened?  Clients were email who would benefit immediately, and only a few acted and received those rates.  The rest exhibited the typical “greed” and quoted the “news” that the rate is supposed to go to 4.5% (seen on CNN and other news stations).  Now, rates have ticked back up a bit, so many folks missed an opportunity. 

What did we learn last week? 

• You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.  (You don’t know where the bottom is until we pass it.) 
• You must not believe all you see and hear in the news.  Use common sense!  With the highest unemployment in years and people uncertain about their income and jobs (therefore, no consumer confidence), would even a 1% mortgage rate matter, let alone 4.5%?  Lower mortgage rates are not the “silver bullet.” There are bigger issues. 
• Low mortgage rates are not turning around the housing market—at least not yet.  In the past, we have seen low rates with climbing housing prices or high rates keeping a lid on the housing pricing.  Today’s historic low mortgage rates at the same time that we have low housing pricing are something I have not seen in my years in the business.  I would think that customers would be lined up outside your doors and mine taking a number to make an appointment to grab the rates and the housing bargains.  What is everyone waiting for?  Obviously, there are more pressing issues (like unemployment) that need to be solved.   

Volatility in the market continues.  The FEDs meet next week and there is speculation that they will cut the Fed Funds Rate again, but remember, this does not equate to lower mortgage rates.  The cut will lower the PRIME rate, but many users of home equity lines are already at their floor rate (there is always a ceiling and a floor rate on home equity lines). 

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Well…here goes…

I moved to Hilton Head almost 19 years ago when I was hired as a tennis pro at the Sea Pines Racquet Club right after college.  As a tennis pro, Hilton Head Island was (and is) the premiere location in the United States as there are over 300 tennis courts with 4 tennis resorts included in Tennis Magazine’s Top-50 Resorts list each year. Read the rest of this entry »

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