Charter One Realty Blog - March, 2022

Charter One Realty Welcomes Marisa Cain

Marisa Cain joins Charter One Realty at their Belfair office in Bluffton

Hilton Head Island, SC, March 2022 – Charter One Realty is pleased to announce that Marisa Cain has joined the company as an Agent, partnering with Diana Sroufe. Marisa and her team bring over 50 years of experience in sales, marketing, and real estate in the Coastal Lowcountry. Marisa will be working out of the Belfair office located in Bluffton, SC, and can be reached at 978-257-7158 or by email at MarisaCain@CharterOneRealty.com.

After having a successful career in international finance, Marisa decided to shift her career focus to residential real estate, earning licenses in Massachusetts and South Carolina, along with earning a paralegal certificate from Boston University.

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Lowcountry Real Estate Market Report - February 2022

With a shortage of existing homes for sale, many prospective buyers are turning to new construction for their next home purchase. But with rising construction costs, many buyers are finding that they can’t afford to purchase a new home. Nearly 7 out of 10 U.S. households can’t afford a new median-priced home, according to data recently released by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), which found that 69% of U.S. households lack the income to qualify for a mortgage of $412,506 using standard underwriting criteria. 

Hilton Head & Mainland Real Estate Market Update - February 2022

For the 12-month period spanning March 2021 through February 2022, pending sales in the Hilton Head region were down -8.8 percent overall. Market-wide, inventory…

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How To Navigate a Market Where Multiple Offers Are the New Normal

If you’re thinking of buying a home today, you already know that the number of homes available for sale is low. But what does that really mean for you? As a buyer, low housing supply coupled with high buyer demand means you should be prepared to navigate a highly competitive market where homes sell fast and get multiple offers. Realtor.com has this to say:

“Homes also flew off the market at record pace as buyers put offers in the moment properties came up for sale….”

In a bidding war situation like this, doing everything you can to get ahead of the competition is a wise move. That’s because when you find a house and submit an offer, it’ll likely be up against strong offers from other buyers. According to the latest Realtors Confidence…

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Key Factors That Impact Affordability Today

You can’t read an article about residential real estate without the author mentioning the affordability challenges that today’s buyers face. There’s no doubt homes are less affordable today than they were over the last two years, but that doesn’t mean homes are now unaffordable.

There are three measures used to establish home affordability: home prices, mortgage rates, and wages. Let’s look closely at each of these components.

1. Home Prices

The most recent Home Price Insights report by CoreLogic shows home values have increased by 19.1% from last January to this January. That was one reason affordability declined over the past year.

2. Mortgage Rates

While the current global uncertainty makes it difficult to project mortgage rates,…

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Why It’s Critical To Price Your House Right

When you make a move, you want to sell your house for the highest price possible. That might be why many homeowners are eager to list in today’s sellers’ market. After all, with record-low inventory and high buyer demand, many homes are selling for more than asking price. Data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows 46% of homes are selling above list price today.

But even in a market like we have now, working with an agent to set the right asking price is critical, as pricing it too high or too low could have a negative impact on your final sale. Here’s why.

Pricing Your House Right Is Crucial Even in a Sellers’ Market

The price you set for your house sends a message to potential buyers. Price it too low and you might raise…

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How Global Uncertainty Is Impacting Mortgage Rates

If you’re thinking about buying or selling a home, you’ll want to keep a pulse on what’s happening with mortgage rates. Rates have been climbing in recent months, especially since January of this year. And just a few weeks ago, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate from Freddie Mac approached 4% for the first time since May of 2019. But that climb has dropped slightly over the past few weeks (see graph below):

The recent decline in mortgage rates is primarily due to growing uncertainty around geopolitical tensions surrounding Russia and Ukraine. But experts say it’s to be expected.

Here’s a look at how industry leaders are explaining the impact global uncertainty has on mortgage rates:

Odeta Kushi, Deputy Chief Economist at First…

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Signature Sales February, 2022 - Charter One Realty

Charter One Realty's consistent investments on behalf of Buyers, Sellers, and Communities for over three decades pay dividends for our clients. Like the international luxury brands, Charter One Realty employs world-class marketing with a global reach.

But one need only look at actual sales in the area’s luxury communities, and at the area’s $1,000,000+ transactions to understand that Charter One Realty is the Lowcountry’s Leading Luxury Brand.

Announcing our February 2022 Charter One Realty Signature Sales. Like the international luxury brands, Charter One Realty employs world-class marketing with a global reach. And when it comes to Luxury Properties, we dominate the market.

We successfully listed, marketed, and negotiated the sale of 21…

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Are Home Prices Continuing To Rise?

Many analysts projected home price appreciation would slow dramatically in the fall of 2021 and then continue to soften throughout 2022. So far, that hasn’t happened. The major price indices are all revealing ongoing double-digit price appreciation. Here’s a look at their reports on year-over-year price appreciation for December:

• Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA): 17.6%
• S&P Case-Shiller: 18.8%
• CoreLogic: 18.5%

To show that they’re not seeing signs of softening, here’s a graph that gives the progression of all three indices for each month of 2021.

As the graph above reveals, last year, home price appreciation accelerated dramatically from January to July according to all three indices. Then, it began to decelerate…

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An Expert Advisor Will Give You the Best Advice in Today’s Market

Having an experienced guide coaching you through the process of buying or selling a home is important in a normal market – but today’s market is far from normal. As a result, an expert real estate advisor isn’t just good to have by your side, they’re essential.

Today’s housing market is full of extremes. Experts project mortgage rates will continue to rise this year, and that’s driving significant demand for homes as buyers want to make their purchases before rates climb even higher. At the same time, an absence of sellers is leading to record-low housing inventory. This imbalance in supply and demand is creating bidding wars and driving home price appreciation as well as considerable gains in home equity.

These market conditions can…

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How Supply and Demand Can Impact Your Buying and Selling Goals

In today’s housing market, there are far more buyers looking for homes than sellers listing their houses. Based on the concept of supply and demand, this means home prices will naturally rise. Why is that? When there are more people trying to buy an item than there are making that item available for sale, that drives prices up. And that’s exactly the case in today’s housing market. So, knowing what’s happening with the inventory of homes for sale and the demand for housing is crucial for today’s buyers and sellers.

Nationally, Demand Is High and Supply Is Very Low

The latest buyer and seller activity data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) indicates buyer traffic heavily outweighs seller traffic today, as shown in the maps…

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