Real estate is under the legal microscope as the National Association of Realtors along with several major real estate brokerages recently lost the Sitzer/Burnett case that alleged realtor commissions have been anti-competitively fixed by the NAR and major brokerages. More lawsuits are coming, and the question is: what exactly does it all mean for the future of real estate? Will buyers agents be going away for good, forcing people to dial back the clock to when they only worked with listing agents? Will major brokerages be going out of business? Will there even be realtors in a few years? We don't know all the answers yet, but there's still a lot to discuss about what we do know.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

As we take a delayed look at the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors market stats that came out in November, we see a Greenville market slowing due to the holidays, and yet home prices are staying high. Why is this, and what would happen if we saw inventory pick up from around 3 months of inventory to around 4 months? Using the data, we can put together some of the missing puzzle pieces to figure out what may be happening in the future of Greenville real estate.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Every year around Thanksgiving, Stan discusses what he's thankful for. This year, the thankfulness topic is the City of Greenville and five things in particular that Stan is thankful for in the city.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

At the behest of environmental activists, Greenville County Council is on the doorstep of functionally zoning unzoned parts of Greenville County by making draconian lot size requirements for new developments. If this passes third reading in December (which it will unless people express their concern for the ordinance), landowners in unzoned areas will see their property values drop and new developments in these areas will be entirely unaffordable. Listen in and join Stan at County Square in December to protest the third reading of this horrendously short-sighted ordinance. NOTE: All opinions expressed in this show are my (Stan's) own and do not represent the opinions of any groups I may or may not be affiliated with.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

For a long time in Greenville, it was cheaper to buy a house than it was to rent. That has changed due to high mortgage rates, but for many people, the argument to be a homeowner vs. renting a home isn't a financial argument so much as it is an argument about control - the ability to control how your home is maintained, what pets you can have, what you can do with the home, etc. So let's look at the data to explore what the financial gap is between renting and buying and whether it still makes sense to pay extra to have more control over where you live.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Most 15 year olds are thinking about video games, not real estate investing. But for Willie Coleman, the age of 15 turned out to be the perfect age to get into real estate investing, and now, seven years later, Willie is firmly established in the Greenville real estate investing scene at the ripe age of 22 years old. What was it like investing from such a young age, and what challenges were experienced and lessons learned along the way? Tune in for the fascinating story of a teenage homeschooler who grew into a luxury real estate investor.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

The dreaded fourth quarter of the year with its traditional seasonal real estate slowdown is upon us, and this year Q4 is setting up to be a doozy, with mortgage rates hovering around 8% and likely to remain there for the entirety of the slow season. There's a lot to discuss: what do the high rates during a slow season mean? How can sellers get creative with incentivizing a buyer to buy their home? Is this even the right time to sell? And what if you're a buyer, house flipper, etc. - what should you be thinking during these uncertain times? Stan gives his unedited thoughts on all things "slow season" in this episode.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Normally, as we enter the fall and winter months, seasonality grips the real estate market, and prices come down a bit. It looked in August like that might be happening again this year, like it normally does, but now that we have September's market stats, courtesy of the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors, median prices are still near their record peak. And if you want to look at the average price in Greenville, September's average home sale set a new record high! These numbers aren't great if you're a buyer in this market, but they reinforce that the Greenville real estate market is more stable than many markets in the US that are seeing price declines.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Like any growing city, Greenville has a segment of the population in dire need of affordable housing, people who are overpaying to stay in motels, sleeping in shelters, or simply living on the streets. But the problems of homelessness are solvable, and so in this episode we talk with Susan McLarty of Greenville Homeless Alliance about what her organization and other organizations in the Greenville area are doing to help the homeless in Greenville find housing. Want to learn more? Here are some links courtesy of Susan: Bookmark thttps://www.gvlhomes4all.org/get-help and print a one page resource sheet to keep handy in your vehicle.  You can have small items on hand to give with the resource sheet such as granola bars, bottles of water, or other nonperishable food items. Use the new resource guide to filter accordingly https://www.gvlhomes4all.org/resource-guide. Make plans for the iGNITE events on November 14 https://www.gvlhomes4all.org/igniteevent2023.  Starting on November 15, the art exhibit will be open to the public for six months.  Check out the 47 ft. "Seen | Heard | Valued" mural https://www.gvlhomes4all.org/seen-heard-valued-mural. Follow progress by connecting with us https://www.gvlhomes4all.org/connect.  We are happy to arrange volunteer opportunities for your business, neighborhood association, or place of worship paired with our Homelessness 101. Learn by watching the short mythbuster videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgdh7T2qCpo&list=PLDiPdCv8w0f9svj_zeFeCbvmsm0ozwo8G.  Support our work https://www.gvlhomes4all.org/donate.    As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

It's time to talk politics and real estate, and 2023 is a more important year to have this discussion than most. We have several competitive mayor and city council races happening in Greenville, Travelers Rest, Simpsonville, Easley, Pickens, Mauldin, Fountain Inn, etc., and many of these elections will have low turnout and ultimately will be decided by just a few votes. But the stakes are high, with many candidates running campaigns focused on concerns that directly impact homeownership and the real estate market, such as development requirements, residential infrastructure, traffic, affordable housing, etc.  And on top of everything else, there are many anti-development "NIMBYs" still attempting a hostile takeover of local government, as they have now for several years. Where is this heading, and what does it mean for the future of the Upstate?  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

August market stats for the Greater Greenville area are in, and what we see is a stable but slowing market. Prices are staying in range with 2022 levels and the percentage of list price received is still elevated over "normal" levels, but inventory is climbing, days on market are back into the 40s, and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that the market is slowing down quite a bit. Real estate is inherently seasonal, so how much of the shifting market can be explained by seasonality, and how much more shifting can we expect with mortgage rates at their highest levels in decades? There's a lot to discuss as we dig into the data.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

We hear all the time about how mortgage rates going up or down has a major impact on the real estate market, but what does that actually mean? The conventional wisdom is that when rates go up, demand goes down, and when rates go down, demand goes up. But it's not always that simple, and for the Upstate, SC market specifically (Greenville, Spartanburg, Pickens, Anderson, etc.), we have to really take a close look at the data to determine just how sensitive the market is to fluctuating mortgage rates. The good news is that we have that data from the past several years, and using it, we can draw some conclusions for what might happen if rates go up or down moving forward.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Conventional wisdom says that homes built around the same time in the same neighborhood should sell for a similar price per square foot. But we see variances when it comes to a) larger homes vs. smaller homes, b) 2-story vs. single-story homes, and c) homes with the master bedroom on main vs. those with the master on the 2nd level. In some neighborhoods you can even sell (or buy) an 1,800 SF ranch home for the same price as a 2,400 SF 2-story home! Why is that, and what does it mean? It's time to dig into the Greenville data for answers.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Everyone knows home inspections are important, but many don't know why or what parts of the home inspection are most important. What does high radon mean and what can be done to lower radon levels? At what point does settling indicate a structural issue? Are there certain "deal breaker" issues that an inspector will find? All these are good questions, and for this episode, we talk to Jesse McCormick, the owner of Ace Home Inspections, who brings an immense amount of knowledge and common sense to the table to discuss all things home inspections.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

"Real estate is seasonal" they said, and they were right until COVID happened. And then mortgage rates went way down and demand went crazy. And then last year mortgage rates went way up, and demand went way down, and everything went into turmoil all over again. Long story short, the seasonality of real estate hasn't exactly been a thing for several years now, but will that change in 2023? There are some indicators that maybe we'll see a normal, seasonal post-Labor Day market, at least in the Greenville area.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

We have the numbers for what happened in the month of July for real estate in the Upstate of SC, and the market is still showing resilience and the stabilization we've seen all year. BUT mortgage rates are at their highest levels in 20 years, and there is no doubt that will have an impact on the market going forward. What does it mean, and what should we expect? Sometimes looking back is the best way to look forward.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

"Doomers" - what I call those who have believed every year for the past 10+ years that real estate prices are going to crash - have been almost 100% wrong in their recent (and non-recent) real estate predictions. But they do have one thing right: at some point in the future it's highly likely that real estate prices will crash again. The problem is that too many people are basing their crash predictions off of vibes. In fact, many Doomers have already been wrong in predicting that real estate prices would plummet this year (in 2023), which they haven't, outside of a handful of niche markets (not in SC). For those of us analyzing the data, the resiliency of real estate prices comes as no surprise because demand has been bolstered by an unprecedented market consisting of three active generations. However, in a few years as Baby Boomers age out, Generation X enters the "dormant" phase of home buying, and Gen Z finds themselves priced out of their first home, we could find ourselves in an environment that's ripe for a real estate crash.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

I frequently get the question: what does it cost to build a custom home in the Greenville area? And while I have an idea in my mind of what that would generally cost, it occurred to me that I've never really looked at what the data says. So today we dive into the Greenville Multiple Listing Service data to see exactly what the costs are to build a home in the Greenville area and how that compares to purchasing a similar home that has already been built.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

I've heard some people say that real estate seems like a boring career, but that's not been my experience! Between battling dogs, buzzards, roaches, termites, etc. there's always something new and exciting around the corner - sometimes literally around the corner! So let's have some fun and talk about five of my craziest real estate encounters from the past couple years.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

As a tribute to my dad who passed away on July 3, 2023, I'd like to share ten lessons I learned from him that directly impact me as a real estate professional: 1. Work as hard as you can as long as you can. 2. Talk to people. 3. Treat your network like they are your net worth. 4. Run, don’t walk!  5. Contentment isn’t always easy, but it is always available.  6. “A penny saved is a penny earned.” 7. Each season of life is uniquely beautiful.  8. Discipline is the backbone of success.  9. When a door closes, there is always another open door. 10. Enjoy a cup of coffee each day.  I hope you'll listen and glean a little bit of the inspiration from his life that has impacted me so much.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

In May we saw Greenville SC's median home sale price have it's first year-on-year decline in a long time, but that reversed in June when prices hit an all-time high. Long story short, that data as well as all the other data provided by the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors paints the picture of a resilient seller's market that, despite not being as crazy as it was in 2021-22 is still much more intense than pre-COVID.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

As the Fed tinkers with the economy, mortgage rates fluctuate. But never in history have we seen rates double in such a short period of time as we have the past year. So will they be coming back down any time soon? It's easy to give opinions, but what does the data say? It's time to look at the historical data for 30 year fixed rate mortgages to see what's happened in the past, and then perhaps we can come up with some ideas as to what might happen in the future.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Greenville County narrowly averted a county-wide shutdown when the County Council passed (after initially not passing) a budget that includes the first Greenville County property tax increase in 3 decades. The tax increase was met with fierce opposition from the public, but the council insisted it was necessary for several reasons, one of which was to support affordable housing. But raising property taxes makes housing less affordable, so what gives? And why are "inflation" and "growth" bad excuses for raising property taxes?  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

For several years we went through a stretch where real estate buyers had basically no choice but to offer at or above the price that a home was listed for, with demand at all time highs and supply at all time lows. But as the market has softened, sellers are more frequently having to accept offers below list price or with seller concessions. I frequently get asked by buyer clients, "How low can I go?" when wanting to make an offer on a property. That's a tricky question to answer, but we have some data from the past six months that give us an indication of what type of discounts sellers are offering these days and when buyers can expect to have an opportunity to get them.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

We have the Greenville real estate market stats for the month of May (courtesy of the Greater Greenville Association of REALTORS), and for the first time in roughly 3 years, the median price of a home in Greenville went down year-on-year. What does that mean short- and longterm? Are prices collapsing? Are we entering a buyer's market? And what did the Fed do last week that had a major impact on mortgage rates? We discuss all that and more in this week's episode of Selling Greenville.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

The world of real estate is constantly shifting, and nobody has felt that more than real estate professionals. There's always value in looking at the past and seeing how it has evolved into today. So let's look back at the past 7.5 years to see how realtors (specifically, Stan) have had to adjust their approach and what they focus on for buyers and sellers in order to accommodate the shifting winds of the market.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

The Federal Reserve is the last ultra-powerful part of the US government that hasn't become subject to Republican or Democrat partisanship. But with how much impact the Fed has on the economy - and specifically on real estate - it seems obvious that politicians will imminently turn the Fed into a partisan institution, much like what has happened with the Supreme Court in recent decades. This could happen as soon as the next Presidential election, and when it does, it is likely to have profound impacts on the real estate market.   As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Mortgage rates recently eclipsed 7%, and the real estate market was not happy. A lot of activity has slowed down as potential buyers decide to wait it out to see whether rates will come down. But is it even reasonable to expect rates to come down any time soon? And if we are entering a multi-month season of 7%+ mortgage rates, how will that impact the market? These are a few things on my mind going into June 2023.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

As real estate has become more politicized, people who are against developments happening near them (known as “NIMBYs”, which is short for “Not In My Backyard”) have proven to be a major political force in the Greenville area. Their concerns vary from believing Greenville is turning into Charlotte, NC, to concerns that our infrastructure can’t maintain more developments, to concerns that “we need more parks, not more apartments.” But a lot of these concerns are misguided, shortsighted, or both. And despite NIMBYs typically saying they are concerned about the cost of housing and about issues related to gentrification and equity, NIMBYism as a whole results in the cost of housing increasing dramatically, and in many instances, it also results in socio-economic segregation.   As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Hao Wu is a real estate investor in Greenville, SC who has found a way to "crack the code" on how to utilize real estate to achieve a "Four Hour Work Week" (to borrow from Tim Ferriss's phrase and popular book). In this wide-ranging discussion, we talk about his path from China to the military to Greenville, how he got into real estate investing, and how he has oriented his life and investments in a way that allows him to live comfortably while traveling the world, spending evenings playing board games with friends, and working at his own pace.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

In June 2022, when the post-pandemic housing recession began, we discussed on Selling Greenville what it looks like to invest in a shifting market, and we did this by looking back at what the real estate market looked like at various points in time between 2008-2020 in order to reverse engineer what real estate in 2023 and beyond might look. Well, now that we’ve experienced nearly a year of a housing recession, we have plenty of data to go off of to see how today's market compares to the past. The long story short is that whereas there are some similarities between some pre-pandemic aspects of the real estate market and today's market, very little could be said to be exactly the same as it was prior to 2020.   As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

We now have over a quarter of 2023 real estate in the books, and it's time to review our bold predictions episode from January! Which predictions missed the mark, which ones have already hit, and which ones are looking good to hit (or not)? It was fun going back and looking at predictions made 4 months ago and how that compares to the current data.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Looking at the most recently released Greater Greenville Association of Realtors Market Stats, we see a local real estate market that is stabilizing in a way that disproportionately benefits sellers. All the news is about how real estate is slowing down, but that's simply not the case (at least not yet) in the Greenville market. With tight inventory and a seasonal uptick in demand, prices continue to climb with no obvious relief (to buyers) in sight. Looking at other metrics like the percentage of list price to sell price, days on market, etc. it would appear that this trend is likely to continue well into the future.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Buying new construction might sound like a pipe dream to many, but with over half of homes currently for sale being new construction, combined with the fact that builders are offering some pretty crazy incentives to buyers, going the new construction route actually makes a lot of sense for many buyers. But building a new home is vastly different than buying an existing home, and there are many potential pitfalls to go with the standard concerns many have about build quality, lot size, privacy, etc. That said, there are several considerations and steps that can be taken to ensure that a buyer doesn't end up on the wrong end of a new construction transaction, and it's worth un-muddying the waters about new construction so that buyers don't needlessly limit themselves to only already-built homes.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Involving extended family in a real estate transaction can be a blessing... or a curse. In many cases parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. play an integral role in real estate choices that people make, but it's important to understand where it could be helpful to place boundaries in terms of involving them and factoring them into a home purchase or sale. So let's discuss 5 dos (and don'ts) of involving extended family in a real estate transaction. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

It's time to state the obvious: we are in a housing market recession. Home sales are down to their lowest levels since the Great Recession. (Yes, even lower than they were during COVID lockdowns!) And yet, if you're trying to buy in this market, it doesn't feel like a recession. Where are all the cheap houses? Where are the foreclosures? And why is it that everyone on Twitter seems so angry when talking about what's going on in the housing market?   As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence language tool, is all the rage right now, but can it be used for real estate? For those who don't know programming languages, the capabilities are pretty limited, but there are some interesting and useful datapoints that homebuyers and sellers can gather from chatting with ChatGPT. In this episode of Selling Greenville, Stan enters live questions into ChatGPT about real estate (and Greenville) to see what results it comes back with. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

The Greater Greenville Association of Realtors released its market stats through the month of February, and there are some juicy tidbits in here. Prices flatlined YoY, inventory went up but remained low, and pending sales and closings showed surprising strength. But more importantly, there were a lot of big changes versus previous months that warrant our attention. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

At long last, we finally have an interview! In this episode, Stan chats with Derek Horton, Senior VP and Mortgage Executive with Southern First Bank. In this wide-ranging interview, we discuss what it's like being in the mortgage world during such a crazy market, what it's like for loan officers to work with good (and bad) realtors, where mortgage rates are heading, and what all of this means for those looking to buy real estate in the next year and beyond. [Note: this episode was recorded before Silicon Valley Bank folded.]  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Investing in real estate is as popular as ever, and at some point, every investor needs a realtor to help them out. But not every realtor who claims to be "investor friendly" truly understands real estate investing. So how do we sift the wheat from the chaff when interviewing realtors? Sometimes trick questions can reveal how knowledgeable a person truly is on a subject, and real estate investing just happens to be one of those subjects. So in this episode of Selling Greenville, we discuss eight questions to use to get to the bottom of how knowledgeable a realtor (or any person) is when it comes to real estate investing.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

We now have over half a year of the main purchase agreement for residential real estate in SC (known as SCR310) handling inspection periods on a "due diligence" basis. When this change was made in 2022, it sent shockwaves through the Greenville real estate market, as buyers, sellers, and realtors were forced to adapt overnight to a new way of approaching home inspection periods and repair negotiations.  There was a lot of confusion and angst at first, but as we consider things in March 2023, it's fair to say that we are finally seeing some stability and standard practices being established. So let's discuss what those practices look like, as well as some major changes coming to some other documents that directly impact real estate transactions in the Greenville area.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Right now a lot of major news publications are generating headlines that would lead people to believe that the real estate market is crashing. The reality is that the market is contracting (there are fewer closings) but, in Greenville at least, we haven't yet seen prices go down to an unseasonal level. At least not yet. Let's dig into the numbers on where the market stands now that we have the GGAR's market stats for the month of January, 2023. [Note: when referencing the number of closings for the month of January, I incorrectly stated that the numbers indicate that only about 750 realtors had closings last month. The correct number would've been 1,500, assuming a buyer's agent and a listing agent were on nearly every transaction, which is still an extremely low number.]  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Smart home systems have become a major part of every day life, from smart thermostats, to doorbell cameras, to smart locks, etc. But it's easy to compile a bunch of devices together from different "ecosystems" without taking full advantage of the voice control and "scenes" offered by Amazon Alexa, Apple Home (i.e., Siri), etc. So when I (Stan) moved this past year, I decided to rethink my smart home systems from the ground-up, and I decided to make everything compatible with Apple Home. How has it worked out so far? Let's discuss!  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

There are a lot big things in the works in the SC State House, ranging from potential state-wide allowances of Airbnbs to (finally) eliminating discriminatory deed restrictions, and everything in between. There is a lot happening that impacts real estate, and it's worth talking about!  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Warren Buffet once said, "Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked." Well, according to a recent Bloomberg article (link below), the real estate tide has gone out, and now we see several iBuyers have been swimming naked. In Q4 one of the most prominent iBuyers, OpenDoor, lost money on at least 89% of its real estate transactions in Phoenix, AZ! On the flip side (no pun intended), local house flippers are still crushing it, nimbly adapting to the shifting market. As we discuss in this episode of Selling Greenville, it turns out that, when flipping houses, local knowledge trumps cutting edge technology. Here is a link to the Bloomberg article, if you're interested in reading it. (There is a paywall, so if you want a PDF copy, I can send it to you! Just let me know; my contact information is below.) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-01-30/wall-street-is-losing-out-to-first-time-homebuyers-this-housing-slump?cmpid=BBD013023_MKT&leadSource=uverify%20wall  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

The Homebuilders Association of Greenville held its annual Housing Market Forecast conference this past week, and there were plenty of interesting nuggets to take away from it. A few things that were discussed there were: -The point at which higher mortgage rates dramatically impact buyer behavior -Why and how the media inaccurately portrays real estate prices as going down. -Why the real estate price increases of the past 2.5 years were a correction to the norm rather than a bubble -Why government inventory numbers don't match the numbers that anyone else is publishing -Why zoning laws have racist underpinnings that are still hurting us today There's a lot more where that came from! So let's open up the notebook and talk about what was learned at this fascinating event.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Looking back at the final numbers published for 2022 by the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors, one thing becomes clear - we have to rethink how we evaluate market statistics. Some numbers are returning to "pre-pandemic norms," but it certainly doesn't feel like the pre-pandemic market did. In reality, we're entering another "new normal," and we have to adjust our thinking accordingly. One last look at the 2022 numbers will help bring that reality into focus.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].

Neighborhood and community amenities have been all the rage the past two years to the point that some are willing to sacrifice on home quality to be in a neighborhood that offers great amenities, such as a pool, common areas, sidewalks, playgrounds, etc. But at the end of the day, is there a way to actually quantify the impact that community amenities have on home prices? Not entirely, but a case study of two neighborhoods in Greer, SC gives us a little window into the nice home vs. nice community dynamic, with some twists and turns along the way.  As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at [email protected].