There has been an across the board reduction in inventory of single family residential units in Charleston from the highs of 2007. The following percentages are the drop in inventory since the high month for each area in 2007 compared to the inventory in Jan 2008.
James Island - 13%
West Ashley - 20%
Mt Pleasant - 23%
North Charleston - 15%
Peninsula - 15%
Ladson/Summerville - 17%
Hanahan/Goose Creek - 19%
Daniel Island - 15%
This is a move in the right direction. For this market to normalize itself, we need to continue to move in this direction. To do this, sellers need to continue the most recent trend of pricing properties correctly. Realtors will do well to walk away from overpriced listings.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Step 10 to Purchasing a Home
Celebrate!! You did it! You're going to get a big tax break now. You get to deduct the interest that you pay each month off of your federal tax return. In the first few years of your loan, the majority of your payment is interest. This can be a lot of income tax savings. You may also get to deduct some of your closing costs and property taxes.
Keep any and all paperwork for your home. When you go to sell it, you won't have to pay any income taxes on the gain as long as the gain is less than $500,000 for a married couple($250,000 for a single person) and you have lived in the home for at least 2 of the last five years. It's the only thing I know of where you can make that kind of profit and not have to pay any income taxes. You can buy a home, sell it in 2 years, and make a huge profit without paying income taxes on the profit!!
Congratulations!!
Keep any and all paperwork for your home. When you go to sell it, you won't have to pay any income taxes on the gain as long as the gain is less than $500,000 for a married couple($250,000 for a single person) and you have lived in the home for at least 2 of the last five years. It's the only thing I know of where you can make that kind of profit and not have to pay any income taxes. You can buy a home, sell it in 2 years, and make a huge profit without paying income taxes on the profit!!
Congratulations!!
Step 9 to Purchasing a Home
After the closing, you can move into your new home. In step #7, you should have already set up the transfer of utilities and change of address. Once you move in, you may want to change all the locks. Who knows how many people might have keys to your home!?
Finally, if you are going to live in the home, make sure to apply for the 4% property tax rate. Many times the county will just charge you the 6% rate for renter occupied property if you don't make this application. That makes your taxes 50% more than they should be. Many people forget to do this. If you are over 65 years old, you can also apply for the Homestead Exemption which also reduces your property taxes.
Keep all your paperwork for your home in one place so that you can retrieve it when necessary.
Finally, if you are going to live in the home, make sure to apply for the 4% property tax rate. Many times the county will just charge you the 6% rate for renter occupied property if you don't make this application. That makes your taxes 50% more than they should be. Many people forget to do this. If you are over 65 years old, you can also apply for the Homestead Exemption which also reduces your property taxes.
Keep all your paperwork for your home in one place so that you can retrieve it when necessary.
Step 8 to Purchasing a Home
After we get a ratified contract, many of these steps will have to worked on simultaneously. This step involves hiring the closing attorney and actually setting up the closing. I don't recommend you do this until you are past the home inspection phase. You don't want to put the attorney to work until you are past that phase. Once both sides have agreed on the repair addendum, call your attorney and set up a closing date and time. They get busy toward the end of the month when most closings occur and you want to go ahead and book an appointment. Of course, you should have already called a few and found out their prices and found who you were most comfortable with. They will probably be providing you with title insurance as well, so ask them about that. Most closing attorneys own a title insurance company. It seems like a conflict of interest, but apparantly it's not. It just makes things easier. Title insurance is required by your lender. They are going to want to make sure they have title to the property even if the attorney missed something in the records.
The attorney will do a title search and make sure that there is a clear title to be conveyed. He will also record the sale in the court records after closing. His fees are part of that 3% of purchase price for closing costs and prepaid items. Attorney fees and lender fees make up most of the closing costs.
The attorney will coordinate to pay your chosen insurance company and the property taxes. He will also prepare the HUD settlement statement that shows all final costs to both the buyer and seller. You should receive this HUD statement for review at least 24 hours before closing, but it depends on how well your lender gets the closing instructions to the attorney. On the HUD statement, you will find the final amount that you are supposed to bring to closing. This will have to be in certified funds usually made out to the attorney. You also need to have your driver's license at closing.
Your realtor doesn't have to be at closing, but should make every effort to be there in case there are problems. Finally, you should make sure you get all the keys to the property and any instructions about security alarms.
The attorney will do a title search and make sure that there is a clear title to be conveyed. He will also record the sale in the court records after closing. His fees are part of that 3% of purchase price for closing costs and prepaid items. Attorney fees and lender fees make up most of the closing costs.
The attorney will coordinate to pay your chosen insurance company and the property taxes. He will also prepare the HUD settlement statement that shows all final costs to both the buyer and seller. You should receive this HUD statement for review at least 24 hours before closing, but it depends on how well your lender gets the closing instructions to the attorney. On the HUD statement, you will find the final amount that you are supposed to bring to closing. This will have to be in certified funds usually made out to the attorney. You also need to have your driver's license at closing.
Your realtor doesn't have to be at closing, but should make every effort to be there in case there are problems. Finally, you should make sure you get all the keys to the property and any instructions about security alarms.
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