For the first time in 15 years of selling Hilton Head real estate and Bluffton real estate, I was asked by a client “what are the pitfalls of living on Hilton Head Island”? I was actually speechless as I tried to think of a “pitfall”. Since I moved to the Lowcountry in 1982, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else and as far as “pitfalls”…well, all I could think of is my wonderful home land where my family enjoys both nature and the best of what man offers, each day, 24/7, 365 days a year.

We have 12 miles of sandy beach, 30+golf courses, pristine waterways, and who knows how many tennis courts. There are miles and miles of bike trails, leisure trails, acres of parks! We have two state of the art libraries one on Hilton Head, the other in Bluffton. When it comes to the performing arts, there’s the Hilton Head Symphony, the Hilton Head Choral Society, Hilton Head Dance Company and the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina plus Savannah is teeming with performing arts venues at the Lucas and Mercer Theaters. For the visual arts, the Hilton Head Art League, Society of Bluffton Artists and the Telfair Museum can satisfy the cultured eye.

Now let’s think mother nature…from dawn to dusk back to dawn the skies boast beautiful and sparkling colors. Bird of all kinds swoop, and dolphin play. Hundred year specimen oaks and sturdy palmettos make music in the breeze.

 Pitfalls? I remain “speechless”.

My business partner Nancy Marshall and I have our first transaction where the buyer is using a “Reverse Mortgage to Purchase”. We wanted clarification of this product so we asked “Reverse Mortgage to Purchase” specialist, Linda Covinsky of Mortgage Unlimited, an affiliate of Wells Fargo. Linda explained Reverse Mortgage to Purchase as follows:

 A purchaser of 62+ years of age can purchase a home without making a monthly payment and there is no income or credit evaluation required. Additionally the purchaser must put down no more than 50% of the appraised value of the home and show proof of financial means to maintain the home; that is, the ability to pay out of pocket expense such as taxes and insurance.

 Here are the qualifications:

• Must be 62+ years of age.
• The home must be the buyer’s primary residence
• Must put no more than 50% down. The older the purchaser, the less the required funds needed to put down on the home.
• No credit report or income report is needed.
• Down payment can come from many sources including cash, sale of a current home, 401K, stocks, bonds, savings, etc.

Other things to know:

1. Closing costs are rolled into the mortgage.

2. The mortgage is FHA insured.

3. Interest rates on the accruing balance of the mortgage are comparable to current rates whether the purchaser selects a fixed or variable rate.

 Reverse Mortgage to Purchase gives the borrower more purchase power; for example, if a buyer has $100,000 to make a down payment, they can purchase a $200,000 home; however, with an additional $25,000 cash the buyer can then purchase a $250,000 home.

In summary, Reverse Mortgage to Purchase is a great product for those who want to purchase a new home but felt they were not able to do so based on income, credit or simply not wanting to start making payments on a home at this “stage” of their lives.

If you have specific questions about Reverse Mortgages or want more information Hilton Head or Bluffton real estate, you can click, call (843-384-6411), or write

GIVE US YOUR OPINION ON THIS ARTICLE AFTER READING.  DO YOU FEEL THE VALUE OF YOUR HOME HAS SLIPPED DRAMATICALLY THIS YEAR?

If you think your house was worth more six months ago than it is now, you might be right. It's hard to know for sure until you get an offer.

Even then, it's hard to know what's going on with pricing. A home was recently appraised at $450,000 but sold for just $160,000. Is that property worth nearly a half-million dollars? If other homes in that area were recently foreclosed on, could the subsequent buyer really sell the home for $450,000?

Clearly, the concept of "value" is being redefined by the declining real estate market, which is making life tougher for real estate professionals and appraisers, whose jobs it is to figure out property values - now a very fast-moving target. With sellers offering "concessions" and there being fewer comparable sales,  it's very difficult to figure out just what value really means.

How do you value a house in a declining market? Carefully.

When you're in a volatile market, you want to get the best opinion you can.  A  good real estate professional will use all of the tools available, including looking at comparable listings, homes that are under contract (pending), and closed sales.

It's very important for your Realtor to be in tune to other professionals in the local area -- always talking to brokers and agents to get a feel for what they're also seeing.  After all, agents are the "feet on the street" and touchstones to reality when it comes to changing values.

One issue is that more sellers are offering concessions to get buyers to the closing table. A concession is something (often cash) that the seller gives to the buyer or the buyer's agent outside of the deal.

If a seller pays $1,000 of closing costs on a $250,000 house, it probably didn't affect the sales price. A $250,000 house could sell anywhere from $250,000 to $260,000 on any given day. It depends on how the seller and buyer negotiate.

But if the seller gives the buyer a new $50,000 Mercedes Benz, does that change the deal? It should.

When you take the boat, the car in the garage, the $10,000 payment back, what real estate did the buyer purchase? As real estate professionals, it's important to always research those sales. We need to drill down into those transactions.  It's very, very important to remember what real estate the buyer is buying.

When your real estate representative figures out the "market value" of a piece of property, they're trying to calculate the most probable price marketed properly without concessions, not including someone selling under duress.

If a property is about to be foreclosed on, and the seller is basically giving the property away for the value of the mortgage, that would be a good example of duress. It may not accurately reflect what is happening in the marketplace. A good real estate agent would be able to figure out that the sale is an aberration and discount it when looking at local market value.

But if 20 houses in the neighborhood are being foreclosed on, it could be indicative of a change in value.  And anytime you're in a volatile market, it's always a challenge.

But there is a difference between market value and the sales price of property. Market value really deals with a sale to the typical buyer. What is typical can be difficult to define, but it's the most likely person who buys it. The sales price could be different from the market value to a specific buyer. The buyer may be willing to pay more or less than what the assessed market value is for that property at that time.

We were once researching a neighborhood property that had sold for $10,000 more than any other house in the neighborhood. As we analyzed the factors involved with the transaction, we discovered that the owner of the property had decorated the home in a particular way. The average buyer would not pay more for this. But the buyer of this particular house had exactly the same color scheme, and they were willing to pay more for the property because they found the one house that perfectly matched their furnishings. 

But whether that value will hold after the closing, in a declining market, remains the unanswered question.

GIVE US YOUR OPINION ON THIS ARTICLE AFTER READING.   IF YOU HAD TO SELL YOUR HOME, WOULD YOU SELL IT NOW OR DO YOU FEEL YOU WOULD GET A BETTER RETURN IF YOU WAIT SIX MONTHS TO SELL IT?

By Jonathan Clements
From The Wall Street Journal, November 8, 2007

It could be the kindest cut of all.

Look at the prices of homes getting sold, and the property market's decline seems no worse than a rough day in the stock market. Look at the number of unsold homes, and you realize there's a world of financial pain out there.

True, these unsold homes may eventually get bought at decent prices. But in the meantime, the owners are often bleeding money -- and many of them would be smart to slash their asking price and go for the quick sale.

• Taking time. As you can see from the accompanying chart, home prices are down just 4.5% from their July 2006 peak.

Yet even as prices appear pretty much unchanged, the number of unsold homes has soared. At the current pace of sales, it would take more than 10 months to clear this backlog, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Sure, it would be emotionally draining to have your home on the market for more than 10 months. But it probably wouldn't be a financial disaster -- as long as you're still in the house and you can comfortably cover the mortgage.

Maybe, however, you have an adjustable-rate loan that's now unaffordable. Maybe you're trying to unload a vacation home. Maybe you moved cross-country for a new job, but your old house still hasn't sold.

The monthly cost of carrying a vacant home could equal 1% of a home's value, figures Charles Farrell, an adviser with Denver's Northstar Investment Advisors. After all, you still have to pay utilities, insurance, property taxes, maintenance and, of course, the mortgage.

What if the mortgage is paid off? There's still an opportunity cost. The equity in your home could instead be invested in, say, bonds yielding 5%.

To make matters worse, "prices could be lower a year from now," Mr. Farrell warns. "There's also the risk of owning a physical asset. I'm thinking about things like fire, broken pipes, theft."

• Cutting deeply. Despite all this, sellers are loath to cut their asking price, which is the reason prices have barely budged -- so far.

"People focus on what their home was worth two years ago, or how much they've sunk into it, or on their desire not to bring a check to the closing," notes financial adviser Bert Whitehead, author of "Why Smart People Do Stupid Things With Money."

His advice: Ditch these emotional hangups -- and unload your property now. "If you really want to sell your house, you have to cut deep," Mr. Whitehead says.

Good advice? Here's how to decide for yourself:

• Ask your real-estate agent how many properties are on the market in your town today and how many sold in each of the past six months, advises Chris Mayer, director of Columbia Business School's Milstein Center for Real Estate.

"If there are 2,000 houses on the market and 200 houses sold last month, that means it's taking 10 months to sell a house," Prof. Mayer says. "That's pretty simple math, but nobody ever does it. If you price your house like everybody else, it might take 10 months to sell it."

• Suppose you price your home like everybody else and it does indeed take 10 months to sell. Figure out how much you would be out of pocket over that stretch, either because your home is vacant or because the mortgage has become unaffordably large.

• Spend your Sunday going to open houses in the neighborhood. That should give you an indication of what you need to ask if you want to get your home sold now. Given the cost of carrying your home and the risk prices will fall further, would it be cheaper to slash your asking price?

If you're going to lower your price, Prof. Mayer advises doing it right away -- or waiting until early next year. He notes that very few houses sell between Thanksgiving and mid-January.

"The best scenario is that prices fall through the spring and then stabilize," Prof. Mayer says. "But I'm more pessimistic than that. I would sell now."

Can you afford to purchase if prices or interest rates rise?

Is there merit in waiting for the housing market to cool before jumping in to buy a home? While that question may be on the minds of many consumers, the possibility of a significant drop in home prices coupled with a terrific downward trend in mortgage interest rates is rather remote.

Potential buyers and investors have given considerable thought to both housing prices and interest rates recently for two reasons: First, they have been intrigued by comments from national economists about the statistics supplied by the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development that showed a 10.2 percent drop in the rate of new single-family home sales between July 2006 and July 2007. Second, mortgage money for many homes will be more difficult (and possibly more expensive) to obtain, given the subprime fallout and reports that borrowers in the "jumbo" category (loan amounts greater than $417,000) were facing increased scrutiny.

The idea of "saving my money until home prices come down" has probably become a contradiction in terms -- at least for the foreseeable future. Yes, housing is cyclical but it usually does not go backward for very long, if at all. The additional money you save now probably will not offset the potential appreciation or the fatter monthly payment that could result if interest rates rise.

For example, if a $250,000 home appreciated 5 percent in the next year, could you sock away an extra $12,500 in after-tax savings to counter that gain? This also does not take into account additional tax savings from the mortgage-interest deduction. Or, if the market remains flat and mortgage interest rates rise, will you still even be able to qualify for the home of your choice?

Mortgage-interest news has not been positive. The inflation and energy fears that were in the news two years ago have now taken a backseat to how scarce mortgage money could become -- especially for jumbo loans.

So, if you find the home you've always wanted and have your financing lined up -- whether it be a primary residence, a second home or investment property -- buy it and hold on to it. Real estate has been a terrific long-term investment and will continue to be especially in neighborhoods with a consistent, proven rental clientele -- like a college or university town.

For example, a 55-plus couple that we know has always wanted to return to the college town where they attended school. Their kids have grown and moved away; their primary source of income was Internet-based; and their dream was to reconnect with Slavic languages, earn teaching credentials and become teachers at a community college. Even though they had found a home in the college town and the area had shown consistent appreciation, the couple was concerned about the housing outlook.

While the market "might have peaked" nationally, housing is local. Boom markets, where real price growth increases at least 30 percent over three years, have been heavily concentrated in California (21), the Northeast (18), and Florida (11). And, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., boom does not necessarily lead to bust -- only 17 percent of all housing booms ended in busts. Most busts were preceded by a significant stress in local economies, such as loss of jobs. A bust is defined as a nominal drop of 15 percent over five years. Having that type of decline -- for that long -- would require a dramatic event.

There are usually no such dramatic events in college towns. A permanent pool of buyers and renters makes a college town a prime target for older residents (like our friends) and investors. The number of visiting professors to college campuses always is underestimated, as are the number of staffers (secretaries, security, catering and librarians) who often are terrific rental-lease prospects. Investor inquiries to human resource representatives have worked wonders in landing mature renters, as have inquiries posted in faculty lounges and in on-campus faculty living areas. Graduate students (some married) also form a significant, yet not-targeted, renter pool. Sometimes, professors seek alternative housing for highly coveted students.

Do not take all national housing news and apply it as gospel in each and every neighborhood. Housing will continue to work well as a long-term investment as long as strong fundamentals are in place.  

Courtesy Tom Kelly, Inman News

The subprime fallout has made the once-slam-dunk home loans more difficult to obtain. While some neighborhoods continue to be very active, other areas have slowed considerably.

In addition, the first notion of "back to school" has long hit many second-home owners who have finished their "winterization" of the family vacation home. Instead of going through another off-season with little use and significant maintenance, some owners used the last few weeks of the summer season to show -- and hopefully sell -- the family getaway, raising for-sale real estate inventory levels in popular areas.

If your house already has been sitting for sale long enough to bite into your comfort and affordability zones, you might want to consider a lease-option.

A lease with an option to buy often can solve a two-mortgage problem for a seller, and provide a cash-poor buyer with an opportunity to "try out" a house while getting a portion on the monthly rent credited toward a down payment.

Many sellers make a commitment to purchase another house contingent on selling the one they're already in. But when it comes time to purchase the second house, or lose it, the prospective buyer can be faced with making payments on two homes if the first one has not sold.

A 12- to 18-month lease agreement, with an option to buy within the lease period, can solve problems. Here's how a typical lease-option works:

1. The buyer and seller agree on a purchase price, usually a figure somewhere between today's market value and the anticipated market value 12 months down the road.

2. The seller gives up tomorrow's presumably higher value for money in hand today. The buyer pays a bit more than today's value in exchange for very little cash down. Let's say buyer and seller agree the price will be $335,000.

3. The seller charges the buyer a nonrefundable fee for agreeing to this option. The amount can vary depending on factors such as how eager the seller is to move and the size and quality of the house. Typically, the higher the fee, the better the buyer maintains the property.

4. Let's use $3,000 for the fee in our hypothetical transaction. The fee is in addition to the monthly lease payments. And we'll have the seller give the buyer the right to purchase the property for $335,000 at any time within the 12-month lease period. If the option is exercised, the fee could be considered part of the down payment.

5. The lessee has made no down payment, hence the monthly option fee is typically higher than rental market rates. The two parties agree on what portion of the rent will be applied to the down payment. Any amount can be credited. For example, if the monthly fee is $2,000, $800 could be credited to the down payment. (If the seller really is not eager to sell, he may not agree to a higher rent credit.)

6. Buyer and seller must be sure to specify both lease and sale terms in the agreement. For example, when the time comes for the buyer to exercise the option, if the interest rates are at 8 percent, the buyer may not be able to qualify for a loan. It's a good idea to set an interest-rate ceiling in the agreement, or ask the seller to finance the home when conventional rates hit a certain level.

Sellers should read their mortgage agreements carefully before entering a lease-option agreement. Some lenders may activate a "due-on-sale" clause if the seller enters into a lease-option with another party. Many times, lenders will permit a specific lease-option period if notified in advance. And, lenders usually are more willing to participate when they are assured of future business -- like the seller's or buyer's new mortgage loan.

So, from Bird and Marshall, it's important to think creatively in slack real estate markets like we are experiencing.  Sellers still must sell, Buyers still must buy.  Bringing them together right now means exploring all "options".

As Nancy and Connie share a cup of hot tea, their conversation was so upbeat and so enthusiastic about their hometown that they decided to share their thoughts with you.

Here are a few reasons why they love Bluffton.

• When you least expect it, actually seeing a dolphin dance in the May River.  Sometimes just walking from church to your car, they surprise you with their antics.
• Getting a glimpse of colors that are found ONLY in the Lowcountry marshes - the blues in the water and the golden spartina grass.  When you cross the Graves Bridge from Bluffton to Hilton Head, it's hard to keep your eyes on the road!
• On that same bridge, the sunset when driving from "The Island" to Bluffton makes the commute worthwhile.
• The uniqueness of all those turtles mounded together resting on the banks of the many lagoons, logs and the backs of our 'gators. (brave souls that they are.)
• Connie loves the world class golf. (when she is winning, that is.) Nancy enjoys "fine dining and wining" overlooking the May River at Palmetto Bluff.  Both agree that friendships made here are better than gold.
• An oyster roast and an open fire at The Bluffton Oyster Company.  Improved only by the sunset on the River.
• Enjoying our waterways: kayaking, power-boating, canoing, water-skiing, jet-skiing, sailing, fishing, swimming, noodling, wading or just sitting on Hayden's bench.
• Creative performances of the May River Theatre - kudos to all who volunteer both onstage and behind the scenes.
• One-of-a-kind shopping opportunities in Old Town Bluffton with Merchants and Artisans to match.

We have more and more thoughts to come.  Would love to hear the reasons you love Bluffton.  Join our blog now!