What Makes Your Home Interesting?
I love home decorating books. My own townhome does not reflect this interest, but I love peeking into other's lives and seeing what they have done with their living space. What colors have they chosen, furniture, art, tchotchkes, and the space itself. Home is personal and it should be. Here are two of the most interesting homes I've read about. I just found out about the tiny Kyoto...
Some Energy Savings Tips
5 Tips for Saving Energy in the Family Room Reduce your electricity bills by systematically purging your family room of wasteful energy practices. Read 12 Tips for Saving Energy in Your Home Office Cut your power consumption, lighting, and heating and cooling costs when you work from home. Read 7 Tips for Saving Energy with Home Lighting Lighting eats up as much as 20% of your annual electric...
Curb Appeal Advice
Landscaping for Curb Appeal A well-landscaped yard creates curb appeal and helps your property retain maximum value. Read 8 Tips for Adding Curb Appeal and Value to Your Home Appraisers and real estate agents offer advice for adding curb appeal that both preserves value and attracts potential buyers. Read Outdoor Lighting for Curb Appeal and Safety Well-planned outdoor lighting improves curb...
Homeowners Associations
The National Association of Realtors has created a consumer website Houselogic.com filled with great resources for buyers, sellers and homeowners. There is a brief piece on Homeowners Associations. A lot of communities in the Charleston area fall under the umbrella of HOAs. At first if you are not used to them, seeing the fees that are due- monthly, quarterly or annually, can be daunting but...
Too Much Regulation?
Do you think there is too much regulation in the financial industry? My husband, Mark, sent me a link to an interesting article in the NY Times. The premise is a good one: spell out for the consumer, in plain English, what he is getting. I am amused by the author's refinancing tribulations as Mark and I are going through that now. I'd give anything to have it streamlined and in consumer...
Lookout for a Familiar Face Walking the Ravenel Bridge
Today, local Mitchell Elementary School will be visited by Jared the Subway spokesman. He is in town promoting healthy eating habits for children. There will be a 2pm assembly at the school and after that Jared will be walking the Ravenel Bridge from 3:30-4:30pm with a group of teachers who walk the bridge daily. I have always been a fan of Subway. As a vegetarian for the last 24 years, it...
Full Moon Madness
This weekend the low expected on Saturday is 70 degrees! Wow! Granted we still have beautiful beach worthy temperatures in Charleston up through November, but that "aaahh it's summertime" feeling is coming to an end. The summer is our busy time and everyone at Dunes Properties, from our agents to our vacation rental staff, worked so hard that our president, Randy Walker, treated us to a...
Are You Thinking About a 1031 Exchange?
1031(e) livestock of different sexes do not qualify for like kind exchange.
1031(h)(1) real property outside the United States and real property located in the United States are not of like kind.
Every Summer Has One: A Rainy Week
So it's officially the end of the summer season for our Vacation Rentals division, and wouldn't you know the rain has come. It's been a summer of record breaking heat indexes and highs well over 90 since mid June. I think for those of us who live here, the rain is a bit of relief from the "excessive heat" our weathermen boast about daily. Yesterday brought quite a bit of rain, and not...
July 2010 Folly Beach Real Estate Market Report
Momentum is going strong for Folly Beach real estate. Many Folly Beach homes and condominiums are trading hands while people take advantage of low prices and low interest rates. The pace of existing home sales has quickened and is returning to normal levels. Below is a summary of activity for July 2010. Contact me for the whole picture of the market. 11 properties sold in July 2010 on Folly...