| Wednesday, February 07, 2007 |
| Myrtle Beach Real Estate Sales News |
According to our resident real estate expert at the Sun News, Jenny Burns, our real estate agents are seeing an increase in sales interest from January. My clients and websites are reflecting that as well.
Sales of Myrtle Beach condominiums are still low, but that is to be expected until the glut of building and large amount of available new condos is taken care of.
Myrtle Beach condo rentals are at an all-time high. My friends at Condolux had the best year ever in 2006, and are geared up for 2007 with about 10 new projects to add to their rental lists...from Kingston Plantation (seemingly the hottest place down here for rentals) to the recently completed resorts like Bay View Resort in Myrtle Beach.
This could very well translate into a better environment for sales...and certainly more traffic to the condos that have on-site sales offices.
According to Jenny, new homes sales fell more than the prophets expected it to. I guess even though they "created" the bubble in the first place, they aren't always powerful enough to control the market just by the word of their predictions. And yes, I said they created the bubble. I am firmly convinced that it never would have happened anywhere if they hadn't kept screaming about it ad nauseum for the whole year that sales were so high. It was a self-fulfilled prophecy.
They report that single family home sales fell 24 percent to 296 from 389 last January. Sales of condos in Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand fell 35 percent to 276 units from 425. This according to the local MLS people.
It was also noted that some home prices dropped, but CONDO prices jumped 32 percent in average and 25 percent in median.
Days it takes to sell a condo increased from 160 to 345 days, while homes seem to sell much faster...only increasing to 160 from 143.
My friend Diann Tonnesen in Las Vegas predicted the turn around to take about 17 months from last summer. She's been in the business for more than 20 years, so I value her opinion. My group around here are perhaps a bit more optimistic. Myrtle Beach real estate sales tend to run much differently than some place like Las Vegas...or even the Florida beaches.
Also, our insurance crisis on condos is so in the news that I think buyers are waiting to see how that turns out. I'm seeing the leads and the interest, but there is more hesitation to buy unless they are looking for a personal vacation condo and feel like they can handle the price. And with rentals being so good, perhaps they can increase the price for them to help assuage the extra costs for HOA and insurance fees. People are going to come and vacation at Myrtle Beach regardless. It may slow down the spring breakers (no loss there) and maybe limit the number of days people stay. Perhaps in the future these condo rental places may need to make an availability for 3-4 day stays instead of requiring a weekly deal.
At any rate, it's very heartening to see more leads coming in and the various real estate websites doing well. Since I do real estate marketing, I appreciate it!
 Labels: condos, condos for sale, myrtle beach condo rentals, myrtle beach condos, myrtle beach homes, myrtle beach real estate, new condos, preconstruction condos, real estate marketing |
posted by Myrtle Beach Web Design @ 2:55 PM  
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| Myrtle Beach Condo Market Drives Rental Rates Up |
These kinds of articles will certainly be very common in the years to come. The availability of even medium cost rentals close to the beach is so bad right now.
I live in Little River, about 4 miles from the beach, in one of the least expensive condo projects here. Our condos rent for $750 a month for a one bedroom! I don't know how any regular working stiff here could pay that much. And cramming many people into a one bedroom apartment will end up damaging the units in the long run.
I asked one of my clients who is a developer if they couldn't build some inexpensive condos on this big stretch of land beside us on Hwy 17. He did the addition, and with the cost of the land, he said you couldn't BUILD a 2 bedroom condo complex and sell them for under about $160,000.
That is amazing. With condo insurance rates rocketing this year, this is going to be such a problem for everyone.
Here's an article I found on WPDE Tv's website...
Rents could rise in Myrtle Beach
2/5/2007 6:37:47 PM
Myrtle Beach is the most expensive city for renters in South Carolina according to one local marketing analyst, and he says the prices could get even higher.
An article in USA Today says landlords are expected to raise apartment rents this year by 5%."No matter where we go, we want to hide," said Seymour Cass.
Seymour Cass left New York to escape the high cost of living. And now, he's not thrilled rent could go up."For people like us, who live on a fixed income, it's difficult, and it's only going to get worse," said Cass.
Market Analysis Tom Maeser says we're not seeing a hit right now, but rising insurance costs could change that and really affect the workforce.
"Our average rent for a two bedroom is around $712," said Maeser. "That takes an income of $13.65 an hour, but our main income in the area is $8.65 an hour, so there's quite a big step."
Right now, state lawmakers are considering increasing minimum wage from $5.12 an hour, to $7.25. But even if it changes, Maeser doesn't think it will be enough to handle the high cost of rent.
Newschannel 15 called several apartment complexes, and most haven't raised their prices as of yet. Lisa Brown is the property manager at Alexander Springs. She doesn't expect an increase greater than 10%. She says many apartment communities are waiving security deposits and keeping rates down to steer people away from condos.
"Last two years, we've had 11,000 condos and 2 or 3 apartments go through a condo conversion," said Brown. "We thought that would help us, in turn, investors have them on the rental market, and that hurt us."
But when apartment complexes must compete for business, it can mean a lower cost of living for renters, like Seymour Cass. Tom Maeser says a special task force was recently formed in Horry County, to look at making myrtle beach homes and apartments more affordable.
It's made up of people who live in the area, county council members, realtors, and developers.
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Try Condolux for an alternative to Myrtle Beach hotels.
Read about preconstruction investing.
Myrtle Beach Web Marketing at work...Labels: condo insurance, homeowners insurance, myrtle beach apartments, myrtle beach condos, myrtle beach homes, myrtle beach real estate, myrtle beach rentals |
posted by Myrtle Beach Web Design @ 2:13 AM
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