With so many incentives to buy a home, now is by no doubt, the time to buy.  With lenders tightening their guidelines, you might want to be sure you have your finances in check.
With brand new federal regulations, this will help you understand how it will benefit you and tame your credit card debt.  The bad news, is because of this government intervention you might have already seen a rise in your interest rates.  This is  from Red Book Magazine

1. They can’t raise interest rates on debt you’ve already racked up. They can if you are more than 60 days late on these payments.  So pay your cards on time!

2. If your card charges you different interest rates (say, 14% for existing balances, and 2% for balance transfers), they must apply your payments to the debt carrying the highest rates first.  So the faster you pay it off, the more money you save.

3. They can’t raise your rates if they find out you’ve been late on other credit cards or loans.  This doesn’t mean you credit score will not be affected, which can eventually lead to higher interest rates.  Your best bet is just to pay it on time.

4. You can no longer go over your credit limit and be charged the subsequent fees- unless you notify your credit card company in writing that you’d like to spend more than your limit.  So don’t spend more than your limit.

5. They will tell you on your bill how long it will take to pay off your debt and how much it will cost you, including interest, if you pay only the minimum each month.  This will be an eye opener, and a hard lesson for many.  Pay more than the minimum or you could possible pay on this card longer than your house mortgage.

6. Those under 21years old won’t be able to get a credit card unless they show proof of income or get an adult to cosign.  I think this is the smartest law of all!  When I was in college, you would sign your life away for a free t-shirt or can coozie.  All adults over the age of 21 take note…DON’T COSIGN

• The down payment assistance available is $7,000.
• To qualify for the Forgivable down payment option, a 1 person household’s income in YORK County cannot exceed $37,250 and $42,550 for a 2 person household.
• Must live in the home 5 years in order for the loan to be completely forgiven.
• The Home price is up to $208,000 in YORK county.
• 640 minimum credit score
• The interest rate is 5.125% on a 30 yr fixed rate.

Call me or email me for more information on this program. sharon@SharonSellsCarolina.com

This past weekend Rock Hill and Fort Mill SC experienced the 3rd winter storm in as many weeks.  It’s been my experience that we typically get one storm per winter season, but not this year!  This year, we’ve had at least 5 and who knows how many more could be on the way before it’s all over with!

At any rate, I absolutely LOVE how pretty snow is and certainly enjoyed this past weekends snow fall.

This photo comes courtesy of the Rock Hill Herald.

Love’s Plaza, located at the corner of Cherry St. and Mt. Galant Rd, is the latest business to comply with a 2002 policy aimed at cleaning up Cherry St.  The Rock Hill City Council approved a plan in 2002 that would require all businesses in the city limits along Cherry Road and Saluda Street to comply with tighter limits on signage.

According to the Rock Hill Herald Online, “This policy allows only monument-style signs that are no more than 10 feet high, featuring no more than 200 square feet of sign surface on each side. That rules out the towering pole signs and billboards that have dominated much of Cherry Road.”

The city agreed to immediately pay up to 60% of the cost of replacing non-conforming signs, with that amount being reduced over time, and none of paid in 2010.

The idea behind the policy was to clean up the commercial section of Rock Hill, but if it’s taking almost 7 years to complete, how much of an effort is the city really making?  Believe me, I’m all for doing whatever it takes to clean up anything that devalues anything about our beloved Rock Hill SC so I definitely appreciate Love’s taking down the sign, but at what point do we get serious and make a concerted effort to really make it happen?

I don’t have a list of businesses or signs that don’t comply with the policy, but it would certainly be interesting to see a list of everyone that’s complied and those that have yet to fall in line.

It that time of year where the spirit of Christmas is everywhere you turn.  If you are looking for a family friendly event to take in the joys and wonders of this time of year definitely don’t miss Christmasville in Rock Hill.  It starts today December 3 through Sunday December 6th.  Admission FREE!!!

It is located in downtown Rock Hill, and the days are filled with events and fun.

Check out their website for more www.christmasvillerockhill.com

A recent study released by the Gallop orgnization shows that many of Charlotte NC’s residents rate it highly in terms of it’s overall beauty, quality of life, and access to higher education, but simultaneously rank it lower for things like the areas parks, playgrounds, and hiking trails.

While it all sounds like a bit of a contradiction, overall the feeling from the poll shows that Charlotte is very open to new comers as well, as it should be.  It’s very difficult to find many native Charlotteans and even some of the cities most well known people, former Charlotte Observer owner D.A. Tompkins and former Bank of America CEO Hugh McColl just to name a few. I can honestly say that’s one of the reasons I love the Charlotte NC area so much is because of the diversity brought about by people coming from all over the country. It truly is a melting pot of cultures and ideals.

Some of the areas cited as needing improvement include the quality of the schools and the economy. The economy is certainly an easy one to understand when you consider that much of Charlotte’s economy is based on the banking industry, which has certainly taken a beating over the past 18+ months.

In terms of the school systems, I really don’t know what to say about this one. It certainly is a bit of a mess and as much as I’d love to say we can see a light at the end of the tunnel I don’t know that that’s the case.

Fortunately, for those of us down here in the Fort Mill SC and Rock Hill SC area, we don’t have to deal with the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System’s troubles.  Fort Mill SC school district is rated as one of the top school districts in the state of SC and many people are choosing to purchase the new home in the Fort Mill SC area for this very reason.

Overall, I’d say that Charlotte NC definitely has a ton of great features and is a great place to live.  At the same time, the Fort Mill SC and Rock Hill SC areas offer many additional benefits PLUS we also get to take advantage of everything that Charlotte has to offer because of it’s close proximity!

My husband and I are in the process of shopping for some new bedroom furniture. As part of that process I’ve been doing quite a bit of research trying to get ideas on how to design the room so it looks good and is functional.

Here’s a quick video I found online that I thought had some great ideas to help you arrange your bedroom furniture:

If you’re looking for a new home in Fort Mill SC or in Rock Hill SC, definitely give me a call. I’d love to help you find the perfect bedroom where you can put these tips to use!

Yesterday, Rock Hill SC city leaders made a huge step towards making the Riverwalk development a reality.

“City leaders approved a public financing package for Riverwalk, the 1,000-acre project that could bring new life to the old Celanese textile site at Cherry Road and Interstate 77. Plans call for an industrial park, retail shops and hundreds of home sites — which developers say could represent a $600 million redevelopment.”

While the entire project isn’t scheduled to be completed until 2028, construction could begin as early as next summer on some key components of the project. One interesting piece of the project will be the east coast’s only velodrome, which is an oval bicycle race track.  It’s one of the projects slated to begin next summer and could be completed by as early as 2012.

Overall, the project is expected to attract around 4,000 new jobs which is certainly good news for both Rock Hill SC and Fort Mill SC.  With the real estate activity already picking up, knowing this project is coming along with all of the associated benefits I can only expect it will continue to help the housing market.

It appears as if the nationwide housing slide that we’ve experienced for the past 2 years may be coming to an end.  Finally.

According to Bloomberg,

“Sales of existing U.S. homes jumped more than forecast in July to the highest level in almost two years. Purchases climbed 7.2 percent to a 5.24 million annual rate, the most since August 2007, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. The gain was the biggest since records began in 1999. The median price fell 15 percent.”

As I’ve said all along, the Rock Hill SC and Fort Mill SC housing markets haven’t been hit as badly as other areas of the country, but we’ve certainly felt the reprocutions.  Now with the national housing market appearing to rebound, I would expect that we’ll continue to see an increase in existing home sales.

There’s still quite a lot of homes for sale, but the pace at which homes are selling has slowly picked up the past few months.  And now with the $8K tax credit coming to it’s end on November 1st many home buyers are scrambling around, trying to find their dream home in order to take advantage of this credit.

So, if you’ve been thinking about selling your home, now’s a GREAT time to put it on the market!

As the summer begins to wind down, kids are starting to get into ‘Back to School’ mode. Well, at least they should be.

Anyway, for all you parents out there, here’s a copy of the Rock Hill SC School District’s 2009-2010 calendar.  Just click on the image below.