Yesterday was a record-setting day in terms of heat for the Charlotte, NC area and unfortunately, it looks like it will continue for a few more days.
Great. As if things don’t get hot enough as it is!
Anyway, forecasters are projecting a few more days of high 90 degree weather before it finally starts to cool off sometime on Wednesday. Then Thursday through Saturday looks to have temperatures that are more normal.
So, hopefully you don’t have to go outside too much, but if you do, be sure to put on the sunscreen and drink lots of water!
Ahhhhh, the joys of living in the Charlotte, Fort Mill, Rock Hill SC area!
Filed under Life In the Carolinas by 
In today’s challenging real estate market, home sellers are willing to do just about ANYTHING to sell their properties. While the most important key to selling your home quickly, for maximum value (especially here in the Rock Hill, Fort Mill SC area) is to list your home according to what the market dictates , there’s always a few zealous people willing to go above and beyond with the crazy promotions.
Here are a few incentives home sellers have managed to come up with recently:
An Upside Down Auction – The owner is calling it the “Bothell Countdown”. Each week the price on this home goes down in increments of $5-10K. As a potential buyer, you can sign up for email updates to keep track of price reductions and other updates.
Win A Home For $200 – All you have to do is write a 100 word or less essay about your dream of owning a beach home on the Oregon Coast, pay a $200 entry fee, and the home could be yours!
Buy One House, Get One Free – A developer in the San Diego area recently offered home buyers a free, 2,000 square foot home in Escondido if they purchased a home in the Royal View Estates development in the San Pasqual Valley of San Diego.
Jump On The Foreclosure Tour Bus – Spend the day on bus looking at Foreclosed properties. This tour operator currently covers five states. For a limited time they have reduced the cost of admission from $297 to $97. Looks like you can not only get a bargain on a home, but on ticket prices as well.
Go Green, Get A Prius – If you buy a green home in Encanterra (AZ), from Shea Homes, you get a free hybrid Toyota. Hurry, this offer only good thru June 15th!
Finally, my personal favorite…
Stake Your Life On Your Home – The buyer of this home will be the named beneficiary to a 10-year, $500,000 term life insurance policy. If the home owner dies in the next 10 years, the price of the home ($498,900) is covered. In case you are a betting person and wondering about odds, the owner is 69.
Then of course, there are the incentives. While this isn’t anything new for, particularly for builders, home owners are now also testing this technique. An article ran in the Boston Globe a few months ago quoting an agent who has sellers giving away things like: four sixth-row tickets facing the Lakers bench, VIP parking, and use of the “Royal Room” private lounge; a Harley-Davidson; a year’s pool service; and association dues for a year.
This information is courtesy of Sara Bonert and her ActiveRain Blog.
Filed under Home Sellers, Marketing by
With so many tools, resources, and companies available to help you sell your Rock Hill or Fort Mill home by yourself, many people wonder whether or not it’s worth it to higher an agent. They ask themselves, “Why would I want to pay someone up to 6% to do something I could do myself?”
While it can certainly be tempting to view the sale of your home this way, there are often many things you don’t consider that a competent real estate agent can help you understand and navigate. In fact, if the purchase or sale of your home is the biggest financial transaction you’ll ever make, do you really want to go it alone?
Here are 7 reasons why you might want to strongly consider working with a licensed real estate agent:
1. Market Knowledge
First off, a competent real estate professional will have the necessary knowledge to help you decide on a listing price that will generate a quick sale, they can help you decide what improvements to your home will help it sell faster, and they can give you insight into other homes that have sold in your area so you can be sure you’re home stands out from the competition.
2. Negotiating with Home Buyers or Sellers
Top real estate agents can really pay off for you when it comes time to negotiate with either a home buyer or seller because they’re able to remove themselves emotionally from the transaction. Often times, when someone tries to either buy or sell a home for themself, they get caught up in the emotion of the transaction. By having a professional involved on your behalf, you have a third party working on your behalf.
3. Serves as a Buffer
If you’ve ever bought or sold a home before then you know how stressful the process can be. A good buyer’s agent will take the time to understand your likes, dislikes, wants, and needs so that when the time comes to start looking at properties you don’t waste any time looking at homes you’re not interested in.
The same holds true with a good sellers agent. In this case, they’ll serve as your shield from all the tire-kickers and nosey-neighbors that just want to poke around. They should make sure that your home is being seen by serious, truly-interested buyers looking to purchase your home.
4. Handles Volumes of Paperwork
Unfortunately, we live in a society where lawyers are an extremely well fed bunch. The number of lawsuits continues to rise with no end in sight and as a result, in most legal transactions every precaution is taken to ensure both sides are protected. Well, as you can imagine, this produces a mountain of paperwork that must be dealt with.
Now, if you make the decision to NOT work with a real estate agent, you’re opening up yourself to the volumes of paperwork that will be produced in order to ensure the purchase or sale of your home goes smoothly. However, with a real estate agent on your side, it’s their job to wade through these volumes and make sure all the t’s are crossed and the i’s dotted in your favor.
5. Answers Questions After Closing
Even after all the signatures have been scrawled and the keys exchanged, questions might arise days, weeks, or even months after the closing. With a competent real estate professional on your side, instead of you having to dig up the answers, one quick call to your agent and things should be resolved. As any good real estate agent will tell you, even though the sale is complete, that doesn’t mean the work is done.
So, as you weigh the options of whether to navigate the oft-times turbulent waters of real estate alone or involve a professional, just keep in mind all the hassles and headaches involved in the process. If you’ve got a big bottle of aspirin and don’t mind the endless hassles, go for it.
Otherwise, save yourself the trouble and let a real estate professional help you buy or sell your next Rock Hill, Fort Mill, or Tega Cay, SC home!
Filed under Buy Your Dream House, Carolina Real Estate, Hiring An Agent, Home Buyers, Home Sellers, Sell Your Home by
In case you haven’t paid attention to the local Rock Hill, Fort Mill SC news lately, at last week’s graduation ceremonies for Fort Mill High School 6 people were arrested for ‘public disorderly conduct’. Apparently, the school had sent out a letter reminding students and parents that “appropriate behavior is required”.
Well, either some people didn’t get the memo, or they chose to ignore it, or the definition of “appropriate behavior” is still up for debate.
According to William Masey, a 19 year old plumber from Fort Mill, said he and his father Tony Masey were arrested for cheering for William’s fiancee. “”I just gave a little whoop and a clap, and the next thing you know the cops are all over me,” he said.
Well, thanks to this display, the national media spotlight has descended upon the Rock Hill/Fort Mill area as school officials and several of those arrested have been contacted by TV programs like, “Inside Addition” and “Good Morning America”, as well as blogs and radio programs across the US, Canada, and Mexico.
Rush Limbaugh even had a short diatribe about the ‘meaning’ of this incident.
“An innocent little story that I tell at the open of the program that is designed to illustrate the encroaching and gradual loss of freedom is causing the biggest hubbub — well, it’s not the biggest, but it’s a hubbub, much bigger hubbub than I thought it would be,” Limbaugh said on the air, according to a show transcript.
“I mean, this is applauding achievement. This is acknowledging achievement,” the popular host told a caller who said the rules were designed to keep graduations dignified. “You don’t see the loss of freedom in this? You don’t see the slow encroaching on freedom? This is a celebration. This is not a funeral.”
Well, regardless of who’s right and who’s wrong in this debate, I think it’s unfortunate an International spotlight has been cast upon the Fort Mill/Rock Hill SC in this light. I’d much rather see it for something a little more positive like the year-round golf, the beautiful scenery, or the fantastic people that live here.
Well, I guess that last one could be called into question, but I guess nobody’s perfect. 
Get the full story on these Graduation Shouters from the Rock Hill Herald.
Filed under Fort Mill SC, Life In the Carolinas, Rock Hill SC by
Remember that crazy story last week about the 6 people that were arrested at Fort Mill High School’s graduation ceremonies i? Well, it turns out that 5 of the 6 people have requested jury trials.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I think I would’ve taken the same route. I mean how ridiculous is it that these people were charged for cheering on their respective graduates. Even though the school says they sent out a warning to all graduates and their guests, does cheering at the wrong time really warrant an arrest and jail time?
Well, apparently Harry Collins of Rock Hill, SC, the attorney representing the 6 arrestees thinks the fact they were arrested was pretty bogus as well.
Collins said he believes the charges against his clients should be dropped because their actions do not fall under the public disorderly conduct statute. He said the disorderly conduct law applies to people using foul language, being grossly intoxicated in public or exhibiting obscene behavior.
“It doesn’t encompass making a cheer or saying, ‘Hurrah’ once or twice,” Collins said. “If they did anything wrong, it was violating a school policy. … They didn’t break any laws.”
- source Rock Hill Herald
Well, it will be interesting to say the least to see what exactly happens if the case even makes it to trial!
Filed under Life In the Carolinas by
