Donnie Whitaker Real Estate

The first reading of the overnight rental occupancy has passed with a 6-3 vote. This ordinance is to restrict the amount of people that can occupy a residence on the Isle of Palms if a rental license is purchased after April 27, 2010. If passed, anyone who gets a license to rent, will be limited to a max of 10 renters per dwelling. For those who already have a license, they will be grandfathered in as long as they don’t let their license expire.

Check out this recent article in the Island Eye News for more detail and to here reactions from a few of the homeowners.

On April 5th new short sale regulations will go into effect which should make the short sale process easier. Incentives will be offered to lenders as a reward for handling these short sales and new time lines will be put in place to help speed up the process it takes to execute a sale.

Here is an article from CNNMoney.com that explains the new short sale regulations in greater detail.

According to this article, Smart Money has ranked Charleston as one of the top 5 markets for 2010. They based it on several factors. Two of the factors included areas with a limited supply of housing stock and another was based on prices staying in sync with household income. Other factors that helped Charleston fall in the top 5 include the arrival of Boeing and that it is a coastal community attracting second home and investment buyers.

This article backs up other articles predicting Charleston to be one of the first markets to recover. This is of course good news for those of us who are Charlestonian’s and attractive for those looking to buy or sell in this area.

As the fastest growing city in South Carolina, Charleston is predicted to be one of the first real estate markets to recover. Building Magazine gives it much of this credit due to its underlying demographic strength.

To read the online article in Business Magazine click here.

Isle of Palms

There were seven closed brokerage sales in February, 2010 vs. three last February. February, 2010 closed brokerage production was $22.2 million vs. $5.7 million in February, 2009.

Year to date, there have been 13 closings for $40.6 million versus 8 closings a year ago for $17.8 million.

Year to date, the price of the average sale was $3.1 million versus $2.2 million last year. Please remember these are macro numbers and dependent on the properties sold.

Wild Dunes

There were three closed brokerage sales in February, 2010 for $4.5 million vs. three last February for $8.1 million.

Year to date there have been seven closings for $11.3 million versus four closings last year for $9.1 million.

The price of the average sale was $1.62 million versus the $2.26 million last year.