The Real Estate Maze

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I just read a post on Ronnie Bartles blog (http://www.bartlesandassociates.com/bartlebys-blog/2011/7/10/do-i-know-you.html) about the saga of Coco and her fiancée, first time home buyers. It made me stop and think about how things have changed over the past couple of years. Coco is not alone in her angst and customer service has all but disappeared. But there is hope!

My wife, Patricia, and I are Realtor*s and have helped a number of first time home buyers, and seasoned home buyers and sellers navigate through the real estate maze that is a fact of today’s market. We haven’t done this alone. We have a select group of service providers, that have mastered the maze, and we recommend them to our clients. As a team, we help our clients through the maze and bureaucratic red tape. No real estate transaction today is without stress, but we Team Up for Success and reduce the stress for our clients.

There should never be a reason for a home buyer to have to change agents, or home inspectors on any real estate transaction and then lose the deal after all is said an done. We cannot change the bureaucracy involved with bank owned homes, or short sales. But we can make sure that all the t’s are crossed and all the i’s are dotted. Team Up for Success is not just a slogan, it is how we approach our profession. If you have real estate needs, buying or selling, first timers or seasoned veterans, test us out! We want to Team Up for Success with you!

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Invest Your Tax Refund in Your Home

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  Invest a Tax Refund in Your Home: $500 Projects

  Here are five great ideas for investing a tax refund in your home if you receive $500 or less back from the IRS this year. Read

Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this.

Copyright 2011 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

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A Few Things You Should Know about Real Estate

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  Negotiate Your Best House Buy

  Keep your emotions in check and your eyes on the goal, and you’ll pay less when purchasing a home. Read
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  Keep Your Home Sale from Falling Apart

  After finding a buyer, all you have to do to make it to closing is to avoid these five traps. Read
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  5 Tips for Buying a Foreclosure

  Get prequalified for a loan and set aside funds, and you’ll be ready to purchase a foreclosed home. Read
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  6 Reasons to Reduce Your Home Price

  While you’d like to get the best price for your home, consider our six reasons to reduce your home price. Read
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  6 Tips for Buying a Home in a Short Sale

  By preparing for a real estate short sale, you can emerge with a great home at a favorable price. Read

Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this.

Copyright 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

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Dunes Properties Cruising Charleston Harbor

 

Calm seas and beautiful skies make for a great crusie.

It was a full moon last evening. A perfect time for a 3-hour tour of Charleston Harbor on the Schooner Pride. And that is exactly what Dunes Properties had hoped for to thank the agents and staff who have worked so hard helping clients buy or sell properties along the Charleston Coast. About 50 joined Randy Walker, Broker-in-Charge and President of Dunes Properties of Charleston.

There was a threat of rain, but that never materialized. The picture to the left is the weather we enjoyed. A cooling breeze, calm seas and a full moon combined to make this a very relaxing, and refreshing adventure. Agents from our offices in Kiawah, James Island, the Isle of Palms, and The Real Estate Studio as well as our Folly Beach vacation rental staff enjoyed a very pleasant evening.

When you work hard every day helping people (our clients), through this difficult market, it is nice to be able to take a moment to remember what the Charleston Coast has to offer. The Charleston Harbor is unlike anywhere else. From the Harbor you enjoy the scenic views that surround it. The Battery, Fort Moultrie, Patriots Point, and the beautiful Ravenel Bridge that links it all together. We have a lot to offer and helping people to understand that they aren’t just buying a piece of real estate. They are buying into a lifestyle in a place that has so much to give.

Dunes Properties has always said the Nobody Knows the Charleston Coast Better. Cruises such as this, help make that true for all of our associates.

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I Am a Realtor®! There, I’ve Admitted It.

 

A lovely part of the Charleston Coast.

 

It has been a difficult time for the past several years for the economy in general. However, real estate seems to be at the center of the doom and gloom, and real estate agents have suffered as much as anyone during this economic down turn. Almost as much as the home owners they represent.

A number of agents have left the business. Many got into the business because they saw it as a way to make lots of money…They were wrong! Others got into the business because it appeared glamorous. They saw successful agents driving expensive cars and enjoying the finer things without, from their view, too much effort…They were wrong! It wasn’t a profession to them, just a job that they thought paid lots of money.

Patricia and I got into real estate with our eyes wide open. We understood that Realtors® are professionals in a field that is very complex and changing every day.  In our careers in the corporate world, we had over 20 personal real estate transactions where we were represented by professional Realtors®. Our NJ Realtor® handled most of our transactions, and referred us to other professional Realtors® in Ponte Vedra, FL and Atlanta, GA. We learned about how much work professional Realtors® take on in behalf of their clients.

Patricia was first to become a Realtor® and I followed her several months (OK, 2 years) later. Why did we do it? We wanted to help people by following the example of our Realtors®. They provided real service to us and that’s what we do for our clients. Our personal experiences taught us that there are many, many things to follow-up on to complete a transaction. From the negotiations on sales price, through inspections, and following up on deadlines and mortgages, a professional Realtor® makes it light work for their clients. We do that for ours.

We love helping people. We love our profession as Realtors®. If you are interested in buying or selling on the Charleston Coast, contact me at Mark@MarkandPatriciaFuchs.com, or Patricia at Patricia@MarkandPatriciaFuchs.com.  As part of Dunes Properties of Charleston, Nobody Knows the Charleston Coast Better.        

      

 

Professional Realtors® serving the Charleston Coast.

 

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Realtor.com Online Marketing Award of Excellence

Real estate agents love being recognized for their hard work. There are times when agents are given awards for their work and they receive certificates or plaques to hang on their office walls. Recently, two agents from the Isle of Palms office of Dunes properties were recognized by Realtor.com for their “Online Marketing Excellence.” Barbara Walker and my wife, Patricia Fuchs are well-respected agents in East Cooper and deserve this award for finding clients that want to list properties with them.

Barbara, Patricia and Rebecca. A great team!

The interesting thing is that both Barbara and Patricia have an assistant, Rebecca Narkiewicz, who handles much of their administrative tasks, including posting their listings on Realtor.com and making them standout from the crowd of listings on Realtor.com. I started thinking about this when the awards were being handed out at a recent Realtor.com event. There were Barbara and Patricia receiving the award certificates, and Rebecca was sitting next to me smiling with pride that two agents that she supports were being recognized for their online marketing excellence knowing that she was responsible for a good part of the work that resulted in the award. Rebecca does her work behind the scenes. She is quiet and efficient in what she does. 

Realtors ideally should be out in their community putting a face on their brand, making sense of the stats and numbers, and educating themselves every day about their product.  We would not be able to do this without the Rebeccas of the real estate world.  Someone who is in the office daily familiarizing her/himself with the latest, ever changing online marketing strategies, typing, stuffing envelopes, making sure all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed on our paperwork. Our Rebecca has been given the nickname “RADAR” by many due to her ability to have information on hand before we know it’s needed.  Such support can be integral to our success (and sometimes our sanity). 

Behind every great person is another great person. Here’s to all of those who are behind the scenes making us look as good as we can look!

Thank you, Rebecca for all of the excellent work you do.

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Do You Love Where You Live?

A view from the roof at Morgan Creek Grill.

I just love where I live! I’m guessing that you love where you live, but if you don’t, the Low Country is a place that you will fall in love with very quickly. I took this picture with a Blackberry from the roof top at Morgan Creek Grill one afternoon this past week.

We were having a nice visit with our friends, the Samuelsons, and enjoying the food at the Grill. It has been very hot for the past several weeks, but on this evening the breezes were cool and comforting. Great friends and good food!

Patricia and I have lived here since 2002. We moved from Morristown, NJ where we had lived on and off for over 25 years. That last winter in New Jersey was difficult in many respects, but the weather was really nasty. We left in a snow storm that followed us down I-95 for many, many miles. When we finally arrived very late at night, there were our friends, the Samuelsons, who greeted us and helped us to settle in for the night.

Living in the Low Country has always reminded me of New Orleans where I grew up. There is so much in common between the two. In New Orleans we had swamp. Here we have marsh. There the canals in New Orleans that were like the area around Shem Creek, in some cases. In New Orleans we had heat and here we have heat. On the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain there were places like Morgan Creek Grill. We always had fresh seafood, just like we have here. Great friends there, just like here.

All of these things are in common between here and there, so for me it was easy to fall in love with this place. After all, it was like I had come home! You can make this your home, It is an easy place to fall in love with, and as Mikey’s brother say: “Try it! You’ll like it!”

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Hot Time at Wellesley Place

A nice home in Wellesley Place.

We’ve had something of a heat wave for the last several weeks and this Saturday was right up there with the actual temperature in the mid-90’s. As part of the service we give to our listing clients, Patricia and I walk the neighborhood to personally distribute flyers promoting our listing. Neighbor’s often know someone looking for a home and may want them as neighbors. We want to take advantage of any means we can to market our listings. So at 1pm, a time that we thought would have the most people home, we started armed with our flyers (100 color flyers) and thanks to our client, a cold bottle of water.

What an interesting hour we enjoyed! Although the temperature was HOT, the people we met were warm and friendly. We were surprised at how many already knew us from our mailings to the neighborhood. Everyone complimented us on our marketing and a few thought they might know someone who would be interested in our listing. Meeting people face-to-face helps us to better serve our clients, but also helps us to get to know the neighborhood better. We enjoyed meeting the families and learning where they had moved from to be in Mt. Pleasant. There are a number of homes for sale in this neighborhood and many ways to market them. We use social media, direct mail and our telephone marketing hotline (and 800 number for our listings), but we enjoy meeting people and getting to know them. The temperature was hot and we worked up a sweat, however, what we will remember most about our trip around the neighborhood is the warm, friendly people, not the temperature.

We do the same for all of our clients. We would be pleased to show you how we ‘Team Up for Success’ with buyers and sellers. You can reach Patricia via email Patricia@MarkandPatriciaFuchs.com, or by phone at 843-425-0953. I am at Mark@MarkandPatriciaFuchs.com, or on 843-364-9509.

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Home Buying and Baskin-Robbins

There’s a flavor on every block.

I remember my first visit to a Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream store when I was a child. There were more flavors than I had ever seen before! How could I decide which was best? I was used to vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, but now there was mango, peach, caramel and cream, and about 27 other flavors to choose from. What was I to do?

Today’s real estate market is kind of like that. There are so many homes and neighborhoods available at great prices. How can a person decide on what to choose? If you are in the market for a new home, how can you avoid being mesmerized by the 33 flavors of homes available to you? Before you start looking, know what you need! Answer some questions before you go. The first answer you need is to the question of what you can afford.

Here are a few others to consider:

• How big of a home do we need?
  • Will three bedrooms and two bathrooms work? Or do we need more?
  • How many square feet of air conditioned space do we need?
• What size lot do we need?
  • Do we want a large lot?
  • Are we interested in a small lot?
  • How much yard work am I willing to do?
• Are we interested in a townhome or condominium?
• What schools are nearby?

Once you’ve established your needs and balanced them with your wants, your Realtor® can focus the search on that target. Your Realtor® will preview a selected group of homes before spending your time in actually visiting everything in the mix. You should be able to find your home within 5 to 10 homes that you visit.

Remember Baskin – Robbins? I got sick sampling as many flavors as I could. My stomach hurt and I never bought one scoop. Avoid the stomachache in your search by knowing what you want before you go to market.

Patricia and Mark Fuchs can help you find the flavor you want most. Call 843-425-0953 for Patricia or 843-364-9509 for Mark.

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Appreciating What We Have

One of the relaxing places in Mt. Pleasant

Facebook and Twitter offer insights into what’s important to people RIGHT NOW! After reading a number of posts on both, I started to see a pattern that I hadn’t expected: Lots of us are expressing appreciation for what we have around Charleston, SC.

Many posts are about good meals at various local restaurants. There have been a few about the weather and some about what’s the economy doing. Others talk about various activities that people are enjoying and a number that express appreciation for friends, or share family moments and dishwashers that don’t work…lots of people offered suggestions on what to do about that one!

One post talked about driving to the Ravenel Bridge to walk across the bridge (a favorite pastime of many), but the rain there caused her to have to find sunshine on a walk on the beach instead. I thought that one was particularly interesting since it helped me to appreciate that there are options for something as simple as a daily walk!

Patricia and I were driving back from a trip to Hilton Head on Sunday. As we were driving on 17S, we both commented on natural beauty that surrounds us. We decided to move here to for business reasons, but fell in love with the area because of what it offers, the people, the food and the natural beauty that surrounds us everyday. When I read posts that show the appreciation that others have for what surrounds us it makes me smile. People from other areas want to be here. They buy second homes, or take vacations here because of what we get to enjoy everyday.

I have come to appreciate what we have and look forward to enjoying it for a very long time. I hope you do to!

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