Posts by : Gwen Fowler

Robert Whitney, Attorney

Every state has different rules about real estate and how the transfer of property takes place. Robert has over 35 years of experience and is my personal attorney on real estate, wills, and some estate planning. I sat down with Robert Whitney, one of the attorneys who close property in Oconee County, to ask him the questions I am asked during each transaction.

1) Why do real estate closings in South Carolina take place at an Attorney's office?  The closings don't have to take place at my office but it is less expensive--the buyer and seller are not paying me to travel to closing.  The convenience of doing it in my office is less expensive, more secure and privat...

Terry Howe

Auctioneer 101

Last Friday, I sat down with Terry Howe, an auctioneer that I have used in the past.  I wanted to ask Terry a few questions that I had been asked over the years and put this together in an article that my customers could read and understand why sometimes an auction is better than listing with a real estate agent.

Gwen:  What does an auctioneer do?

Terry:  I have been in the auction business for over 30 years.  The definition of what I do has changed over time. 

1. I act as an intermediary between family members, attorneys, banks and judges.
2. I inventory and appraise personal property and real estate. I develop evidence to make equitable divisions of assets.
...

By MySmartBlog

A couple of things to consider when talking to an agent who will represent you.  

1. Buying a house takes time, from start to finish the average buyer spends a year looking and buying a house.
2. You must be honest with them, hidden things always come out before closing.  Everyone is better off knowing the secrets and handling them as they need to be handled.  
3. The commission is what makes the agent work for you, there are no free rides.  In most cases, there will be a commission offered to the buyer's agent from the seller and seller's agent.  It may be a token amount or it may be an acceptable amount for the work the buyer's agent will be doing...either way, the commission is something t...

I have 7 squash plants that bloom every day.  Do I have any squash to cook?  Anything to show for all these blooms?  Nope, nothing, no fruit just blooms. I have decided that I need bees.  We have flowers but no bees.  I do not mow until the dandelions make seed(...more for us to mow but more flowers to bring bees to us.) We do not use pesticides. Still, we have no bees.

I started my research this weekend.  I need to plant lavender, catmint, sage, cilantro, thyme, fennel and borage...all herbs that Henry will use to make his mealtime dishes taste better.  I also need crocus to get them coming early in the spring, buttercup, asters, hollyhocks (does anyone plant hollyhocks anymore?) anemon...

Each year I introduce buyers to the idea that you do not have to buy a house, you can buy a lot and build a house.  Everyone hears the horrors of building, but it does not have to go down that path.  You can build a house without having problems if you plan and prepare before you start the building process.

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I am not talking about picking out the cabinets, I am talking about getting a septic tank installed, a well put in place or getting a water tap in place.  Most builders will do this for you but if you want to increase the value of your property while y...

I made a u-turn to take this picture.  This is the biggest oak tree I have ever seen in the upstate area. I know there are bigger ones in the low country, but this one took my breath away.

Can you imagine what this tree has seen?

Have you been dreaming of a home on the lake?  Mountain getaway? but you did not want to get into a 30-50% down payment and 6% interest?  

Good rates and down payments are back.  If you have a credit score of at least 640 and a 10% down payment I have a lender who will do less than 4% on 2nd homes, 50 miles or more from your primary residence.  So all you buyers from Greenville to Charleston...I have lake houses and mountain cottages priced good...no great.  Now is the time to buy. Don't wait as the inventory is shrinking as everyone finds out about our good deals!!

Simple Check List for Land Purchase

1. Will your house site perk for a septic system?  Get a permit from SCDHEC before you close.
   
   
2. Have a survey done.  Property lines do not move; the seller’s memory is not always correct.  A new survey will mark the lines; a plat will be a drawing showing landlines as well as improvements. All the corners will be marked.  After closing remark the lines with white oil-based paint.  It will stay on the trees for years and you will know where the property boundaries are.  White PVC pipe over the pins is a good idea too.
   
   
3. Title Search is also a must.  Checking the title back 60 years ensures that the party selling the property has the right to sell as we...

The Importance of a Buyer’s Agent

In South Carolina we are required to follow assigned “Rules of Agency” and when an agent “lists” a property the seller becomes that agent’s (and the company’s) “client”. By signing the listing contract they have made a commitment to each other. By definition, an agent (and their company) must give their client the following:

1. Obedience
2. Loyalty
3. Disclosure
4. Confidentiality
5. Accountability
6. Reasonable care & skill

If a buyer comes along and asks that agent to show them a property “listed” by that agent or with that company, they are a customer.  That agent must give customer care:

1. Present all offers in a timely manner
2. Account for money or other p...

You must create a plan, if you want to have an easy home purchase.  Just looking at houses will not get you a home.  You need to know where you are going and how to get there.

You first must decide when you want to purchase. You can look at homes, go to open houses, look at the websites, and look and look.  Once you make a decision to buy you must decide what your time frame will be. Do you want to buy it before school starts? Before Memorial Day so you can use the lake all summer? Before the 4th of July, so you can use the lake and get a good deal? 

Then you must talk with a loan officer, you do not want to look at homes you cannot afford.  You also do not want to have to move again in...

 Fiddler's Cove Fisherman, Bill Warther, Guest Poster.

As you can see the fish are biting at Fiddler’s Cove Lake.  Kraig (my son) and I drug a few out of this hole last August. We caught & released.  You can tell it pays to release because this one was 19". A buck without eggs but I returned him. He happens to be #13 for the year for black bass. I caught three fish on the first 3 casts of the year:  2 small bass and a blue gill that was 11.25' long 9.5" wide and 1.25 thick. She was full of eggs and as bright orange as I have ever seen bluegill. I checked her nose and tongue and she was a true blue gill. Not a shell cracker. What a brood fish !!!! The other 12 bass I caught were 16” or un...

Just got back from the Live South Show in Falls Church VA.  This was a great show of gated communities in the South.  The exhibitors showed how different the tax base is and how the cost of living in the South is much less than having the same size home & property in the North.

There was one community in Florida just outside Orlando that was all solar.  I was amazed to think no more power bills, lower taxes & insurance and a cheaper heating bill.

I visited booths from Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, the Beach area of South Carolina, Montana, West Virginia and Delaware.  I know I missed a couple of them, but really enjoyed meeting reps from other areas and seeing what they had to of...

Winter is a great time to look at lake property. Lake houses in the winter are cold and view is not so good or is it?  In the winter when the lakes are drawn down so that you can build a sea wall, dock or do your general lake access clean up.   You can see how deep the water is and whether you are on a channel or a cove.  You can fix up your fish bed, clean up and spread out some sand along the shore and you can build the dock you have always wanted.  Winter allows you to see what you are getting without having to imagine what you are seeing through the water.

There are 3 things you need to do every time the water is drawn down at the lake:

1) check the supports of your dock, make sure ...

OK, the mortgage application is finished and forwarded to the mortgage agent.  What comes next?  While you wait on the appraiser to be named, have the home inspected.  This should also be a contingency in the purchase contract.

The home inspection will take about 2 hours.  The inspector will climb up on the roof, in the crawl space, he will check out outlets, and take the cover off the panel box.  He will make sure the heating system heats and the cooling system cools.  Check out the plumbing and make sure the floor does not have any soft spots.  He will look for termite damage from past infestations.  He will find problems and give you some solutions.  The home inspection report will ha...

Well, you have looked at houses and looked at houses. You found one that meets your needs. Your agent wrote up the contract and it was accepted so what is next?

The first thing you should do is make a calendar with all the major dates circled so that you do not miss any deadlines.

Home Inspection:  you need to do this first as there is no reason to look for insurance or set up utility accounts till you are sure this house does not have any hidden problems.  This should be completed within 5 days of the contract acceptance.

• Choose a home inspector from a list given by your agent and friends who have recently bought. 
• Call all the inspectors on the list.
• Ask what they charge and what...

We have been previewing houses all week for people coming in over the next 3 weeks.  I have been to gated communities and lake communities and vacant houses near the university.  Shocked is a harsh word, but I have been shocked at the condition of the properties we have looked at.

When you are looking to find a good deal, the first thing I look at is the days on the market and the number of times the property has been reduced.  Today most of the properties were in a gated community, on the market for more than 400 days and have been reduced by at least 10%.

I loved the first house.  People were still living there and everything was fresh and in excellent condition.  The price was droppe...

Summer is here, school is out, graduations are over.  Now  is time to buy your summer home or to move up.  Our real estate selection is the greatest it has been in over 20 years.  Great values, lots of selection and interest rates lower than they were in the 60's.

We have all heard how hard it is to get money, but not so. 

• If you have 2 months of pay stubs and have been at the same job for over a year you get a gold star. 
• If you do not have 2 new car payments, you get another gold star.  Add another if you just paid off your car.
• If you do not have any credit card debt, you get another gold star.
• If you are current on your student loans and other bills, another gold star.
• If you ...

First weekend in June is always the beginning of the summer season and also the family reunion season.  Yellow Branch Falls and Park is a forgotten jewel in our area.  This is a park with several hiking trails, less than 5 miles west of Walhalla and is very seldom crowded.

Wear long pants as the Forest Service is not servicing the trails, but they are still worth the effort.  I am adding pictures of the falls that I took during the winter.   I love frozen falls.  Something like being able to stop time for a moment.  Enjoy and if you make the 45-minute walk to the falls you will be glad you did.