Have you been dreaming of a home on the lake?  Mountain get away? but you did not want to get into 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 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!!

This weekend will be the peak color weekend.  Octoberfest was last weekend. Usually we have rain and all the leaves come down. Not this year.  This year the weekend of October 27/28 will be the best leaf looking time.

My favorite leaf looking drive is a loop.  I like to go from Walhalla up Highway 28. Stop at the look out just above the Dakota Grill.  From this look out you can see the stadium at Clemson and on a clear day you can view some of the buildings in downtown Greenville.  Continue up Highway 28 and turn right on Highway 107.  I like to stop by the fish hatchery and walk around for a while.  If you have time take a picnic and walk to the river for lunch.  Easy hike and at this...

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 land lines 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 ...

Saturday, September 29, 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.  

National Hunting & Fishing Day

Duke Energy's World of Energy, Seneca

FREE family fun day in the outdoors! Come experience all of the wonderful recreational opportunities that the great outdoors provides to us - archery, air rifle shooting, fishing, camouflage games, kayaking, learn about wildlife and their habitat and habits, view the World of Energy Visitor Center, take a nature hike, visit the Boy Scout demo camp site, and much, much more. All equipment is provided. Bring your family, bring your lunch and spend the day with us. Over 25 conservation organizations will also be on hand with displays and exhibits. A concessionaire will be o...

The Wine Emporium

 

FREE WINE TASTING

 

Friday August 24, 3:00 to 6:00 PM.

 

 

Eight wines will be open for tasting.

 

 

Special Guests for Friday’s Tasting,

 

Mickey Rudolph and Karen Camacho Rudolph, Proprietors of Finca Venta Don Quijota, El Toboso (Toledo), Espana

 

 

 

Please come to The Wine Emporium this Friday.

 

Taste the wines that may be of interest to you and take advantage of some great values.

 

The Wine Emporium :  A Wine For Every Purse and Palate

 

(864) 944-1015            1229-A Stamp Creek Rd                   Salem, SC 29676

...

Bryson's has peaches and the early  Gala apples.  The stand is open if you don't want to pick.  Stop in today and tell them Gwen sent you!!

Have you ever picked an apple while the bees buzzed in the clover at your feet? Tasted the crisp texture from the sun warmed apple?  Felt the juice run down your chin? It is apple picking season in Long Creek SC.  You can pick them or just stop in the stand and buy them.  Apples are a good source of vitamins and fiber...just what we all want to hear, but really they are a great source of enjoyment straight from the tree or in a pie or salad.

Bryson's Apple Stand is on Chattooga Ridge Road about 1 mile from Highway 76 in Long Creek SC.  The stand...

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 pr...

Keowee Key is a great real estate value. This gated subdivision offers golf, tennis, swimming and 195 other activities. Whether you are ready to retire or just want a place to play. At this time there is 5 waterfront homes less than 500,000.  There are 3 nice almost new homes on the golf course. There are 2 very nice homes around $250,000 that are over 3500 square feet.  Call me today to check out any of these great values today. There are also 7 homes less than $150,000.

I do not list at Keowee Key, so I am the perfect buyer's broker to represent you in your purchase of a great real estate value at Keowee Key.

I love watching YOUTUBE videos of homes in the area, especially the ones I have shown or previewed.  I was watching one this morning about a house on a lake.  Great video, but the one thing that was missing was the smell.  When I was there, the house reeked of plug ins and when I reached the basement you could smell the musty shut up smell a 2nd home gets when it is not being used.

So to prevent the odors of a real showing from keeping your house from selling, do the following:

1) Charcoal in open bins under the beds, in the closets...out of sight will absorbe the moisture that collects in an unoccupied house. There are also commercial damp traps and if you have a dehumidifier, use it. ...

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends and families who are mothers.  Wishing you a quite and peaceful day!! 

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 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 18...

 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 a blue gill. 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...

I had a closing on Thursday that should have been sweet and easy insead  I had to fight over every detail of the closing.

We wrote the first offer for the house on December 22nd.  Our offer was based on a drive by appraisal by a local appraiser.  They countered full price with no concessions.  We decided to let them cool off a bit and wrote our next offer on the 22nd of January.  They did not have any showings or offers during this time.

We offered full asking price asking for closing costs.  Typical on this price house in this area...did we get it?? NO!! their agent came back with 3 options.  All much lower than the asking price, she did not think it would appraise (?) ! Are you kiddin...

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 bill, lower taxes & insurance and a cheaper heating bill.

I visited booths from: Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, 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 offer....

Helen Ga Arts & Crafts Show

Lake Cheohee, Tamassee SC

 

279 Lake Cheohee Road, Tamassee SC

Cute Cabin with 100 feet on  the lake.  This 2 bedrooms 1 bath cottage is offered with appliances.  Gas fireplace for the cold days. Heat Pump for all others.  Just 45 minutes from Highlands NC and less than 2 hours from Atlanta, Ga this is a great get away.

View Chattooga Lake in a larger map

Chattooga Lake properties for sale 2/24/12

681 Chattooga Lake Road is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on 2 lots with a pier

675 Chattooga Lake Road is a 2 bedroom, 1 bath cottage on the point lot with work shop and level lot

000 Nature Lane is a building lot that is approved for a 2 bedroom house.  

000 Chattooga Lake Road is a 7 acres with 2 streams, national forest boundary and a lot on the lake.

See these and all our listings at www.coolmountainescapes.com

Gwen Fowler Real Estate, Inc

864-638-3599

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 ...

You still have one week to appeal this years tax re-assessment.  If you think the value is too high.  Appeal the value, it will be easier now than in future years.

You do not have to have an appraisal showing the value you want you just have to show what properties in your area are selling for and why yours should be less.

Do it today, but if you miss the dead line then do it between January 1 and January 30th of next year.

We all have to pay taxes and I have yet to find a fair tax, so make sure yours is not out of line with what your neighbors are paying. Your research should be from 2009 and 2010.  You cannot use sales in 2011, unless you wait and appeal in January then you can use t...