Selling Greenville: Recent Episodes
Selling Greenville
Greenville, SC (aka "The Upstate") is a great place to buy and sell real estate, and that's what this podcast is all about! Stan McCune has been a real estate investor in the Upstate since 2013 and a realtor since 2016, and he shares his experiences and best practices, specific to the Greenville real estate market.
South Carolina’s new law gives property owners a faster way to remove squatters while cracking down on fake leases, fraudulent rental listings, and property damage. It also preserves protections for lawful tenants and strengthens the private property rights that continue making the state attractive to landlords and investors.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Greenville’s success has created a difficult question: where will its teachers, firefighters, service workers, and local families be able to live? Mario Brown, CEO of Affordable Upstate, breaks down rising housing costs, limited supply, development resistance, and what it will take to keep Greenville affordable for the people who call it home.
Connect with Mario Brown:
📞 864-305-3962
📧 info@affordableupstate.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Greenville's latest market stats reveal a story that goes beyond the headlines. Pending sales and closings continue setting records, inventory growth is slowing, and new listings are beginning to level off. Could the market be approaching another shift, and what does that mean for buyers and sellers?
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Major appraisal changes are coming, and buyers, sellers, lenders, Realtors, and appraisers could all feel the impact. Christofer White explains what UAD 3.6 changes, why appraisals may take longer and cost more at first, and what Greenville’s market should expect before the November rollout.
Connect with Christofer white:
rps_chris@yahoo.com
(864) 809-6546
https://www.scappraisers.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
A mid-year look back at the bold 2026 real estate predictions, from mortgage rates and home prices to inventory, Airbnb rules, foreclosures, affordability, and new construction. Some calls are aging well. Others still have work to do.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Most investors know about cash-out refinances. Far fewer know about HELOCs on rental properties. Stan and Ben Stef explore creative financing strategies, investment property lending, DSCR loans, and ways investors are using existing equity to grow their portfolios faster.
Ben Stef | Funding Freedom
📧 bstef@nexalending.com
📞 773-817-7894
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
The latest Greenville housing data reveals a market in transition. New construction is putting pressure on pricing, resale homes continue gaining value, inventory is at its highest level in years, and buyers are becoming more selective. Stan digs into the trends shaping today's market and what the numbers are really saying beneath the headlines.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Not every race will impact Greenville equally. Stan breaks down the primary election results, key local contests, and the candidates who could influence growth, development, housing affordability, and property rights in the years ahead.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Some of the best opportunities in the Upstate aren't the ones making headlines. Stan shares 10 underrated communities offering everything from mountain living and large acreage to established neighborhoods, strong value, and easy access to Greenville, Spartanburg, and beyond.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
South Carolina’s primaries could have a real impact on Greenville real estate. Stan breaks down the big issues on the ballot, including roads, growth, impact fees, short-term rentals, property taxes, and housing affordability.
SC is expanding the homestead exemption, which was widely expected to be signed into law, but since recording, this bill has not yet been passed and may not pass this year.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Everyone seems to have a theory about where mortgage rates are headed—but most of them are wrong. Stan cuts through the noise and breaks down what’s actually pushing rates around right now, from inflation and bond markets to gas prices, tariffs, and global conflict.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Greenville’s latest market stats are full of mixed signals. Listings shattered records, buyer activity surged back, inventory keeps climbing, and median pricing stayed flat—but existing homes are still appreciating while new construction keeps pressuring prices. Is the market starting to shift?
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Stan ranks the 10 hottest neighborhoods across the Upstate based on real sales data, from Travelers Rest to Spartanburg, and the results make one thing very clear: builders are winning this market.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Stan sits down with John Nolan of Greenville History Tours to dig into the stories hiding in plain sight, from Falls Park and the old textile mills to forgotten restaurants, downtown’s comeback, and the eras that shaped Greenville into what it is today.
Want to book a tour, ask a question, or dive deeper into The History of Greenville?
www.greenvillehistorytours.com
greenvillehistorytours@gmail.com
864-567-3940
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Real MLS data reveals what actually drives buyer demand. One-level living, pools, and primary bedrooms on the main floor bring more buyers in fast, while other popular upgrades barely move the needle. A sharp look at what truly adds value in today’s market.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Greenville’s March data is all over the place. Listings hit record highs, pending sales surged, but closings fell, and affordability dropped as rates climbed. This episode breaks down the mixed signals, rising inventory, and why this still feels like a market where nobody’s fully winning.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Think pricing high gives you room to negotiate? The data says the opposite. Sellers who overprice are cutting later, paying more in concessions, and walking away with less. This episode breaks down exactly how it happens.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
The rental market is shifting fast, and not in a good way. Rents are starting to fall, vacancies are rising, and properties are sitting longer than they have in years. This episode breaks down what’s really happening and what it means moving forward.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Greenville just got national attention and not everyone is thrilled. After hosting major college basketball tournaments, the city drew praise from national media and sparked mixed reactions from locals. This episode looks at the buzz, the backlash, and what it could mean for growth and real estate.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
In this conversation with Greenville County Council candidate Daniel Rumfelt, they dive into roads falling behind, shifting development, rising housing costs, and the tension between growth and preservation. The big question—how much more can Greenville handle?
Connect with Daniel Rumfelt:
Facebook: Daniel Rumfelt
Email: danielrumfelt@att.net
Phone: 864-923-9155
Website: www.danielrumfelt.org
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
February’s Greenville housing data delivered some surprises. Homes are taking the longest to sell in nearly a decade, buyer showings are dropping, and sales activity started the year softer than expected. But the biggest twist is what’s happening with new construction prices—and how they’re influencing the entire market.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Real estate and politics are colliding. This episode explores how South Carolina’s governor race, insurance reform debates, housing affordability policies, and even global conflict could influence the Greenville housing market. From property taxes to mortgage rates, several forces outside real estate may end up shaping the market in 2026.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Selling in 2026 is not “list it and relax.” This episode breaks down 10 rules for Upstate sellers, including the real competition (hint: new construction), why buyers are extra picky, when open houses actually help, and what not to say if you want offers.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Buying in Greenville in 2026 is not the free for all people remember, but it is also not a buyer’s paradise. This episode lays out a 10 point home buying guide built for today’s reality, including why the market feels like a soft seller’s market, why home sale contingencies are getting rejected, and why Greenville reacts fast when mortgage rates move.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Two winter storms shut Greenville down and delayed closings, but the market did not collapse. New listings stayed positive, inventory jumped, and prices climbed again. So did the storms really slow the market, or just pause it? January’s numbers tell a more interesting story.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
I connect the dots between recent local, state, and national signals—and none of them point toward better housing affordability. I break down how impact fees, resistance to new development, and continued growth all push prices higher in Greenville, and why waiting for prices to fall may not be realistic.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Snow shut Greenville down, but the real ice might be coming from D.C. This episode looks at Fed shakeups, bond market moves, and behind-the-scenes decisions that could nudge mortgage rates without warning. Rates matter—but who controls them matters more.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
I go on a blunt rant about a misconception I keep hearing: that home prices can magically fall without more supply or lower rates. I break down why a 2008-style crash doesn’t match today’s fundamentals, why “waiting for the apocalypse” is a risky plan, and how real affordability changes actually happen. Then I get practical—walking through realistic paths buyers can consider instead of doom-scrolling for a crash that may never come.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
In this episode, Greenville’s December market stats—and there are a few surprises. I walk through why year-end activity surged, how pending and closed sales behaved in ways we normally never see in December, and what rising days on market, tightening inventory, and improving affordability could mean heading into 2026. The big question: is this a one-month anomaly, or the early signal of a real shift toward sellers?
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
One number may be driving more of the Greenville housing market than most people realize. In this episode, I break down why the 5% mortgage rate looks like a real tipping point locally, what caused rates to briefly dip into the fives, and why popular housing headlines may miss the real impact. Using fresh market data and local context, I explore the big question: if rates cross that line again, what actually changes?
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
This episode breaks down how Stan is approaching 2026 with a full reset and a clearer direction. From reworking systems and tightening structure to shifting priorities, networking smarter, and leaning into more intentional growth, it sets the tone for what’s ahead. Less reflection, more direction, and a clear signal that this year will not be business as usual (in a good way).
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
The annual bold predictions episode breaks down what 2026 could look like for the Greenville housing market. Clear calls on mortgage rates, home prices, inventory levels, affordability, new construction, and where the biggest shifts may emerge—built on trends, data, and real-time market signals heading into the new year.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Holiday vibes meet hard numbers as this episode revisits 2025’s bold real estate predictions—what hit the mark, what missed, and what the data actually proved. From mortgage rates and inventory surprises to pricing trends and industry shakeups, it’s a year-end scorecard with lessons worth carrying into 2026 (ugly sweater energy included).
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
November’s numbers reveal a market finding a new rhythm—more homes hitting the market, buyers still moving, days on market tightening, and prices holding steady despite shifting affordability. This breakdown walks through what the latest stats really show, why inventory feels bigger (but not always better), and how buyer and seller behavior is quietly adjusting as the year winds down. Fewer surprises, clearer patterns, and just enough momentum to keep things interesting.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
From botched contracts and disappearing due-diligence periods to HOAs in meltdown mode, attic surprises, appraisals swinging nearly half a million apart, and a lender fiasco that needed county intervention—2025 delivered twist after twist. This episode breaks down the year’s most chaotic and eye-opening moments in Upstate real estate, showing what really happens when deals unravel and the market refuses to cooperate.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
2025 reshaped the Upstate market in ways no one expected—buyers pushed beyond Greenville County, sellers grew more cautious, investors pulled back, and new-construction deals dominated budgets. Add in job-market swings, political uncertainty, shifting affordability, and mortgage rates that broke every seasonal rule, and the year became a turning point for how people bought and sold across Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, and Pickens. This breakdown captures the real forces that moved the market—and what they reveal about where things may be heading next.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
A look back at the winding path to Realtor of the Year becomes a tribute to the people who made it possible—mentors who shared their wisdom, brokers who invested their time, family who carried the emotional weight of an unpredictable career, and clients who trusted the process. From basement training sessions to late-night calls, the journey highlights lessons in resilience, gratitude, and growth and serves as a reminder that every milestone rests on the shoulders of those who showed up, poured in, and believed long before the recognition arrived.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Buyer traffic is surging again in the Upstate, with crowded open houses, renewed demand for larger lots, and activity levels that look more like early spring than late fall. But the market data is telling a slower, more cautious story. Inventory continues to climb, months of supply are rising, and affordability remains stuck just shy of the ideal threshold—even as mortgage rates ease and buyer behavior shifts.
The growing disconnect between real-time market energy and the broader statistical trendlines. From year-over-year listing spikes to unusual seasonal patterns, it breaks down the numbers shaping the current landscape and the signals worth watching as the year winds down.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Local elections just reshaped the landscape in Greenville, Greer, Easley, Travelers Rest, Simpsonville, and even at the state house level—and the ripple effects won’t just be political. This episode breaks down what flipped, who got voted out, and how those decisions could impact growth, new development, impact fees, housing affordability, and ultimately what it costs to live and invest in the Upstate. From anti-growth backlash to a state house race decided by just 20 votes, Stan unpacks why these “small” elections matter way more to your daily life and real estate than most people realize.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Practical systems for decluttering, staging, and sustainable home organization take center stage in this episode featuring professional organizer Stephanie Worinkeng, owner of A Time 2 Organize. Topics include drop-zone solutions, organized junk drawers, family “15-minute” resets, paper management, and approaches to sentimental storage. The discussion also covers how long-term storage units impact both finances and mental space, along with adaptable methods that fit different habits, households, and home sizes.
More about Stephanie Worinkeng:
• https://atime2organize.com
• Stephanie@atime2organize.com
• 864-884-5417
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Every generation makes its share of real estate mistakes. Boomers often overpay for upgrades they could easily add. Gen X gets stuck chasing the “perfect” down payment. Millennials keep waiting for a 2008-style crash that never comes. And Gen Z? They fall in love with fixer-uppers they can’t actually fix. This episode breaks down those common traps, what they cost, and how to avoid them—plus shares insights from a recent discussion with Congressman William Timmons on the ongoing government shutdown and its potential impact on housing.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Greenville home style refresh, coming in hot. In this episode, Stan rapid-fires through ten design trends on their way out (hi, barn doors and two-tone cabinets) and the ten replacing them—like wallpaper accents, creamy whites, light floors, smarter tile, and real home offices. If you’re selling, flipping, or building in the Upstate, these shifts can mean faster offers and fewer buyer turn-offs.
Learn which colors, trims, and finishes are resonating with Greenville buyers right now, the ceiling and wall paint trick designers are using to make rooms feel bigger, and the kitchen choices that help listings pop without scaring off half your buyers. Stan also breaks down why wide-open plans are fading and what “flow plus airy” looks like instead—along with what homeowners actually prefer between dining rooms, eat-in kitchens, and island living.
Plus, an Amazon Gift Card Drawing! Three names are announced, and the first to confirm by the deadline wins. (Note: the date mentioned in the episode should read October 24, not October 17, with confirmation due by 11:59 PM.)
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Greenville’s housing market just set records—but the numbers don’t tell a simple story.
New listings are soaring, prices are rising, and inventory is higher than ever, yet buyers and sellers both feel stuck in limbo. Is the market cooling off or gearing up for another surge?
Get the latest breakdown of the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors stats and what they reveal about the shifting balance between buyers and sellers.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Stan tackles the “off-but-not-off” DC shutdown and what it really means for Greenville deals—USDA on ice, IRS transcripts napping, VA/FHA jogging (not sprinting), and flood insurance doing the limbo. He maps the bottlenecks, offers quick detours lenders actually use, sneaks in a couple of groan-worthy puns, and gives final notice on his past-client Zillow review drawing for a $250 Amazon card. Fewer headaches, more handshakes
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Did Helene change how Greenville prepares for storms? Stan recaps the week that followed—power out, gas scarce, oaks down, roads blocked—how listings and closings were rescued, how neighbors and line crews mobilized, and how relief dollars reached families fast. Expect practical prep that actually works (fuel discipline, generator checks, backup comms) and why a Gulf-track hit here is so rare. Plus: details on Stan’s $250 Amazon gift card Zillow review giveaway (past/current clients; how-to in the show notes). Fast, useful takeaways for the next storm season.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Is Greenville inching into a buyer’s market? Stan breaks down August’s cooling signals—soft new listings, flat pending's, a dip in closings, longer days on market, and inventory at the highest since 2011—plus why new construction is stealing the show. You’ll also hear how Zillow Showcase can boost your listing’s visibility and how to enter Stan’s $250 Amazon gift card review giveaway. Fast, practical takeaways for sellers and buyers heading into fall 2025.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Greenville’s at a crossroads. Stan and City Council candidate Tina Belge get practical—and spicy—on safer streets and bike lanes, a smarter trolley, “mini-downtown” neighborhood nodes, freeing up food trucks, and real housing fixes (missing-middle, ADUs, land trusts, tiny homes, faster permits). They also hit roads funding, water/sewer capacity, rebuilding the tree canopy after Helene, and why childcare is economic infrastructure. Conversation, not an endorsement—just a lively, useful listen for voters and curious locals.
You can find out more about Tina Belge at https://www.tinabelge.com/, or you can contact her directly at tina@tinabelge.com. And if you live in the City of Greenville, the election is November 4, and early voting starts October 20th!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Buyer-market momentum in Greenville driven by surging new-build supply, discounts and rate buydowns, and median prices below resales. Selling Greenville Episode 289 delivers an easy, fast guide to reading the market, avoiding common traps, and securing better terms in 2025.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
People don’t just move to Greenville—they leave, too. Stan reveals 10 real reasons behind the 2025 outflow: affordability pushing buyers to Spartanburg & Anderson, post-Helene risk fears, weather whiplash, downtown condo-vs-house tradeoffs, custom-build sticker shock, politics, and missing big-city perks. Debating a move in or out? Use this as your decision cheat sheet. Questions? Text Stan (info in show notes).
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Shiny and new isn’t always simple. Learn what’s driving the surge in completed-but-unsold homes, where builders cut corners, and the must-do checklist before you sign. Greenville-specific tips to avoid costly regrets. Need a second opinion? Text Stan—fastest way to reach him.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Big supply, slower demand. Stan breaks down July’s surge in inventory (nearing multi-year highs), pendings that trail historical pace, and why prices still nudged up ~2%. Clear takeaways for timing your list or offer in Greenville. Need a second opinion? Text Stan—fastest way to reach him.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Stan hopped on—gym clothes and all—to break down why mortgage rates slipped into the mid-6s and what actually moved them: bond yields, softer jobs data, and those ever-important spreads between the 10-year Treasury and 30-year mortgages. He digs into why averages aren’t your quote, how narrowing spreads could pull rates lower, and the wild cards ahead (potential Fed leadership shifts, talk of rate cuts, and what privatizing Fannie/Freddie might do).
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
In this special episode of the Selling Greenville podcast, host Stan sits down with Chris, a recent homebuyer who assumed a sub-3% FHA mortgage in one of the most challenging housing markets we've seen in decades. They break down the pros, pitfalls, and process of mortgage assumption—how Chris scored a 25-year loan with significant equity, navigated a complex servicer system, and beat the rent-vs-own equation in 2025.
From FHA and VA loans to PMI realities and how amortization schedules work in your favor, this episode is a must-listen for first-time homebuyers, investors, and anyone frustrated with today’s 7% interest rates. Stan also shares his firsthand experience guiding clients through creative deals like this and what you need to know before starting your own mortgage assumption journey.
Connect with Chris for investor networking or assumption insights at urbanfabricproperties@gmail.com / 864-501-3959
Like, rate, and subscribe for more expert-level real estate content from Greenville, SC, and beyond.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
In this eye-opening episode of The Selling Greenville Podcast, host Stan McCune delivers a boots-on-the-ground update on the 2025 Greenville housing market—and why so many buyers and sellers are feeling stuck, cautious, or downright confused.
Stan dives into the real reasons behind the market slowdown: high mortgage rates that just won’t budge, growing inventory that’s shifting the balance, and a widening gap between what buyers can afford and what sellers expect. He unpacks why Greenville’s once-famous affordability is fading—and how rural listings and new construction are reshaping buyer behavior.
From price reductions to contingent offers falling through, Stan shares what he’s actually seeing day-to-day as a local realtor—no sugarcoating, just real talk. Whether you’re actively in the market or simply watching from the sidelines, this episode offers a raw, real-time snapshot of what it’s like to buy or sell in Greenville right now.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
In this episode of The Selling Greenville Podcast, host Stan McCune sits down with Stephen Frank, a first-term member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, for an eye-opening discussion about the real connection between state politics and life in Greenville.
Together, Stan and Representative Frank dive into major issues shaping our state and region—from housing affordability and infrastructure investments to economic development and local business growth. They explore how legislation passed at the State House affects everything from real estate values to job opportunities, roads, and even neighborhood development here in the Upstate.
Stephen also shares his personal journey from Columbia to the Capitol, what motivated him to serve in public office, and what he sees as the top priorities for South Carolina’s future. Throughout the conversation, they highlight the often-overlooked link between state-level decisions and the local real estate market.
🎧 Get insider insight on how state policies are shaping the local market—and learn more about Stephen’s story and mission at https://votestephenfrank.com/
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
What do the latest numbers really say about Greenville’s housing market? In this episode of The Selling Greenville Podcast, host Stan McCune takes a deep dive into the 2025 Monthly Indicators released by the Greater Greenville Association of REALTORS®. From home prices and inventory shifts to sales volume and market activity, Stan unpacks the trends shaping real estate in the Upstate.
Whether you're a homeowner, buyer, seller, or investor, understanding these stats can give you a major edge. Stan breaks down what’s driving current market conditions, what’s surprising about the data, and what it could mean for the rest of the year. It’s an inside look at how local numbers tell the bigger story of where Greenville real estate is headed.
📊 Want to make smart real estate decisions in 2025? This is the episode to listen to.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
In this episode of the Selling Greenville Podcast, Stan returns to his bold predictions from earlier this year to see how they’re holding up against on-the-ground reality.
Are home prices actually rising? Have interest rates calmed down—or stirred up more trouble? And is the long-awaited inventory shift finally taking shape?
From surprising buyer behavior and evolving seller trends to unexpected economic pressures, this episode delivers a clear-eyed, data-backed look at where Greenville’s housing market stands—and where it may be heading.
Whether you’re a homeowner, investor, or buyer trying to make smart decisions in a volatile market, this is the mid-year update you don’t want to miss.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Ready to trade traffic for trailheads? In this episode of the Selling Greenville Podcast, host Stan is joined by special guest Thomas Mabry—better known as “Honeybadger”—for a deep dive into the Upstate’s best hiking spots and outdoor escapes.
From hidden waterfall trails to peaceful lake views, these aren't just scenic retreats—they're the kind of places that make living in the Greenville area truly special. Whether you’re looking for a quick nature fix or an all-day trek, Stan shares his top picks that prove why Greenville is a haven for outdoor lovers and real estate seekers alike.
The conversation also ventures into nearby Western North Carolina, where Stan and Thomas highlight must-see destinations and discuss the ongoing recovery efforts following the devastation of Hurricane Helene.
You’ll hear how access to natural beauty influences everything from home values to lifestyle choices—and why these outdoor spaces are more than just pretty backdrops; they’re key to understanding what makes this region thrive.
Follow Thomas Mabry’s outdoor adventures and photography:
Facebook: Thomas Mabry – Honeybadger Hiking
https://www.facebook.com/honeybadgerhiking/
Instagram: @honeybadgerimages
https://www.instagram.com/honeybadgerimages/
Article referenced in show: https://www.knoxtntoday.com/badger-hooks-up-with-hiking-sticks-and-lipstick-on-the-roan/
If you're craving fresh air, mountain views, and deeper insight into life in the Upstate and beyond, this episode is your trailhead.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
How do decisions made in Washington, D.C. ripple through the local real estate market—especially in Greenville, SC? In this episode of the Selling Greenville Podcast, host Stan takes you behind the scenes of the 2025 Realtors Legislative Meetings to unpack the critical conversations that could shape housing for years to come.
From national policy changes to legislative proposals, Stan highlights what matters most for buyers, sellers, investors, and agents in the Upstate and beyond. You’ll learn how issues like affordability, lending laws, and inventory shortages are being addressed at the federal level—and what that means for your real estate decisions back home.
If you’re serious about staying informed on where the market is headed, this episode offers a front-row seat to the conversations that could move the needle in Greenville and across the country.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
The numbers are in—and they’re telling a big story. In this episode, Stan breaks down the latest Greenville real estate stats for May 2025, revealing what’s really happening with home prices, inventory, and days on market. Whether you're buying, selling, or just watching from the sidelines, these insights will help you understand where things stand—and where they might be heading.
If you're curious about the local market pulse or wondering if now is the right time to act, this episode delivers the facts, context, and expert perspective you need. It’s part market update, part strategy session, and packed with actionable takeaways for anyone connected to real estate in the Upstate.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Greenville’s real estate market has seen rapid growth—but how does it stack up against other popular markets in the Southeast and beyond? In this episode, I break down the key differences between Greenville and similar cities when it comes to home values, buyer trends, affordability, and long-term investment potential.I also chat with Seth, a fellow friend who lives in a scenic Georgia resort town, about what makes Greenville unique—and what buyers and investors should know before jumping in. From local lifestyle perks to real market challenges, this episode offers a well-rounded look at how Greenville compares and where it stands out.As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Everyone loves a good renovation story—but which ones are actually worth it in 2025? In this quick breakdown of the 2025 NAR Remodeling Impact Report, I unpack what upgrades homeowners are really doing, what they're costing, and which ones actually pay off (both in value and happiness).
I cover the top projects delivering the biggest return, the ones homeowners say bring the most joy, and a few common remodels that may not be worth the expense. Plus, I’ll share some surprising stats on how people are paying for these updates—and why the DIY route isn’t always the win people expect.
If you’re considering a kitchen makeover, bathroom upgrade, or a full-blown remodel this year, this is your cheat sheet to what works and what doesn’t.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Everyone wants to time the bottom of the real estate market—but real estate doesn't work like stocks or crypto. In this episode, I break down why waiting for a crash might leave you with fewer options, less access to capital, and no real opportunity at all. I also walk through how to spot areas of growth in Greenville, which parts of town are still undervalued, and why grocery stores and bike trails might just be your best investing indicators. If you're asking whether it's too late to invest in Greenville, this episode will give you a fresh perspective—and a bit of a reality check.
Please note that this episode contains personal opinions, and nothing in this episode should be considered investment advice. Please talk to a financial/investment advisor if you need investment advice
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
It's been the 2025 real estate "busy season" for several months now, and we finally have some data to assess just how busy it has been. Long story short, sellers are very busy, but buyers are still stuck in 2024. However, some conditions are noticeably improving for buyers, albeit without the market completely bottoming out for sellers. That's great news for all parties, and potentially a good sign for the future health of the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson market.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
You have questions, and Stan has answers. In today's episode, we go through Q&A from listeners on topics ranging from mortgage rates to the most effective home renovations to novation contracts. If you had a question that you didn't get a chance to submit, you can always do so after the fact and have your question answered in a future episode!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
We love data on this show, but sometimes data doesn't tell you the whole story. Sometimes vibes shift before the data does, and there are definitely some vibe shifts happening right now, whether it's buyers ignoring smaller homes, appraisers struggling to appraise homes for contract prices, sellers trying to argue with their realtors about their home values, etc. I'm experiencing, and hearing from other realtors who are experiencing, a lot of new-ish things that are happening - things that aren't inherently uncommon in real estate but that are different than what we've had in recent years and that also don't usually all happen at the same time. So what are the vibes right now, and why do they matter? Tune in and find out!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
Downtown Greenville is already considered one of the best Downtowns in the Southeast, and it's about to get a lot better, as there are many planned redevelopment projects (some already in the works!) for adding great new places to hangout, shop, and eat to some of Greenville's most neglected areas.
So let's talk about them! In this episode we discuss:
1. The Greenville Gateway Project
2. The County Square redevelopment
3. The potential Poe Mill revitalization
And we also get into the much maligned Inn at Altamont - a proposed resort hotel on Paris Mountain that is unlikely to ever see the light of day.
This episode is best viewed on youtube, where you can see a bunch of renderings!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
One question we had entering 2025 was whether the lackluster end to 2024 was a sign of things to come or was a fluke result of a weird confluence of a 500 year storm (Helene), the Presidential elections, and standard seasonality.
Now that we have data for the first quarter of 2025, it is apparent that 2024 was more of a fluke than anything, with 2025 (so far) seeing many homes being listed, prices going up, and closings increasing. So what exactly is happening? It appears the real estate market is showing some stability, with buyers and sellers settling into the current state of the economy, despite growing uncertainty for what lies ahead.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
The SE region of the United States is a termite hotspot, and the Upstate of SC (Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson and surrounding counties) is no exception. In SC realtors are constantly dealing with them, and I have three termite stories from the past few months that I'm eager to share.
What I've learned from these stories is this: there are solutions to termites, but oftentimes the pest control company who is supposed to be treating the termites is just as much a part of the termite problem as they are the solution.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
In this must-listen episode of The Selling Greenville Podcast, host Stan McCune sits down with John Boyd, Founder and CEO of The Banker Exchange, to explore the ins and outs of the 1031 exchange—one of the most powerful tools for real estate investors to defer capital gains taxes and build long-term wealth.
Discover how a 1031 exchange works, who qualifies, what properties are eligible, timelines to follow, and strategies for maximizing returns. Whether you're an experienced investor or just getting started in real estate, this episode offers expert insights into tax-deferred property exchanges, investment property strategies, and IRS rules you need to know in 2025.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com
If you want to reach Banker Exchange, you can do so here:
-General Inquiries-
Banker Exchange Contact Form: https://bankers1031.com/contact-us/
Phone: (864) 679-4793
Email: info@bankers1031.com
-John Boyd-
Phone: (864) 630-2596
Email: john.boyd@bankers1031.com
Traditionally, there have only been two ways for a REALTOR® to list a home for sale - either exclusively to their company or openly on the MLS and internet. But the National Association of REALTORS® this past week announced a third way that they are going to allow homes to be listed - on MLS but without the listing being immediately syndicated out to other websites (like Zillow, homes.com, realtor.com, Redfin, etc.).
Why would a seller want their home listed this way? Well, there are actually several scenarios where it could make sense, but I'm more interested in the big picture potential outcomes of this new policy. The aforementioned websites that rely heavily on MLS listings being syndicated to them would suffer badly if even 10% of listings didn't show up on their platforms. So in doing this, was the NAR shooting a "shot across the bow" at those websites, potentially threatening to end their reign atop the real estate information food chain? It's an interesting possibility and one we have to consider quite seriously.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Greenville is in an interesting spot. The real estate market has clearly softened, something we've discussed a good bit in previous episodes, but we're also at the time of year where seasonality has a big impact on supply and demand. To say it another way, from now until Memorial Day is the peak time to buy or sell real estate! So it's not surprising that some of the market data coming in reflects both a weakening and a strengthening market. So which one is it, and in what direction does the market appear to be heading for the hot summer months? Let's discuss it in this week's episode of Selling Greenville!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (973) 479-1267 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Appraisers play an immensely important role in real estate transactions, but they can be a bit of an enigma, as they rarely communicate with the parties involved in a real estate transaction, despite having the power to potentially "blow up" a real estate transaction. As such, their roles and how they think about the market can be misunderstood by the general public and even by real estate professionals. Thankfully, Greenville-Spartanburg has many great appraisers, and Chris White is one of them. And in this episode, Chris gives us a rare inside look at how appraisers think about real estate, how they come up with their valuations, and what is happening in the Greenville-Spartanburg market.
If you need to reach out to Chris White, feel free to reach him at: rps_chris@yahoo.com / (864) 809-6546. His company website is: https://www.scappraisers.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The Greenville-Spartanburg market can no longer be called a "seller's market," even though you'll hear some falsely make that claim. But the data simply doesn't support this, particularly when it comes to a certain demographic of sellers who are actually having to sell for a loss. Who are these sellers, and what are the dynamics in the background causing them to have to sell for a loss? I'm not going to spoil it in this show description - give the show a listen to find out!
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
A lot has been made about how real estate prices in the Upstate of SC are showing signs of weakening, but not every part of the Upstate is moving in the same direction. Some areas have definitely seen home prices top out but many are still showing signs of appreciation. So which markets are moving in which direction? Here we break down 5 appreciating and 5 depreciating markets and try to discern the trends impacting each.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Many people are moving to the Southeast, but when they move here, they can be overwhelmed by options. In addition to Greenville and Spartanburg, the SE boasts many other great options, like Charleston and Columbia within the state of SC, and Charlotte, Atlanta, and Asheville just outside of the Greenville-Spartanburg area. So how do all these markets compare statistically to the Upstate of SC, and why might some choose to move to one of them over Greenville or Spartanburg?
In addition to that, what do these same demographics and statistics look like for some of the major markets that have people moving from them to SC, specifically, Los Angeles, Houston, and Chicago? This is a BIG episode comparing all these markets, so tune in!
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The Greater Greenville market is seeing price declines for the first time in a while. When you combine that with some of the other metrics that we have access to (like days on market, percent of list price received, etc.) there is no question that the market has shifted strongly towards buyers, especially the past half year. What's going on that's causing this, and can we expect this trend to continue?
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
"People don't want homes with pools," "Basement homes aren't worth as much as other homes," and "People don't like golf courses in their backyards," are all things you hear frequently if you're involved with real estate in the Greater Greenville area of SC. But how many of those things are true? Let's look at the Pebble Creek neighborhood, which has a little of all three of these types of homes, to determine how the Greater Greenville market perceives these three unique types of homes.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The entire real estate industry has been held hostage by 6-8% mortgage rates the past several years, and while many "experts" predicted they would be in the low 6s or high 5s by now, per Mortgage News Daily, they are currently sitting in the low 7s. Now we're getting headlines about Trump tariffs and their potential impact on the economy, and many are concerned that they will cause mortgage rates to go even higher. But is that a guarantee? And could they actually cause rates to go lower? Yes, but you sometimes need to be careful what you ask for...
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Buyers and sellers of houses perceive the value of real estate in very different ways. In fact, I've found that clients who sell and buy at roughly the same time will frequently use completely different valuation models (not actual models, but the ones in their heads) for when they're selling versus when they're buying! So what are the key differences, and why do sellers and buyers so often tend to not be on the same page? Let's break it down!
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Trump is officially the President of the US, and we are already starting to see some small ripples in the market as a result. But, perhaps more importantly (at least to a data nerd like me), we finally have our final 2024 Greater Greenville Association of REALTORS® market stats to go over, and they point to some very interesting trends that happened in 2024. Which of these trends are likely to continue and which are likely to end up as more of a flash in the pan? Tune in to find out!
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
I hear people talk about realtors all the time in "code," saying things like, "He's aggressive," or "She's not as outgoing as I'd like her to be." The reality is that many people want a realtor who thinks and acts like them, but that can be a really bad reason to hire one.
So let's have some fun and analyze some of the common statements I hear, both negative and positive, towards realtors, and why people should think twice before choosing to hire (or not hire) a realtor based on those statements/opinions.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Greenville real estate is constantly evolving and shifting, but how? Everyone knows lot sizes are getting smaller, but what about garages? What about home sizes? Home ages? Foreclosures and short sales?
There's a lot that is shifting in our market that we don't talk about often, but we will today! In this episode, Stan breaks down a TON of data from the past 3 years to show how (and discuss why) the Greenville, SC real estate market is shifting.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Happy New Year! It's time for me to make my BOLD PREDICTIONS for 2025, and so in this first episode of the New Year, I discuss:
- Where mortgage rates are headed.
- If we are going into a recession (or increased inflationary environment) in 2025.
- If any more massive changes are coming to the real estate industry, after a crazy year of changes in 2024.
- What sort of appreciation (or depreciation) Greenville real estate will experience in 2025.
- If membership in the Greater Greenville Association of REALTORS® will continue increasing in 2025 or will start to decline.
- If inventory (supply) will continue to climb or will start to go back down.
- If pending sales (demand) will continue to increase or will start to drop at some point in 2025.
- If more closings will be purchased with cash versus financing.
- If Greenville County Council will take more measures to stop development in our area.
- If buyers' agents will continue to get paid or if their job is in trouble.
Please tune in, and let me know what you think I got right (or wrong)!
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Merry Christmas! Around this time last year I made my bold predictions for 2024, and it's time to review how I did. There were some predictable outcomes but also some pretty big surprises. So what did I get right, what did I get wrong, and why?
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Real estate is always crazy, but it seems like 2024 was particularly The Year of Crazy for Greenville real estate. We had hurricanes, volatile interest rates, recession concerns, a wild Presidential election, and A LOT more. As a realtor, my business was impacted by all of these things and some unhinged people I had to deal with, and the end result was I have some great stories to tell you from my year.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
A lot changed in the world of real estate (and in Greenville) in 2024, and as we round out the year, we are left with more questions than answers. Is the government going to try to stimulate real estate sales? Is realtor compensation going to decrease in future months? Will Greenville County Council do things to help or hurt housing affordability? We cover these questions and many more as we discuss the future of Greenville real estate.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the data on what's happening in the Greater Greenville Area of SC has been messy, to say the least. A lot of listings, pendings, and closings got pushed into October and November, causing some oddities all across the data. That being said, for the second straight month, we saw a year-on-year decrease in the median home price. Does that mean anything, or is it the product of the "Helene effect"? It's hard to say, especially given that the average price of real estate made a massive leap and is now over $100,000 higher than the median. So what's really going on, and what does it mean for those active in Greenville real estate? Tune in for the full breakdown and some advice to buyers and sellers at the end.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
If I'm going to be honest, 2024 was a very challenging year on many levels. But despite the challenges, there is still much to be thankful for, and as I've done in previous years, I want to share with my listeners ten things that I'm thankful for from the past year, with a little more of a personal spin than I've done in previous years. I hope you enjoy as you feast on turkey and delicious Thanksgiving sides!
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
X, formerly known as Twitter, can be a great place for information, but it can also be a terrible place for misinformation. Well, a great X/Twitter thread popped up on my feed recently discussing things that a first time homebuyer should and shouldn't when house searching. Some of the responses were spot on, and others were... not so helpful. So let's have some fun and talk about the thread and what it got right about home buying... and what it got wrong.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
After 1.5 years of campaigning, we finally know that Donald Trump will return to Washington as the 47th President of the United States. Some people are elated, others are mortified, but wherever you stand on the election results, the question remains: will Trump help or hurt the housing market? There are many possible scenarios for Trump in play - taking over the Federal Reserve, privatizing (again) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, injecting stimulus into the slumping housing market, creating futuristic cities on federal land, mass deportation of immigrants, etc. But at the end of the day, Trump is going to have to find a way to get mortgage rates lower or else likely none of it will matter.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Recently, I decided to do a cash out refinance on two identical duplexes that I own that are located next to each other. A cash out refi is a great way to take advantage of the equity you have in a property without having to sell it, and that's exactly what I hoped to do. Get cash, keep the property, have rental income pay off the mortgage, and everyone goes home happy. Well, all seemed to be going smoothly until the appraisals came in, with one being dramatically different than the other, despite the properties being identical. Never in my career have I seen something quite like this, and it drove me crazy! So I dug into the two appraisals to figure out why they were so different, and after many twists and turns... well, you'll have to listen to find out what happened in this crazy story!
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Mortgage rates have soared nearly an entire percentage point the past few weeks and as a result, September 2024 yielded the first year-on-year decline in the median sales price in Greenville since March 2023. Why is this happening now, and does it mean we're entering a buyers market?
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Negotiation is one of the most important aspects for a real estate transaction, and yet many people don't know their negotiation style or that of those they are negotiating with. In the old school of thought, it didn't matter what style the person across the table from you had - you simply negotiated aggressively with them and tried to win the negotiation at their expense. However, in recent years, negotiation tactics have shifted and are more focused on trying to achieve a situation where both parties feel like they have experienced a "win-win," rather than one party feeling like they lost to the other. But you can't do this if you have no knowledge of negotiating styles, so let's talk about the four types of negotiators, how they impact a real estate transaction, and where their strengths and weaknesses lie.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
"Listing agents don't do anything besides put the home on the multiple listing service," is a phrase I hear frequently from people. And while some listings require less work than others, every listing requires many hours of work, and some require literally weeks worth of work. So today I tell the story of my listing from this year that has had a little of everything - messed up contracts, "low" appraisals, FHA flip rule issues, issues with engineers reports, missing data plates, etc. I don't even have time to get into every single thing that happened in this transaction, but I'm confident you'll still enjoy my 30 minute rant about some of what happened and will have a better sense of the home selling process as a result.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Homeowners insurance premiums have increased dramatically the past 4 years in the US, specifically in the Southeast region of the US, which, coincidentally, is where Greenville is located. Thankfully, SC hasn't suffered the worst of the premium increases when comparing to states like Florida, but with our state getting hit hard by Helene and the possibility of other storms hitting us this year before storm season has come and gone, we can expect insurance premiums to be on the rise in 2025. There's nothing we can do about that, but there are some practical steps you and I can take to ensure that when we insure our home, we aren't paying more than we need to.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
I may be on my fourth straight day without power, but that's not going to stop me from reporting from the front lines on the unbelievable and devastating damage caused by Hurricane Helene to the Greater Greenville Area and to Western NC. In this episode, I discuss how Greenville was hit by a 1/100 year weather event, what it means for me and those I know, and what it means for our local real estate market.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Even though this podcast is all about Greenville real estate, still by far the main question I get from listeners and others is, "What are you seeing happening in the market?" Are buyers still active? Are sellers still getting top dollar? Have investors given up? Some of these we can answer with data, but data is dry and can only take us so far. So let's answer the question of what's happening with some real life scenarios and stories that I'm actually experiencing every day in the Greenville, SC real estate market!
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
It's Fed week! And by the time most people watch/listen to this episode, we will already know whether the Fed decided to drop the Fed Funds Rate by 25 basis points or by 50 basis points. What impact will their decision have on the real estate market? And while we're talking about the impact of national politics on real estate, what about former President Trump or Vice President Harris? They have made multiple proposals for real estate that are also worth discussing to determine how much of an impact they will have and whether that impact might be good or bad for Greenville real estate. Usually our focus is on local real estate trends, but let's take a step back and look at the national trends and what they mean for the future of our housing market.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The (10-year/2-year) yield curve has been inverted now for quite some time. Since 1955, every recession has been preceded by a similar yield curve inversion, but when the curve uninverts (as it did recently), does that mean things are getting better or worse? Headlines say better, economists say worse, but this is a Greenville real estate podcast. So let's just ask the question: are we going into a recession, and if so, what does that mean for Greenville real estate? It's not as obvious as you may think.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Greenville hit an all time high for prices in July, but housing affordability still improved. Why? Because mortgage rates have moderated and are (as of this recording in late August, 2024) sitting at 6.37%, way down from their 8.03% peak in October. Long story short, sellers are getting high prices and still fairly favorable selling conditions while buyers are seeing greater affordability on monthly costs and more supply than has been accessible in years. So here's an update on where things stand in the Greater Greenville area and where I see them going in future months.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
In 2021 we saw record high real estate demand coupled with record low supply. Those dynamics aren't the case anymore in 2024, but how much has the market flipped? Let's compare the 2021 numbers to 2024 to get a sense of where things are at.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Unexpectedly, many real estate firms this past week, including my own real estate brokerage, rolled out new policies for listings that fully decouple buyer agent commissions from listing agent commissions. The result? Well, beyond it being a confusing new system to navigate that now means a lot more back and forth between agents, some real estate sellers may end up paying fewer commissions than they have in the past. So will this mean sellers will list their homes for cheaper, making it better for buyers too? Unlikely, but let's unpack what all this means and what I am seeing firsthand the week after the most drastic changes the real estate world has seen in decades were implemented.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Several months ago, it was announced by the National Association of Realtors that, in light of several antitrust lawsuits that were being waged against the NAR and other real estate organizations, major changes were coming to the real estate industry. And chief among those changes were changes to how realtors, specifically buyers agents, would be compensated. We discussed these changes on this podcast at the time they were first announced, but now (this week!) those changes are finally being implemented, and it's time to revisit them and what they mean for realtors and real estate buyers and sellers.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
"You cannot fool the real estate market" is a phrase I love to use, because many home sellers seem to think that overpricing a listing is the best strategy to use when selling a home. But homebuyers aren't stupid, and they will identify an overpriced home quickly and simply ignore it, with the end result usually ending up worse for the seller than it would've been had they simply priced it right to begin with. Don't believe me? Well, I have data on my side, and I'm ready to share it.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We talk a lot about how the real estate market has shifted and what that means for buyers and sellers, but how does that actually impact your strategy for buying or selling real estate? Let's discuss five points for buyers and five points for sellers for how to educate themselves, strategize, and maximize their opportunities in an ever-evolving real estate market.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Looking at the data we now have for Greenville through June 2024, there are increasing signs of weakening demand coupled with increasingly growing supply. In fact, we are seeing record new listings coming on the market all the while the average price of a home in Greenville has soared above $400,000 for the first time ever. What does all this mean, and how does it compare to Greenville's traditional, seasonal trends? Lots to talk about as we scour the market stats for the Greater Greenville Area.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
A lot of headlines right now are focused on homes losing value from their 2021 peak, but the headlines are national, and we need to assess what's happening specifically in Greenville. Thankfully, we have a simple way of doing this - we can look at all homes sold twice or more since 2021, evaluate the spread between the first sold price and the second one, and then run some basic formulas to determine whether homes are losing or gaining equity in this shifting market (with some help from ChatGPT).
Long story short: Greenville homeowners by and large are doing just fine.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
At the end of 2023 into the beginning of 2024, I did a "bold predictions" episode where I discussed what I thought would happen to the Greenville real estate market in 2024. Well, now that half the year is over, it's time to do a preliminary review of the predictions to see how well they're doing. So let's go through all 10 of my 2024 bold predictions and compare them to the most up-to-date data to see whether I am the Nostradamus of Greenville real estate or if I need to make sure I don't quit my day job as a realtor to become a real estate prophet.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Election years always have a weird impact on real estate, and that's never been more true than this year. Not only are the Presidential elections impacting real estate (a well-known phenomenon that happens every four years), but in Greenville, more than ever, state and local races are proving to be hugely influential in things like development, infrastructure, etc. Long story short, we are entering a new era of Greenville and Spartanburg voters backing politicians who are more focused on conservative virtue signaling than on improving our state and county. It's not all doom and gloom - much of what is going to happen the next few years is already set in motion, and Greenville County and the SC as a whole will continue to remain great places to live - but don't expect elected officials in the upcoming years to have effective solutions for fixing infrastructure issues, improving housing affordability, etc. any time soon, particularly if the "penny sales tax" doesn't get a majority vote in November.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As we look at the Greater Greenville Association of REALTORS market stats, a theme emerges: supply is increasing faster than demand, resulting in a softening market. Does that mean it's a buyers market? Not yet, but we may be closer than people realize to it feeling like a buyers market, even with prices as high as they remain.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Solar panels are one of the most controversial topics in real estate in SC, with some believing homeowners have a moral responsibility to use solar to help with climate change, while others on the opposite side of the spectrum believe that solar panels are nothing more than an expensive scam. Well, I finally had a chance to purchase and sell a home with solar panels, and it was a big learning experience. If you've ever wondered what buying, owning, and or selling a home with solar is like, this is the episode for you!
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Should I hold, or should I sell? That's a question investors ask themselves daily, but people who own real estate, even if they aren't "real estate investors," should also be thinking about this. There are a lot of changes coming - potential declining populations, rising insurance costs, decreasing supply for homes with acreage, etc. - that will almost certainly impact the value of real estate in the future. So let's discuss 10 types of properties and whether they are hold or sell candidates.
This episode is sponsored by Piper Insurance Group, who can help you with all your home, auto, and umbrella insurance needs. Contact them for a free quote at: (864) 350-9329 / stephen@piperinsurancegroup.com / https://piperinsurancegroup.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
For the first time since Selling Greenville was inaugurated, Stan has solicited listener questions for a massive mailbag episode. Tune in to learn about what headwinds are in the Greenville market, when it makes sense to rent or buy, what differentiates Greenville from the rest of the US in terms of our real estate market, and even whether a hot dog is a sandwich!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We finally have the April market stats for the Greater Greenville area, and several things stand out. Most significantly, even though we are finally seeing things like active inventory normalize to pre-pandemic levels, many numbers, such as days on market, median sales price, etc. still point to Greenville being a seller's market. So why does it feel to many like a buyer's market? In this week's episode, Stan and Joel Mangin discuss these stats and why perception and reality don't always agree when it comes to the state of the real estate market.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
For the first time in 5 years, we're seeing foreclosures, short sales, and cheap (potential) flips coming online in Greenville, SC. Oh and questionably low appraisals are back too! Are we in or entering a buyers' market? And how will rates coming down, realtor compensation changes, etc. impact the state of the market? Let's talk about where things stand in the Greenville RE market and why it feels a lot different now than it has for nearly half a decade.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
It's election season, and real estate is top of mind for those running for office in Washington, DC, in SC, and in Greenville. I've spoken to legislators, politicians, and people running for office at all levels of government, and it's time to crack open the notebook and spill all my secrets on what is happening behind closed doors, and what it means for real estate, and our local elections.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
One of the things that scares people the most when buying a home is the possibility of it having structural issues. The reality is that most issues we deem "structural" are relatively easy and inexpensive to fix, but it's still helpful to be able to identify structural issues and diagnose their severity as much as possible prior to getting a home under contract (or prior to listing a home, if you're selling one). It's something I am very conscientious of when walking through a home, so let's discuss 10 signs that a home may have structural issues and what they could mean for that home.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Very seldom do we see a real estate market driven by retirees, but that's exactly what we see now with Boomers having a much larger portion of real estate market share than normal. Meanwhile Gen X has been almost left behind and Millennials are still trying to find their way in a historically unaffordable market. What is the cause of these seemingly upside down demographics, and what other factors impact home buying and selling in this market? Let's look at some fascinating data the National Association of REALTORS® produced recently for answers.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Looking at the final data we have for Greenville in Q1 2023, the market is finally starting to see some stability. Some of the data shows potential market softening, but much of it is indicative of strong demand still pushing up prices, pendings, and closings while driving down days of market and affordability. The question now is will mortgage rates go up, down, or stay roughly the same throughout the remainder of the year? That will ultimately determine whether we see demand continue to strengthen or to succombe to some of the softer patterns in the data.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
In this episode, we delve into the dynamic Greenville real estate market, now grappling with the impact of rising mortgage rates. We'll explore the significant price adjustments sellers are making—how often are prices being dropped, and by what average amount? What implications do these changes hold for both buyers and sellers? Join us as we unpack the latest trends and forecasts, providing you with the insights needed to navigate this evolving landscape.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There are a lot of misconceptions about the Section 8 rental program in Greenville, but I heard one recently that I had never heard before, and that's that it was an "unpredictable" program. Not only is this not true, but the Section 8 program in Greenville is substantially more predictable than the private rental market as a whole. The end result of this is that when market rents sometimes come down as a result of various market forces, Section 8 rentals can actually be a great rent deflation hedge for landlords/landladies.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Doomers are constantly talking about "the real estate bubble bursting," but the reality is that the dynamic we saw in 2007-08 of the entire US housing market crashing at one time is unusual and not likely to repeat itself any time soon. What we do see, however (and particularly since COVID), is localized markets forming bubbles that inevitably burst. In fact, we are experiencing this currently in one very specific part of the Upstate of SC: Laurens County, which has seen substantial price declines since the 2022 price peak. So how do we identify markets that could be in a bubble vs. ones that have sustainable demand likely to continue indefinitely? Let's look at the indicators that help determine sustainable growth vs. that of a soon-to-be bursting bubble.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As we look at the most recent market stats for the greater Greenville area, some weird data trends begin to appear. Listings are up but pendings are down. Pendings are down, but closings are up. Prices are still high and increasing but not everywhere. Closings in the sub $500,000 price point are decreasing whereas above that price point are increasing. What is the cause of all these odd blips in the data? Let's talk about it, with a focus more on the big picture of what's happening in today's market.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
On March 15 the National Association of REALTORS® announced a proposed realtor compensation settlement for the Sitzer/Burnett case, and the national media immediately put out a ton of clickbait headlines about the sudden "end of the 6% commission." As with most things, the media got this one wrong, but there is MUCH to talk about with regard to this settlement. Buyer agents are going to have to work with their clients in very different ways moving forward, and we may be entering into a completely new world of real estate with multiple tiers of realtors. And sellers, while they may have more negotiating power in the wake of this settlement, may need to think twice before taking a scarcity mindset towards buyer agents. There is a whole lot more to discuss here, so let's dig into the details of this settlement and what it might mean for the future of real estate!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
During his State of the Union address on March 7, 2024, President Biden outlined multiple proposals for how to make housing more affordable:
-A $400/mo credit for first time homebuyers or people "trading up"
-Title insurance reform to reduce fees
-Measures to stop anti-trust violations and price-fixing among big landlords
-Cutting red tape on federal financing for developers, etc.
Some of these proposals sound good on the surface, but without question, several of them are legitimately dangerous ideas that are likely to cause increased inflation in real estate and an increased risk of a housing recession down the road. So let's discuss the good, bad, and ugly about President Biden's real estate proposals and what they could mean for us in the future.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
"The Greenville real estate market is strong," is what we keep hearing, but making a statement like that is painting with broad strokes. Some parts of the Upstate of SC are getting stronger and some are softening, but which is which? Thankfully, there is a little known report called the Market Conditions Addendum Report that I can run that looks at where the market is trending. And so in this episode, we break down 12 sub-markets to see which areas of the Upstate are getting softer, which are staying stable, and which are seeing increased activity.
All data presented is based on information from the Multiple Listing Service of Greenville, South Carolina, Inc. for the period March 4, 2022 through March 4, 2024.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There are rumblings in the Greenville investor community about how there are more rental portfolios being sold off than usual, and these rumblings usually come with an innuendo or suggestion that maybe being a landlord in Greenville isn't what it's cracked up to be. So what is actually happening here? Are the rumblings true? Is there a problem with rental real estate in Greenville (or even in SC as a whole)? And what does this mean for those looking to start investing in real estate? Lots to discuss, so let's dig in!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As mortgage rates have crept up in recent weeks, buyer activity has slowed down. Seller activity, on the other hand, hasn't, with a record number of new listings in January. The result? Inventory is increasing, giving buyers more options and sellers more competition. But in spite of that, prices remain near all-time highs, with no relief to buyers. Will that change in the near future?
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
[Episode has been updated to correct initial audio issues.] One of the biggest headaches of being a homeowner is having to deal with pests. I (Stan) have personally dealt with mice, rats, bats, cockroaches, termites, ants, carpenter bees, and much more in my homes over the years. And every time I have, I've reached out to my longtime friend Andrew Dixon, owner of Dixon Pest. Andrew has a wealth of knowledge about pest control, and in this discussion we cover everything from bed bugs, to bat bugs, to cockroaches, termites, high moisture issues, mold, etc. Thankfully, any sort of pest is treatable, but Andrew has the inside scoop on which ones are easily treatable or not and which ones should cause you to be concerned or not.
If you have any pest control needs in the Upstate of SC, you need to use Dixon Pest! Reach out to them here: 864-266-3876 / Info@dixonpestsolutions.com / dixonpestsolutions.com
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The last week was a wild one for treasuries and mortgage rates, with a lot of economic data released, a FOMC statement sent out, multiple statements from Federal Reserve members, and a 60 Minutes interview of Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The end result was that mortgage rates briefly went over 7%, and (as of this recording) are hovering at 6.99%, despite having been 6.6% just a few days ago. How did this happen, and what does it mean? Let's discuss a little oral history of the past week and why all the data and statements that were released sent rates soaring.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Hope Brooks is a local real estate investor who has worked behind the scenes with a lot of Greenville's major REI players. And it just so happens that she and I (Stan) were attacked on social media recently by someone who apparently believes all landlords are inherently greedy and immoral. It may surprise some that this sentiment about landlords is an increasingly common one, as people look for someone to blame for rising rent costs. So it's time to address landlord/rent misconceptions head-on and have a little fun doing it as Hope and I roast real estate ignorance.
If you want to learn about and/or contribute towards Hope's cancer battle, please do so here: http://tinyurl.com/yc4j24p7
If you want to connect with Hope, her IG is: https://www.instagram.com/hlbrooks221/ and her email is Hlbrooks221@gmail.com.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As we take one last look at 2023 by means of the most recently released Greater Greenville Association of Realtors Market Stats, a few things jump off the page. Most significantly, we can now say definitively that Greenville saw strong price growth for the year, particularly in contrast to some other parts of the country that are getting headlines for home values depreciating. But there are plenty of other interesting nuggets in the data - a stronger than expected end of the year in general, low inventory numbers, higher days on market, etc. What does all this mean? At the very least, it appears the trends we saw at the end of 2023 are bleeding into the beginning of 2024, setting us up for a hectic year of real estate.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
A debate rages on social media these days about whether it's better to rent where you live or buy and be a homeowner. The reality is that in most places (including Greenville, at least for now) the monthly costs are cheaper if you're renting, but this doesn't take into account other important parts of the discussion, most significantly, real estate value appreciation. Renters don't benefit from appreciation, whereas homeowners do, but renters can take the savings they are pocketing from renting and invest that in other things to potentially make more money than a homeowner would via mere appreciation. That model works in theory, but how does it work in practice? Let's analyze the data, courtesy of Aziz Sunderji, to determine what conditions would make it better to rent your home vs. what conditions would make it better to be a homeowner.
Access to Sunderji's article, for those curious, is here: https://www.home-economics.us/p/buy-or-rent
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We have a winner! In this episode we announce the winner of the $200 Amazon gift card from the giveaway that was announced in episode 200! But we also need to talk about the CRAZY start to 2024 that we're experiencing. Is it possible that people have woken up from their 2023 slumber and are ready to buy real estate again? The early returns would indicate that that may very well be happening. Tune in for that and more!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Happy New Year! It's that time again - we need to come up with ten bold predictions for what will happen in Greenville real estate in 2024. Will rates go up or down? What about prices? Will listings linger longer than in 2023? And what's the Fed doing these days? Lots to discuss with lots of predictions to be made!
Have your own predictions? Let me know!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Who doesn't love an end of year giveaway? Well, to celebrate 2023 and the 200th episode of this show, we're randomly giving away a $200 gift card to one lucky listener. Listen to this episode for more details.
Oh, and we also have to recap 2023! So let's talk about the wild ride that was this past year in the real estate market and where things are going from here.
For the link to the Fox News article that quoted Stan, click here: https://www.foxnews.com/media/south-carolina-number-one-place-americans-moving-experts-checks-boxes
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
At the end of 2022, Stan came up with 10 bold predictions for the year 2023, and as we come to the end of 2023, it's time to see how he did! So let's go over each prediction and analyze what happened that caused the predictions to be right... or wrong.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Most people from outside of SC who discover Greenville do so while researching other major cities in the Southeast, such as Atlanta and Charlotte. After all, Greenville is literally wedged right in between those two cities, while also finding itself relatively close to many other major SE cities that have been getting a lot of buzz lately. So how do those cities compare to Greenville? What do they offer that Greenville doesn't, what does Greenville offer that they don't, and what, if any, is the argument for choosing to move to Greenville over cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, Asheville, and Charleston? We discuss all that and much more in this episode of Selling Greenville.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Real estate is under the legal microscope as the National Association of Realtors along with several major real estate brokerages recently lost the Sitzer/Burnett case that alleged realtor commissions have been anti-competitively fixed by the NAR and major brokerages. More lawsuits are coming, and the question is: what exactly does it all mean for the future of real estate? Will buyers agents be going away for good, forcing people to dial back the clock to when they only worked with listing agents? Will major brokerages be going out of business? Will there even be realtors in a few years? We don't know all the answers yet, but there's still a lot to discuss about what we do know.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As we take a delayed look at the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors market stats that came out in November, we see a Greenville market slowing due to the holidays, and yet home prices are staying high. Why is this, and what would happen if we saw inventory pick up from around 3 months of inventory to around 4 months? Using the data, we can put together some of the missing puzzle pieces to figure out what may be happening in the future of Greenville real estate.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Every year around Thanksgiving, Stan discusses what he's thankful for. This year, the thankfulness topic is the City of Greenville and five things in particular that Stan is thankful for in the city.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
At the behest of environmental activists, Greenville County Council is on the doorstep of functionally zoning unzoned parts of Greenville County by making draconian lot size requirements for new developments. If this passes third reading in December (which it will unless people express their concern for the ordinance), landowners in unzoned areas will see their property values drop and new developments in these areas will be entirely unaffordable. Listen in and join Stan at County Square in December to protest the third reading of this horrendously short-sighted ordinance.
NOTE: All opinions expressed in this show are my (Stan's) own and do not represent the opinions of any groups I may or may not be affiliated with.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
For a long time in Greenville, it was cheaper to buy a house than it was to rent. That has changed due to high mortgage rates, but for many people, the argument to be a homeowner vs. renting a home isn't a financial argument so much as it is an argument about control - the ability to control how your home is maintained, what pets you can have, what you can do with the home, etc. So let's look at the data to explore what the financial gap is between renting and buying and whether it still makes sense to pay extra to have more control over where you live.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Most 15 year olds are thinking about video games, not real estate investing. But for Willie Coleman, the age of 15 turned out to be the perfect age to get into real estate investing, and now, seven years later, Willie is firmly established in the Greenville real estate investing scene at the ripe age of 22 years old. What was it like investing from such a young age, and what challenges were experienced and lessons learned along the way? Tune in for the fascinating story of a teenage homeschooler who grew into a luxury real estate investor.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The dreaded fourth quarter of the year with its traditional seasonal real estate slowdown is upon us, and this year Q4 is setting up to be a doozy, with mortgage rates hovering around 8% and likely to remain there for the entirety of the slow season. There's a lot to discuss: what do the high rates during a slow season mean? How can sellers get creative with incentivizing a buyer to buy their home? Is this even the right time to sell? And what if you're a buyer, house flipper, etc. - what should you be thinking during these uncertain times? Stan gives his unedited thoughts on all things "slow season" in this episode.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Normally, as we enter the fall and winter months, seasonality grips the real estate market, and prices come down a bit. It looked in August like that might be happening again this year, like it normally does, but now that we have September's market stats, courtesy of the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors, median prices are still near their record peak. And if you want to look at the average price in Greenville, September's average home sale set a new record high! These numbers aren't great if you're a buyer in this market, but they reinforce that the Greenville real estate market is more stable than many markets in the US that are seeing price declines.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Like any growing city, Greenville has a segment of the population in dire need of affordable housing, people who are overpaying to stay in motels, sleeping in shelters, or simply living on the streets. But the problems of homelessness are solvable, and so in this episode we talk with Susan McLarty of Greenville Homeless Alliance about what her organization and other organizations in the Greenville area are doing to help the homeless in Greenville find housing.
Want to learn more? Here are some links courtesy of Susan:
Bookmark thttps://www.gvlhomes4all.org/get-help and print a one page resource sheet to keep handy in your vehicle. You can have small items on hand to give with the resource sheet such as granola bars, bottles of water, or other nonperishable food items. Use the new resource guide to filter accordingly https://www.gvlhomes4all.org/resource-guide.
Make plans for the iGNITE events on November 14 https://www.gvlhomes4all.org/igniteevent2023. Starting on November 15, the art exhibit will be open to the public for six months. Check out the 47 ft. "Seen | Heard | Valued" mural https://www.gvlhomes4all.org/seen-heard-valued-mural.
Follow progress by connecting with us https://www.gvlhomes4all.org/connect. We are happy to arrange volunteer opportunities for your business, neighborhood association, or place of worship paired with our Homelessness 101.
Learn by watching the short mythbuster videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgdh7T2qCpo&list=PLDiPdCv8w0f9svj_zeFeCbvmsm0ozwo8G. Support our work https://www.gvlhomes4all.org/donate.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
It's time to talk politics and real estate, and 2023 is a more important year to have this discussion than most. We have several competitive mayor and city council races happening in Greenville, Travelers Rest, Simpsonville, Easley, Pickens, Mauldin, Fountain Inn, etc., and many of these elections will have low turnout and ultimately will be decided by just a few votes. But the stakes are high, with many candidates running campaigns focused on concerns that directly impact homeownership and the real estate market, such as development requirements, residential infrastructure, traffic, affordable housing, etc. And on top of everything else, there are many anti-development "NIMBYs" still attempting a hostile takeover of local government, as they have now for several years. Where is this heading, and what does it mean for the future of the Upstate?
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
August market stats for the Greater Greenville area are in, and what we see is a stable but slowing market. Prices are staying in range with 2022 levels and the percentage of list price received is still elevated over "normal" levels, but inventory is climbing, days on market are back into the 40s, and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that the market is slowing down quite a bit. Real estate is inherently seasonal, so how much of the shifting market can be explained by seasonality, and how much more shifting can we expect with mortgage rates at their highest levels in decades? There's a lot to discuss as we dig into the data.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We hear all the time about how mortgage rates going up or down has a major impact on the real estate market, but what does that actually mean? The conventional wisdom is that when rates go up, demand goes down, and when rates go down, demand goes up. But it's not always that simple, and for the Upstate, SC market specifically (Greenville, Spartanburg, Pickens, Anderson, etc.), we have to really take a close look at the data to determine just how sensitive the market is to fluctuating mortgage rates. The good news is that we have that data from the past several years, and using it, we can draw some conclusions for what might happen if rates go up or down moving forward.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Conventional wisdom says that homes built around the same time in the same neighborhood should sell for a similar price per square foot. But we see variances when it comes to a) larger homes vs. smaller homes, b) 2-story vs. single-story homes, and c) homes with the master bedroom on main vs. those with the master on the 2nd level. In some neighborhoods you can even sell (or buy) an 1,800 SF ranch home for the same price as a 2,400 SF 2-story home! Why is that, and what does it mean? It's time to dig into the Greenville data for answers.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Everyone knows home inspections are important, but many don't know why or what parts of the home inspection are most important. What does high radon mean and what can be done to lower radon levels? At what point does settling indicate a structural issue? Are there certain "deal breaker" issues that an inspector will find? All these are good questions, and for this episode, we talk to Jesse McCormick, the owner of Ace Home Inspections, who brings an immense amount of knowledge and common sense to the table to discuss all things home inspections.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
"Real estate is seasonal" they said, and they were right until COVID happened. And then mortgage rates went way down and demand went crazy. And then last year mortgage rates went way up, and demand went way down, and everything went into turmoil all over again. Long story short, the seasonality of real estate hasn't exactly been a thing for several years now, but will that change in 2023? There are some indicators that maybe we'll see a normal, seasonal post-Labor Day market, at least in the Greenville area.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We have the numbers for what happened in the month of July for real estate in the Upstate of SC, and the market is still showing resilience and the stabilization we've seen all year. BUT mortgage rates are at their highest levels in 20 years, and there is no doubt that will have an impact on the market going forward. What does it mean, and what should we expect? Sometimes looking back is the best way to look forward.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
"Doomers" - what I call those who have believed every year for the past 10+ years that real estate prices are going to crash - have been almost 100% wrong in their recent (and non-recent) real estate predictions. But they do have one thing right: at some point in the future it's highly likely that real estate prices will crash again. The problem is that too many people are basing their crash predictions off of vibes. In fact, many Doomers have already been wrong in predicting that real estate prices would plummet this year (in 2023), which they haven't, outside of a handful of niche markets (not in SC). For those of us analyzing the data, the resiliency of real estate prices comes as no surprise because demand has been bolstered by an unprecedented market consisting of three active generations. However, in a few years as Baby Boomers age out, Generation X enters the "dormant" phase of home buying, and Gen Z finds themselves priced out of their first home, we could find ourselves in an environment that's ripe for a real estate crash.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
I frequently get the question: what does it cost to build a custom home in the Greenville area? And while I have an idea in my mind of what that would generally cost, it occurred to me that I've never really looked at what the data says. So today we dive into the Greenville Multiple Listing Service data to see exactly what the costs are to build a home in the Greenville area and how that compares to purchasing a similar home that has already been built.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
I've heard some people say that real estate seems like a boring career, but that's not been my experience! Between battling dogs, buzzards, roaches, termites, etc. there's always something new and exciting around the corner - sometimes literally around the corner! So let's have some fun and talk about five of my craziest real estate encounters from the past couple years.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As a tribute to my dad who passed away on July 3, 2023, I'd like to share ten lessons I learned from him that directly impact me as a real estate professional:
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Work as hard as you can as long as you can.
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Talk to people.
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Treat your network like they are your net worth.
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Run, don’t walk!
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Contentment isn’t always easy, but it is always available.
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“A penny saved is a penny earned.”
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Each season of life is uniquely beautiful.
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Discipline is the backbone of success.
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When a door closes, there is always another open door.
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Enjoy a cup of coffee each day.
I hope you'll listen and glean a little bit of the inspiration from his life that has impacted me so much.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
In May we saw Greenville SC's median home sale price have it's first year-on-year decline in a long time, but that reversed in June when prices hit an all-time high. Long story short, that data as well as all the other data provided by the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors paints the picture of a resilient seller's market that, despite not being as crazy as it was in 2021-22 is still much more intense than pre-COVID.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As the Fed tinkers with the economy, mortgage rates fluctuate. But never in history have we seen rates double in such a short period of time as we have the past year. So will they be coming back down any time soon? It's easy to give opinions, but what does the data say? It's time to look at the historical data for 30 year fixed rate mortgages to see what's happened in the past, and then perhaps we can come up with some ideas as to what might happen in the future.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Greenville County narrowly averted a county-wide shutdown when the County Council passed (after initially not passing) a budget that includes the first Greenville County property tax increase in 3 decades. The tax increase was met with fierce opposition from the public, but the council insisted it was necessary for several reasons, one of which was to support affordable housing. But raising property taxes makes housing less affordable, so what gives? And why are "inflation" and "growth" bad excuses for raising property taxes?
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
For several years we went through a stretch where real estate buyers had basically no choice but to offer at or above the price that a home was listed for, with demand at all time highs and supply at all time lows. But as the market has softened, sellers are more frequently having to accept offers below list price or with seller concessions. I frequently get asked by buyer clients, "How low can I go?" when wanting to make an offer on a property. That's a tricky question to answer, but we have some data from the past six months that give us an indication of what type of discounts sellers are offering these days and when buyers can expect to have an opportunity to get them.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We have the Greenville real estate market stats for the month of May (courtesy of the Greater Greenville Association of REALTORS), and for the first time in roughly 3 years, the median price of a home in Greenville went down year-on-year. What does that mean short- and longterm? Are prices collapsing? Are we entering a buyer's market? And what did the Fed do last week that had a major impact on mortgage rates? We discuss all that and more in this week's episode of Selling Greenville.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The world of real estate is constantly shifting, and nobody has felt that more than real estate professionals. There's always value in looking at the past and seeing how it has evolved into today. So let's look back at the past 7.5 years to see how realtors (specifically, Stan) have had to adjust their approach and what they focus on for buyers and sellers in order to accommodate the shifting winds of the market.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The Federal Reserve is the last ultra-powerful part of the US government that hasn't become subject to Republican or Democrat partisanship. But with how much impact the Fed has on the economy - and specifically on real estate - it seems obvious that politicians will imminently turn the Fed into a partisan institution, much like what has happened with the Supreme Court in recent decades. This could happen as soon as the next Presidential election, and when it does, it is likely to have profound impacts on the real estate market.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Mortgage rates recently eclipsed 7%, and the real estate market was not happy. A lot of activity has slowed down as potential buyers decide to wait it out to see whether rates will come down. But is it even reasonable to expect rates to come down any time soon? And if we are entering a multi-month season of 7%+ mortgage rates, how will that impact the market? These are a few things on my mind going into June 2023.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As real estate has become more politicized, people who are against developments happening near them (known as “NIMBYs”, which is short for “Not In My Backyard”) have proven to be a major political force in the Greenville area. Their concerns vary from believing Greenville is turning into Charlotte, NC, to concerns that our infrastructure can’t maintain more developments, to concerns that “we need more parks, not more apartments.” But a lot of these concerns are misguided, shortsighted, or both. And despite NIMBYs typically saying they are concerned about the cost of housing and about issues related to gentrification and equity, NIMBYism as a whole results in the cost of housing increasing dramatically, and in many instances, it also results in socio-economic segregation.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Hao Wu is a real estate investor in Greenville, SC who has found a way to "crack the code" on how to utilize real estate to achieve a "Four Hour Work Week" (to borrow from Tim Ferriss's phrase and popular book). In this wide-ranging discussion, we talk about his path from China to the military to Greenville, how he got into real estate investing, and how he has oriented his life and investments in a way that allows him to live comfortably while traveling the world, spending evenings playing board games with friends, and working at his own pace.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
In June 2022, when the post-pandemic housing recession began, we discussed on Selling Greenville what it looks like to invest in a shifting market, and we did this by looking back at what the real estate market looked like at various points in time between 2008-2020 in order to reverse engineer what real estate in 2023 and beyond might look. Well, now that we’ve experienced nearly a year of a housing recession, we have plenty of data to go off of to see how today's market compares to the past. The long story short is that whereas there are some similarities between some pre-pandemic aspects of the real estate market and today's market, very little could be said to be exactly the same as it was prior to 2020.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We now have over a quarter of 2023 real estate in the books, and it's time to review our bold predictions episode from January! Which predictions missed the mark, which ones have already hit, and which ones are looking good to hit (or not)? It was fun going back and looking at predictions made 4 months ago and how that compares to the current data.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Looking at the most recently released Greater Greenville Association of Realtors Market Stats, we see a local real estate market that is stabilizing in a way that disproportionately benefits sellers. All the news is about how real estate is slowing down, but that's simply not the case (at least not yet) in the Greenville market. With tight inventory and a seasonal uptick in demand, prices continue to climb with no obvious relief (to buyers) in sight. Looking at other metrics like the percentage of list price to sell price, days on market, etc. it would appear that this trend is likely to continue well into the future.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Buying new construction might sound like a pipe dream to many, but with over half of homes currently for sale being new construction, combined with the fact that builders are offering some pretty crazy incentives to buyers, going the new construction route actually makes a lot of sense for many buyers. But building a new home is vastly different than buying an existing home, and there are many potential pitfalls to go with the standard concerns many have about build quality, lot size, privacy, etc. That said, there are several considerations and steps that can be taken to ensure that a buyer doesn't end up on the wrong end of a new construction transaction, and it's worth un-muddying the waters about new construction so that buyers don't needlessly limit themselves to only already-built homes.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Involving extended family in a real estate transaction can be a blessing... or a curse. In many cases parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. play an integral role in real estate choices that people make, but it's important to understand where it could be helpful to place boundaries in terms of involving them and factoring them into a home purchase or sale. So let's discuss 5 dos (and don'ts) of involving extended family in a real estate transaction.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
It's time to state the obvious: we are in a housing market recession. Home sales are down to their lowest levels since the Great Recession. (Yes, even lower than they were during COVID lockdowns!) And yet, if you're trying to buy in this market, it doesn't feel like a recession. Where are all the cheap houses? Where are the foreclosures? And why is it that everyone on Twitter seems so angry when talking about what's going on in the housing market?
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence language tool, is all the rage right now, but can it be used for real estate? For those who don't know programming languages, the capabilities are pretty limited, but there are some interesting and useful datapoints that homebuyers and sellers can gather from chatting with ChatGPT. In this episode of Selling Greenville, Stan enters live questions into ChatGPT about real estate (and Greenville) to see what results it comes back with.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The Greater Greenville Association of Realtors released its market stats through the month of February, and there are some juicy tidbits in here. Prices flatlined YoY, inventory went up but remained low, and pending sales and closings showed surprising strength. But more importantly, there were a lot of big changes versus previous months that warrant our attention.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
At long last, we finally have an interview! In this episode, Stan chats with Derek Horton, Senior VP and Mortgage Executive with Southern First Bank. In this wide-ranging interview, we discuss what it's like being in the mortgage world during such a crazy market, what it's like for loan officers to work with good (and bad) realtors, where mortgage rates are heading, and what all of this means for those looking to buy real estate in the next year and beyond.
[Note: this episode was recorded before Silicon Valley Bank folded.]
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Investing in real estate is as popular as ever, and at some point, every investor needs a realtor to help them out. But not every realtor who claims to be "investor friendly" truly understands real estate investing. So how do we sift the wheat from the chaff when interviewing realtors? Sometimes trick questions can reveal how knowledgeable a person truly is on a subject, and real estate investing just happens to be one of those subjects. So in this episode of Selling Greenville, we discuss eight questions to use to get to the bottom of how knowledgeable a realtor (or any person) is when it comes to real estate investing.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We now have over half a year of the main purchase agreement for residential real estate in SC (known as SCR310) handling inspection periods on a "due diligence" basis. When this change was made in 2022, it sent shockwaves through the Greenville real estate market, as buyers, sellers, and realtors were forced to adapt overnight to a new way of approaching home inspection periods and repair negotiations.
There was a lot of confusion and angst at first, but as we consider things in March 2023, it's fair to say that we are finally seeing some stability and standard practices being established. So let's discuss what those practices look like, as well as some major changes coming to some other documents that directly impact real estate transactions in the Greenville area.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Right now a lot of major news publications are generating headlines that would lead people to believe that the real estate market is crashing. The reality is that the market is contracting (there are fewer closings) but, in Greenville at least, we haven't yet seen prices go down to an unseasonal level. At least not yet. Let's dig into the numbers on where the market stands now that we have the GGAR's market stats for the month of January, 2023.
[Note: when referencing the number of closings for the month of January, I incorrectly stated that the numbers indicate that only about 750 realtors had closings last month. The correct number would've been 1,500, assuming a buyer's agent and a listing agent were on nearly every transaction, which is still an extremely low number.]
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Smart home systems have become a major part of every day life, from smart thermostats, to doorbell cameras, to smart locks, etc. But it's easy to compile a bunch of devices together from different "ecosystems" without taking full advantage of the voice control and "scenes" offered by Amazon Alexa, Apple Home (i.e., Siri), etc. So when I (Stan) moved this past year, I decided to rethink my smart home systems from the ground-up, and I decided to make everything compatible with Apple Home. How has it worked out so far? Let's discuss!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There are a lot big things in the works in the SC State House, ranging from potential state-wide allowances of Airbnbs to (finally) eliminating discriminatory deed restrictions, and everything in between. There is a lot happening that impacts real estate, and it's worth talking about!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Warren Buffet once said, "Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked." Well, according to a recent Bloomberg article (link below), the real estate tide has gone out, and now we see several iBuyers have been swimming naked. In Q4 one of the most prominent iBuyers, OpenDoor, lost money on at least 89% of its real estate transactions in Phoenix, AZ! On the flip side (no pun intended), local house flippers are still crushing it, nimbly adapting to the shifting market. As we discuss in this episode of Selling Greenville, it turns out that, when flipping houses, local knowledge trumps cutting edge technology.
Here is a link to the Bloomberg article, if you're interested in reading it. (There is a paywall, so if you want a PDF copy, I can send it to you! Just let me know; my contact information is below.) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-01-30/wall-street-is-losing-out-to-first-time-homebuyers-this-housing-slump?cmpid=BBD013023_MKT&leadSource=uverify%20wall
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The Homebuilders Association of Greenville held its annual Housing Market Forecast conference this past week, and there were plenty of interesting nuggets to take away from it. A few things that were discussed there were:
-The point at which higher mortgage rates dramatically impact buyer behavior
-Why and how the media inaccurately portrays real estate prices as going down.
-Why the real estate price increases of the past 2.5 years were a correction to the norm rather than a bubble
-Why government inventory numbers don't match the numbers that anyone else is publishing
-Why zoning laws have racist underpinnings that are still hurting us today
There's a lot more where that came from! So let's open up the notebook and talk about what was learned at this fascinating event.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Looking back at the final numbers published for 2022 by the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors, one thing becomes clear - we have to rethink how we evaluate market statistics. Some numbers are returning to "pre-pandemic norms," but it certainly doesn't feel like the pre-pandemic market did. In reality, we're entering another "new normal," and we have to adjust our thinking accordingly. One last look at the 2022 numbers will help bring that reality into focus.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Neighborhood and community amenities have been all the rage the past two years to the point that some are willing to sacrifice on home quality to be in a neighborhood that offers great amenities, such as a pool, common areas, sidewalks, playgrounds, etc. But at the end of the day, is there a way to actually quantify the impact that community amenities have on home prices? Not entirely, but a case study of two neighborhoods in Greer, SC gives us a little window into the nice home vs. nice community dynamic, with some twists and turns along the way.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Have we ever entered a new year with as much uncertainty about the real estate market as we do entering 2023? Certainly not since 2007-2009. Obviously, nobody knows what the new year will bring, but that doesn't mean that we can't speculate on what might happen. And so here are 10 bold predictions on what will happen in 2023, discussing everything from mortgage rates, to the pending recession, to foreclosure rates, to housing affordability in Greenville, SC.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The year 2022 was a tale of two very different half-years of real estate. In a few, short months, we went from tons of homes coming on the market each week and tons of people bidding on them to suddenly much fewer homes coming on the market and not nearly as many people making offers. This poses some challenges for predicting what 2023 will be like. Will we be going into recession? If so, how severe? Will mortgage rates continue to go up, will they stabilize, or will they come down? These are some important questions to consider, but at the end of the day, there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic for what 2023 holds for those buying and selling real estate in Greenville.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Wrapping up our mini-series overviewing the Greater Greenville area of SC, there are several important areas that deserve to be covered: Travelers Rest, Taylors, Mauldin, Piedmont/Powdersville, and Easley. The Upstate of SC is about so much more than the city of Greenville, and in this episode, we talk about all the areas that we haven't so far, discussing the perks, amenities, and potential downsides of living in each of them. Spartanburg even gets a shout out!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Similar to Greer, Simpsonville is a massive geographic area with a downtown, suburban areas (such as Five Forks), and plenty of rural areas. Greenville County's primary amphitheater, its only IMAX theater, and numerous other important parts of the county find their home within Simpsonville. And, of course, a lot of people find their home in Simpsonville because of how much it offers for residents. That being said, it's probably one of, if not the most controversial area of the Upstate, with some people saying it's "too busy" or "too far away from everything," among other worries. It's time to cut through the rumors and give Simpsonville a full episode treatment to overview it and discuss what people love (and perhaps don't love) about its four main sub-regions.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As we overview the various parts of the Upstate, the first that comes to mind outside of Greenville proper is Greer - a city located half in Greenville County and half in Spartanburg County. Previously an extremely rural part of the Upstate with a ho-hum downtown, Greer has been transformed the last 20 years into one of the Upstate's most desirable downtown and suburban areas, while still having plenty of rural areas left. Downtown Greer might not be too large, but Greer as a whole covers a large geographic area, with multiple sub-regions that have plenty to offer to their residents. As a result, more and more people moving to the Upstate are specifically looking to move to Greer.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Like any city, Greenville has numerous different residential areas and neighborhoods, each with their own "feel," price point, and amenities. In this episode, Stan breaks down these different areas to help those looking to move to (or within) Greenville better understand what to expect in the various neighborhoods within the Greenville metro area.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As I (Stan) reflect back on the past year or so of real estate in Greenville, it's easy to get overwhelmed by all the chaos. But there is much to be thankful for, and during this week of Thanksgiving, I want to do just that. And to be clear, more than anything, (at least when it comes to real estate) I'm thankful for you guys - my listeners and clients.
(Oh, and I also go on a little rant about Thanksgiving food at the end, for those who care.)
Happy Thanksgiving!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Looking at the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors' market stats for the month of October brings us to our first evidence of the real estate market returning to a pre-COVID norm: the number of homes on the market to end the month were comparable to 2017-2019. Common sense would indicate that number will increase, but is that what the data says? And are prices "going down" yet? We delve in to look at the most recent data and what it means for the Greenville RE market, whether you're a buyer, seller, or observer.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Several months ago I predicted that a lot of people overpricing their homes for sale would get left out in the cold. Well, those people are starting to shiver, as we see massive numbers of home sellers having to reduce the prices of their homes for sale. How does this compare historically to other markets, and what does it mean for those buying and selling real estate right now? That's the topic of this week's episode of Selling Greenville.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There are a lot of real estate investors (both in Greenville and elsewhere) who pose as high volume investors, when in reality they either only do part-time real estate investing or, in some cases, don't invest at all. Oftentimes these "investors" are looking to get something out of rookie real estate investors - trying to find an angle where they can look like an expert so that those looking to get into real estate investing ultimately come to them (and pay them) for a service of some sort. Because a lot of Selling Greenville listeners are rookie/prospective investors, we need to pull back the curtain and discuss how to identify some of the "not real ones" of real estate investing, so that you don't waste your time and money on them.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Home prices are going down in the US but not in Greenville (not yet, at least). Home prices were up 17.5% year-on-year for the month of September, which is shocking given the shifts occurring in the market, including soaring inventory, higher days on market, and lower percent of list price received. What does all this mean, and where is the real estate market headed in the upcoming months?
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
It's always interesting to hear what non-South Carolinians say about Greenville when they visit for the first time. Almost all of the visitor comments are positive, although everyone complains about the gross "palmetto bugs" that we have. Bugs aside, there is a lot to learn (and be reminded of) when it comes to Greenville by looking through the eyes of first-time visitors. So let's talk about 10 things visitors most frequently say when seeing the Upstate of SC for the first time!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Over the past 5 years, the cost of purchasing small multifamily properties in Greenville has doubled. So have rents kept up? And should we be concerned that there is a multifamily bubble that will soon burst?
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The weather in Greenville is mild compared to some parts of the US, but that doesn't mean that we are immune from bad storms. And with storms comes damage to houses, whether from flooding, from wind, from hail, etc. Sometimes the damages are covered by insurance, but many times it is not, and it's important to know what risks are out there, what you can do about them, and what might happen if you file a flood or homeowner's insurance claim.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As discussed last week, the real estate market is shifting and a "slowdown" is upon us. But one of the major quirks of the housing market the past two years is that seasonal slowdowns basically haven't happened, whereas in a normal market, things do slow down in the fall/winter. In other words, in a normal, healthy real estate market, housing prices go down during the fall/winter months, and then increase in the spring/summer, with a net increase year-on-year from one summer to the next. So as the market shifts, how can we tell if prices are decreasing in a healthy or unhealthy way? How much of what we see and will see in the future is seasonal or something else? Those are the questions we set out to explore in this week's episode of Selling Greenville.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As we've been saying for months now, big changes are coming to the real estate market, and those changes are finally upon us. Inventory numbers are now hovering just below pre-pandemic levels, percent of list price received is at it's lowest point since early 2021, and listings that were getting multiple offers in August aren't getting any offers in September (at least not immediately). So are prices "going down"? Not so fast, young Padawan (sorry for butchering the Star Wars quote). Price growth is still very high from a year-on-year perspective, even if it's not quite as high as it has been in prior months.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The story of how Stan got into Greenville real estate is a winding tale that goes from a teacher ruining his love for meteorology, to him getting a scholarship to study Bible at Bob Jones University, to him having a child within his first year of marriage, to him buying a frozen yogurt shop (and much more). The time has come to tell the full story.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Most people would rather not live in a community governed by a homeowner's association (HOA), but the vast majority of residential development in Greenville the past 20-30 years has been HOA communities. So what are the pros and cons of living in an HOA, and if you want to avoid HOAs, what do you need to do?
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
In June the SC Association of Realtors made major changes to the SCR310 - the most commonly used residential real estate contract form in the South Carolina (and Greenville). The inspection and repair section of the contract changed to "due diligence," and we covered those changes in detail in previous episodes of Selling Greenville, prior to it going into use. But now that it's been in use for several months, what impact has it had? And what can we expect moving forward? Spoiler: the changes have had a massive impact on how buyers and sellers approach offers and how, once under contract, the transaction moves forward.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
In early 2021, we looked at what happens when a home is listed for sale well below what it's worth. Well, a lot has happened since then, and in light of the shifting market, it's worth analyzing further whether underpricing a listing is a strategy worth exploring or not. Does the real estate market automatically correct for a house listed for less than it's worth, or do buyers risk losing money by underpricing their home when selling it?
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The Greater Greenville Association of REALTORS® published July's market stats the past week, and the numbers take us for a wild ride. Supply is up and demand is down, which usually indicates the market shifting in a buyer's direction. But the median sales price still soared to the highest it's ever been - a 19.8% year-on-year increase! What will it take for the market to actually see a cool down? That's the question we explore in this week's episode of Selling Greenville.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Figuring out what will happen in the future of real estate often involves reading the tea leaves of some of the reports released by the government, including those about how many jobs were added (or lost) in the past month, quarter, etc. This past week, July's jobs report was released, and, shockingly, a substantial number of jobs were added to the economy, further complicating the picture on what is happening today. Are we in a recession, is a recession coming, or are we years away from even saying the "r word"? And what does all this have to do with real estate? That's what we tackle in this week's episode of Selling Greenville.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The past two years we've seen a large influx of activity by corporations, whom some refer to as "iBuyers," buying and flipping houses in the Greenville area. Opendoor, Offer Pad, Zillow, etc. are just a few that have attempted or are still attempting to flip houses in Greenville. But how do they work, and what is it like dealing with them? And didn't one of them just get fined $62,000,000 by the FTC for "cheating" sellers? That's what Stan discusses in this week's episode.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There are a lot of misconceptions about real estate investing and the impact it has on the market. Some people complain that investors are basically solely responsible for home prices skyrocketing in recent years, and others think they haven't made that big of an impact, with a lot of opinions in between. Core Logic produced some great data (which you can see here) that shows that investment activity, particularly among "Mega investors" is at historical highs, highs which may be a "new normal." There is no doubt that this is impacting the market, but how much impact is it, and what does that mean moving forward? These are some of the questions that we explore in this episode of Selling Greenville.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Greenville real estate supply is going up, and demand is going down. But it is still very much a seller's market, as prices continue to soar, homes are selling above list price, and average days on market is at record lows. But there are plenty of indicators that tell us the market is cooling, and we should see the impact of that in the coming months.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Almost any mortgage in which the buyer doesn't pay a minimum 20% down payment has "mortgage insurance," typically referred to as PMI (or MIP). This is simply an additional fee that the lender requires you to pay until you reach 20% equity in your house. But the 20% equity is calculated based on what your home was worth when you obtained your mortgage. Guess what? The market has appreciated by 20% over the past year in Greenville, so almost anyone who purchased real estate over a year ago now has 20% or more equity in their home. Banks don't like it, but this gives you the opportunity to get your PMI dropped years before the bank is required to drop it. Don't believe it? I (Stan) got it dropped on my own home this year, fully four years ahead of schedule. And this episode of Selling Greenville is my story about it.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
People frequently ask how they can invest in real estate when they don't have enough money for a down payment to purchase any available properties. The answer is to think creatively and focus on other ways of "investing" in real estate that you either already own, that you own a very small piece of, or that other people own.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As we brace for the real estate market to shift over the upcoming months (and years), there are always lessons to be learned from the past. The past 15 years, we've really seen four dominant markets: the Great Recession market (2008-2011), the post-recession market (2012-2015), the pre-pandemic market (2016-mid-2020), and the pandemic market (mid-2020-now). What happens to the future real estate market is anyone's guess, but most likely some of what happened in the past will at least be sprinkled in, and so, in this episode of Selling Greenville, we discuss these past markets and how they compare to the current one.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
This past week, SC had primary elections, which take on special significance for local elections, since those are often decided at the primary level. Specifically, there were four Greenville County Council elections, and each of them yielded a result that seemed to unequivocally point to Greenville residents being "done" with real estate development in the Upstate. With Greenville County set to increase in population by over 40% in the next 18 years, the anti-development focus we are seeing is likely to cause a major ripple effect both now and down the road.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The Greater Greenville Association of Realtors just published its monthly "Market Stats" for June 2022, and even though there are signs of the market rebalancing, the month of May still had record highs for sales price, percent of list price received, and days on market. And this trend looks like it will continue throughout the summer as well. No cool down in sight (yet), no relief for buyers (yet), and plenty of good news for sellers (for now).
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
In March 2020, the COVID pandemic hit the US and shut down the world economy, and we had no idea what it would do to the real estate market. Many thought it would cause housing to collapse, but the opposite ended up happening. In hindsight, what happened made sense, but in the moment, nobody had any clue that a pandemic would fuel the craziest real estate frenzy of our lifetime. Fast forward 2 years and 3 months, and we find ourselves in a similar situation. With rapid inflation, a war being waged by Russia in Ukraine, rising mortgage rates, and many other factors directly or indirectly weighing into the housing market, it would appear that we are poised for a slowdown. And even though a slowdown is inevitable (and appears to already be happening based on several indicators) not all indicators point in the same direction, and not all experts agree on what those indicators even mean for the next 1-2 years. So what is actually happening right now, in June 2022, in the Greenville area, and what does it mean for the next year or more of local real estate? That's the topic Stan attempts to tackle in this week's episode of Selling Greenville.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Real estate investors are constantly making mistakes. We never get everything 100% right. Some deals will be bad, some contractors we use will make mistakes, some partners we work with will try to undercut us, etc. But there are some mistakes that can be avoided by shifting your mindset to better understand the market, by avoiding the temptation to have a scarcity mindset when it comes to building a team, by focusing more on a long term projections than short term problems with a property, etc. By identifying some of these common mistakes, all those aspiring (or even who are experienced) real estate investors can perfect their craft and make a killing in any market.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The contract/purchase agreement that the vast majority of buyers in Greenville use is about to change. The "Repair Procedure" of SCR Form 310 will soon be no more, and in June (2022), buyers will only have the option of inspecting a home under a "due diligence" period. That would sound like a buyer-friendly option because during a due diligence period, a buyer can back out for any reason without it being considered defaulting on the contract. But when backing out, buyers may have to pay a termination fee, and depending on whether the market is more of a seller's market or buyer's market, that fee could be tremendously high or nothing at all. All that said, the way real estate contracts in Greenville are structured is about to change dramatically, and no one is exactly sure how it will all play it.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The market is shifting, with more homes coming on the market but fewer going under contract and fewer closings. Is it shifting to a buyer's market? No, not yet at least. In fact, looking at the numbers for April (which the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors just released), some of the numbers are more seller friendly than we've ever seen! But there are indicators that that won't continue, at least not at the pace that it has the past year. For now, we still have a strong seller's market, but some sellers are already starting to get caught off-guard by some of the shifts that are happening and will continue to happen throughout the rest of the year.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There's always a new home improvement project waiting to be done, and as we all know, they can be expensive. Unfortunately, many people end up getting ripped off when making home improvements, spending even more money than they need to and often paying for things they don't need and/or that will hurt the value of their home. There are a ton of scams and rip-offs that companies involved with very specific home improvements are known to do, particularly when it comes to things the average person isn't very knowledgeable about, such as mold/moisture issues, roofing, solar, etc. In this episode of Selling Greenville, we discuss five of these home improvement rip-offs and how to avoid them.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There is a common refrain about mobile homes that they "depreciate in value" due to the fact that they start out classified as motor vehicles before being affixed to land, and there's an element of truth to this when we're talking about mobile home parks. But what many forget when it comes to a single mobile home (as opposed to MH parks) is that even if it were to depreciate in value, the land it is on continues to appreciate in value. Not only that, but because the mobile home improves the land, it actually causes the land to appreciate at a faster rate than vacant land without a home on it. So in the end, what many mean when they say that a mobile home "depreciates in value" is actually more myth than fact, and there are scores of examples of mobile homes that have shown steady price appreciation over the years.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Every year the real estate market heats up in the Spring, with more people listing their homes, more people buying homes, prices going up faster than normal, etc. In Greenville, we've had a gradual build up the past few months that really has picked up dramatically the past week, with substantially more homes coming onto the market than previous weeks. In 2021, it was around this time that the real estate market went from absurd to insane, with many local real estate records being shattered from the month of April and continuing through now. So what will happen this year with the added uncertainties of increasing mortgage rates, constant supply chain issues, and some major changes about to happen to the SCR contract that most real estate transactions utilize? In this episode of Selling Greenville, Stan discusses seven predictions he has for the upcoming months of real estate and what they mean for those buying and selling in 2022.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We ended last year with an episode about "the cost of waiting" that discussed how much more expensive real estate would likely be for those who waited until 2023 to purchase housing vs. purchasing at the beginning of 2022. My prediction was right - real estate, between price increases and mortgage rate increases - is getting more expensive. What I didn't anticipate, however, was that it would only take 3 months, not an entire year, for us to see such a dramatic shift. It now shockingly costs 26% more per month to buy an average home in the Greater Greenville area than it did in January - an increase unlike anything I've ever see. And nobody can predict what will happen next.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
This year is a big one for state and local elections, and many of the candidates have real estate concerns front and center. Infrastructure, growth, housing affordability, gentrification, and property tax concerns make up just a handful of the topics that are being fiercely debated within Greenville and within the state of SC, and this is reflected in the campaigns of many of those who are running for Greenville county council and the state house. So what are their concerns, some of the solutions being discussed, and the potential ramifications for real estate in the Upstate? That's the topic of this episode of Selling Greenville.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
When purchasing real estate, there are no "dumb questions" per se, but there are a lot of questions buyers like to ask that aren't usually going to reveal helpful answers. Some of these questions are an attempt to shortcut the due diligence process. Some are questions that have obvious answers. And some are questions that sellers or agents won't or can't fully answer. Let's talk about 10 of the least helpful questions to ask when buying real estate and what you can ask (or ascertain without asking) in the place of them.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
With mortgage rates going up, record inflation, threats of war, etc. people are openly asking: what needs to happen for the housing market to experience a crash like it did in 2008? We've discussed some of that in other episodes, but in this episode, we compare the current housing climate to what the housing climate was in 2007, to try to determine how similar or different the markets are and what it would take for a repeat of 2008.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
In a normal real estate market, you can generally predict whether sales will go up or down based on the number of homes under contract. December 2021 and January 2022, fewer homes went under contract than did in December 2020 and January 2021. So logically, we had fewer closings in January/February 2022 vs. January/February 2021, right? Wrong. Substantially more homes sold in January/February 2022 despite there being fewer new contracts, and that trend is fairly consistent for the past nine months. What is causing this pattern, and what does it mean for those buying or selling real estate in 2022? That's what this episode of the Selling Greenville podcast attempts to tackle.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
In the "good ole days" (pre-COVID), those buying a house in the Upstate of SC with all cash could generally expect a discount - to not have to pay "full price" in contrast to those making offers contingent on financing. But as cash closings have come to dominate a larger percentage of closings than we've ever seen and with inventory at historically low levels, the conventional wisdom of the past is no longer true. Looking at the data from the past four years, we find that buying a house with cash still gives you an advantage (but not necessarily a discount) - the advantage of actually having a shot at winning bidding wars and getting a house at all.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The Greater Greenville area was once a thriving mill community, with many water-powered mills throughout the Upstate spurring on a strong, blue-collar economy. But as the economy changed, the mills went into disuse and then disrepair, with the result that many of our vibrant "mill villages" got left behind. In recent years, however, developers have found great opportunity in converting the old Upstate mills into lofts, commercial spaces, shopping areas, etc., and this has resulted in many of the mill areas being greatly revitalized. And Piedmont, once a town that was centered around two mills, is the next city in the crosshairs of developers and ready to be redeveloped and revitalized.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Pretty much any major crisis impacts real estate, and war is no exception. In March of 2022, we're experiencing some major unrest in Eastern Europe, and it's already starting to impact the housing market. Is the impact exclusively bad? Not necessarily, but there are several potential outcomes that we could see this year in real estate, as a direct result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which is likely to directly impact mortgage rates, housing inventory, and an already strained supply chain.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We've been talking for multiple years now about low inventory driving the real estate frenzy, and it appears we're going to keep talking about that in 2022! Add to that the fact that prices are still going up and that mortgage rates are hovering around their highest point since 2019, and it's not hard to see that the early indications are that this is going to be another nutty year of real estate.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There is a common saying in real estate that you should "never buy the most expensive house in a neighborhood." Unfortunately, with the market being as feverish as it is, many people have no choice when moving but to buy the most expensive home in a given neighborhood. So what are the considerations for making such a purchase? Is it an automatic death sentence to your home's longterm value if you buy at the top of the market for that neighborhood? Or are there some situations where you might actually be saving money by purchasing the most expensive home in a neighborhood?
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The standard contract used in most residential real estate transactions in the Upstate may be about to see massive changes to the inspection/repairs language. The South Carolina Association of Realtors is discussing removing the "Repair Procedure" section from the contract, meaning that, unless they came up with another solution, contracts would either be very skewed towards a seller or a buyer, since Repair Procedure was intended to be the middle ground. If this happens, it will cause major tremors throughout local real estate, with massive ramifications to how offers are made and what repairs a seller may be liable for during a transaction. In this episode of Selling Greenville, we discuss some of that and what it could mean for the future of real estate dealings in Greenville. (You may also want to listen to Episode 26 in advance of listening to this one, to make sure you understand what the Repair Procedure is.)
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We all know that real estate prices in Greenville have skyrocketed in recent years, but how does that compare to other markets in the US? Some people have expressed concerns that Greenville will become so expensive that it will no longer be cheaper than other major markets. But is that what the data says? Or is it possible that Greenville is still remaining more affordable than the competition when you compare rates of appreciation across the board? Well, let's look at the data to find out!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Not all real estate stories are success stories. There are times when people leave money on the table - sometimes a lot of money. And one of the wildest examples of that just happened recently in the Upstate, when someone sold a house FSBO (for sale by owner) for $550,000 less than it was worth! All it took was a single phone call that would've made them half-a-million dollars richer, but the phone stayed in their pocket, and the money went to someone else.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The Greater Greenville area saw the entire real estate market appreciate substantially in 2021, but some specific areas saw the median price point of real estate sales increase by substantially more (or less) than the average. One area even saw the median price point decrease by over 13% in 2021 when compared to 2020! In this episode, Stan looks at these markets and gives his thoughts on why some over-performed or under-performed the rest of the Upstate of SC in 2021.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
What happens when you combine a late (and low appraisal) that mandates multiple thousands of dollars of cosmetic work needing to be done, with a lender that's about to go out of business and won't be able to close on the house if the closing extends beyond December 30, with a transaction that's somehow got to go through rushed underwriting, multiple days worth of repairs, a reinspection on an appraisal with the appraiser out of town, a rushed appraisal review by the lender, and getting all that done over the holidays? That's how 2021 ended in a fitting conclusion to a crazy year.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We all know that the costs to buy a home have gone up tremendously the past two years, but what about the costs to rent? It stands to reason that renting has also gotten more expensive in recent years, but not all is as it appears. In this episode, we look at a hot neighborhood in Greer, SC that has had a lot of properties sold and rented the past few years and analyze how the last 6 months of 2021 compared to 2019 in terms of the costs to buy and rent within that neighborhood. Some of the results are surprising!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Sometimes it's not the right time to make a move, but there's no inherent virtue in waiting. Some are asking, "Should I wait until the market slows down?" and while none of us enjoy moving in an intense real estate market, there is also a real cost in waiting. Home prices continue to increase at record levels, which also impact downstream costs like property taxes, PMI, etc., and simultaneously, the Fed has indicated there will be increases mortgage interest rates. All of these things together add up for a substantial increase in cost (and lower buying power for most people) even if you wait a single year to make your move.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As we enter the last days of 2021, we see the Greenville real estate market still plunging ahead with low days on market, high percentage of list price received, and record-breaking prices. What does all this mean? Can the market sustain this pace? Is a slowdown coming? Will real estate prices stabilize or potentially even go down in 2022? We dig into some of the data in this week's episode of Selling Greenville.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
In real estate, sometimes a transaction goes sideways, and the parties (usually the sellers in particular) have to decide whether to simply let the transaction fall apart or whether to fight to keep it together. The best course of action is to get out in front of this before ever going under contract, and when selling a property, there are ways that we can "read the tea leaves" about a buyer to try to determine whether that buyer is one that is likely to actually close on the property or not. But what do we do when all else fails, and we find ourselves with a contract that's about to fall apart? That's what this week's episode of Selling Greenville is all about!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Sometimes real estate agents speak in code. We all have something in mind when a listing says, "hidden gem" or "handyman special," but what do those phrases really mean when realtors say them? In this episode, we have a little fun and discuss some of the common phrases used in listings and translate them into what they (humorously) actually mean.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
In Episode 72 we discussed the process of selling a package of 15 condos in Greenville. Well, a lot has happened since then because that contract fell through! It turns out that a deal like this almost exclusively must be sold to a local buyer using a local lender, but you'd be surprised by how many realtors (and even lenders!) don't realize this. The good news is a creative way to sell these condos was found, and in due time, they will all be sold. But there were some lessons learned along the way.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Thanksgiving is nearly upon us! We'd be remiss not to have a "thankfulness" episode, and what better to be thankful for than Greenville! In this episode, we discuss eight things that set Greenville apart and are worthy of thanks for those of us living here.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We never know when the next recession or economic depression might be upon us, and as a result, people are constantly fretting that it might happen tomorrow. This has been even more the case the past year as a result of the pandemic, various things happening in (and caused by) the government, and with the way home prices are soaring. So it's worth considering: which properties are the ones that have the best chance of withstanding a recession and not losing a huge chunk of their value? In this episode of Selling Greenville, we discuss 5 of them and why they should theoretically retain their value better in a recession than others.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
An antiquated process. A little taste of the "Old South." A list of 1,200 properties to analyze. A packed out room with tons of money flowing through it. A flirty, chatty lady next to me in the auction. A dollar store building that sold for $1.625M. And a $600,000 property that sold for $35,000. The 2021 Greenville County tax sale had a little bit of everything, and this episode gives you a little peak behind the curtain of what the experience was like.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
For all the progress we've made as a society, we still have a homelessness problem. There are public and private entities that exist to try to end homelessness, but at the end of the day, even with government assistance and a stable job, it can be close to impossible for someone who is homeless to get into a home, particularly if they have a past record of substance abuse, crime, etc. Is there anything we can do about it? Yes, there is, but tackling the problem will take the real estate community coming together to solve it. In this episode, we discuss one (of the many) problems causing homelessness as well as one of many possible solutions that could potentially help put a dent in homelessness in the Greenville area.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Most homeowners improve their homes over the years by updating things, changing cosmetic items, removing walls, purchasing new appliances, installing pools, etc. There is a common assumption that when they go to sell their home, they will get back dollar-for-dollar what they put into the home. By and large that assumption is false. There are some improvements that disproportionately add value to a home, but when looking at the meta data, most improvements get you less in terms of value than the amount that you initially put in. And if you over-improve your home, you'll find that you get dramatically less value from those improvements than what they cost you. So in this week's episode of Selling Greenville, we discuss the impact of improving and over-improving your home and some of the things to consider when making those all-important home updates.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Home warranties are polarizing - some people won't buy a house without one. Others have terrible opinions of them. Most realtors will recommend them dozens (perhaps hundreds) of times over their careers without ever actually using one themselves. However, I (Stan) decided to put my money where my mouth was and purchased a home warranty last year to see what it would be like. The result? It was a terrible experience and one that is worth documenting in detail in this episode of Selling Greenville. I will never view home warranties the same after this experience.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There are lot of people trying to learn how to invest in real estate for the first time, and you can identify the "newbies" immediately by the questions they ask and by how they approach real estate in general. It's not easy to learn to think like an experienced investor when you don't have experience, but there are some general principles that new investors can apply to their mindset to learn how to "punch above their weight" in the RE investing space. So in this episode of Selling Greenville, we discuss the differences in mindset between the novice real estate investors and the experienced ones, with the goal of some novice investors learning to think more like the experienced ones.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Trust me - you don't want to buy a house sight unseen, and most people will never even be put in a situation where they could. But there are some unique situations, particularly for investors, where sight unseen types of purchases present the best opportunities. So what can you do to minimize the risk of buying something as large and expensive as a house without first seeing it? In this week's episode of Selling Greenville, we discuss some ways to assess a property without ever stepping foot inside of it.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
With the real estate market being as competitive as it is, many buyers find themselves having to waive contingencies to get an offer accepted. One of the most controversial of these is the inspection contingency. Technically, you always have a right to inspect (at least when using the standard "Form 310" contract that Realtors in Greenville use), but if you check the "as is" box, you are stating that you won't ask the seller to make repairs and can't back out based on the condition of the property. That probably sounds way too risky to most buyers, but when you break it down, there are some situations where it's not as risky as others. Regardless, it's not recommended, but at the end of the day, it's a powerful tool that buyers should be aware that they have, in the event that they feel comfortable enough with the risks in order to make a stronger play for a property.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There is a lot of muted panic right now over whether the real estate market has slowed down. The truth is that yes, it has slowed down, but the full reality is that this slowdown was both predictable and is (arguably) healthy. The real estate market is shifting but it's doing so slowly and seasonally and does not appear to be swinging drastically in a way that will cause a recession, mass foreclosures, etc. That's what the data says, at least, and that's what this episode of Selling Greenville is about! So stop panicking and listen!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Thanks to various house flipping shows and the fact that we've had nearly 10 years of a seller's market, pretty much anyone and everyone thinks they can flip a house. As a result, there are a lot of homes being remodeled by people who have never done a house remodel before. Oftentimes, these novices think you can just replace flooring and paint and then sell a home for $50,000 more than you bought it for. Unfortunately, however, what frequently happens in these situations is that major problems with the house are overlooked, and many of these things won't be caught until a buyer goes under contract to purchase the house and starts having inspections done. But there are some things to look for that can help you quickly determine if a house flip was done the right way or not, and this is the topic of this week's episode of Selling Greenville!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
"Should I become a REALTOR?" It's a question those of us in the industry get quite a bit, and some take offense to it. Taking offense to the question might be excessive, but we do need to be honest about what the job entails and what it doesn't, for those who have considered getting into it. After all, 90% of licensed real estate agents are out of the industry within 5 years, so it isn't quite as simple as many seem to believe. So in this episode of Selling Greenville, we discuss what you need to consider if you're thinking about a career as a real estate agent - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Greenville - both the County and the City - have "clipboard warriors" going around and looking for people who are doing work on homes without getting the work permitted. This might seem like a good thing, but oftentimes it does more harm than good. One person recently revealed that he was fined $25,000 and made to write letters to people he had sold homes to in order to let them know he hadn't permitted the work done on their homes! Permitting doesn't cost that much money - it's just an annoyance (it forces you to use a licensed contractor, among other things), and it's just another way the local government can snoop on what we're doing. But it's one of those things we have to live with in the real estate world, so it's best we learn a little about it. And that's what this episode of Selling Greenville is about!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Bigger homes always sell for more money than smaller homes, right? In some ways, yes, but in some ways no. More specifically, when it comes to assessing the longterm investment potential of a home, it's a major error to assume that a bigger home is a better investment than a smaller one. Oftentimes in the long run the exact opposite is true. Smaller homes are some of the best real estate investments out there because, when the time comes around to sell, buyers are usually ok with having a little less space if they get the other things they need and appraisers favor small houses in the way that they adjust their "comps." And let's not forget that while you live in a small home the on-going expenses tend to be a lot less than it would be in a larger home. There's a lot to consider here, and in this episode of Selling Greenville we dissect all these factors to help you be more informed on how the size of your home impacts its longterm value.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Owning a short term rental (such as a property marketed and "rented" via Airbnb) is a completely different experience and process than owning a long term rental, but many people don't fully understand how different it really is. A short term rental is more like a business, with more overhead, more work, and (hopefully) more income. But the differences don't just end there - from HOA and city regulations, to the protections offered against a bad guest/tenant, to the flow of money and needs for reserves, etc., these two rental strategies differ at just about every juncture. And so in this episode, we dig into these differences to discuss the pros and cons of renting short term vs. long term.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Politics fueled by COVID has turned the world of real estate investing upside-down. Is it a great time to buy rental properties and park your money as a safe-haven against hyper-inflation and a potential economic bubble being created? Or is it a terrible time to be a landlord as the federal, state, and local governments all continue to make it difficult to be a landlord? Two factions have emerged the past year with very difficult perspectives on real estate investing, and in this episode we evaluate each of them.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There have been whispers within the real estate community that a slowdown has happened in recent months. Things are still pretty crazy, but the data does, in fact, show us that things slowed down this summer - a lot, actually. It's hard to draw any major conclusions from this because the slowdown could be seasonal, it could be from "buyer fatigue," or it could be something bigger than that (such as a market correction). So we can't draw any major conclusions, but perhaps we can draw one: it's the best time we've seen in a while to buy real estate in the Upstate, and the best month of the year to buy is yet to come. Listen to this 20 minute episode for the full scoop!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We've had an insane string of difficult appraisals recently. We're not just talking about low appraisals. We're talking about appraisers not accepting jobs, not scheduling their appraisals, mischeduling them, not getting us the appraisal until the day of closing, etc. It's been ridiculous, and it's what happens when you have an industry where people have more work than they can handle but very little accountability or performance standards. We've all experienced it at places like the DMV, and unfortunately, a lot of us are experiencing it with appraisers, who have limited accountability but have far more work than they can handle. In this episode, Stan breaks down the challenges being faced in transactions where appraisals are causing constant issues to give you an idea of what is going on behind the scenes in a 2021 real estate transaction in the Upstate.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Remarkably, despite having quite a few rental properties, Stan has never had to go to eviction court. Until this week. Yes, the streak of not attending an eviction court finally ended, and it was certainly a revealing experience. Did the judge rule in Stan's favor or in favor of the fake tenant who arrived in a new BMW but claims she can't pay rent or afford a moving truck? Check out this (short) episode to find out!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
It's not often that you see a package of 15 condos in Greenville appear on the MLS for all to see, but that's exactly what Stan did in the month of June. And he lived to tell us the tale! In this episode, Stan discusses some of the key takeaways from this unique listing and what insights it gives us into the real estate investing market, not just in Greenville but throughout the US.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Each of us thinks of something slightly different when we think of a "luxury home," but when you really start to look at what's on the market in the Greater Greenville area, you find that the luxury housing market is extremely unique. To say it another way, there are a lot of "dirty secrets" out there that most people don't realize when it comes to purchasing some of the more expensive homes in the Greenville area. In this episode of Selling Greenville, Stan discusses some of these "dirty secrets" and what it means for those looking to purchase luxury housing.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Purchasing new construction can be a great option for many people that are looking for a house that hasn't been lived in or that they can customize, but there tends to be a lot of confusion about new construction. As a result, there are a lot of things you shouldn't do when it comes to buying a new build, and in this episode, Stan focuses on several mistakes buyers typically make that you need to get out in front of and avoid if you ever consider building a new home.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There is a lot of negotiation that happens in a real estate transaction, but sometimes the hardest is having to "negotiate" with those closest to you. Unfortunately, rarely do spouses, partners, or children and parents see eye-to-eye on what everyone's real estate needs and wants are and whether they can be afforded. Naturally, as a result of this disagreement, a negotiation of sorts ensues between family members. What's the best way to navigate this very personal negotiation? In this episode, Stan discusses a few ways to approach communicating and finding middle ground with your spouse, partner, etc. in the home-buying process.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
It may feel hopeless buying in a seller's market, but it's not. There are a ton of "bidding wars" and "multiple offer situations," but there are tried and true ways to win them. In this episode, Stan discusses how to manipulate the SCR310 contract form to make your offers more attractive with the goal of coming out on top in a "bidding war" type of scenario.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The real estate market hasn't cooled off at all. If anything, it's gotten crazier, and there are very few signs it will get better (for buyers) any time soon. At least, that's what it feels like. But what does the data say? In this episode, Stan discusses why real estate in Greenville has gotten even more difficult to purchase lately as buyers engage in an arms race with each other, where we are now compared to 2020 and 2019, and what the data (and experts) say about what to expect for the rest of this year into 2022.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Buyers immediately backing out after signing everything. Neighbors getting (angrily) woken up to loud alarms for hours on end. HOAs not doing repairs they are required to do. Lenders being changed multiple times mid-transaction. Appraisers having to be broken into the property via a locksmith. Underwriters rejecting appraisals and HOA financials. Contractors being cussed out by neighbors and threatening to leave the job site unfinished. Does this sound like every possible bad thing that could happen when selling a house? Because it all happened (and much more!) in one recent real estate transaction. Stan outlines what ended up being "the listing from hell," mostly thanks to unresponsive lenders and lax buyers, in the longest (but perhaps most entertaining) episode yet of Selling Greenville.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Which is more valuable: a house flip that brings you $50,000 or one that brings you $13,000? Well that's easy - the one that brings in more money! But what if the $50,000 house flip took a year to get your money and involved weeks of your sweat equity, whereas the $13,000 one took 5 hours of your time, and you had the money in hand within 10 days of having purchased the property to begin with?
Time is valuable as well, and we need to account for it some way, somehow in a real estate transaction. In this episode Stan presents a new formula to analyze a real estate transaction, not just from a money standpoint, but also from a time standpoint. Spoiler: the formula is (Net profit / personal hours spent on/at property) - (3 * days property is held). Try to get over a 1,000 score on all your house flips! And listen to this episode of Selling Greenville for more details.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There are a gazillion formulas out there for how to value a real estate transaction. The 70% rule. The 1% rule. This rule. That rule. But you know what pretty much none of them account for? Time. A transaction (such as a house flip) that doesn't fit any of the usual money metrics but that doesn't take much time from the person doing it should be considered more valuable (and vice versa)! And so, in part 1 of this two-part series, Stan discusses a way to account for time in real estate transactions by giving values to four factors: Enjoyment Factors, Stress Factors, Negative Lifestyle Factors, and Missed Opportunities Factors.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
One of the hardest parts of doing a real estate transaction is knowing who to trust when you're dealing with so many different parties - lenders, realtors, inspectors, appraisers, contractors, etc. In this episode of Selling Greenville, Stan breaks down five questions he's learned to ask himself about people he's dealing with in real estate. The answers to these questions go a long way in helping you determine whether a person you're dealing with is trustworthy or not.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There is some trepidation that the current real estate market feels like it did in 2006-07, right before it burst, sending the US (and entire world) into a prolonged recession. While there are some similarities to the current market and what we saw 15 years ago, there are more dissimilarities. Whereas there was a lot of easy bank money flowing before the housing market crash of 2008 and many people biting off more mortgage than they could chew, in 2021, the banks have tightened up quite a bit and much of the growth in the market is coming in the form of cash that buyers are bringing to closing. That makes a big difference in terms of what's happening now vs. 15 years ago. In this episode, Stan discusses those and other differences in the 2021 real estate market and what it means for you as a potential real estate buyer or seller.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Homeowner's insurance companies exist for one reason: to make money. Guess what happens when they don't make as much money as they expect, whether due to increased storm activity, civil unrest, etc.? They start making changes to their policies, and oftentimes, those changes aren't good for the policy-holders. Low and behold, as the Greater Greenville area has had an influx the past couple years of bad storms, we've started to see insurance companies start to make changes to their policies that aren't at all good for those of us who live here. In this episode of Selling Greenville, Stan discusses some of those changes and what it could mean for you.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We are outcome-oriented people. We set goals for our money, health, family, and yes, real estate, and we try to achieve those goals. But often we don't because focusing on a goal doesn't help you achieve the goal. What does help? Focusing on processes - improvements that you can make every month/week/day that help you reach the point where the outcome (or goal) is attainable. For real estate investors and even for those who at some point plan to buy or sell their own home, this is an invaluable way of thinking, and once you "get it down," you'll find that it completely changes the way you think about real estate. And that's what this week's episode of Selling Greenville is all about!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
You've probably heard that the "real estate market is crazy," but what does that actually mean? What do the numbers say? In this week's (short!) episode of Selling Greenville, Stan dives into the Greenville MLS's numbers to dissect what is going on the market. And yes, it's still crazy! But don't let that discourage you from making the move you need to make.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
If you've ever considered buying land to build on, there are several things to think through, from how to finance (and potentially refinance) the land, to looking at the zoning and deed restrictions, to ensuring that you have the right contractor in place for when you build, etc. In this episode, Stan discusses the land-buying process from a "30,000 foot view" to explain the major parts of the process where there are frequent misconceptions when people are looking to purchase land.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Every real estate transaction requires a team, which can include lenders, inspectors, contractors, appraisers, attorneys, etc. You might have a lender that offers a competitive rate, but what if other aspects about that lender cause concern for the seller, resulting in them accepting another offer instead of yours? A competitive rate or special lender incentives are worthless if you don't get the house! In this market where every small advantage can be the difference between you getting or not getting a house, that's a very real concern, there are many other considerations in addition to that. So in this episode, Stan discusses some of the below-the-radar things to look for in your real estate team to make sure you set yourself up for success in your real estate transactions.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The US Treasury recently made an amendment that now dramatically restricts how much lending Fannie Mae can do on second homes and investment/rental properties. Does the Treasury see something bad coming down the road? And what does this mean for us now in 2021? We are left with more questions than answers, but there is much to consider with this new development, and anyone interested in real estate investing should be aware of it. And that's what this week's episode is about!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Three organizations (including the SC Association of Realtors) put their heads together to look at the property tax situation in SC. The long story short is that the property tax structure down here is both convoluted and unfair to renters, landlords, and manufacturing businesses. Unfortunately, fixing the property tax issues would require a complete overhaul of the state tax code. That's the bad news. The good news? We have people in government right now who are listening and open to reforming the tax code and making property taxes more equitable to everyone. Listen to this episode for more information!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We know what happens when you overprice your home (which Stan discussed in Episode 40), but what happens when you underprice it? In this short episode, Stan looks at the data from the past 6 months to get a sense for what the market does when a home is underpriced.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
When most people think of "Poe Mill," they think of an area just north of downtown Greenville where a '90s-style skate park is surrounded by a decrepit mill and many old mill houses. However, that's all about to change, as a developer is poised to renovate the mill, and as several other spaces in the Poe Mill area are prepared for renovation. Is Poe Mill the next "big thing" in Greenville? And what does this mean for those who currently live in that area? Stan covers a lot in this jam-packed episode.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We have a housing affordability problem in the Upstate of SC, and it's not going away any time soon. But the depth of the problem goes far beyond the simple "supply and demand" issues that we are all aware of when it comes to housing. Even developers and builders that want to help in the area of affordable housing run into issues of red tape, etc. when it comes to providing inexpensive homes for those who need it most. In this short episode, Stan revisits some of the most recent data on the housing affordability problems in the Greater Greenville area and what it means for those living there.
If you want more info, feel free to check out the Greenville Journal article Stan references in this episode by clicking here.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
I frequently hear people say they are trying to time the market, usually saying they intend to wait to make a purchase - whether for an investment property or a house to move into - until the market "dies down" or flips to a buyer's market. We all want to "buy low and sell high," but that's easier said than done. Most of the time, utilizing a strategy of waiting for the market to flip backfires, but there are some ways to think about timing the market without falling prey to some of the fallacies of treating the real estate market like the stock market. That's what we discuss in today's episode.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Episode 50, my 35th birthday, and my 5th anniversary as a Realtor all converge this week, making for a very special time of reflection as I consider five of the most important lessons I've learned over my life, particularly when it comes to real estate. These are "big picture" lessons that have broad application, but they have revolutionized my thinking, both in terms of how I approach buying and selling real estate but also how I approach my career as a real estate professional.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
One of the trickiest questions for me to answer is, "What should I offer on this property?" At the end of the day, determining the value of a home is just as much of an art as it is a science, but there are some methods, both objective and subjective, that can help determine a property's value to a buyer. In this episode, I discuss the three most common and basic ways that I think about property values and what that means to you as a potential home/property buyer.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
When people think of what makes a good realtor, they often think about about how personable the realtor is, how available s/he is, how good at negotiation they are, etc. But some of the most crucial criteria for determining a good realtor are common overlooked, such as their organizational system or ability to project the potential of a property. In this episode, I discuss six of these often overlooked values that a good realtor provides, and give some good and bad examples that I've seen in my career.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
One of the biggest mistakes people make when assessing real estate is to rule out a property because of its perceived weaknesses. Why is that such a big mistake? Because oftentimes the greatest opportunities to add value to a property actually lie in that property's greatest weaknesses! Converting those weaknesses into strength disproportionately add value to the property while simultaneously availing you of a marketing strategy the competition likely won't be able to utilize, regardless of whether you're renting, selling, etc. Want to learn more? Tune into this week's episode!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Whether you're a renter, homeowner, or real estate investor, we all need tools to help us in everyday life. Over the years, I've learned that there are some tools that you simply shouldn't skimp on, and you'd be AMAZED the difference it makes to go into a job, home rehab, etc. with a slightly better toolkit than without. In this episode I discuss six tools that I've learned are not the ones to attempt to save money on - these six simply require you to open up the wallet and splurge a little more than your parents did.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
"This doesn't feel right" is probably something that you've told yourself before. That's a feeling we all get from time-to-time. It's our gut - the instinct we develop that is informed by our past experiences - talking to us subconsciously! But our gut can be wrong, or at least misinformed, and when it comes to real estate, we have to teach ourselves where it is wrong and help to educate it. Making the wrong decision when buying or selling a house can cost you thousands of dollars (or a missed opportunity)! How do you do know when your gut is wrong and how do you educate it? That's what we discuss in this episode!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
This past year was easily the most challenging of my real estate career. It seems like every transaction had some little twist or turn that made it more difficult than expected. But in the end, it was a good year, and in this episode, I give you a behind-the-scenes glance at what my life as a realtor was like the past year. Tune in to this final episode of 2020 for five stories from deals that happened this year that were all a success but had some unexpected chaos along the way.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As we approach the end of the year, it's easy to think about how trying 2020 was, but I'd rather focus on the positive. There is a lot that I'm grateful for from the past year, and in this episode, I discuss five things that come to mind when I think about 2020, particularly from a real estate standpoint. This is a bit of a more personal episode than some of my past recordings, but I hope it gives you a hopeful focus as we look towards the New Year.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
This past week, I was a part of a live zoom meeting that allowed me to correspond with Dr. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. He gave some incredible insight into what he expects to happen in the real estate market (both nationally and locally) in the upcoming year and how that compares to what happened this past year (and in previous years). In this episode, I open up my notebook to discuss what I learned from him as well what we can gather from the recently released GGAR November statistics for our area. I'll say this: I'm even more excited about 2021 now than I was a week ago.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Did you know that most appraisers in Greenville give basement homes a fraction of the value of what they deserve? It's true, and it causes issues for sellers trying to sell basement homes, while potentially delivering great value to buyers trying to buy them. However, the increasingly prevalent low appraisals that come in for homes with finished basements are frustrating to those of us operating within the marketplace everyday who know their true value in the open market. Why do appraisers undervalue these homes, and what is the true value of a nice, finished basement? I discuss all of that in this week's episode, which I am dubbing a rare RANT.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There is a science behind determining the value of a home, but not everyone agrees, once the home value has been determined, how high or low the list price should be set at. Any good realtor will tell you that it's a terrible strategy to overprice a listing, but sometimes a realtor's gut can be misleading. Today we crunch numbers from the past three months of real estate closings to determine what the real impact of overpricing your home really is. Spoiler: the data shows that overpricing your home almost always causes you to lose both time and money - and quite a bit of it.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
I've negotiated hundreds of real estate deals over the years, and I've learned that although each one is different, there are some tactics that generally work and others that usually don't when it comes to negotiating a deal. Additionally, each transaction has multiple times when you have to negotiate, and any one of these negotiation points can derail a transaction. In this episode, I discuss these negotiation points and five of the biggest and most common mistakes that people (even other realtors!) make when negotiating a real estate deal. You're not allowed to tell your realtor how you want them to negotiate until you listen to this 😉
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
In just two years (Nov 2018-Nov 2020), average mortgage interest rates have gone down by around 40%! We are seeing rates that are lower than we ever have seen and likely ever will see again. What does that mean practically? For starters, you can buy a lot more house now than just 2 years ago without seeing your mortgage payment go up. How much more house can you buy? Tune into this episode to find out and to learn more about what these crazy rates mean for the future of real estate.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Greenville has developed a reputation for a lot of things - a beautiful downtown area, talented local artists, delicious dining scene, great annual festivals/activities, etc. - but there are a lot of unique traits to the Upstate that fly under the radar while having a massive impact on one's daily life. We explore six of Greenville's (and the Upstate's) most underrated traits in this (short) episode.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
I am fairly involved and knowledgeable about local politics, and so I get asked with some regularity what my opinions are about different candidates. Rather than typing it out in a massive post, I decided to record a podcast about it, with a special focus on which politicians (particularly among the local ones) will be good for local real estate. I cover county/local, state, and federal elections in this unique episode! Hopefully, it will help you be prepared at the ballot box.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect those of C Dan Joyner Realtors, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, the GGAR, or the RPAC.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
With there being so few homes on the market, it's important that I keep my eyes open for any opportunities that might arise for my clients. One potential avenue for finding houses (particularly investment properties) is to purchase them through wholesalers. What is a wholesaler, and what is the process like buying a house from them? If you're wondering, you're in luck with this episode, because I've done it (multiple times)!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
I get calls all the time from people who want to get into flipping houses, and for those that do, arguably the most important skill to develop is the ability to quickly assess a property. You need to assess the type of flip, the potential risk/reward, how much of an opportunity it is, and how much competition you are likely to have. In this episode, I discuss some basic criteria to give you an idea of the types of flips that are out there and what categories to have in your mind when evaluating them. Ultimately, the best experience comes from actually looking at houses, and I can help with that too!
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Both the state of SC and the federal government (via the CDC) have issued orders/guidelines addressing a landlord's ability to evict a tenant who has been financially impacted by COVID. This is having a ripple effect on real estate, causing some investors to freak out and sell off their rentals, while others are opting to avoid purchasing future rentals until at least after the elections are over (and in some cases, depending on who gets elected). What does all of this mean, and is there a major risk to landlords losing thousands of dollars due to unpaid rents? Tune in for my opinion on the matter.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Sometimes spaces in a home should be left flexible and open to the imagination of the buyer, but many times, defining a space and limiting its function will actually add value to your house. And oftentimes it doesn't cost much to do.
In this short episode, I discuss various real-life situations where giving a space a specific function could help or hurt your home value, as well as some practical advice for how you can determine if your home has spaces that need to be defined more clearly or not.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Sometimes deals literally fall apart because of a bad buyer's agent. Sometimes a good buyer's agent can present an offer in such a way that gets a house for a client when there are other, higher offers. I have a bunch of stories I could tell, and I tell a few of them in this episode to pull back the curtain on what it's like being a realtor in today's market. The moral of the story? Don't just hire any agent to represent you as a buyer. That decision could cost you your "dream home."
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As we look at the latest data on the real estate market (courtesy of the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors), we find that the Upstate is setting all sorts of new records, and not all of them are good. Is it still a wild seller's market? Yes, for sure. Is that changing going into the fall season? It sure looks that way - maybe even flipping to a buyer's market! We talk about all this and more in this episode.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
When it's a seller's market, sellers don't typically want to accept an offer that is contingent on the buyers selling their home. This presents some major challenges for the majority of buyers that need to sell their home in order to finance their next home purchase. How do we overcome those challenges as buyers and what should sellers be considering when looking at a home-sale contingent offer? We discuss that, the concept of the "first right of refusal," and more in this week's episode.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
"Housing affordability" isn't just a real estate buzz word; it's a real problem in the Upstate, and it's about to come to a head. What is the trend and what can we do about it? That's what we discuss in this week's episode.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Update Description
A question that has become much more common in the past year among my real estate clients who are planning to move is whether they should go the traditional route of selling their current house when buying the next one or instead keep their old house and attempt to rent it out after buying their next one. The answer to this question isn't straightforward, and as a realtor, I'm not allowed to give financial advice. But I can offer you 5 things to consider that will hopefully help you make the best decision for you and your family, and that's what we discuss in today's episode.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Due to local real estate politics, the vast majority of real estate contracts in Greenville are done on a form known as Form 310. There's a lot to like about this contract, but when it comes to how a buyer is supposed to go about his/her inspection period, Form 310 can cause a lot of confusion over what a buyer's (or seller's) options are, including confusion that results in the occasional lawsuit. The vast majority of contract disputes are over the language of the inspection period and "seller paid repairs." I sometimes have to spend 2-3 hours explaining this to my clients!
So in this episode, I get out in front of that by discussing the contract and some practical ways of understanding it and using it so that you don't get burned when buying or selling a house. (Of course, if you have specific questions relating to your contract, your best bet it to contact your attorney to clarify.)
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
This is perhaps the weirdest real estate market of our time - all-time low inventory makes it a great time to sell a house while all-time low mortgage interest rates makes it a great to buy. So what does that mean practically if you're considering buying or selling a home (including investment properties) in the Upstate? I discuss several ramifications of this weird and wild real estate market and how that might impact you in this episode.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The 80/20 Principle (also known as Pareto's Law), has helped to explain a lot of things we experience in life. For instance, 80% of your enjoyment typically comes from 20% of your activities, 80% of a company's profits typically come from 20% of its clients, etc.
When we apply the 80/20 principle to houses, it helps to clarify a lot of things, from what we can do to best add value to our house to what features we should look for when buying a house. In today's episode, we explore five uses of the 80/20 principle in real estate and what that means for you when you're buying, selling, or updating a property.
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
When you get that home inspection report back - whether you're buying or selling the house - it's easy to freak out at all the issues it flags, particularly the ones that involve major parts of the house, like the foundation. But not all the problems on an inspection report are as serious as they may sound, and when you're buying or selling real estate, it's important to know which "scary sounding" issues are truly problematic or not. That's what we discuss in this episode!
(Of course, each house and transaction is different, and you should consult a contractor for more specifics on your unique house situation.)
As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Smart thermostats. Smart locks. Smart outlets. EVERYTHING is smart these days. But how does smart tech impact your quality of life and home value - both for landlords and for owner occupants? In this podcast episode, I discuss several smart home gadgets that I've interacted with, how they've changed my life (mostly for good), and how they've impacted both buyer and seller clients. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Remember when I discussed utilizing backup offers and contracts in episode 15 of this podcast? Well I BACKED THAT UP with a backup contract success for one of my buyer clients just weeks later! In this episode, I tell the story about how one of my recent closings utilized a backup contract, giving you a first-hand look at how the process works and how backup offers can be leveraged in real life. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Every now and then we need to have some fun and bring some lightheartedness to this podcast. So in this episode, I poke fun at realtors (like myself) and point out some of the realtor stereotypes that we've all come across (and maybe that some of us... are). Hopefully, it will bring you a few good laughs. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
I've seen and heard for a while that renting a house in Greenville is disproportionately expensive as compared to buying, but what does the data say? In this episode, I dig into the data on houses that have been rented and sold the past six months in the same neighborhoods to compare what it would cost to rent on average vs. paying an average estimated mortgage payment in those neighborhoods. Unsurprisingly, many people who are renting are paying more than they would if they owned, but that doesn't tell the whole story. In this episode, we discuss that and what it means. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We hear all the time that "your house is an investment," but the focus on numbers and the investment side of a house purchase has gone so far that now some people are downplaying the reality of how much your house dictates your lifestyle and how important of a consideration that is. I take it a step further - I believe that your is your lifestyle, and in this podcast, I describe why I feel that way and how that might impact you if you move in the future. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The Greater Greenville Association of Realtors released their monthly statistics for May, and the numbers are a mixed bag. Most notably was the plunge in closed sales for the month of May, which seems bad for sellers, but much of the other data paints a contradictory picture of the market. How does it bode for the rest of the year? We discuss all of this and more in this week's episode. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
As real estate agents and sellers try to find more ways to one-up the competition, they are increasingly resorting to new gimmicks to try to market properties or shave down the costs of selling. Most of these gimmicks are just that - gimmicks that don't work. In this episode I discuss five of them that I am frequently running into, and I present alternative strategies that do work and that have helped my sellers get the most bang for their buck (or listing). As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
One of the most powerful real estate tools both RE buyers and sellers can take advantage of (but frequently don't) is the use of backup offers. The reality is that many people (including real estate agents!) don't know that backup offers/contracts even exist or how they can be utilized. I have used them multiple times with success, and on this episode, I discuss how they work and some creative scenarios in which both buyers and sellers can benefit from them. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
I don't know that I've ever seen this much rain in one year, and we're only 5 months into 2020! Rain is wreaking HAVOC on real estate around here, and you should be aware of the issues that rain can cause and what those mean for you when you're buying or selling real estate. Is a flooded crawl space a problem? What happens to a foundation when rain water comes toward it? I'm not a contractor, inspector, or structural engineer, but I do have a lot of real-life realtor (and house flipper) experience with this stuff, and so I share some insight on how rain impacts real estate and what can be done about it. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
BRRRR (buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat) is a trendy acronym that a lot of so-called real estate "experts" refer to often. But the BRRRR method assumes you are purchasing a property with substantial equity, and those opportunities are few and far in between when the market (such as the one we currently have in Greenville) has such low inventory. Is there another way to utilize a BRRRR type of strategy without having to hold out forever for just the perfect property that affords you tons of equity on the front end? That's what we talk about in this episode - including a real-life example from yours truly. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The Greater Greenville Association of Realtors produced their monthly data for April, and there is a lot of interesting information to consider. We still have a seller's market, but with inventory going up year-on-year, we may be seeing a shift that could impact the summer/fall market. We discuss that, what we saw happen in the first part of May, and how all of this might impact your buying/selling strategy moving forward. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
The spring storm season is in full swing with tornadoes, hail, and tropical storm-force winds all over the Upstate! There is a lot to consider when buying/selling a home or even just as a homeowner when it comes to storm season. So we spend some time discussing practical ways to look for storm damages, what to do if you have storm damage on your home, and some little known facts about how homeowner's insurance works. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We've been tracking the local real estate market in several of these episodes, looking at new listings, new contracts, and showings in order to get a feel for what direction the market is going. This one is a short (eleven minutes!) snapshot to give a quick update on what has happened the past couple of weeks, what that means historically, and what that means compared to the activity in the market since mid-March. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
There is a lot of debate out there over whether real estate is a good investment, and a lot of that debate stems from confusion over how much (or little) real estate appreciates in value each year. In this episode we look at data from the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors and track how much the median sales prices have appreciated in various markets within the Upstate. Nobody can guarantee that home values will appreciate in the future in the way the median sales prices have, but there were some pretty startling increases in some areas that we discuss in here. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Each week the Greenville real estate market is changing, and this past week was no exception. In this episode we look at the data from the past week as well as the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors statistics for March 2020 and speculate on what all of this information could mean for the market as a whole. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Everyone has opinions on what is happening in the real estate market right now and what will happen in the upcoming weeks. But what does the actual data say for what has happened in the Greenville market the past few weeks? We dive into that data, and you might end up being surprised that the market, at least for now, is better than you'd think. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
Is there such a thing as "good debt?" I would argue that there is, especially in the world of real estate. In this episode we discuss what constitutes good debt and what constitutes bad debt, with examples both inside and outside the world of real estate. Of course, I'm not a financial advisor, so I can't advise you on your financial decisions outside of real estate, but I certainly can give some advice on whether I think a local real estate deal would be a good or bad debt type of situation. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
I'm getting a lot of questions on how to approach this year of real estate and what to do if we go into recession. The best thing we can do is look back to 2008 and combine some of those lessons with a common sense real estate approach to come up with a game plan for mitigating real estate risks in uncertain economic times. Just remember: sometimes recessions bring the best opportunities. If you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
A lot has changed since we recorded our last coronavirus/COVID19-related podcast, and I want to make sure you are well-informed. Are we going into recession? Is the housing market about to collapse? We explore some of those questions and try to look at the potential impacts on the Greenville real estate market from a non-alarmist perspective. If you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We now officially have the coronavirus (aka COVID-19) in the Upstate, and people are starting to freak out. How will this impact the SC real estate market? Should we hold a few months and let the markets respond before doing any major purchases or sales? What happens if the economy goes into recession, and how will that impact local real estate? We discuss this and much more in a timely and practical episode designed to prepare you for the inevitable ripple effects of the dreaded virus. If you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
For many people, the largest investment they own is their home, and making a major mistake when selling your home can have a huge ripple effect on your financial and emotional state of being. In this episode, we discuss the top seven mistakes that people make (especially in the Greenville, SC area) when selling a home and how to avoid those mistakes. If you have any questions or comments (or, of course, if you need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.
We've all made mistakes at times when buying something, but what about when you are buying something that, for many people, is the most expensive thing they will ever purchase? Yes, there are all sorts of mistakes people make when buying a home, whether buying as a primary residence, investment, etc., and in this episode, we discuss the seven biggest mistakes that the average homebuyer makes, and how to avoid making those mistakes. If you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email at smccune@cdanjoyner.com.