Bluffton, The Last True Coastal Village Of The South

Nestled in the southern tip of South Carolina, just over the bridge from Hilton Head Island, SC and 20 miles northeast of Savannah, GA, Bluffton is easily accessible from Intrastate Highways 46, 170, 287 and Interstate 95. The area of Bluffton offers a small town feel while its location adjacent to Hilton Head Island provides luxury amenities, fine dining, shopping, and sub tropical temperatures. The natural landscape and pristine environment meshes perfectly with the great cultural pride of Bluffton residents.

Old Towne Bluffton

Until recently, Bluffton was a town of one square mile, but as Hilton Head Island grew and expanded, Bluffton began to benefit as well with the growing number of people wanting to be near Hilton Head Island, but still enjoy the closeness and charm of a small town. Bluffton currently covers about 35 square miles of land.  The original one square mile is now known as “Old Town”, and is the area where most of the historical preservation, landmarks, and tours take place. Many newer neighborhoods with shopping, dining, golf, parks, recreation, and commercial businesses have been popping up in the last few years, but the small town feel of the original Bluffton is still preserved and maintained through careful city planning.

Featured Communities of Bluffton

Belfair

Lots       $1.00 – $325,000

Homes $394,900 – $1,649,000

Berkeley Hall

Lots       $1.00 – $319,000

Homes $325,000 – $2,500,000

Colleton River Plantation

Lots       $1.00 – $449,000

Homes $499,000 – $12,600,000

Eagle’s Point

Homes $229,000 – $244,900

Hampton Hall

Lots       $52,000 – $179,000

Homes $279,000 – $995,000

Hampton Lake

Lots       $39,900 – $259,000

Villas    $299,000 – $599,900

Homes $397,500 – $999,900

Island West

Homes $285,000 – $399,000

Lawton Station

Homes $248,900 – $459,900

Mill Creek at Cypress Point

Homes $136,500 – $329,900

Moss Creek

Lots       $33,000 – $385,000

Villas    $154,500 – $242,000

Homes $124,900 – $999,000

Pinecrest

Homes $180,000 – $324,900

Rose Hill Plantation

Lots  $24,900 – $529,000

Homes 199,900 – $1,350,000

The Crescent

Lots       $44,900 – $109,900

Homes $334,000 – $569,000

Palmetto Bluff

Lots           $118,900 – $1,950,000

Homes     $595,000 – $6,495,000

Bluffton Communities

Bluffton Communities also includes Sun City, Hampton Point, Shell Hall, Bluffton Park, Brighton Beach, Gascoigne Bluff, Heritage at New Riverside, Heritage Lakes, Lake Linden, Martins Place, May River Preserve, Palmetto Pointe, Pritchard Farms, Rose Dhu, Westbury Park, The Haven at New Riverside, Town of Bluffton, Willows and Woodbridge. 

Welcome Home To Bluffton, SC

When you are ready to make your dream a reality, feel free to search Bluffton homes for sale, browse Bluffton communities and neighborhoods and request a . To learn even more about the Bluffton, SC area, simply contact me, Robbie Bunting, your expert Bluffton real estate agent.

Beaufort County officials mull ways to fix school funding issues | Bluffton Today.

We’re breaking records on the U.S. housing market!

Evidently, during the month of August, national home sales reached their highest levels in more than six years, according to a recent report from the Commerce Department.

This is incredible! That means that sales activity has returned to the levels it was pre-bubble burst. And this spells great success for anyone interested in listing their home on the market.

A Closer Look at US Home Data

According to Commerce Department figures, new home sales jumped 18 percent to a 504,000 annualized rate, which is the strongest it’s been since May 2008.

Not only that, but this rate is even higher than the highest forecast made by a Bloomberg survey of economists.

This one-month increase shattered a 22-year record. That’s because the last time the US housing market saw a one-month increase this big was 1992.

Here’s what else the Commerce Department revealed in its report:

• Economists surveyed in the Bloomberg report said the pace would increase between 405,000 and 455,000.
• The median forecast of 74 economists was that the pace would increase 430,000.
• The median sales price of a new house increased 8 percent year over year in August, to $275,600
• Home purchases increased in three of four U.S. regions. The West led the group with a 50 percent jump.
• The housing inventory (given the current sales rate) dropped to 4.8 months from 5.6 months in July.
• There were 203,000 new houses on the market at the end of August.
• Existing home sales decreased 1.8 percent to a 5.05 million annual pace last month. This occurred after existing home sales reached a 10-month high of 5.14 million in July.
• Housing starts decreased 14.4 percent to a 956,000 annualized rate. This occurred after July’s 1.12 million pace was the strongest it’s been since November 2007.

Canada Home Sales See Encouraging Numbers as Well

• Canadian national home sales increased 1.8 percent from July to August.
• Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity were 2.1 percent above August 2013 levels.
• The number of newly listed homes decreased 1.2 percent between July to August.
• The MLS Home Price Index increased 5.3 percent in August when compared to last year.
• The national average sale price also increased 5.3 percent in August when compared to last year.

Moving The US Real Estate Market Forward

Experts say that the housing market has been growing in fits and starts but that steady growth is what will be needed in the long-term to effectively stabilize the market.

Still, home sellers can be encouraged by these recent numbers as they do demonstrate that the market is headed in the right direction!

Check back here soon as we continue to watch the housing market, looking for trends that impact you as home buyers and sellers.

As summer comes to an end, this is the perfect time to shop and compare rental companies.  We are pleased to introduce, HiltonHeadPropertiesRandR.com.  Darcey Sundling, Property Manager/Principal can help a property owner achieve their properties full rental potential and has put some together some excellent programs including the “Allegiance Program” for local REALTORS. Read the rest of this entry

The delinquent tax sale for Beaufort County is always the first Monday of October.  The sale will include properties on Hilton Head, Daufuskie, Bluffton and other locations in Beaufort County.  Information can be found on the counties website.  You may also see these yellow postings around which indicates the taxes are delinquent.

Read the rest of this entry

Big homes are a big deal on the national housing market, according to a recent article in USA Today.

Evidently, a growing number of home buyers are looking for larger homes to accommodate their every need and desire.

In fact, of the 569,000 homes built last year in the US, about 33 percent (or 188,000 homes) had three or more bathrooms. That’s the largest share since tracking of new construction homes started in 1987.

Meanwhile, 44 percent of last year’s total new homes (or 251,000 homes) featured four or more bedrooms – which is the largest share it’s been since 1973.

These homes also tend to come with a lot more amenities:

• 53 percent of the homes built last year (301,000) had a patio
• 63 percent (361,000) had a porch
• And 22 percent (127,000) had a deck

It’s quite an interesting trend, especially given that at the same time, home ownership rates are remaining stable and the size of families and households is actually decreasing.

Let’s Take a Closer Look At This Recent U.S. Trend

Here are some recent real estate market statistics that will provide additional context on this trend:

• The average square footage of new single-family homes in the United States jumped almost 57 percent to 2,598 in 2013, compared with 1,660 in 1973.
• The Northeast boasts the second-highest average square footage, with that number jumping from 1,959 to 2,636 during that same time period. That’s an increase of 65 percent!
• Meanwhile, the number of people actually living in these homes has continued to decrease. In fact, the average number of people per household in the US decreased from 3.01 in 1973 to 2.54 in 2013.
• Specifically, families have decreased from 3.48 to 3.12 during that same time period.
• As one might expect, bigger homes have caused a rise in the average sales price of new construction homes. In fact, that figure skyrocketed from $62,500 in 1978 to $324,000 in 2013.
• The Northeast has the highest average sales price, which exploded from $63,000 in 1978 to $469,000 in 2013 – an increase of 646 percent.
• Even within the short time frame of 2012 to 2013, sales prices still showed huge increases. For instance, the average sales price of newly built single-family homes jumped 20 percent – from $292,000 in 2012 to $324,000 in 2013.

Yet the income levels of individuals are not keeping pace with these bigger (and more expensive) homes. For instance, the median income in the US increased by 9 percent from 1978 to 2012 – from $56,975 to $62,241.

And the home ownership rate continued to decrease – from 65.4 percent during the fourth quarter of 2012 to 65.2 percent during the fourth quarter of 2013.

Experts say that those people in the higher income levels that are more active on the housing market. Maybe that’s why all-cash sales accounted for 42.7 percent of all U.S. residential property sales during the first quarter of 2014, up from 20 percent during the first quarter of 2011.

What Do You Make of This Recent Real Estate Trend?

We would love to hear your thoughts!

We certainly think that all of this market activity will have an overall positive impact on the U.S. real estate market.

For now, be sure to check back here soon for more valuable and up-to-date information that may impact you as a buyer or seller.

It’s always a good sign on the national housing market when sales activity is better than even the experts predicted!

And that’s exactly what happened recently when the latest market activity report was released by the National Association of Realtors in July.

Evidently, contracts to purchase previously-owned properties increased more than expected during the month of July, signaling that there truly is renewed momentum on the national housing market.

Let’s Take a Closer Look at The Numbers

According to a report from the National Association of Realtors, the pending home sales index increased 3.3 percent after a 1.3 percent decrease during the month of June.

That increase is much higher than previously expected. In fact, the median projection according to a Bloomberg survey of economists called for the index to increase about 0.5 percent. Specifically, estimates from 37 economists ranged from a decrease of 0.5 percent to an increase of 3 percent.

So why did the number of home sales do significantly better than previously predicted?

Experts credit the increase to a lot of factors, including:

• Increased hiring
• Rising property values
• Historically low interest rates

Not only are these factors increasing home sales but they’re also encouraging builders to break more ground.

Other factors encouraging a more robust housing market include a gross domestic product that grew at a 4.2 percent pace during the second quarter as well as the fact that unemployment claims decreased to 298,000 last week.

Experts add that faster wage growth as well as easier access to credit would also help boost the local economy

More Housing Market Data That Will Help Provide Context

Still, not all of the news from the national housing market has been completely positive.

Here are some other highlights of the National Association of Realtors’ latest report:

• Purchase contracts decreased 2.7 percent in the 12 months ending in July, which followed a 4.7 percent year-over-year decline in June.
• July marked the 10th month of year-over-year declines
• The pending sales index was 105.9 on a seasonally-adjusted basis.
• Pending sales increased in three of four regions. Specifically, sales were up 6.2 percent in the Northeast, 4.2 percent in the South and 4 percent in the West. Purchase contracts decreased 0.4 percent in the Midwest.
• Resales increased to a 5.15 million pace, which is the best they’ve been since September.
• Construction also rebounded, with starts climbing 15.7 percent to a 1.09 million annualized rate
• Meanwhile, contracts on new homes dropped unexpectedly during the month of July to a 412,000 annualized pace, which is the weakest it’s been since March.
• The average rate for a 30-year, fixed mortgage was 4.10 percent in late August, down from 4.53 percent at the start of the year

Let’s Start Discussing Your Personal Real Estate Dream!s

Are you interested in listing your property soon and getting a great price for it? Or perhaps you want to find the home of your dreams but just don’t know where to start.

Regardless of what your real estate needs are, we’re here to help!

And please make sure to check back here next month as we continue to provide you with valuable information that will help you navigate the local housing market!

State income tax: 3%-7%

State sales tax: 6%

Gas taxes and fees: $0.17 cents per gallon

The Palmetto State’s top income tax rate of 7% kicks in once taxable income exceeds $14,400.

Groceries and some cold prepared foods, prescription drugs, dental prosthetics and hearing aids are exempt from state sales taxes. Localities can add up to 3% in sales taxes.                                               (Jamie Sanford via Creative Commons/Flickr)

But the state’s gas tax is well below the national average at 17 cents per gallon.

In addition to the state sales tax, South Carolina levies an annual tax on vehicles. Rates are set by counties. The average annual tax for a vehicle valued at $10,000 is $268.

Property taxes are among the lowest in the U.S. The median property tax on the state’s median home value of $137,500 is $689, according to the Tax Foundation.

Click here for the 10 Most Tax-Friendly States in the U.S.-Kiplinger.

What every Hilton Head Buyer Should do…

1. Call Your Realtor or contact us and let us set you up on a FREE MLS Link.  This link will email automatically new listings and price adjustments in real time as they hit the market.  The best properties do not stay on the market long.
2. Call a lender and get pre-approved or get a proof of funds from your bank so you will be ready to go when you see the perfect property.  Pre-approvals and Cash talks and beat offers that have financing contingencies
3. Ask your realtor to send you a sample-contract so you can be familiar with the addendums and the contract.  Ask them to include a property inspection addendum, a HUD estimate, a buyer-agency and a sample-disclosure.

When a property POPS, Call your Hilton Head REALTOR

Call YOUR realtor if you see a great property on your MLS LINK(here is a copy of my MLS Link for short sale homes).  Do not email them, do not wait for tomorrow.  If it is a great property that has captured your attention, chances are it will capture other buyers attention too.  Jane and I will go see it, get you the information and give you an opinion of the property.

Time to negotiate the perfect property on Hilton Head Island 

There are trends in every real estate market. These market trends can help us negotiate once you find the perfect property.  It is our goal to help you win the bid and get the property and these trends are helpful in determining the best strategy.  Call on us anytime to review the Market Trends and help with negotiations.

Even if you did not appeal your taxes last year by December 15, 2013, there is still an opportunity to file an appeal this October and before January 15, 2015.   If successful in your appeal, you could enjoy savings for the next four years(rather than five) as our county assesses properties every five years. Read the rest of this entry