The Hilton Head Area Market Reports are now available! Please access the reports by clicking on the links below. And, as always, if you have any questions or would like a complimentary market report for your home, please contact me!
September Monthly Market Indicator
September Monthly Supply Outlook
September Mainland Report
September Hilton Head Island Attached
September Hilton Head Island Detached
Most people are familiar with Zillow's "Zestimate" where the website will suggest a value to a listed property as a "guideline" for prospective buyers. Zillow gathers this information by doing the work that buyers aren't often able to easily do which is to gather sales data from nearby properties that have recently sold. Imagine, if you will, a dreamy street on Hilton Head Island where you want to buy your next home...one side of the street is Oceanfront homes and the other side of the street have "wooded view" properties. Zillow can't differentiate price difference based on view so guess what? All those "wooded view" suggested property values will be inflated based on recent sales of Oceanfront properties. Don't overpay. Use a buyer's agent (they are FREE to you) to purchase your property on Hilton Head Island.
The Real Estate Local Market Reports are available! Please click on any of the links below to view the statistics. If you have any questions about the information in the reports, please let me know! Or if you'd like a specific market analysis for your community, I can help! Please let me know!
Monthly Indicators: http://bit.ly/2ogz0Ao
Monthly Inventory Supply: http://bit.ly/2nD0bTf
Mainland Report: http://bit.ly/2ooXDbu
Condos/Villas Report: http://bit.ly/2nS5II1
Hilton Head Homes: http://bit.ly/2nD6N3X
Is clearing clutter on your to-do list this year? Having trouble getting started? Sometimes finding the proper motivation is what finally gets us to take action on a goal — so to help, here are 10 good reasons to give clutter the boot, once and for all.
1. Enjoy more free time. A clutter-free abode makes it much easier to find what you need when you need it — meaning less time wasted looking for misplaced items. Having less stuff also makes your home quicker and easier to clean.
2. Spend less money. You’ll naturally spend less on things in general when you’re conscious about maintaining a clutter-free space — but you’ll also save by not spending on organizing tools and storage containers to house those extra items. You could even potentially spend less on your home if you decide you don’t need as much space once you’ve cleared the clutter!
3. Feel more calm. Just imagine coming home to a serene, welcoming space where everything you own fits comfortably, with room to spare. When we overstuff our home, we can feel more stress and anxiety. Why not clear some material goods and give yourself the gift of more peace and calm instead?
4. Always have something to wear. A stuffed closet and nothing to wear is a common “complaint” these days — but have you stopped to consider why? If your closet is packed with clothes that don’t make you feel and look your best, those clothes are simply getting in the way. A pared-back wardrobe filled only with favorites you love makes getting dressed in the morning easy.
5. Help others by donating to a good cause. Those old winter coats, cellphones, toys and even crafting supplies can be put to good use by nonprofits and charitable organizations helping people in need. Wouldn’t it feel good to know that, rather than taking up space in your closets or basement, your unused belongings were helping homeless families, veterans, the elderly or another group dear to your heart?
6. Get better sleep. Distractions can make it more challenging to fall asleep, so if you’ve been having trouble getting some quality shut-eye, clearing the clutter from your bedroom may help. Leave the worries of the day behind when you enter your clean, serene and clutter-free space to rest and destress.
7. Simplify your child’s life. Toys getting a bit out of control? Decluttering is a great way to refocus family life on creativity and imagination. When sorting through toys, consider whether the toy does more of the work or whether your child can use it in many ways. Simpler toys and materials encourage open-ended play and problem solving.
8. Get out the door quicker. Are mornings frantic at your house? Little things, like not being able to find your keys or a child’s backpack, can completely derail the morning. Clear the clutter and your morning routines will go more smoothly. Just imagine easily choosing clothes from your closet, making breakfast and lunches in a neat kitchen and selecting a coat and shoes from a clutter-free coat closet on your way out the door.
9. Make room for your car in the garage. Can’t fit your car in the garage? You’re not alone. The Department of Energy estimates that 25 percent of people who have two-car garages can’t fit a car inside because it’s too packed with stuff! Clear the clutter and finally get your vehicle inside, protecting it from weather damage and maybe even break-ins.
10. Sell your home for more. Thinking of putting your home on the market? Decluttering is one of the best ways to make it look its best, and it costs nothing! A clutter-free home looks cleaner, more spacious and more inviting, potentially helping boost the sale price, especially when paired with strategic staging.
Article provided by Houzz
People vow to do all kinds of things—hit the gym, get more sleep, quit Froot Loops—and if you plan to sell your home this year, making a few promises matter here most of all. After all, selling your home for top dollar takes work and the right mindset to strike a deal.
To help make that happen, we put together a list of good habits all home sellers should start now so that you’re fully prepared once opportunity knocks.
It’s natural to think your home is priceless, or hope it’s worth at least more than when you bought it. As such, many sellers make the epic mistake of placing a pie-in-the-sky price on their home with the hopes that some buyer somewhere will bite. But the reality is, overpriced homes tend to languish on the market.
In addition to setting their asking price too high, sellers are often stubborn about lowering it. Or they get offended when a buyer makes an offer below what they’d hoped to get.
Stop seeing these as insults. Instead, see them as a sign that the way you see your home may not be the way others do. For a reality check, ask your Realtor® to show you comps on the recent sales prices of similar homes in your area.
No one wants to buy your clutter, or try to determine what the house looks like without it. So it’s crucial that you toss, donate, gift, or recycle anything you don’t love or use. This is also true for those hidden areas like your closets and cabinets. Yes, buyers will (nosily) poke their heads in these areas—and seeing a pile of half-folded clothes is a definite downer.
But even if you purged the clutter, it has a way of slowly sneaking back in, so you should develop some habits to keep it at bay. For instance, rather than let your mail pile up, vow to deal with it every day. For any paper statements or bills you receive regularly, sign up for electronic versions or autopay to stem the wave of papers flooding your mailbox to a trickle.
A simple truth: Even beautiful, well-priced homes won’t sell if they smell rank. It can be as subtle as the presence of pets, bathroom mildew, or last night’s broiled carp. Scented candles and sprays can mask smells, but it’s best to root out the source.
If the problem is pet urine, there are sprays that break down these molecules. If that doesn’t work, toss the rug or replace that section of flooring. If the offender is food odors, vow to take out the garbage more often and air out the house after cooking.
If the smell of mildew pervades your bathrooms, install a fan to vent the room, and leave the doors to your bathrooms open to get more air. You can also get a dehumidifier. To keep mold from growing, indoor humidity should linger 30% to 60%.
We know it’s hard to keep your place picture-perfect for buyers all the time, but it’s well worth the pain and suffering.
Here’s what you can do:
You know those things that make a house your home—family pictures, artwork from your kids, souvenirs from the family trip to Dollywood? Stick ’em in a drawer or safely stored box. We know your home won’t feel so homey, but this step is essential to getting someone else to see themselves in your home.
Article provided by Realtor.com
Maybe I will..Maybe I won’t.
Growing up in Michigan, I had plenty of opportunities to experience the seasons. Spring brought the smell of thawing snow, the new buds all around and that one magical day each year that it was warm enough to take my coat off as I walked home from school. Summer in Michigan was full of excitement with beautiful weather, lake activities, camping and long weekends up north in a cabin. Fall was always my favorite…the stunning colors of the changing leaves on the trees, the smell of the first fires being lit of the season and the pinnacle of each autumn…trips to the Cider Mill for fresh donuts and cold apple cider.
I save Winter for last because, for me, it was the most dreaded season of the year. When I was a very little girl, the snow was piled so high from the snow plows that when I would walk home from elementary school I never knew when I got to my house because I couldn’t see it over the snow. My big brother would shovel a path from the house to the sidewalk so I would know when to turn! When I got older, I had to learn to drive in the snow and add minutes to my mornings to let the car warm up and scrape off the windshield. By the time I got to Michigan State, one of the biggest campuses in the united states, and had to walk a mile to my first class at 8am in the snow…well…I had my fill.
When I moved South everyone told me I would miss the seasons. Maybe I will….maybe I won’t, I thought. It might be the same for you. Let me put your mind at ease. As it turns out, I don’t miss winter one little bit. I don’t have to miss spring and summer because I get that all year around. The changing of the leaves and cider mills I definitely miss but I learned a sneaky trick…just drive a few hours to the north over a weekend in October to NC and wah-lah – colors AND cider mills!
Making a move to Hilton Head Island is one you will never regret. Life is different here. It’s more relaxed and people are so pleasant. It’s probably because of the weather!
Christmas is barely over, and the new year is just around the corner. So we don’t mean to be a buzzkill while you still enjoy the last vestiges of your holiday stupor, but it’s probably time to think about putting away those holiday decorations you so painstakingly put up. (Unless, of course, you’re one of those people who keep your lights up all year ’round, in which case … keep doing you.)
We know it isn’t fun, no matter when you decide to un-deck the halls. It’s a slog, an annoyance, or (if you went a wee bit overboard this year) a downright nightmare.
But if you’re smart about storing your holiday decorations, you can make the whole thing a little less painful next year. Try these easy hacks to keep things in order and crack open the eggnog a little earlier next time around.
OK, this first point isn’t strictly storage-related, but it promises to make next year’s decorating process 10 times easier. Before tearing down your holiday decor, take a photo of your favorite setups.
“That way, you can more easily replicate the look next year,” says professional organizer Jamie Novak. Less time spent fiddling with your staircase garland means more time with family and friends. And isn’t that what the holidays are really about? That and the eggnog.
On a related note, you should keep an inventory of all of your holiday decorations. Not only will it make replacement much simpler in case of disaster, but it will also simplify next year’s setup. No more “Oh, I forgot Shira the Schnauzer ate the tinsel” last-minute shopping runs.
“Packing up items is the perfect time to make a note that you need to replace the tree topper, but you don’t need one more snow globe,” Novak says.
Store your inventory on your phone or computer. Consider keeping a paper backup in a safe place.
Tucking away your miniature Christmas trees in old waffle boxes (true story, starring my mother) might seem like a good idea. But after the new year, they’re going into the attic, not to be seen again for 11 months. Why does it matter how you stow them?
Because attics and garages are full of nasty ornament enemies: Moisture, pests, the February freeze, all conspiring to destroy your expensive decor.
“If you are making an investment in decorations that you want to keep from year to year, you will want to find the right storage bins to contain them,” says interior designer Annie Draddy of Henry & Higby. Try clear, plastic boxes, which let you “see the goods inside without opening the box,” she says.
Setting up everything at once can be overwhelming. Your kids will freak out without their Advent calendar, and you’re desperate for the scent of pine. And those holiday cookbooks have to be somewhere…
“Create a single box labeled ‘open this first,’ complete with the decorations you like to put up first,” Novak says. That way, you can save the major decorating for a free winter weekend without sacrificing some early season holiday cheer.
The other decorations should be packed according to your holiday timeline, too. What goes up next, after the Advent calendar and wreath? If your exterior string lighting is step No. 2, keep it neatly arranged in an easily accessible box.
“If you don’t put up a tree until a few weeks in, then make a box of tree stuff,” Novak says. “Group like with like, and label each box on every side and the top.”
That goes for any necessary accessories, too, such as outdoor extension cords or pumps for your inflatables. Make sure they’re all grouped together so they’re easy to find next year.
Your kid received three Hatchimals, you got a dozen new necklaces, and that beer-brewing kit came with an apartment’s worth of packaging. Don’t throw away all the cardboard and clamshells yet—they might be useful.
“Before you recycle all those product boxes, check to see if any are just the right size for storage (for other items),” Novak says.
Attempting to untangle your string lights is the holiday horror show you find yourself repeating year after year. Take away the pain! And stop struggling.
Save a piece of ribbon from this year’s gifts and tie it to the end of the string of lights to save yourself time spent searching for the plug amid a sea of small lightbulbs. Then, wrap the string of lights around a hanger to keep it from getting tangled.
Stop shoving your boxes into the attic between “spring cleaning materials” and “leftover pickle jars.” That’s a surefire way to lose them—or at least forget a box, requiring an extra trip upstairs.
“If you love to decorate for the holidays, it’s important to find a designated spot for your decorations,” says Henry & Higby’s Michelle Hale.
Tired of digging through enormous boxes to find the tiny red balls that accent your tree? Save your egg cartons—they’ll save your sanity. Really.
“Egg cartons can fit all those mini decoration inside the wells,” Novak says. Just make sure to label the outside of the cartons so you know what’s what next year.
Egg cartons aren’t the only repurposed storage trick you might find hiding in your kitchen. Little silica packets—yes, the ones that come tucked into boxes and alongside shoes—are perfect for keeping moisture away from your ornaments. Simply throw them in the box alongside your favorite garlands and worry less during the rainy season.
Come January, when everything’s all put away … wait. Why is there an elf sitting on your shelf with nearly a year until Christmas? Now you have to take down the boxes from storage and find the right box. A lone elf becomes an hourlong irritation.
Keep a “forgot it” box around to make storing your accidental late-season stowaways easy.
“We’ve all done it,” Novak says. “Put away what we thought were all the holiday decorations, only to find a random set of reindeer salt and pepper shakers or a Santa soap dispenser in the second bathroom.”
Don’t stress yourself out with another trip to storage—just toss it in the leftovers box and lug everything up at the end of January.
December 17, 2016 - Harbour Town - 7pm. Get into the holiday spirit by watching this classic movie under the Liberty Oak. Benches and fire pits for roasting marshmallows will be provided. Admission is complimentary with the donation of a canned food item for the Deep Well Project.
December 23, 2016 - Harbour Town - 7:30pm - 9pm. Relish the spirit of the holidays with an evening in Harbour Town. Listen as Gregg Russell plays his guitar and sings songs of the season for children and adults. Following the concert, enjoy a special visit from Santa Claus!
December 26, 2016 4pm - 8pm Join us around the Liberty Oak to watch classic holiday movies, roast marshmallows and enjoy train rides, games and activities. Movie and marshmallow roasting start at 6pm. Complimentary with the donation of a canned good food item for the Deep Well Project. Train rides $5/passenger.
December 31, 2016 10am-11am Show your adventurous side with the other "polar bears" by taking an invigorating dip in the Harbour Town Pool on a chilly winter day. Warm up after your plunge with hot chocolate and refreshments.
Join us for a festive New Year's Eve ball drop from the top of the Harbour Town Lighthouse! Enjoy food, fun, entertainment and live music throughout Harbour Town, then count down the ball drop as we welcome the new year! There will be two drops: 7pm and midnight.
Charming home with peaceful privacy in Hilton Head Plantation. Enjoy tranquil & wide views of the preserve & year around azaleas through the large rear windows. Wood burning fireplace, built in cabinets and book shelves are just some of the convenient features that will quickly help you make this house feel like home. Soaring ceilings and lots of natural light. Access to both the private neighborhood pool of Crooked Pond as well as the new resort style pool with lazy river at the Spring Lake recreation area. Walk or bike to delightful main street for dining & shopping. Excellent opportunity! $369,000 Click here for more information.
BEAUFORT SHRIMP FESTIVAL - SEPTEMBER 30 THRU OCTOBER 1
Beaufort Shrimp Festival in Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park. Fri., 6-10 p.m.; Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Local restaurants showcase their best shrimp dishes with live entertainment, Shrimp Peeling & Eating Contests for kids and the Sea Island Rotary Clubs Charity Rubber Shrimp Race. (843) 525-6644 or beaufortshrimpfestival.com.
BURGERS & BREWS FESTIVAL - OCTOBER 1, 2016 11AM - 5PM
At this fun-filled festival at Shelter Cove Community Park, local restaurants will be cooking their best sliders to compete for your vote; meanwhile in the beer garden, guests have a chance to taste 20 different brews. The sliders can be beef, chicken, pork or seafood. The Kid Zone will have plenty of moon bounces and games for your child’s entertainment at a minimal fee. www.islandreccenter.org
32nd ANNUAL CHILI COOKOFF - OCTOBER 8, 2016 11:30AM - 3:30PM
The Kiwanis Clubs of Hilton Head Island will present the 32nd Annual Chili Cookoff at the Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn, 70 Honey Horn Dr., on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016 from 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., rain or shine with all-you-can-eat chili! This year’s event will focus on local chili cooks in the professional and amateur category with separate awards for each. There will be live music and an area with free children’s games and activities, including a water slide, so parents can fully enjoy the festivities. Beer, wine, soda, hot dogs and ice cream will also be available for purchase. hiltonheadkiwanis.org
12TH ANNUAL HISTORIC BLUFFTON ARTS & SEAFOOD FESTIVAL:
OCTOBER 15 - 23, 2016
12th Annual Historic Bluffton Arts & Seafood Festival throughout Old Town. A week long event showcasing locally harvested seafood, Lowcountry cuisine and the area’s rich history, culture, art and Southern hospitality. The Streetfest on October 22-23 includes a juried fine art show, food, music and entertainment. blufftonartsandseafoodfestival.com.
