Consider buying dirt

An article in Wednesday's “USA Today” from the National Association of Realtors discusses the existing home sales market. NAR’s chief economist reported sales fell 8.4% in March from February. He also projects that the market will not recover until the third quarter of the year.  Now if you are in the North East and are trying to sell I truly understand your concern. I can also tell you that there are a lot of Realtors in the Lowcountry with bald tires on their Lexus. If folks (Baby Boomers included) can’t sell up North they don’t have the money to buy down South…..But do they????.......Now they may not have the money to buy a house…but there sure have the money to buy a home site.

That’s right…..folks can easily buy a lot and in many cases get a home equity loan and write off the interest. Plus that, lot loans are readily available from local lending institutions.

In the Daufuskie Island market, as an example, there are relatively  few homes for sale, but we have a number of home sites available. I did a little research and found that fourteen “14”  lots have sold/closed  on the Island Jan. 1 thru April 1. Eighteen (18) lots are pending. In the same period of 2006,  twenty two (22)  lots sold and ninety one (91) sold for the entire year. Looks to me we are right on track with last year.

So if the market is so bad for existing homes why the steady, albeit slow,   sale of lots. The way I see it there are some very savvy buyers out there that realize if they want to have a home down South why not buy the dirt first and “stop the bleeding”. I am not here to tell you that lot sales are booming but when folks keep hearing bad real estate news many don’t think about the lot market. Don’t know about you but I have never seen an article in 2006 or 2007  “Lot Sales Down”.  Considering lot sales are steady but not at a blistering pace, prices have stabilized and come down in many cases. There are sellers out there that really would like to sell and have priced their dirt accordingly. This is the perfect scenario to buy a home site at a very fair price. And “stop the bleeding”.

In years past I have found that many of my buyers were in the 35 to 45 age group. They have no intention in building but want the lot for their future primary or second home. If you are in that situation by all means consider buying now  at  low prices that we will be “marveling about” in a few short years.

If you are an “investor” what better time to take advantage of some very good lot buys. As an example I have second row ocean lot listed for $499,000 and the seller is looking for offers. That same lot just across the water at Hilton Head is easily in the multi million dollar range. I also have some wonderful fairway view lots in the 179 K range. Do yourself a favor, get on the internet, and check out places like Bald Head North Carolina. Bald Head is accessible only by boat and  very comparable to Daufuskie Island. Check out their fairway lot prices. Or better still, call an agent and tell him/her you want to buy a fairway lot with a short golf  cart ride to the beach but only have under $200 thousand to spend.  Then hold the phone real far way from your ear so the laughter doesn’t hurt your ear drums.

The bottom line is  “Timing has never been better to buy Dirt”

Comments

[LowCountry Joe]

Gianni.......Yes...its nice to see some activity.....The folks that are buying are getting tremendous value......I call it "conversation value"...the kind we will converse about very shortly and say...."can you believe it went for that"......

Re: Investors......don't expect to hear anything until after our last council "reading" re: density coming up shortly.

[gianni georgio]

Hey LC Joe...glad to see some lots starting to pend in both B. Point and Melrose...how has your traffic been on the island with potential interested clients? Did you get any preliminary feedback from the "investors" visit last week?

Thanks..