Real Estate Guide 2012

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ket,” he says.“We are very, very lucky here in

Charleston to have captured Boeing,”Dix says.While the home-buying market remains

in rebound mode, the rental trade has fullybounced back.According to the yearend Charleston

Rental Market snapshot, new listings in thearea’s Multiple Listing Service rose 5 per-cent from 2010 to a record 5,874 units. Themedian rental rate was $1,200 a month, thereport notes. Carolina One Real Estatedirector-broker Eric Wetherington, whooversees the company’s property manage-ment, maintenance and closing servicesdivision, compiles the snapshot.Unlike most places around the country,

the Charleston area benefits from recentjob growth, the report finds.“With the addition of major employers

like Boeing and the pending ClemsonUniversity turbine research facility thereare many folks moving here to take advan-tage of these new jobs,” he says.

At the same time, a sizable share of resi-dents lost their home in a short sale or fore-closure, making them legally unable to qual-ify to buy another house for several years.“They often make great tenants as they

are used to taking care of a home and theydesire to live in a similar neighborhood tothe one they left behind,”Wetheringtonsays.Another factor: the Y generation “is

more care-free and longs to be moremobile. They don’t want to be tied down toa house, job or community until later inlife,” he says. That’s increased demand forhigh-end rentals in the Charleston areaand elsewhere.Wetherington believes the median rent

will increase in early summer— as in 2011— as supply tightens during the peakmonths and demand continues to rise.“We expect 2012 to be another strong

year for the Charleston rental market,” hesays.Dix, for one, contends the surging rental

market is actually a boon to home shop-

pers, since leases are winding up pricierthan mortgage payments for comparablysized properties.A few signs that the real estate market is

healing have already started to show up.For instance, the Charleston area’s homeinventory— the volume of properties forsale at any given time— was 9,000 in 2009.It has tumbled since then to about 6,000houses today. One reason for the decline:“A lot more short sales and foreclosureswere cleaned out,” Koger says. “With thatall said, it could be worse.”Still, foreclosures, which account for one

in four sales in the Charleston area, remaina thorny problem. They can drag downprices throughout a community. “It’s hurt-ing comps (comparable sales prices inneighborhoods),” he says. “Unfortunately,appraisers have to use some of these.”Another fly in the ointment is the oft-

heard rumor that another wave of foreclo-sures will threaten the market, Koger says,noting that he’s been unable to validate it.“If we just look at (housing) statistics, the

market improving, yeah it really looksgood. If we get foreclosures dumped on us,it will slow down things.”A doubtful Dix says, “They’ve been talk-

ing about this (second surge in foreclo-sures) since last year. Really? Are they(coming)?” he questioned.Koger says home sellers and buyers still

are having trouble coming to grips with thestartlingly low prices proffered today asopposed to 2007-08.“It’s hard to get clients to understand,

property is not worth the same as fouryears ago,” he says.His advice:“If you are buying, now is the time to buy

if you’ve got the money,” he says. Yet bar-gain-hunters should be careful. Young peo-ple see a foreclosed property and figure theprice will be $50,000 to $60,000 less, hesays. But the process from contract to clos-ing can be very drawn out, he says.

Reach Jim Parker at 937-5542 [email protected]

PHOTOS BY LEROY BURNELL/STAFF

This house on Ion Avenue in Sullivan’s Island sold last year.The Boeing delivery center opened in late 2011 at the commercial jet maker’sNorth Charleston operations.

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Facts:Awendaw is located in the Cape

Romain community, surrounded by the350,000 acres of the Cape RomainWildlife Refuge, Francis MarionNational Forest and Santee CoastalReserve. It is named for a SeweeIndian village. Awendaw has grownslowly over the years, beginning in1709 with the Sewee Barony, laterrenamed Awendaw Barony. Today,homes are spread along Highway 17with new subdivisions emerging alongthe Intracoastal Waterway.

Rice planters establishedMcClellanville after their summercolony at the mouth of the SanteeRiver was destroyed by the hurricaneof 1822. Several years later the townbecame a year-round home to thedescendants of planters. Today, the

town’s principal economic activity iscommercial fishing. McClellanville,located on Jeremy Creek, is home portto a large fleet of shrimp boats.

Awendaw/McClellanville

Awendaw/McClellanville

Median home sales price: $153,100

Number of sales: 22

Average days on market: 215

School district: Charleston

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Facts:A newly developed community,

Daniel Island is part of the city ofCharleston, although it is located inBerkeley County just a few minutes’drive from the heart of Mount

Pleasant. The island offers 4,000 acresof planned community living.

The island has only recently beendeveloped. In 1947, the prominentGuggenheim family of New York pur-chased the entire island for cattleranching and a family hunting retreat.

Daniel IslandWhen Harry Frank Guggenheimpassed away, the land passed to hisfoundation, which sponsored a groupof some of the top urban visionariesfrom around the country to develop amaster plan to ensure the island wouldbe responsibly developed. The islandwas sold to the Daniel Island Companyin 1997 and today is being developedin accordance with the vision outlinedin the master plan.

Daniel Island offers a variety of shopsas well as restaurants, banks, medicalfacilities and a grocery store. There arealso a number of business and corpo-rate offices in the center of town. Parksare plentiful here, with gardens andnatural areas for families to enjoy.

The island is home to the CharlestonBattery, the area’s professional soccerteam. Each year, the island hosts theFamily Circle Cup Tennis Tournament,and concerts and cultural events areheld at the stadium throughout theyear. The Club at Daniel Island holdsevents for its members and coordinatesactivities for both children and adults.

Daniel Island


Number of sales: 250


School district: Berkeley

Did you know...Condé Nast Traveler readersranked Charleston as the No. 1 U.S. destination in themagazine’s 2011 Reader’sChoice Awards.

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Facts:Johns Island is located due west of

Charleston. For most of its history,Johns Island has been a coastal farmingcenter, and it still boasts vast expansesof lush, unspoiled acreage only recentlyavailable to prospective real estate buy-ers.The island serves as a gateway for its

more famous neighbors, Kiawah andSeabrook. Although technically anisland because it is surrounded by theIntracoastal Waterway, Stono River,Kiawah River and Bohicket Creek,Johns Island is protected from theocean by other islands surrounding it.Laced with tidal creeks and sur-

rounded by rivers and waterways, theisland offers a variety of waterfrontlots, and newly developed neighbor-hoods overlook Wadmalaw Sound andthe Kiawah and Stono Rivers.Winding country roads bordered by

great live oaks sport a series of gamepreserves and newly designed golfcourses.A few local farms are still in opera-

tion, growing tomatoes, cucumbers,lettuce, melons, winter greens andmore. Year-round produce is offered inroadside markets and at restaurants on

the islands and beyond.The famous Angel Oak is located

here off Bohicket Road, the main high-way through the island. This massive,1,500-year-old live oak is said to be theoldest living tree east of theMississippi.Johns Island boasts a handful of fine

restaurants and a number of smallshopping areas near the heart of thegrowing population centers. BohicketRoad has been widened near theentrances of Kiawah and Seabrook, andtwo new bridges have been construct-ed, further attracting development.

Johns Island

Johns Island


Number of sales: 287



(Charleston area, 2nd half 2011)

1. 228 Eagle Point Road, Kiawah Island: 5,445 sq. ft. – $4,850,000 (Aug. 3)

2. 361 Rhoden Island Drive, Daniel Island: 6,637 sq. ft. – $3,375,000 (Oct. 17)

3. 2 Gibbes St., Charleston: 6,029 sq. ft. – $3.2 million (Oct. 14)

4. 7 Eugenia Ave., Kiawah Island: 4,939 sq. ft. – $3.1 million (Dec. 2)

5. 1851 Ion Ave., Sullivan’s Island: 8,383 sq. ft. – $2,635,000 (Dec. 13)

6. 36 Chalmers St., Charleston: 3,667 sq. ft. – $2,450,000 (Aug. 9)

7. 16 Logan St., Charleston: 2,262 sq. ft. – $2.4 million (July 29)

8. 1615 Atlantic Ave., Sullivan’s Island: 5,143 sq. ft. – $2,360,000 (Sept. 2)

9. 7 Conquest Ave., Sullivan’s Island: 4,100 sq. ft. – $2,325,000 (Aug. 15)

10. 17 Turtle Beach Lane, Kiawah Island: 3,247 sq. ft. – $2.3 million (Dec. 16)

Source: www.Realtor.com

Top Sellers

Did you know...U.S. News & World Report ranks the College ofCharleston No. 4 among southern master’s-levelpublic universities in America's Best Colleges.

C51-689394

Sullivan’s Island

Facts:Sullivan’s Island, a barrier island

north of Charleston Harbor, is home toapproximately 2,000 residents in half asmany households. These are primarilyfull- or part-time citizens who enjoythe relaxed lifestyle of the island. Thereare very few short-term rentals and nohotels, motels, bed-and-breakfasts, orother transient lodgings.The town, incorporated in 1817 as

Moultrieville, did not allow lean-tos orshacks then or now. At that time lotswere required to have a minimum ofhalf an acre, and the same is true today.Sullivan’s Island is distinctive because

the beachfront lands that have built upover the years are owned by the townand held in a perpetual easement bythe Lowcountry Open Land Trust, thusprotecting the natural environmentalong the Atlantic Ocean.The island has a long military tradi-

tion of protecting the harbor frominvaders, and many wonderful histo-ries capture those stories. The islandhas played a part in fiction as well.Edgar Allan Poe was stationed at FortMoultrie from 1827 to 1828 and usedthe island as the setting for his shortstory “The Gold Bug.”Remnants of the military are abun-

dant in now-privately held militaryhousing; even former fortifications arenow single-family residences. Many ofthese historic homes have withstoodthe test of time and ravaging weather.The Sullivan’s Island lighthouse, built

in 1962, is a 140-foot-tall triangularbuilding that boasts an elevator insteadof the typical spiral staircase. It standsas a prominent symbol of the islandand can be seen from various pointssurrounding Charleston Harbor.

Sullivan’s Island

Median home sale price: $1,335,000

Number of sales: 37



(metro Charleston, 2011)

1. Johns Island – 55.1 percent

2. Wando, Cainhoy area – 40.4 percent

3. Goose Creek, Moncks Corner area – 40 percent

4. Greater Summerville – 31.3 percent

5. West Ashley – 28.6 percent

6. Daniel Island – 27.6 percent

7. Greater North Charleston – 27.5 percent

8. Dorchester Road corridor – 25.8 percent

9. Upper Mount Pleasant – 23 percent

10. Hanahan – 19.1 percentNOTE: Figures refer to the percentage of sales in a given area that arenewly built homes. Source: Charleston Trident Association of Realtors

New Construction Market ShareTop 10

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Facts:Summerville’s name evokes its histo-

ry. Situated on a pine-forested ridge,the city was first inhabited in the late1700s as Charlestonians and otherinhabitants of the Lowcountry “sum-mered” there to seek respite from cityheat, mosquitoes and disease.From May to September, plantation

families along the nearby Ashley Riverand other coastal areas headed for thehigher elevation in the area to live tem-porarily, or “maroon,” in the tiny forestcolony soon dubbed Summerville.Other pioneer residents descendedfrom those 1696 Puritans who estab-lished the nearby settlement ofDorchester, thus endowingSummerville with a heritage spanningthree centuries.Summerville’s beauty is mirrored in

its motto, “The Flower Town in thePines.” Since the early 1900s, visitorshave flocked to the town during earlyspring to enjoy the millions of springblossoms, particularly azaleas, in pri-vate and public gardens, including themidtown Azalea Park.The town is known for its unique

shops lining an “old-fashioned”MainStreet, but its access to I-26 has alsoattracted larger chain stores.Ultimately, it’s the community’s charm-

ing neighborhoods with a variety ofhousing styles and price ranges thatmake it so desirable a location in theLowcountry.The town’s population hovered

around 3,000 for nearly a century, notreaching 6,000 until the late 1970s.Then, as a bedroom community for thelarger urban centers in the area, thecharm of Summerville resulted in adoubling of the population in the1980s. It continues to attract families,business people and military personnelas a great place to live and work.

Summerville

Summerville


Number of sales: 1,179


School districts: Dorchester 2 andBerkeley

North Charleston, continued from 30

Did you know...The Charleston metro area reaches 50 miles inland with90 miles of oceanfront.

the referendum results and NorthCharleston became a city.North Charleston’s many neighbor-

hoods offer a wide range of amenities,including golf, fishing, tennis, play-grounds, schools, day care, dining andrecreational opportunities.This thriving region boasts a 13,500-

seat coliseum that is home to theECHL’s Stingrays. North Charlestonalso offers a convention center and aperforming arts center, numeroushotels, and abundant shopping, includ-ing Northwoods Mall and TangerOutlet Center.

Real Estate Guide 2012

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