October is finally here and the Fall weather is looking very nice for all kinds of outdoor activities. Hercules and I are both very excited! Thankfully, Hurricane Florence did what most other hurricanes do. She looked as if she would head our way and then went slightly north of us. Hurricanes always look like they are going to hit us, but they rarely do thanks to the Gulfstream that pulls them into Cape Hatteras on the NC coast. This scenario has played out dozens of times over the past few decades. We have been lucky to have been on the south side of most hurricanes over the past 50 years. Only Hugo really managed to do any damage to Charleston back in September of 1989.
1-8: 35th Annual MOJA Arts Festival
3-7: 35th Annual Alan Fleming Senior Open Clay State Championship Tennis Tournament, Seabrook Island
4-28: 42nd edition of Fall Tours of Homes, History, and Architecture
5-6: The Myth of an Atom, Queen St Playhouse
6: 6th Annual Chucktown Showdown, Brittlebank Park
6: Swanky Southern Soiree, Country Club of Charleston
7: Scrumptious Summerville Kitchen Tour
9: Jonny Lang, Chas Music Hall
11: Steven Wright, Chas Music Hall
13: The Victory Cup, Hyde Park Farm and Polo Club in Ravenel
13: Lowcountry Trail Half Marathon and 5K, Johns Island County Park
13: Oktoberfest, St Matthew’s Lutheran Church
13: Edisto & Beyond Self Driving Tour
13: 3rd Annual East Cooper Speakeasy, Sweetgrass Event Center
14: Tale of a Fish, Wild Dunes Resort
14: 7th Annual HALOS Oyster Roast, Harborside East in Mt Pleasant
14: 27th Annual Latin American Festival, N Chas Wannamaker County Park
15: SCORE Charleston 8th Annual Captain’s Choice, Chas National Golf Club
16-21: Les Miserables, N Chas PAC
17: Blues Traveler, Chas Music Hall
18: Kathleen Madigan, Chas Music Hall
19: Lodges of Hope 4th Annual Charity Golf Tournament, Legend Oaks
21: Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Chas Music Hall
21: Festival of Mountain Music, East Beach Conference Center at Kiawah
25-4: Coastal Carolina Fair, Exchange Club Park in Ladson
28: 5th Annual Coffee Cup, Memminger
28: Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen, Gaillard
29: Adam Devine, Chas Music Hall
The Charleston SC real estate market continues to do extremely well. 2017 was a record-setting year with almost 18k transactions. So far, 2018 is up 1% in the number of sales year to date over 2017. The median sales price is up to a record high of $270k. That is up 6.5% YTD over 2017. That’s a little more than we should be hoping for. We’ll have to keep an eye on that. I have had many buyers recently say they are waiting until this bubble pops and the housing prices go down. Many of these are younger people like myself that only remember 2008. What we all need to understand is that was an anomaly. Real estate prices rarely go down. We cannot create new land. They may remain relatively level for 6-10 years during a period of economic recession. Certainly, the economy will go up and down. But usually, when the economy goes into its period of recession, housing prices simply remain flat. Then, when the economy inevitably bounces back, we see housing prices rise again. Waiting for the next bubble in real estate may cost you a lot of money especially with rising interest rates playing a factor too. We are sure the economy will go into recession at some point in the future. But real estate values are not likely to fall. And rental rates are going to continue to rise.