Midlands home sales rise

Five new homes sat ready in the Lake Carolina community last May while the Midlands real estate community held its breath.

They had been built specifically for a home tour event in the hopes of attracting buyers after years of declines in the industry that took away half of the market.

Over the three weekends of the Parade of Homes tour, as more than 8,000 potential buyers tromped through them, the $400,000-plus houses sold, one by one.

And many of those waiting nervously, finally exhaled.

It was a pivotal moment — for the builders, the neighborhood and the Midlands real estate community as a whole.

“From that time on, we’ve continued to build momentum,” said Carol Douis, president of Lake Carolina Properties. Read more

Home builders dogged by tougher lenders, foreclosures

Midlands builder says regulators must ease up on banks to free money to stimulate the economy:

Wade McGuinn says a Camden bank recently turned him down for a loan to build up to 30 homes in Kershaw County.

That is 90 jobs people don’t have, he said.

Those jobs are the reason homebuilding needs to grab more attention in the national debate on how to revive the battered economy, said Barry Rutenberg, chairman-elect of the National Association of Home Builders, who was in town this week to speak to Midlands-area builders.

Foreclosures rose sharply in South Carolina in October, another hurdle for builders struggling to stay afloat in a stagnant housing market. The state ranked 13th nationally in the number of foreclosures. Meanwhile, foreclosure rates in the U.S. improved over last year. Read more

Renovation of 2723 Monroe Street – Update #4

Check out this Before & After video of the “Transformation of 2723 Monroe Street”:

For more details on 2723 Monroe Street, visit this page. Read more