Hilton Head Real Estate

The other day one of our clients that buys and sells Hilton Head real estate on a regular basis sent us this article on high end mortgages(Click Here).  We asked around for some ideas as to what this could mean and found out the following:  Alt-A are wall street securities allow for high quality borrowers to qualify outside of the fannie mae guidelines. So loans higher than $417k can be made to borrowers who have assets but little tax return income, etc etc etc.  This may mean that the street will soon be back into the market, which would mean the return of alt-A mortgage products. Which would be interesting. Or it could mean more traders have found a way to heavily profit from mortgages for a third time , with no added value ( of course ).

For more information, or discussion, please contact me.  Thank you.

The Medicare Tax is a 3.8% tax that goes into effect January 1, 2013 and it does not apply to all Hilton Head owners.  Only “high income” owners with Adjusted Gross Incomes(AGI) of more than $200,000 for individuals or more than $250,000 for married couples will have to deal with this new tax. As well, it does not apply to principle residences under $500,000 held jointly or $250,000 for a single.  We suggest checking with your financial counselors to see if it is beneficial to sell before this new tax is put into place.  The reason it is called a Medicare Tax is that this money will be allocated to the Medicare Trust Fund that is part of the Social Security System.

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Meet Robbie Bunting & Jane Hyers

Robbie’s knowledge and expertise of Hilton Head Real Estate spans over 30 years.  He is a second generation Realtor and together with his assistant Jane Hyers, they have developed a very dynamic approach to the evolving real estate market.  By combining a personal approach to the most recent technologies, Robbie Bunting and Jane Hyers provide the very best for their buyer and seller clients.  As one of the top ten agents on Hilton Head Island, their goal is to create a raving fan with the services they provide you. Read the rest of this entry

Tax time is here again, and for those who purchased in 2010, this is your opportunity to appeal.  Your appeal must be filed by the end of 2011.  The good news is that even if you purchased in 2008 or 2009 you can still appeal.  Like the 2010 purchaser, the 2008 and 2009 appeals may only appeal with transfers that occur in the year of purchase and no transactions after the year of purchase may be used as a basis.  Unfortunately, if the property was acquired before January of 2008 the chance of a successful appeal is minimized.  Realtors ® did make some positive strides in 2011 to change the 2006 Point of Sale tax code but the change only benefits 2011 purchases and only those assessed at the 6% rate or commercial properties. In a nutshell, if the property had been acquired after 2002, the chance of benefiting by this law is minimized because the purchase price less 25% cannot be below the property’s Fair Market Value of record. Read the rest of this entry

If you have been researching property on Hilton Head Island and were wondering what the estimated costs are, we have developed a program for a cost analysis that we can prepare any property on Hilton Head Island. This cost analysis plugs in everything from Property owners association fees, villa regime fees, yard maintenance and even rental income if you are considering rental.  Let us know if you would like for us to prepare an analysis of a property and we will email it to you.

There are really only two options that you need to take in the next few weeks.  If your property is working for you and meets your present and future needs than you should absolutely consider refinancing your property as rates will never be this low.  Most people do not realize how low these rates really are:

• We have had clients hover around a 3.3% 15 year loan ~ which is $709 per month per $1,000 dollars per month
• We have had clients hover around a  4% for a  30 year conforming fixed rate or $490 per month

A note from Matt Webster at Suntrust Mortgage: Lately there has been a lot of negative press about the real estate market, but there is always a silver lining to every situation.  The obvious positive spin on today’s market is that everything is on sale.  With prices and interest rates at  these extremely low levels, now is great time to buy.   This is really nothing new, but I believe it is worth repeating. Read the rest of this entry

A note from our mortgage guru: GREEN is the color of money, the harbinger of spring, and the tint of St Patrick’s beer. I am not a drinker, and spring happens without my interference. That leaves money. The happy news is that the money is flowing. The following positive changes have occurred  recently.

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Recently, we have spotted a real estate trend that is something that we wanted to share with sellers, buyers and agents on Hilton Head Island.  Some of our Islanders are selling their homes and renting their homes back from the purchaser or renting other properties.  It is now possible that a purchaser can buy the home of their choice for their future needs and rent it until they make a move.  They may even rent it to the seller.  Who best to live in the home than the seller! Read the rest of this entry