George's Blog

Today at homestolive.in 10-9-08

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:49:34 -0700

Today at HomesToLive.in I added a blog entry on the accuracy of real estate sites like Zillow. I did a test search on a home that is currently on the market in the Greenville, SC real estate market and you can view the results at the market trends page of my web site. Here is the link:

http://homestolive.in/market_info

George Clements

Greenville, SC Realtor

Today at homestolive.in 9-12-08

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:17:07 -0700

Today at homestolive.in, I added a new section to the home page explaining why it is important to have a Greenville, SC Realtor® when buying or selling real estate. I listed a number of things that a Realtor® can help with on the buying side as well as the selling side. You can see the new section about 3/4 of the way down the home page.

George Clements - Greenville SC Realtor®

Today at homestolive.in 9-9-08

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:44:38 -0700

Today at homestolive.in I added a page for the subdivision named Shelburne Farms Greer, SC. You can view the link at this URL: http://homestolive.in/home_search/shelburne_farms or click on the link above. Shelburne Farms is conveniently located to the Greenville/Spartanburg Airport and is very conveneint to Highway 85 as well. At the new page you can view all of the homes for sale or take a street view tour of the subdivision.

George Clements

Greenville SC Realtor

Today at homestolive.in 9-3-08

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:53:31 -0700

George Clements - Greenville SC Realtor®

Today at homestolive.in, I added a page for the Foxglove subdivision of Taylors, SC in the Pebble Creek area. Here you can view all homes on the market as well as taking a street view tour of the subdivision. Use the home search features to compare Foxglove to other popular Greenville, SC Real Estate. You can find the page at http://homestolive.in/home_search/foxglove

Keeping the Market in Perspective

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:29:18 -0700

George Clements - Greenville SC Real Estate

Today at homestolive.in I wrote an article on keeping the market in perspective. It is very easy to look at the last few years compared to this year and be confused, especially with the main stream media. When you look at the decade as a whole though you get a totally different perspective.

Greenville SC Realtor®

New Look for Greenville's homestolive.in

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:58:12 -0700

George Clements - Greenville SC Real Estate

Homestolive.in just go an updated look! New content has been added to the home page and the photos and links have been updated. You can use homestolive.in for all of you Greenville, SC Real Estate needs. Also added to the home page is a quick link guide for active homes in subdivisions. So far subdivisions include:

Botany Woods Greenville, SC

Montebello Greenville, SC

Pebble Creek Taylors, SC

Linkside III Taylors, SC

Thornblade Greer, SC

Parker's Place Taylors, SC

Berkshire Park Taylors, SC

Sugar Creek Greer, SC

Active Listings for Linkside III

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:46:40 -0700

George Clements - Greenville SC Real Estate

A page showing all of the active listings for Linkside III has just been created at homestolive.in. Here you can view any ome for sale at any given time. The Linkside subdivision is in Taylors, SC and is part of the Pebble Creek area. Many of the homes in Linkside III boarder the Pebble Creek golf course.

You can view the link here:

http://greenville-sc-real-estate.us/home_search/linkside_iii

Greenville SC Real Estate at homestolive.in is growing!

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:10:14 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville SC Real Estate

You can now find homestolive.in in a number of places on the world wide web. Here are just a few of the places linking to us now:

http://profiles.yahoo.com/greenvillescrealestate

http://www.google.com/s2/profiles/109537785290816970438?zx=1lqt90nx86uh5

http://georgeclements.yourkwagent.com/

http://technorati.com/people/technorati/gclements

http://greenvillescrealestate.activerain.com/

http://homestolivedotinupdate.blogspot.com/

http://friendfeed.com/gclements

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenville-SC/Greenville-SC-Real-Estate/14054216687

Today at homestolive.in 8-6-08

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:22:48 -0700

George Clements Greenville SC Real Estate

Today at homestolive.in, I added a new page on the Parker's Place subdivision in Taylors South Carolina that shows all of the active listings at any time. Also, I wrote a blog on the latest trends for Parker's Place. You can find the blog here:

http://greenville-sc-real-estate.us/market_info#html-208

Today at homestolive.in 7-31-08

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:04:59 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville SC Real Estate

Today at homestolive.in I posted an article on the recent numbers from the Greenville real estate marekt. The article discusses what the numbers mean and how they affect buyers and sellers. The article can be viewed at homestolive.in by using this URL:

http://greenville-sc-real-estate.us/market_info#html-206

Today at homestolive.in 7-17-08

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:26:43 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville SC Real Estate

Today at homestolive.in, I discussed the Carolinas Region of Keller Williams Realty vs. the rest of the country. The article looks at profitability and profit share. You can view the article here: http://greenville-sc-real-estate.us/market_info#html-202

The homestolive.in blogging schedule

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:27:03 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

It is my goal at homestolive.in to come out with a new article every weekday. Monday's and Wednesday's will be focused on subdivision reports. Tuesday will be a buyer report while Friday's will focus on sellers. Thursday will be on the real estate markets. The markets as a whole as well as local and the Keller Williams office here in Greenville. Sometimes I will get off schedule if there is an important blogging topic worth writing about. For instance, the last two days I have focussed on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac story instead of doing the buyer report and subdivision report.

Today at homestolive.in 7-16-08

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:20:24 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville SC Real Estate

Today at homestolive.in, I blogged on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "bail out" by the Federal Government. I discussed exactly what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are and exactly how they affect the Greenville, South Carolina area. You can find the entire article here at: http://greenville-sc-real-estate.us/market_info#html-201

Today at homestolive.in 7-10-08

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:23:55 -0700

Greenville SC Real Estate

Today at homestolive.in, I discussed a recent article from the NAR that discusses current market conditions. The article shows how the conditions are very local, down to neighborhood and some areas are actually seeing quite an increase in pending sales while some are seeing quite a drop.

George Clements

Today at homestolive.in 7-8-08

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:58:17 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville SC Real Estate

Today at homestolive.in, also known as greenville-sc-real-estate.us, you will find a buyer report on the CL-100 letter. The article covers the first paragraph and deals with time frame and who pays for it. You can find the report in the Market Trends section of the website or buy following the link above.

Update at homestolive.in 6-20-08

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:18:07 -0700

George Clements Greenville SC Real Estate

Today at homestolive.in (aka greenville-sc-real-estate.us), you will find the Friday sellers report. I started a blog on staging and just went over the basics today. Covered topics like curb appeal, clutter, paint, and decor. Check it out and I hope it is helpful to you!

Contract Series Complete

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:37:30 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

Well, my series on the Contract For Sale is finally complete. In the blog posts before this one I went through each paragraph of the contract and gave a brief explanation of each one. Now I would like to move on to something else and I think that I will start with the seller's disclosure statement. Reveiewing each paragraph of the contract was a great refresher for me and it was good to just sit and think about each every sentence in the contract. I am sure that the seller's disclosure will be just as benificial for me.

Contract Series Paragraph 30

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:26:29 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

Paragraph 30 is the last one in the contract for sale and looks something like this:

30. Acknowledgement of agency disclosure: Purchaser and Seller acknowledge receipt of a copy of the South Carolina Agency Disclosure Brochure and acknowledge that agency relationships have been explained by the respective agents involved in the transaction. For the purpose of this transaction: The Purchaser is a client or customer of____________________________________________________________ (Brokerage) The Seller is a client or customer of________________________________________________________________ (Brokerage)

This Basically just states who the seller and pruchaer are clients of or who is representing them in the transaction. Both parties should be given a brochure that tells who represents them and explains agency and their representitive should go over this with them.

Contract Series Paragraph 29

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:16:19 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

Paragraph 29 of the contract for sale is entitled Remarks and is pretty simple but looks something like this:

29. REMARKS:_______________________________________________________________

This space can be used for anything that either party needs to add to the contract and make known to the other party when there are no other appropriate spots for it. There are only 3 lines so it can't be too much information and sometimes an addendum is more appropriate.

Contract Series Paragraph 28

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:11:02 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

Paragraph 28 of the Contract for Sale Deals with addendums and looks something like this:

28. OTHER ADDENDA: (A) LEAD-PAINT ADDENDUM: Seller states house may have been built prior to 1978. No___ Yes___. (If yes, lead-paint disclosure form EPA-3 sales (rev. 5/99) must be attached and made part of this Contract.) (B) ADDITIONAL ADDENDA: No___ Yes___.

If the house is built before 1978, "yes" would need to be checked and a lead based paint addendum would need to be added to the contract. Any home built before 1978 requires a lead based paint addendum because of the potential danger it can cause. Purchasers are required to sign off that they understand that the home could have lead based paint in it and are given a pamphlet of information.

The other "yes" would need to be checked if there is an addendum for anything else concerning the sale. For instance, if there was a special sitiation concerning timing on possession then an addendum would need to be used to spell out the exact terms.

Contract Series Paragraph 27

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Fri, 30 May 2008 08:59:48 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

Paragraph 27 of the Contract For Sale deals with the date at which a contract goes into effect and looks something like this.

27. EFFECTIVE DATE : The Effective Date shall be the last date upon which the Purchaser or Seller signs or initials, dates, and delivers this Contract as evidenced by the date beside the name or initials of the last party to sign or initial.

This basically means that the first date a contract is in effect is when the last initials and/or signatures are placed in the blanks or on changes and it is delivered to both partes. If certain terms have been agreed upon, changes have been made and initialed and the contract is complete, but it has not been delivered to one of the parties, then it is not under contract. The final contract has to be in the hands of both parties to be considered effective. Time is of the essence!

Contract Series Paragraph 26

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:37:45 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

Paragraph 26 of the Contract For Sale deals with the acceptable forms of accepting an offer and looks something like this:

26. Acc eptable Methods of Deliv ery and comm unic ation: The parties agree that the offer,
any counter offer and/or acceptance of any offer, as well as any other notice or response required to
be given, may be communicated by hand delivery, Federal Express or other overnight courier, by facsimile
or other secure electronic means, including, but not limited to, electronic mail. The signatures, initials
and handwritten or typewritten modifications to any of the foregoing which are conveyed electronically
shall be deemed to be valid and binding upon the parties as if the original signatures, initials and handwritten
or typewritten modifications were present on the documents in the handwriting of each party.

This paragraph tells the different ways a contract can be delivered for acceptance. These delivery ways include by hand, mail, fax, and email. Completed contracts are usually delivered by fax or email just to get it there as soon as possible. It is important to get an acceptance of an offer to the other party as soon as possible whether you are the purchaser or the seller. In the case of a purchaser, you do not want another offer to come in before yours is under contract. In the case of a seller, you do not want to mess around and risk loosing the purchaser for some reason before you go under contract.

This paragraph also says that any changes or initials/signatures are completely valid if sent by electronic means such as email or fax.

Contract Series Paragraph 25

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:18:08 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

Paragraph 25 of the Contract For Sale deals with weather an offer is accepted or not and looks something like this:

25. Communication of Aceptance: The acceptance of this offer or any counteroffer shall be ineffective
unless and until such acceptance is communicated by the accepting party to the offering party by one of
the acceptable methods set forth in paragraph 26 hereinbelow.

This paragraph is also pretty simple. It just states that an offer cannot be considered accepted until the person that makes the offer gets an acceptance from the person the offer is made to. The person making the offer could be the seller or the purchaser based on if it were an initial offer or a counter offer. It then states that the acceptable methods of accepting an offer are in the next paragraph #26.

Contract Series Paragraph 24

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:05:52 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

Paragraph 24 of the Contract For Sale deals with the expiration of the offer and looks something like this:

24. Expiration of Original Offer: The original offer is deemed revoked if not accepted and a signed
acceptance communicated by delivery to Purchaser or Purchaser’s Agent by _________________ 20___ , at___AM___PM

This is a pretty simple clause and just lets the seller know exactly how much time the purchaser is giving for them to respond to the offer. Normally, anywhere from 4 hours to 2 days are given to respond. It just depends on that paticular offer and situation on how much time is given. The seller can either accept, reject, or counter the offer that the purchser has given in this time period.

Contract Series Paragraph 23

George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:35:02 -0700

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

Paragraph 23 of the Contract For Sale is entitled "Survival" and looks something like this:

23. SURVIVAL: If any provision herein contained which by its nature and effect is required to be observed,
kept or performed after the closing, it will survive the closing and remain binding upon and for the benefit of
the parties hereto until fully observed, kept or performed.

This paragraph is wordy but very simple. It is basically saying that if something is put in this contract to be done after the closing that it will be done even if the closing has taken place.

This does not come up very often but here is an example that I came up with. Let's say that it says in the contract that the seller will buy a new washer and dryer for the purchaser and that it shall be delivered no later than 5 days after the closing. The seller would still be responsible to make sure the washer and dryer were delivered even though the seller has already closed on the property. I know this is not a very good example because I would not recommend that anyone do this. I prefer for everything to be done before the closing but it illustrates the meaning of the paragraph.