Everyone Loves Daylight Savings Time

Rib Eyes, Long Naps and Daylight Savings Time
I love things like my job, Starbucks Coffee and two set tennis matches in 100 degree heat. Also at the top of the list are huge rib eye steaks (medium rare), long naps with no responsibilities afterwards (rare these days) and the day when the sun stays up longer in the day.

Daylight savings time is kind of a big deal. First, it allows more time to devote to selling real estate. Second, it's the trigger day for losing weight. It's sort of like a holiday that springs more opportunity for daily exercise. Everyone seems to gain weight in the winter and for me, this is the unofficial end of it.

On a larger scale I argue that daylight savings time is good for national commerce and safety. From golf courses to insurance agencies, having more daylight is good for business. If you think about it, who really wants to pay their auto insurance in the dark. As for safety, having more daylight is a no brainer.

I actually tried to get a candidate for the U.S. Senate to insert a daylight savings extension as a plank to their campaign platform. My recommendation has since come to fruition via another mechanism.

Either way, daylight savings time is here and I welcome it with open arms. Now I can get on the weight loss thing without excuse and now don't have to show houses in the dark for a while. In short, it's awesome!

Richland County Closed Transactions

Richland Co. Closed Transactions; Feb 22 - March 10, 2010
On Monday I thought I was being smart by attaching the information in list form. Well, tonight someone informed me that readers counldn't log in withoug a Realtor code. Ooof. Sorry about that!!!

If you dive into the attachment you'll notice that three of the top five priced homes closed in the time frame are located in Woodcreek Farms. Pretty strong showing for a neighborhood located in Northeast Richland.

Newest Picture Worth a 1,000 Words

Every now and then an image comes along that perfectly captures a moment, tells a story and brands a character forever. The photo above, snapped by Chris Berry, is a perfect example.

Here we have a character dressed in a nice suit fit for a funeral that's accessorized to the brim with hat, scarf and sunglasses. He's exiting a public building familiar to many of the taxpayers of his community. Slowly moving from the building, he's alone and expressionless. His pockets are full with hidden hands. The horizontal lines in the architecture almost complete the story as they provide the symbol for the prison jumpsuits singed in our minds from movies and cartoons of the past.

Enter the vertical bars. The bars complete the story. I don't know if Mr. Berry saw this coming as he waited for his subject to exit, but either way he was in a primo spot for his dramatic shot.

It's unfortunate that the photo even had to be taken and that I'm typing this post in the first place. Notwithstanding all that, this is one of the rare pictures that tells a story and will stay with (brand) a character for a long time.

Richland County Closed Transactions

Richland Co. Closed List: Feb. 22 - March 5, 2010

Slow TV Night Could Use A Bravo Boost

Given the sheer number of channels to choose it would seem that I could find some late night entertainment without a problem. To the contrary, when the nightly 'Will & Grace' and 'Frasier' go off, the entertainment level drops like a rock.

After Frasier ends I usually switch over to The Tennis Channel by default. If you know me you'd think I'd be flipping between FOXNews or CNBC, but watching people yell at each other gets awful after about four minutes. SportsCenter is great but by 2 a.m. it's been rerun a few times over.

Having said all of this I could always count on Millionaire Listing at least once a week. To watch these three dudes go at it is a good hour for a local Realtor to watch. Some of the aspects of this show can be spot on and some can be incredibly stupe. Either way, it was a good hour.

Some folks think the show hit a snag when Josh Flagg (the one with the grandmother) was arrested for stealing valuable art from his listings. Who knows the truth about the matter but I hope that's not what's holding up the show.

As you can tell it's a slow blog night and am obviously looking for something worth a crap to watch on the tube. Jerry Springer just popped on and I'm now surfing again. Come on Bravo, bring on Millionaire!

Columbia's Newest Real Estate Hotsheet

>> Columbia's Newest Listings: Feb. 8 - March 2, 2010

King's Grant Closing Good for Everyone

New Benchmark Comp in King's Grant - 70 Somerton

YAY!! Every King's Grant homeowner will be happy to know about the sale of 70 Somerton Place. This awesome home will serve the the neighborhood well as it fetched a nice $$$/ft.

For a few months King's Grant had 20+/- homes on the market which was a little uncomfortable. The number has come down a good bit but in the process, the price/ft took a small dip. Not since the simultaneous sales of 460 King's Grant Dr., 600 King's Grant Dr. and the awesome home on McKay's Pt. has the neighborhood seen a comp at almost $180/ft/

70 Somerton is a former Parade of Homes participant, completely spotless and backs up to the 'woods side' of the Somerton loop.

This King's Grant beauty is boasting a sales price of $670,000 which translates to $178/ft. I'm looking forward to phone calls I'll be receiving over the next year from appraisers. Congrats to the owners of this home anyone that can use it for their next sale or appraisal.

I'm obviously proud but even happier for the neighborhood. Give me a call or shoot an email if you'd like to know more about the inventory or trends in King's Grant. Just FYI...our listing on Tombee Ct. is also Under Contract and scheduled to close at the end of this month.