Posts by : Rosette Garcia

Cleaning carpets effectively requires a systematic approach and proper techniques and tools. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you thoroughly clean your carpets:

Supplies you'll need:

1. A vacuum cleaner
2. Carpet cleaning solution (commercial or homemade)
3. A bucket
4. Clean towels or microfiber cloths
5. A soft-bristle brush or carpet rake
6. A spray bottle (if using a homemade solution)
7. A wet/dry vacuum (optional)

Pre-vacuuming

Before you begin, vacuum the entire carpet to remove loose dirt, debris and pet hair. This step is crucial as it prevents larger particles from getting trapped in the carpet fibers during cleaning.

Spot treatment (if needed)

Treat any visible stains or spots us...

Strapped for cash? You might be able to liquify some of your home equity to cover expenses by using a home equity conversion mortgage, which is essentially a reverse mortgage backed by the Federal Housing Administration. The organization is federally insured by HUD; the agency guarantees the lender will be repaid.

These products, which have been gaining traction over the past five years, peaked in popularity in 2009. They work best for seniors who need more income and credit and intend to remain in their homes for the rest of their lives.

Playing by the rules

There are two main requirements for holding an HECM: You must be at least 62, and the principal must be repaid if you move out, ...

We have amazing new listings available in the South Strand! From Surfside to Murrells Inlet, check out these great homes!

1580 Gibson Avenue in Deerfield, Surfside Beach!

This 4100+ square foot home sits on a lakefront .34 acre lot and offers 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, office, game room, flex room, and a true Mother in Law suite. You have to see this gorgeous home today! Incredible opportunity now available in well loved Deerfield sitting between 17 Business and 17 Bypass in Surfside Beach!

Click here to know more...

8553 Hopkins Circle, Unit E in Southbridge Villas, Surfside Beach!

Welcome home to Southbridge Villas at Hopkins Circle! This 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, top floor, end unit co...

Relaxing in a bathtub of warm soothing water is truly one of life's small pleasures. As the largest element in the room, the bathtub is also a key player in creating the desired ambiance and style for your bathroom upgrade or remodeling project. Whether you choose a classic clawfoot or a modern whirlpool tub, the bathtub is the place for destressing and relieving tense muscles. Of course, it also functions as the place we enjoy soaking and washing ourselves.

There are four basic tub styles to choose from: Freestanding, alcove, drop-in and corner. Each has its advantages and disadvantages:

Freestanding tubs command attention as the focal point in a bathroom. These tubs can be placed anyw...

For those of us seeking to live more peacefully and more simply with nature, the wabi-sabi world view is one you may be interested in learning more about. Some Americans will be familiar with the wabi-sabi art of kintsugi. Kintsugi's acceptance of imperfection by restoring or repairing damaged decorative objects is right in step with today's focus on sustainability.

What the kintsugi technique offers is a second chance for ceramics that have been broken or cracked by filling in the damage with urushi lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum. The result is an imperfect piece of art that is stronger and more beautiful than the original. Wabi-sabi is all about embracin...

A Fannie Mae HomeStyle loan lets you wrap both the price of the home you are buying and its estimated repair costs into a single mortgage. Say you are buying a home that costs $235,000 and you are putting a down payment of $23,500 on it. Say, too, that a contractor estimates that it will cost an additional $50,000 to renovate this property.

You would take out a Fannie Mae HomeStyle loan for $211,500 — the amount you need to finance after subtracting your down payment from the home's purchase price — plus the $50,000 you'll need for renovations and repairs. That will leave you with a total mortgage of $261,500.

You would use the $50,000 from this loan to fund the cost of your home repair...

When you refinance, you are swapping out your current mortgage loan for a new one. Your lender will need to check your credit reports and credit score and make sure your monthly income is high enough for you to afford your new mortgage payment.

This comes with closing costs. How much you pay will vary, but you can expect to pay from 3% to 6% of your total loan amount in closing fees. Fortunately, you don't have to pay these fees upfront. You can roll them into your mortgage amount at closing, meaning that you'll spread these costs out over the life of your loan.

Closing a refinance can take time. But how can you speed up the process? Take the following steps:

Don't wait to gather your ...

Our goal is to help people achieve their goals. It might surprise you to learn that I help people make the decision to not buy real estate all the time. The time to buy real estate is not always “NOW”. Real estate is a good purchase in any market at any time. However, each person’s circumstances truly matter and we put people over property every time. If you’ve been thinking about buying a home in 2024, here are a few things to consider:

Presidential election year:

I’m not trying talk politics. I’d honestly prefer we didn’t. As a Realtor, we believe in the color purple. There are red and blue problems and I believe in purple solutions. That said, in a presidential election year, there’s...

Is 2024 the year that you finally make a move so that your life fits your house? This article explores the challenges of upsizing and downsizing. We also share tips and tricks to make the transition as smooth as possible. 

Making a move can be stressful and we can help. It can especially daunting if you own a home and you need to move to a different one. We help folks across all walks, chapters and stages of life. Below are a few questions to ask yourself to determine if a move is in your future.

Downsize:

Is your home too big now that the kids have moved out? Being an empty nester is amazing! Date nights and less responsibility! With unused rooms in the house, keep in mind, you’re pay...

Most lenders today rely on your FICO credit score to determine whether to approve your application for a mortgage and when assigning an interest rate to your loan. Generally, the higher your FICO score, the lower your interest rate.

Most lenders consider a FICO score of 800 or more to be excellent. You can expect to earn the lowest interest rate when your score is that high. But you don’t need an 800 FICO credit score to qualify for a mortgage. You can usually secure a loan even if your FICO score is as low as 620.

But did you know that FICO scores aren’t the only credit scores out there? And did you know that you have more than one FICO credit score?

But who's keeping score?

Why don’...

A cash-out refinance is a way for homeowners with enough equity in their residences to access a lump sum of cash. They can then use that cash for anything they want, from paying down high-interest-rate credit card debt or funding a kitchen remodel to paying for a child’s college tuition.

Here’s how it works: Instead of refinancing your mortgage for the amount you owe on your current loan, you’d refinance it for a higher amount. Maybe you owe $150,000 on your mortgage. Instead of refinancing your mortgage to a new loan of $150,000, you might refinance to a new loan with a balance of $200,000.

You’d then receive that extra $50,000 in a lump sum payment, money that you can use in whatever ...

I was born to make a difference in the lives of others and God gives me opportunities to do so via real estate. Sometimes making a difference a means helping people decide to not move to South Carolina. Sometimes I help people decide they would rather use their equity to make updates instead of sell their current home. Sometimes I help people crunch numbers so they know what it costs to buy an investment property and they decide it’s not for them. Or, maybe I run comps on the inherited family home so that siblings can make a decision on how to split the assets of their deceased loved one. These situations are just a few examples of where I invest a lot of time and energy into helping peop...

One of the bigger challenges in purchasing investment properties is coming up with enough money for a down payment. Say you want to purchase a single-family home costing $150,000. A down payment of 10% of this home’s purchase price would be $15,000. That’s a lot of money. But don’t let this dissuade you. The BRRRR investment method can help.

What is the BRRRR approach?

BRRRR stands for buy, rehab, rent, refinance, and repeat. And it’s a tested method that real estate investors have long used.

Buy: First, you buy a distressed home or one that is in foreclosure for a lower price than you’d pay for most properties in that community. Buying a home for a price t hat is low enough is key. If...

Private mortgage insurance, better known as PMI, provides a type of financial safety net to your lender if you should stop paying your mortgage on time. How much you pay will vary, but PMI typically costs 0.1% to 2% of your loan amount.

That can add up. If you are taking out a mortgage of $300,000 and your PMI runs 1% a year, you'll spend $3,000 a year on PMI. That comes out to $250 a month.

How to avoid PMI

You don't always have to pay for PMI. Your lender won't charge you for this insurance if you come up with a down payment equal to or higher than 20% of your home's final purchase price.

Say you are buying a home for $300,000. If you come up with a down payment of $60,000 — equal t...

As final numbers for October 2023 are available for review, we took a look in the rear view mirror and compared last month to October 2022. Click through to read the article and learn a few insights that might help you in the upcoming market.

Last month, the average sales price of all properties was $366,822 which is a light increase over the average October 2022 sold property of $365,450. In the months in between, the average price peaked at $386,387 and valleyed at $352,957, demonstrating that the market is constantly changing. However, compare that to October 2021 and the average price was $309,576. The average price of real estate close to the beach goes one way over time: UP. 

Will...

Like all fixed-rate mortgages, your interest rate will never change with a 40-year, fixed-rate mortgage. Your rate will remain the same until you pay off your loan, refinance your 40-year mortgage into a new loan or sell your home.

The difference between a 40-year mortgage and other fixed-rate loans comes in the term. The 40-year mortgage comes with a longer term than other loans, one that stretches four decades.

As with other mortgages, you'll pay this loan back with interest in regular monthly payments. If you hold your loan for its full term, you’ll make 480 payments — 40 years of 12 monthly payments.

What is the benefit of a 40-year mortgage?

The biggest benefit of a 40-year, fixe...

You know that you can borrow against the equity that you've built in your home, using the funds from home equity loans to pay for whatever you want, whether you're ready to remodel your aging kitchen or pay off high-interest-rate credit card debt. What you don't know, though, is whether it makes more sense to take out a standard home equity loan or a home equity line of credit, better known as a HELOC. Which loan product is the better choice?

What are equity loans?

Building equity is one of the main benefits of owning a home. Equity is the difference between the value of your home and the amount you still owe on your mortgage. If you owe $250,000 on your mortgage and your home is worth ...

When you make your mortgage payment each month, a portion of your dollars will go toward paying down your loan's principal balance. But a good chunk of your payment will also go toward paying the interest that your loan accrues.

During the earlier days of your mortgage, more of your payment will go toward interest and less will go toward paying down your loan's balance.

The good news is that you can deduct from your taxes the interest you pay on the first $750,000 of mortgage debt. And if you bought your home before Dec. 16, 2017, you can deduct the interest you pay on the first $1 million of your mortgage debt.

How much will this deduction save you?

How much you save because of the m...

Did you know that the latest a major hurricane has ever made landfall in South Carolina is Oct 15th and the latest any tropical system has hit SC is Oct 31st? That said, the only named hurricane to make direct landfall in Myrtle Beach was an unnamed category 2 storm that hit October 31, 1899. 

October storms and McClellanville seem to have an interesting relationship:

Hurricane Matthew in 2018 made landfall in McClellanville as a category 1. Our area had larger impacts from flooding after the storm than the hurricane itself. Before we named hurricanes, two other storms hit McClellanville in October: a category 3 in 1893 and  a category 1 in 1913. If you’re keeping score… only 6 named st...

Comparing last September to this September shows some surprising similarities and differences.

In 2022, the average sales price of properties in our area was $356,124. A year later, the average price is up by almost $20,000 with an average price of $374,968.

September 2023 saw 7.4% fewer closings than last year with 1,465 sold properties versus 1,582 sold properties in 2022. 

Total supply of properties for sale continues to creep up with 3.4 months of inventory for sale in 2023 versus only 2.7 in 2022. 

Last year, there were 1,448 new construction properties for sale in September. This number peaked in December at more than 1,800 new construction properties on the market. Last month, ...