Property Values - 2016 view

This page is of historic value only, particularly as it related to the a poor real estate market at the time.

The following was the result of a 2016 study of Home Values.  Sales have continued to climb since, but much of the insight that can be gained remains valid. Data used in the study was derived from the Realist system, a nation-wide data base used by the real estate industry.

The following chart depicts Home Values for Villas, Club Cottages, and single family homes further segmented qualitatively, but not overly precise, by the location/value of the land. The data was sorted by price, which has a few low priced properties and few high priced ones, with a gradual increase between the two extremes. 

• The black line reflects the county market value estimate, which provides a relatively consistent baseline.

• The green bars reflect a broad industry estimate range, which often is several hundred thousands of dollars and not all that useful for a particular home.  It does demonstrate that industry estimates are higher than county estimates. 

• The red dots reflect sale prices of sales in 2015 and thru August 2016.  Lower priced homes generally sell below the county estimates, while the premium and higher category sell more in line with the industry.  

• The blue dots reflect asking prices for homes for sale as of mid September 2016.  These generally appear to be priced higher than recent sales suggest. 

The following three Tables provide a summary of the above data and more.  

The first table summarizes the property, home, owner information and the County Estimate of Property Value, columns include:

• number of homes in each segment, the average size of the lot, the average size of the home and when built.  The villas are much older; premium homes not on water tend to be newer, which is why a premium category emerged.  On average, other categories were built around the same time. 

• whether there is a pool or dock, and if the home is owner occupied (main mailing address); it should be no surprise that Villas and Cottages have lower owner occupancy. 

•  if the owner built, or bought a spec home or resale; if bought, the average price is shown. There is no record of what owners paid to build a home, but it should be reflected in the market value estimates. 

The first table showed county estimate of property value, this Second Table summarizes property values in more detail: 

• the average price the present owner paid, the county estimate of market value, and the average of the broad industry estimates;

• separating the county value into home and land, allows calculating the average cost per square foot of the home alone, or the home and land combined.  Note the cost of the home alone has much less variation.

Lot Values

A similar analysis was done for home sites (lots).  Villas were only sold as such and there are no villa lots.  Deep Water was merged into the Marsh segment to better present the data. 

• Price paid by the owner is used as the baseline.  

• Red dots represent sales over the last 9 years. When a sale occurred, the price paid by the previous owner was used for the baseline.

• Blue dots represent properties presently listed for sale.

• Along the horizontal axis, Triangles  represent properties up for tax sale or already on the county Forfeited Lands Commission list. Green dots on the axis are  properties at risk of becoming such. 

It should be noted that a handful of properties have already been built, but the records have not totally caught up. In addition, a dozen or so homes that were built and fully recorded are in the home category and thus lot sales are under represented.  However, these limitations do not change the overall picture.  

The following table presents a more quantitative summary. 

• Sales over the past 9 years are included, with the caveats outlined above. 

• Lots presently for sale are well in excess of the sales; it will take decades at the present sales rates to sell the properties.  Essentially all but a dozen or so of the lots are available for sale, but owners have given up trying to sell. 

• Tax Sales and Forfeited Lands, and Properties at Risk of Becoming So reflect the need for action.

It will take decades for business as usual to remedy the situation, in the meantime, but abandoned properties and the accompanying delinquent accounts will create a financial burden that mandates action. 

Outlook and Possibilities

The community needs to have a frank discussion and reach a concensus regarding what to do about low-priced homes, the sale of lots and the building of homes.  Possibilities include.

• Recognize that we need to build a financial model that works on 550-600 homes, with the remainder of the lots becoming common property or open space.

• Take back properties and use them to pursue the redevelopment of Callawassie Island.

• Establishing a portfolio of new homes with models; consider the possibility of young professionals (junior memberships), assisted living homes (emeritus memberships), and additional villas.

• Rethinking the amenities we offer to assure that owners would opt for membership, whether or not it is required. 

While incremental improvements have been made, the trajectory could be better managed and planned.  We should establish a 5-10 year plan based on a vision of what we want the Island to be.  To maximize the property  values,  I suggest that any plan should be based on an optional club membership, and a target market not centered around golf, but nature and an active life style for all.