There isn’t a week that goes by it seems without Greenville, SC being named to some list of top places to live, work, vacation and invest. This past week, Greenville, SC was named a Top 10 Most Beautiful and Affordable Places to Live by Travel & Leisure Magazine. Those of us who live here have known this for quite some time but it’s still nice to see the recognition.
People all over the country are evaluating where there are living like never before. The Covid-19 Pandemic allowed people to work from home which means they could live anywhere. Why continue to live in an area that has winter for 4-6 months out of the year when you could live elsewhere? Why live in a over regulated blue state with the heavy hand of government when you could live in a state with better weather, access to beaches and mountains and where the government doesn’t try to control every aspect of your life? South Carolina is a great option and tens of thousands of people have discovered it.
If you’re thinking of moving from some cold, blue state in the north, Midwest or NE, feel free to give me a call and I’d be happy to tell you about Greenville and the Upstate. Call me at 864-276-1448. I’m a licensed real estate broker with eXp Realty in both SC and MN. SC License #113522.
Downtown Greenville, SC just continues to boom! It’s not quite like Raleigh, NC or Nashville, TN but it is now holding its own when it comes to new development of commercial and multi-family property within the city itself.
United Community Bank announced last year that they were leaving Blairsville, Georgia and relocating headquarters in downtown Greenville. They are currently building a gorgeous, state-of-the-art office building in downtown next to the newly built Grand Bohemian Lodge.
The companies involved in the design and construction of this building include Harper General Contractors, McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture, BPA Engineering, and RMF Engineering.
The building is targeted for completion at some point in 2024. It will be four stories with 118,000 SF. It right down the street from the Camperdown development in downtown Greenville. United Community Bank will be the largest bank headquartered in South Carolina. They will have about 300 employees downtown once this is completed.
I wonder how they feel about work from home :). Any, it’s great to see the continued investment happening in Greenville, SC.
This article caught my attention today in the Post and Courier about a group of people that is looking to restore many of the forgotten cemeteries scattered throughout the Upstate.
If you are reading this from far away and haven’t spend much time here in the Upstate of South Carolina, one of the things that may catch your attention when you come to visit is how many cemetaries there are. It’s a testiment to the long history of the state and how many people were here long before us. It also often seems like they are found in random locations but that’s because they were here first and development sprung up all around these cemetaries.
Prior to coming to South Carolina nearly four years ago, I had lived in Minnesota and prior to that we were in California. As a kid I also lived in North Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois and North Carolina. I don’t ever recall seeing so many cemeteries. In the upper midwest things are planned out and cemeteries tend to occupy large plots of land. But in South Carolina, cemeteries might just be an acre or two of ground where the early settlers decided that’s where they wanted to bury their dead.
I don’t know about you, but I like cemeteries. I’m always amazed at thinking about how many people were here before we were and wondering about their lives and how challenging their lives must have been. History runs deep here in South Carolina and it’s one of the things I really love about the area.
There are some amazing cemeteries to visit here in South Carolina if you’re in to that kind of thing or maybe a history buff. Here’s some information on the historic cemeteries in Greenville. The Springwood Cemetery in downtown Greenville is incredible and worthy of a visit. There’s also quite the cemetery in downtown Simpsonville, SC as well.
One of the things that I have really come to love about the state of South Carolina is that it is a very business-friendly state. Every day there seems to be news of a new company relocating to South Carolina or news of an existing firm here in the state making some kind of expansion. $5 million, $10 million, $20 million etc. Some stories show much higher investments like Bosch committing $200+ million in South Carolina.
Then there was the BMW battery news that they have plans to spend $1.7B for their EV business. I know I’m missing the other battery announcements but I do want to call this next one out. It is the largest ever economic development announcement in South Carolina. A company called Redwood Materials announced that they plan to invest $3.5B into Berkeley County to build their battery manufacturing facility.
I had reached out last week to the South Carolina Department of Commerce on one of their LinkedIn posts. I had asked to see if they had data on what investment was looking like across the state by region. They kindly sent me this information. It’s accurate through 12-12-22 so it does not include this massive news about Redwood Materials spending $3.5B. That number will swing the results in favor of Low Country for sure.
South Carolina continues to be one of the leaders when it comes to the resurgence in U.S. manufacturing. It sure seems like the state is going to benefit greatly when it comes to the reshoring of manufacturing and tighting up of supply chains. It’s a business-friendly state. The people are hospitable. The population really is from all over the country and all over the world. They generally like limited goverment. The weather isn’t bad. We have access to the mountain and the ocean. We have the Port of Charleston with direct access to the Upstate with the Inland Port of Greer. We have some worldclass universities with Clemson and the University of South Carolina. Most of the state is within an 8-12 hour drive to all the major metros along the east coast as well as up through the midwest. From a transportation, supply chain and distribution location, there aren’t much better. Oh…and the prices of our real estate is substantially lower than nearby Charlotte and Atlanta.
It does appear that one of the most political government organizations in the state of South Carolina at least now has their ear to the ground and realizes that this would likely have not gone over well with the people if they tried to require the shot for kids to attend school.
If you’re reading this as an out-of-stater considering moving to the Greenville area, SC DHEC was absolutely Covid-crazy over the past couple of years. So it’s a relief to know we don’t have to fight this battle at this point for this current school year. No Covid-19 vaccine required for kids to attend school.
On the heels of the election results still being tabulated a couple of days past election day, we can safely say that South Carolina continues to be a deep red state and in fact may be more red than ever. I’ll see if I can get some more information on that. Florida has gotten all the attention in part because of how front and center they were during Covid and Gov. Ron DeSantis starlwart stance throughout. He deserves credit. But little South Carolina should not be overlooked.
My wife and I were one of those people who wanted to leave our deep blue state of Minnesota many years ago. We finally were able to make the leap and moved here the summer of 2019 and love it! We got out before George Floyd and ensuing riots and not the incredible rising crime there. This election seems to have solidified some states as remaining deeply blue while others particularly in the south remain red.
Here are the results for the 2022 midterms in South Carolina. You won’t find many elected Democrats and non in state level offices. In South Carolina we have 2 so-called Republican Senators – Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott. For Congressional House Representatives, South Carolina has 6 the 7 are Republican. In case you’re wondering why a big swatch across the center part of the state is blue – well that’s Rep Jim Clyburn’s district…no gerrymandering there! 🙂
But in all seriousness…if you need to get out and are searching or a place to land, consider the Greenville area otherwise known as the Upstate of South Carolina. We are 90 minutes to the mountains and 3.5 hours to the beach. The Upstate has a thriving and increasingly diverse business base. It is incredibly strong in manufacturing and distribution. Downtown Greenville is absolutely charming and may be one of the best small cities in America. Charleston is just a little over 3 hours away. There’s so much to do and see in South Carolina. It’s both business friendly and family friendly.
If you’d like a tour or are looking for an agent to help you find a home, I’d be happy to help. Just give me a call or send me an e-mail. John Murphy, eXp Realty, 864-276-1448, john.murphy@exprealty.com.
Business remains strong for most hotels across the Palmetto state. According to the article in the Columbia Business Report.
Word on the street is that the local Sportsclub has been purchased by ACAC out of Charlottesville, VA. No word yet as to what plans ACAC has for Sportsclub but many suspect there will be some nice improvements to the equipment and hopefully the facilities. I believe ACAC stands for Atlantic Coast Athletic Club.
I’ve been a member of Sportsclub for three years and it’s a great club! The staff is very friendly as well as the members. The facilities definitely could use some renovations and those of us who spin are crossing our fingers that they plan to buy new bikes!
Sportsclub has facilities in Greenville, Simpsonville and Five Forks.
Did you know that if you buy a home from a seller who is a non-resident of South Carolina that the seller must hold back 7% of their gain for taxes to the state of South Carolina? The strange thing is that the way the rules are written it appears that the burden falls on the Buyer of such property to make sure these funds are withheld at closing. It sounds crazy, but you can see for yourself below. Below is the link to the 20 page PDF produced the SC Revenue Department regarding SC Revenue Ruling #09-13.
I reached out to a closing attorney who let me know that this is the responsibility of the seller and that the closing attorneys make sure all the appropriate paperwork is completed and the funds are withheld. My hope was that despite the strange way the wording is from the state of South Carolina that the closing attorneys would make sure this is done right. That said, if you are representing a Buyer in South Carolina and they are purchasing a property from an out of state seller, that they best be paying attention to this.
As best I understand this, if it’s an non-resident individual, the tax rate is 7%. If it’s a non-resident corporation then it’s 5%.
If you’re a real estate investor in South Carolina and you are wholesaling properties, the Labor Licensing Regulation Department otherwise known affectionately here at LLR, has come out and said that if you are wholesaling and then advertising expecting to get paid a commission, then you are by definition a “broker” and licensing is required. Don’t take this post and my comments as legal advice. I’m passing along information published by LLR. Be sure to consult with your own legal counsel.
Be sure to read page 3 on wholesaling of the LLR May 2022 Newsletter.
“At recent Commission meetings, there have been discussions regarding this wholesaling trend,
or the marketing of assignable contracts/equitable interests in real property by individuals who
are not the legal owners of the properties. The Commission has interpreted that the advertising
of real property belonging to another with the expectation of compensation falls under the
statutory definition of “broker” in S.C. Code Ann. § 40-57-30(3) and requires licensure. If
unlicensed individuals are advertising these real property interests publicly with the expectation
of compensation, the Commission has directed that Cease and Desist Orders be issued against
those individuals to stop them from engaging in unlicensed practice.”