Mark Corral's (mrrbi02) Blog

Real estate in Lake Carolina had a not so bad week last week.  4 homes went under contract at an average list price of 243,000.  Another 3 homes closed this past week at an average sold price of 225,000.  This may not sound like a whole lot, but there were only 3 new listings that came on the mar...

Are house values in Lake Carolina increasing or decreasing?  Real Estate in Lake Carolina as of late have been very tough for sellers.  The best way to look at, is to first look at the law of supply vs. demand.  Real estate is like any other market.  The value of your home is based on how much su...

I am asked quite often, "Mark, is this house worth what their asking?"  When you are working with a Realtor, it's important to know how knowledgable they are or are not.  You may end up paying more than what the house is worth.  The worse part is, you may never know exactly how much you overpaid ...

There is alot of talk about the new stimulus package that was just passed and signed by the President.  There are many provisions in this bill that relate to real estate.  The biggest was the first-time home buyer tax credit.  This tax credit is now $8000 to any first-time home buyer (or if you h...

Real estate in Lake Carolina seemed to be at a stand still last week.  A total of 1 home out of about 200 went under contract.  On a more positve note 7 homes in Lake Carolina closed this past week.  The average sales price was 205,454 with an average of 2428 sq.ft. and took an average of 187 day...

The new Ashland subdivision is open in Lake Carolina, but is this good for the neighborhood?  My answer is yes and no.  It's good for those wanting to buy in Ashland, not good for those who need to sell.  The real estate market in Columbia has shifted over the past two years, making it an excelle...

Lake Carolina's schools are among the best in South Carolina. Here's a video that highlights Lake Carolina Elementary

I like to use the word stalled to describe our local market.  It has not yet started to decline.  I also use this word because home prices have not increased like they have the past few years, but they haven't decreased either.  In fact, most seller who bought their home 2-3 years ago are selling...

There truly is no better neighborhood in the Columbia, SC area than Lake Carolina.  Voted Columbia's Community of the Year for an unprecedented 8 years in a row, Lake Carolina sits in the ever growing northeast side of town.  Lake Carolina's real estate is unmatched with over 30 neighborhoods wit...

Over the past couple of years, real estate has been flooded with bad news.  Words heard daily from national media are, "bad market", "declining market", and the list goes on.  So how bad is bad?  When will it pick up?  One of the best analogies I have heard is that real estate is like the weather...