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Hello everyone and Welcome to another
episode of Selling Greenville your
favorite real estate podcast here in
Greenville, South Carolina I'm your host
as always Stan McCune realtor right here in
the upstate of South Carolina and you
can find all my contact information in
the show notes if you need to reach out
to me for any of your real estate needs
and just a reminder as always if you
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encourages me to keep going with it all
right today I want to talk about what is
going on in the world of real estate and
politics here in South Carolina
specifically not so previously we've
talked a little bit about what's going
on in
Greenville this time we're going to talk
about more on the state level and the
reason why I'm choosing to do that right
now is for two reasons one is that
I'm now the Greenville representative
for for the Realtor Association on
the South Carolina Association of
Realtors legislative committee so we
have people Realtors on that
committee from associations all over the
state I am now the Greenville
representative on that committee and
that committee exists the South Carolina
committee exists to Simply help real
estate related things happen in
government and for real estate friendly
politicians to get in and stay in
government it's not affiliated with
any specific party it's just affiliated
with real estate so an example of one
thing that was a major priority for them
a few years ago was when the pandemic
happened there was a big question of
whether real estate was going to be
an essential business or not and I think
I brought this up recently in a in a
different episode but it was a really
big deal it was like an all Hands-On
debt kind of thing making sure that
real estate did not get deemed
inessential or non-essential in the
state of South Carolina and so that's
where this South Carolina legislative
committee kicked
in did a whole bunch of work to try to
and and successfully got the the
government to see real estate as an as
an essential business and so here we
are now we have a variety of things
going on that
directly impact real estate for everyone
and things that this committee is now
being involved with m on top of that I
just got back from last week I spent
three days in Columbia South Carolina at
a realtor conference called Capital
conference and this was
basically all things real estate and
politics for the state of South Carolina
now a lot of this was was review for
me because I am on the legislative
committee so it wasn't like I was
hearing all of these things for the
first time but it was still very
interesting and still extremely
insightful and I enjoyed my time there
even though I was pretty tired when I
came back had a lot of work to do of
course you know when you're at a
conference like that you don't just
get to check out and not answer your
phone or whatever I'm still serving all
of my clients but there's always plenty
of stuff that gets backed up when
something like that happens that doesn't
impact my clients and so Friday Saturday
Sunday I was having to do a ton of
work catching up from everything and
here I am recording this on Monday on
the heels of all of that but it was a
good time I enjoyed my time there and
before I even get into any of these
specific things with what's going on
at the state level when it comes to real
estate I found very
interesting multiple people that I spoke
to at the Capitol conference that were
from Greenville or from anywhere because
there were people from all over the
state at this event what I kept hearing
was everyone was working a lot but not
making a lot of money to start this year
but they saw a lot coming in the
pipeline this was a consistent thing
that a lot of people said not a lot of
closings to start the year but a lot of
work and potential hopeful for future
payout as it seemed like the spring
season was going to be busy so this kind
of strengthened my belief that we are
going to see in the second quarter of
this year really a big uptick in real
estate in the upstate there's a lot
of things pointing to that that I see
anecdotal and statistical and now I've
had a lot of other conversations with
other Realtors who are seeing the exact
same thing so this seems to be a trend
this seems to be pointing in a certain
direction of course the Federal Reserve
this past week they announced that
they are increasing rates they did
signal some optimism that of course
they they only raised the their
Benchmark rate by 25 basis points
but they signal some optimism and
perhaps we are coming towards the end if
not already at the end of these rate
increases coming from the feds so what I
think needs to happen and I I think I've
said this before but I'm going to say it
again because people keep asking me and
I keep telling them listen to my listen
to my podcast what I think is going
to happen is that the the headlines on
the media are going to start changing
and start becoming more reflective of
reality because people are are seeing
these headlines seeing Oh home prices is
going way down oh the market is flipping
all these things and and they're
they're misunderstanding what's
happening it's not that prices are lower
than they were a year
ago and it's not that we expect prices
to go down this year versus 2022 it's
just that the prices aren't going to go
up at the rate that they were before and
so if they again I know I use this exact
example just recently but I'm going
to say it again because I keep getting
this question from people if you go from
rates being sorry from appreciation
one year being 20% year on year and then
that goes down to 5% year on year that's
a massive decrease and so headlines are
focusing on that decrease but that
decrease is still a decrease in the rate
of appreciation it's not saying that
prices are going down they're just
appreciating at a slower rate um so I
just need I I just feel like that it
Bears repeating because those questions
keep getting thrown out but all that to
say what I think is going to happen is
as things start looking better as the
media realizes that the housing market
isn't crashing that they they can't
honestly put those headlines forward
because people are going to see right
through them I think that the media
narrative is going to change and then I
think that that will impact people's
perception of the market as well and
then that will impact their actions and
I think that all of that will probably
come at a time when it's the busy
season for the market anyway and so um
that's kind of what I'm anticipating
here for the spring and summer um but as
far as what's happening on the state
level there are um a lot of interesting
things I think for starters we're going
to have a slow start to this year um
because there's a lot of new people
new state legislators particularly in
the house um but I think also in the
Senate as
well um well no I I should clarify it's
mostly in the house the Senate did not
have as much as much turnover I
misspoke there for a second the turnover
was mostly in the house there's a lot of
freshman congressmen here in the
state and so that is is going to it's
just going to take them some time to
catch up on some things but there are
some very very important things that are
going to be discussed this year um
I'm not going to go through all of these
things but I think it's worth
mentioning a few of these and I think
you guys will find some of these things
interesting um probably the most
interesting one for me there there's a
well there's a few of them um but the
one that really stands out to me is um
Lee hwit who is a realtor um he filed a
bill in the house regarding short-term
rental legislation and what he's he's
basically he's not thinking that this
bill is going to be passed okay um it
has to go through the Senate nobody
thinks it will go through the Senate but
it has actually a lot of support in the
house and and this bill is
essentially um has the idea that if
local municipalities
which I understand to be cities counties
and the like if they do any sort of ban
on short-term rentals meaning B not
allowing people to use their houses for
Airbnb purposes for rentals of less than
30 days that then that property would no
longer be subject to the 6% investment
tax rate then that property would be
taxed as an owner occupied property
that is not going to pass the Senate
okay it's just it's not going to happen
but that being said it is interesting
that there is all this interest in the
house on on getting short-term rentals
accepted at the state level um and so in
the end what what this is doing what
representative hwit is trying to do is
he's trying to build this Coalition in
the house so that they can then go to
the and start a conversation start
negotia start negotiating start trying
to figure out how can we reach consensus
on this because it's it's very difficult
you've got all of these different places
that have all these different rules
about short-term rentals and honestly
from my standpoint as a realtor it's
challenging right I have people come to
me and they're like hey I want to buy an
investment property potentially used as
an Airbnb and it's like okay avoid City
Limits um well which city well for sure
Greenville right well I saw that there
that there are airbnbs in Greenville in
within the city yes they're not
operating legally and they could end up
getting busted well why don't they get
busted well because the City of
Greenville is not currently actively at
least to my knowledge seeking these
offenders out they're kind of waiting on
until people get reported um you know
well what about other cities well yeah
some of the other cities have their own
rules about short-term rentals as well
well what about HOAs um now I don't
think that that this legislation
would impact HOAs I think HOAs would
still have the autonomy to reject
short-term rentals but I think you get
the point is that it's confusing when
I'm trying to guide clients in trying to
make a a short-term a potential
investment short-term rental purchase um
it's not easy to do because of all these
different rules and you'll sometimes
you'll cross over into C limits that
have rules that you don't even know
about and you don't even know that you
crossed over City Limits like Greer City
Limits look that one up sometime and
and see how absolutely bizarre Greer
City Limits is um so I'm very interested
in that I'm hoping that they're able to
maybe even work something out um this
year with the with the Senate um right
now the language of the actual bill by
the way this is House Bill 3253 if you
want to look it up um the language isn't
important they're just trying to get
people to the table so that'll be
something interesting to watch
another one that I thought was
interesting that I think you guys will
find interesting is roll back taxes on
agricultural property so if you have
property that is used agricultural
for agricultural farming uses you get
major major property tax breaks but if
you then go and sell it to someone who's
going to change that use from
agricultural to something else or I
believe if you yourself change it from
agricultural to a different use you're
then subject to pay back taxes based on
the new use now recently that was
changed from a from five years of back
taxes which is insane five years of back
taxes um it was changed from 5 years to
3 years um but House Bill
3071 is trying to get that change down
to one year um I I think that that's
extremely reasonable honestly I don't
think that there should be any back
taxes there there's another bill um
that's out there that's trying to get
that the the roll back taxes um reduced
to
$1 um but long story short they're
they're trying to reduce the impact of
farm
selling their Land once they can no
longer make money from agricultural uses
um that bill it's it's not going
anywhere
immediately but we've done it once
before we've gotten it reduced from 5 to
three years now we just need to go from
three to one year we just need to get
enough people that are cons that see the
need for that it's just it's just not
fair if you own agricultural property
and you need to sell it you shouldn't be
penalized for the the fact that that
you're trying to sell it so that's
something that that is being worked
on
um another one that I thought was
interesting um this isn't a bill this is
more just something that the South
Carolina Association of Realtors is
working on is wholesaling for those
of you who don't know wholesaling is
basically um some people might call it
bird dogging um it's B basically what
real estate what being a real estate
agent used to be like a hundred years
ago back when Real Estate started on
Wall Street and before there was all
these rules surrounding it but the
long story short wholesaling is when
someone finds a motivated seller someone
that wants to sell their property for
below market value usually it requires a
lot of work often times it has a tenant
that's paying well below what Market
rent is and then that wholesaler gets it
under contract for say
$100,000 and then goes out and markets
it to potential buyers for
120,000 and then if he gets a buyer for
that price or perhaps more then that
buyer ends up purchasing it for that
full amount the seller gets the
$100,000 and the wholesaler gets the
difference between the two so this is
an interesting so I I stand in an
interesting place here because a lot of
wholesalers in the Greenville area are
my friends I've actually gone out of my
way to to make friends with them and
I've had a lot of closings over the
years with them properties I bought
properties my clients have bought and so
I do not and and before I became a
realtor I actually did some wholesale
deals myself I I created a website I got
some leads there and it it wasn't
something that it was something decided
I did not want to do I instead chose
to go the realtor route but at the
end of the day I don't look at
wholesaling and think oh this is a
terrible thing the problem is that
there's a lot of wholesalers out there
that are dishonest take advantage of
people steal deals from the good
wholesalers do all sorts of things
and so the South Carolina Association
Realtors is looking at this because it's
like okay from a realtor
perspective they they see wholesalers
as basically undermining everything that
Realtors have taken so long to build you
know we've got this code of ethics we've
got all these rules we have to follow
and for wholesalers they they really
don't have any rules to follow the Only
Rule is don't get sued you know don't do
something that might get you
sued and so there's a task force
that's looking into this I'm not to
be honest super optimistic IC that
they're going to be able to to get
something legally accomplished that will
really Curt tail wholesaling I think
that they could if they really wanted to
if they if they were willing to do to
make a few changes that were necessary
but at for the time being I'm not
sure that that's something that
that's going to happen and and I'm
just going to leave it at that another
item that is on the South Carolina
Association of Realtors agenda for
trying to change in our local politics
in our on in our state politics is
trying to get rid of
discriminatory HOA
regulations and that might you might
not realize that this is a thing because
obviously HOAs that have been popping up
the past 20 or 30 years they don't
discriminate right they follow they're
not legally allowed to discriminate they
follow fair housing laws they have to
they can't say you know hey only
people of this color or this nationality
can live in this
neighborhood they are allowed to have
neighborhoods that are age restricted
but that's only to help the elderly
population right that's not to exclude
people that's simply to help people you
know in these 55 and older communities
but there are discriminatory
regulations that are out there on older
properties properties that aren't in a
classic HOA Community where you have to
pay HOA dues but there are still what we
call deed restrictions on those
properties so here's what this concept
is if I own a property I can pay for an
attorney to file deed restrictions I you
could probably do it with the register
of deeds without paying anything I've
never gone through that process but you
can add deed restrictions to your
property you can basically say hey I
don't want people to ever have
Livestock on this property and the
reason why people will do this is let's
say that you're you're you've got
like 20 acres and you want to keep you
know a couple acres with your house on
it but you want to sell off all the
other acreage but you don't want to be
near chickens because they stink right
You can then put those deed
restrictions on that property and then
when you sell that property those
restrictions apply and and and are
enforcable unless those restrictions at
some point are overruled by state or
federal law well that's what we had with
some of these discriminatory
restrictions that would not allow black
people in certain neighborhoods when
laws were passed that said no that's
not allowed those discriminatory
regulations basically became
non-enforceable but they're still on the
books and here's the
challenge is that it's not it's not
cheap or easy to get rid of them and you
say well why is it not cheap or easy
well it because of the fact
that again let's say that you didn't
want there to be chickens near your
house and when sold off land you put
those deed restrictions in there you
don't want it to be just easy for
someone to go in there and change that
without you giving your consent and
so there are protections and Provisions
in place to protect those deed
restrictions but here we have a very
unusual situation where when where
those deed restrictions are still in
place because they're difficult and
expensive to get rid of but they aren't
able to be enforced because they're now
illegal but it's still hurtful to
some people because it will come up
and we'll see this when the closing
attorney they do their title work they
might find these deed restrictions and
then they send them to the buyer the
buyer reads them and it's like you know
what's up with this you know that they
didn't allow certain people in this
neighborhood you know 70 years ago
that's insane but that's the the type
of thing
that we see sometimes in real estate in
specifically in the South so they're
trying to we're trying to come up with a
way so that it doesn't have to be a
burdensome and lengthy and expensive
legal process to get rid of regulations
HOA regs covenants and restrictions
that are already illegal on the state or
federal level so hopefully
we'll be able to see some movement on
that because everyone wants that right
there's no reason for us to have illegal
covenants and restrictions on the
books we can just we should be able
to find a way to to wipe those clear
but we need to do it in a way that
doesn't potentially undermine the legal
regulations the legal deed restrictions
that people have that we could
potentially put in danger by making it
too easy to get restrictions so we have
to to find the balance between those two
things and it's taken a lot longer than
we thought it would because it's it's
trickier to
do to find that balance between getting
rid of these illegal
restrictions and but also not opening
the door to making it easy to get rid of
a lot of legal restrictions as well so
that's something that
is being looked at that's being
worked on as well u we have a lot more
there's a lot more on this that I could
talk about there's a big push for
Realtors to have better education and
for Brokers to be closer to their agents
we could find a situation in the
near future where maybe Brokers aren't
allowed to broker more than one office
that would be very interesting there's
also a constant push towards Realtors
having better training and some of this
is and and what I'm a a big fan of
because we all know that there's a lot
of Realtors out there that don't know
what they're doing they're actually
talking about
implementing core educational classes
that are required that actually teach
Realtors how to do real estate like wow
that would be incredible
cuz right now pretty much the only
type of core education that we have as
Realtors is just talking about legal
stuff and talking about ethical things
that type of stuff that you don't ever
get into oh here's a practical class on
how to actually sell real estate
currently the system is structured so
that Brokers and and brokerages are
responsible for doing that but guess
what some of these brokerages they don't
do
anything they don't have meetings
hardly at all I mean yeah they're
legally required to have meetings but
you're not legally required to attend
them you're not legally required to go
to any education that your if
you're a realtor that your brokerage
provides so I think that the
Realtor Association is starting to
realize you know hey we need to we we've
got quite a bit of money we're sitting
on quite a bit of money which by the way
the the llr is threatening to take
some of the South Carolina Association
of realtor's money if we don't start
spending it which is kind of insane
but some of that money is is
hopefully going to go to good
educational uses and so I'm optimistic
about that so those are just a few
things happening on the state level that
are interesting I'm I'm going to keep
you guys you guys know I'm
involved I'm pretty involved in the
local political scene that's something
that I enjoy I feel like it's a lot more
interesting and a lot more potential
for impact than on the national federal
level so I will keep you guys
apprised of things that are happening
that pertain to real estate as I become
aware of them but I hope that this
was helpful and informative for you and
I think that the future is bright we
need to we need to keep pushing these
things forward hopefully our our state
politics which is kind of divided right
right now just like it is on a national
level hopefully we'll be able to find
some common ground on some things in
order to get things ped but but we'll
see it's going to be an interesting
next few years with these new people
that are that are in the state house
and and we'll just have to follow it one
month one year at a time thank you guys
for listening all my contact information
is in the show notes if you need to
reach out to me for any of your real
estate needs Please Subscribe rate and
review the show and we will talk again
next time
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