South Carolina

Main Street Village is an eclectic shopping experience for residents of Hilton Head Plantation. Nestled near the entrance to the Plantation, the Village offers something for everyone including several restaurants, a Harris Teeter grocery store, Burke's Drug Store, Franke Bones Restaurant and many interesting and varied little shops. For residents of Hilton Head Plantation, the Village offers just about every amenity needed to qualify for a successful shopping experience within 5 minutes of leaving home. I've always enjoyed shopping here because everything is so convenient and well located. Here are some photos that I thought you might enjoy seeing, particularly if you are interested in living in Hilton Head Plantation. Indigo Run residents also find it convenient to shop here since it is located just across the street from Indigo Run Plantation,

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Crazy week last week, global markets didn't get that 'rejuvination' needed over the weekend apparently. The Dow fell as much as 800 points during today's trading before mustering up a rally to close "only down 370 points" on fears that the bailout package may have been too little too late to stem any economic downturn. Bonds of course saw the benefit as investors found the safe haven of the bond market for their dollars. Our benchmark, the 5.5% FNMA mortgage bond, traded in a 68bp range and ended up closing at $100.81 which was 56bp higher than we started the day. This what I was calling for last week as we are trending higher but not as high as we should be when all is taken into consideration. The 10 yr T closed out the day up 110bp so there is still a bias to the "safer" government insured money. But as we all know, as of a few weeks ago with the Fed take over of Fannie and Freddie, that's in essence what our mortgage backed securities are anyway. So the yield is higher on mortgage bonds but investors are still hung on the "safety" of t-bills. This, as it has to, will prove only an initial reaction to the volatility and at some point the demand for mortgage bonds is going to be driven up, along with price, which will push rates down.

The Dow lcosed at 9,955 (down 370) for the first time in 4 years. The nasdaq followed suit and plunged 84 points to close at 1,862 and the broader S&P slimmed down by 42 points to close at 1,056. Fed meeting minutes are out tomorrow, so expect a little activity there but otherwise this is a quiet week in economic reporting so it's going to be mainly technical movement and the economy is down almost 1 million jobs, stocks are plunging, and it's bleak economically speaking in the short run. But!......

This is good news, as bad as everything else may seem to you right now, considering a drop in rates is going to, BY DEFAULT, make houses cheaper for buyers at the same sales price they currently are listed at. Meaning sellers will derive their needed benefit of a higher sales price and buyers will get the same monthly payment. I cannot stress enough how much the housing industry needs lower rates. We're still at, historically speaking, very low rates. But a market like the one we're in, globally, not locally, is going to need something to kick it in the rear to get things moving again. Housing markets are the best medicine my friends because as I can attest, and many of you as well, when you buy a home that's not where it ends. There are many trips to the local hardware store if my wife is involved.....so that's spending and that's consumer spending in more than one area. That multiplied by all the home buyers that this lower rate environment can create equa