danielislandwoodenbridge.jpg           The Nationwide Tour is on Daniel Island this weekend, just outside of Charleston, SC.  The event is being played on the Rees Jones golf course, companion to an earlier-built Tom Fazio layout.

         Daniel Island is one of those golf communities that combines great golf, great location and the full range of local services, some that do not require turning the ignition key in the car.  An on-island shopping center is within walking distance of some of the town homes on the main part of the island.  Others, even those who opt to live in one of the nicely landscaped and large single family homes the surround the two golf courses, won't have more than a five minute drive, and with Mt. Pleasant and Charleston within 15 minutes, the sky's the limit in terms of shopping, world-class restaurants and major medical centers.

         I played the Tom Fazio course on Daniel Island last summer, and although I found the golf attendants around the bag drop less than attentive to one guest's needs, especially for a club whose initiation membership fee is $80,000 for residents, the golf course was well conditioned and typical Fazio, which is to say attractive to the eye and not brutally challenging.  The leader after the first two days of the Nationwide Tour event on the Jones course is 11 under par, so it hasn't exactly beaten up the pros, but local sources tell me it is tougher than the Fazio course.

        Daniel Island offers real estate to suit most budgets and lifestyles.  The main area of town homes and Charleston-style single-family houses begin in the mid six-figures.  For example, a 2,700 square foot, three-bedroom, 2 ½-bath attached home in the Pierce Park section of the island is currently listed at $449,000.  Homes near the golf course begin near $1 million and proceed from there. 

        I published a full review of the course and community here a few months ago.  For access to it, click here.  I have excellent contacts on and around Daniel Island and Mt. Pleasant, and would be happy to introduce you to a qualified agent who can share more information about this all-in-one golf community.  Just use the contact button on the top of the page.

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Houses around the Fazio course at Daniel Island are well out of range.  The large bunkers are another story.

        Existing home sales jumped 9.4 percent from August to September and an almost identical amount from September last year to this year, according to a report by the National Association of Realtors.  In his typical cheerleading fashion, the NAR's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, centered the economic universe on housing.

        "Despite spectacular gains in the stock market, principally from the financial sector recovery," Yun said today, "most of the 75 million home owning families have more wealth tied to their homes." 

        Financial sector recovery?  In Yun's definition, financial sector is Wall Street only -- no banks, no insurance companies.  It doesn't

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

matter that the banks have tightened up on lending and deferred to the government to encourage purchases.  Yun defines the financial sector to fit his argument, not reality.

        "Home values could soon turn consistently positive and help the broad base of middle-class families, but we are not there yet."

        Of course they "could turn consistently positive," but will they?  This is the guy who hundreds of thousands of real estate agents, as well as consumers, look to for pithy observations.  Thank you, Captain Obvious.

        "We're getting early indications of price stabilization, but we need a steady supply of qualified buyers to meaningfully bring inventories down and return us to a period of normal, steady price growth and to fully remove consumer fears, which would then revive the broader economy."

        What a bunch of bull!  Intellectual honesty cries for testimony that no one knows anything about price trends in this market.  More foreclosures loom as more variable loans reset.  And all bets are off regarding jobs and their effect on housing.  Indeed for even a cigar store economist to make reference to consumer fears and never mention jobs is to reveal himself yet again as a shameless flack.