That title may not make sense to everyone so let me define a couple of terms here. A “Spec Home” is one built as a speculative venture. It is a new construction home built for sale by the builder without having a specific buyer in mind and is sold for profit. “C.O.” stands for Certificate of Occupancy and is the document granted when a home passes its final building inspection; in other words, it has been approved to be lived in.
In 2018, MCVL Realty entered into a listing agreement with Longfield Residential to list for sale a spec home they were to construct in McClellanville. While Awendaw has seen many spec homes built and sold, this was a big deal in McClellanville because the last spec home built was listed for sale in 2007 but never sold by the builder due to the downturn in the economy. Sadly, the bank ended up foreclosing on the builder’s home before finally selling it in 2010 for significantly less than the builder had put into the beautiful home. We explained these facts to the father and son builders, Daes and McLain Manning, but convinced them that the market was ready for this type of property as well as the success others were having in Awendaw. Oliver Thames assisted them in locating and acquiring the land at 325 Mercantile Road as well as the features and pricing of the project. The property was initially listed using only home plans, but once the home was close enough to completion that people could tour the property interest really began to build. Oliver hosted multiple open houses in these final stages and was ultimately able to sell the home for $540,000 before the home was even completed and the C.O. issued.
The relevance of this from a builder and investor standpoint is that once a home is finished and has not sold it is costing them money and tying up their resources. We look forward to working with Deas and McLain on future projects and would love to work with other great builders. If you aren’t a builder but would like to invest in speculative building in the area we are happy to help match you with local builders and assist in that manner.
