Equipment sales executive Randy Burbage brought the story of the H. L. Hunley to Summerville’s White Gables Clubhouse last week.

Using slides, first hand observations and personal stories he collected as a member of the state commission appointed to supervise the preservation and display of the Civil War submarine, he detailed how the 40-foot handcranked submarine sank a Union ship in the Charleston harbor during the Civil War, disappeared off the coast and was lost there until rediscovered in 1995 and raised in July 2000 by a crew supervised by the commission.

Burbage coordinated the funeral and burial of the recovered sailors and remains involved in the ongoing effort to preserve and display and interpret the vessel and its associated artifacts to the public.


His visit to Summerville was part of the Third Thursday Speaker Series, a collection of free and open to the public history themed lectures coordinated by Summerville Realtor Jerry Crotty.


April’s edition of the series (April 16, 7PM) will feature Fielding Freed of the Historic Charleston Foundation.  For more information about the series, contact Crotty at
jcrotty@arolinaone.com, (843) 343-7213 or http://www.jerrycrotty.com/
 

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adapted from  Barn-raisers or Bootstrappers: Does Crisis Strengthen Community?  by Rush Kidder at the Institute for Global Ethics

A friend of mine published an interesting column last week beginning with the question: In hard economic times, do Americans tend to become (a) selfish, competitive, and fragmented, or (b) caring, cooperative, and unified?  

Acknowledging the case can be made either way, my friend, Rushworth Kidder, notes that ”higher unemployment could lead to desperation, family tensions, fraud, and street crime” and general “Economic pressures could promote a bootstrap individualism, bent on surviving through hyper-competitiveness even at the cost of others’ failure. ”On the other hand, a tough economy could (foster) compassion, solidarity, and a new appreciation for nonmaterial pleasures.  A barn-raising frontier spirit could emerge,” he suggests. “Where progress depends on helping each other and where sharing becomes the means to survival. 

I have to agree with his ultimate guess that the answer will be situational or fall somewhere in the middle, but like him, I take hope from the folks at the Washington-based Campaign for Community Values, who are encouraged by their reading of trends: “Rather than wedging people apart, says Seth Borgos, director for Research & Programs for the Campaign’s parent organization, and who works mostly in the most poverty stricken sectors of society, ”the economic crisis has brought people together,”  

Over two years the group has been charting “A change in the way that Americans are thinking about the relations between the individual and the community.” They admit they are faint signs, but Borgos is hopeful. In prior years, he says, the “dominant theme” within his conversations about values tended to reflect a “go-it-alone, extreme individualism” that “crowded out interdependence and shared values.”

Recently, he’s finding a greater interest in the values that lean toward the community - not so much in spite of the financial crisis as because of it. “For us,” he says, “the financial crisis is a metaphor about interdependence.” As the financial crisis spread outwards from a low-income lending debacle that had roots in these very neighborhoods, he explains, it became increasingly clear that “the story of the crisis is that we’re all connected - our fates are shared.” . . .  

He feels, the current crisis has caused communities to coalesce in new ways, returning to “a core-values base” that fosters unity and combats political polarization. Assuming at least for the sake of discussion, that Borgos and his group’s findings are valid, my columnist friend poses a second question: “Could this change be a bellwether for broader change? And on he goes to the next question, asking in effect, if the trend can survive “America’s long love affair with individualism?”  

Citing examples of the love affair with individualism, my friend points to the 1977 best-seller, Looking Out For Number One, and Robert Putnam’s 2000 study, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community that documents a trend toward isolation and individualism.  Whether you accept the findings of the Washington group, or the examples of the columnist, one point he makes that’s hard to argue is how our views of the American Cowboy have changed… Pointing out that not so long ago, the craggy handsome Marlboro man was an admired and attractive symbol of the American can do spirit, today images of a cowboy are “less often used to praise a rugged individualist than (they are) to denigrate a renegade executive riding roughshod over employees, shareholders, and communities.” 

“If the shift Borgos sees toward community values is as real and significant (as the change in our view of cowboys) we may be at one of the nation’s key turning points. And the turn could come suddenly. It was not so many years ago, after all, that anyone expressing a communitarian impulse risked being branded as a Communist. Now, with two decades separating us from the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall and with Communism posing a lesser existential threat to individualism, the bias against community may fade . . . or at least recede.

At some level, there will always be a tension between the individual and the community, the columnist concedes.  “Policy choices . . . will always straddle the divide between the needs of the group and the needs of the self. That’s as it should be - (even if the problem solving process) too often pits personalities against one another in ways that damage rather than sustain the community. 

The columnist who made his mark in the academic world teaching poetry concludes musing about how fitting it would be “If a financial crisis brought on by the moral failures of the richest of the rich - were to find its solutions in some of the nation’s poorest communities?  ”How satisfying to think that, when barn-raisers finally begin overtaking bootstrappers, they will do so in some of the very neighborhoods where subprime lending first began. How comforting that, in the hardest of economic times, what emerges is the soft power of ethics. So the point for our consideration is to recognize that things are changing dramatically all around us, and it’s important to recognize how those changes are affecting us and how we think, but most importantly, how we think of others.  

SUMMERVILLE—- This week, as in past months for three years, residents of Summerville’s White Gables and their guests will gather in the neighborhood clubhouse to visit and explore a topic related to Lowcountry history and culture.March’s presentation will focus on the H. L. Hunley, the 40-foot, hand-cranked submarine that sank a Union ship in the Charleston harbor during the Civil War, disappeared off the coast and was lost there until recovered in 1995.

Randy Burbage, a member of the state commission appointed to oversee the recovery, restoration and exhibition of the craft will use a slide show titled “The Hunley: History, Recovery and Restoration” to tell the story of the submarine’s and its significance to the fields of engineering, naval military strategy and underwater archeology.

The creator and coordinator of the series, Summerville Realtor Jerry Crotty said he’s looking forward to the event, explaining that “The Hunley’s a great story.”

“We’re lucky to hear it from one of the key figures involved,” he went on, referring to Burbage’s role in directing the public funeral and reburial of the remains of the confederate sailors who manned the sub.

“It’s a story about invention, a dangerous military mission, a treasure hunt and engineering and science problems to be solved. . .  It’s part history, adventure, mystery, forensic science. There’s even a little romance involved.” he added.

Crotty organized the series and began inviting authors, journalists, storytellers and experts on variety of history related topics to the in the traditional neighborhood development in the Knightsville area of Summerville in 2006 while he was employed as the community affairs director there. He continues to host the lectures as a volunteer because he believes, “The more people learn about a place and what makes it special, the more likely they are to appreciate and preserve it.”

No admission will be charged and no reservations are necessary. White Gables is located in Summerville at the off Central Avenue, near the intersection of Orangeburg Road at Knightsville Crossing. Contact Crotty at jcrotty@carolinaone.com, 843-343-7213 with questions or for directions.

Everywhere I’ve been socially in recent weeks people have asked, “How’s business?” and “How’s the market?”  

My truthful and most common answer is that “It’s keeping me busy.” I often add that I’ve been encouraged by recent signs.  

One of those signs is the uptick in showings evident in a report just compiled by a Carolina One Real Estate colleague.

The graph shows the weekly total of showings in the Summerville area is trending up. The end of the first week of February, according to Centralized Showing Service figures for the area that includes White Gables, 342 showings were recorded.  At the end of last week, area realtors showed 440 properties near here to potential buyers.  

This may show there are more buyers out there shopping and it could show that buyers are looking at more properties. Whatever is actually the case, there should be more shoppers, and those shopping ought to look at a lot of properties because there are plenty on the market.  The number on the market, the lower mortgage interest rates and the tax credit available to “first time” and other eligible buyers, combine to indicate “It’s a great time to buy!”  

If you’re interested in taking a look at the inventory, I’d be happy to show you around Summerville and some of the homes for sale in the Charleston, SC area. Be in touch.

It’s no secret that uncertainty about the economy is holding some people back when it comes to making major purchases. 

Few of us are immune from the risk of a sudden layoffs and it’s believed that risk is causing some people to put off purchases they may deserve or genuinely need.

The market place has responded to this fear with some interesting innovations—among them are the Hyundai plan that provides car buyers with the option of returning their new car if or when they lose their jobs and a similar program from Ryland homes that is aimed at the potential homebuyers who’re reluctant to take on a mortgage until the economy bounces back . . .

According to the homebuilder’s website and related emails, the Ryland Homes Reassurance program is a two-year mortgage payment protection program for eligible homebuyers “who want to buy a new Ryland home at today’s lower prices and low interest rates, but may be holding back because of a perceived risk of employment loss.”

The program is essentially an insurance policy–as explained on line, it is a two-year policy against unanticipated and involuntary job loss, that when activated, will make up to six months of payments in amounts of up to $1,500, $2,000 or $2,500 per month depending on the community–at what they say is “no cost” to the homebuyers.

Like any financial solution, it’s not for everybody. To qualify for the policy and possible payments, the homebuyer-borrower must have a full time job at the time of closing and be eligible for unemployment benefits (meaning self-employed borrowers, military, seasonal, temporary or voluntary workers are not eligible). Payments made under this policy are made directly to the lender and the coverage ends 24 months after the closing date and cannot be extended by the buyer or Ryland Homes. With this post, I’m not endorsing Ryland Homes or Mortgage Guardian–the insurance company that administers the program. 

Instead, I want to draw attention to an example of innovation that appears to address the often expressed fear of taking on new obligations in these uncertain times. I’d be interested in hearing the thoughts of anyone who’s had experience with this program or similar measures. In the Summerville area, Ryland Homes have built Arbor Walk, Myers Mill and the Sandpines at Westcott.

The February edition of the THIRD THURSDAY Speaker Series at White Gables in Summerville will feature the manager of Magnolia Plantation’s slave cabin restoration project, professional historian and archeologist, Craig Hadley.   

Hadley is owner and director of The Living History Group consultants to television’s The History Channel and an educational materials developer and presenter for South Carolina and Georgia schools and teachers.

His presentation will preview the February 28th’s grand opening of Magnolia Plantation’s  “From Slavery to Freedom” exhibit at the tourist attraction that includes several authentically furnished and restored 1850 era cabins that were almost continuously occupied from before the Civil War through the late 20th century.

Hadley will describe the excavation, research and rebuilding involved in the project, what was learned about construction methods, materials used over the years and what can be learned about the lives of the inhabitants.

The project which began in 2007 with excavation and research, and as manager Hadley coordinated work on the furnishings, landscape, interpretation plan, educational programs and staff training manuals.  The Third Thursday series is hosted by Summerville realtor Jerry Crotty, on the third Thursday of selected months and is open to Summerville residents and guests of all ages. The event begins at 6PM and is held in the clubhouse of the traditional neighborhood development off Central Avenue near Knightsville. No admission charge or advance reservation is required.

For more information or directions, contact Summerville realtor Jerry Crotty at (843) 343-7213, jcrotty@carolinaone.com or http://www.jerrycrotty.com

  

The Senate approved the 800 billion dollar Stimulus bill today. According to Inman News, the real estate industry online news service, the Senate version of the bill includes a $15,000 homebuyer tax credit, higher loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA, and government spending to lower mortgage rates.

This action came the same day the new Treasury secretary unveiled a multitrillion-dollar financial stability plan that includes $50 billion for foreclosure prevention programs.

Is this good news for Sellers or Buyers?      It’s good news that there’s progress on efforts to address the credit and housing crisis, but until differences between the House and Senate versions of the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009″ are worked out, it’s hard to say how housing sales figures will react.

The House versionof the bill includes higher upper limits for federal loan guarantee programs and eliminates the obligation to pay back the $7,500 tax credit currently offered to first-time homebuyers.

The Senate versionof the bill increases the credit to $15,000 and extends it to all homebuyers (who purchase a principal residence within a year and allows them to claim it on either their 2008 or 2009 tax returns).

The Treasury Plan:

a) addresses mortgage rates . . . . .Besides the $50 billion for foreclosure prevention programs included in the plan, the secretary indicated he’s considering expanding a $600 billion Federal Reserve program to drive mortgage rates down by purchasing mortgage backed securities and debt issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae.

b) aims to reduce foreclosure . . . The program will establish loan modification guidelines and standards for government and private programs; require institutions receiving assistance to participate in foreclosure mitigation plans, and  Againg according the news service, expands the FHA’s Hope for Homeowners refinance program to allow wider participation.

c) jumps start spending with easier credit . . . . Secretary Geithner explained the programs general aims are to push toward recovery by jump-starting job creation and private investment by making credit easier to obtain, adding that the new plan imposes conditions to ensure “every dollar of assistance” is used to generate additional lending.

d) creates a public/private partnership to purchase existing “toxic” debt . . . In addition, the Treasury, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will establish a $500 billion Public-Private Investment Fund to buy up toxic loans and assets. The fund could ultimately provide up to $1 trillion in financing, Geithner said, helping to create a market for real estate-related assets that are “at the center of this crisis.”

Will it all resolve the crisis?     No one knows, but broadly considered, there’s agreement each element of the effort is a move in the right direction. Let’s hope it helps and that buyers and sellers will weather the process with confidence in our market system and the government’s willingness to step in if needed to curb abuses that threaten its ability to serve us all.  

Jan

27

New Listing

Posted by Jerry Crotty under For Buyers, Listings, Summerville

Check out this new property that I just posted on my Web site. It is in Greater Charleston & Summerville.

Jan

27

New Listing

Posted by Jerry Crotty under For Buyers, Listings, Summerville

Check out this new property that I just posted on my Web site. It is in Greater Charleston & Summerville.

Author to present seminar on Charleston Curiosities

Michael Coker, the curator for the Charleston Historical Society and licensed area tour guide who wrote Charleston Curiosities-Stories of the Tragic, Heroic and Bizarre, will be in Summerville’s White Gables Clubhouse at 6 p.m. Thursday, January 15, to share excerpts from his collection of stories and legends from Charleston’s history.

The author’s appearance is part of the Third Thursday Speaker Series at White Gables, a series of free, informal and open to the public events intended to entertain and educate area residents about Lowcountry history and culture.

The host and coordinator of the three year old series, Summerville Realtor Jerry Crotty, expects Coker’s presentation will interest all ages.

“Online reviewers say he’d good at finding and telling little-known stories, and  especially good at ‘removing the dry and blaze’ aspects and filling them with vivid and interesting details.

“Everyone likes the way they say he gets ‘right to the heart of what makes history interesting.” he explained.

Crotty began inviting authors, journalists, storytellers and experts on variety of history related topics the series in 2006 while he was employed as the community affairs director in the traditional neighborhood development in the Knightsville area of Summerville. He continues to host the lectures as a volunteer because he believes, “The more people learn about a place and what makes it special, the more likely they are to appreciate and preserve it.”

No admission will be charged and no reservations are necessary. White Gables is located at 201 White Gables Dr. in Summerville. Contact Crotty at jcrotty@carolinaone.com, 843-343-7213 with questions or for directions.


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