Greenville

Check out Bloomberg Businessweek’s article about Greenville

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You only have to walk in downtown Greenville to see the phenomenal transformation this lovely city has made over the last two decades. The riverfront, waterfall and pedestrian bridge provide a scenic backdrop for excellent dining and cultural experiences.

My family enjoys season tickets for the Broadway series at the Peace Center which gives us a chance to enjoy top-notch shows and to check out the always-evolving restaurant scene. When we took two five-year old grandchildren to see The Lion King, we had a wonderful time enjoying the children’s fountains and mice-searching game on Main Street.

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But the city planners were not only planning for culture. They were planning for business! Bloomberg Businessweek published a flattering article about the progress of businesses in Greenville on June 21. You can read it here.

The article points to decades of political commitment to creating a community that appeals to college graduates and highly skilled workers. State-of-the-art manufacturing plants have been built in the area by Michelin ad BMW. Our company has excellent attorney agents in large and small law firms who work on Main Street and surrounding areas. They report to us that they love their Greenville home.

Greenville was once a hub for textile and apparel production, but now, in addition to the manufacturing plants, Greenville supports entrepreneurs who are locating their start-up businesses downtown. One co-working space houses about a dozen start-ups, according to the article.

The author correctly points out that Greenville has excelled at creating an appealing and walkable commercial district. While downtown may have been unappealing twenty years ago, now many new inhabitants (the population has grown by 20 percent from 2000 -2016) are able to live downtown and walk to work.  Greenville has been successful, according to this article, in creating what economists call an “innovation cluster”.

Read the article and visit Greenville! I recently blogged that Charleston is exploding, and Greenville may follow suit! And I am fortunate to live in Columbia, also a great city, and within two hours of each of our sister cities, not to mention the beach and the mountains. South Carolina has so much to offer!

Goodbye old friend

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And hello 2017!

I bought a car on the first business day of 2017.

For most folks, buying a car is not a big deal, but I am definitely not a car person!  I drove my mother’s last car for almost eleven years after her death in 2006 and was embarrassed to shed a few tears at the dealership when I sentimentally traded it in on January 2. That car has 200,000 miles on its odometer! It’s still in great running condition, and I hope it finds a good home with someone, maybe a teenager, who needs safe and inexpensive transportation. Before my mother’s car, I drove a car I bought from a deceased friend’s estate. Are you detecting a pattern in my vehicular history?  Until this week, no car dealership had made a dime on me in the past 15 years!

My colleague and friend, Tom Dunlop, on the other hand, is definitely a car person. He currently drives a bright red late model Mercedes which he will upgrade this spring for the mere reason that two years have passed. His dealership loves him! In addition to trading every two years, Tom takes donuts to the staff when his car is serviced. What a nice guy! We’ve enjoyed that shiny red Mercedes as our lunch vehicle and can’t wait to see what Tom decides will be our new fancy ride in the spring.

new-year-new-startWhy is this car talk relevant to dirt law in 2017? It’s relevant because our success in the housing industry this year may depend on whether Americans and specifically South Carolinians are really home ownership people.

There are some reasons for concern. Interest rates are climbing. The mortgage interest rate deduction is under attack in Congress. The future of the CFPB may be precarious under the new administration and because of pending litigation challenging its constitutionality.  Some financial advisers are recommending renting as a better economic alternative for many Americans. Some retirees are being advised to sell the large homes where they raised their families in exchange for nifty, low-maintenance town homes, condominiums and even rental apartments.

But unlike my personal lack of thirst for new cars, I believe many Americans and many South Carolinians have an enduring thirst for new and upgraded residences. And I believe their thirst is most often quenched only by purchasing those residences. We have been taught that home ownership is an excellent investment vehicle coupled with a tax advantage. This advice goes back several generations. This wisdom is so ingrained that the counsel to retirees to rent shocked me! I had to read it from several sources to believe it was serious and sound advice for some folks.

And, thankfully, the economy is continuing to improve. Zillow is reporting that the U.S. housing market has regained all the value it lost during the housing crisis. South Carolina is particularly poised for success. Charleston is one of the fastest growing markets in the country. Hilton Head is digging out and rebuilding from Hurricane Matthew. The Rock Hill/Fort Mill area is growing toward Charlotte rapidly. It is impossible to ride around Myrtle Beach, Greenville and even Columbia without dodging construction activity. My own office’s numbers have improved during 2016, and I budgeted up for 2017. I suspect most South Carolina dirt lawyers are looking for a better year in 2017 than in 2016 assuming they can maintain their momentum and sustain the excellent staffing that momentum requires.

I am optimistic!  Here’s hoping Americans and South Carolinians continue to be home ownership people. And here’s hoping 2017 is a healthy, happy and prosperous year for you!