Author: Jill Simmons

I’ve never been to South Carolina, but I know their beaches are rated among the best in the United States, the golf courses are top-notch, and everyone raves about the charm of Charleston.  So, as I daydream about summer vacation, I find myself gravitating towards all of Zillow’s South Carolina rental listings — particularly along the South Carolina coast. As you’ll see below, I found some real gems.

511 Cobby Creek Lane, Johns Island, SC 29455 (above)
Located on the 16th fairway of the Ocean Winds Golf Course, this 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom beach house is just a short walk to the beach.
> See more Johns Island real estate
> See Charleston home values

*****

297 Surfsong Road, Johns Island, SC 29455 (above)
For $3,500 a month, you can rent this 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath house.  What’s more, a long-term rental can include a Kiawah Island Club membership (golf, tennis, spa!)

*****

4090 E Amy Lane, Johns Island, SC 29455 (above)
Such a charming red house on a corner lot. I can just picture sitting in a rocking chair on the wrap-around porch, enjoying some sweet tea or lemonade. Access to the community pool and walking trails are just an added bonus.
> See more Johns Island homes for rent

*****

16 Henry Lane, #7, Hilton Head, SC 29928 (above)
This 4-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom town house is a real steal for $2,200 a month. In addition to a beautiful kitchen, this home has a private screened-in pool and is within walking distance to the beach. And I love the second floor enclosed deck.
> See more Hilton Head real estate
> See Hilton Head home values

*****

23 Myrtle Court, Hilton Head, SC 29926 (above)
This cute country home looks perfect for summer parties. Special features include cathedral ceilings, open living, dining and kitchen area with tiled breakfast bar and water access via a community boat launch.
> See more Hilton Head homes for rent

*****

2850 Woodland Park, Mount Pleasant, SC 29466 (above)
Located just minutes from the beach, this 3-bed, 3-bath townhouse includes access to a clubhouse, pool and exercise room.
> See more Mount Pleasant real estate
> See Mount Pleasant home values

*****

106 W Shipyard Rd, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 (above)
From the gourmet kitchen, to the master bedroom with lake views, to the quick commute to downtown Charleston, this home has it all and more. And by more I mean a music room, breakfast room, butler’s pantry, spacious laundry room, Brazilian cherry, Travertine and marble flooring, and French doors leading to double front porches.

> See more Mount Pleasant homes for rent

During the dog days of summer, many New Yorkers retreat to The Hamptons to escape the sweltering streets of Manhattan.

The Hamptons are a group of gorgeous beach towns on the east end of Long Island.  Billy Joel, Martha Stewart, Steven Spielberg and Howard Stern are just a few of the celebs that own mega-homes in the area. But, for us regular folk, participating in a summer share is the best way to get a taste of the good life.

From the high-end to the not quite as high-end, feast your eyes on just a few of the beautiful summer rental properties available on Zillow.

For a mere $60,000 a month, this 4 bed, 3.5 bath home in Montauk can be yours. You’ll enjoy beautiful sunset views from the waterside granite pool and huge deck area.

An oversize heated pool with forever views, dual fireplaces and an open kitchen are just a few of the highlights of this 5 bedroom, 4.5 bath home situated on one acre of property.

This home was originally designed by famed architecht Robert A.M. Stern and has been featured in “Home of the Hamptons” and “House and Garden” magazines. The home is equipped with a gourmet kitchen, sunken conversation pit with a fireplace,  greenhouse sitting room, 5 decks with ocean views, an outdoor shower and private beach access. What more could you ask for?

See more Montauk homes for rent

Perfect for a summer share, this is a 12 bedroom, 6.5 bath house for $8,500 a month. That’s actually quite a steal for a summer share in Southhampton. Heated pool and a tennis court are added bonuses.

This 6 bedroom, 5.5 bath, 5,500 square foot house boasts an epicurean kitchen, heated pool, large deck and tons of ocean views. Seriously, check out that dream kitchen!

This Shingle Style summer cottage boasts 10 bedrooms, 8 baths, 4 fireplaces and covered porches so you can enjoy the ocean front views.

See more Southampton homes for rent

It’s easy to imagine spending all day by the pool and spa area that comes with this 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath home that’s located near the ocean in Bridgehampton

This is another home with an amazing outdoor entertaining area. An outdoor spiral staircase easily connects guests from the 2nd floor deck to the pool area.

$5,000 a month gets you a cozy 3 bedroom, 2 bath summer retreat complete with a heated pool, extensive deck and outdoor entertaining area and central air.

See more Bridgehampton homes for rent

This morning, Today show real estate correspondent Barbara Corcoran featured some beautiful for-sale homes on Zillow at great prices on her regular “What you can get for. . .” segment.

First up was this 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage home in Cincinnati, OH. $309,900 buys you a newly remodeled kitchen with modern appliances, finished basement, large bedrooms, and a covered porch.

See Ohio home values.

See more Cincinnati homes for sale.

If you are looking for a country club type community that includes access to a pool, tennis courts and an 18-hole golf course this Kentucky home, selling for $369,000, may be for you.

See  Kentucky homes values

See more Bardstown homes for sale

It’s been a tough couple years for borrowers who are looking to secure a home loan or to refinance an existing loan. Today, the Wall Street Journal reports in the article “Where to Find the Money,” that “…U.S. banks posted a 7.5 percent decline in 2009 in total loans outstanding — the steepest drop since 1942 — and consumer lending fell by 3.8 percent as roughly 7,200 banks and credit unions pulled back on mortgages, credit cards and other loans.”

What is interesting, according to the article, is that while the largest 10 percent of banks by asset size shrank their consumer lending by 4.7 percent, consumer loans actually grew nearly 3 percent at smaller financial institutions — the ones that fell in the bottom 50 percent of the industry in assets. Seems like there is some money to be had if borrowers know where to look.

That’s just part of the beauty of using Zillow Mortgage Marketplace to shop for a home loan.  Zillow’s network of lenders range from individual brokerage firms and small local banks to the larger, national banks.  Borrowers simply submit an anonymous loan request and receive custom quotes from a wide range of financial institutions almost instantly.  Even better, borrowers can compare all of these quotes on an apples-to-apples basis inclusive of all fees, and review lender ratings and reviews before deciding which lender to contact.

As the WSJ writes, the trick to getting a good deal on a loan is to compare costs and there is no easier way to do so than on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace.

The home shopping season is fast approaching and with over 4 million homes for sale, Zillow is a great place to start house hunting. This morning, real estate guru Barbara Corcoran appeared on the Today show to showcase just a sampling of the real estate deals that can be found on Zillow. If you missed the segment live, you can view it here.

Brandon, Mississippi

For Sale: 239,900

See more Brandon homes for sale

Albuquerque, NM

For Sale: $389,900

See more Albuquerque homes for sale

Exeter, New Hamphshire

For Sale:  $515,000

See more Exeter homes for sale

Since the (almost) two years since we introduced Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, lenders have been telling us how Zillow has helped them grow their business by connecting them with highly qualified borrowers. In fact, Zillow contacts convert 9x greater than the average industry leads.

I recently wrote a blog post about a review in Inman News where Kathy Whitman, president of Whitman Metropolitan, Inc was quoted as saying that Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is one of their main sources of generating customers.

Today, Zillow’s COO Spencer Rascoff shares an email he received from another ecstatic lender who says:

“Through Zillow, we have acquired new clients for million dollar loans; clients who come to us with top credit scores and great income and healthy assets. These are ideal clients for [our bank] – some have switched assets to [our in-house money management firm], and the potential is great for more investments, as well as clients for [other of our] banking products. These new clients are also great pipeline additions; I have done several refis for clients who originally did a purchase loan with me in the past 2 years, and several have referred their friends to me……..Using Zillow on the other hand did give me the opportunity to be connected with serious buyers, in great numbers.”

If you’re a lender and you want to learn more about how you can start quoting on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace call 877-661-3171 or email [email protected].

Today in Inman News, real estate freelance writer Steve Bergsman wrote an in-depth review of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace as the two-year anniversary of the product launch nears.

By allowing borrowers to submit loan requests to Zillow’s network of lenders nationwide — without having to share any personal contact information — and then giving them a way to “slice and dice the offers so a potential borrower can judge one mortgage offer against the other to see which loan is more appropriate and at what price,” Steve writes that Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is “one cool way to find a home loan.” Borrowers agree, submitting over 50,000 loan requests each month.

The lender response has been equally enthusiastic with lenders writing more than 10 million quotes against loans requested. These stats mean that borrowers are getting a lot of choices, and lenders are getting a lot of borrower contacts. 

Kathy Whitman, president of Whitman Metropolitan, Inc., told Steve, “Over the past year we’ve done in excess of $100 million in volume. And that includes ’second generation’ where one Zillow customer referred another to Metropolitan. It’s not only been fantastic for us, but it is now one of our main sources of generating customers.”

As Steve writes, the time has come to comparatively shop for that new mortgage and Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is one cool place to do so. We think so, too.

Thanks for the great review, Steve!

Zillow teamed up with Good Morning America to name the Top 10 Places to Bargain for a House. We looked at a number of factors to determine this list including where buyers were able to negotiate the biggest discount off the last list price, days listed on Zillow, Zillow Home Value Index, and percentage of foreclosure resales.

Naples, FL topped our list with buyers able to negotiate 7 percent (or about $23,851) off the last listing price. Cape Cod, MA came in second where buyers there were able to knock off 5 percent (or about $23,602) off the asking price. Charleston SC, Merced, CA and Chicago rounded out the top 5.

Check out the Good Morning America segment here (including an interview with Zillow’s own Amy Bohutinsky)

Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries appeared live on FOX Business on Friday to discuss whether the housing market is at risk for a double-dip.

There was tremendous stabilization in home values in a lot of markets in 2009, but Zillow’s December data shows signs that momentum is starting to weaken.  Metros like Harrisburg, PA and Oklahoma City are experiencing a double dip in home values, while Atlanta, Boston and Minneapolis saw an end to their streak of consecutive monthly gains. New York and LA saw a continued increase in home values on a month-over-month basis, but the rate of increase slowed.

Stan discusses why home values are falling and what we can expect to see in the coming months.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Zillow’s chief economist Stan Humphries appeared live on Bloomberg TV this morning to talk about the double dip in home values and his overall housing outlook for 2010.

Stan says he expect U.S. home values to fall another 5 percent on the national level before we reach the bottom by middle of this year.

In the 2010 State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama said, “This year, we will step up refinancing so that homeowners can move into more affordable mortgages.”

The big question, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out, is how?

Zillow’s own data, taken from real-time mortgage rates based on thousands of custom mortgage quotes submitted daily to anonymous borrowers, shows that while overall loan request volume is quite strong, the latest refinance boom appears to be dwindling.

Many experts forecast rates to rise this year, so if you’re considering a refinance, now is a good time to start shopping. An easy way to shop for a mortgage is through Zillow Mortgage Marketplace.

• Submit a refinance loan request, anonymously, and receive unlimited custom quotes from lenders.
• Use the interactive Break-Even Point Graph to determine how long you need to live in your home to offset the cost of refinancing.
• After comparing quotes side-by side (inclusive of all lender fees), and reading lender reviews and ratings, you decide which lenders to contact… they don’t call you.