Below are a few pictures and a video of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in Greenville, SC 11.27.2009.  Midnight In Sarajevo is one of my favorite Christmas songs of all time and that is what the video is of… sorry for the poor quality.. but enjoy what you can of it.

Click Pictures to enlarge… Scroll down for video.

]]> http://schomesinc.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/looking-for-a-short-sale-pre-foreclosure-wholesale-house-or-home-in-south-carolina-take-a-look-at-these/ Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:57:26 +0000 schomesinc http://schomesinc.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/looking-for-a-short-sale-pre-foreclosure-wholesale-house-or-home-in-south-carolina-take-a-look-at-these/

Short Sale Pre-foreclosure homes in South Carolina…

We are working with Sellers and the Banks to LIQUIDATE Properties.

The Banks are requesting that all Buyers bring their highest and best offers.

*** 119 Springfield Road, Beaufort, SC 29907: 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1200 sq. ft.

PRE-FORECLOSURE SHORT SALE LIST PRICE: 59,900, Bank Owed: $123K

*** 115 Persimmon Circle, Goose Creek, SC 29445: 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1300 sq. ft.

PRE-FORECLOSURE SHORT SALE LIST PRICE: Best Offer Over $60K, Bank Owed: $123K

*** 53 Rivers Point Row, Charleston, SC 29412: 3BR, 2.5BA, 1850 sq. ft., Great 1st and 2nd Floor Back Porches

PRE-FORECLOSURE SHORT SALE Minimum Bid: $150,000, Bank Owed: $183,000

*** 2494 Etiwan Avenue, Unit A11, Charleston, SC 29414: 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath, 921 sq. ft.

PRE-FORECLOSURE SHORT SALE LIST PRICE: $59,900, Bank Owed: $109K

*** 180 Alberta Drive, Woodruff, SC 29388: 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1232 sq. ft.

LIST PRICE: Best Offer Over $70K, Bank Owed: $120K

*** 6348 Greenfield Drive, Spartanburg, SC 29303: 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1152 sq. ft., Fantastic Pool with Newer Liner and Pool House

PRE-FORECLOSURE SHORT SALE LIST PRICE: Best Offer Over $70K, Bank Owed: $123K

*** 8852 Gable Street, North Charleston, SC: 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 950 sq ft.

PRE-FORECLOSURE SHORT SALE LIST PRICE: Best Offer over $75,000, Bank Owed: 118,000

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PRE-FORECLOSURES, SHORT SALES, MUST SELL

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The following is a transcript of a Bob Jones University men’s dormitory radio “dorm meeting.” It was broadcast in 1996 on WBJU AM 620, an on campus only radio station available to Bob Jones University students.

What would happen is this: the radio dorm meeting would be announced and, at 10:30 PM, each room on each floor of each men’s dormitory would be required to tune in Radio 62, WBJU and listen. Enforcement was by each individual room’s Assistant Prayer Captain (APC), hallway Prayer Captains (PC) and each hallway Monitor.

Then, like FDR’s “Fireside Chats”, we men were regaled by the wisdom of Dean of Men Tony Miller and toady (in this particular case, Jon Dalton).

Remember – this is a university. The “men” being addressed are between the ages of 18 and 25-plus.

Also remember, Tony Miller was part of the BJU Administration – supposedly highly trained and highly educated.

Not a word has been changed or altered. I’ve tried my best to break up the transcript into readable paragraphs — and readable sentences — hey, it was hard.

Enjoy…

Asst. Dean of Men, Jon Daulton

Bob Jones University Assistant Dean of Men Jon Daulton:

…and please refrain from using words that could be considered un[audio dropout] toward Christian behavior and language. Some example words are words like “hock”, “gee”, “golly”, “gosh”, etc. This is definitely out of keeping with Christian character that we are trying to maintain here.

Dean of Men, Tony "M" Miller

Bob Jones University Dean of Men Tony Miller:

Thank you, Mr. Dalton, and - uh - along the lines of that last announcement is some of what I want to talk to you about tonight. - uh - Recently I‘ve been getting reports that have concerned me about what our young men are doing in the dorm or out around on campus - uh - place their focus – that they’re making their heart focus on the comments that they’re making, words that they are using.

I understand there are a lot of individuals using the term “crap”.

Now - uh - let me just mention this, men. There are some words I’m going to speak about tonight that – uh - we’re not - uh - are not encouraging you to use, simply because I’m making reference to them or encouraging you to look at the etymology of words.

- uh - You hear people today use the term “that sucks” or “you suck” and - uh - have no idea that they’re being more than just derogatory toward someone. When they have to check into the etymology, what they find out that this has to do with the description of homosexual’s activity in oral sex. And - uh - I know many of you have never heard that, but you really need to realize that some people are thinking that when you use that term, though you might not be thinking - uh - that you’re not being anything more than derogatory.

Let me give you a example of some other things - uh - one of my assistants recently mentioned that until he looked up the idea behind the word “shaft”. You hear people say, “I got shafted” or “you should be shafted”. That has the idea of sexual intercourse and - uh - if you look up that in its etymology, or what we would call the connotation of it, you’ll find a problem on it.

Some people call another person, you’re nothing but a - uh - a “woose” – and - uh – that is certainly not just being derogatory in its etymology. That originally started out in - uh - referring to female gentile parts - uh - genteel parts, that is, not gentile. We want to make sure we’re correct on that. But - uh - gen – gentle parts of a woman, saying that a guy who is an effeminate individual that was - uh - referring to female parts.

- uh - You know, a lot of guys , I guess in the dorm are - uh - are being crude - uh - using terms that refer to men’s sexual parts in a crude or crass way. There are scientific ways of referring to men’s - uh - parts - uh - you know you can speak of a man’s pee – penis. - uh - But there are men that go around saying “you’re nothing but a dick”, and that is - uh - certainly - uh - profaning and making light of that part a man’s - uh - body. - uh -You know, referring to a man’s - uh - testicles as his “balls” and that sort of thing, once again is getting off on the light side or the profane side.

- uh - Once again – uh – - uh - defecating - uh - is often times - uh - used in a profane way with “SH” word, but - uh - some people are doing that in a eu - uh - euphemistic way of using the term “crap”.

And, men, we really need to be careful in regards to our speech, our focus and where we’re putting our minds - uh - you know, just an excessive focus on the sexual parts. And men or women – uh - can only tend to lean toward inappropriate thoughts and…[audio fades out]

If you have 4 minutes to kill, you can hear the actual recording here. The recording is poor in quality — probably because the person recording the radio address could have and would have been severely disciplined or expelled.

As always, I am glad that Food Lion isn’t going to be taking over Bi-Lo, but here we are again….Lone Star and Byar are still trying to put forward plans so they can retain control over something that they ran into the ground in the first place. Whomever decides who get to reorganize Bi-Lo should not allow Lone Star retain any control of Bi-Lo.

What? Do they want a second chance to run it into the ground? This sounds like Lone Star driving the Cadillac that just ran over Bi-Lo and wants to put the car in reverse and run over us again. LONE STAR: GO AWAY!

New bankruptcy proposals leave Food Lion out

Bankruptcy court gets proposals from Lone Star, creditors

By David Dykes
Business writer
Bi-Lo said Monday it filed a reorganization plan with U.S. Bankruptcy Court that calls for a $350 million cash infusion from its current owner, Lone Star Funds, but doesn’t include Food Lion, which had signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire most of the Mauldin-based grocery chain.
Company officials said a committee of Bi-Lo’s unsecured creditors also has submitted a competing reorganization plan that calls for a different private equity firm to be the lead investor.
Bi-Lo operates 214 supermarkets in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee and has about 15,500 employees.
The creditors committee said in a court filing that under its plan the reorganized company would operate “in excess of” 200 supermarkets in the southeastern United States “largely in accordance” with Bi-Lo’s existing business plan.
Bi-Lo officials said in a statement both plans “contemplate Bi-Lo continuing to operate as a going concern.”
Bi-Lo said its plan includes a $150 million new equity investment by Lone Star and $200 million in committed term loan financing. In addition, Bi-Lo said the Lone Star proposal will provide a $150 million asset-backed loan for Bi-Lo after it emerges from bankruptcy to fund working capital and “other normal business needs.”
A Food Lion spokeswoman acknowledged the Salisbury, N.C.-based company wasn’t part of the reorganization proposals filed in court.
“We remain strongly interested in acquiring certain Bi-Lo assets if an opportunity to purchase assets becomes available as part of the process, which continues to be highly fluid and complex,” said the spokeswoman, Christy Phillips-Brown. “We are currently reviewing our options.”
While a reorganization plan must be approved by a bankruptcy court judge, Bi-Lo officials expressed optimism about the company’s future.
“Today marks a significant milestone and an important next step in our restructuring efforts,” Michael Byars, Bi-Lo’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “The two plans submitted before the court create additional choice for Bi-Lo’s creditors and encourage competition that we expect will maximize the value of the estate for the benefit of the company and its stakeholders.”
A Lone Star spokesman said the Dallas-based private equity firm “has proposed a transaction that we believe provides more value than the other proposal currently before the court and returns meaningful value back to many of Bi-Lo’s stakeholders.”

Watch for our new ice fishing package:  “Go Ice Fishing for Free!”

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Random Bob Jones University Memories…

Judging from the feedback I’ve received, on and off the web, both positive and negative, there seems to be some interest in life at Bob Jones University – more specifically, my life at Bob Jones University.

Occasionally, and usually without warning, random BJU “flashbacks” will snap me out of the here-and-now and for a moment…I’m back walking the well-worn covered sidewalks of the Fortress of Faith.

Some recent forgotten BJU moments:

A group of master debaters -- Sam is far right.

1) The time I received 25 demerits for calling Sam Lamerson “The Master Debater” because Sam was a member of the University Debate Association. Someone more spiritual than I overheard me say “Master Debater” and “turned me in” to the proper BJ authorities.

2) Since you brought up masturbation, the memory of Mr. Tony Miller’s “Masturbation Lectures” still haunts me. At a “Men’s Dorm Meeting”, Mr. Miller would stand on a chair and preach to the assembled dorm occupants about the evils of masturbation. Some of his more disturbing quotes:

“Men, there are those here who will continue this and prefer it to sexual intercourse with their wives.”

“When you fantasize about a woman while masturbating, you not only harm your spirit, you sully hers.”

Mr. "M"

Hard to believe the wizards-of-smart at BJU later promoted this moron to Dean of Men where I believe he continued his “Big M” lectures via the on-campus radio station WBJU AM 620.

3) Listening to Dr. Katherine Stenholm go off on Tina Turner’s song, What’s Love Got to Do with It. Dr. Stenholm believed that art (whether a song, painting, photograph or motion picture) was immoral if it did not punish or condemn immorality. She spent an entire class hour explaining to us why Ms. Turner’s song was immoral.

4) As BJU Cinema students, we were required to plan our budget for our student film projects – the thing is we had to figure in another 15 to 20% to cover what we film students called “The Pachter Factor”. Fredrick J. Pachter was the cinema faculty member that processed our black & white 16mm motion picture film – and he had a habit of ruining a good bit of it. So, when we students would be shooting, we always shot more footage than we needed to cover “The Pachter Factor.”

5) Watching a film about the Holocaust during Cinema Lab, the supervising cinema instructor, Mr. Bruce Polhamus, covered the lens of the film projector during the scenes showing dead, naked, female bodies. Did Mr. Polhamus think those scenes were sexy?

6) Cinema faculty member, Mr. Ray Gahagen, a small be-speckled, Woody Allen look-a-like who spent an enormous amount of time trying to computerize our manually controlled ACME animation camera and stand. Mr. Gahagen spent weeks cooped up in a small, lime-green room in the Animation Department writing in machine code and BASIC. We’d ask him, “How’s it going, Mr. Gahagen?” His reply was always the same: “Still working the bugs out.”

Mr. Gahagen was later “let go” for reasons – well – let me just say he and Woody Allen had a lot more than looks in common…

We never did get that ACME stand computerized.

7) Spring time, in the back of the Concert Center (now called Stratton Hall), when I caught my speech teacher, Mr. Don Ryerson and his fiancé, Miss Rosa Miles “making out” – BJU style. All I said was, “Hi, Mr. Ryerson!” in a very cheery voice. He and Miss Miles could’ve been severely disciplined or fired, but I never said a word. My speech grades did improve, however.

Speaking of the Concert Center, I pooped on the roof in the spring of 1980. Some other time – it’s a long story.

9) Someone was smoking pot on first floor of Johnson (Dormitory) during the summer of 1981. Never found out who – dammit.

10) If you were a really good looking girl and you took Mr. Wade K. Ramsey’s Photography 101 class, you would get an “A”.

11) October 1984 – Dr. Bob Jones III convenes the first ever (and only) BJU “Ghost Busters Chapel.” Seems a student, James E. Witt, worked part-time for a taxidermist and managed to snag a set of bear paws and bear feet and brought them back to campus. Apparently, bear paws and feet, when stripped of their fur (pelt? skin?) look very similar to human hands and feet. Mr. Witt had the bright idea of leaving these human remain look-a-likes on the keyboard and pedals of a student piano located in the University’s “Practice Shacks”. Someone actually did think they were human and called the Greenville (South Carolina) police AND Dr. Bob III at approximately 2:00 AM. Later that same day, Dr. Bob III called a campus assembly and proclaimed any Halloween pranks or ghost stories “off-limits”. In other words – expulsion. Hence, the “Ghost Busters” Chapel.

12) Grady Stone from Wilson, North Carolina predicted the MP3 player, February 1980.

13) It was I, Ektachrome, who invented the first “Walkman” long before Sony ever did. Back in the late fall of 1978, I took my RCA 9-volt transistor radio and spliced together two sets of audio ear-plugs so I could listen to WFBC-AM after lights out (11:00 PM). Everything – the radio and the ear-plugs – could be hidden safely inside the stuffing of my pillow. Unlike the Sony Walkman, my radio wasn’t stereo, but at least I kept up with the Top-40 of the late 70’s.

Dr. G. Salter

14) Bob Jones University – the only place where I have met two people who actually met and shook hands with Adolf Hitler – and later came to work on faculty at BJU – Dr. Guenter Salter and Ms. Edith Long. Unusual, indeed.

15) The day in Child Psychology Dr. Walter Fremont walked from his desk to where I was sitting and rubbed his hands through my curly hair and said, “There’s a ni**er in the woodpile!”

To this day I have no idea what that had to do with class.

He, Dr. Fremont, was also the guy that declared it was “okay” to make fun of fat people because “they can help it.”

16) I experienced repeated episodes of “counseling” by various dormitory supervisors. First there was Mr. Craig Olsen, Dorm Supervisor of Reveal Dormitory – Mr. Olsen was fat, soft, effeminate and a total prick. Second, there was Mr. Doug Sprunger, a total creep. This guy played a major role in finally getting me “shipped” (expelled).

There is an addendum to Doug Sprunger – he later became pastor at a small church near the Ektachrome Family Compound in Illinois. My only hope is that Illinois treats him as well as he treated me.

17) I hate to admit it – the rice & gravy at the Dining Commons was divine.

18) 1981 – my roommate and I snuck off to see Raiders of the Lost Ark. Twice.

19) I got in trouble in Biological Science Survey for laughing at Mark Dutton and Dave Doran drawing “smiley faces” on pictures of male genitalia in our biology textbook. (The seating was alphabetical – Doran, Dutton, Ektachrome, etc.) I was fine until Dutton tilted the book in my direction and said, “Oh look! He’s happy!”

20) And last, a salute to the BJU Vintage (yearbook) Staff of 1981, who, when faced with a spacing problem on page 285, invented a student to fill the space – Cecil H. Sandersen of Zephryhills, Florida.

This event took place in the days long before Photoshop – they cut the head off of an underclassman and pasted it onto the body of an upperclassman. Brilliant.

Only problem was, “Cecil’s” face was the real face of a real student named Doug Haughton, Jr. (on page 297) – and friends of Doug’s pointed out the fact that he was also “Cecil H. Sandersen” – well, the jig was up. Dr. Bob Jones III came down hard on the 1981 Vintage Staff.

I’m sure they’re still suffering…

1981 BJU "Vintage" Staff

 Twenty Flashbacks – that’s enough for now.

RUSKO – JAHOVA – LIVE @ CONTROL 11.20.09

Art for Hearts Benefit Show Logo, copyright Jessica Libor 2009

I recently finished this small piece that will be used as the logo for the benefit show I am doing in February , Art for Hearts.  Proceeds from this exhibition will go to benefit children with heart problems in the Greenville area.  I am SO excited to be moving forward with this event, and thought I would share the most recent development with you: the finished painting of the logo.  More details on the actual event soon to come!

Emotionally. Retarded.

That’s exactly what I’ve become. It’s been a process…and I think it began in the Fall of my junior year in college. The previous summer a best friend of mine, the better half of my heart, had been killed. That current summer my live-in boyfriend of over 3 years had left me. And in between those two events, my favorite relative, my Nana, had died.

I couldn’t catch a break. It was like all life’s lessons had been thrown at me at once. Broken heart, sudden death, and the end of a complete life cycle…had all occurred.

Since those incidents I find myself becoming a little more harden every year. I care less and less about…anything.

I have good friends. I love these people, don’t get me wrong. But there’s something about each one of them that I hold against them. There’s always something that holds me back from completely connecting with any of them. I hold back…on purpose…because I just don’t care.

I fall in love with some random boy all the time. I get child-like crushes on dudes and then as soon as they return the admiration….I get over it. As soon as someone takes me on a date and they ask to see me again…I smile and say yes…and then hope they never call…ever again. I don’t care to ever be in love again.

I feel no connection to the place I live. The city itself or my neighborhood. I love my house. It’s big and beautiful and has been a nice place to live for the past 3 years. However, I could walk out the door right now, get in my car, and move across the country. I wouldn’t miss a thing.

I’ve made myself into an island. I don’t need anything that I don’t already have or that I can’t go buy. I only value things that can be bought or worn. I only connect with objects…and even then it’s not forever. The 5 inch bright orange patent wedge heels I HAD to have last spring that I practically slept in every night after I got them could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn’t shed a tear.

The best/worst part about being emotionally retarded is that you never get attached to people, places, or things.

I rarely let myself cry. When I do it’s usually out of frustration and it’s usually when I’m on the phone with my mom. When I do let go and let something out, it’s almost always when I’m by myself.

However, if you happened to be in the Harris Teeter on Firetower in Greenville, NC Wednesday night and you saw a girl in a men’s hoodie and sweatpants clutching a box of Lucky Charms violently sobbing while the acoustic version of “Heartless” played over store’s speakers….then you caught a glimpse of me being human.

Simpsonville South Carolina Real Estate Residential Market Conditions, Homes Sold, Listings and Homes for Sale – November 8th – November 14th 2009 – Greenville County SC

For the week of November 8th to November 14th 2009, Simpsonville SC real estate market had 18 residential real estate that closed escrow. High list price for these sold homes (including Condos and Townhouses) was $399,900, Low list price was $39,000, Average list price was $191,588, Median list price was $171,700, and total list price volume was $3,448,600.

High sold price for these 18 sold residential homes was $404,250, Low sold price was $40,000, Average sold price was $185,322, Median sold price was $168,500, and total sold price volume was $3,335,800. High Days on Market (DOM) was 240 days, Low DOM was 11 days, Average DOM was 105 days, and Median DOM was 116 days.

There were 3 residential homes that went under Pending or Contingency Contract status in Simpsonville during this period. High list price for these homes was $387,500, Low list price was $45,000, Average list price was $165,833, Median list price was $65,000, and total volume was $497,500. High DOM for these Pending and Contingency contract homes was 26 days, Low DOM was 7 days, Average DOM was 14 days, and Median DOM was 10 days.

34 homes were newly listed in Simpsonville during this period. High list price price for these homes for sale was $799,000, Low list price was $79,900, Average list price was $259,540, Median list price was $222,000, and total new listings volume was $8,824,364. 

Statistics used in this post was gathered from the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors inc. Multiple Listing System. These statistics may not include sales like new construction or For Sale by Owners that were brokered by member firms.

Remember: The $8,000 first-time Home Buyer Tax Credit has been extended to April 30th, and has also been expanded to include a $6,500 tax credit for move-up buyers who have occupied their home for at least five years.

Please Contact Victor Amadi at 864-525-0201 for more detail on the $8,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit, and for all your Simpsonville Real Estate needs.

SIMPSONVILLE SC REAL ESTATE AND HOMES FOR SALE:

Greater Greenville County SC MLS Real Estate – Homes for Sale in the Greenville Area of South Carolina. Here you have access to the following market segments: Greater Greenville Entry Level Homes, Greater Greenville Median Homes, Greater Greenville Upscale Homes, Greater Greenville Luxury Homes, Greater Greenville Million Dollar Homes, and Greater Greenville Lots, Homesites and Land for Sale in Greenville County SC. Surrounding towns and communities include: Greenville, Simpsonville, Greer, Easley, Fountain Inn, Mauldin, Taylors, Travelers Rest, Piedmont, Landrum and Marietta South Carolina. Also includes Greenville County, Spartanburg County, Anderson County, Pickens County, Laurens County, and Oconee County real estate and homes for sale. Call Victor Amadi at (864)525-0201. EXIT Upstate Realty!

Weblink: - Simpsonville South Carolina Real Estate Residential Market Conditions, Homes Sold, Listings and Homes for Sale – November 8th – November 14th 2009 – Greenville County SC

If you haven’t yet written to our Council or Mayor, click on the Take Action Now tab above! They need to hear from everyone! Thank you so much for all of the support we have been receiving from the community!

Bi-Lo supports so much for our area (jobs, charities, etc) that we are all in this together! Don’t let Lone Star continue to drive this company into the ground! Demand that other options be looked at.

    Thanksgiving is only a week away! It is one of my favorite days, not because of the food, but it is one of the few holidays that seems to ward off the commercialism. You’ll notice that the stores have gone from “Back to School,” to “Halloween,” then directly to “Christmas.” These are the money-makers in the last half of the year.
    But, what about Thanksgiving? Uh… if we talk about that, we must assume that there is a God who provides for us, and to Him we should be thankful. Society has decided that we need to leave God out of the equation, even for Christmas.
    Recently, I bought Hillsong’s new DVD, “Faith + Hope + Love.” Wow! Very moving! Not just the music, but particularly some comments made by Darlene Zschech about Psalm 103. I read it this morning, and was prompted to make some comments.
    The very first verse encourages us to “bless the LORD.” Not only “my soul,” but every fiber of my being. We should be in a continual mode of thanksgiving, not just on the third Thursday of November, but in our every waking moment!
    In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Paul said we should give thanks in “everything.” Oooo… that’s tough! That means that we should remain thankful even in the situations that seem directly in opposition to what we want. It has taken me six months to work through something like that. Those of you who know me, know what I am talking about. But, today, I can thank God for that situation because I know that I love Him, and He will work ALL things for my good (Rom. 8:28).
    We are not to dwell on the bad things that have happened to us. Philippians 4:8 encourages us to think on positive things: “Whatever things that are true… noble… just… pure… lovely… good report… meditate on these things.”
    What are some of His benefits? According to Psalm 103, we have a partial list: For His forgiveness, healing and redemption. For His lovingkindness and tendermercies. For His provision and strength. We need to meditate on these things, and praise Him for them.
I encourage you to read the entire Psalm. Allow it to fill you with His presence.
    The old hymn says, “Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your many blessings, see what God has done!” The original language of this Psalm encourages us to do just that.
    I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Greater Greenville South Carolina Real Estate Market Conditions, Homes Sold, Listings and Homes for Sale – October 2009

In October 2009, there were a total of 596 residential single family homes including condo and townhouses sold in the Greater Greenville real estate market. This number is only one home less than the 597 homes that were sold in September 2009, but is 89 homes higher than the 507 homes sold in October 2008. Average price for these sold homes in October 2009 was $157,747, Median sold price was $137,000, and total sold price volume for October was $94,017,472. Average Days on Market(DOM) for October was 95 days, which is 7 days less than 105 days average DOM for September 2009. Greater Greenville includes Greenville, Simpsonville, Greer, Easley, Fountain Inn, Mauldin, Taylors, Travelers Rest, Piedmont, Landrum, Marietta, pelzer, some parts of Spartanburg County, Anderson County, Pickens County, Laurens County, and Oconee County).

Year to date from January 1st to October 31st 2009, there has been 5643 residential single family homes sold in the Greater Greenville real estate market. Average year-to-date sold price was $167,185, Median sold price was $140,000, and the total year-to-date sold volume was $943,423,701. Year-to-date DOM as of October 31st 2009 was 102 days.

As of November 10th 2009, 12 Month average units sold in Greater Greenville was 523 units. Average sold price was $168,633, Median sold price was $141,529, total sold volume was $88,183,958, and average DOM was 104 days.

There were a total of 6657 residential single family homes Actively for sale as of November 10th 2009. This is 88 homes less than the 6745 homes that were active as of October 10th 2009, which means that Greater Greenville inventory was reduced by 88 homes last month. Average list price for the active homes as of November 10th was $263,791, Median list price was $185,000, total list price volume was $1,756,057,797, and average DOM was 154 days.

The decrease in inventory, and average days on market can be attributed to the help $8,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit. This tax credit was supposed to expire on November 30th 2009, but has been extended April 30th 2010. The Home Buyer Tax Credit has also been expanded to move-up buyers who have occupied their home as a primary residence for at least five years. These move-up buyers will be eligible for a $6,500 tax credit.

Statistics shared in this post was gathered from the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors inc., and may not include certain sales like new construction and for sale by owners brokered by member firms.

Please Contact Victor Amadi at 864-525-0201 for your home’s value, and for all your Greater Greenville real estate needs.

Greenville County SC Real Estate and Homes for Sale

Greenville County SC Entry Level Homes for Sale {under $150k}	Greenville County SC Median Homes for Sale {$150k~$300k}	FREE Quick Over-The-Net Home Evaluation
Greenville County Upscale Homes for Sale {$300k~$600k}	Greenville County SC Luxury Homes for Sale {$600k~$1m}	Greenville County SC Million Dollar Homes for Sale {over $1million}
Greenville County Lots & Land for Sale	Greenville County Condos & Townhouses for Sale	START NEW SEARCH

Greater Greenville County SC MLS Real Estate – Homes for Sale in the Greenville Area of South Carolina. Here you have access to the following market segments: Greater Greenville Entry Level Homes, Greater Greenville Median Homes, Greater Greenville Upscale Homes, Greater Greenville Luxury Homes, Greater Greenville Million Dollar Homes, and Greater Greenville Lots, Homesites and Land for Sale in Greenville County SC. Surrounding towns and communities include: Greenville, Simpsonville, Greer, Easley, Fountain Inn, Mauldin, Taylors, Travelers Rest, Piedmont, Landrum and Marietta South Carolina. Also includes Greenville County, Spartanburg County, Anderson County, Pickens County, Laurens County, and Oconee County real estate and homes for sale. Call Victor Amadi at (864)525-0201. EXIT Upstate Realty! 

Weblink: - Greater Greenville South Carolina Real Estate Market Conditions, Homes Sold, Listings and Homes for Sale – October 2009

The fact that our CEO Mike Byars sent us a letter to comfort us, should actually alarm all of us. Here is Mr. Byars claiming that BI-LO is restructuring under his and Lone Star’s leadership is frightening to say the least. I am sure if they have their way, we will close stores and employees would be left to fend for themselves. In this economy, this is not a very appealing prospect.

Not only that, what will happen to the community where these stores that close are located. People that we know that shop in these stores will have to deal with driving further to shop. They will have to deal with a boarded up store in their area. They will have to deal with a greater strain on area charities that have relied on BI LO for their funding.

Odd isn’t it? The charities that are going to be scarificed by continuing to allow Byars and Lone Star lead this company will be the same charity that many of us employees may need to rely on when they close our stores and we lose our jobs.

Sorry for the rant. If you are visiting this site, thank you. Please let all of the employees at BI LO know you care by commenting or go to the TAKE ACTION tab and, well, take action!

DJ Huda Hudia – Pump It Up

Check out this story at Greenville News.

I am glad that BI-LO gives so much back to the community. Working for a company that does so much for a commnity is great, but like our jobs at BI-LO, all of this could be a thing of the past. There is so much more at stake here…we should get rid of the people over at Lone Star who ran this good company into the ground.

Let’s help protect not only a great grocery store, let’s protect a great community partner.

What do yah do when you’re faced with a little bit of adversity? You look at the sidewalk and hope that it tells you something. I found this to be particularly helpful a week or so ago while walking through Downtown Greenville. Here’s what I saw:

Cause Adversity Introduces a Man to Himself.

Pretty fitting, eh? Well, the past couple of weeks have given me some insight as to what I’m doing and why I’m here in Greenville County, South Carolina. I thought about my first two months working for Greer Relief and Resources Agency. I’ve thought a lot about how far I’ve come and how much further I have to go on this endless journey some call life. I see little tidbits of my old self in the mirror from time to time. A relevant example of this in my life would be whenever two people are engaged in a heated political discussion and I have the urge to jump in and interject my opinion. I remember that my Covenant with God takes precedent over my perceived political opinions about certain hot-button issues. I suppose I could say that my political views begin with the Word of God—although the Religious Right-Wing in this country has given that a negative connotation. What I really want to say is that they are “As Conservative as the Word of God, As Liberal as the Love of God.” That, and terms such as “World Citizen,” “Agent of Change,” “Proponent of World Peace,” “Lover of All Mankind,” all accurately describe where I stand politically.

I had an interesting discussion with a fellow VISTA serving in Charleston through the Noisette Foundation, working with the School District, while up in Camp Greenville. We talked in depth about hot-button political issues such as education and health care, and realized that we had very similar views on those issues. He told me about his work with the South Carolina Democratic Party (they do exist in South Carolina, believe it or not), and the discussion was quite lively. There was something he said that really struck me: the biggest problem with society these days is the spread of misinformation. And not just political misinformation, but misinformation of all kinds, because it is the sole cause of so many problems that the world currently faces. The spread of misinformation about education, health care, religion, people, cultures, countries, life all stand in the way of achieving world peace (believe it or not, an idea that is more than just a cliché answer given at many a beauty pageant).

I can assure you that this all was music to my ears when this discussion was taking place, because I feel the exact same way. And you have no idea how badly I wanted to talk about the Revelation at this moment. But, perhaps for the better or worse, depending on the context one wants to view it in, I held back and firmly agreed with his talking points, and decided that I would strive to always be on the quest (even subconsciously) to fight misinformation in this world. For a little while after, I was kicking myself for not talking about the Revelation and bringing the discussion to an articulation of just as intelligent, if not more intelligent, ideas in the quest to fight misinformation. Would it not have been relevant, considering the context of what we’ve witnessed in the past day, week, month, year? We had the Fort Hood shootings just occur in Texas. There exists a large crowd of people who want to point the finger at the perpetrator, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, for being a Palestinian Arab Muslim in instigating the crimes. But, alas, there exists the endless quest to fight misinformation, and we must politely and respectfully say, “I’m pretty sure the Word of the Quran and the teachings of Muhammad (pbuh) had very little to do with the atrocities he created. I’m also equally sure that his Palestinian Arab heritage had no bearings as to why the crimes were committed either. It could very well have been Major Billy Joe-Bob, a Tennessee White Southern Baptist who could have committed these crimes. Would his Tennessee heritage and his Southern Baptist faith have been the reasons for committing these crimes?” By doing this, we avoid the awful “us versus them” mentality, and hopefully, circumvent grievous injustices from taking place.

Remember, horrific events in history take place when people remain subdued and misinformed about issues of great moral clarity. We, in this day and age, cannot remain silent about the spread of misinformation. We must not remain silent about the spread of misinformation.

I’ve posted a new sestina under my writing pages (see sidebar). This is the sestina I started last weekend and finished yesterday morning. It is called Captain Seraphina Baleen and I was attempting to achieve a sense of story with the piece.

Around about the fourth or fifth stanza, sestinas get really tricky for me, this one especially so. I could see that I needed to come up with an ending and right quick, but I didn’t know how I wanted it to end. What should happen between Captain Baleen and the mustachioed, limping kleptomaniac? It was a puzzle, which is why it took a week to finish.

Incidentally, when I set my writing goals for the year, along with getting Greenville published and my Woo Woo Teacup Publishing website up, I wanted to write three short stories. That hasn’t happened yet. Not sure that it will, either, because the end of the year is rapidly approaching. I did, however, write three sestinas this year, so I’m counting that in place of the short stories.

This weekend was a TON of fun… we had more people in the condo on Friday night than we’ve ever had…..

John & MV, Courtney, Mark, David, Mikey, Mike McCormick, Dr. Mike, Brian, some guy named Michael, some guy named Keith, Glenn, Jeremy K, my Jeremy and me. (I might have missed someone… )

Then Saturday night  Jil, Rich, Courtney, Mikey, Jeremy K, my Jeremy and me went to Sassafras.  That was a lot of fun!!

… but here’s the deal.  I have always been someone who is slow to trust people, has a very small group for people around me that I really trust, and I always find that I segregate my friends, or compartmentalized.  I have some great friends that have never met some of my other great friends…. well this weekend, specifically Friday, was the first time I had intermingled a lot of people.  Apparently, subconsciously, I was testing some of my friends.  I didn’t realize this at first.. it was only when half the group failed that I realized I was doing that. 

Sometimes I think I am too hard on my friends.  I am very black and white with friends… you’re either in or out…. it only takes one time to go from in to out and as Jeremy K pointed out this weekend.. I have never been someone who can tolerate “a friend”.  When I am away from the world and with friends, I want to be with friends… not someone I really don’t like.

So I’m curious.  Are you the same way?  Am I too hard on my friends?  Are you too hard on your friends? 

Is it possible to develop that spark or chemistry over time for someone or does it need to be there at the beginning if its ever going to be there at all?

Basically do you think you can force yourself into a having feelings for someone???

PLEASE POST COMMENTS.

At the HANDLEBAR in GREENVILLE, SC I was surrounded by JASON ISBELL and his 400 UNIT.

Isbell is known for his time with Drive-By Truckers, but he and his 400 Unit are a force all on their own. Sincere and a bit country-fied, these guys aren’t afraid to let their upbringing in Greenhill, Alabama show in their songcraft.

I had the chance to sit down with the guys before their show and learn a bit about their songwriting process, the trials of touring, and what they have in common with a psychiatric ward.

Full Transcript: (Audio)

Nichole Bennett: Alright, my name is Nichole, and I am lucky to be here at The Handlebar in Greenville, South Carolina with Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. How are you guys doing?
Jason Isbell: Hey, we’re good. You good?
NB: Would you mind going around and doing introductions?
JI: Sure. Yeah. I’m Jason.
Browan Lollar: I’m Browan.
Chad Gamble: I’m Chad.
Jimbo Hart: I’m Jimbo.
Derry deBorja: I’m Derry.
JI: I’m Browan.
BL: I’m Chad.
JH: I’m Derry.
JI: I’m Jimbo.
NB: Good, now that we’ve confused everyone…how has this tour been going?
JI: It’s been pretty good, you know. We had a weird week when everybody was afraid of the swine flu. Because we were in Texas and that was a little strange. You’d be surprised about how many people that affects. There was some rough weather out there too. For the most part it’s been good. It’s been a short one. We’ve only been out for a couple of weeks.
NB: Yeah. Because I know last year was a bit hectic. You had some stolen equipment and a drummer…
JI: …just take off.
NB: So this one’s just getting on it’s feet…so no craziness yet.
JI: Nothing that bad.
NB: Just the swine flu.
JI: Nothing that wasn’t just temporary. Nothing we had to plan around.
JH: Nothing that wouldn’t pass with time and dead nerve endings.
NB: You guys are going to do a little bit around the south, and then you are going to the U.K., right?
JI: Yeah, he and I [points to Browan]…we’re doing the U.K., and we’re doing Holland. And we may do a couple of shows in Spain. We’ll be over there for a couple of weeks. Between now and then, we’ve all got some shows with Gomez in the northeast and the midwest a little bit. And we’ve got a few full band shows between now and then too. When we get back, we’ve got a lot of festival stuff.
NB: Busy busy.
JI: I guess so, yeah.
NB: Do you guys have a good following over in Europe?
JI: Well, we’ve been over there once with this band, and we did really well. I remember a lot of good crowds. It depends on the city, really. It’s just an individual thing. If we play somewhere that is a smaller town that doesn’t have a lot of access to music, then they might not know what’s going on. But in the big cities, we’ve done pretty well.
NB: Yeah, I’ve heard your brand of music does really well. They tend to like the genuine, southern-fried.
JI: Yeah, there’s a lot of copycats over there. Like Norwegian country bands and stuff that are pretty comical. You can find them on myspace. You’ll have a real country twang and then in between the songs they say something in Norwegian.
NB: Your songs, both of your albums are very story driven. I was wondering if maybe these came from real life experiences or maybe your imagination.
JI: It’s a mixture of all of that. I usually take like three or four people and pack them all together into one character so nobody can recognize who I’m writing the song about exactly…and go from there. They all have something to do with things that have happened to me or to us or to my friends or family or something like that. But I try to stay away from being extremely literal…because you don’t want to make anybody feel too bad or too good about themselves.
NB: Have you ever had anybody recognize themselves in a song?
JI: Oh yes, always. They always figure it out.
BL: Virtually all of the songs are written about me.
JI: Yeah, that was a low point for both of us.
BL: Yeah, every track that didn’t make it on the album.
JI: Yeah, auto tuned and all.
NB: Oh man, I can’t wait for that one. Jason Isbell remixed. I’m not even sure I can wrap my mind around that one. So in your songwriting process, do you have a common thing or is it kind of different for each song?
JI: It’s different always. I pretty much just take it however I can get it. I’d like to be sitting somewhere by myself with a notepad and a laptop, but that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes I’ll sing into my phone. Sometimes I’ll sing into one of their phones and record it. Luckily now, we’ve got voice memo on mine. The last one of mine, very often I would have to borrow one of theirs and call my answering machine and sing into my answering machine.
Dd: I thought you were just sweet talking me.
JI: Yeah, all of these messages rhyme…
Dd: He’s so creative with his messages…
NB: Oh, now everyone knows. So, this latest album, from all of the reviews that I’ve read, I heard that the whole band was more involved with this one. Is that true?
JI: Yeah, y’all go ahead. I’ve answered that question a bunch.
BL: Jason would bring us a demo usually either on his computer or something he had done in Garage Band or something that he had had around for a long time. We are in the studio, and none of us had heard any of his songs before that.
CG: It was all fresh. It was like, here, here’s this baby, raise it. But it worked out. We all sort of did our thing. If we weren’t sure, we’d ask around “Hey what do you think about this..does this suck…is this good?” We didn’t really have one guy that was like “You do this.”
JI: It was nice to not have it that way. It was more fun for me. Sometimes you need that. If it can work in a way where you don’t have to have that, it can be a lot more enjoyable.
NB: It has a very nice organic feel. You can almost tell in the album that it wasn’t that way.
Dd: Plus, having played together on the road so much before going into the studio, we could bring that energy from having played together on stage and bring it into the writing and recording.
BL: There was definitely a dynamic that we had from playing the same songs over and over and over again. We had a style, but we didn’t have any songs to back the style up. We had the songs that had been written and performed by other bands or by another collection of musicians, but we really didn’t have a chance to go in there and play some of our own stuff. So, we were all ready to do that.
JI: I think we knew where we all fit too. Touring a lot really showed us what parts were best, what sort of places in the frequency we should position ourselves and who we should play off of and who we should listen to.
Dd: Yeah, we all sort of instinctively started looking around the room at people for cues for building the song.
JI: Even though nobody had heard the songs before.
BL: Jason and I—having two guitarists…two lead guitarists in the band. I think it was kind of unspoken but we both, neither one of us, wanted to make a guitar album.
JI: Yeah, yeah I always do somehow. I feel like all players should be able to show out at some point without making the record sound…masturbatory. It could have very easily gotten to that point. But yeah, I love guitar rock. At the end of the day, I like guitar-driven rock and roll. Even though I did write a lot of these songs on piano. A lot of them, after he plays piano on it, I would have to go in and learn it on guitar because I’d never played it on guitar before. That was a little weird. But it was good. It was a really easy experience for me.
NB: I think that comes out in the album that you guys had been playing together on the road and it just comes together. It’s a really natural sound.
JI: Good.
NB: I usually don’t ask bands where their name comes from because it’s usually a very boring story. Or they just look and me and say “We just put words together.” Usually it turns out very badly if you ask that question. You guys, I’ve heard, have a very interesting story. I was wondering if you would share that with me.
JI: Does somebody want to do it? I’ve talked a lot.
Dd: Let Chad do it.
NB: I like this group dynamic, we can have popcorn story time.
JI: Yeah, we need a fire.
BL: Chad has the flashlight.
CG: In our hometown of Muscle Shoals, the fourth floor of the hospital is the mental health ward. It’s called the 400 Unit. And once a week, every week, they give the patients fifteen dollars, put them in a white van, and send them out to the town to get lunch or whatever. And it’s very close to what we do everyday. We get a fifteen dollar per diem. We ride around in a white van. The only thing that we do that they don’t do is rock out on a pretty consistent basis.
JH: We don’t know that.
NB: You guys don’t get nametags, though.
JH: Well, we do have laminates.
NB: It’s getting closer and closer the more we talk about it.
JH: I think they get better drugs than we do, though.
JI: On a regular basis, they probably do. They probably need them a little more than we do.
NB: You guys have a lot of influences, that I’m sure you’re probably tired of being hammered upon. Coming from Muscle Shoals, which is one of the most unassuming music capitals of America…while you do have your influences, you seem to always have something new, and it seems like you have your own vision. I was wondering if this was something that just came about organically with your band or was this something planned? Do you have a direction?
JI: I think we all probably plan that individually. We don’t really discuss it, but it’s a big part of just putting these people together. I think that’s one of the biggest parts of putting a band together. You want to find people that each have a vision that works into the whole. I don’t want to say that we want to be any certain kind of band. We’re just a rock and roll band, but I do think we all have some very similar influences that probably accentuate each other really well. I think we’re all familiar with the music that was made at home, but I think we are also constantly listening to things. And we try to pay attention to that as much as possible. And I think it’s pretty important to everyone in the band to not wear their influences too directly on their sleeves. I think it’s very important to cover a broad spectrum with the things people hear in the music.
BL: I try to play guitar like Robbie Robertson if he could play guitar.
JI: That’s a good way to put it.
BL: End of story.