Economist says low mortgage rates on way up

Are the days of rock-bottom interest rates over?

Economist Donald Rata-jczak, professor emeritus at Georgia State University and internationally renowned forecaster, thinks so. He said in a speech Thursday morning that potential home buyers waiting for mortgages to drop further have missed the boat.

"If you're waiting for a lower mortgage, wait for the next cycle," he said at the S.C. International Trade Conference at Charleston Place.

According to Ratajczak, this recession already hit its mortgage low-point. He said three major housing markets in different areas of the country already have begun to stabilize.

Ratajczak also said the country will likely see employment stability in the first quarter of next year. He said this recession "came very close . . . to going into the next Great Depression" and added that the government only exacerbated the problem.

Open house

Atlanta developer John Dewberry has been elusive about his plans for the L. Mendel Rivers Federal Building, but he gladly showed the New York Times around his restored mansion in downtown Charleston.

The historic home at Meeting and Tradd streets across from First (Scots) Presbyterian Church was the subject of a recent 1,141-word profile story and photo spread.

Dewberry bought the home six years ago for $1.5 million. After four months of research, three years of restoration work and construction costs worth more than twice its sale price, Dewberry restored it.

The article went over the details of the completed home: its "proper hand-tooling of masonry grout," bluestone laid in the garden's patio and floors raised by nearly two feet. Dewberry told the Times that he visits his Holy City home once or twice a month and declared that after laboring so hard on it, "This house will never be for sale."

Hard landing

The Charleston County Aviation Authority is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit in which private aviation company Net Jets asks for more than $2 million in damages from the authority and the U.S. government.

A Net Jets plane landing at the Charleston International Airport in 2006 hit a hole in the runway from a displaced light that had been improperly secured, according to the lawsuit. It alleges that the aviation authority and the government, namely the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Air Force, owe runway customers proper maintenance and warnings about possible hazards.

In its motion to dismiss, the authority holds that it has no duty to maintain or repair the runway and that the responsibility lies with the Air Force. The parties will appear in court this week as a judge considers the motion.

Center spread

The city of Charleston has named its new business incubator and resource center at East Bay and Calhoun streets: Flagship. The revamped 5,400-square-foot space at 475 East Bay formerly was home to a Hollywood Video store. Ernest Andrade, Charleston's director of business development and head of the Digital Corridor technology initiative, has already moved into Flagship along with four young high-tech businesses. A grand opening is planned for this month.

"This will take economic development to a retail level," Andrade said when the center was announced.

Vanishing act

Car customers looking for a deal at Low Country Pre-owned in Mount Pleasant during the Memorial Day holiday weekend would have found an empty car lot and might have thought it had gone out of business. That was not the case.

Low Country Volkswagen, which uses the lot for its pre-owned vehicles just down the street at the former site of Low Country Mazda, moved all of the used cars to a new location on Johnnie Dodds Boulevard for a Memorial Day weekend sale. The used cars were scheduled to be moved back and the building is due for some renovation work, according to an employee at the dealership.

Networking

Small businesses struggling to make ends meet can meet with similar entrepreneurs to exchange ideas through a new Small Business Network sponsored by Berkeley Electric Cooperative through Berkeley Chamber of Commerce.

The group usually meets the second Tuesday of every other month from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Berkeley Electric Cooperative's community room at 2 Spring Hall Drive in Goose Creek. Upcoming topics include stimulus money, financing, front-line training and marketing. Drinks are provided, but participants are urged to bring their lunch.

Dream job

A rising eighth grader at Ashley Hall scored "the coolest summer" job blogging about life at the Turks and Caicos Sporting Club in the British West Indies where her father is interim manager.

Shelley Vohr, the 13-year-old daughter of Neal Vohr, will spend the next month on the private island Ambergris Cay working with campers and maintaining equipment.

Ambergris Cay was created by DPS Sporting Club Development Co., whose president Peter Pollak owns an East Bay Street pad. Pollak's resume includes resorts projects in Hilton Head and Sheldon. Vohr will post her updates at www.coolestsummerjob.com.