The Seneca micropolitan area, which encompasses all of Oconee County, was recently ranked as the top performing micropolitan in South Carolina and eighth overall in the United States. There are 576 micropolitan areas and those are defined by having an urban core of at least 10,000 residents but no more than 50,000 in population. This prestigious economic development magazine based their results on the number of economic development projects in the area during the 2014 calendar year.       “This is exiting news for our county,” stated Glenn Buddin, chairman of the Oconee Economic Alliance and CEO/CFO of Blue...

Start preparing for Chinese homebuyers, investors Tap into billions of dollars’ worth of potential by catering to this growing market by Sam Van Horebeek Mar 4 The United States attracts more Chinese real estate buyers than any other country. Chinese investors are buying U.S. property in order to diversify their assets outside of China, for investment purposes, for immigration reasons or because they have a child studying in the U.S. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), Chinese buyers spent an estimated $22 billion on U.S. properties last year. Of these purchases, NAR noted that 51 percent were completed...