Damian Bertrand
Damian Bertrand writes service-focused real estate coverage that explains how South Carolina laws, market trends and business practices affect everyday property owners. His reporting centers on clear, practical guidance drawn from data and statute, showing readers what changing housing conditions and local regulations mean for their wallets and their homes.
Real estate rules, responsibilities and consumer protection
Bertrand’s real estate work often starts with a concrete question about property rights or responsibilities and then unpacks what state law says in direct language.
In his explainer on what happens when a neighbor’s tree falls onto your property, he walks through South Carolina’s liability rules and clarifies who pays for damage and cleanup, translating legal standards into plain terms for homeowners and renters. He applies the same approach to the state’s “We Buy Houses” industry, reporting on how a 2024 law reclassified many wholesaling activities as licensed brokerage work and detailing how that change limits certain practices while some companies search for workarounds. His focus is on helping readers recognize risky offers, understand their rights in real estate transactions, and make more informed decisions when dealing with investors and service providers.
Housing market data translated for local buyers and owners
Bertrand frequently uses housing and economic data to explain the trajectory of local home prices and what that means for people trying to buy or hold property. In his coverage of Columbia home values, he reports that the city is one of the few major U.S. markets where prices rose between 2025 and 2026 while most cities saw declines, and he notes that Columbia ranked 20th nationally for one-year home price growth in a recent SmartAsset study. He breaks out figures on typical home values, one-year percentage gains and multi-year increases since 2019, then frames the numbers from the perspective of young professionals timing a first home purchase. Instead of treating market stats as abstract, he ties them directly to questions readers face, such as whether to wait for a cooling period or how sustained price growth affects affordability.
Service journalism across South Carolina life
Beyond property-specific stories, Bertrand’s beat extends across South Carolina life, with the same service lens applied to work, well-being and local culture.
His reporting on life satisfaction uses survey research to show the age at which Americans, and specifically South Carolinians, reach peak contentment, highlighting how the state’s pattern differs slightly from the national average. In coverage of artificial intelligence and work, he reports on how new tools are driving some South Carolina employees to put in extra hours, examining both the productivity pressures and personal impacts of technology in the workplace.
He also produces community-facing pieces such as a video feature on Local Mojo’s “In Bloom” concert, showcasing a student-run band and local music activity. Across these varied subjects, the consistent thread is accessible, question-driven reporting that connects broader trends back to the daily experience of residents.
Role at the masthead and reporting style
At the masthead, Bertrand serves as a service journalism reporter covering South Carolina, with a remit that spans real estate, work and community issues. His pieces are concise, heavily grounded in recent data or state law, and structured around specific questions that matter to readers rather than abstract policy debates. Whether he is explaining a new real estate regulation, a shift in home prices or a survey on life satisfaction, he keeps the emphasis on what is changing, why it matters locally, and what practical steps people can take in response. That combination of legal and market explanation, consumer protection and plain-language guidance defines his value on real estate stories and broader service coverage alike.
4 more real estate journalists.
Aaron Elstein
Aaron Elstein brings a Wall Street reporter’s eye to commercial real estate. He is a senior reporter at Crain’s New York Business, where he covers large office towers, Midtown corridors, landlords, lenders, investors and regulators. His reporting shows how ownership decisions, bank balance sheets, capital markets and regulation shape property values and risk. He also covers banking, finance and Wall Street, including bank mergers and investment firms. Before joining Crain’s in 2003, he wrote Heard on the Street columns for The Wall Street Journal and covered bank mergers for American Banker. Elstein reports by closely reading footnotes, contracts, regulatory filings and legal documents. His investigative work has examined executive payments, pension funds, tax enforcement and tenant harassment. His coverage places deals, disputes and enforcement actions within broader financial and property cycles.
Aaron Moselle
Aaron Moselle covers housing and community development for WHYY’s PlanPhilly, filing for radio and the web. He stands out for connecting market data and government action to displacement, affordable homes, and the daily questions facing renters and homeowners. His core beat is housing affordability and market strain, including high mortgage rates, rising prices, tax assessments, and what they mean for buyers, sellers, and renters. He also reports on preserving and creating affordable housing, neighborhood rehab efforts, major real estate deals, and the effect of property sales on residents. His work often uses direct sourcing, plain language, and service journalism to make policy and finance clear.
Aarthi Swaminathan
Aarthi Swaminathan is a personal finance reporter at MarketWatch whose distinctive beat connects residential real estate with household budgets. She covers housing prices, affordability, mortgage rates, financing, insurance, remodeling and the costs of owning a home. Her reporting examines overvalued and fast-rising markets, ZIP-code trends, second-home sellers, builders, developers and buyers facing higher borrowing costs. She also follows Gen Z buyers, owners trapped in weakening condo markets and neighborhood conflicts over development. Her work pairs data-driven housing analysis with detailed case studies of buyers, owners and sellers. She explains complex market data in clear, accessible language and writes news features, personal-finance explainers, Economic Report stories, The Big Move and New American Playbook. She won a silver award for Best Collection of Work by an Individual Covering Residential Real Estate.
Abbey Ferguson
Abbey Ferguson stands out for reporting how major commercial moves and redevelopment plans reshape the built environment, especially the real estate deals that reveal what land and retail space are worth. She covers Central Texas commercial real estate and development for KWTX, with recent stories on land valuation, major transactions, retail redevelopment, and infrastructure planning. Her work has tracked an $80 million data center site offer in Hill County, a prospective Trader Joe’s location in Waco, and a planning project using artificial intelligence to predict traffic patterns. She writes as a news reporter, staying close to the numbers, public records, brokers, officials, and landowners. Her stories turn contract prices, appraisal data, and listing history into plain explanations of what buyers are betting on and how those deals affect surrounding property owners and nearby businesses.