Huntsville Real Estate Blog

Developers of the Big Spring Summit office tower in downtown Huntsville are hoping to put a restaurant on its top floor. Meanwhile, they’re still analyzing designs for a condominium high-rise next door.

The building overlooks Big Spring International Park, offering perhaps the best view of the park’s lagoon and Huntsville’s skyline. The building overlooks Big Spring International Park, offering perhaps the best view of the park’s lagoon and Huntsville’s skyline.

William Stroud of Huntsville-based Triad Development told the City Council at its meeting Thursday night that the Summit’s top floor would become office space if no restaurant steps forward to buy or lease the space.

About 70 percent of the 80,000-square-foot office tower space has been leased, Stroud said. Some tenants, which include a bank, a realty company and an investment firm, may open between the end of August and the first part of October.
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Thinking of buying or selling Huntsville real estate? Visit my website to view all real estate listings, get the current market value of your home, free reports to save you time and money, and more!

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed “The Expanding American Homeownership Act,” which will increase homeownership opportunities for millions of Americans by modernizing the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and returning it to its traditional role as an important financing option in today’s Huntsville real estate market.

The Expanding American Homeownership Act will:

1) Eliminate the current statutory three percent minimum down payment, reducing a significant barrier to homeownership. FHA’s existing down payment requirement does not meet the demands of today’s marketplace, where most first-time homebuyers put down two percent or less. The “new” FHA would offer a variety of down payment options.

2) Create a new, risk-based insurance premium structure for FHA that would match the premium amount with the credit profile of the borrower.  It would replace the current structure, in which there is standard premium amount for all borrowers, while still protecting the soundness of its Insurance Fund.  FHA would have the flexibility to charge a lower premium for low-risk borrowers, and to charge higher-risk borrowers a slightly higher premium.

3) Increase and simplify FHA’s loan limits. FHA’s loan limit in high-cost areas would rise from 87 to 100 percent of the GSE conforming loan limit and in lower-cost areas from 48 to 65 percent of the conforming loan limit.  This change is crucial in today’s housing market.  In many areas of the country, the existing FHA limits are lower than the cost of new construction, eliminating FHA financing as an option for buyers of new homes in those markets. FHA has simply been priced out of the market in other areas, such as California, where FHA insured only about 5,000 home mortgages in all of 2005, down 95 percent from 109,000 in 2000.
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Thinking of buying or selling Huntsville real estate? Visit my website to view all Huntsville real estate listings, get the current market value of your home, free reports to save you time and money and more!

Classic Movies in the Park

It’s not too late to enjoy the movies in the park offered by the Huntsville Museum of Art on Friday evenings throughout the summer. You bring your own blankets and picnic baskets as you kick back with family and friends for a relaxing Friday evening in the park. It’s such a pleasant, low-key atmosphere, I know you will the whole family will enjoy it! The movies are free and open to the public. All movies will be shown at sundown on the west wall of the Museum.

This event is brought to you by several sponsors including Comcast, White, Fleming & Company, P.C., Triad Properties Corporation, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, DESE Research, Westar Corporation, Huntsville Hospital and TOC The Orthopedic Center.

Dates for 2006:

• July 28 – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• August 11 – Sabrina
• August 25 – A Streetcar Named Desire

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Thinking of buying or selling a home in Huntsville? Visit my website to view all real estate listings, get a FREE home valuation, free reports and more.

WOW! Living might be easy, but there was nothing easy about the June Huntsville real estate market. Sales just keep going up and up…and market times are going down. Take a look.

The average sales price increased in June 2006 by approximately $14,044 or 9% from June 2005. The number of homes on the market increased by 19% or 773.  Sold listings also increased by 15% or 150. Market times have decreased by 16 days or 16%.

Huntsville real estate is defying the National Association of Realtors predictions that “home sales will ease modestly but should stay within a relatively narrow range over the balance of the year.”

You may be asking what these numbers mean to buyers and sellers. It means this is a great time to buy or sell real estate in Huntsville!

Sales are continuing to increase meaning there are plenty of buyers in the market which is good news for sellers. Inventory is also growing which means there is no shortage of homes to choose from which is good for buyers.   

Buyers and sellers both need the expericnce of a dedicated, full time real estate professional in today’s market. Buyers need an experienced Realtor to help them evaluate the market and get the best deal, while sellers need guidance in pricing so as not to leave money on the table in this rapidly appreciating atmosphere.     

I have the experience needed by both buyers and sellers. Give me a call so I can put my experience to work for you.

Statistics are based on information for the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce and are deemed reliable but not guaranteed. 
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Thinking of buying or selling a home in Huntsville? Visit my website to view all real estate listings, get a Free home valuation, free reports and more.

Hearing to zone tract for business, recreation Aug. 24
Friday, July 14, 2006
By JOHN PECK
Times Staff Writer john.peck@htimes.com

Two years after buying a huge chunk of waterfront property along the Tennessee River, the city of Huntsville is taking steps to develop it into something useful for the public.

The 134-acre, oblong tract stretches west from the twin Whitesburg bridges to near the boundary of Redstone Arsenal. When the city bought the land in May 2004, city leaders talked of building a mile-long greenway that could continue under the bridges to the Ditto Landing Marina.

The land sat dormant until recently when it was finally annexed into the city. Thursday night, the City Council set a public hearing for Aug. 24 on a proposal to zone the land Commercial Recreation C-5 District.
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If you are thinking of buying or selling a home in Huntsville, vist my website where you can view all real Huntsville real estate listings, get a home evaluation, free reports and more!

In a routine Huntsville real estate transaction, real estate agents normally represent the party who has signed an agreement with them to market their home, i.e. the Seller. It is important that you, as a purchaser of real estate, fully understand that all Realtors legally represent the seller, and must protect the seller’s best interests at all times. Realtors have a responsibility to you to be honest and ethical in presenting property to you and are required to divulge all KNOWN facts and defects about a property in order for you to make an intelligent buying decision. However, at no time can they give you any information detrimental to the seller, and they must pass on to the seller any information they have about you, such as your willingness to pay more for a property than your offer indicates. You may, however, enter into a written agreement with the Agent to have him or her act on your behalf. This is called Buyer Agency or buyer representation.

In my Huntsville real estate business, I choose to offer Buyer Representation, and will specifically represent you, as my client, in the buying process, if you wish. As a member of the Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council (REBAC), I am skilled in providing excellent representation for buyers. The law requires that we have a written agreement, stating our mutual obligations. Under such an agreement, we have a legal duty to divulge to all parties that we are working under a “buyer agency” agreement. Under such an agreement, your interests will be represented. Costs are typically paid from the sellers’ funds at closing.

*Alabama Real Estate Law requires that both buyers and sellers of real estate sign an Agency Disclosure Form.

Search all Huntsville real estate listings.

Congratulations to four local Huntsville students who have received $1,500 scholarships from the Scholarships for Military Children program through the Defense Commissary Agency. This year’s recipients include Ben Farr, Katrina Gervais, Julia Merkel.

Scholarships for Military Children, funded by the vendors and manufacturers of groceries in the commissaries, provided 500 $1,500 scholarships with at least one at nearly every commissary worldwide in 2006. The program is administered by Fisher House Foundation, which operates a network of comfort houses located near military medical centers, providing a home-away-from-home for the families of hospital patients in crisis.

This scholarship program is just one way that commissaries give back to their communities.

Thinking of buying or selling Huntsville real estate? Visit my website to look at all Huntsville homes for sale or to get a Free home evaluation.

When you decide to purchase a Huntsville home, your first step should be to determine how much you can afford to spend. Of course, your mortgage lender will ultimately assess the amount you’re eligible to borrow. Therefore, you need to target an appropriate price range before you begin house hunting. 

I work with several local mortgage lenders. Call or email me and I will send you a current list. They can assist you at no cost to see exactly how much you can afford wehn buying Huntsville real estate. There are many different mortgage programs available including those with no money down.

To get an estimated figure, look at your monthly budget and estimate how much you’re willing and able to set aside for your mortgage payment each month. You should also consider how your monthly mortgage payment will relate to your total monthly income.

Generally, your total housing expense should not exceed 28% of gross monthly income (FHA is 29%, VA is N/A). Your total housing expense is the sum of principle, interest, and escrows. Also, total monthly obligations should not be greater than 36% of gross monthly income (FHA and VA are 41%). Monthly obligations include total housing expense plus payments on installment loans revolving credit payments, mortgage payments on real estate that doesn’t produce income, and alimony and child support payments.

You can calculate how much home you can afford in Huntsville on my website. You’ll probably have more questions after you do this, so don’t hesitate to contact me. I’m here to help.

Washington knew that the Boston malster, and the Pennsylvania printer, and the Rhode Island anchor-smith, and the New Jersey preacher, and the New York lawyer, and the men who stood with him were Americans.

He knew it, I say and by what divination?  By a test more searching than any mere peculiarity of manners, dress, or speech; by a touchstone able to divide the gold of essential character from the alloy of superficial characteristics; by a standard which disregarded alike Franklin’s fur cap and Putnam’s old felt hat, Morgan’s leather leggings and Witherspoon’s black silk gown and John Adams’ lace ruffles, to recognize and approve, beneath these various garbs, the vital sign of America woven into the very souls of the men who belonged to her by a spiritual birthright.

For what is true Americanism, and where does it reside?  Not on the tongue, nor in the clothes, nor among the transient social forms, refined or rude, which mottle the surface of human life.  The log cabin has no monopoly of it, nor is it an immovable fixture of the stately pillared mansion.  Its home is not on the frontier nor in the populous city, not among the trees of the wild forest nor the cultured groves of academe.  Its dwelling is in the heart.  It speaks a score of dialects but one language, follows a hundred paths to the same goal, performs a thousand kinds of service in loyalty to the same ideal which is its life.  True Americanism is this:

To believe that the inalienable rights of man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are given by God.

Have a safe and happy July 4th!

There is nothing more American than owning a home. If you are thinking of buying a Huntsville home, visit my website to view all Huntsville real estate listings.