Funds for the VBC hall renovation come from a $3 million dollar gift donated by the family of the late Mark Smith, founder of Huntsville telecommunications company Adtran Inc.
The concert hall’s 2,100 seats will be replaced with modern ones and a center aisle will be created. Work will also include luxury suites in the balcony, new restrooms, elevator access to all levels for patrons with disabilities, additional reception space, new lighting and sound equipment, and a window-dominated facade.
Linda Smith made the donation on behalf of her late husband. Mark Smith came from a musical family and often touted the VBC and the city’s arts and music community when recruiting professionals for his business.
Smith founded Universal Data Systems. After selling that company to Motorola, he founded Adtran, which anchors Cummings Research Park.
The hall will be renamed the Mark C. Smith Concert Hall.
The concert hall isn’t the only part of the VBC that will get a major facelift. Shortly after the Smith donation this fall, Huntsville businessman William Propst announced a $5 million donation for a major renovation of the VBC arena.
Combined with $10 million in city money, the donation will help add 1,000 seats, create a larger lobby with a glass front overlooking Big Spring International Park, add VIP suites with private boxes, add restrooms and improve the concourse.
That project could also get under way by spring, with construction spanning 14 to 18 months. The arena will be named the Propst Arena.
Propst arrived in Huntsville in 1946 and built a fortune in steel, drugstores, manufacturing and real estate.
The multimillion-dollar donations for both projects were solicited by then-Mayor Loretta Spencer.
Visiting Huntsville Botanical Gardens Galaxy of Lights is a wonderful family outing for this time of year. Pack the kids in the car, turn the radio to holiday music and enjoy na fun filled evening together. Below are the dretails as found on the Botanical Garden’s website:
Don’t miss North Alabama’s favorite holiday tradition! Galaxy of Lights is a holiday light extravaganza featuring larger-than-life animated light displays. See Santa soaring over a delightful winter village. Nursery rhyme characters dance and frolic among traditional scenes of the season. And, best of all, experience the magic of the twinkling icicle forest. Galaxy of Lights is the perfect holiday treat for the young and young-at-heart.
Galaxy of Lights was named a Southeast Tourism Top 20 event for 2007. New displays covering almost a mile and a half make for more lights, more displays, more holiday fun!
Members-Only Walk-Through Nights, November 13-16, 5-7:30 p.m.
By invitation.
Public Walk-Through Nights, November 21-23, 5-7:30 p.m. (NO DRIVE THROUGH).
A fun family atmosphere with Santa, crafts, refreshments and entertainment.
Children $3, Adults $6 (no fee for children 2 and under).
Drive-Through Nights, Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve, 5:30-9 p.m.
Passenger Car - $15 per car (up to 10 people)
Vans - $15 for 10 people and $3 for each additional person
Tour buses - $15 for 10 people and $3 for each additional person (tour bus driver is free).
We will be accepting your donations of toys, canned goods, paper products, dog/cat food and warm coats for our local charities; $1 off the price of admission with a donation.
Discounted drive-through tickets are available for members in Gazebo Gifts. They must be purchased in advance.
Extended Hours, December 15 through 24, 5:30 - 10:00 p.m.
We’re staying open later to shorten your wait! We encourage young families to come early, and those of us with later bedtimes to come a little later. Good things come to those who wait, but by spreading out the traffic over a longer time on peak nights we hope to improve the Galaxy experience for everyone.
Group Tours welcome. Call (256)430-3572 ext. 223 for group rates.
Forbes.com has ranked Madison County, AL 1 in the latest survey of the Top 10 Affordable Places To Weather The Downturn. Forbes considered factors such as well-priced homes, enviable job growth and proximity to vibrant cities when deciding where the best places are to live in these recessionary times.
Madison County, AL is an easy commuting distance to Huntsville with a population of 312,734.
Last year unemployment reached a 20-year high of 6.5%, but Madison County experienced 3.4% job growth.
Moody’s Economy.com provided an affordability index for each county. A score of 100 indicates that a family earning the median income in the surrounding metropolitan area can afford to buy a median-priced home. The higher the score, the higher the affordability. Madison County’s score was 221.02.
The median property tax is $577 and the per capita income (in 2006 inflation-adjusted dollars is $27,065.
Learn more about Madison County real estate at MoveToHuntsville.com or give us a call, 256-508-0211.
The Huntsville real estate housing market has never been better for many potential buyers. In fact, more often than not, it is less expensive to own your own home rather than rent.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition reports that in 57 out of the 100 most populated metro areas, renting a three-bedroom home is more expensive than monthly costs on a six percent mortgage for a typical low-priced house in the same area.
With all the news these days concerning the economic crunch and these tumultuous economic times, you might think I’m crazy saying it is a good time to buy a Huntsville home. Of course, home buyers with strong credit are best positioned to take advantage of today’s opportunities. A high credit score will yield a lower interest rate and increase the likelihood that a loan application will be approved.
For example, a home buyer with a 6 percent mortgage will pay a third less per month than a buyer who has a loan at 8 percent. This difference can be hundreds of dollars per month.
FHA loans, VA loans and government backed first-time buyer loans are all available to qualified buyers. With the current low interest rates and affordable home prices, it is a great time to buy your Huntsville home.
It is also a time to keep in mind that buying Huntsville real estate is a long term investment…and an investment you and your family can enjoy for many years!
Let’s take a look at the sales statistics for October 2008 to see how the Huntsville real estate market looks:
Huntsville/Madison County Market Statistics
Huntsville and Madison County saw a 6% decrease in average sales price over October 2007. There was a 23% decline in home sales this October, when compared against October 2007. The average list price has seen an decrease of 5% over last year. Likewise, the sales price to list price ratio remained constant. The average price per square foot saw a 1% decrease. Homes average days on the market were the same as last year.
Date
Sold
Listings
Average
List Price
Average
Sale Price
Percent
SP/LP
Average
DOM
Average
Price
SqFt
Oct 2008
375
$191,753
$186,440
97.23%
80
$88
Oct 2007
486
$202,347
$199,332
98.51%
80
$89
There are lots of good things happening in Huntsville and Madison County. I encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities.
For the latest Huntsville real estate market conditions in your area, please call me at 256-508-0211 or visit MoveToHuntsville.com.
Statistics are based on information for the North Alabama Association of Realtors and are deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
Finally, some good news! It has just been announced by the Huntsville Times that the Tennessee Valley Authority will cut electricity rates by about 6 percent starting January 1. This rate cut reflects lower fuel costs and offers some relief for customers after a major rate increase earlier this year.
The savings should equal about $4 to $8 a month for the federal utility’s 8.8 million residential consumers in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.
The change reflects a 25 percent reduction in TVA’s fuel cost charge, which is adjusted quarterly.
The reduction will help offset an across-the-board 20 percent rate hike enacted Oct. 1. It was TVA’s highest increase in three decades and blamed largely on rising fuel costs for its power plants and power purchased from others.
Huntsville Veterans now have expanded homeownership opportunities, thanks to the Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act of 2008.
Three provisions in the legislation are critical to help Huntsville veterans during the current housing turmoil. The law will make it easier for veterans who have fallen victim to risky subprime loans to refinance their loans into a safer, more affordable loans backed by the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs. The legislation also extends the VA loan limit increases through 2011, which will help veterans living in high-cost areas. In addition, the VA can now offer adjustable-rate mortgages to veterans. That would make Huntsville homeownership more attainable for military families and personnel who often have to move more frequently than their civilian counterparts.
If you are a Veteran thinking about buying a Huntsville home, please get in touch and we can give you some information on how you can take advantage of the great home purchase opportunities that exist right now.
Channel 19, WHNT-TV if offering half off deals with local businesses.
They’ve worked out deals with some of our area’s best restaurants and businesses to give you 1/2 off gift certificates - That’s right, 50% off food and more!
Each week they will feature a business of the week. At 8:30 AM each Friday, they’ll open up the ONLINE store for that week’s business. But you have to be fast - there are only a limited number of gift certificates per week.
Have fun and Happy shopping! And keep checking back for more half-off certificates from Real Deals!
I can’t offer you half off your next home Huntsville pruchase, but I can promise to get you the best deal possible.
Existing-home sales increased last month as buyers responded to improved housing affordability conditions, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
Existing-home sales - including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops - rose 5.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate¹ of 5.18 million units in September from a level of 4.91 million in August, and are 1.4 percent higher than the 5.11 million-unit pace in September 2007.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said more markets are seeing year-over-year gains. “The sales turnaround which began in California several months ago is broadening now to Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Rhode Island,” he said. “The South was hampered by much lower home sales in Houston in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.”
Let’s take a look at the sales statistics for September 2008 to see how the Huntsville AL real estate market looks:
Huntsville/Madison County Real Estate Sales Statistics
Huntsville and Madison County real estate saw a 2% decrease in average sales price over September 2007. There was a 10% decline in home sales this September, when compared against September 2007. The average list price has seen an decrease of 2% over last year. Likewise, the sales price to list price ratio remained constant. The average price per square foot saw a 1% decrease. Homes remained on the market an average of 2 days longer than last year.
Date
Sold
Listings
Average
List Price
Average
Sale Price
Percent
SP/LP
Average
DOM
Average
Price
SqFt
Sept 2008
420
$201,072
$197,461
98.20%
82
$89
Sept 2007
467
$204,808
$200,814
98.05%
80
$90
There are lots of good things happening in Huntsville and Madison County real estate. I encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities.
For the latest Huntsville AL real estate market conditions in your area, please call me at 256-508-0211 or visit MoveToHuntsville.com.
Private investigator Al Schweitzer was in Huntsville last week to talk with the Madison County Real Estate Investors Association concerning identity theft.
Al has been featured on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Nightline” and “20/20,” and has worked behind-the-scenes as an investigator for major news agencies on such stories as Iran-Contra, the Jon Bonet Ramsey murder and the Timothy McVeigh trial.
He has also been an expert witness for Congress, the Federal Trade Commission, the Treasury Department and other government agencies.
With his background Al is a wealth of information on identity theft. Here is what he had to say, while in Huntsville, about safe guarding your private information:
Often, scam artists will already have some of their prey’s info, which can throw a victim off guard, Schweitzer said. If you get a call from someone saying they are with your bank or a credit card company, don’t ask for a number to call them back.
“I tell them I’m going to hang up and call information,” Schweitzer said, “even if they say, ‘You won’t be able to find me.’
“You need to be aware of your own activities,” he said. “Check your credit report every three to four months.”
He noted that consumers can get a free copy of their report once a year at annualcreditreport.com.
If you get credit cards in the mail that you didn’t apply for, chances are you’re a victim of ID theft, Schweitzer said.
Despite concerns about online scams, the most common methods that identity thieves use to get personal information is stealing from mailboxes, going through the trash and stealing information from applications at auto dealerships, he said. Still, consumers should be on guard for phishing scams, particularly with all the bank mergers taking place.
“This is a fabulous time to be a hacker,” he said. “Any time you have confusion, hackers can exploit that.”
Your friends will be impressed by the remarkable renovation of this 1 story, 2800+ square foot home in the Mountain Brook neighborhood of Madison. This sight to behold includes 4 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms. A dramatic living room with 12 ft. vaulted ceiling welcomes your most distinguished guests and the gracious dining room with stunning Palladium window is ready for your first dinner party. And a casual family room with gas fireplace is ideal for less formal gatherings. The designer kitchen with its granite counters, stainless appliances, tile backsplash, pantry, and breakfast bar is open and family friendly. The Master suite provides the perfect sanctuary at the end of a busy day with a jetted tub, separate shower, dual vanities and tile flooring. A sun room, overlooking a fenced yard is a great place for warm weather entertaining or just THE place to relax with a good book. Additional updates include new paint, carpet, fixtures and roof. This is the ultimate home and ready for you to move right in!
For more information on 119 Montrose Drive in Madison or other Huntsville area real estate, visit MoveToHuntsville.com or give us a call,256-508-0211.
Don’t miss North Alabama’s favorite holiday tradition! Galaxy of Lights is a holiday light extravaganza featuring larger-than-life animated light displays. See Santa soaring over a delightful winter village. Nursery rhyme characters dance and frolic among traditional scenes of the season. And, best of all, experience the magic of the twinkling icicle forest. Galaxy of Lights is the perfect holiday treat for the young and young-at-heart.
Extended Hours, December 15 through 24, 5:30 - 10:00 p.m.
Madison
Huntsville Veterans now have expanded homeownership opportunities, thanks to the 
Al has been featured on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Nightline” and “20/20,” and has worked behind-the-scenes as an investigator for major news agencies on such stories as Iran-Contra, the Jon Bonet Ramsey murder and the Timothy McVeigh trial.