A fireworks display at Bridge Street Town Center has been part of a Huntsville Independence Day celebration since 1965. This year’s celebration is sure to rank up there as one of the best. Entertainment throughout the day includes an Chocolate Crocodile Apple Eating Contest, Farmers Market, concert by the Brent Morgan Band, Hot Dog Eating Contest, Disco Oasis Concert and of course the main attraction…fireworks. Bring the whole family for a day of fun!
It’s that time of year again… time to have a garage sale at your Huntsville home! This year, you can have your most successful garage sale ever. Here are a few tips to help:
Advertise your sale in local newspapers and online. Many of the habitual Saturday morning garage patrons use the paper to plan their morning. They do this to make sure they hit all of the sales in certain neighborhoods. In the ad, mention your Huntsville home address, date and time of your garage sale and big or hot items you have for sale.
Open early. It’s best to open early, around seven in the morning. Sales tend to taper off in the afternoon. Don’t disappoint early shoppers who are typically your best buyers. They have a busy schedule and a lot of sales to hit. Open on time, or even a few minutes before the time you advertised.
Make plenty of signs pointing the way to your Huntsville home. If your yard is difficult to see, or is not on a main road, post signs pointing the way. If allowed, post the signs near a main road and attach a few balloons to it. This will catch the attention of the passing motorists.
Have everything clearly labeled with reasonable prices. Keep in mind that these shoppers are looking for a bargain and price accordingly. You can individually label each item, or use an easily readable color-coded chart. For instance, a blue sticker means 25 cents, red stickers mean 50 cents, yellow stickers mean $1, etc.
Offer specials at different points during the sale. You can offer a “two-for-the-price-of-one sale” hour or a “twenty percent off during the next hour” special. Make sure to list your planned specials and their times at the bottom of your signs and newspaper ads. At the end of the day, you may want to have an unadvertised special such as “fill a bag for $1″ to get rid of as much as possible.
Donate leftovers. Make your life easier and do something good for others by donating any items that don’t sell. If you plan carefully, you can schedule a pick up by your local charitable organization at the end of your garage sale.
With these tips, you’re well on your way to having your best garage saleever.
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With more and more people seeking to work from home, whether it is a lifelong dream, or forced by a troubled economy and layoffs, the need to organize a workspace at home is a common desire. You can create a quick, efficient, low-budget Huntsville home office in minutes with these simple ideas.
Most people do not have an extra room they can dedicate as an office. If that’s the case in your Huntsville home, it’s important to create a space that offers room for the necessary equipment and a place to keep your work safe from family activities.
Here’s an inexpensive way to do that:
·Find a spot of floor space that you can use and set it off with freestanding room dividers that you can find easily online (priced between $60.00 and $200.00).
·Set up a desk for your computer and other office equipment by placing 2 two-shelf filing cabinets a few feet apart and laying a piece of plywood cut to size across them. You can make it a more finished piece by staining the wood to match the cabinets, or painting it white for a contrasting top with a designer look.
One area not to skimp on is the office chair. It is your prime source of comfort and well-being and should be sturdy and well-formed for support. Don’t forget to make your space ‘yours’ with the same types of pictures and desk plants you might otherwise have in an office away from home. Your space needs to speak to your personality even in your own home.
You can create any design or style that is comfortable for you while giving you a place to work that won’t be disturbed by the need to move everything to eat, or do other chores. Setting aside space in your Huntsville home just for the purpose of work can improve your focus and productivity.
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Record low mortgage interest rates boosted pending home sales for the third consecutive month, with some benefit now from the first-time buyer tax credit, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in April, rose 6.7 percent to 90.3 from a reading of 84.6 in March, and is 3.2 percent above April 2008 when it was 87.5.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said buyers are responding to very favorable market conditions. “Housing affordability conditions have been at historic highs, but now the $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit is beginning to impact the market,” he said. “Since first-time buyers must finalize their purchase by November 30 to get the credit, we expect greater activity in the months ahead, and that should spark more sales by repeat buyers.”
Madison County/Huntsville Real Estate Sales Statistics
Madison County and Huntsville real estate saw a decrease of 26% in sold listings when compared to May 2008. The average sales price decreased by 5% to $192,015. Average price per square foot decreased by 3%. And the average list price decreased by 4%. While homes were on the market an average of 6 days less than May 2008.
This is a great time to consider buying or a home in Huntsville or Madison AL. Housing affordability is at an all-time high, interest rates are at near record lows and now first-time buyers can use their $8,000 tax credit towards a down payment.
Don’t hesitate and lose out. Give me a call and learn how you can take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers.
For more information about Huntsville AL real estate, please visit MoveToHuntsville.com or call me at 256-508-0211.
Huntsville has topped a ‘Best” list once again! Forbes has placed our fair city on the top of its ‘Best Cities For Recession Recovery’. Factors used in when choosing these cities are a diverse economy, heavy growth from educaiton and health care. These cities did not experience the massive real estate bubble similar to California, florida and Nevada.
Huntsville Info:
Current GDP: $16.1 billion End of 2010: $17.2 billion (projected) Unemployment: 6.1%
In a recession characterized by battered housing, banking and manufacturing markets, having an economy with a heavy focus on technology helps. Huntsville is home to one of the country’s largest research parks and a major NASA center (not to mention Space Camp).
It isn’t just Huntsville residents who appreciate what a great place Huntsville is. Huntsville has recently been recognized by Kiplinger as one of their #1 Best 2009 City and is now being recognized by Relocate America as one of their Top 100 Places To Live. Huntsville ranks #7 behind Tulsa OK, Dallas Tx, Fort Worth TX, Pittsburgh PA, Durhan NC and Raleigh NC.
Here’s what Relocate America has to say about Huntsville:
Huntsville, the “Rocket City,” is in the heart of the South, 300 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico, 100 miles south of Nashville, and 100 miles north of Birmingham. Our history encompasses the earliest Native Americans, Alabama’s first English-speaking settlement, the Civil War, the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement, and the accomplishments of American space-age research. And we are truly an international city, home to immigrants from many lands, who bring their cultures and their dreams and their languages-more than 100 languages are spoken here-to enrich all of us. Huntsville is home to many international corporations, who are eager to employ our educated workforce and to take advantage of the easily accessible Huntsville International Airport.
The economy of Huntsville is relatively stable, and our unemployment figures are well below the national average. Huntsville/Madison County is home to the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and the Redstone Arsenal is one of the U.S. Army’s most important strategic posts. Several Japanese-owned companies operate manufacturing plants here. About one-fifth of our workers are employed in manufacturing, including technology-based precision manufacturing. Other major employers include Huntsville Hospital System Health Care, the Boeing Company Aerospace and Defense, and the Huntsville City Schools.
Real estate offerings in Huntsville are varied, and homes here are holding their value well. From urban condos and lofts downtown to houses in family-friendly subdivisions and larger homes on beautiful wooded lots, Huntsville has what you’re looking for. Low taxes and a low cost of living are just two reasons why Huntsville continues to be one of the fastest-growing areas in the United States. Our community enjoys a taste of all four seasons, from the brisk winter winds, the flowering trees in the spring, the warm summer sun to the foliage in the fall. The average annual temperature is 60.3 degrees Fahrenheit.
We offer a wealth of education opportunities, sports and cultural activities. Driving into town, you can’t miss the Saturn V Rocket looming over the Alabama Space and Rocket Center. Our pride in our history is on display at the EarlyWorks Museums complex, comprising Alabama Constitution Village, the Historic Huntsville Depot and EarlyWorks Children’s History Museum. We’re also proud of the nationally accredited Huntsville Museum of Art, North Alabama’s leading visual arts center, the Huntsville Botanical Garden, a great place to take a class or host a wedding, and the historic Weeden House and Burritt on-the Mountain. We offer several public and private golf courses, including the Hampton Cove Golf Course, designed by Robert Trent Jones. And our state-of-the-art Von Braun Convention Center hosts major concerts, Broadway performances, ballets, symphonies and a full range of sporting events.
The beautiful Alabama Mountain Lakes region has proven to be a wonderful place to work, to live, and to set down roots. Come for a biscuits and gravy breakfast or a catfish lunch finished off with a piece of pecan pie-we think you’ll want to stay.
Huntsville has been chosen by Kiplinger as their #1 Best City of 2009.
Here’s what Kiplinger has to say about Huntsville:
Talk about a bulletproof economy. This northern Alabama city represents critical mass for the nation’s missile-defense and aerospace industries. The medical and life-sciences industries are thriving, too. Thousands of new jobs are pouring into town. With a few exceptions, business in Huntsville is so healthy that Mayor Tommy Battle has a pleasant problem: “We have more jobs than we can fill.”
Huntsville owes much of its red-blooded vitality to the U.S. Army, which employs more than 14,000 people, mostly civilians, at the 38,000-acre Redstone Arsenal. “If a soldier drives it, eats it or shoots it, we’re involved — beans to bullets,” says Dan O’Boyle, arsenal spokesman.
As part of an ongoing consolidation of army bases and personnel — known as BRAC, the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process — the arsenal will hire 5,000 more people over the next few years, and another 5,000 jobs will be added indirectly to the area.
As for aerospace, Huntsville isn’t called Rocket City for nothing. The giant rocket replica that pierces the Huntsville skyline not only makes a handy reference point for out-of-towners but also represents Huntsville’s storied — and still strong — role in space exploration. The site of the historic test launch of the Saturn V rocket, which put the U.S. space mission one step closer to the moon, Huntsville houses an original Saturn V at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and hosts thousands of students each year at the center’s Space Camp. The Marshall Space Flight Center, part of NASA, employs 2,500 scientists, many of whom are working on the next moon launch.
All those scientists and engineers create a bubbling brew of brainpower that attracts other intellectuals. Says Rick Davis, director of Cummings Research Park, “Smart people come here.” Huntsville encourages the influx by offering companies below-market real estate prices and room to grow at Cummings, which encompasses 3,800 acres. The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, a recent arrival, represents Huntsville’s foray into the next frontier. HudsonAlpha translates the results of the Human Genome Project into the development of new, targeted medicines. Says director Richard Myers, “In five years, we will all be taking our genomic sequence with us to the doctor’s office.”
Not every sector in Huntsville is booming. Car sales have plummeted in recent months, and home sales have slowed, especially for houses priced at $300,000 and up. Still, Huntsville’s otherwise strong economy, combined with a scenic, mountain-view setting, a historical downtown, top-quality museums and a 110-acre botanical garden, encourages residents to stay put and newcomers to stream in. Says Battle: “This place never misses a beat.”
Madison County foreclosure homes are continuing to rise with 98 new Madison County foreclosure filings in April and 97 filings in March, according to RealtyTrac.com.
Madison County Foreclosure Activity and Home Price Index
Madison County foreclosure activity is based on the total number of properties that receive foreclosure filings - default notice, foreclosure auction notice or repossession notice - each month. Home price appreciation is based on month-over-month percentage change of the Home Price Index. The Home Price Index is calculated from home sales records.
Madison County Foreclosure Geographical Comparison
The Madison County foreclosure rate of .13% is slightly above Alabama’s .11% rate, but .14% lower than the National rate.
Madison County Foreclosure Activity Month-by-Month
The amount of pre-foreclosure activity in March and April indicates that the foreclosure crisis is not over with many Madison County families in distress situations.
Are you or someone you know behind on your mortgage payments and facing a Madison County foreclosure? You do have options. A short sale may be the answer to saving you, your fmaily and your home. Give me a call for a private consultation.
The Huntsville/Madison County community once again led Alabama in both population growth and new and expanding jobs. This is according to data recently published by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Alabama Development Office.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the metro grew by 9,323 people or 2.4 percent, which is the state’s largest population growth.. The metro area now has 395,645 residents, which makes this metro area the 27th fastest growing area in the nation. the HUntsville area is made up of Madison and Limestone Counties.
Also, Madison County led the state in new and expanding jobs with 3,464 jobs announced, according to the Alabama Development Office, the State of Alabama’s economic development agency. The State does not include the areas of Huntsville that extend into Limestone County. The number of jobs for Madison County including those jobs is 3,811. The runners-up included Jefferson County and Mobile County with 2,088 and 1,677 new and expanding jobs, respectively.
New jobs and growth in our population aids in Huntsville real estate appreciation. Are you considering buying Huntsville real estate in 2009? If so, visit MoveToHuntsville.com or give me a call for more personal service.
As banks are pulling in their reins and taking on less risk across the nation, the number of consumer-loans in Huntsville and other midsize U.S. cities are rising. The midsize cities seem to be riding out the recession better than the big cities and rural towns.
In Huntsville, a metropolitan area of 376,000 that is home to many government contractors, borrowing increased 13.2% per household in last year’s fourth quarter, compared with the year-earlier period, according to data provided to The Wall Street Journal by Moody’s Economy.com and Equifax Inc.
Huntsville’s increase was the largest among 207 U.S. metropolitan areas tracked by the two data-gathering firms. Similar-size cities such as McAllen and Brownsville, Texas; Yakima, Wash; Provo, Utah, and Lafayette, La., also saw consumer-loan balances rise by more than 8% year-over-year.
