Birmingham Alabama Real Estate Blog

This may seem like an odd thing to talk about in a real estate blog, but it does have a lot to do with any of you who are either looking at or selling homes that are now vacant.

As copper has increased in value over the last few years, thieves have noticed the opportunity to cash in on this by “visiting” vacant homes and taking as much copper as they could ruining air conditioners and any other copper pipes they could find in the home.

I have been out on numerous occasions showing Birmingham homes and seen what it looks like after it happens. This is going to cost the home seller and home buyer some cash. Birmingham area Home sellers will be asked to lower the price of their homes and Birmingham area home buyers will be paying to cover whatever the sellers won’t. Either way it can ruin the home buying or home selling process.

So, you know when I found the article, Authorities Charge Man They Say Was Trying to Steal Copper, that I was a little happy. I was happy for home buyers and home sellers that the authorities are on the ball and are doing what they can to put an end to this senseless crime.

For a lot of people this may be old news, but nonetheless it is news worth noting and sharing.

Spain Park High School, part of the Hoover City School System in Hoover Alabama was named a Blue Ribbon School by the US Department of Education.

This is one of highest awards a school can earn and I know that the parents, teachers, and students are very proud of their school.

The US Department of Education gave out 320 of these awards this year, and five of them went to the State of Alabama.

According to an article in the Birmingham News, Spain Park High School named National Blue Ribbon School, “The designation is awarded annually to public and private K-12 schools for demonstrating academic superiority or significant improvement in student achievement. To qualify, schools must either score in the top 10 percent on state assessments or have at least 40 percent of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and show significant improvement.”

The other four schools to receive the award in Alabama were, “Wrights Mill Road Elementary School in Auburn; Leon Sheffield Magnet Elementary School in Decatur; George Hall Elementary School in Mobile and Demopolis High School.”

I have been catching up on some reading on AL.com and found an article from the Birmingham News, Birmingham-Hoover Metro Area Building Area Hit Hard By New Home Downturn, which really put an excellent picture on the affects of the market downturn on new construction.

While reading the article there were a number of things that I felt were confirmations on things that we had been thinking and saying for months. For instance:

• “The slump is due to massive overbuilding, overlending and price escalation in the housing market.”
• “He saw the market begin to lose control in 2005.”
• The downturn is worse than he feared, Sandlin said. “Now we have to pay for the sins of those days.”
• “In the past, housing markets were steered back on course by changes in mortgage rates. This slump is different - it’s mostly due to having too much inventory, especially in the number of used homes listed for sale that compete against new ones.”

These are three quotes from the article. My thoughts on these are such, one of the things we have been saying is that you can out-build the market. The old idea, “Build It and They Will Come” isn’t always true. When you look at real estate trends year by year you can see that the Birmingham market had been consistently growing, but growth at that pace just wasn’t going to be sustained here. Over the past 12 months, there have been 34,925 new listings, 16,159 sold, and there are still 14,067 active listings today. That’s a lot of inventory! While no one wants builders to go out of business, we all have to realize that a slow down is required whether by choice or not, and the slow down we are seeing now is not what anyone would have chosen. But, as Sandlin stated above, “Now we have to pay for the sins of those days.”

However, let me note that Alabama is still doing better than average. On a list of all of the states with the amount of foreclosures they are facing per household, Alabama is at the bottom, #43, and that shows that while there is a crunch Alabamaians are holding tight and being responsible and resilient. With these characteristics, it is our opinion that we will recover and will recover strong.

We are well underway with 2008, and time to continue our look at the year of market statistics for Birmingham AL Real Estate. As we have always stated that as a homeowner, potential resident, potential seller, or as a real estate consultant, we think it is always important to know the stats about what is happening with Helena AL Real Estate. For this report we wanted to focus in on Old Cahaba Real Estate in Helena, Alabama.

August 2008 Listed Properties

For the month of August there were 14 Newly Listed Old Cahaba Homes for Sale. The Average Price was $192,800. The Median Price was $198,900.

August 2008 Sold Properties

For the month of August there were 2 Sold homes in Old Cahaba AL Real Estate in Helena, Alabama. The Average Price was $195,250. The Median Price was $222,000 with 42 Average Days on Market, at 97% of list price.

Currently active as of 9/08

Currently there are 53 Active Old Cahaba Homes for Sale with an Average Price of $200,528. The Median Price is $189,900 with 94 Average Days on Market.

If you would like to be contacted as soon as homes become available in the Helena area just let us know. To view our area Real Estate and Community Tour go to www.HelenaRealEstateChannel.com. For more information about the Helena Community you can also go to the Helena Chamber of Commerce.

*Note these Birmingham AL Real Estate stats are accurate as of 9/08 according to the Birmingham MLS. They are subject to change as agents submit listed and sold properties into the MLS.

See all Old Cahaba Homes for Sale 

We are well underway with 2008, and time to continue our look at the year of market statistics for Birmingham AL Real Estate. As we have always stated that as a homeowner, potential resident, potential seller, or as a real estate consultant, we think it is always important to know the stats about what is happening with Trussville Alabama Real Estate. For this report we wanted to focus in on Hawk Ridge Real Estate in Trussville, Alabama.

August 2008 Listed Properties

For the month of August there was 1 Newly Listed Hawk Ridge Homes for Sale. The Average Price was $223,900. The Median Price was $223,900.

August 2008 Sold Properties

For the month of August there was 1 Sold home in Hawk Ridge AL Real Estate in Trussville, Alabama. The Average Price was $250,000. The Median Price was $250,000 with 178 Average Days on Market, at 96% of list price.

Currently active as of 9/08

Currently there are 10 Active Hawk Ridge Homes for Sale with an Average Price of $247,545. The Median Price is $249,900 with 122 Average Days on Market.

If you would like to be contacted as soon as homes become available in the Trussville area just let us know. To view our area Real Estate and Community Tour go to the www.TrussvilleRealEstateChannel.com. For more information about the Trussville Community you can also go to the Trussville Chamber of Commerce.

If you would like to be contacted as soon as Hawk Ridge homes for sale become available just let us know. To view our Hawk Ridge Real Estate and Community Tour go to the Hawk Ridge Real Estate and Community Tour.

*Note these Birmingham AL Real Estate stats are accurate as of 9/08 according to the Birmingham MLS. They are subject to change as agents submit listed and sold properties into the MLS.

I will start by saying this post has absolutely nothing to do with real estate. (and yes, I do know this is a real estate blog)

When I turn on the news I hear about the economic crisis, the presidential race, the gas “crisis”, and the list goes on and on and on…

but something I don’t hear much about is all of those thousands of brave men and women (heroes in my opinion) standing in the gap for our freedoms.

I got an email the other say about a program that Xerox has been promoting, Let’s Say Thanks, and I wanted to spotlight it and give it some attention.

When you go the site, you…

1. Choose a card from one of the designs they have there.
2. Enter a personal message.
3. Press send.

That’s pretty simple in my opinion. You’re done. Xerox takes the initiative to print the card and send it to the troops, and the troops DO appreciate it. They have even put a section there showing responses from some of the troops who have received them.

One of the questions we often get asked about is closing costs. In other words, what can a buyer expect to pay when they buy a home in Birmingham Alabama.

The Mobile Press Register did an article on this some time ago, Closing Costs: How Much Can You Expect to Pay? which shed some light on this.

According to the article, and we find this to be true here in the Birmingham area, one can expect to pay about 3% of the mortgage amount. Let me add, this is not a definite amount, it is just an average.

Something the article pointed out, that a lot of buyers may not realize, is that the agent who writes the contract should show them a form called a Net Sheet, or a Good Faith Estimate, indicating an estimation of what the closing costs should be. The article said, “When a Realtor writes a purchase agreement on a single-family residence for a buyer or presents a written purchase agreement to a seller, Alabama law requires that the agent prepare and furnish an estimate of the closing costs…”

When you get this estimate realize that this is an estimate only. Your lender or mortgage broker can give you a much more accurate amount. Actually, they are required too, as the article said, “The federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act requires that a lender give buyers a good faith estimate that discloses all fees…”

These fees are typically paid by you, the buyer. However, as with a lot of things in the transaction, they can be negotiable and you can ask the seller to pay some of them.