If you've shopped for a house and heard the pitch about quality of life in the Huntsville area, you may have wondered if that was just hype to make a sale. But local real estate agents say it's the real deal, because they also dedicate considerable time to help make the community a genuinely great place to live.

"Real estate agents give back to the community because this is where we live, this is where we make our living, and if we can give time, money or whatever is needed back, it makes it a better place to be," says Betty Hughes, president of the Huntsville Area Association of Realtors. "Realtors give back as a group, too, because if we are committed as a group we can move mountains."

Huntsville Times
Items in this feature may be faxed to 532-4420 or e-mailed to businessnews@htimes.com. Event information should include date, time, place, cost and contact information. Deadline is Wednesday noon for Sunday publication:


BNI - Business Network International - wants to give small-business owners and sales professionals referrals. Chapters meet Tuesday through Thursday for breakfast or lunch. For more information on dates and times available, call 866-291-9496, e-mail meg@bni.com or visit bnialabama.com. BNI also is forming a chapter in Hampton Cove. For more information, contact Jennifer Rogers at 683-9952 or Jerry Williamson at 513-6448. For information on the BNI chapter that meets each Wednesday at the Fraternal Order of Eagles, call Ronnie Colvin at 617-9881.

By Kathy Jumper
A Point Clear investor purchased two properties, the 130-unit Cross Creek Apart ments at 442 Cottage Hill Road and the 139-unit Cha teau Oaks Apartments at 1621 Spring Hill Ave., for $7.4 million. Buyer Robert G. Randall of Randall Invest ments said he plans to update the complexes with new paint, carpet, appliances, landscaping and security gates.

Local investors bought a 1.7-acre corner lot in Omni Office Park on Hillcrest Road for $575,000 and plan to build an 11,000-square-foot retail center with Guthrie's Chicken Fingers as one of the first tenants, according to Andy Crane , owner of Crane Title and one of the investors. He said he also plans to open a title office in the center. Tom my Gleason Jr. of Gleason & Associates represented the sellers, and Michael Dagley of Coldwell Banker South Shore worked for the buyers.

By Eric Fleischauer - eric@decaturdaily.com · 340-2435
Residents near Decatur Country Club are not enthused about the prospect of a shopping center replacing the golf course.

A local real estate broker said such a development would damage the value of nearby property that remained residential but could increase values for property that could be sold for commercial use.

George B. Tomlin, owner of GBT Realty and developer of The Crossings, said Tuesday he wants to develop a 450,000-square-foot “power center” on 50 acres owned by Decatur Country Club, near the northeast corner of Alabama 67 and U.S. 31.

By David Lazenby - The Cullman Times
The reality of realty is not as bleak locally as recent national news headlines suggest, according to area real estate professionals who say the Cullman housing market is strong.

“It’s been a little slow, but it’s not nearly what the national media makes us think that it is,” said Cindy Dyer of Crye-Leike Realty Inc. in Cullman.

The cover of the Sept. 24 edition of Time suggested otherwise. The magazine posed this question: “Will the real estate bust cause a recession?” Less than a month earlier, in the magazine’s Aug. 27 issue, the cover promoted a story on “How Wall Street caused the housing mess.”

A Dothan housing market that was once on fire is in a cooling off period, but some local realtors believe the market was primed for a slowdown after a phenomenal 2006.

The median price of a Dothan home dropped to $122,000 in August, the lowest median price since February of 2006. The reduction in median price could be attributed to the large number of homes on the market. According to statistics compiled at the Alabama Real Estate Research and Education Center, 882 homes were placed on the market in the Dothan area in August, the most since July of 2002 when 889 were on the market. The figure has risen steadily this year, with 722 on the market in January.

The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) is a non-profit corporation with the best mortgages in America. Come to this 4 hour workshop to be held at New Life SDA Church 4906 Blue Spring Rd NW Sunday November 11th at 2pm. NACA specializes in low interest no money down mortgages that are not based on your credit.

In the biggest expansion of the park in nearly a decade, Alabama's Forever Wild conservation program has agreed to buy 154 acres on the mountain's rugged north slope from the Terry family. The purchase price won't be announced until the deal closes in January.

Located off Bankhead Parkway, the L-shaped property connects a corner of the state park to the Land Trust of Huntsville & North Alabama's Monte Sano Preserve. It also contains a long segment of the Flat Rock Trail, an old mountain footpath.

MARIAN ACCARDITimes Business Writer
Number of passengers in September rises 12 percent

Passenger traffic at Huntsville International Airport was up again in September, increasing 12 percent compared to last September.

The number of passengers so far in 2007 - 915,588 - is 5.6 percent higher than at this point in 2006.

There will be an Educational Workshop on the Huntsville real estate Housing Market and current market trends on Sunday, October 21, 2007 at 6:15 pm at the Lincoln Church of Christ located on 1307 Meridian Street.

Do the recent housing market media reports have you sitting on the Real Estate sidelines?

Residential real estate is not a national market product. To say from a national position that this is a good time or a bad time to buy or sell real estate is like saying the national forecast for the US today is 92 degrees.