Monday March 24
Realty World South will host a free "Lease to Own" seminar at 1874 Slaughter Road in Madison at 6 p.m. Learn how to improve your credit score and become a homeowner. This seminar is conducted each Monday. Call 325-8500 for reservations.

Weichert, Realtors - The Executive Group will host a free real estate career seminar each Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the company's office at 2304 S. Memorial Parkway. Call 533-7210.

Friday March 28
OSBO will hold a special networking event for Realtors and builders/contractors at The Heritage Club from 2 to 5 p.m. Sponsorships and display tables are available. The cost of sponsorship is $250. Setup will begin at 9:30 a.m.; lunch for sponsors served at noon. RSVP and walk-in registration is from 1:30 to 2 p.m., and the presentation will be 2 to 5. Visit www.osbo.org or e-mail Jim Campbell at jcampbell@osbo.org.

Saturday March 29
Madison County Real Estate Investors Association will host a session in which participants will learn to play the new Millionaire Maker Board Game. This event will be offered at Crestwood Medical Center's Women's Center, 185 Chateau Drive, from 9 to 11 a.m. Cost is $10 per person or $15 for two. Participants must be age 15 or older. To register, visit www.MadisonCountyREIA.com or call 829-2304.

April 5
Madison County Real Estate Investors Association will host "Flipping for Massive Profit." This all-day seminar at the Von Braun Center East Hall, beginning at 9 a.m., will feature "Flip This House" star Paul Esajian. Preregistration is required; lunch provided. Cost is $39.95 for REIA members, $49.95 for nonmembers. Visit www.FlipThisHouseHuntsville.com or call 829-2304.

Visit HUNTSVILLE PR for more Huntsville Alabama real estate news www.huntsvillepr.com

Rudulph-Brander report, the Birmingham Alabama real estate report, indicated that the number of Birmingham new homes sold in February improved to 282 from 240 in January. The value of those homes was $62.7 million, an conservative increase from $61.6 million from the preceeding month

Bart Fletcher, executive vice president for the Greater Birmingham Association of Home Builders, stated that February's results represent an improvement at a time when there have been lots of new homes on the market.

In January, the number of new homes on the market declined, which analysts point to as a positive sign. The absorption rate - measuring the time it would take to sell all new homes on the market at the average selling pace - improved to 7.3 months from 8.4 in January.

WOW!

Now is the time to Buy a home in Alabama. Vist Alabama mortgage : www.alabamasmortgage.com for quick mortgage information for you Alabama home loan

If you are in the Alabama real estate business and know your way around online, you will appreciate the kindness, yes, kindness, of webmasters who voluntarily or involuntarily link to your website.

The internet is now the number one source for real estate marketing, trumping yards signs and newspaper advertising. The importance of having a substantial and user friendly online presence is paramount. Knowing this, many realtors are quickly jumping in the fray, building websites and posting home listing to real estate portals like realtor.com, homegain.com, Yahoo real estate and a host of other real estate online entities that have blossomed within the last 5 years.

Unfortunately, having a real estate presence is not enough. Most people in the market to buy a home will usually search through websites listed on the first page of Yahoo, or Google, or the search engine of their choice. Being on the first page is critical to drawing traffic to your website and converting online searchers into customers.

Blizzard! As the cold freeze passes over the auto and home mortgage industry companies are trying to figure out what is the most expedient financial approach to stay afloat and to keep the cash register ringing – caching!

Many car manufactures and auto dealerships have created zero down payment car loans, no credit bad credit loans or no interest payments financing. VW, however, is in the process of introducing something unorthodox. The company is in the process of introducing a 9 year car loan financing program. I know, I know! Nine years! 108 months! If you were to buy a car with a nine year loan you will be through paying them by 2017.

The average auto loan is now 64 months, once was 36 months. Recent research has indicated that about 45 percent of new car buyers are opting for a car loan that is longer than six years. The question you should ask yourself before choosing this option is whether that would be good for your credit and how much more do you have to pay verses a 36 months or 64 months car loan.

If you are a residence of Huntsville Alabama or your home is located in Madison county area chances are you are not stridently affected by the mortgage fiasco that now holds the financial markets in a blizzard.

However, if you own one of the one in 1,758 homes, or 0.06 percent of the North Alabama homes that are in foreclosure or facing foreclosure, there might be some solution to your problem.

Talk to your mortgage credit or loan company and renegotiate the loan. Banks do no want your house; they want your money. Ask for an extension of the loan or a month or two grace- period.

If you have bad credit or little credit some Huntsville mortgage lenders or banks are issuing FHA loans for customers with credit glitches that result in lower credit scores. In addition, the interest is affordable given that interest rates are gyrating around 6 percent and construction cost easing, NOW is the time to purchase a home, refinance or to renegotiate you Alabama mortgage loans.

Visit Alabama mortgage for a list of mortgage companies that operate in Alabama and the daily mortgage rates.

Also study the Huntsville real estate market. Visit sites like www.besthomesofhuntsville.com or www.huntsvillepr.com  for Huntsville Alabama real estate market news

Items in this feature may be faxed to 532-4420 or e-mailed to marian.accardi@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 info on dates and times, call 866-291-9496, e-mail meg@bni.com or visit bnialabama.com. For more info, call Jennifer Rogers at 683-9952 or Jerry Williamson at 513-6448.

Monday

Realty World South will host a free "Lease to Own" seminar at 1874 Slaughter Road, Madison, at 6 p.m. Learn how to improve your credit score and become a homeowner. This seminar is conducted each Monday. Call 325-8500 for reservations.

Tuesday

State health officials say ten north Alabama counties have been added to a statewide trauma system that links emergency response teams to care for severely injured patients. State Health Officer Dr. Donald Williamson was in Huntsville Friday  to announce the expansion. He said the newest additions mean nearly half of Alabama's citizens will have access to hospital trauma care.

In a large part, Huntsville Alabama real estate market has weathered the mortgage foreclosures storms that are now raking and riving the nation. Even in other parts of Alabama, like in Jefferson County, whose financial center is Birmingham, the situation is dire. The county is now considering on filing bankruptcy to settle a financial crisis surrounding $3.2 billion of sewer debt.

In the Huntsville / Madison county area, however, housing prices have steadily appreciated, but not with a balloon effect like in other parts of the country, such as in California, which tellingly suffered, and is still suffering from the real estate crisis. In the last quarter of 2007 one of every 194 homes, or 0.52 percent, in the U.S. was facing foreclosure, according to real estate industry figures. In Madison County, it was one of every 1,758 homes, or 0.06 percent.

Rhea Perry’s Real Estate Days conference provides practical real estate investing education by teaching how to look at today’s soft real estate market from an investor’s perspective.

Perry shares that now is the best time in all of history to learn how to invest in real estate and the Internet is today’s tool for investing.

RealEstateDays.com features world-class instructors presenting a wide variety of real estate concepts and training geared for anyone interested in learning to invest in real estate using the Internet, including families, homeowners, teens, and real estate investors.