If you are in the real estate market either as a commercial property investor or you are just looking for a home in Alabama, Huntsville offers a rich choice of properties at fantastic prices: from enticing 3 bedroom homes to prestigious, sophisticated mansions; from secluded vacation retreats to exquisite condos and townhouses with graceful curb appeal.

Come to Huntsville and witness for yourself the amazing real estate growth that the city has engendered. While the prices of homes have fallen as much as 23.4 percent nationally and 16.9 percent in Alabama, for January 2007, in comparison with the year before, Huntsville homes sales has been steady. Thanks to the Base Realignment and Closures ( BRAC ) that is expected to draw over 5000 jobs to the Huntsville Alabama area in the next couple of years, mainly from scientist and army personnel from Virginia and Georgia.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama is now one convention delegate ahead of Sen. Hillary Clinton in Alabama, but the method of selecting Obama's delegates has caused a rift between his campaign leadership and some of his supporters.

And enough delegates are still left undecided to give Clinton a chance to pull ahead by convention time.

The State Democratic Executive Committee on Saturday elected Alabama AFL-CIO President Stewart Burkhalter as an unpledged add-on delegate for the convention.

Huntsville homes sales saw a significant increase from 2005 to 2006; 11% to be exact. The sales volume in 2005 was 4175 homes in the range of $100,000 to $500,000 per home selected for units sold. The total dollar volume sold for 2005 was $816,455,378 and the total volume sold in 2006 $935,341,910 an increase in total dollar sales of 14.5%. The average sales price in 2006 was $202,000 up from $195,558 in 2005 an increase of 3.3%. Indicating a better standard of living.

Home sales in Alabama declined nearly 17 percent in January, mirroring a drop across the nation that saw sales last month fall to the lowest level in nearly a decade.

The University of Alabama's Center for Real Estate Research said Monday that home sales in the state totaled 2,966 last month, down 16.9 percent compared to January 2007. The median sales price fell modestly and the number of days a home spent on the market increased.

"As we enter the new year, the Alabama real estate market appears to have shifted into a period of adjustment - often referred to as market correction," the center said in a report.

Huntsville is hanging out the "Help Wanted" sign — in Atlanta.

A job expo in Midtown on Tuesday is aimed at luring talent to the northeast corner of Alabama to fill thousands of openings in an economy bolstered by government spending on aeronautics, the military and space.

About 30 businesses will be in recruiting mode at the Atlanta Marriott Suites Midtown between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., part of the "Huntsville on the Road 2008 Career Expo."

Among the companies looking to hire in Atlanta are Boeing, Westar Aerospace & Defense Group and Dynetics, Inc., as well as NASA, according to the Chamber of Commerce for Huntsville and Madison County

AARP, for those 50 and older, Thomas W. Davidson Senior Center Auditorium, 2200 Drake Ave., March 6, 9:45 a.m., 851-6124; Madison AARP, Madison Senior Center, 1282 Hughes Road, March 11, 7 p.m., 837-6067.

Alabama Archaeological Society, Huntsville-Madison County Public Library, 915 Monroe St., March 25, 7 p.m., 881-4322 or www.aashsv.org . 

Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform, Habitat for Humanity, 400 Pratt Ave., March 17, 5:30-6:30 p.m., www.constitutionalreform.org .

The vacancy rate in Hunts-ville's office and industrial markets last year was healthy, with office vacancies remaining below 8 percent for the third year in a row. The industrial market was even tighter, with the vacancy rate at just over 5 percent.

And a new survey of Huntsville's commercial real estate conditions shows that as office and industrial space fills up, new projects in both markets continue to come online.

"The Huntsville office market remained at a healthy level in 2007 with an overall vacancy rate of 7.36 percent, which is well below the national average of 12.5 percent," said Bart Smith, managing broker with Graham & Co. in Huntsville. The Birmingham-based company publishes a report each year tracking the local office, industrial and retail markets.

A new FASTSIGNS® sign and graphics center is now open in Huntsville under the ownership of Patty Seifert.

Located at 4294-A University Drive, NW, (west of Memorial Parkway, between Jordan Lane and Boxwood Drive) the new center provides a full range of sign and graphic solutions to area businesses, organizations and events, from full-color banners and point-of-purchase signs, to vehicle graphics and wraps.

With the doors to their new FASTSIGNS open and ready for business, Seifert and her team are prepared to build a reputation on hard work, customer service and high-quality signs. “The FASTSIGNS concept thrives on the goal of making the sign and graphics buying experience simple for the customer,” she says. “Thanks to innovative ideas and state-of-the art technology, our experts can create and deliver high-quality and quick turn-around alternatives for every type of business, whether they need one sign or a thousand.”

Sitting in his new office in Pelham, Alabama just outside of Birmingham, Freddy Guerra is a long way from where he used to call home the Republic of Panama.

Educated in the USA, Guerra had a promising technology career with Fujitsu USA in the northeastern US, he later joined LJS Signs, a large regional real estate sign company based in Maryland. His role in the real estate sign business brought him to Alabama where he became a real estate agent.

But Guerra wasn't content with just being a Realtor. He built a local reputation as a well respected, top producing bilingual real estate broker in the greater Birmingham market. Formerly co-owner and top producing agent at Showcase Realty in Birmingham, Guerra helped build that agency and its market share.