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Displaying blog entries 1811-1820 of 1998

Community Involvement: Guerilla Marketing for the RIGHT Reason!

by The Hat Team
In his Guerilla Marketing Weekly Intelligence email today, Jay Conrad Levinson writes:
 
 “If you volunteer to work on a committee but are never available for meetings, or if you sponsor a little league team and don't show up for games, you're proving yourself to be crass and superficial, probably sucking up the community to get business instead of working for it for altruistic reasons. Consumers are more sophisticated than ever these days. People know the difference between serving the community and serving yourself. If you're not willing to devote honest time and energy to your community, you're better off skipping this weapon and leaving it to the real guerrillas in your community. I just hope for your sake that none are your direct competitors."
His post struck a real chord with me.  As a dedicated community volunteer, I sit on  many boards and committees.  And I am frequently frustrated—even angered—to read the membership lists of various volunteer groups  and note the names of many folks who never show up and/or do the work of the body.  I also get irritated when I am the only REALTOR involved in issues that have a direct bearing on the quality of life in our beloved Montgomery, Alabama.
 
Those of us who make a living selling real estate in this community have, in my not-so-humble opinion, an immense obligation to give back.  We are in positions of influence and can, if we choose, make a real difference.  And if more of us were involved, what a difference that would be!

Montgomery Schools Among Best In Nation

by The Hat Team
Montgomery Schools Among Best In Nation
 
Schools are an important decision when buying a home…even if you don’t have children. We all want the best education for our children. But schools also affect home values. If you put the same home in two different school districts, the home with the better schools is usually valued higher and will appreciate faster. Home buyers often think schools are better in outlying suburbs than in a city, but this is not the case in Montgomery.
 
U.S. News & World Report has chosen Loveless Academic Magnet Program High School as the 25th best high school in the nation. LAMP was the only Alabama public high school to receive a prestigious Gold Medal designation from the magazine.
 
Those of us who live in Montgomery are proud of, but not surprised by the gold Medal ranking as LAMP routinely produces state National Merit Scholarship winners, and its graduates win millions in scholarship money from some of the best colleges in the nation.
 
Bronze Medalists

We can are also proud of the three additional Montgomery high schools that are Bronze Medal winners: Carver High, Brewbaker Technology High, and Booker T. Washington High. A Bronze award places these schools among the top 1,900 public schools in the country.
 
Also designated as Bronze Medal Schools were Autaugaville and Billingsley high schools in Autauga County, AL.
 
21,000 public high schools were considered to determine its winners and fifty-four Alabama public high schools were ranked by U.S. News.
 
Three Alabama Silver Medalists include Mountain Brook High School, Vestavia Hills High, and Virgil Grissom High in Huntsville, as well as 50 Bronze Medal schools.
 
Academic and enrollment data were analyzed in a three-step process. The first step determined whether each school's students were performing better than statistically expected for the average student in the state. The second step determined whether the school's least-advantaged students were performing better than average for similar students in the state. Schools that did well on these first two steps were awarded Bronze Medals.
 
According to the Alabama Department of Education, schools that passed the first two steps became eligible for judging on the final step - college-readiness performance based on Advanced Placement and/or International Baccalaureate test data.
 
Gold Medals went to the Top 100 high schools nationally with the highest college readiness index scores, Silver Medals to the next 504 high schools, and Bronze Medals to the next 1,321 high schools that passed the first two steps.
 
Congratulations to all of our Montgomery Medalist winners! Your hard work has paid off!! 
 
Learn more about Montgomery and buying a Montgomery home by visiting, HatTeam.com.

Montgomery Real Estate & Homes For Sale: 3336 Wilmington Road

by The Hat Team
Montgomery Real Estate & Homes For Sale:
3336 Wilmington Road, Montgomery AL 36105
MLS 259942

This precious cottage is ready to move into! Great floor plan and good flow make this one perfect for entertaining. Spacious living room with fireplace and big bay window, oversized dining room, and updated kitchen with cool "retro" black and white tile floor. Deck with built in seating overlooks shady fenced back yard that your pets will LOVE! Come see this one before someone else beats you to it!

For more information on 3336 Wiliington Road or other Montgomery real estate, visit HatTeam.com or give us a call for more personal service, 800-428-5239.

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Montgomery AL Real Estate Sales Statistics: October 2008

by The Hat Team
The National Association of Realtors® has stepped up its challenge to lawmakers encouraging them to take new, decisive actions to address the continuing problems in the housing industry, as well as the ongoing economic crisis.

“Our members see firsthand the impact that an unstable housing market is having on communities all across this great country,” said Richard F. Gaylord, NAR president. “The U.S. Treasury and Congress need to work together to ensure that the American people – not Wall Street and large banks – benefit from the economic recovery plan.”
NAR sent a letter last week to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calling on him to refocus the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s efforts on restoring strength to the mortgage-backed securities market, which would help lower mortgage rates for all home buyers and for those who need to refinance.
Let’s take a look at the sales statistics for October 2008 to see how the Montgomery AL real estate market looks:
Of the 37 Midtown Montgomery properties sold in October, 6 were foreclosures at an average price of $60,475.  Deducting these distress sales from the October stats, we see an average sale price of $144,464—still way below a year ago and a direct result of buyer reaction to the unstable market cited by Gaylord.

Midtown
Montgomery
Pending
Sales
Sold
Listings
Average
Market Times
Average
Sales Price
October 2008
37
31
115
$130,844
October 2007
35
37
88
$177,901

The Hat Team is seeing a real rush of interest among investors, who seem to sense we are at or near the bottom of the market.  And is ALWAYS the practice among investors, they don’t “buy at retail” but invest only in the best deals on the market.  When those are gone, we will see prices return quickly to normal. 
 
For the latest Montgomery AL real estate market conditions in your area, please call me at 800-HAT-LADY or visit HomesForSaleInMontgomeryAlabama.com.

Montgomery Real Estate & Homes For Sale: 1119 Belmont Street

by The Hat Team
Montgomery real estate and Homes for sale:
1119 Belmont St, Montgomery AL 36106
montgomery real estate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great little bungalow just outside of the historic district. Some renovations have been done and the house is in really good condition. Smooth Move Inspection coming soon so that you can see that this home is priced to sell. Click on photo for an analysis to show you how it is cheaper to own this house than to rent it.
Learn more about 1119 Belmont Street or other Montgomery real estate at HatTeam.com or give us a call, 800-428-5239.

Montgomery Real Estate For Sale: 1569 College Court

by The Hat Team
Montgomery Real Estate For Sale:
1569 College Ct.
Montgomery, AL 36106
Mid-century modern architecture at its best. Completely renovated to include gourmet kitchen with granite island, modern style cabinets, stainless steel professional appliances, tongue & groove ceiling, deep stainless steel sink. This home has a new roof, new carpet, inside and exterior paint. The living room has 9' ceilings and vaulted ceiling. Very open floor plan with walls of glass overlooking your very private, lush landscape. This truly unique home was once the private residence of a noted Montgomery architect, one you won't find anywhere else in the historic district. This home is located in the historic Old Cloverdale district on cul-de-sac across from Huntingdon College. You must get inside to appreciate the many amenities and showing is easy.

Learn more about 1569 College Court or other Montgomery real estate at HatTeam.com or give us a call, 800-428-5239.

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Montgomery Homes For Sale: 2800 Hermitage Drive

by The Hat Team
Montgomery Homes For Sale:
2800 Hermitage Dr.
Montgomery, AL 36111
Come and visit the Gay Meadows community in Montgomery. A neighborhood of large lots, huge trees and is conveniently located in Midtown. This wonderful ranch has a lot to offer with spacious rooms, especially the family room, sunroom with removable window panels, and even a 1/2 bath off the carport. The corner lot location of this house is approximately 3/4 acres so your neighbors are not right on top of you. The special features start with the leaded glass front door, to the built in drawers and desk in the bedrooms. The seller is only the 2nd owner of this lovely home. There is no carpet, only gleaming hardwood floors in most of the house and Parquet floors in the den. Click on the photo for interior photos and an analysis of why it is cheaper to own this house than to rent this home.

Learn more about 2800 Hermitage Drive or other Montgomery real estate at HatTeam.com or give us a call, 800-428-5239.

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Montgomery Real Estate For Sale: 284 Pinewood Drive

by The Hat Team

Montgomery Real Estate For Sale:
284 Pinewood Dr. Millbrook, AL  36054

Fun, casual living in this Grandview Pines home with a cool open floor plan! Spacious great room with corner fireplace that is open to kitchen with breakfast bar large enough for 6! Large corner lot and deep backyard allows for kids and adults to play. Newly painted inside and fresh carpet, make this one ready to move into. And, at under $100,000 for 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, AND 1 car garage, you can't go wrong.

Learn more about 284 Pinweood Drive or other Montgomery real estate at HatTeam.com or give us a call, 800-428-5239.

Making the Most of the Montgomery Real Estate Market

by The Hat Team

Making the Most of the Montgomery Real Estate Market:

The Economy, Your Home, Our Commitment

We’ll continue with what some consider our strict requirement that buyers be preapproved before we even show them a house, and that sellers take the front-end steps to prepare for a sale by discovering all infrastructure areas that need to be addressed before an offer ever comes to your table. We call it a “smooth move,” and it’s saved scores of sellers from a
delayed closing or even a canceled offer, which the buyer can legally opt out of when something unexpected is discovered. We’ll encourage sellers to make their houses more saleable by addressing curb appeal and recommending actions which stage the house to appeal to the largest number of prospective buyers.

In short, we’re in this for the long haul. We’ve faced up and down markets before. We’ve worked hard to earn the trust of our clients. And we’re not going to sit back and expect someone else to bail us out. If you’re tired of real estate agents telling you there’s nothing they can do about it; if you’re fed up with those who simply list your house and sit back and wait for someone else to sell it; or if you’re not going to let the media scare you from pursuing your dream of selling or
buying your home, then perhaps it’s time to sit down for a visit to discuss what The Hat Team will do for you. When you first meet with us, know we’re not going to force you to do anything. If you sign a contract to hire us to act as your agent and you don’t like the way we’re handling
your property, you can fire us. After all, you hire us to represent your best interests in buying or selling your most important investment—your home, and you’d expect us to complete the job and keep you well informed. Our goal is your goal because we don’t get paid until you get paid.
So don’t sit around waiting for change. You’ll likely be disappointed and miss out on once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. You can move in a down market, saving much more on your new larger home than you’d ever lose on the sale of your current smaller one. And great builders are willing to talk trade-in on your current home to make the process even easier! Ask us about trading
up to a brand-new Prestige-built home in Crenshaw Close; or any one of TH Taylor’s four new homes in Grove Park and Beauvoir. Those who wait will be sadly mistaken. Those who do nothing will be missing out on a great opportunity to own a home at reasonable prices, or
sell their existing one. It’ll be a rough marketplace for some time yet and we, the Realtors, the lenders and the dozens of people who participate in the process of preparing your home for sale
and getting it to the table for a completed sale, have to work very hard to re-earn the trust of the American homebuyer. That we will do!

So, give us a call and let’s talk. You’ll find our knowledge about the housing market is superb, and you’ll learn that we work as a true team unlike any other Realtor group in this area. Don’t sit around and fret. Call now to set up a time to meet at your convenience. We’ll give you our best view of the current situation based on our extensive network of experts. It may not be as bad as you imagine. When the time comes to sell or buy, we’ll be honored to interview for the job. You’ve got enough stress in life not to worry about the many details of selling or buying your home.

Learn more about Montgomery real estate at HatTeam.com.

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The Economy, Your Home, Our CommitmentEveryone knows the economy has taken a big hit, the availability of money has been tightened and the government has stepped in to take a number of poor mortgage loan decisions off the books of major lenders. But, what you may not know is that if you have decent credit, mortgage
money is available, interest rates are low and there are opportunities to take advantage of great home prices.

The inventory of available homes, almost everywhere, is abundant. In the greater Montgomery area, it’s larger than what’s needed for more than 10 months. Normally, the inventory of available homes turns over in about six months. Simply put, too many speculative homes were built at too high a price point. Some people bought homes beyond their needs and ability to pay for them. Some of the folks who got into those homes simply stopped paying for their mortgages and the lenders foreclosed on them. Some—mostly out-ofstate investors—had speculated on investment properties, didn’t “flip” them successfully and just walked away.

Despite the negative headlines, homes are selling and being purchased. People are moving in and out of them for all kinds of reasons: career moves, changing household size, marriages, divorces, moving up or sizing down, or simply looking for greener pastures. That is true even in the worst economic situations.

The Hat Team’s Response

So what are we going to do? The Hat Team Realtors will continue working to make sure our clients become raving fans. We’ll work to continue earning your confidence. We’ll help you know where to look for available funds to purchase your home. We’ll match our buyers and seek
others who will find your current home right for them.

Montgomery Real Estate For Sale: 519 Ponce De Leon Avenue

by The Hat Team
Montgomery Real Estate For Sale:
Renovated 3 Bedroom Bungalow
You'll love not only the convenient location and charm of beautiful Cloverdale-Idlewild, but you will have to have this renovated bungalow. Step inside and find beautifully redone hardwood floors throughout, 9' ceilings, updated kitchen, and baths and don't forget the "secret" room in the attic. This is a great find in the Cloverdale area that you must see to believe. I know you'll be impressed.

Learn more about 519 Ponce De Leon Avenue or other Montgomery real estate at HatTeam.com or give us a call, 800-428-5239.

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Displaying blog entries 1811-1820 of 1998

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