Vince at Crye Leike Realtors, Huntsville, AL

AL.COM: “Home Sales Soar Last Month”

huntsvillerealestate — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:04:18 +0000

Things are looking great in Huntsville/Madison County. Check out the article from the Huntsville Times below, and visit MY PAGE to find your next home!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

By Gina Hannah

Times Business Writer gina.hannah@htimes.com

Madison County’s figure of 526 is a November record

Home sales in Madison County in November set an all-time record for the month, as homebuyers took advantage of a federal tax credit.

Sales for the month increased 89 percent over the same month last year and were 19 percent higher than October’s sales, the Huntsville Area Association of Realtors reported Monday.

During November, 526 homes were sold, compared with 442 in October and 278 in November 2008.

“Sales for the month of November were unprecedented. We continue to see the housing market in Huntsville-Madison County improve markedly and are experiencing housing trends here that are rare and nonexistent in most of the country,” said Oscar Gonzales, the association’s CEO.

“It is exciting to see such a robust bounce-back, and it is important to continue to monitor the overall economy for any potential bumps in the road.”

Gonzales said he believes that the federal tax credit for homebuyers “is playing a huge role” in the increase in sales.

“I think people want to take advantage of it by the end of the year, and there’s always the conversation about interest rates rising,” he said.

“We did better in October and November than we did in September,” said John Morley of Morley Real Estate Group. “We’ve seen more sales activity and lower prices. (Buyers) are still looking for a deal.

“A lot of buyers coming here have just gotten the heck beat out of them with houses they’ve sold” in other states.

November’s median selling price – the figure at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less – dropped 3.45 percent from November 2008 but rose by 6.4 percent from October. Nearly 91 percent of the homes sold – 477 homes total – in November were priced under $300,000.

“The smaller homes are selling better,” said Tommy Adams, owner and broker of Rise Real Estate. “They’re the ones, for the most part, that are getting the tax credit. The over-$300,000 market is still slow.”

Houses that were sold last month had been on the market an average of 88 days, compared with 91 days in October and 83 days in November 2008.

While November’s sales figure showed a large increase over 2008, it’s still well under the highest month on record locally: In March 2000, 1,870 homes were sold, according to association records. Gonzales said the high number was likely due to a large number of people moving to the Huntsville area with Army aviation job transfers.

Cindy Holt, a Realtor for ERA Ben Porter, said she believes that the extension of the federal tax credit’s deadline to June, and its expansion to include repeat buyers, will help sales continue to improve into next year.

“It’s spurred more conversations for people who may consider” buying, she said.

//

©2009 Huntsville © 2009 al.com All Rights Reserved.

http://www.al.com/business/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/business/1260872132213130.xml&coll=1

Rocket Realty LLC is now Crye-Leike Huntsville on Bob Wallace

huntsvillerealestate — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:34:18 +0000

While the last year has been a great year for the team at Rocket Realty, we unanimously agreed that our small-office personal service could be more effective operating with the resources of a larger company. With roughly 20 agents we have definitely not become a big super-office that operates purely on numbers. We have acquired the technological advantages only Crye-Leike offers to more effectively market our clients’ property, while still devoting the personal attention to each client that has made Rocket Realty such a success!

For more information about our new marketing program and the resources I can put to work for you, visit my website at http://vincek.crye-leike.com

Social Media, Blogging, and the New Real Estate Marketing you need!

huntsvillerealestate — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:53:40 +0000

15 years ago, if you wanted to sell your house, you listed it with a Realtor, who advertised it in a magazine, and listed it on a rather proprietary MLS system. The odds were that your home would be sold from the yard sign, or an agent with a buyer finding it in the MLS.

The rules have changed today! With interactive public MLS search capability, and free social networking and blogging sites (like this one), the best Realtors are actively promoting their listings through sometimes dozens of different marketing venues. If you’re thinking about listing your home for sale in the Huntsville area, here’s a sample of the marketing tools I will use to sell your home fast:

Twitter: Quick updates to all of your followers, no complex site etiquette to learn.

Facebook: Powerful networking capability allows building large networks, and exposing listings to thousands of people that can turn around and easily share listings with their friends.

Blogger/Wordpress: Blogging has the unique ability to reach the top of the search engines due to the ability to surround listings with other pertinent information that buyers might find useful.

In addition to internet based marketing (the internet is the starting point for 85% of buyers), I have a unique retail display at Parkway Place mall where your home can be featured in front of thousands of buyers every day. This display gathers a good bit of attention and has attracted several “regulars” that check back with us on a weekly basis to see what’s new.

Real estate picking up steam in Huntsville!

huntsvillerealestate — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:39:31 +0000

I have shown upward of 30 houses in the last 3 days, made one listing presentation, and discovered several great value neighborhoods! If you’re looking to buy or sell, now is a great time, as it’s really a balanced market here!

Welcome to Huntsville!

huntsvillerealestate — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 05:27:24 +0000

Get $8,000 for buying a house!!

huntsvillerealestate — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:06:06 +0000

Regardless of your political leanings, nobody can deny that an 8k cash incentive for buying a house is very appealing! I know that around the country even an 8 thousand dollar cushion might not be enough to instill confidence in a buyer, but here in Huntsville where the market is strong, this incentive combined with great interest rates is a perfect reason to consider buying your first home (or first home in the last 3 years). If you have a home that is marketable to the first time homebuyers in the area, it is a great time to put your home on the market with a company that can reach those buyers with information about the incentive! Email me at Vince@buyandsellhuntsville.com for more information!

Check out the Huntsville Tax Day Tea Party Blog

huntsvillerealestate — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:21:53 +0000

Tired of excessive spending and taxation? Feel like “Democracy” has lost it’s hold on our elected officials? Check out the blog at huntsvilleteaparty.wordpress.com

Set Your House Apart In A Tight Market! (Part 2)

huntsvillerealestate — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 06:42:20 +0000

While marketing your home for sale, one of the most effective ways to set it apart from the “competition” is careful staging. Staging is the use of furnishings, decor, and landscaping to present your home in a picturesque display for each showing. In doing this carefully, you allow each potential buyer to picture themselves in the home and develop an emotional connection. Curb appeal is often the first impression, and the most memorable image of the home, so landscaping is crucial to your staging plans. Excessive clutter and personal items can be a significant damper on a buyer’s impression of a home, so have a yard sale or rent a storage unit to reduce the mess. Limit photographs, but don’t stash all of them, as the pictures do give a sense of “home” to your house. Keep pet influences to a minimum when selling your home, and be sure to get an objective opinion about the existence of pet odors you might not notice as a long time pet owner. Your goal should be to “wow” each potential buyer from the second they pull up, all the way through their showing, and hopefully into a contract to purchase!

Set your house apart in a tight market! (Part 1)

huntsvillerealestate — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:50:05 +0000

With today’s economic environment, selling your home takes more than a sign and a smart price! While curb appeal, color ads, and open houses all factor into the equation, there are a few factors you can use to set your house apart from the crowd without biting into your bottom line.

The first option I’m going to discuss is the home warranty. While certainly not unheard of, home warranties have for a long time been offered primarily on new construction homes and high-end properties. With home warranty costs as low as $400.00 for a 13 month plan, it is very reasonable to negotiate with your listing agency to have the cost of the warranty covered. Some agencies are offering just such a plan with all of their listings above a certain price.

For more information about listing your home with a free home warranty offered to increase interest, feel free to comment this article or visit me at www.buyandsellhuntsville.com for more information!

Thanks,
Vince

Get Past The Hype and Sell Your Home Fast!

huntsvillerealestate — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:04:54 +0000

There are many different niches and techniques used to market homes for sale, but the successful listing agents all subscribe to one common theme; exposure is everything! Under the right terms, there will be a buyer for every piece of property in existence. The challenge is to make sure your property is seen both by the most people, and by the right people. Traditional marketing using the internet and various free magazines is certainly important, but it is crucial to think outside the box, and look for opportunities to catch buyers that aren’t actively checking the web and magazines. This includes buyers that rely on their agent to find homes for them, buyers that use restrictive search criteria that prevent them from finding homes they would actually like, and buyers that aren’t proactively in the market to buy, but might be charmed enough by your property to consider a move. Rocket Realty utilizes a retail oriented marketing system that presents listings to thousands of potential buyers every day! For more information about how I can help sell your home fast, call me, Vince, at 256-783-6922 or write me at Vince@BuyandSellHuntsville.com