Realtors hoping markets rebound

Below is an article by Trevor Stokes, Staff Writer for Times Daily, in which our Regional Developer and Broker/Owner of Realty Executives Gulf Coast, was quoted. Different Brokers from around the state speak on the condition of the market in their area. Good to know. Please read...

By Trevor Stokes

Alabama real estate has been relatively sheltered from the ongoing national foreclosure and mortgage crises, but the state's housing market has slowed significantly, which has been a topic of discussion this week during the Alabama Association of Realtors convention at the Marriott Shoals Conference Center.

From January to July, home sales decreased 22 percent; during the same period in 2007, prices increased a slight 0.4 percent on average and homes stayed on the market 10 percent longer, according to the Alabama Center for Real Estate at the University of Alabama.

"We're coming out of a difficult market," said Randy McKinney, owner of Realty Executives Gulf Coast. Many condo flippers - so called because they are short-term buyers who intend to sell at an inflated price - got trapped when Hurricanes Ivan and Rita increased the area's insurance costs and when subprime mortgages adjusted and increased their rates. McKinney said that after Ivan in 2004, the condo-flipping market heated up, but after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the market cooled down. Condo owners were stuck with mortgages worth more than the actual property. "They gambled - they lost the gamble," McKinney said.

Across the state, McKinney said that some of the best markets in Alabama are in regions associated with the military's Base Realignment and Closure Act, areas such as Huntsville, Phenix City, Dothan and Enterprise.

According to the Alabama Center for Real Estate, the Muscle Shoals region ranked first in the state's smaller markets for the greatest stability in home sales for the year to date.

"We're lacking listings; our inventory is low," said Joy Long, president of the Shoals Area Board of Realtors. Last year was slow in new construction, keeping the Shoals market stagnant.
One local trend, Long said, is homeowners who downsize from a large house to a patio home.
Unlike the Shoals, Montgomery has suffered from overconstruction.

Sandra Nickel, a real estate agency owner in Montgomery, said the state capital's market was down 14 percent over a year ago. The biggest drag is oversupply of new construction. She said that existing home sales were even from 2007. Like all real estate markets, location is key. Nickel said that in Montgomery's historic downtown pocket, supply was lower than demand, but in some outlying suburbs, the housing supply far outpaced the demand.

Statewide, the number of new construction permits in July was down 44 percent compared to July 2007, a decrease many say comes from increasing labor, materials and land costs. Closer to the Shoals, Huntsville presents a unique market because of its diversified employment pool, an influx of industrial workers and the upcoming BRAC, which is projected to bring additional residents.

"We're not so heavily tied to one industry," said Sid Pugh, a Re/Max broker in Huntsville.
Although Huntsville gained 665 jobs for a total of 197,773 from a year ago, its unemployment rate increased from 3 to 4.2 percent, according to the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations.

"What's hurting our market is people coming in from a depressed market and can't sell (their former property)," Pugh said. For example, someone who might afford a $400,000 home will instead buy a $150,000 home or may even rent a home while their former residence, in another state, stays on the market. "More people would buy in Huntsville if other markets were stronger elsewhere," Pugh said. Pugh said that a February report from Market Graphics, a market research group, indicates that if Huntsville maintained its current trajectory, the demand would outstrip supply by 2010 without factoring in BRAC. Pugh said the current overstock of houses would take one to two years to be absorbed into the market, and that sellers have begun to offer prospective buyers incentives. Interest rates remained at historic lows with the rate for a 30-year mortgage recently dipping below 6 percent. Pugh, who has worked for 30 years in real estate, said he remembered when the rate was 16.5 percent. "There's no reason why people shouldn't be buying," Pugh said, even as credit tightens as the market readjusts from loosened credit requirements.

Robert Scott, a Birmingham broker for Re/Max, said that the UAB Health System, the city's largest employer, "has been our stabilizer and our salvation. If we still relied on steel, we would be hurting." Like the Shoals market, Birmingham saw gradual and modest growth in its real estate market, Scott said, unlike other areas that saw unsustainable booms.

Trevor Stokes can be reached at 740-5728 or trevor.stokes@TimesDaily.com.

CINDY STEWART JOINS REALTY EXECUTIVES

Gulf Shores, AL (Grassroots Newswire) September 4, 2008 - Realty Executives Gulf Coast is pleased to announce that Cindy Stewart has recently joined its team and will be practicing as a real estate sales professional out of the company's office located at 3479-B Gulf Shores Parkway in Gulf Shores.

"We are honored to have someone like Cindy who so accurately portrays what the Realty Executives brand represents on our Realty Executives team," said Broker/Owner, Randy McKinney. "She is a hard working experienced individual that will no doubt add to the quality service that our team provides to the communities in and around the Gulf Coast."

Stewart is a native of Mobile, Alabama who began her career in real estate over 20 years ago. Her experience stems from working for the family business in Orlando, Florida and later in the country of Norway. Cindy and her son, Brandon, decided to return to the Gulf Coast in 1995. Since that time, Stewart has become an expert in the Baldwin County real estate business in areas from condominium association management to real estate consulting and sales.

As an affiliate of the National Board of Realtors, the Alabama Association of Realtors, and member of the Baldwin County Board of Realtors, Stewart continues to stay involved in Realtor Associations on local and state levels. Additionally, Cindy is very involved in her community. She is a member of the Alabama Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce, a graduate of the 2005-06 Leadership Baldwin County program and also works with the Sea Turtle Watch (Share-the-Beach) project. Stewart has participated as the Volunteer Chairman and co-chairman of VIP services for the Annual National Shrimp Festival and is currently on the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo Board of Directors.

For additional information, please call 251.968.4300 or visit http://www.realtyexecutivesgulfcoast.com/.

THE CUMMINGS COMPANY IN MOBILE CONVERTS TO REALTY EXECUTIVES BRAND

Addition of the Mobile office will give Realty Executives MidSouth Region coverage along the Gulf Coast with offices in Mobile, Gulf Shores and Daphne

Gulf Shores, AL (Grassroots Newswire) -- Realty Executives MidSouth is pleased to announce the opening of a new office in Mobile. Realty Executives The Cummings Company, owned by veteran real estate developer and broker, Reid Cummings, and his wife Rebecca Cummings, opened last week at 2316-C Knollwood Drive in Mobile.

After moving back to Mobile in 1986, Reid Cummings has been heavily involved in Realtor association activities including his service as president of the Mobile Association of Realtors in 2000, Realtor of the Year in 2001, and participation in numerous association committees and leadership roles over his 22 year membership.

"In today’s market when we’re so inundated with negative media attention I felt like we needed to evaluate where our best opportunities for growth are and after much research I am confident that the Realty Executives brand has the capacity and stability to help us grow and provide exceptional service to our customers and clients," said Cummings. “Realty Executives is a company with great business ethics, good family values and the international support and connections we need. We looked at other companies and decided that the tools, systems and technologies offered by Realty Executives International were unsurpassed."

Over the years Cummings has distinguished himself as a leader in the real estate industry and has gained an enormous amount of experience in a variety of different areas including development, leasing, management, and brokerage of shopping centers, office buildings, warehouses, restaurants, movie theaters, waterfront properties and residential subdivisions. He currently serves as an adjunct professor of Real Estate at the University of South Alabama. He is a member of the Advisory Board for the Center for Real Estate in USA's Mitchell College of Business, and is a member of the President's Advisory Council at the University of Mobile.

Realty Executives The Cummings Company currently has 5 sales associates with the resources and plans to expand significantly in the coming year. "We plan on recruiting additional Executives to assist us in the development and sales of all of our development projects, including two new ones in Mobile,” said Cummings. “Snowden Place is a mixed-use single-family and townhome gated community on Cottage Hill Road, and Mobile Aerospace Park is a new light industrial and warehouse distribution park on Pleasant Valley near Montlimar Drive."

"I am so pleased that Reid and Rebecca have affiliated with Realty Executives because they possess a superior level of professionalism and are highly motivated entrepreneurs. Given that Realty Executives has the tools and systems designed for the highly productive professional practitioner of real estate, the Cummings Family will be able to build on their already successful business by providing an even higher level of real estate service to the greater Mobile area," said Randy McKinney, regional developer for the Realty Executives MidSouth Region.

For additional company information, please call Realty Executives, The Cummings Company at (251) 602-1941 or visit http://www.rexcummings.com/ or Realty Executives MidSouth Region, which consists of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas, at (251) 949-5000, http://www.realtyexecutivesmidsouth.com/.