The Future of Huntsville Home Prices

Huntsville, Alabama has been touted as one of the most affordable cities in the U.S. to live in with high average salaries and below average cost of living, including home prices below the national median. But will that continue? Yahoo! Finance recently did an article with predictions on when several major cities throughout the US will become too expensive.

Guess who made that list? You got it, our very own Rocket City. The article references a study done by Go Banking rates, which predicts Huntsville loses its label of affordability in 2030. In that year, it’s predicted that the average home value surpasses seven figures and comes in at nearly $1.2 million. That's an increase of nearly four times our…

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Could Floor Plans Become Illegal?

Could you get sued for creating a floor plan of your own home? Forbes magazine recently reported that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) is fighting a court ruling that states “homeowners that post floor plans of their own homes on websites could trigger a copyright lawsuit”. Seriously!? With all of the challenges we have currently with the undersupply of housing, the courts have decided to make creating a floor plan of your home a copyright infringement?

That just seems crazy since floor plans are critical pieces of information for both builders and sometimes property owners to sell their home. The appraisal process also uses floor plans to calculate square footage and determine value for the…

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Fixed Rate Mortgage &
How It Can Make You Rich

Homeowners have an average net worth that is 40x that of renters but the question is “Why?” Homeowners have an average net worth of over $250,000 versus only $6,300 for renters not because they’re better savers, it’s because of the fixed rate mortgage.

The fixed rate mortgage is the most powerful investment tool in the universe because it helps you build wealth in three ways:

1) You benefit from price appreciation that comes from inflation. Also, assuming you invest 20% down, 10% appreciation actually turns into a 50% gain in your money. 

2) You benefit from principal reduction, which is like a forced savings account for every mortgage payment that you make.

3) You benefit from tax…

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New Home Contracts Canceling

New construction contracts in Huntsville, Alabama are getting canceled by buyers so what does this mean for the Huntsville real estate market?


Due to rising interest rates, many buyers are getting priced out of their new home. The reason for this is the average mortgage for a $300,000 home, which is the average sales price right now in Huntsville, has increased from approximately $1,575 per month up to almost $2,000 per month. That's an increase of about $425 per month which equals over $5,000 per year.

Why did this happen? USA Today has recently reported that inflation hit 8.5% percent in March, that's the fastest pace in 20 years so the Fed had to act to slow down demand to ultimately start to cool down this…

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Inflation is Legalized Counterfeiting

According to a recent MarketWatch article, inflation hit 8.5% in March which is the highest amount in 40 years. This raises the question, “Is Inflation Legalized Counterfeiting?” Also, how do you survive and even thrive during a period of high inflation?

Inflation is Legalized Counterfeiting 

Inflation is legalized counterfeiting and it's bad for consumers. Inflation penalizes savers, with 8.5% inflation you lose $8,500 a year in spending power on $100,000 in savings. Inflation is also a hidden tax. When the government decides to spend more money, they found that the country would revolt if the government imposed a flat 8.5% tax on all savings.

However, they can get away with it by just printing…

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Bad News for Huntsville Renters

There's bad news out there for renters in Huntsville, Alabama with rents rising 17% nationally. Our local WAYY 31 reported average rent is up $283 a month to an average of $1,792. That's over $3,300 per year which is the difference between a staycation at the apartment pool and heading to the beach this summer.

The article also cites the chief economist at Realtor.com who said, “Rents will remain high and expect some cooling from the current pace.” I think that's a little optimistic because some cooling could also mean we rise 6%, 8%, or even 10%. So with that, I still think there's going to be a lot more room for these rates to rise. 

The reason for that is 40% of US dollars have been printed in the…

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Huntsville Interest Rates Are Rising

The Fed announced six interest rate hikes in 2022. The question is what will rate hikes mean to the Huntsville real estate market and are we going to see a real estate crash this year? Before we answer that, let’s recap on what created this historic sellers market with both record low inventory and record appreciation.

The Cause

#1 - Housing Deficit

We have a 5.5 million home deficit in this country that dates back to the 2008 housing crash. Builders slowed down the supply of new homes in this country but we continued to have family formations which created that 5.5 million home gap.

Due to this deficit, we now have record low supply of about 800,000 homes nationally. Normal supply is…

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Should America become a 'Nation of Renters'?

When you think of the American dream, what do you think of? If you're like most people, it's owning your home with a white picket fence. Okay, maybe not the white picket fence anymore.

Bloomberg published an article recently by Karl Smith that our Nation's becoming a ‘Nation of Renters’, which unfortunately I believe is the case. The article said, “America actually should become a nation of renters”; which I think is absolutely preposterous. Let's take a look at some of those arguments and why it is so ridiculous:


#1 - Lack of Liquidity


They pointed to the lack of liquidity in the housing market which sometimes makes it challenging to migrate to new areas. While this is true in some…

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The 3 Different Types of Real Estate Markets

Matt explains how it can be a lot like of Tug of War

Balanced Market

A balanced market is when real estate supply equals demand.

Buyer's Market

A buyer's market is when supply exceeds demand, this is typically when there is six months worth of real estate inventory.

Seller's Market

A seller's market is when demand exceeds supply, this is typically when there is less than four months of real estate supply.

 

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Mortgage Contingency Clause Explained

The Mortgage Contingency Clause makes the real estate purchase contingent upon the buyer getting a specific loan. The type of loan could be a conventional loan, USDA, FHA, or a VA loan. The contingency is typically written towards the top of the contract: what loan, what loan type, and then also the amount on the loan itself. There are certain types of loans that make it more advantageous to the seller and so that is part of the negotiation packages.

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