Tuesday, December 8, 2015

AT&T to expands GB internet speed to Huntsville

AT&T announced yesterday that it will expand its GigaPower service of ultra fast internet speeds to Huntsville, Alabama. This comes after the announcement in June of Mobile based Southern Light building 120 miles of fiber looping around Huntsville and Madison.


Huntsville was just a few years ago on Google Fiber's shortlist, but was passed by for Kansas City, MO and Provo, UT. This is good news for Huntsville's need of high speed internet.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Friday, November 20, 2015

Remember Perception is Everything in Presentation

This post is for those selling their house. Its been said in the past, but bears repeating. Perception is everything in presentation, don't give potential buyers reason to be turned off the house when presenting it to them.

Some basics include no oversized furniture, no wild colors, letting the light in from windows, taking personal pictures off of walls and table tops, keep everything clean (no laundry hanging out in living room or bedrooms, sink clean, no food or dishes on countertops), and manicured lawn and landscaping.

But taking it one step further, take a very critical eye and see what's also presented to you when you are looking in the house. Do you see an oversized flower vase filled with flowers that are blocking a beautiful picture window? Is there a multicolored blanket on a couch directing vision there instead of the beautiful fireplace, built ins, and extensive crown molding? Are there leaks in the faucets that people can see or hear? Is there excessive noise from ceiling fans, or coming from other places which seem out of place. Do household ornaments look a little cluttered all sitting around a fireplace or filling up a table top?

Some of these are unintentional things we easily overlook. Mainly because we are used to seeing them in their proper places. Changing these places can make it look awkward, however to the potential buyer they see good flow through the house, clean table tops, a quiet house, and they begin to notice more details about the house.



Those first looks the potential buyer gives, sometimes may be that only opportunity you have with them. Make sure it counts.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Huntsville's Salem Witch House & Daylight Saving Time

Good morning everyone, AL.com had two great articles that we felt really needed to be shared. The first on Huntsville's replica of the Salem Witch House and the other on Daylight Saving Time.


Currently, AL.com has an ongoing 13 Days of Alabama Halloween. The latest one focuses on Huntsville's replica of the Salem Witch House. On many historical tours including ghost tours, this is one home many people have walked past when explaining parts of Huntsville's history. This is a medium sized, but good article that AL.com has put together. Take a look!

The next article is on Daylight Saving Time, also done by AL.com. This is very short and mainly an informational article. Worth a read if you are interested in this.

Short post for today, but great reads.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Post-Cemetery Stroll


(reenactor playing the role of Mary Bibb)

It was a wonderful time at the cemetery stroll at Maple Hill Cemetery this past Sunday. Listening to the stories, history, and looking at the reenactors, There was also plenty to see as they had several antique cars and information about the always ongoing restoration processes. One of our team members even had good fortune to talk with one of the leading historians of Huntsville, Margaret Belle Crow.  Margaret Belle Crow is a fountain of information and is certainly someone who knows the in and outs of Huntsville's vast history. She gave up her time to us to explain more historical details of Huntsville events and showed off the restored stalk fencing around the cemetery. It was a fantastic afternoon and great to see so many people out enjoying Huntsville's history and culture.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Homes on the Market - 10/20/15

Here are a few of our homes currently listed. Please feel free to click on the links provided or call or text Carol Jacobs of Keller Williams Realty at 256-651-7444 or email carol@caroljacobs.com for additional information.

$344,900
MLS#1026785
Listing Courtesy of Keller Williams Realty

$159,900
MLS#1019008
Listing Courtesy of Keller Williams Realty

$119,000
MLS#1006714
Listing Courtesy of Keller Williams Realty




Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Friday, October 16, 2015

Grand Opening & Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll

Short post for today!

This past Wednesday, the Grand Opening of the new Huntsville VA Clinic occurred. This new facility will have the effect of keeping some Huntsville and North Alabama residents from having to drive down to the Birmingham VA. This is certainly great news for our local vets. For more information you can click this link to AL.com.



Also coming up this Sunday is the Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll from 2-4:30pm. As always it is a wonderful opportunity to learn Huntsville history as well as little known information. Its great to go out and see and listen to everyone, who knows we might see you there!

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Friday, October 9, 2015

A Quick Note on Landscaping

Landscaping is an art in itself. Some people have the ability to do it themselves, other go to a professional landscaping company. Either way, you want something you will like for your enjoyment and something that is eye pleasing to passers by or guests. We have all seen different types of landscaping. Symmetrical, off center with a winding front walkway, shaped shrubbery, lined flowerbeds with built up mulch around it, trees with a flowerbed surrounded by pavers. Your landscaping ultimately depends on your lot, house, and possibly what is already there. Some people work with landscaping already there and alter it, others completely rip out what is there and start fresh. That decision always lies with the homeowner, aside from HOA of course.

Below are pictures from landscaping companies showing off their great works.

By: Special Effects Landscaping and Lighting in Ohio/Kentucky

By: Landscapes by Steve in New Hampshire

By: Choice Landscaping & Garden Center in Wisconsin

There are many places you can get ideas for landscaping. Home and Garden, Do It Yourself Network, Southern Living, Better Homes and Gardens, and Country Living are just a few for you to look at.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

New Flooring or having Wood Flooring Refinished? 9/15/15

Good Morning everyone, its the middle of September and we thought we would share a small amount of information with you. Recently an agent that works in our office showed us photos she took of wood flooring in her listing that was refinished and stained. Unfortunately everything did not go as planned. The crew that did the work came back several times and continued to make the problem worse. In multiple occasions, they cut deep into the wood and did a incomplete job of staining. The flooring is now in a condition where the options are limited to either put in brand new flooring or cover it with carpet or some other overlay. The owners can leave it as is with the gashes and discoloration, but just seeing that walking into the house is disheartening and problematic for any potential homeowner.




The importance of bringing this up is the need to mention that its almost always the correct move to go with the professional company. Unlike contractors, this is the company's main focus, flooring. They are expected to have a higher quality than contractors, although some come with a higher price tag. They have insurance to handle major mistakes and their reputation is on the line, so there is pressure on them to deliver a quality product and/or service. And if there are errors or problems, they are much more likely to come out and service the problem areas. Below is a small sample list of companies which handle flooring (in no particular order). Feel free to click the links below and view their sites for more information.

James Carpets

Kemps Flooring

Rock Bottom Carpets

Haley's Flooring and Interiors

Lumber Liquidators

Wolde Flooring

Remember there are more choices out there for flooring. This is just a sample of professional companies. Also it never hurts to ask around. Ask your family, friends, and neighbors. Ask them about their experience. You don't know if you don't ask.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Its Going to be a Wonderful Weekend 9/12/15-9/13/15

Its going to be a wonderful weekend with moderate temperatures. We haven't seen temperatures this comfortable in a while. Most everyone as of Friday morning's weathercast from WHNT, WAFF, and WAAYTV, has us around the middle 70s. Will this be the beginning of the break in the Summer heat and usher in the start of Autumn? We don't know, but I am sure our local weather people will tell us soon enough.



This weekend 9/12/15-9/13/15, is the Slide the City event that has been talked about for the past few months. AL.com has put together a good article. Feel free to take a read.

Our Valley Events, has also put together a wonderful primer on Newcomers to Huntsville. Great information and some tongue in cheek jokes local residents know. So anyone out of town that's visiting or moving in, its definitely worth a read.

Its been a very busy week and there's always more to do. We will catch you next time.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Thursday, August 13, 2015

137 High Coach Way Madison AL 35758 - Just hit the market!




137 High Coach Way, Madison, AL 35758
$344,900

“WON”T LAST” CUL-DE-SAC WOW HOUSE W/SMOOTH CEILINGS!! JUST RENOVATED, OPEN FLOOR PLAN! Gorgeous professionally refinished hardwoods thruout living areas. Beautiful pillars lead into elegant formal Dining Room. Gourmet kitchen features granite counters, cast iron double bowl sink, Five Star prof. 6 burner gas stove/grill/double oven & loads of cabinets, Cortek #1 flooring install in kitchen & breakfast room. Master carpet top-of-the-line. Cafe boutique style covered back porch for entertaining. Pre-wired Surround Sound. Side Entry Garage.

For More Information on 137 High Coach Way

Call Carol Jacobs today at 256-651-7444 to set up your viewing for 137 High Coach Way, Madison, AL 35758

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Information Articles & Video of Straight to Ale & Yellowhammer Site



Formerly known as a school called Stone, now called Campus 805 and the new home of both Straight to Ale and Yellowhammer breweries. They are the main tenants of Campus 805 and look to have a promising future if their current success is any indication. AL.com has put together good articles on both. They worth a read. Straight to Ale. Yellow Hammer. Based on what we are hearing from both parties and the architectural pictures from Matheny-Goldmon, the finished product of Campus 805 looks to be another crown jewel for Huntsville.



Campus No. 805 - Yellowhammer Brewing - Construction Update (July 2015) from Red Brick Strategies on Vimeo.

As the video said, the soft opening is scheduled for possibly November.

Remember this is all happening at Campus805.



Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Friday, July 10, 2015

Celebrity Homes - Joan Rivers' Penthouse Sold

For those interested in Joan Rivers' Penthouse, it has indeed sold at full asking price of $28 million. On the market several times, now after her passing, her daughter Melissa, relisted it in February.

For more information and photos, click the Yahoo Homes/Real Estate link.

Pictured: Music Room

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Make The Room Look More Spacious

A familiar saying throughout the years is "let's open it up" "we want to make it more open and spacious".  Fact is that everyone likes larger rooms. You won't come across many people who ask you to find a home with the smallest rooms possible and make it feel cramped. No, you hear about people who want the rooms to feel open so they can move around in.



So how do rooms become more spacious and open after getting rid of the unnecessary clutter. There is a variety of things that can be done. Some working alone, some working in concert with the others. But each room is its own.

The variables that can be worked with are paint, furniture, decoratives & wall hangings, windows, and flooring. Most everything can fit into these categories one way or another.  Let's go into these five in more detail.

Paint - One of the more logical paths to follow for open-ness. Stick to shades of the same color. Nothing striking which would clash with other colors in the scheme of the room. If possible, try to stick with neutral colors and lighter tones. Lighter tones can also reflect light to brighten up a room, while the darker tones absorb the light. You don't always have to play it safe either, go off white. There are plenty of light colored paints: creme, beige, light toupe, eggshell, ivory, linen, etc.


Furniture - Just say no, to oversized furniture. Filling a room with furniture makes everything seemed cramped. Also couch with fabric extensions to the ground have a visual effect of being larger and more bulkier than furniture with slim legs that stand out. Also glass furniture such as desks also helps since it has both the see thru quality and the light reflective nature. However, glass objects such as desks don't work in most areas since most other furniture tends not to match.


Decoratives & Wall hangings - This can hold many things mirrors, lights, paintings, other art. Put a suitable mirror in a room and find the best place for it. Sometimes it may have to be moved several times to find the best place. Mirrors help the spaciousness and reflect that light. Speaking of lights, hanging ceiling lights pull the ceilings down. Easy to associate with here as when you see a hanging light coming down on a pole, there is an inherent quality to pull it just like someone would pull those lights with the chains. Floor and desk lamps can work wonders. Depending on your room size/shape, artwork can be carefully fit in, just make sure it is balanced with something else, other artwork/furniture/possibly lamps.


Windows - Don't let drapery/curtains fool you. Sometimes a bare window with perhaps just small blinds can make a room more open than drapes. Especially when the drapes are full of folds and stick out from half a foot to a whole foot of space. Whether its one window or two windows on two walls, these billowing drapes stick out and become big objects in the room. Also let windows act on their own behalf. Don't cover them up by having objects in front of them to obstruct their light. Light reduction makes a room look smaller.


Flooring - Perhaps one of the easier ones to understand. Flooring should be uniform throughout. Make sure the room's flooring does not stop at the doorway. If there needs to be carpets or bath carpets, try to match the shade. It doesn't have to be matched perfectly, in some spaces a shade of the color can do extremely well. This advice can work with wood flooring, laminte, vinyl, and tile. This open flooring is probably the easiest one to spot on how to make look better.


These are just a few tips to open it up. More information can be found in the links below.

Stylecaster
Buzzfeed

Remember if it doesn't look right one way, keep trying. But make sure its something you like!

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

News Bites 6/16/15

Going through the local news and some interesting newslets that may be interesting.

This weekend ts Food Truck Friday and Saturday it will be NASA on the Courthouse Square.  Another opportunity to sample what the many food trucks have to offer. See this article about scheduling and what food trucks will normally be there. NASA on the square will feature astronaut, TJ Creamer and provide entertainment from four local bands and ability to talk with scientists and engineers leading the way within the Marshall Space Flight Community.

It looks like Cabelas is continuing to be constructed and they are now advertising for job applicants. Located near Bridge Street Town Center, General Manager Steve Smith has stated that its "one of the better" locations he has seen and promises a "legendary experience" for newcomers to the store.

In interesting space news, Huntsville, Madison, Chamber of Commerce, Huntsville/Madison Airport Authority, & Madison County Commission are working together to produce a feasibility study concerning possible landings of Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser spacecraft at Huntsville International Airport. Positive quotes from Sierra Nevada Corporations indicate that Huntsville is an important place to grow operations.


Homes on Market:





 


Huntsville Metro Area Homes


Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Other Voices on Home Maintenance

In the past, we have explained about home maintenance. This time, we decided to act as a coordinator to help get other voices on home maintenance. These are articles & checklists from both well known and maybe not so well known stores of information. Some information may be repetitive, some you may have not seen before. But there's always more information on maintenance on the web. Remember though this is not the be all and end all of maintenance. Just ideas and thoughts for your consideration.



House Logic
HUD
Bob Vila
For Dummies
Lowes

Also just in this afternoon, Huntsville has been named by NerdWallet the top place for STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) grads. Beating out other top 5 entrants, San Jose, Boulder, Chapel Hill, & Seattle.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Friday, April 24, 2015

Panoply 2015, April 24-26

Its that time of year again the Panoply Arts Festival is back starting today Friday April 24th and going through Sunday April 26. There is strong weather to be moving in late tonight and into Saturday so we will see how everything holds up. However, local weather has stated that Sundays weather will be great as the Panoply gates will open that day at 12 noon.


Here are a few links to help you along the way for wonderful entertainment and excellent works of art.

Arts Council information

Arts Council Panoply Stages information

AL.com information

Local Station WHNT 


Everyone have a fun time and look forward to seeing you out there.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Food Truck Schedule for 2015

Everyone's very busy today, but found this information and wanted to pass it along. The food truck schedule for 2015. It runs from April through October. For more information including dates, times, and what trucks are coming, here is a link from AL.com. Jerry Damson Honda even sponsored a poster for the Food Truck Season. So take a look, find what you like and enjoy yourself!


Thursday, March 12, 2015

Once again Huntsville Captures top honors for Engineering - Feb 2015

While the city Huntsville was locked into a snow and ice cycle in February and March, organizations have bestowed titles of top engineering city on Huntsville.



Forbes and NerdWallet have announced that Huntsville is the best place for engineers. By far away and an easy pick among the organizations Huntsville stood out the most. Not only that but reading further into the article Decatur, AL also made the list, making the metro area very strong indeed in terms of an engineering powerhouse. The hidden gem of the Huntsville area is once again proudly recognized.

Also sneaking in on another list. Huntsville managed to get into the top 15 of top cities for pay in STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) jobs. With the above awards of engineering, these two can easily seen being hand in hand which looks back at another list by Wallethub showing Huntsville on the list for most educated cities.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

A Short Post with Spring Around the Corner

With Spring just around the corner and the ice finally having melted after a few days of hanging on, the warmer temperatures have finally pushed through into the Huntsville Metro Area. The past few days we have been seeing a constant flow of sixty plus degree temperatures. It would feel fantastic if it wasn't for the off and on rain that has been hovering in the skies for the past few days. But we will push past it and once again reach the wonderful weather of sunny skies, warm temperatures and be dry. We just have to repeat to ourselves that Spring will be arriving shortly.



In other real estate celebrity news, David Hasselhoff is putting his large two story Mediterranean style Calabasas home on the market for just under 2.3 million. Variety and Today have more information and pictures.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Awareness Post - 60 Minutes investigatory report on Lumber Liquidators.

We saw this Sunday evening and wanted to share it in case anyone had not seen it. This is a clip on the investigation that was done by CBS 60 Minutes on Lumber Liquidators. This is to put out there for awareness. We expect to hear a follow up on CBS.

CBS Lumber Liquidators clip



We will continue to keep our eyes and ears open for any other awareness real estate news stories that pop up.

Laminate flooring information on wikipedia.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Building Home & Remodeling Show March 6-8, 2015

Just a quick reminder that the annual Building Home and Remodeling Show presented by the Huntsville Madison County Home Builders Association will be next week March 6th-8th at the VBC South Hall.


This is always an excellent opportunity to go out and see what designs are coming into the home space. Every category of builder and vendor who has anything to do with a house will be there. There's even a few discounts!

Hours open to public are

Costs are $8 per adult with kids 12 and under getting in free.

Remember to check out their site to read more information on what and who will be available.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Information on the proposed changes to Huntsville City Schools boundaries - 2015

From what we are hearing, it looks like these proposed changes will go into effect and are just waiting to be finalized.  Between now and the fall there may be a few slight changes which pop up.  However, currently the information in the attached link of the school zone boundaries will be what it looks like in the document. There will probably be more finalized documents coming out later from Huntsville City Schools and the federal government.


Proposed School Zoning Maps and Feeder Charts

Document may have to be rotated since the maps are in different directions as released by HCS.

For more information please go to the Huntsville City Schools for additional links and topics.

Proposed School Zone Locator

Main Huntsville City Schools Website

As always we will try to keep you updated to the latest developments

Huntsville Metro Area Homes

Thursday, January 22, 2015

2015 Brings New Business and Construction

2015 has already opened with a bang, literally and figuratively speaking.  The biggest surprise of the new year is the opening of the new manufacturing plant, Polaris


The corner of Bob Wallace and Memorial Parkway has had slow construction going for a while. But now the scope of what is going in there can finally be seen as the outlines of the new Regions Bank and Whole Foods can be seen. The shopping complex is rising rather quickly so if you are in the area take a look.

Along University Drive/72 West, there has been recent construction as well. Capital Park Apartments expansion permits for a Fitness Center, Car Wash, and Clubhouse and construction of Hiley Audi dealership moving further Westward from its current position near Hiley Volkswagen dealership.

We will keep you updated on anything else we hear.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes