About Montgomery County, AL

Montgomery Real Estate: Regulatory Reform Expected With Obama Presidency

The upcoming presidential transition comes at a time of great challenges within the housing industry and the economy at large. Consequently, many are wondering what a Barack Obama presidency will mean for real estate and housing issues.

National Association of Realtors analysts expect the Obama administration and the new Democratic-controlled Congress to focus on regulatory reform of the financial services industry, with potential changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

This fall, Obama responded to Realtor® Magazine's questions about the mortgage crisis, sustainable development, housing affordability and other topics. Read the interview.

to learn more about Montgomery real estate, please contact us at 334-834-1500 or visit HatTeam.com.

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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.

This month's edition of the Montgomery Real Estate Podcast covers Montgomery real estate market activity and then we will talk about how with every change, there are hidden opportunities for both buyers and sellers.

Features special guest Terri Murphy of US Learning.

Program length: approximately 7 minutes

download podcast mp3 file | subscribe to podcast feed

Learn about Montgomery real estate at HatTeam.com.

This was from www.daveramsey.com I was reading this today and had to share. Whether you agree with Dave Ramsey or not this really is good advice for us all!! A question from one of his radio listeners..... Dave, which bozo should I vote for in this election? Who’s going to fix the economy? Who’s going to give me the most money? Well, I’m here to remind you that you’re going to fix the economy because your personal economy is up to you. It's not Washington's job to fix what's going on with you. If you are waiting on Washington to change something, you've got a long wait! You’re going to give yourself money as a result of your hard work and persistence. Waiting for money to be taken from others and given to you is a spirit of envy, and it's wrong. I’m not here to tell you who to vote for. But I am here to tell you that the government doesn’t have the capacity to fix your problems. Washington is full of bozos, and I am doing my part to send a lot of them home! This economic mess is a reality, but we can each only control one thing—our reactions. Does this stuff define you? Only if you let it. The weird thing about the economy is that YOU are the economy! I learned this the hard way. I got my real estate license when I was 18 years old. By the time I was 21, interest rates had risen to 17% fixed-rate … and I still sold houses. How? Because I worked hard. As bad as USA Today meant a recent article to be about what we think of the suffering economy and upcoming election, I think it’s rather encouraging that no one thinks that President Bush or Barack Obama or John McCain can fix the economy! This may be the beginning of the biggest level of prosperity this nation has ever known if we don’t look to a candidate to fix our lives. How about we say, "I’m going to vote for the candidate who’s going to fix the nation. I’m going to fix my life, so leave me alone and let me do my own thing." Don't react based on fear or panic. Don’t look to Washington to fix your problems. Why would you do that? At what point did Bill Clinton fix any of your problems? At what point did he cause you to prosper? At what point did George Bush end your career or cause you to prosper? When did Ronald Reagan fix your problems? Guess what? I liked Reagan the most, and while he was in office, I hit rock bottom and filed bankruptcy—but it wasn’t Reagan’s fault. It was mine. So when you go to the polls in a few days to cast your vote, don’t get caught up in following a political party or candidate without knowing the issues they support. Do your research so you can make educated decisions. Don't sit on the sidelines.... VOTE! ……… then get back to work! Cheryl Ashurst, Broker Associate, Certified Residential Specialist RE/MAX of Montogmery,AL HelpingYouMoveTeam.com cashurst@remax.net

Re-capturing The American Dream With Montgomery Real Estate

In the past, owning a home has always been perceived as a major component of the "American Dream." Unfortunately, because of the recent real estate market activity, home-ownership is often seen now as more of a nightmare than a dream. But that doesn't have to be the case! Even in a slower economy, purchasing Montgomery real estate can still be a step toward achieving your own "American Dream!"

Inman News offers some reasons why home ownership still has benefits and advantages, including:

• The opportunity to build equity and create wealth over time.
• Protection from rent increases or eviction at the whim of a landlord.
• The pleasures of a relatively larger home, suitable for a family, and with a backyard, garage or other auxiliary space.
• The freedom - design review boards notwithstanding - to improve, remodel or redecorate to suit one's own style and budget.
• A variety of lucrative income-tax breaks.
• Pride of ownership and a greater sense of security and stability.

So, if you are thinking of purchasing Montgomery real estate, now is the time! Don't let the negative media attention on the market get you down - home ownership is still an attainable goal and a big part of the American Dream.

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