About Chattanooga's East Brainerd

By David Israel, Business Manager

I have now been living in Chattanooga, Tennessee for almost 4 years, and my "Best Week Ever" is less than 30 days away. Riverbend ‘08 is almost here. For those of you who are reading about this festival for the first time you are certainly in for a great treat. The festival began in 1981 on a small strip at Ross's Landing and it has grown to a nine day event with over 100 performers on 6 stages. In fact Andy attended the very first Riverbend festival.

This year's three biggest headliners will be ZZ Top, The Black Crowes and America (who will perform with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera).

The festival organizers have pretty much mastered this event. You do not need to purchase individual tickets, instead you purchase a pin. This pin gets you into the festival. So, if you buy the pin today through June 5th at our local Favorite Markets the cost is $28 (a $9 savings). Imagine all the entertainment you can gather up in an evening, for nine evenings, for only $28, talk about a bargain.

If you go, and you should, you will be amazed at how incredible the performances are. From the headliners on the Coca Cola Main stage to the performers on the other 5 stages. Last year we went and watched a Pink Floyd Cover Band play at one of the smaller stages. It was standing room only. We, and I say we because we were in the thick of it, were totally blown away by the performance and the crowds were huge. This was the first time the festival had a cover band play and from the success I witnessed, they will be doing it again. There is a great mix of performers throughout the week, from country, rock and everything in between.

You have to visit the Riverbend ‘08 to see a full lineup of performers for this year. The fun begins Friday night June 6th through Saturday night June 14th.

Riverbend is a festival on the Tennessee River, they actually bring in a huge barge for the Main Stage that pulls up along the bank of the river in downtown. The festival is a family friendly week of performance by national and local performers. There are also local talent shows, clowns, and so much more. Many people travel to Chattanooga for Riverbend, so if you live here and you've never been before, consider putting Riverbend 2008 on your schedule.

By Angel Sherlin of Greater Chattanooga Lending, Guest Mortgage Author

While there were no quiet days in the mortgage market during the week, the enormous swings in rates seen recently were absent. The sparse economic news did little to change the outlook for future economic growth and inflation, and the net result of a series of medium sized daily rate movements was a slight drop in mortgage rates for the week.

The most notable economic news during the week was the release of the minutes from the March 18 Fed meeting. According to the minutes, the three quarters point rate cut was made to help avoid a worse than expected downturn in economic growth. The Fed forecasted that rate cuts and government stimulus packages will lead to faster economic growth during the second half of the year. Falling home prices and turmoil in financial markets were cited as the two most significant reasons for the slowdown. Two of the ten voting Fed officials wanted a smaller rate cut due to inflation concerns. Investors are now evenly split between an additional quarter point or half point rate cut at the next meeting on April 30.

In the housing sector, the February Pending Home Sales index fell a little more than the expected from January, and the index was down -21% from one year ago. Pending Home Sales are a leading indicator of future housing market activity, so the next Existing and New Home Sales reports may show small declines. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) latest forecast predicted that conditions will remain flat for the next few months, but that activity will pick up during the second half of the year. The Chief Economist of the NAR expects that higher mortgage loan limits will lead to increased sales later in the year.

Publix - "Where Shopping is a Pleasure" - Not just a slogan!

Categories: Chattanooga Real Estate News, Flavors of Chattanooga, Things to Do in Chattanooga

By David Israel, Business Manager - Andy Hodes and The Scenic City Team

Several months ago Publix Supermarkets came to East Brainerd, TN, and they certainly have made a mark in the Chattanooga market.

Growing up in South Florida, Publix was the norm for my family. I can remember getting my driver's license and volunteering to go to Publix to pick up items for my mom. I am old enough to even remember when Publix was closed on Sundays. There was a Publix in every town, sometimes several locations in one city. There were other supermarkets, but none that trained their employees to take ownership of their jobs.

When my family moved to Chattanooga several years ago, the only thing that we missed was the grocery shopping experience we had come to love, enjoy and depend on, Publix! We traveled to Cartersville, GA on a regular basis, 71 miles round trip, to grocery shop. I can tell you it was not a fun drive, but we needed to get items that other supermarkets here in Chattanooga didn't carry.

Today, we finally have what we missed, a great deli, bakery, produce section and much more. The store is always busy and clean, the employees are always helpful and the experience is second to none. This year Publix will be opening two additional locations, one in Hixson, TN and the other in Ooltewah, TN.

When shopping, you can hear the buzz from other customers, saying "we are so happy Publix is finally here, and we can't wait for the store to open in Hixon or Ooltewah".