At the end of August, there were 885 single family properties listed for sale in the Dothan Multiple Listing Service. Inventory continues to rise, and we are fast approaching what would be an all-time high. In the last three months, close to 600 new listings have been brought to the market, while there have been only about half that many (335) sold. Of the 885 listed properties, over 200 are new construction homes. It certainly looks like there is at least one home for sale on every street in Dothan.Continue reading at dothanhomesearch.com 09/14/2007

Delaine McCallister, REALTOR Associate with CENTURY 21 Key Realty, submitted this story for our company blog, http://www.dothanhomesearch.com/This particular post has to do with what we call the MLS, which is an acronym for Multiple Listing Service. Nearly all of the real estate companies in Dothan are members of the Dothan Multiple Listing Service, Inc., which basically is a central database of all the information on the homes listed for sale by each member company. Here is how it works. Each time a member of the MLS lists a house or other property for sale, with the seller's permission, we list it in the MLS. In doing so, we are offering compensation to other MLS members in the hopes that they will bring a buyer for the listed property. Every real estate agent that works with a compan... 09/11/2007

We as real estate professionals are asked all the time about the relationship between what is called the Federal Funds Rate (fed rate for short), and mortgage rates. The most common question is "I heard on the news that the government lowered the fed rate, so will mortgage rates come down?" To answer that question, we first need to look at how and by whom each of these rates is determined. The Federal Runds Rate is the interest rate the Federal Reserve Banks charge depository institutions on overnight loans. The fed rate is an administered rate, set by the Federal Reserve Banks, rather than a market rate of interest. The fed rate acts as the gas pedal for our economy. Lowering this rate ...Read more at dothanhomesearch.com  09/11/2007

I have been trying to find a better way to convey to our audience how the Dothan real estate market has changed in the past 18-24 months. I have mentioned in several previous posts about how inventory has doubled during that time span, and what effect that has had on market time. I have found another way to present this information to you, our readers, and it has to do with something called absorption rate. Simply put, the absorption rate is the amount of time it would take to sell every home on the market today, if no more homes were listed. This figure is calculated by taking the number of homes on the market and dividing it by the average number of homes sold each month. Since the number of homes sold each month can vary significantly, we will use a three month average to calculate o... 09/11/2007

Leslie Spradley, REALTOR Associate with CENTURY 21 Key Realty, wrote this post for our company blog, http://www.dothanhomesearch.com/Growing up, I was taught a song that had a line stating "the stars at night are big and bright... deep in the heart of Texas". Little did I know these stars were actually brighter in Alabama. I was also taught to introduce myself before carrying on a conversation, or in this case sharing with you on our company blog, so here we go. My name is Leslie Spradley, and over the coming months I hope to post information here on many different topics that will appeal to other new residents of Dothan. My goal is to bring a unique outlook on Dothan for new residents and current residents alike. Read more at dothanhomesearch.com 09/11/2007

The Dothan Association of REALTORS welcomed Mr. Thomas Harrison to our monthly membership meeting and luncheon last Thursday. Mr. Harrison is the Executive Director of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce, and serves as Coordinator for ENVISION.In short, ENVISION Dothan is a community strategic plan for effecting change in our community in the areas of education, economy, regionalism, and quality of life. Take a few minutes to visit the website at http://www.envisiondothan.com/, and volunteer to do some small part in making Dothan a better place for all of us to live, work, and raise a family.   09/11/2007

Earnest money, sometimes called a binder, is an amount of money a buyer puts down at the time of contract to show the seller that they are serious about purchasing. And they are so serious, they are willing to put up this much money now as a good faith gesture. This is supposed to "hold" the property until the buyer can close on the deal.Read more at www.dothanhomesearch.com  08/29/2007

Shannon Schwab, REALTOR Associate with CENTURY 21 Key Realty, contributed this post to our company website, dothanhomesearch.comJust like the television show, where they use hidden cameras to gauge buyers response to a property as they walk through, I get to see first hand some interesting reactions to some interesting "features" of different homes. The typical buyer reaction; "What were they thinking?" Here are some examples of poor staging by a home seller that I have seen around the Dothan area...Read more at dothanhomesearch.com 08/24/2007

Judy Spears, Broker Associate with CENTURY 21 Key Realty, contributed this post to our company website, dothanhomesearch.com.You've heard the ads on the radio. "Call today for a list of foreclosures in your area". So what do you get for your money? Most of the time not much other than an outdated and mostly useless list. I recently talked with someone who had purchased such a list. They paid $25 and were promised a complete list of foreclosures in Alabama, including properties in a variety of conditions and price ranges...continue reading at dothanhomesearch.com 08/24/2007

This was posted by Mary Baker on our company website, http://www.dothanhomesearch.com/As real estate professionals, we are often asked the question, "What is Dothan's main industry?" I often like to shoot back, "There isn't one", just to see what their reaction will be. The truth is that there actually isn't one industry that drives the economy of the Dothan area. And that is a good thing! Here are three facts about the our local economy that you might not know.Read more at DothanHomeSearch.com 08/24/2007

The number of homes on the market continues to climb, although very slowly. There are more homes on the market in the Dothan area right now than at any time in the past five to six years. At the same time inventory is rising, sales closed in July...Learn more about the real estate market in Dothan by visiting dothanhomesearch.com. 08/16/2007