The economy here in Dyersburg has been very slow for the last few months but appears to be waking up. Many of the plants have survived by lay-offs but now some of those have started calling back laid off workers. Onw of my renters at Twin Oaks apartments is a "big cheeze" at a plant across the river in Hickman,Arkansas and he just told me his plant is now hiring. He works for Kender Morgan which is a company that is contracted to load barges on the Mississippi river for Nucore Steel. He did tell me they are hiring through a temporary agency in Blytheville,Arkansas called Dawson Temporary Services. Sorry I do not have their number. Nucore Steel is doing much better but not sure about them hiring right now. Another plant close to Nucore Steel that has been hiring is Roll Coater. They take... 10/03/2009

Just found this picture at home from long ago so thought I would share it with my friends. The lake we were fishing in is now part of "the Farms golf and country club" which is a very nice area of Dyersburg,Tn to live in and really the only place we still have new construction in this down economy. Those houses average $200,000 and up. I just closed one yesterday for $214,000. That is me on the right. Still great fish to be caught today! 10/02/2009

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about a new HUD foreclosure at 2650 Jones Road. Here is a link to that Dyersburg HUD foreclosure post in case you missed it. There is another fantastic Dyersburg HUD foreclosure buying opportunity at 710 Burges Chapel Road. Priced at only $125,000 this foreclosure should go fast. I personally sold this home to a couple back in 2006 and they got a FHA loan to purchase this home for a sales price of $165,000. This is a beautiful home with ceramic tile, hardwood, fireplace, built in bookcases, a lake(not on property)right behind the house, big front porch, storm room inside the house, attached carport and a detached 3 car garage. Let me remind everyone that I sell many of the HUD foreclosures here in my area and would love to assist anyone in purchasing a HU... 09/23/2009

Yesterday, a customer called and said he was having to sign up time after time to search our Dyersburg/Dyer County MLS for houses for sale in the Dyersburg area. This post will allow anyone to search the Dyersburg MLS database without signing up or having to jump through hoops. Just click on the link below to search almost the entire Dyersburg MLS database except listings in outlying areas without a Dyersburg address. This should get about 80 % or so of all our listings and every listing within the city limits of Dyersburg. Here also is a second link to houses for sale with a Newbern address or zip code 38059.   These links should access you houses for sale in the zip codes 38024 and 38025.   09/16/2009

The Dyersburg Dyer county fair came to Dyersburg on labor day and extends through Saturday the 12th of September. The fair is always during the first "full" week of September. There is so much to do and see at the fair. My daughters entered vegetables from our garden, crafts that they personally made and also cooked several desserts and entered them as well. I even entered some of my vegetables and we all got ribbons and money for our entries. Last night we attended the magic show with Brian Staron who got his first start in magic by performing here in a talent competition. Brian is now employed at Disney World as a full time magician and entertainer. Today, the school systems are out for fair day. I have been about three times this week and shot a few pictures with my blackberry and th... 09/11/2009

We are seeing signs here in Dyersburg,Tennessee of a market recovery. Included in this recovery are jobs! Actually, many of the factories here in the Dyersburg area are calling back workers who were laid off over the last several months. The steel mills just across the river from Dyersburg are also rehiring workers and also hiring new employees as well. I have two friends who just got hired at two of those mills. Yes, the Dyersburg real estate market is definitely on the road back up and it is about time! Our phones here at Carousel Realty are really ringing and most of my agents are showing properties and writing contracts. It sure is good to be selling real estate again and also good to see many laid off going back to work! 09/10/2009

About a year ago, one of my tenants at Laurenwood apartments got disabled during an accident(slipped on ice while getting down from his tractor trailer truck). He lived upstairs at Laurenwood but after the accident he spent a couple of weeks in the hospital. Since he had been a longtime renter we worked on an empty downstairs apartment to make it handicap accessible. About 1 month later a factory called looking for a Dyersburg handicap accessible apartment so we made the apartment across the hall handicap accessible. They had an employee just get injured at work who needed lots of rehab and a handicap accessible apartment. Well that employee just moved out(after a few months) and we now have open a Dyersburg handicap accessible apartment. This unit is located in Laurenwood apartments wh... 09/04/2009

The new tax credit for first time homebuyers will end if you have not purchased a "first time home" by Dec 1, 2009. Here is a link to the National Association of Realtors website that has an excellent article describing who would be considered a first time homebuyer and the guidelines for the program. I keep hearing people say that the tax credit will be extended beyond Dec 1, 2009 but I do not believe that will happen. The president has his focus on passing a healthcare bill and neither he nor the democratically controlled congress have any interest in addressing the tax credit. With this being said, now is the time to act. If you have been sitting on the fence about purchasing a home, now is the time to jump down(don't climb-will take too long) and start looking for your house. if you... 09/03/2009

About a month ago a couple called me about looking at a house in the Bogota community of West Tennessee. He liked the house but after talking to his wife decided not to buy it. After receiving that news from them I asked why they wanted to move. He told me the neighborhood had really gone down and lots of foreclosures popping up around them. As I started digging he told me he knew the values were way down and he and his wife were ready to move on. I looked up his property on courthouse records and then went and looked at his 3 br 1 ba house. It is cute as a button but in a declining location. I told him that mainly foreclosures are selling right now and they would be his competition when we listed it. Here is a blog post I did on the property right after listing it! Since I had a motiva... 08/26/2009

  For the last 20 years, I have been purchasing all my paint and supplies from Forcum Lannom Materials in Dyersburg,Tn. Dennis Davin(manager over the paint department) is the expert paint man in Dyersburg when it comes to mixing and matching paint. He has been assisting me now for about 20 years. The main line of paint that he mixes and matches is Porter Paint. Over the years we have used other brands but Dennis and I are now sold on Porter Paint. Dyersburg's Forcum Lannom has the equipment and know how(Dennis) to deliver you the paint that is a perfect match for all your home or business painting needs. Twenty years ago I began buying paint from Forcum Lannom and Dennis Davin for the 6 rental properties I owned. Now, with over 80 rental units, I trust Dennis and Forcum Lannom more tha... 08/12/2009

I have some personal friends here in Dyersburg,Tn named Ray and Christy Jones who do small remodeling jobs and their business name is Jones and Jones House Doctors. The first time I met Ray and Christy was a couple of years ago when they called me to sell their house. They were moving out of town for a new job. They purchased this house(it was a foreclosure) and wanted me to market and sell it after they completely remodeled it from top to bottom. Down below are some pictures from the finished product. They are currently remodeling a house in Missouri and will complete that house in about 10 days. Christy's specialty is painting and wallpaper and Ray's specialty is carpentry, cabinetry and floor covering. They only bid projects below $25,000 but they guarantee their work and offer free... 08/10/2009

I just got off a 14 day Alaska inside passage cruise and land tour. This was booked for my wife and I by Glenn Ashley owner of Glenn's Travel & Tours. Glenn goes on many of the trips that he sells others so that he can see for himself what he is selling to his clients. Glenn Ashley did not go on our cruise with us but has gone to Alaska in the past. In the group that he put together(including my wife and I) were several other couples and two of these couples had taken this same cruise with Glenn before. Glenn did a great job getting us set up for this vacation and he took care of the airfare, connections between airport and ship and all the overnight lodgings and many of the extra tours we also went on. I highly recommend Mr. Glenn Ashley and Glenn's travel and Tours. We have known Glen... 08/07/2009

Dyersburg, Tennessee has many fine residential contractors but one of the best is Billy Turnbo doing business as Residential Specialties. Although he also does commercial and industrial construction, his real passion is building houses. Billy Turnbo(Residential Specialties) has been in the construction industry for over 30 years with most of that time working for Forcum Lannom Contractors here in Dyersburg. Before Billy retired from Forcum Lannom, he started building houses part-time and was actually my partner on several residential and commercial jobs. I chose to partner with Billy Turnbo because of his professionalism and attention to detail. A few years ago, Mr. Turnbo retired from Forcum to devote full time to building on his own. At that time, I chose to retire my contractor licen... 08/06/2009

Last Saturday my father in law and I got up at 5am and drove 20 miles to Reelfoot Lake. We were going fishing but in a different kind of way. Actually we were going yo-yoing. Do you know what that is? The little contraption looks sort of like a yo-yo but one end you tie to a tree limb and you pull out the line with hook on it to the depth you want to fish. We put worms on the hooks and set out about 40 of these yo-yos. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. We ended up with 7 catfish weiging an average of about 3 pounds. We got back home by noon so it was a short day on the lake. Hope you enjoy the pictures I took with my blackberry curve. 08/04/2009

  A couple of weeks ago, many professionals here in Activerain were challenged by Bob Stewart(in his blog post) to blog about a great small business in our city or town. The first company that came to mind for Dyersburg is Riggs Supply and Home Center. Riggs is a small chain(4) located in Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee. I am sure the Dyersburg store is their best store because of the employees and staff. Joe Woodard is the manager of the store and I believe he has been with the Dyersburg store since it came to Dyersburg in June 1981. In one of the pictures you will see the sales counter with about 1/2 of their sales staff pictured. In the picture are Charles Snider, Sheila Forsythe and Rita Hardee. Riggs Supply and Home Center can also be visited online at www.riggshomecenter.com. Th... 08/03/2009

About a year ago, I took my flip video camera out to Dyersburg's Lakewood community and shot some video of the lakes. There are 5 lakes at lakewood with the largest one several acres in size. That lake connects to another lake almost as large. I edited on Mixpo several of the videos but that platform has disappeared so now I have resubmitted 3 of those videos to Youtube and these are now available on my lakewood blog over on the right side. Dyersburg's Lakewood is a great place to live and enjoy the outdoors. My secretary and her husband(my best friend) live in Lakewood and have my family over often to cook-out and fish.  Currently there is a fantastic buy on a foreclosure at Lakewood that is a 5 bedroom 3 bath. This home is located on one of the smaller lakes. This house is priced at ... 07/28/2009

Are you moving to the Dyersburg area and need a rental? You have come to the right place. Carousel Realty and Frazier Properties have over 80 residential rental units. We offer short term rentals and long term rentals. The agents at Carousel Realty have at their disposal the ability to get their clients into one of these rental units for a short term while they search for a home to purchase. Perhaps you are moving to the Dyersburg Tn area for a period of 1-3 years and never plan to purchase. We also have you covered. Although we have several rental houses that do come open occasionally, most of our availability is in our apartment complexes Laurenwood Apartments and Twin Oaks apartments. Both of these complexes are down the street from the Dyersburg hospital. Laurenwood has (16) 2 br 1.... 07/22/2009

The news today stated that many are leaving states such as California because of the heavy tax burden placed on residents. I would like to personally invite those people to the state of Tennessee because we have no state income tax and the cost of living is one of the best in the country.  I would like to encourage you to move to west Tennessee and specifically to Dyersburg,Tennessee. If you are looking for good schools, good doctors and hospital, accessibility to shopping, great churches and great people then look no further than Dyersburg,Tennessee. Our crime rate is low and community leaders are always looking for ways to improve our community. Perhaps you are a Realtor looking for a place to move and get started again selling real estate. Look no further than Carousel Realty in Dyer... 07/16/2009

It appears that the real estate market in Dyersburg,Tennessee is starting to turn. I pulled the MLS data that compared Jan 1 - July 9th 2008 to Jan 1 - July 9th 2009.                                                     Single Family Homes Quantity sold  09 (108) vs 08 (189) Volume sold 09 ($11,311,050) vs 08 ($20,971,729) Average sales price 09 ($104,731) vs 08 ($110,961) median sales price 09 ($89,450) vs 08 ($95,000) Quantity active 09 (490 listings) vs 08 (644 listings) From just these numbers the number of single family homes sales have dropped from last year by 81units Average sales price has dropped from last year by6% The number of active listings has also dropped.   From all appearances 09 has been pretty dismal (except for new listings) compared to 08. However, since we have be... 07/09/2009

For the last two or three weeks, all of the full time Realtors at Carousel Realty including myself have been working really hard with clients. It is almost like someone turned on the faucet. I believe the Dyersburg market has turned and I know my broker, Mike Frazier has been saying the same thing. It has been really hard for me personally for the last year because of slow sales but my trainer Jackie Keeling and broker Mike Frazier have been training us very hard and telling us this day would come. I love this real estate business and love to help clients purchase a home. If you are moving to the Dyersburg Tennessee area, please give me a call at 731-334-1755. I am available 24/7 and I am ready to assist you:) 07/08/2009