·:[ The Judy Niemeyer Team Blog ]:·
• • • • •

Mobile Eastern Shore Real Estate For Sale:

6949 Mcintyre Street, Fairhope AL 36532

MLS# 144480

Located 0n a quiet, peaceful street in Montrose.  Beautiful landscaping, easy maintenance, open floor plan great for entertaining with large oversize rooms.  Main level master with sitting area plus fireplace.  Split bedroom with great privacy, kids bonus room.  This home price is Reduced, best deal in Montrose.

Learn more about 6949 Mcintyre Street and other Mobile Eastern Shore real estate by visiting JudySells.com.

Search all Mobile Eastern Shore real estate for sale.

Mobile Eastern Shore Real Estate For Sale:

207 White Avenue, Fairhope AL 36532

MLS# 157735

Renovated historic cottage in the heart of downtown Fairhope. Home features heart pine and oak wood floors, original molding and light fixtures, new master suite, glassed sun porch, oversized fenced tree filled back yard. Renovations also include new heat pump and roof. This home is a must see.

Learn more about 207 White Avenue and other Mobile Eastern Shore real estate by visiting JudySells.com

Search all Mobile Eastern Shore real estate for sale.

Mobile Eastern Shore Real Estate For Sale:

14849 Ridge Road, Summerdale AL 36532

MLS# 155683

Come see this magnificent home with 100 feet frontage on the Fish River including a boat house and pier.  The home is situated on a high elevation and the river has deep water access and protected waters.  You will notice when you enter the home how bright and open it is with tall ceilings.  You will enjoy cooking in this cooks kitchen with a 5 burner gas range, stainless steel appliance, subzero refrigerator and a sit down island.  The master bedroom is a gracious size and of tremendous quality.  The master bath has a double vanity and a large corner tub to relax in after a long day.  This home is a must see!

Learn more about 14849 Ridge Road and other Mobile Eastern Shore real estate by visiting Judysells.com.

Search all Mobile Eastern Shore real estate for sale.

Buyer’s often find themselves watching a property for a price reduction. Although getting the best deal possible when purchasing Mobile Eastern Shore real estate is important, it is not the only factor that determines monthly payments on a home. Rising interest rates nearly diminish the positive aspects of waiting for prices to drop. 

Most people are familiar with the basic trends in real estate that have been affected by the United States economic crisis. The listing prices of homes have been steadily declining over the past couple years. This has put people looking to purchase Mobile Eastern Shore real estate at an advantage over those trying to sell. People have best described this as a buyer’s market due to the low property prices and reasonable interest rates. However, the decline in prices is stabilizing while interest rates are beginning to inch up. It is becoming more and more popular for investors to make offers on properties, sometimes sweeping the property away from home buyers. Could buyers begin loosing their advantage? Today, properties that are correctly listed at a reasonable asking price are not being reevaluated and reduced as often. These are some of the factors that prove lower Mobile Eastern Shore real estate prices are not always worth the wait. 

(more…)

Today we take a break from Mobile AL real estate to devote some time to honoring DAD.  Father’s Day is coming up this Sunday – there are plenty of fun Mobile events happening that you can enjoy with the special father in your life!

Here are some little-known facts about the holiday:

·         The word “Dad” dates back to the sixteenth century, or possibly even earlier. It may have originated with the Welsh word “Tad” (meaning father), which later mutated to Dad. The word “Father” is derived from the Old English “Foeder”.

·         A father ocean catfish carries the eggs of his young in his MOUTH until they are ready to be born (which may take several weeks!).  During that time he cannot eat anything.

·         Father penguins remain on their feet in arctic temperatures for 60 days or more to protect his eggs, he also cannot eat while guarding his eggs.

• There are approximately 66.3 million fathers in the United States.
• Neckties lead the list of Father’s Day gifts, and there are 10,416 men’s clothing stores around the country.
• Other items high on the list of Father’s Day gifts include those you may find in dad’s toolbox, such as hammers, wrenches and screwdrivers. You could buy some of these items for dad at one of the nation’s 14,755 hardware stores or 5,280 home centers.
• There are 23,018 sporting goods stores. These stores are good places to purchase traditional gifts for dad such as fishing rods and golf clubs.
• Nearly 69 million Americans have participated in a barbeque in the last year — it’s probably safe to assume many of these barbeques took place on Father’s Day.
• There are approximately 98,000 “stay-at-home” dads. These are married fathers with children under 15 years old who have remained out of the labor force for more than one year primarily so they can care for the family while their wives work outside the home.

Next week we’ll return to discussing Mobile AL real estate.  In the meantime, enjoy a relaxing weekend with dad!  Please feel free to call me at 866-560-7474 or visit JudySells.com to learn more about Mobile AL real estate.

I hope that everyone is enjoying a relaxing and safe holiday weekend.  In honor of the occasion, I thought I would share this touching poem – “Memorial” – with you:

Here’s to those who paid the price
And stood atop the wall,
Who didn’t call it sacrifice,
But duty to a call.

Now pause awhile, and think on them.
Let recollection stir
To memory, through this artless hymn,
Of those and who they were.

~Dean C. Broome, MD JD

As summertime officially approaches, this is a great time to be thinking about buying Fairhope AL real estate.  To begin searching Fairhope AL real estate, please visit JudySells.com or call me at 866-560-7474.

Excerpted from MSN Money

By Scott Burns
3/5/2008 12:01 AM ET

Sure, there are pockets of pain around the US, but it’s not as if most Americans are losing their homes. More than 99% of homes aren’t in foreclosure. A recent list of year-end mortgage foreclosure rates in 100 top metropolitan areas drew a lot of attention. Released by RealtyTrac, a company that compiles data on home foreclosures, the list showed the number of foreclosure filings in each metro area, the percentage of homes being foreclosed and the percentage change from the previous year.

Though the report had some dismal news — such as the nearly 4.9% foreclosure rate in the Stockton, Calif., area — a close look at the data also provides some reassuring information. It tells me, for instance, that the foreclosure crisis is a regional problem, not a systemic one. It could become a systemic problem, of course, but we’re a long way from that now.

This news will disappoint the gloom-and-doom crew and all those seeking the excitement of financial upheaval. But it may be time to temper our worry and take a closer look at some of the year-over-year foreclosure statistics:

• Though the national rate of foreclosure increased by a whopping 79% between December 2006 and December 2007, the rate was still only 1.033%. Because about 30% of all homes are owned mortgage-free, this means that for all the noise about a crisis, only seven-tenths of 1% of all homes were in foreclosure.

• In the top 100 housing markets, the average foreclosure rate was somewhat higher — 1.38% — and it was up 78% over the previous year. But if you rank-ordered the list of the top 100 areas, only 34 had foreclosure rates above the group average. Fifty-one areas had rates of 1% or less.

• Foreclosure rates actually fell in 14 of the 100 areas. More important, many of the areas with the highest increases in foreclosure rates were rising off rates that were tiny. The Bethesda, Md., area, to offer the most extreme case, saw foreclosures rise 1,288% — to a rate of 0.682%. In other words, foreclosures there were virtually nonexistent the year before. Today they are still well below the national average. The same can be said for the Albany, N.Y., area (up 638% to 0.25%), the Baltimore area (up 544% to 0.73%) and the Providence, R.I., area (up 354% to 0.41%).

Another pattern emerges if you cross the foreclosure rates with the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) index of home prices. It shows that the top 10 foreclosure areas in America are areas of extreme price change — changes far from the national average of 46.92% over the past five years. (See the table below.)

Seven of the top 10 foreclosure areas had experienced major price spikes in the past five years. Three of the top 10 foreclosure areas had experienced price increases that were dramatically lower than the national average. That pattern continues when you examine the top 25 foreclosure areas.

The seven areas with the top price appreciation for the past five years averaged a stunning 91.6% increase, nearly double the national average. The national average, in turn, was about triple the inflation rate for the period.

Small wonder the foreclosure rate is booming as well. Anyone who bought in the past few years with a 5% or 10% down payment has a good chance of being upside down as froth comes off the market. In those areas the problem is about irrational price spikes and the hazards they bring to homeownership.

Some would call this "a Cadillac problem" — a great problem to have, like having more boats than you have water-skiers. Though 5% of the homeowners may be losing their homes, most of the other 95% probably feel significantly richer.

How much richer? Try this. Suppose you paid three times your income for a house and it nearly doubled in value over five years. What does that mean? It means your net worth grew by nearly three years of income. Try achieving that with your 401(k) plan. Even if you bought halfway through the surge, your gain is likely to be well more than one year of income. However you cut it, the change compares quite favorably with working and saving.

The three metro areas with low price appreciations are a different matter. Homeowners in Detroit have actually lost money on their homes over the past five years. That, in turn, has limited their ability to make up for income shortfalls by borrowing against home equity. Add a shrinking job market, and places such as Detroit are coping with a perpetual surplus of sellers over buyers.

One indication is the cost of renting a U-Haul truck. It recently cost $1,447 to rent a 26-foot truck to move from Detroit to Dallas but only $521 to rent the same truck to move from Dallas to Detroit. The real economic problem, for the most people, isn’t the price-spike states. It’s the deflation states.

How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

New Year’s is the only holiday that celebrates the passage of time. Perhaps that’s why, as the final seconds of the year tick away, we become introspective. Inevitably, that introspection turns to thoughts of self-improvement and the annual ritual of making resolutions, which offer the first of many important tools for remaking ourselves. Here are the top twelve resolutions for most people:

1. Eat right, lose weight and get in better physical shape
2. Save or invest money
3. Stick to a budget/debt reduction
4. Enjoy more quality time with family & friends
5. Find a soul mate or just a date
6. Quit smoking and/or drinking
7. Find a better job, get promoted or start a business
8. Learn something new/further education
9. Give back: volunteer and help others
10. Get organized
11. Reduce stress, have more fun and enjoy life more
12. Travel for pleasure

Every year, we list our personal New Year’s resolutions and we know we need to change. The trouble is that fewer than 10% of people who set New Year’s resolutions actually achieve them, so those same resolutions will top next year’s list, too. We’ve all broken our share of New Year’s resolutions. Why are resolutions so difficult to keep and how can you ensure your success?  Our resolutions often are something we feel we need to do, but not what we want to do.  So how can you make this year truly different? Here are a few tips:

1. Take time to reflect. We have so many responsibilities, running from one to the next. It’s hard to find time for reflection, but it is what we need to do for something as important as setting goals.

2. Tune into your passions.  We tend to notice what we’re not. We’re told we can do anything we put our mind to—so if we can’t do everything, we feel like failures. Focus on who you are, on producing a life you can enjoy. We’re all given talents. Focus on those. Before you decide on what you’ll take on for the year, make certain you are doing this goal for yourself.  Aim for things that are truly important to you (vs. your mom, boyfriend, wife, boss, society), not what you think you ought to do or what others expect of you.

3. Pick a few goals—not twenty! Don’t overload yourself. It’s difficult enough for the average person to follow through on two or three ambitious New Year’s resolution; why on earth would you saddle yourself with more than you can handle? Choose the most pressing issue at hand—losing weight, improving your relationships, getting out of debt and saving money—and concentrate on those. Trying to do fifteen or twenty things simultaneously practically guarantees failure across the board.

4. Set realistic, yet achievable “stretch” goals.  It goes without saying that most New Year’s resolutions are easier said (or written) than done—but if you set the bar way too high, you’re doomed from the start. Be realistic by setting achievable goals that stretch you to go further. Winning the lottery, for example, is out of your control.  Saving money is totally in your power.  Saving a little more than you think you can would be a stretch goal.

5. Commit. Make the decision that you will show up for your goals. If you’re contemplating putting a goal down that you always put down and never achieve, take a second look. How will this goal end differently this year?  Find alternatives to a behavior that you want to change, and make this part of your resolution plan. So you want to quit smoking but you smoked to relax yourself? What other forms of relaxation are available to you?

6. Write goals down/make a plan. It’s a fact: writing down your goals gives you a higher chance of success. Describe your resolutions in specific terms. Instead of "I don’t want to be lazy," opt for "I want to exercise regularly" or "I will cut down on my television watching."  Ensure success with a step-by-step plan. Work backwards by starting with the end vision of where you want to be and working backwards to where you are today. You’ll find an easy action plan to make your goals a reality.

7. Tell people/get accountability. Tell everyone you know. Talk to your spouse, best friend or family. One school of thought says that New Year’s resolutions are best kept to oneself, but look at it this way: the more people to whom you announce your resolution, the more people there will be to prod you along if you fall behind.  Meet for lunch once a month with a group that will ask you, "So, how’s it going with your goal?"

8. Reward yourself. Following through on a New Year’s resolution is rarely easy, so a little Pavlovian conditioning goes a long way.  Find ways to use regular rewards to pat yourself on the back and give yourself a little encouragement. Rewards create a feeling of doing something you want to do, not just what you’re forcing yourself to do. Even the smallest of rewards can work wonders as you move from milestone to milestone.

9. Focus with reminders. Once you’ve got your goals and plan in place, figure out ways to remind yourself. Some people post their goals in on their bathroom mirror or in their car. Others put reminders in their palm pilots or cell phones. Figure out what works for you.

10. Harness the power of emotion.  When trying to change, you’re fighting a battle between emotion and logic.  Focus on the good emotions—happiness, satisfaction, exhilaration—that you will feel if you achieve your goal. That’s how you can sustain your commitment to your goals. It’s about spending more time feeling good rather than feeling bad.

11. Believe and visualize yourself making the change. Visualization is a powerful process used by Olympic athletes, astronauts and great people throughout history. Visualize yourself on New Years Eve 2009 with all your goals achieved. What would that look like? How would it feel? Visualize once a day and see the difference it can make in your life.

12. Be brave and be persistent.  It takes courage to move out of your comfort zone, but success breeds success. After you’ve made one change, you feel the passion and like it, because you have ventured out of your comfort zone and succeeded. You’re then motivated to make other changes.  Even more importantly, you must be persistent.  Don’t sweat the setbacks and don’t give up! Keep at it until you achieve the goals you set for yourself.  It’s what you want, need and deserve. It may take a very short time and little effort, but more often, it takes persistent effort over time to change your life in any way.

The History of Christmas
The middle of winter has long been a time of celebration around the world. Centuries before the arrival of the man called Jesus, early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter. Many peoples rejoiced during the winter solstice, when the worst of the winter was behind them and they could look forward to longer days and extended hours of sunlight.

In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule from December 21, the winter solstice, through January. In recognition of the return of the sun, fathers and sons would bring home large logs, which they would set on fire. The people would feast until the log burned out, which could take as many as 12 days. The Norse believed that each spark from the fire represented a new pig or calf that would be born during the coming year.

The end of December was a perfect time for celebration in most areas of Europe. At that time of year, most cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter. For many, it was the only time of year when they had a supply of fresh meat. In addition, most wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking.

In Germany, people honored the pagan god Oden during the mid-winter holiday. Germans were terrified of Oden, as they believed he made nocturnal flights through the sky to observe his people, and then decide who would prosper or perish. Because of his presence, many people chose to stay inside.

In Rome, where winters were not as harsh as those in the far north, Saturnalia—a holiday in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture—was celebrated. Beginning in the week leading up to the winter solstice and continuing for a full month, Saturnalia was a hedonistic time, when food and drink were plentiful and the normal Roman social order was turned upside down. For a month, slaves would become masters. Peasants were in command of the city. Business and schools were closed so that everyone could join in the fun.

Also around the time of the winter solstice, Romans observed Juvenalia, a feast honoring the children of Rome. In addition, members of the upper classes often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25. It was believed that Mithra, an infant god, was born of a rock. For some Romans, Mithra’s birthday was the most sacred day of the year.

In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. In the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday. Unfortunately, the Bible does not mention date for his birth (a fact Puritans later pointed out in order to deny the legitimacy of the celebration). Although some evidence suggests that his birth may have occurred in the spring (why would shepherds be herding in the middle of winter?), Pope Julius I chose December 25.

By holding Christmas at the same time as traditional winter solstice festivals, church leaders increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly embraced, but gave up the ability to dictate how it was celebrated. By the Middle Ages, Christianity had, for the most part, replaced pagan religion. On Christmas, believers attended church, then celebrated raucously in a drunken, carnival-like atmosphere similar to today’s Mardi Gras.

Each year, a beggar or student would be crowned the "lord of misrule" and eager celebrants played the part of his subjects. The poor would go to the houses of the rich and demand their best food and drink. If owners failed to comply, their visitors would most likely terrorize them with mischief. Christmas became the time of year when the upper classes could repay their real or imagined "debt" to society by entertaining less fortunate citizens.

In the early 17th century, a wave of religious reform changed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in 1645, they vowed to rid England of decadence and, as part of their effort, cancelled Christmas. By popular demand, Charles II was restored to the throne and, with him, came the return of the popular holiday.

The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. By contrast, in the Jamestown settlement, Captain John Smith reported that Christmas was enjoyed by all and passed without incident.

After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. In fact, Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America’s new constitution. Christmas wasn’t declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870.

It wasn’t until the 19th century that Americans began to embrace Christmas. Americans re-invented Christmas, and changed it from a raucous carnival holiday into a family-centered day of peace and nostalgia.

As Americans began to embrace Christmas as a perfect family holiday, old customs were unearthed. People looked toward recent immigrants and Catholic and Episcopalian churches to see how the day should be celebrated. In the next 100 years, Americans built a Christmas tradition all their own that included pieces of many other customs, including decorating trees, sending holiday cards, and gift-giving.

Although most families quickly bought into the idea that they were celebrating Christmas how it had been done for centuries, Americans had really re-invented a holiday to fill the cultural needs of a growing nation. Christmas as we know it today is a Victorian invention of the 1860s. Probably the most celebrated holiday in the world, our modern Christmas is a product of hundreds of years of both secular and religious traditions from around the globe.

The Evolution of Santa Claus from St. Nicholas
If you have a young child and you celebrate Christmas, it is a good bet that your little one has already sat on Santa’s knee this Christmas Season or that you are planning on it.  But how did Santa get into the shopping malls, department stores and holiday photography studios?

Sinter Klass Comes to New York
St. Nicholas made his first inroads into American popular culture towards the end of the 18th century. In December 1773, and again in 1774, a New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families had gathered to honor the anniversary of his death.  The name Santa Claus evolved from Nick’s Dutch nickname, Sinter Klaas, a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas (Dutch for Saint Nicholas). In 1804, John Pintard, a member of the New York Historical Society, distributed woodcuts of St. Nicholas at the society’s annual meeting. The background of the engraving contains now-familiar Santa images including stockings filled with toys and fruit hung over a fireplace. In 1809, Washington Irving helped to popularize the Sinter Klaas stories when he referred to St. Nicholas as the patron saint of New York in his book, The History of New York. As his prominence grew, Sinter Klaas was described as everything from a "rascal" with a blue three-cornered hat, red waistcoat, and yellow stockings to a man wearing a broad-brimmed hat and a "huge pair of Flemish trunk hose."

Shopping Mall Santa’s
Gift-giving, mainly centered around children, has been an important part of the Christmas celebration since the holiday’s rejuvenation in the early 19th century. Stores began to advertise Christmas shopping in 1820, and by the 1840’s, newspapers were creating separate sections for holiday advertisements, which often featured images of the newly-popular Santa Claus. In 1841, thousands of children visited a Philadelphia shop to see a life-size Santa Claus model. It was only a matter of time before stores began to attract children, and their parents, with the lure of a peek at a "live" Santa Claus. In the early 1890s, the Salvation Army needed money to pay for the free Christmas meals they provided to needy families. They began dressing up unemployed men in Santa Claus suits and sending them into the streets of New York to solicit donations. Those familiar Salvation Army Santa’s have been ringing bells on the street corners of American cities ever since.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore, an Episcopal minister, wrote a long Christmas poem for his three daughters entitled, "An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas." Moore’s poem, which he was initially hesitant to publish due to the frivolous nature of its subject, is largely responsible for our modern image of Santa Claus as a "right jolly old elf" with a portly figure and the supernatural ability to ascend a chimney with a mere nod of his head! Although some of Moore’s imagery was probably borrowed from other sources, his poem helped to popularize Christmas Eve – Santa Claus waiting for the children to get to sleep the now-familiar idea of a Santa Claus who flew from house to house on Christmas Eve – in "a miniature sleigh" led by eight flying reindeer, whom he also named – leaving presents for deserving children. "An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas," created a new and immediately popular American icon. In 1881, political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew on Moore’s poem to create the first likeness that matches our modern image of Santa Claus. His cartoon, which appeared in Harper’s Weekly, depicted Santa as a rotund, cheerful man with a full, white beard, holding a sack laden with toys for lucky children. It is Nast who gave Santa his bright red suit trimmed with white fur, North Pole workshop, elves, and his wife, Mrs. Claus.

A Santa By Any Other Name
18th-century America’s Santa Claus was not the only St. Nicholas-inspired gift-giver to make an appearance at Christmastime. Similar figures were popular all over the world. Christkind or Kris Kringle was believed to deliver presents to well-behaved Swiss and German children. Meaning "Christ child," Christkind is an angel-like figure often accompanied by St. Nicholas on his holiday missions. In Scandinavia, a jolly elf named Jultomten was thought to deliver gifts in a sleigh drawn by goats. English legend explains that Father Christmas visits each home on Christmas Eve to fill children’s stockings with holiday treats. Pere Noel is responsible for filling the shoes of French children. In Russia, it is believed that an elderly woman named Babouschka purposely gave the wise men wrong directions to Bethlehem so that they couldn’t find Jesus. Later, she felt remorseful, but could not find the men to undo the damage. To this day, on January 5th, Babouschka visits Russian children leaving gifts at their bedsides in the hope that one of them is the baby Jesus and she will be forgiven. In Italy, a similar story exists about a woman called La Befana, a kindly witch who rides a broomstick down the chimneys of Italian homes to deliver toys into the stockings of lucky children.