All Forum Posts by: John White

Hi Cheyenne, I used https://www.cartronjacobs.com/ as the intermediary and https://securetitleinc.net/ as the closing attorney for my last 1031.

Ha, nope! I understand why so many are looking for off-market deals. Huntsville has a great growth story but MLS deals are hyper competitive right now. And those that want to execute the BRRRR strategy and leave no cash in the deal have essentially no MLS inventory to work with.

I hear ya! About half my mail is the "we buy houses" letters and postcards.

I agree with @Michael S.; pretty rare to find a desperate seller on the MLS in this market. Anything in a good area with a reasonable price will have multiple offers and go at listing price or higher.

Thanks everyone for sharing!

@Gorden Lopes thanks for the article. In the local news they talked about struggling to train Toyota employees of travel restrictions. Hadn't heard about the equipment delays too. No talk of cancelling but delays look inevitable. I'm still feeling bullish on Huntsville over the next 5 years when compared to other RE markets.

I know a lot of people furloughed. And I expect HSV to have the same unemployment spike as the rest of the nation. Hopefully everyone will be back to work soon. Some of my tenants were impacted by job loss but I've fortunately collected all rent except one barbershop. The barbershop is now reopened and getting caught up.

I get this question a lot: How's the Huntsville RE market responding to the pandemic?

I noticed a three week pause in March when the virus was spreading and we went on lock down. But in April, RE activity picked right back up. I think there were buyer that decide to sit on the sidelines but sellers did too so the market remained very competitive. The month of May seemed like a normal month to me as an investor real estate agent - good deals selling in a day or two usually with multiple offers.

https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/2020/06/north-alabama-home-market-avoids-covid-19-slump-in-may.html

This article says 49 days on market in May. That may be true on average but my experience is the best deals are selling in just days and you have to be on your toes and move fast.

Is anyone's experience different?

Patricia Lancaster has a good reputation as a real estate specific CPA. https://patricialancaster.com/

Hi Aaron, check the zoning. You may be limited to Residential Office or SFH.

https://maps.huntsvilleal.gov/public/

Turn on the "Zoning Districts" layer.

Here's zoning regs: https://www.huntsvilleal.gov/development/building-construction/planning/zoning/zoning-ordinance/

Interesting article on Huntsville Alabama worth sharing - https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/12/economic-case-study-huntsville-capitalizes-on-rocket-city-roots.html

Wow, first I've heard of this: "Huntsville International will be the first — and only — commercial airport licensed by the FAA for a space plane landing." 

Great tip @Rebecca P.. Here is the web link for everyone:

https://dreamaps.com/?site=madisoncoal&accesslevel=public

Delta isn't bad data source either:

http://www.deltacomputersystems.com/AL/AL47/pappraisala.html