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Dothan, AL Real Estate News

By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
Reading through the most recent issue of Dothan Magazine, I found an article titled “The Best of Dothan”. The story was simply a compilation of some of the great and unique things Dothan has to offer both citizens and visitors alike. One particular entry caught my eye, and that was "Best street for a scenic drive". The portion of Woodland Avenue between West Main Street and Fortner Street was highlighted as having some of the most interesting homes and architecture in Dothan.Specifically, I wanted to focus on the section from West Main up to South Orange, right behind the Dothan Country Club (see map below). There are several different styles of homes in the area; each piece of real estate offering something different from the rest. This spanish style building is formerly a residence, b...
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
We starting monitoring the foreclosure numbers a couple of weeks ago to see if Dothan is experiencing any significant increase. The reason? Because the media is bombarding us on a daily basis with news of rising foreclosure numbers across the U.S. These numbers are strictly from foreclosures listed in the legal section of the local paper, so these are homes that are in the final stages of foreclosure, soon to be sold on the courthouse steps. The numbers do not necessarily reflect new foreclosures, as all notices have to run for three consecutive weeks in the newspaper. Week of 11–19 – 21 foreclosuresWeek of 11–26 – 16 foreclosuresWeek of 12–3  – 16 foreclosures Once I have a couple of months of data, I will put this information on a chart or graph. I have not tracked the actual number o...
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
Judy Spears posted this on our company blog, www.dothanhomesearch.com today.Based on the number of residential new construction permits issued by the City of Dothan, that is all. I have been tracking this number for four years now, and that is the lowest number of permits issued in one month during that time. What will December bring to the Dothan real estate market and new home construction? Here the chart for the past twelve months of new home starts. As of this morning, there are 233 new construction homes listed in the Dothan MLS, up slightly from last month. Since the number of new homes started is going down, and the number listed is going up, logic says that new homes are not selling very well right now. If you have an interest in building or purchasing a new construction home, g...
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
As promised, here are the foreclosure numbers for the Dothan area for the last two weeks. These are strictly foreclosures listed in the legal section of the local paper, so these are homes that are in the final stages of foreclosure, soon to be sold on the courthouse steps. The numbers are not necessarily new foreclosures, as all notices have to run for three consecutive weeks in the newspaper. Week of 11–24 thru 11–30 – 16 foreclosures listed Week of 11–17 thru 11–23 – 27 foreclosures listed I have not, until this week, monitored the number of foreclosure listings in the paper every single day, but I can tell you that this does not look like any significant increase in the overall number of foreclosures in the Dothan area.
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
The City of Dothan was recently named a “Playful City” by the KaBOOM National Organization for Play. The KaBOOM organization is a national play advocacy group with a mission to establish “…a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America”. Dothan is one of only 31 cities in the US to be selected for the designation of “Playful City”. Read the press release for the City of Dothan In honor of this designation, we here at DothanHomeSearch.com have put together a map of the parks and other recreational areas around Dothan. You can look at this map by CLICKING HERE. If we missed a park or playground, please let us know and we’ll add it to the map. Please leave a comment below!
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
The number of homes for sale in Dothan took another big jump in October, up to a whopping 946 homes. That is another 3% increase from September, and a total increase of 36% from October of 2006. Some home sellers may be getting bad advice, because there is no reason to have your home listed for sale right now unless you absolutely have to sell. The number of foreclosures in the Dothan market has not risen significantly, but there is not a way that I can find to measure pre-foreclosures, which could account for some of the increased inventory. Click on the graphic below for a full view of the statistics. Here are the highlights for this report: The number of homes sold in October was very close to the number in October, 2006 (89 and 92 respectively). That is the first positive sign we ha...
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
Dick Henk posted this on our company blog earlier today, and I wanted to share it with the Active Rain community. As of last Thursday, 46% of Alabama is under an exceptional drought, which is the most critical level. 99% of the state is experiencing some level of drought, with only the coastal areas escaping the arid conditions. The long range forecast is not predicting any relief anytime soon. So how is the drought effecting the Dothan area water supply? Should Dothan residents be as concerned as some residents in north Alabama and north Georgia? At this point in time, it doesn’t appear that we have to be overly concerned, just ever mindful of our usage. Water supplied to residents of Dothan and the surrounding Wiregrass area, through the various water systems, is pumped up to the surf...
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
Judy Spears posted this on our website, www.dothanhomesearch.com, and I wanted to share it.The number of residential building permits issued in October was up just a little from August and September, but is still very low. Historically, the number of new homes started in the third quarter just completed was the lowest number started in a single quarter since 2000. The first graph shows activity from the past twelve months, representing the short-term trend.   The second graph is data over a longer period of time, namely quarterly data over the past three years.   As of this morning, there are 226 new construction homes listed in the Dothan MLS, but that is certainly not all of the new construction homes for sale in Dothan. There are many homes still on the market that are already built ...
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
Various down payment assistance programs available for FHA loans were set to go away on October 31, 2007. However, according to an email forwarded to me that originated from the desk of Joel Pate, Founder of the American Family Funds Down Payment Gift Program, the program was granted an extension by a Federal Court in Washington D.C. to continue to offer down payment gifts through March 30, 2008. It is probably safe to assume that other such programs, such as Ameridream and The Nehemiah Foundation, have been granted an extension as well. There are many opinions regarding these type of programs. I know that I have worked with several buyers over the past few years that have used one of these programs and are now delighted to be owning a home. I also understand the flip side, that many ti...
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
With this week being National Peanut Festival week, I thought it would be a good time to examine the role agriculture plays in the Dothan and Wiregrass area economy. After all, agriculture was the principal industry in our area for decades and continues to play a major role in our regions livelihood. According to the 2002 census, agriculture is a $803 million dollar industry in the 2nd Congressional District of Alabama. I recently had the privilege to hear William Birdsong of the Alabama Extension Services Wiregrass Experiment Station in Headland talk about this very issue. He did a great job of relating how intregal agriculture is to the Dothan area. Here is some of the information he shared with the Kiwanis Club of Dothan. One of the main issues Birdsong pointed out that farmers are f...
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
We have discussed other market numbers recently, including an analysis of days on market, absorption rate, and the overall numbers. All of them point to a slowing market. Today I want to throw a new number into the mix. We’ll call it the Pending Sales Ratio. The number of pending sales gives a good indication of home sales activity over the next 30 – 60 days, which is typically the amount of time from the date of contract (pending status) until closing (sold status). What the graph shows is the percentage of homes on the market that are in pending status. What you can see from the graph is that while the number homes for sale has steadily risen over the past 12 months, the percentage of those listings that are pending as remained about the same, and in some months has actually decreased...
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
We like to have some fun around here about mid week, so here is this week’s addition to Hump Day. Here is one of the many historic markers in and around the Dothan area. This one is located next to the Wiregrass Museum of Art, on Museum Street, just behind the Dothan Civic Center. Most of the historic markers you see around the Dothan area are erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission. Side 1 reads as follows Near the location of Poplar Head Park (200 feet west of this marker) was once a large spring surrounded by poplar trees. Two well-beaten trails crossed near the spring and the area was often used as a camping and resting place for Native Americans and early settlers. In the early 1800’s William Cawthon, from Georgia, built a corral for his cattle near the spring and the area...
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
The Dothan Planning Commission held its monthly meeting today, and I have to say this month’s meeting is one of the shortest I have attended.There were no heavily debated or controversial issues among the ten or so items discussed. The biggest news to me is that Office Depot has received approval of development plans for a new store to be located at 4210 Ross Clark Circle, which is at the intersection of Reeves Street (Hwy 431N) and the Circle. The property is located next to Burger King and across the Circle from north side K-Mart. Whether this is a replacement store for the current location just four to five miles away (I would be surprised if this is the case), or just a second location, is unknown. CLICK HERE to read the rest of this article 
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We have talked about absorption rate before. For those that missed it, absorption rate is the time it would take to clear the market of inventory if no more homes were listed for sale. This is measured in months, and is calculated by dividing the current inventory by the average number of homes sold per month, in this case, during the 3rd quarter.  Looking at the overall market, there is now almost a nine month supply of homes available. But the rate can vary, sometimes drastically, when you look at different areas and price ranges. Here is a table showing absorption rates in certain areas for the third quarter. Absorption Rates by area - 3rd Qtr, 2007   homes on market avg sold per month absorption rate southwest Dothan, outside Circle 189 19 9.95 northwest Dothan, inside Circle 45 3 1...
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his is a follow-up to an earlier post where I discussed the advantages of owning real estate and living in the Dothan area versus anywhere in Florida. It seems the Wall Street Journal agrees that Florida is losing a lot of its luster. Here are a few quotes from the article, which you can read in its entirety by CLICKING HERE. “But for Americans on the move, Florida has become a less-appealing destination. Moving company Atlas Van Lines brought 6,700 families into Florida last year and took 8,000 out, the first time it has moved more out than in.” “Few organizations have been as rattled as the local public-school system. In recent years, the schools have added an average of about 5,400 new students a year, and have put overflow classes in portable trailers. This year, through the 20th da...
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
The number of homes for sale in Dothan continues skyward. I have mentioned in previous market updates that we have doubled the number of homes on the market in just under two years. Well, in the past six months alone inventory is up nearly 22%.Here are the highlights: The number of homes under contract (pending sales) fell to the lowest level since November of 2006. It looks like our seasonal slowdown might be starting a couple of months earlier this year.Sales were down 33% for the third quarter just finished when compared to the third quarter of 2006.There are now over 900 homes on the market, the highest number since May of 2002. At that time, average days on market was around 150 days. Look for average days on market to continue to go up. As it most real estate markets around the co...
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
Here are the three subdivisions in Dothan that have recorded the most homes sold since July 1. Whether that makes them 'hot' areas is certainly debatable. I'm calling them hot because we need something hot in this market.Crestwood VillageLocated off of Fortner Street in southwest Dothan, outside Ross Clark Circle Nine sales in this subdivision with a sold price range of $140,000 to $200,000 Average days on market was 141 days Interestingly, six of these sales have been... Read more by CLICKING HERE
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
Several weeks ago, I was asked in my capacity as President of the Dothan Assocation of REALTORS to comment for a newspaper article on the state of the Dothan real estate market. In particular, I was asked what advice we are giving potential home sellers during this slowdown in sales. I will try to expand on those thoughts a little in this space.First, if you don't have to sell right now, you should wait six months to see what happens. Read the rest of this post by CLICKING HERE
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
A couple of situations have arisen recently that cause me to remind everyone of a fact about living in the great State of Alabama. We live in a caveat emptor, or buyer beware, state. What this means is that consumers in the State of Alabama must satisfy themselves as to the condition of the product they are buying, whether it is dinner at your favorite restaurant, a piece of furniture, a car, or a home. Granted there are but a few buyer beware states remaining, but Alabama is one of them.Continue reading by CLICKING HERE
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By Charles Woodall
(CENTURY 21 Key Realty)
Thinking of retiring or moving to Florida? Before you do, take a look at what southeast Alabama and the Dothan area has to offer. You may find Dothan has a lot more to offer. Six reasons owning property and living in Alabama is as good or better than owning and living in Florida.Property TaxesProperty taxes in Alabama, especially south Alabama, are among the lowest in the nation. For example...To continue reading, go to dothanhomesearch.com
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