Lake Martin Voice Realty
Register For Russell Forest Run
Lake Martin area runners take note – The third annual installment of the Russell Forest Run is scheduled for Saturday, February 25, 2012.
If you have run races before through Active.com – you will be saved a step in registering. If not, that is OK too, an account is free.
The race fee is $40 for the 10k and $20 for the 5k.
I plan to run again this year, it’s my third year in a row. It is the only 10k I have ever run in, so I don’t have much in the way of comparison. I think it’s hilly, but my Birmingham friends tell me it is not so bad. Whatever.
At any rate, it gives me great motivation to stay active while I train for it. Even though it’s not very hilly where I live, and I run only on roads or the treadmill, that seems to prepare me pretty well.
The race is run over the trails in Russell Forest. Honestly, “trails” – is not quite accurate, they are really dirt roads. True, there are sections that are gravelly, but for the most part it is hard packed red clay. The roads meander through the woods by Lake Martin, and are just beautiful. Many moons ago, when Russell Lands still leased that area for hunting, my dad used to take me quail hunting all through there.
I think one of the best parts of the race is the after party. Russell Lands the power of Russell Crossroads and has the Chef from Springhouse there serving tasties (I think they did a squash bisque last year) and the folks at Catherine’s Market are supposed to have cold beer and drinks.
Plug For Runkeeper
To anyone that is training for the Russell Forest Run, or if you like to run or walk in general, take note of the Runkeeper app.
A friend of mine told me about this app for my iPhone. I love it for many reasons.
First, it’s free. Secondly, it keeps up with all of your workouts and syncs them to the runkeeper.com site. You can set your own running routes, and it calculates distance for you. When you start your run, you let it know what route you plan to run, and it tracks the GPS on your phone and updates you with distance, time, and pace announcements through your earphones. You can even select what playlist you want to play while you run, and whether or not you shuffle.
When you are done, you let it know, and it uploads your results to your private runkeeper.com account.
My only complaint is that it is not compatible with my heart rate monitor. I have one of those older chest strap monitors that transmits your heart rate. It works great on the treadmill but my iPhone 4 won’t put it through to runkeeper. Maybe it’s an iPhone thing, I don’t know. It would be really cool to be updated on my heart rate because that’s how I train anyway, not by timed pace per mile.
Enough about me.
I hope to see YOU at the Russell Forest Run. It’s a fun event that shows you that there’s plenty of things to do around Lake Martin in the winter.
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2011 – Year In Review
Lake Martin waterfront home sales finished 2011 in style, selling 207 waterfront residences on the entire lake.
This total gives Lake Martin the highest home sales since 235 were sold in 2006. That’s not bad once you think about it. We posted the highest sales in five years. The statistics I quote are taken from Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors’ MLS*, and represent all real estate agents, all brokerages, over the entire lake.
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The significance of this strong year of home sales cannot be understated for Lake Martin. I have said it many times here on this blog, but it bears repeating: the Lake Martin waterfront real estate market is at least three and a half years past its bottom. Since July of 2008, everything has been uphill with regards to numbers of homes sold.
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Lake Martin Waterfront Home Sales By Month
If you would like the source data for the chart above, here below are all waterfront home, condo, and town home sales on Lake Martin, broken down by month:
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Below please find a line chart showing the same data for Lake Martin homes sold, I just removed 2005 through 2007 since I was getting too many lines on my chart and it was becoming hard for me to read. I feel that 2008 is an appropriate year with which to start this chart since it was the bottom.
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I think it is also notable that 2011 is the year that the market once again broke the 200 homes sold barrier. This is the first time we have broken 200 since 2006. Back then, Lake Martin was still firmly in the sales boom, although numbers of waterfront homes sold were dropping, prices were still rising. We didn’t quite realize that it was turning down. Those trying to sell their Lake Martin homes should have gotten out then if they wanted to perfectly time the market.
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This year, I think that Lake Martin is in just as pivotal a year. Sales increased by about 6%, but I think that prices still have not risen at all. I think that may change in 2012.
Lake Martin Waterfront Home Pricing Trends
I only look at prices of homes sold once a year on Lake Martin. This is because we have such a small number of homes sold, relative to large metro markets. It doesn’t make sense to look at it monthly because two or three abnormal homes can skew it too much. You sometimes see a 100% increase or decrease from month to month. Too volatile. Similarly, I do not track Lake Martin home prices by calendar quarter because we are a seasonal, second home or vacation home market. Check out the monthly sales chart above and you can see that the bulk of home sales happen in warm months.
I attempt to solve our small market problem by breaking the homes sold into categories, in increments of $100,000 to start with, and then observing what percentage of the total sales that each $100k band represents.
Without further ado:
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I think the above chart shows very clearly, and confirms my gut’s suspicion, that waterfront home, town home, and condo prices did not decrease on Lake Martin in 2011. They held steady with 2010 and 2009. While some sellers may interpret this as bad news (no sales increase) I think they should count their blessings.
At least there was no dip or decrease in prices. I would be shocked if there were. After all, Lake Martin is in a rising sales environment and has been for years.
So What?
So what does this chart mean? I think it means that once again, as in 2009 and 2010, the largest percentage of homes sold on Lake Martin were in the $200,000 – $299,999 range. Right at 25% of the waterfront home sold in 2009, 2010, and 2011 sold in that range.
If we had seen the entire bell curve shift forward towards the blue line of 2008, we could say (in my opinion) that we have evidence of price increases. But it didn’t.
I am tempted to say a price increase shift is starting in the way the $300k – $399k and $400k and $499k bands are bulging out a bit, straining in the chute, if you will. 2011 had a lot more sales in the 400s than did 2010, but the prior year beat 2011 in the 300s. I will call it a draw.
Why do I think there is a chance that we might see price increases in 2012? Because the home sales results keep chipping away at inventory. At the end of December, there were about 359 waterfront homes and condos for sale, after 207 sales in 12 months or a ratio of 1.73. Sure, December is the lowest listing period. But in December 2010 that number was 394 / 195 = 2.02.
Sellers - please hear me out. It is NOT time to raise prices like it was 2006. I am just saying that I can see the easing of downward pressure if sales continue.
Please stay tuned, I plan to write a lot more about 2011 Waterfront real estate sales on Lake Martin.
Related Posts:
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010 – Lot Sales
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2009 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2008 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2007 – Year In Review
All Lake Martin Market Reports
(*)Disclaimers: All of the above info was taken from the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. Accuracy is not guaranteed but deemed reliable. The above does not include sales by FSBOs or developers that sell privately and not through the MLS. But, I do think that the above represents a very large majority of all waterfront sales on Lake Martin, Alabama.
Lake Martin Home Sales For November 2011
The Lake Martin real estate market posted good waterfront sales for November, 2011.
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The Lake Martin MLS* reports that 8 waterfront homes, condos, and town homes were sold in November. This includes all real estate agents, all brokerages, on the entire lake, that are members of the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors.
It meant that November in 2011 was not as good as November 2010′s 10 homes sold, but was good enough to push the 2011 total above the 200 barrier to 203. This is significant because Lake Martin real estate market has not seen waterfront home sales above 200 since 2006 scored 235 sales.
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This year’s number of waterfront homes sold so far on Lake Martin has surprised me. After a strong summer and fall, I thought that we would end the year with 205 or so total. Hitting 203 with one more month to go is very encouraging. My revised estimate for the entire year is 210 or so homes sold, which, as mentioned, will be the best since 2006.
Will December 2011 beat December 2010? I doubt it. Last year there were 12 waterfront homes sold through the MLS. That’s strong – the best December since I have been tracking the numbers in 2005. The average amount of Lake Martin homes sold in December has been about 6 if you look at 2005 – 2011.
If that holds true, Lake Martin will be on a two month losing streak to the prior year. Does this bode ill? Not necessarily, in my opinion. Firstly, it’s hard to be anything but happy with the best year’s sales since 2006. Secondly, we have learned that the winter months can be unreliable predictors. To wit, 2007 had an awesome first quarter before totally tanking.
I won’t slice the numbers too much this month; I need to save my strength for my year end review later this month. But in case you are interested, there was another waterfront lot sale on Lake Martin in November:
Also the sales versus the prior month chart is as expected, November posted a loss versus 2010 but overall the year was great:
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Waterfront lot sales for Lake Martin property sold through the MLS were also strong in November.
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Strong lot sales on Lake Martin this year could mean a good year for the construction industry. Granted, total waterfront lot sales are only about 60% of their peak in 2006, but hey, over 30 is a good year.
As I mentioned above, I will put a greater amount of emphasis on the year end numbers. I will wait a week or so more to make sure that all realtors and brokerages on Lake Martin have finalized their reporting to the MLS, so please stay tuned!
Related Posts:
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2011 – October 2011
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010 – Lot Sales
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2009 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2008 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2007 – Year In Review
All Lake Martin Market Reports
(*)Disclaimers: All of the above info was taken from the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. Accuracy is not guaranteed but deemed reliable. The above does not include sales by FSBOs or developers that sell privately and not through the MLS. But, I do think that the above represents a very large majority of all waterfront sales on Lake Martin, Alabama.
Yes, It Is Raining Here
In case you are wondering, it is in fact raining here at Lake Martin.
Those of you who are celebrating Christmas here might want to consider planning on some rainy weather activities.
On a bright note, it looks like the weather will break on Friday. It will be a fair 63 and only 10% chance of precipitation.
My suggestion: break out the smoker!
Smoking a Boston Butt, some ribs, chicken, or something more adventurous is a perfect way to look busy while being lazy. That works at Lake Martin – or anywhere!
Merry Christmas, all!
Go Mobile For A Lake Martin Home Search
I have made a change to Lake Martin Voice.com for mobile users that I think will make it easier to search for a waterfront home, lot, or condo.
Most users probably won’t notice or care, but I explain here because I want to draw attention to my new mobile search for Lake Martin real estate. Previously, I had a WordPress Plugin that would kick in when you accessed my site from an iPhone, Droid, etc. The result was that the mobile version of my site did not look like the regular. It categorized and summarized the articles and made reading my posts much more easy from a smart phone.
However, I have changed my mind on that. I think that many mobile users of my site are more likely to be searching the Lake Martin MLS. I decided to optimize the mobile experience for the best search possible.
Enter FBS Data Systems’ new Mobile Search.
FBS sells a product called FlexMLS. FlexMLS is the software that the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors uses for its MLS system. I really love FlexMLS. I have looked at a lot of other MLS software, and even dabble in another association’s, but I have yet to find a better overall MLS software system than FlexMLS. They just seem to be out on the forefront of usable new features. I like a company that rolls something out before I realize I need it.
FlexMLS has recently improved its mobile search for consumers (that’s you). The search is really clean, simple, and effective. I played around with the beta test and they have improved it since then. I love it.
Mobile users will still be able to read my blog posts, neighborhood pages, etc. But I make this change because it makes it easier to get to the search from a mobile browser.
I would like to make a few customizations for the Lake Martin market. For instance, I would love to have the field “Waterfront” available on the default page, and defaulted to a “Yes.” Overall, though, I am really happy with it.
Here are some more screen shots:
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Once you search the Lake Martin MLS, through the mobile site or the regular version, if you see something you like, just click the smiley face next to it. That will allow you to register for your own “portal” to login to the system. Don’t worry, your info only comes to me.
If you have your own login, you can save your likes, dislikes, and “I’ll buy this one when I win the lottery” home.
Or, just contact me here or call me at 334 221 5862 or email me at [email protected] and let me search for you.
Winterize It, Don’t Criticize It
I have been fighting it for a month, but I have finally succumbed to winterization.
My boat, of course.
I had been holding out hope that I could squeeze in one more boat ride, but with the cold weather coming on, there just wasn’t enough time.
I must admit that I feel pretty smug that I got the goody out of it this fall. The warm fall weather afforded many a fun family ride and (per IRS regulations) a very conservative amount of deductible business expenses.
Have you ever taken a boat ride on Lake Martin on a Sunday afternoon in October? Pure solitude, almost guilty fun.
Thanks to John Christenberry, I can say that we at Lake Martin Voice Realty even scored an atypically late – October 28 – real estate showing by water. That is just one of the many records Christenberry has racked up in 2011. More on that later.
Not A Defeat
To Winter’s uneducated eye, this may appear to be a defeat.
My lovely Sea Ray Sundeck is now on the rack, full of antifreeze, seemingly powerless.
Au contraire, Emperor.
Like the Russian generals against Napoleon, I am merely baiting him to waste his resources for months, whilst I lie in wait at my dacha.
This is not over. I live to fight again and will strike at Winter soon, preparing in the meantime anchorages laid bare by his low water complacency.
My Advice: Don’t Criticize It, Winterize It
If you haven’t winterized your boat, you had better do it now. Quit procrastinating. If you don’t have time, or, worse yet, don’t know what winterizing means, I recommend these Lake Martin boat mechanics:
- Steve Northington at Cathouse Marine - (334) 358-2838 – Steve is the darling of the forum folks at LakeMartin.com. He resuscitated my boat from a salty death. Impossibly, he reforged the blade that was broken. Highly, highly, capable.
- Clarence Cunningham at Anchor Bay – (334) 857-2654 – Clarence is excellent and is the one bailing me out of winter’s clutches this year. I do not winterize my own boat, I trust it to Clarence. In fact, I have not tried any of that sort of thing since my wife was nine months pregnant and I almost ruined our SUV by attempting a “simple” oil change. One has to know one’s own weaknesses. The longer I live, the more I discover in myself.
If you are like me, and know better than to attempt your own winterization, call one of them. Tell them I sent you.
Lake Martin Waterfront Home Sales Beat Prior Year
It’s official, Lake Martin waterfront home sales in 2011 will be better than 2010.
Through October 31, 2011, 195 waterfront homes were sold on Lake Martin. If you check the Lake Martin real estate market for the entire year of 2010, you see that it took the full 12 months to reach the 195 level, and 194 were sold in 2009.
Since unofficial November 2011 results show that at least a few waterfront homes sold, one can confidently say that we beat the prior year of 2010.
My conservative guess is that the Lake Martin real estate market will finish 2011 with about 205 waterfront home sales. That equals an approximate 5% jump from 2010, and about 49% up from the post bubble low in 2008.
Lake Martin Waterfront Home Sales By Month
The below chart shows Lake Martin waterfront property home sales by month. It is from January 1, 2008 to October 31, 2011. You can see that 2011, at a monthly level, beat 2010 at almost every month. Please keep in mind that these numbers come from the Lake Martin MLS*, and reflect only waterfront home, condo, and town home sales by all members of the Lake Martin MLS, all brokerages.
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Cumulative Lake Martin Waterfront Home Sales
If you take the monthly sales numbers for the Lake Martin real estate market and add them together, you get the cumulative sales results. To me it is a bit easier to judge at a glance on this chart to tell how the year in total is trending versus prior years.
Please see the below chart. Here again I start at the post bubble low year of 2008 and bring it through October 31, 2011.
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Lake Martin Home Sales Versus Same Month Prior Year
Of all the numbers I crunch, of all my nerdly charts, the below one is the one I watch the most. It tracks how each month fares versus the same month in the prior year. For example, in October 2011, 15 waterfront homes were sold on Lake Martin. October 2010 saw 13 sales, all agents, all brokerages. That gives us a +2 rating for the current month.
Any positive number here is good. If I see several months in a row of negative numbers, I know that Lake Martin is in danger of stalling again. If we had been watching closely in 2006, we could have seen this coming.
The second home market here at Lake Martin has been on a win streak since since mid 2008. Has 2011 kept it rolling? The answer is yes.
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Lake Martin Waterfront Lot Sales
Has the momentum in home sales been mirrored in Lake Martin lots?
The answer for 2011 has been yes.
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While October 2011 itself racked zero waterfront lots sold, the year in total has been a runaway success. Through October 31, thirty three lots have sold in 2011. Compare that to 27 for all of 2010, and you see a hefty gain. Consider that 2010 was the lot comeback year, and you can appreciate the gravity of 2011′s success.
With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that 2008 and 2009 represented a two year divot for Lake Martin lot sales.
I like lot sales because they are a general barometer of construction potential. Let’s hope that our construction industry feels the trickle soon.
Related Posts:
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2011 – Through May
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010 – Lot Sales
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2009 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2008 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2007 – Year In Review
All Lake Martin Market Reports
(*)Disclaimers: All of the above info was taken from the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. Accuracy is not guaranteed but deemed reliable. The above does not include sales by FSBOs or developers that sell privately and not through the MLS. But, I do think that the above represents a very large majority of all waterfront sales on Lake Martin, Alabama.
New Birding Trail Opens In Lake Martin Area
The Piedmont Plateau Birding Trail officially opened on November 17 with a nice ceremony held at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park.
The Piedmont Plateau Birding Trail is the central Alabama version of the popular birding trails like the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail and the North Alabama Birding Trail.
What is a birding trail?
A birding trail is a collection of locations where bird lovers and other folks can go to observe some of Alabama’s renowned diversity of bird species. The Piedmont Plateau Birding Trail is organized into three “loops.”
The Lake Martin Loop, obviously, is the part of the trail that will be closest to Lake Martin. Some of the observation points are directly on the water of the lake, such as the DARE Park and the Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail head. Others will take you off the water, but to nonetheless interesting spots like Horseshoe Bend National Military Park.
The new trail has already earned some attention. Deborah Storey covered it in this Hunstville Times article.
For what it is worth, I think this is an outstanding idea and brilliant marketing on the part of the various Chambers of Commerce that worked together to get this done. I congratulate the Alexander City Chamber for taking the lead on it. Even if you are not a “birder” – you should realize that birding related tourism is a really big business, and Alabama is a mecca.
Furthermore, it offers yet another thing to do off of the water for people who love Lake Martin. Fall is the time of year that I think gives you the best chance to hike, bike, and explore the area around the lake.
Speaking of things to do, how many of you have never been to Horseshoe Bend National Military Park? Why not? It is only about 10 miles off of highway 280 between Dadeville and Alex City. The dedication ceremony gave me a perfect excuse to tour through it again. When I was growing up, we had oodles of school trips out there. As a child, I never appreciated the sheer beauty of that park, nor did I grasp the historical significance of a battle that shaped the destinies of millions of acres of land, entire nations of native Americans, and at least one President. (Hint: check a $5 bill).
After my tour the other day, I was really getting my nature, my history, and my local pride groove on. I went wild in the Park’s gift shop, buying several (my wife rolled her eyes) books about The Battle, this area’s history, and nature. My fellow nerds will please note I added them to my Lake Martin Voice Library. Check them out, they are excellent reads.
To see my other pictures of the opening of the Piedmont Plateau Birding Trail, and Horseshoe Bend Park in general, please see:
Flickr Photo Set by Lake Martin Voice
FERC Approves Higher Winter Water Level For Lake Martin
Lake Martin will have a higher water level this winter!
Alabama Power has just notified everyone that FERC approved their request to keep the level at 483, Martin Datum, rather than going to the customary 480. The timing of this announcement has prompted many questions to me from astute Lake Martin Voice readers. I feel I must respond here.
As was widely reported by Lake Martin area media, on November 4, 2011, Alabama Power applied to FERC to have permission to keep the water three feet higher this winter. Since November 4, we have heard nothing from FERC. Cue crickets chirping.
Then, yesterday, at 10:12 AM, I clicked “Publish” on this post about Alabama Power’s unmet request.
Today, about 24 hours after I posted that, FERC consents.
Yes, in a time period faster than it took for Johnny Fontane to get “that part,” FERC went from silent to servile.
For all you conspriacy theorists out there, I give my official response:
Omerta.
Alabama Power Requests Higher Winter Level For Lake Martin
On November 4, 2011, Alabama Power requested to keep the water level three feet higher than normal this winter.
This is old news to locals, of course, but I realized I had not posted anything about it on my blog. Sorry about that.
This has been an unusually busy fall for Lake Martin Voice Realty. Both John Christenberry and I have been blessed to have a few deals in the works and lots of people here looking for a waterfront home or lot on Lake Martin.
Alabama Power made this request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC is also the acronym that will decide to approve or reject Alabama Power’s application for a new rule curve for the next 30 years.
For all of the official information from Alabama Power as it relates to Lake Martin’s water level, go to this page on their website, then select “Tallapoosa River” and then “Lake Martin” in the appropriate drop down boxes. The normal winter water level for Lake Martin under the current rule curve or license is 480 feet, Martin Datum. Alabama Power has requested to keep it at 483 this year because of, in their words, “to address forecast LaNina impacts during the upcoming winter and spring months. Once approved, the lake should remain up to 3 feet higher than normal winter pool. Lake elevations are always subject to change, depending on conditions.”
If you would like to monitor the water level on Lake Martin, I think the best spot on the web is Bruce Pate’s Lake Martin.com. From here you can see the current level, and also a cool chart that allows you to compare to prior years, and to the current rule curve. Bruce also allows you to create a water level alert, customized to your needs. For instance, you might know that when the lake gets below 484 you can work on your dock or install a water pump for your landscaping. Go to Lake Martin.com and create an alert that will email you when it gets close to that amount. Neat idea!
Other Great Resources About Lake Martin’s Water Source
Lake Martin is fed by the mighty Tallapoosa River, which, I would argue (in extreme bias) is the most historically significant river that is east of the Mississippi and south of Clingman’s Dome. Here are some links to see Tallapoosa River flow numbers:
Tallapoosa River near New Site / Horseshoe Bend
The Tallapoosa is part of the Alabama / Coosa / Tallapoosa River Basin, aka the ACT Basin. If you would like to watch water level readings for the ACT Basin, see:
ACT Basin by Army Corps of Engineers
Alabama Dept of Environmental Management
