41% of Households in Alabama Can’t Afford Utility Bills Amid Inflation

In a recent study done by LendingTree, the statistics firm found that 41.4% of households in Alabama say they have reduced or skipped necessities like food or medicine in order to afford their energy bill.  While gas prices have made headlines with high inflation and more and more commuters getting back on the road, consumers […]

US Department of Labor Announces Nationwide Apprenticeship Expansion

WASHINGTON D.C. – As the nation marks National Apprenticeship Week, the U.S. Department of Labor announced an initiative to expand its pre-apprenticeship opportunities for Job Corps students and connect them to Registered Apprenticeship programs. The effort will allow Job Corps campuses throughout the nation to emphasize pre-apprenticeship programs in green energy, health care, information technology and other […]

Real Estate Update: Madison County Weekly Stats for October 29, 2022

The numbers are in for Madison County’s residential real estate market, for the week ending October 29, 2022.  Much of the new inventory on the market is in townhouses and condos, which are typically more affordable than single-family units. In the month of September of this year, townhouse/condo units sold for, on average, $243K, compared […]

City Quickly Moving Toward Goal of Downtown Hotel Rooms

HUNTSVILLE, AL – The city is closing in on its goal of downtown hotel rooms. It seems constant that a new hotel is either opening or announced to begin construction, and that’s not far from the truth. And truth is, the city is still shy of its original goal when planners began studying current and […]

Long-Time Huntsville Retail Center Acquired by Last Mile Investments

JLL Capital Markets announced today that it has closed the sale of Whitesburg Center, a 49,821-square-foot retail center with significant value-add potential located in Huntsville, Alabama. JLL marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Baker Storey McDonald Properties. Last Mile Investments acquired the asset. Built in 1990 and renovated in 2002, the center offers both national and regional […]

Real Estate Update: Third Quarter Report Quantifies Impact of Inflation and Interest

The Huntsville Area Association of Realtors (HAAR) has released its report, compiled by faculty of UAH’s College of Business, on the state of Madison County’s residential real estate market for 3Q 2022.  The statistics reported shed more light on shifts that we’ve been tracking, putting them into context with both the previous quarter and the […]

Mayor Finley Celebrates Madison in State of the City Address

On Friday, November 4, the bright lights of Toyota Field and the lively sound of the James Clemens High School Jazz Band welcomed local residents to Celebrate Madison, a celebration of Madison’s past, present and future.  Presented by Meta and organized by the Madison Chamber of Commerce and the Celebrate Madison Committee, major sponsors for […]

Support Local Business and SHOP LOCAL-OPOLY This Holiday Season

HUNTSVILLE, AL – The Huntsville/Madison County Chamber is excited to announce the start of a new ‘shop local’ campaign called SHOP LOCAL-OPOLY. This campaign will offer participants the opportunity to be put in a drawing to win up to $650 worth of gift cards from our local businesses! The campaign is designed after the popular […]

Don’t Believe the Hype, Quiet Quitting is Nothing New and There Is a Solution

Early in my career I worked at a very large corporation where it felt like we spent a considerable amount of time listening to conference calls. This was a multinational organization where the conference calls would have hundreds of participants, often with several people from the same location on the call. Sometimes the calls were […]

The Historic Context of Mortgage Rates

The national real estate market has reeled at the sharp increase in mortgage rates, as 30-year fixed mortgage rates have topped 7% for the first time in over twenty years.  Sounds bad, and it has many wondering if numbers will continue to get worse. Freddie Mac has compiled the average rates on mortgages, organized by […]