The Town of Pike Road has purchased the Pike Road Station shopping center on Vaughn Road. (see google map)

Now, while building prices are low,  they are considering adding a second story to the former Fine Foods Market building, creating a large auditorium area for community events. The first floor of the building will be used for Town Council offices and a meeting hall.

Here are some pics of the building:

New Pike Road Town Hall and shopping center

New Pike Road Town Hall

New Pike Road Town Hall

To learn more, click here for an article from the Montgomery Advertiser.

It’s already scorching in Montgomery, AL.

It’s the second day of summer.

How does a family survive?

Here are a few ideas for free (or very cheap) ways to keep your kids entertained this summer while NOT suffering a heatstroke.

Public Libraries: Where are they and what special events are going on?  Here’s a link to library summer events next week. Check back with local branches for more activities. Storytellers, singers, art – sounds fun.

Kids’ movies at The Capri: Every Thursday and Friday at 10 am and 1 pm, you can take your kids for just $1 a ticket.  Click here for their summer schedule, and get there a little early because it fills up quickly.

Kids’ movies at the Rave: Similar to the Capri, but FREE!  Click here for the summer roster.  They’re showing free kids’ movies every Tuesday and Wednesday at 10 am for eight weeks this summer.  Like The Capri, no reservations are taken, so show up early to get a seat.

Artworks Gallery at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts: Air conditioned, fun, room to wiggle – all good things in 100 degree weather.  There is a box for donations at the front door of the museum, but there is no entrance fee. It’s a large, interactive space for kids to explore art with their families.  You can spend hours . . . click here for more info.

Riverwalk Splashpad: Located in the Riverwalk amphitheater park in downtown Montgomery, the splashpad is (for lack of better terminology) a large play area with water shooting out of the ground.  Like a big fountain.  Although this is not an air conditioned venue, it’s wet and FREE, and anyone can use it (although sometimes it’s closed for private parties.  Open until 7 pm everyday.  Click here for address and phone number.

I’m sure there are some I have overlooked, so feel free to add to the list by commenting below.  Good luck staying cool and saving money this summer!

Carr Junior High School, Montgomery, AL

It’s finally time to head on over and make it official. If you live in the new Jim Wilson Elementary and Carr Middle School school zones, you can register your kids starting today.

Don’t expect to tour the  new facilities yet, though – you’ll actually register in Blount Elementary’s lunchroom. From today until Thursday, you can come from 9 am until 1 pm.  From June 22-25, come between 1:30 pm and 5:30 pm.

Wilson Elementary School, Montgomery, AL

If you miss this two week registration period, you can still register your child – but it will happen closer to the beginning of the school year at the new school itself.

Not sure if you’re affected by these new school zones? Click here for MPS zoning maps.

For more info on what to bring with you, see the Montgomery Advertiser’s article “Registration Starts Today for New Schools.”

For the most recent post on Providence (January 2012) click on the brown link below:

Now Selling: Providence Neighborhood in Pike Road

What follows is a older post from 2009 – Nice if you want a history of Providence, but not relevant if you’re currently looking for a home.

Providence is for those who 1) want to build a new house,  2) want to live in Pike Road, AL, but  3) still want to live very close in to Montgomery in a planned development.

Horse farm it is not.

If you fit the bill, then take the (really) short drive to the intersection of Vaughn and Pike Roads.  You’re there. (Turn south onto Pike and it’s on your left).

I drove through today, and they’ve cut in the streets and sidewalks. There’s a pretty entrance and streetlights – I’m guessing this is Phase I.  The developers are selling lots that are either 60′ by 145′ (”The Traditions”) or 100′ by 200′ (”The Estates”).  Traditions homes have to be a minimum of 2,400 square feet and Estate homes a minimum of 2,800 square feet.

The website says you can bring your own builder, and that gives buyers some flexibility.

What will the homes look like?  Providence’s brochure says they’ll have “elements  of French Country and European architecture woven into modern home designs.”  Click here to see sample house plans on the Providence website.

Is your interest piqued?  Give us a call at the number at the top of the page or contact us through the Contacts tab and we’d be glad to  help you learn more about this new development.

Put 425 Merry Way in the Merry Station neighborhood at the top of your house-hunting list.

If you watch the video, you’ll see this 4 bed/ 3 bath home is tastefully updated and the yard is worthy of it’s own video tour.  You may not need to read further before calling us for a private showing. . .

But there is more to love:

1) The home is zoned for the Town of Pike Road, and therefore will be zoned for the Pike Road public school that is currently being planned. (Click here to read more)

2) Merry Station is an old school neighborhood of 2 cul-de-sac streets.  Odds are if you drive through at almost any time of day, there will be kids running from yard to yard to play.  Their dogs will be following close on their heels, so please drive slowly.

3)  Even though Merry Way is in Pike Road, it’s literally minutes to everything you need in East Montgomery and I-85.  Click here for a map.

4) Merry Station is a completely developed neighborhood (no empty lots), and hundreds of trees fill the yards – which are all around an acre.  Here are some pics of the neighborhood so you can see for yourself  . . .

Entrance to Merry Station neighborhood

Merry Way

Driving into Merry Station

Looking down Merry Court (one of the two streets in Merry Station)

425 Merry Way

If you’d like to look at this home, or any home in the Montgomery area, please give us a call at (334) 221-5862 or contact us using the “contact” tab at the top of this page.  We’d love to help you with your house search!

Did you see this article in the Montgomery Advertiser a few days ago?   Click on the following title to read the entire article:  Montgomery Area Home Sales Continue to Fall.

It reports that “home sales in Montgomery area declined for the 24th straight month in April, but the number of houses on the market dropped to one of the lowest levels in more than two years.”

So what’s that mean for us?  Well, we have to start beating prior year’s sales in order to have prices rise again.

I read a really good article on a Better Homes & Garden’s home blog about this subject. A guy named Nikolai Kolding studied sales from across the country, over a decade or so and concluded that rises or falls in average home prices were preceded by rises / falls in # of homes closed.

The number of sales was compared by seeing if, for example, April 09 beat April 08 in number of homes sold. That, to me, is a critical finding, and it is something that you can apply locally. So many of these macroeconomic statistics are hard to apply to the Montgomery area, but I am watching current year vs. prior year very closely.

Check back soon for the most recent Montgomery Area MLS “sold” statistics.  If you’d like more conversation about this topic, comment below or give me a call at the number at the top of the page. I’d love to talk about with you, and I’d love to help you with the home-buying process.

All roads within a mile of my house are flooded (that’s pretty much the story for the whole River Region).  I’m stuck at home, so I might as well blog this!

I heard the weatherman on WSFA say it’s the worst flooding he’s seen in the 27 years he’s been here.  It’s possible he’s not exaggerating this time . . .

This is a severe flood for Montgomery.

I chose NOT to go out and take pics today, so I’m borrowing a couple and linking you to the WSFA website’s picture page.  Thanks to Jake Kyser for the shocking pics of his backyard.

The wait is over.  Here are the new school zones for east Montgomery, AL. . .

First are the Montgomery elementary schools – Blount, Halcyon, and the new Wilson elementary:

Wilson is green; Blount is blue; Halcyon in light pink.

For a more detailed elementary zoning map , click here.

Next, the East Montgomery middle/jr. high schools :

Pink is Brewbaker; Green is Carr; Purple is Georgia Washington

For a more detailed middle/jr. high map, click here.

Finally, the Montgomery high schools:

Green is Lanier; Pink is Jeff Davis; Brown is Lee

For a more detailed high school map, click here.

With two new public schools opening in east Montgomery, AL (Wilson Elementary and Carr Junior High), there’s been a lot of anticipation about who will go where, which neighborhoods will attend which school.

Now we know.  I got this info from the Montgomery Public Schools website -click here to get there.  A you know, they are the final authority on zoning, so check with them if you’re not sure where you’re zoned.

If you’re ready to find a house in one of these schools zones, give me a call or contact me.

It’s eye candy.  It’s like nothing else in east Montgomery, AL (okay – in Pike Road).  If you want something close to  Mayberry, The Waters is it.

Developed around the 200 acre Lake Cameron, The Waters is a walkable, self-contained community.  There’s the Town Square with shops, a restaurant, community pool and pavillion, plus fishing on the lake, tennis courts, extra wide sidewalks . . . more amenities than a typical planned community.

It’s quite rural, even though (I timed it) it’s only 3 minutes to I-85, the main drag through Montgomery.  It’s a good drive through Pike Road, but once you get there – pretty cool.  So the trade-off is a longer drive for a unique, quaint “lifestyle.”

There are loft apartments, cottages, grand homes – all with small, tidy yards and back alley parking.  Think Celebration, FL.  Very Traditional.  Very Southern.

Today, April 28, 2009, there are 17 properties for sale in The Waters (not counting lots).  They range in size from 1,200 square feet to 4,394 square feet.  Asking prices per square foot are in the $180s.  These prices are higher per square foot than most Montgomery neighborhoods, but the amenities offered in The Waters are more numerous and unique than other developments.

Check out more photos below. If you’re intrigued, call or contact us to see any homes for sale in The Waters or the Montgomery area MLS.

Since I want to be a reliable source for public school  information in east Montgomery, I’ll throw this article from the WSFA website into the mix (dated April 14, 2009).  Click on the title to read the full article:

MPS weighs land proposal for new high school

I didn’t hear much about this in the paper or other news services, but some Montgomerians think this is inevitable, simply because of population growth out east.  I’ll continue to keep you posted, because where you decide to live has a lot to do with public schools.

If you’re shopping around for homes in the the River Region, give us a call or use the contacts tab.  It costs a buyer nothing to have a Realtor do the legwork for you!  We’d love to help.