Wynlakes is a golf and country club neighborhood in Montgomery, AL.  Developed in 1986, and located off of Vaughn Road, it is in the heart of what is now called “East Montgomery.”

Wynlakes has several “neighborhoods” within the development, so homes here range from smaller garden-style homes to larger homes, to much, MUCH larger homes.  The gated community has 24 hour security surveillance and an HOA.

Wynlakes Golf and Country Club is in the center of the neighborhood, and memberships gives access to the 200 acre, 18 hole golf course, large pool area, tennis courts, fitness center, dining areas and newly-built ballroom facility. Membership is not limited to residents of Wynlakes neighborhood.

According to the Montgomery Area MLS, as of today, March 26, 2009, there are 23 homes for sale in Wynlakes, ranging from $225,000 for a 1,666 sq. ft. home, to $995,000 for a 5,935 sq. ft. home.

If you are interested in homes for sale in Wynlakes, you can search the MLS for free using the “Home Search” tab at the top of this page, or let us help you by contacting us at the  number above or the  “Contact Us” tab.

Enter the series of interviews I’ve been working on with real people living and working in the River Region.  If I haven’t experienced it, I’ll find someone who has.  I hope you find it helpful.

Who better to begin with than my friend Carolyn – her family is now taking their second Air Force stint in Montgomery.  They chose to live on base at Maxwell, and she agreed to share a little background on that decision:

Question: What were your options for housing when you moved to Montgomery?

Answer: We knew we could live on-base, in East Montgomery or in Prattville.  Since we had lived here before we had narrowed down those three places.

Question: What factors did you consider when making your housing decision?

Answer: First was location. My husband is expected at work sometimes at 4am. Driving 1/2 mile seemed easier than 10 to 15 miles. Second was school. We have 3 children, 12, 10 and 6 years of age all in school. We wanted a good public school but were willing to look at private schools if need be. Third was the house. How much is rent and how big will our house be on base? Rank dictates that decision. Is the house that they offer me going to meet my family’s needs?

Question:  Were there any resources that were especially helpful in making this decision?

Answer: John Coley was a great resource. John was able to physically look at houses that we thought looked awesome on-line. He could tell us if this was a good location or not. Military One Source is a great resource.  It has tons of information about every town that houses a military base. Schools, churches, private schools, shopping, just about anything (www.militaryonesource.com). On-line newspapers were also a good resource because you can read about your future town. You can see what parts of town are making the news (e.g. crime, flooding, construction).

Question:  Is there any advice you’d give to another family relocating to the Montgomery area?

Answer: Ask questions. Find someone who lives in the town and ask them about specific areas.  Read blogs. Don’t believe everything you hear. Just because one person didn’t like an elementary school doesn’t mean the school is horrible. Allow yourself some time to visit the town. Don’t make major decisions based on on-line pictures.

5. What are you currently enjoying about Montgomery?

Answer: Location! We are close to the beach and Lake Martin. We can travel to major cities with ease (Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville).  Outdoor activities – hiking,camping and boating are very close by . . . not to mention some great shopping!!

Thanks, Carolyn!  I have more interviews in the pipeline, so stay tuned.  If you have more specific questions about the River Region, contact us at the number at the top of the page or via the contact tab.  We’d love to help you make this area home!

The first six months of 2008 have shown that the Montgomery area is way behind prior years when you look at the number of homes sold each month.  2006 and even 2007 kept pace with 2005.  2008 saw home sales fall off significantly :

Here is a look at the percent change in the first quarter when comparing the same month to the prior year.  We are still in a buyer’s market in Montgomery, to be sure.  In fact, the trend in 2008 has been towards a more extreme buyer’s market.  In the first 6 months of 2006, we only had one month (April) that did not beat the prior year. In 2007 we had the beginnings of a downward trend.  As you can see below, in 2008, every single month has been lower when compared to 2007.  Drops like this that are in the range of 30% are huge.  Remember this feeling, this is what it feels like to be pushing to a buyer’s market.

If we look at all of the homes on the market in the second quarter of 2008, we can see that the upward trend has leveled off. However, we still have more homes for sale in the Montgomery area right now than we did this time last year:

Montgomery area homes just aren’t selling fast enough spark a move back to a balanced market. One way to view this trend is to compare the total “active” (homes for sale) listings in the Montgomery MLS. For instance, in June 2008, there were 3,493 for sale, and 381sold.  That gives us an active to sold ratio of 9.2.  We saw in the above chart that inventory has leveled off, but sales are off as well.  That keeps this ratio high, still well in the buyer’s market territory.

Do you need help sorting through this info? What do all of these numbers mean to your specifically, and your own home search in the  Montgomery, Prattville, or Wetumpka areas?  How can you best use these trends to your advantage?  Contact us, or call the number at the top of the page, we would be glad to help you out.

How will home sales for 2008 match up to prior years?  I think it’s obvious that Montgomery is like most cities around the US in that the peak of the seller’s market was in 2005.  Since 2005, fewer and fewer homes sold each year.  Year to year comparisons show this pretty clearly:

Here is a look at the percent change in the first quarter when comparing the same month to the prior year.  For example, for the entire Montgomery area,  359 homes sold in January 2005 and 426 sold in January 2006, for an increase of 18.7% [(426-359)/359].  Contrast that with the fact that in March 2008, only 416 homes were sold as compared to 521 in March of 2007.  This yields a decrease of 20% [(416-521)/521].  Here’s a three year comparison:

A large part of the problem is the rising inventory of homes for sale in the Montgomery area:

Montgomery area homes just aren’t selling fast enough to soak up the inventory.  To put this into perspective, check out he ratio of homes sold to the inventory.  To get this, you take the total homes for sale in the Montgomery area in any particular month, and divide by the homes sold in that month.  For instance, in January 2008, there were 3,229 homes for sale, and 295 homes sold.  3,229 /295 is about 10.9.  If this number trends higher, it suggests a movement to a buyer’s market (i.e. lots of homes are for sale and not many are selling).  The opposite trend suggests movement to a seller’s. The first 3 months of 2008 show that ratio decreasing, so that is good news for Montgomery area home sellers, but we’re still a long way away from another seller’s market.  At times in 2005 this ratio was under 3.0.

Are you considering a move to the Montgomery, Prattville, or Wetumpka areas? Having trouble sorting through all of the info, to narrow it down to a city, then neighborhood, then the right house for you? Contact us, or call the number at the top of the page, we would be glad to be your local real estate agent.