Lake Martin Named Top Real Estate Market In AL
Here we go again - Lake Martin was described as the top real estate market in the entire state of Alabama.
The Central Alabama Business Journal - a sister publication of the Montgomery Advertiser recently interviewed J. Danny Cooper, the Executive Vice President of the Alabama Association of Realtors. The article covered various topics from the condition of Alabama’s real estate market overall to the performance of specific areas. Cooper singled out Lake Martin as the top market in the state. In his words, “Lake Martin has surpassed any other market in the state in terms of appreciation and home value.”
I know what you’re thinking - this is just another propaganda puff piece from a
rah-rah realtors’ rep. I might be inclined to agree, on some points. Anybody can have an opinion on what is a “good” or “bad” market. What sets apart Cooper’s statement? It’s a fact, not an opinion. The numbers have been crunched - and Lake Martin came out on top.
Not that the rest of Alabama is so much chopped liver. This state is blessed with many great second home or vacation home markets - Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, Lake Eufaula, Lake Guntersville, Weiss Lake, Lake Logan - Martin, just to name a few. Maybe you and I think none of them are better than Lake Martin. Maybe someone else thinks that another lake or beach is prettier, or cooler, or whatever. Everybody’s entitled to an opinion. But here’s a fact - recently, none of them have appreciated in value like Lake Martin.
Even if you own a home or lot on Lake Martin and never intend to sell it, isn’t it nice to know - that if you did - it is in the top market in the state? Wonder what it’s worth? Drop me a line, I’ll run you a Comparable Market Analysis, no strings attached.
And if you don’t own any property on Lake Martin yet? I can help you with that, too.
Related Articles:
Lake Martin A Top 12 US Vacation Home Market
4 Great Lunch Meals Around Lake Martin
It’s lunchtime on Lake Martin - where should we eat? When I was growing up on Lake Martin, there weren’t many restaurants around the Lake, much less on the water. Families had to pack their on provisions and make do. You drove to the cabin, unpacked everything, and lived on ribbon sandwiches, chicken salad, hamburgers, and BBQ.
Today we have many places to eat, with more on the horizon. I eat a lot of lunches around Lake Martin, so let me suggest four great lunch orders, in no particular order:
1. Cotton’s BBQ - a couple of miles south of Kowaliga Bridge on highway 63. In my humble opinion they have the best Q the closest to Lake Martin. When I am really hungry I go for a double cheese with a BBQ sandwich and polish it off with a slice of egg custard pie. Otherwise I go for the sandwich with fries. I absolutely love good BBQ, but I detest bad BBQ. Cotton’s passes every time.
2. Oskar’s - when in Lake Martin’s Blue Creek area, it’s a great spot. I have tried almost everything on the menu, it’s hard to go wrong here. If I’m in a big hurry I do the lunch veggie special. Also I love the catfish fillet sandwich - but I get it blackened - not fried, with no sauce and no onions. Oskar’s is a rare find in that they actually know how to cook fish correctly - juicy and hot yet not overdone. Lots of restaurants, most of which charge quadruple their prices, could learn from Oskar’s.
3. Kowaliga - You can call it Sinclair’s on the Lake or Cecil’s at Kowaliga or whatever, but it will always be Kowaliga 
to me. The name has changed over the years, but the best lunch order has not. Order the same thing we have been getting since they were in that old building with the carpet hanging from the rafters. Forgo the fancy stuff and order a plate of onion rings. Wash it down with a cold beverage and soak in the ambiance. If you’re really hungry get a burger. The rings and the view are the best on Lake Martin. You won’t be disappointed. In the springtime they are only open for lunch Friday through Sunday, so you may want to call to make sure they are open.
4. Chuck’s - another Blue Creek gem. Your order? What else? Pizza. It’s very good, even by city folks’ standards. Great atmosphere, too. They sometimes have a band there, and it’s perfect for people watching. Tip - call ahead from your boat to place your order if you want to grab and go.
Bonus meal - it’s a couple of miles north of highway 280 in Alex City, but Sho’ Nuff BBQ is worth a look if you are in the area. Order the Sho’ Nuff Baked Potato. It sounds weird but trust me, it will hit the spot.
Can you think of a great lunch meal that I have left out? Leave a reply, and share it with everyone else, too!
Lake Martin Home Prices Not Affected By Sales Drop?
Rest easy. Alabama home sales have dropped, but not on Lake Martin. Or should you be alarmed that the average sales price of a home in Lake Martin plummeted 15% in one month? Which is it?
On March 12, 2007, Patrick McCreless wrote an article in the Alex City Outlook entitled, “Home sales still strong on Lake Martin.” The information he quoted was from the Alabama Real Estate Research and Education Center, which (I assume) got its data from our Lake Martin Area Multiple Listings Service. While I do not disagree with any of the data in the article, I do think it presents an interesting look at analyzing statistics of our market.
Two main stats stuck out to me:
1. Statewide, Alabama saw the number of homes sold drop 20.4% from December 06 to January 07. The Lake Martin Area increased its number sold to 29 from 25 in December, for a gain of 16%. Hence the analysis that we were unaffected by the State’s slump. I agree.
2. At the end of the article, it sneaks in that the Lake Martin Area’s average home sales price dropped in January to $181,310 from $213,716 in December. Again, agreed. But – couldn’t the headline easily have been “Lake Martin Home Prices Drop 15% in One Month?”
This same article could be used both by doomsdayers to prove evidence of a dreaded “bubble” in our market and by bullish folk saying that the market is still hot. The seeming contradiction in interpreting the data is a classic case of trying to draw too many conclusions from too small a sample. Any professor of Statistics will tell you that the smaller the sample, the greater margin of error. In other words, if you poll the five people you play poker with on the question of who will be the next President, the chances of them being wrong are a lot bigger than if you selected five million registered voters, randomly distributed across geographic, economic, and political lines.
The point is - be careful when you try to interpret the data of a market like Lake Martin. We have a broad mixture of 
types of properties – on / off the water, single / multi family, modern / rural, etc. – that are spread across a relatively small number of listings. One big sale here or there can really affect the numbers, so watch out. Try to gather as much information as you can. Talk to many people in the business. Are you confused about what your property is worth, or what you should pay for a place on the Lake? I am always willing to give my honest two cents and would be glad to help! The only way I know to do it to tell it like I see it. See the “comments” section on this post for my email to Patrick McCreless where I provide an opinion on the contradictory stats.
Jazz Fest 2007 Lineup Finalized
The Lake Martin area is in for another musical treat – the Jazz Fest has finalized its lineup for 2007 (all times Central PM):
Friday, June 8, 2007 at the Strand Park in downtown Alex City
6:00 – 7:00 – The Robin Hill Band – local Alex City band
7:30 – 9:00 – Kelley Hunt – Roots R&B / Americana singer / songwriter / piano player
9:30 – 11:00 – Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen –
“Jon Cleary is the ninth wonder in the world.” - Bonnie Raitt
Saturday, June 9, 2007 at the Lake Martin Amphitheater
6:00 – 7:00 – Wes Jeans – a powerful young guitar slinger; a player that drops the unsuspecting jaw of Blues lovers everywhere; a player some have said “is destined to be a Texas legend - a truly genuine Texas Blues Player”..
7:30 – 9:00 – The Lee Boys – Sacred steel is a type of music described as an inspired, unique form of Gospel music with a hard-driving, blues-based beat. The musical genre is rooted in Gospel, but infused with rhythm and blues, jazz, rock, funk, hip-hop, country and ideas from other nations.
9:30 – 11:00 – Edwin McCain – Blending equal parts folk, soul and rock, platinum-selling singer/songwriter Edwin McCain has signed with Vanguard Records.
Both events are free and open to the public. There is a $10 parking fee for Saturday night. For more details, read my previous Jazz Fest post.
See you there!
Lake Martin A Top 12 US Vacation Home Market
The Lake Martin real estate market was honored again on November 9, 2006, by the Wall Street Journal’s RealEstateJournal.com, by being named a Top 12 Vacation Home market in the United States.
Regional and even national accolades are becoming common for Lake Martin. In other words, the news is getting out. I usually don’t pay much attention to such press, but this one really got my attention. Not that I don’t agree, I honestly believe we have a national treasure in our backyard. I can’t understand why anybody wouldn’t want a place on Lake Martin. I guess what really got my attention was the source: THE Wall Street Journal – the Beacon of Capitalism, the paper divinely scribed by Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand itself. I love it. I could read it with my hair on fire, as they say. So when they honored the lake – I noticed – and so did millions of other readers.
Economists and writers can study and parse data all they want, but they are merely confirming what we all know to be 
true. That is, while Lake Martin real estate prices have certainly risen in the last five years, on a national level we are still a relative bargain. And here’s a more important fact but you can’t graph it – Lake Martin is one heck of a beautiful place. I grew up on the lake, and therefore have talked to a lot of people about their families’ experiences here. Maybe I have only met the happy ones, but I have never met a single person that said “you know I really regret buying that place on Lake Martin.” Plenty have said “man, the biggest mistake I made was selling (or letting mama / daddy sell) that lake place.” Nobody ever quotes their Return On Asset or their Debt To Equity Ratio of their lake home. They talk about memories, fun, water, boats, fish and sun.
If you don’t like to hear all of that stuff, I’ll return to the hard facts of the Journal article. Sure, Lake Martin has beautiful water, great views, peaceful mornings, fun nights – a rich, memory making Petri dish. So do a lot of places in the nation. But what we do have – that most don’t – are low property prices relative to the rest of the country. I know it sounds crazy to the folks who have watched the prices rise – but the Journal’s statisticians looked and found that the property prices in Dadeville, Alabama – one of the towns close to Lake Martin – had really low property prices for second homes relative to local income and other economic factors. In other words, they found that chances are slim that we are experiencing a dreaded B-word in real estate prices. I agree with them. I also agree that there are certain segments of the market that have a lot of supply or are overpriced or both. But, when compared as a whole to the rest of the nation’s vacation markets, we’re still a bargain – and a memory maker to boot.
