There are Lots of Reasons to be Bullish on the “Bull City” By Carole VanSickle Ellis When Google announced in March 2021 that it would create its next “engineering hub” in Durham, North Carolina, many investors in the area were not particularly surprised. After all, Durham, also known as the “Bull City” due to the longstanding presence of Bull Durham Tobacco, the first nationally marketed tobacco brand in the United
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There’s Plenty of Charm Left in the South’s “Magic City” By Carole VanSickle Ellis If you were hoping the much-hyped housing “cooldown” would make things more affordable in southeastern cities like Birmingham, Alabama, then it might be time to change your wait-and-see strategy for a faster-paced approach. In the southern “Magic City,” which boasts the largest metropolitan area in Alabama and claims a history of economic growth of nearly 4,000%
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The Packer City is Ripe for Portfolio Expansion…If an Investor is Creative By Carole VanSickle Ellis During the Great Depression, Green Bay, Wisconsin, avoided the worst of the economic downturn thanks to the prevalence of toilet paper companies in the city. In fact, with the introduction of splinter-free toilet paper in the early 1930s, the city’s recession-resistance was all but guaranteed. Today, the “Toilet Paper City” is known more popularly
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“Famously Hot” for Decades, City Remains a “Southern Hot Spot” By Carole Vansickle Ellis Columbia, South Carolina, has considered itself “Famously Hot” since 2008, when the state capital officially swapped its former slogan, “Where Friendliness Flows,” for the simpler description referencing, among other things, the city’s summer high temperatures of around 94°F. Unlike most city slogans that tend to last no more than four years, “Famously Hot” lasted nearly a
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“Space City” Real Estate Still Reaching for the Stars By Carole VanSickle Ellis After setting record after record for home sales volumes and prices in 2021, the Houston, Texas, housing market barreled into 2022 at top speed. While home prices in many of the country’s hottest markets “fell” to single-digit appreciation in early 2022, Space City real estate kicked off the New Year with 19.1% year-over-year gains in value. While
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Looking for Stabilization, Growth in 2021 and Forward by Carole VanSickle Ellis Like most of the country right now, the Springfield, Massachusetts, housing market is hot. Median sales prices rose more than 17% in the Springfield area between January 2020 and January 2021, and Realtor.com reported in May that homes were selling, on average, for 2.63%above listing price. However, there are some signs that the Springfield market could “stabilize”as early
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