The City “Where Florida Begins” Remains a Bright Spot in 2021 by Carole VanSickle Ellis In 1901, Jacksonville, Florida, earned the dubious title of “home to the third-largest urban fire in the United States” when The Great Fire of 1901 sparked from a kitchen chimney, ignited a fiber factory, and destroyed a full 146 city blocks. The fire wrought about $15 million in damage ($2 billion today). Despite the fact
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Queen City Real Estate Ramps Up in 2021 by Carole VanSickle Ellis Charlotte, North Carolina, is probably best known for banking. Despite trailing 21 other U.S. cities in size and falling firmly into the “second-tier” or 18-hour city categories in economic parlance, the Queen City is the second-largest banking center in the United States (behind only New York City) and has been successfully luring major employers, including Fortune 500 behemoths
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The “Crossroads of the West” Boasts Enduring Strength at the Core by Carole VanSickle Ellis With a housing market holding strong in both single-family and multifamily sectors, an unemployment rate under half the national average in the last quarter of 2020, and an emerging trend in interstate “near-shoring” as West Coast businesses move operations inland to avoid high taxes and stringent health policy restrictions, the Salt Lake City real estate
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A Strong Market is Nothing New for this Northeastern County. By: Carole VanSickle Ellis Although many aspects of the 2020 U.S. economy are in limbo—if not all-out freefall—the residential real estate sector has remained on relatively firm footing. In markets in suburban and rural areas, single-family housing complete with a little personal space for “outdoor living” has become one of the hottest commodities in the country. This is particularly true
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Despite COVID-19, the “Heart of Georgia” Market is Holding Strong. by Carole VanSickle Ellis Macon, Georgia, sits squarely in the geographic center of the state, a location that earned the city its nickname, “The Heart of Georgia.” And while the Georgia’s “heart” may have been historically overshadowed by its capital, Atlanta (“Hotlanta”), real estate in Macon has taken an unprecedented turn skyward in 2020 thanks in large part to a
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The Steel City’s innovative spirit keeps the market hot under duress. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has not historically been a city of extremes. During the housing boom, the subsequent housing crash and the Great Recession of the early 2000s, property values remained largely flat relative to the dramatic swings in the rest of the country. During the last 30 years, unemployment rates have never ventured into double-digit territory. Instead, they have remained
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