"Call me an optimist, or call me a realist…… prosperity is truly headed our way.  If you’ve had your head in the sand for the last 3 - 6 months, you’ve missed plenty of great news about our little area of the world.  Northrup/EADS was awarded a huge 10-15 year contract totaling $40 BILLION to replace the U.S. Air Force aging refueling tankers at Brookley Field in Mobile.  Although being challenged by their competitor Boeing, odds are this decision will stand.  Combined with the $3.7 BILLION ThyssenKrupp AG steel processing plant currently under construction, the $624 MILLION Dale Earnhardt Motorsport Park scheduled to break ground soon and the $150 MILLION Eastern Shore Town Center being built and we’re looking at over 5,000 direct, well paying new jobs in our own back yard.  Why is this happening?  Our area has excellent overall port, rail and highway transportation infrastructure along with considerable land and labor cost advantages over almost all other areas of our country.  With U.S. and foreign companies looking so much harder at ways to control costs and improve the bottom line, the dollar cost savings and efficiencies we offer will continue to make business both large and small look at relocating here as an attractive option. 

…let’s take a look at how this will affect our local real estate market….  The big companies relocating here will not only bring a significant amount of direct new jobs, there will be thousands more that will off-shoot from smaller companies starting up or relocating here just to support those big companies.  Other organizations nationally and internationally looking for efficiencies are taking note and will also consider doing the same.  With a low unemployment rate and quality jobs becoming more available, people in high cost or distressed areas looking to improve their quality of life will want to move here.  As a result, the current oversupply of homes and lots locally will dry up and housing prices will rise.  Our beaches, which are better than almost any others on the Gulf, will continue to attract more vacationers and help that real estate market to fully recover.  In the big picture and with current prices down, there may not be a better time to buy a home.

We may be in the midst of a temporary economic downturn, causing some of us real pain at the moment.  But we have always been resilient and rest assured that a significant series of events has already begun that will have a tremendously positive and long-term impact to our local economy.  Don’t let the national news media lump their negative shock news about other areas of the country hold you back from the good news that is happening in our little corner of the world.  The next 10 years holds so much promise for both Baldwin and Mobile counties.  Life is short, life is good and our future is bright!"

Vince Hughes is a Certified Mortgage Planner with First Gulf Bank, Mortgage Division

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.