What Home Buyers Should Know About Mt Laurel AL
The Town of Mt Laurel is a picturesque community set within the wooded areas just outside of Birmingham.Mt Laurel offers shopping, dining, schools, churches and businesses all within walking distance of each-other. The town prides itself on its access to outdoor recreation as well as its promotion of a healthy lifestyle. Mt Laurel’s beautiful settings are complete with lakes, parks, picnic areas, and tree-lined sidewalks. Because it is a growing community there are plenty of new homes for sale in Mt Laurel, varying in both design and price in order to fit the tastes of most shoppers.
Thornton Homes is the proud developer of Dunnavant Square, a family home community right down the street from Mt Laurel with European style homes for sale. Current homes for sale near Mt Laurel in Dunnavant Square include townhomes, carriage homes and villas, all with many modern and convenient amenities. The beautiful homes for sale in this spectacular and unique community setting are the future of Thornton Homes’ vision. A few of our available new home features in the Dunnavant Square community are:
– Brick exteriors
– 3 and 4 bedroom plans
– security systems
– covered porches
– 9′ ceilings
– crown moldings
– hardwood floors
– fireplaces
– granite counter tops
– stainless steel appliances
One particularly desirable feature of Mt Laurel is its focus on bringing residents closer to each other and to the community itself. The town follows the ideals of ‘Traditional Neighborhood Development’, a simple concept of helping residents rely less on automobiles by designing the community to place main amenities and attractions conveniently near the center of the neighborhood. Through this concept Mt Laurel has become a self sustainable community and has spared its residents the drawbacks of typical urban sprawl.
Shops, parks and restaurants have been placed among homes and schools, allowing residents to be within walking distance of most key resources. The Traditional Neighborhood Development of Mt Laurel promotes a healthier, friendlier and greener community.
Mt Laurel is the perfect place for those searching for new homes for sale who want easy access to the city of Birmingham, without the hustle and bustle. With plenty of parks, playgrounds, sports fields, and swimming spots, home owners in Mt Laurel have many ways to escape from the city.
Contact us or visit our Dunnavant Square community page to see available homes and floorplans of our townhomes and villas!

Real Estate Market – Pending Home Sales Surge
As the demand for new homes for sale in Birmingham and surrounding communities continues to grow, we look back over the previous months as to the effectiveness of programs like the home buy tax credit have been on the industry. Below is an article by RealtyTimes.com on the current conditions of the regional and national real estate markets:
Pending Home Sales Surge Continuing (U.S.)
Pending home sales have risen for three consecutive months, reflecting the broad impact of the home buyer tax credit and favorable housing affordability conditions, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.
The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator, rose 6.0 percent to 110.9 based on contracts signed in April, from an upwardly revised 104.6 in March, and is 22.4 percent higher than April 2009 when it was 90.6. That follows gains of 7.1 percent in March and 8.3 percent in February.
Pending home sales are at the highest level since last October when the index reached 112.4 and first-time buyers were rushing to beat the initial deadline for the tax credit. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which usually occur with a lag time of one or two months.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said this second round of surging sales from the tax credit extension looks as strong as the original tax credit. “There were concerns that only a small pool of buyers were left to take advantage of the tax credit extension. But evidently the tax stimulus, combined with improved consumer confidence and low mortgage interest rates, are contributing to surging sales,” he said. “The housing market has to get back on its own feet and now appears to be in a good position to return to sustainable levels even without government stimulus, provided the economy continues to add jobs.” NAR expects a net of 1 million additional jobs in the second half of this year and about 2 million in 2011.
“The home buyer tax credit brought close to 1 million additional buyers into the market, which is now helping the trade-up market and has significantly improved the inventory situation. This stabilized home prices more quickly and has preserved about $900 billion in home equity; in turn, that is keeping additional households from going underwater and risking foreclosure,” Yun said.
The PHSI in the Northeast jumped 29.5 percent to 97.9 in April and is 24.5 percent above a year ago. In the Midwest the index rose 4.1 percent to 104.2 and is 17.9 percent above April 2009. Pending home sales in the South slipped 0.6 percent to an index of 123.9, but is 31.3 percent higher than a year ago. In the West the index rose 7.5 percent to 107.9 and is 12.0 percent higher than April 2009.
“A big concern surfacing recently is insufficient time to close the deal at the settlement table. Under normal circumstances, two months would be enough time from contract signing to settlement date,” Yun said. “However, the recent housing cycle has brought long delays related to the short sales approval process by banks, and from ongoing appraisal issues. There could be a sizable number of homebuyers who responded to tax credit incentives, but may encounter problems meeting the settlement deadline by June 30.” Because of these market challenges, NAR has asked Congress to provide flexibility on the deadline for closing.
The National Association of REALTORS®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing more than 1.2 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.
Click here to read the original article on RealityTimes.com
