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Meyer ‘feels great’ in latest return to Florida
Healthy again, head coach eager to lead Gators to SEC title game for the fourth time in five years.

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MANCHESTER, MD…

Traditional career paths have become more of an obstacle course. The corporate ladder has many broken rungs. In the Gulf Coast region, ActionCOACH is seeing many new faces turning to franchising as an alternative venture and adventure.

“You’d think the worst economic times since the Great Depression would discourage budding entrepreneurs from going into business on their own,” said Karen Boyd, Global Master Licensee for ActionCOACH’s Gulf Atlantic region. “Yet with corporate layoffs, record unemployment rates, shrinking nest eggs and a number of other variables, many entrepreneurs are seeking franchises as a safer track to owning their own business—and that’s attracting franchise owners from a variety of backgrounds.

As the number one business coaching firm in the world, ActionCOACH has a slogan: Recession? What Recession, I have an ActionCOACH. The slogan serves not to deny the current tough economic times but to acknowledge the tremendous opportunities available in the current market—particularly if you’re looking to own your own business.

Some of the areas attracting new franchise owners include:

Corporate casualties and refugees Seniors and Retirees Working mothers Veterans Recent college graduates

Dan Zimanski, an ActionCOACH business coach based in Mandeville, Louisiana loved his job with Oreck until his world was literally turned upside down with Hurricane Katrina. “Oreck’s two main bases of operation were New Orleans and Long Beach, Mississippi—two places hit hardest by Katrina,” said Zimanski.

The company made a heroic effort to get back on the ground and even enjoyed its best year in 2006. The potential for another Katrina, however, played a deciding factor in the company moving its headquarters to Tennessee. Newly married with three stepchildren, Zimanski left the company he loved rather relocating.

“I’ve moved around quite a bit during my career and ActionCOACH  provided the opportunity to do something that I enjoy—coach small business owners—but to stay in a community that my family and I love and call home, particularly after Katrina,” said Zimanski.

Mark Raciappa, ActionCOACH franchise owner in Tallahassee, Florida, represents another new face of franchising: those who choose franchising as a lifestyle option.

Raciappa literally grew up in the supermarket business. Starting as a bagger as teen, he went on to manage a supermarket and eventually owned and operated his own. Tired of working six or even seven days a week, Raciappa put his market up for sale and began searching for a franchise opportunity. FranChoice, a franchise “matchmaking” company, directed him to ActionCOACH in 2006 and Raciappa has not looked back.

“Part of my decision to get out of the supermarket business was lifestyle, I wanted to be able to enjoy my weekends and holidays,” said Raciappa. “The other was doing something to help people. At ActionCOACH, we’re in the business of helping people. In the current economy, the real challenge is helping the small business owner see the great opportunities for success that are out there.

ActionCOACH is the world’s #1 business coaching firm and executive coaching firm. Operating

in 26 countries, the franchise has more than 1,000 offices around the world. That includes locations in the six states (and Washington DC) that make up the Gulf Atlantic region: Alabama (Pelham); Delaware; Florida (Coral Gables, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, North Miami, Palm Harbor, Pensacola Beach and Tallahassee); Louisiana (Baton Route, Loranger, Mandeville, New Orleans and Shreveport); Maryland (Baltimore, Freeland, Fallston, Manchester, Rockland, Silver Spring); and Mississippi (Madison).

Founded in 1993, the ActionCOACH has received numerous awards including Fastest Growing Franchise, Franchisee Satisfaction, Best Overall Company and has been named the number one business coaching franchise for more than five years running.

To learn more about ActionCOACH, contact Karen Boyd, www.karenboyd.actioncoach.comwww.karenboyd.actioncoach.com, (410) 374-3536.

Mobile Alabama is known for its carnival season that extends from November to January. Many tourists go to participate in this event. Bystanders can receive souvenirs from masked participants riding in colorful floats.

The season highlights the Masquerade Ball. This city is now within reach because of the hotels situated near the airport. The Masquerade Ball is 20 to 40 miles from the airport.

These are some of their airport hotels with excellent features.

The Renaissance Battle House

This hotel provides the most beautiful guest rooms in Mobile. The trip advisor traveler rated this hotel with 4 1/2 stars (5 being the highest).

With 8-storeys, it can house 238 rooms equipped with computers, coffee makers and a cable television.

The ceiling has a unique cathedral-like feature. Its lobby has “whispering arches” designs. This hotel provides tour assistance, business and fitness centers, on-site restaurant, and ballroom spaces.

They also allow pets. They have laundry, dry cleaning and shoe shine services as well.

This hotel is only four blocks away from the city’s prized museums, two blocks from the science center, the Gulf Coast Exploreum, and a block from Bienville Square. It is located in 26 N Royal St Mobile Alabama.

Holiday Inn

This hotel is located in 301 Government St. This newly renovated hotel houses 209 guest rooms that have a mini refrigerator, microwave oven and Internet access.

It features a skyview lounge that makes you enjoy the Mobile Bay. It also provides a business and a fitness center with big conference rooms. It has a bar area and outdoor swimming pool as well. The staff are accommodating and friendly.

Holiday Inn is 14 miles from the Mobile Regional Airport and is adjacent to both the business district and the historic district. You can even reach the downtown museums and the IMAX Theater in less than half a mile. The Mobile Bay Bears Stadium is 4 miles away while Greyhound Park is 14 miles away.

La Quintanna Inn

In this hotel, enjoy clean and spacious rooms that have internet access, coffee makers, hair dryers, iron and iron boards as well as cable television. Located in 816 West I-65 Service Road South, it is only 2 miles away from fine restaurants like Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and J.R.’s Smokehouse.

Museums and malls are only 5 miles away from here, while mobile downtown historical places are only 7 miles away. The Masquerade Ball is 40 miles away. T

This 2-storey hotel has 122 rooms, a fitness center, a pool, free parking lot and a laundry service. It also houses pets.

City Tour

Mobile Alabama has a very rich art and culture aspect. Aside from the great Mardi gras, the city cradles a variety of museums. To name a few, they have the Battleship Memorial Park that features historical military equipment.

The Mobile Carnival Museum features carnival memorabilia including costumes and floats used in the festivities. The Mobile Medical Museum features artifacts tracing the city’s history of medicine. There is also some Science Centers and a 3-D virtual theater.

You can also find 45 public parks in Mobile. There’s the Spanish plaza, Cathedral Square, a performing arts park, and a historic park called Font Conde. There are also theaters and opera houses in the city.

The city features establishments with unique and historic architectural designs. To name some, they have Barton Academy in historic Greek revival, the Hunter House in Italianate style, and the Scottish Rite Temple that features Egyptian Revival Architecture, the only one in the city.

Mobile is proud to have historic cemeteries as well. The Church street graveyard was founded in 1819 during the “yellow fever days,” a Jewish cemetery dated in the 1820s and the Old Catholic cemetery founded in 1848

Gulf Shores, Alabama

When you find Gulf Shores, AL real estate, you will find incredible beauty. The beach sands of the Gulf of Mexico here are sugar white and have plenty of room to play. There are terrific pubs and restaurants dotting the beach, as well as a first-rate state park. Gulf State Park has over 6,000 acres including two miles of beaches. You can camp out, rent a cottage, hike the nature trails and enjoy both fresh-water and salt-water fishing.

Gulf Coast Restaurants

As for the restaurants and pubs, you can wet your whistle at the Pink Pony Pub or grab some authentic southern cooking at Lulu’s at Homeport Marina, the famous restaurant owned by Jimmy Buffet’s sister. The food is mouth-watering good and the music and atmosphere are always festive. There are dozens more to choose from and you can try them all!

Ft. Morgan

While you are here, you should visit Fort Morgan, site of the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay. Fort Morgan became well known during the Civil War. During the Battle of Mobile Bay, Admiral D.G. Farragut was in command of the Union fleet when the U.S.S. Tecumseh struck a mine. The fleet hesitated under the guns of Fort Morgan, to which Farragut issued that famous order, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!!” The fort continued as a coast artillery post until after World War II. It is remarkably well-preserved and tours are frequent and inexpensive.

Family Fun

Once you have investigated that famous historical fort, you have a variety of activities to entertain you. There are a number of mini-golf courses, including Pirate’s Island and Zooland with all sorts of cutesy zoo decorations. If you want to see a real zoo, check out the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo which has made quite a comeback since Katrina. You can see lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, a petting zoo, reptile house and more.

Dolphin Cruise

Why not take a dolphin watching cruise? There are dolphin that live and play in Perdido Bay. Or maybe you would rather enjoy a romantic dinner cruise at sunset. The more adventurous visitors have a great time with sailing charters. The choices are all good as you take pleasure in the emerald waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the enchanting bays of the intercoastal waterway.

If you are looking for beautiful property, wonderful friends, and great southern hospitality, Gulf Shores AL real estate is not just a financial investment; it’s a personal one.

Make a choice between an urban or a rural setting for your proud purchase from among the jewels in Alabama Foreclosure Homes.

Alabama is blessed with economic growth, stable home prices, a low cost of living, and excellent value in very affordably priced homes. The rate of foreclosure filings, although up on last year, is well below the majority of other states, and finding the best of these discounted properties may take you a little time. Especially if you have a longing to move into one of those best cities to be-in the state according to some polls; Helena, Alabaster or Birmingham.

A dream home in Dixie is well within your reach. Average foreclosures sales price is around $67,000 right now, with best in the land savings recorded around 40%. Never has your first investment been so affordable, or so promising to profit!

The pre foreclosure period in Alabama is short, a foreclosure action through the courts rare, and will take between 2 to 3 months only until the sale at the courthouse. If you hanker for a property already under notice of auction sale, make sure your financing is in place before you talk to the seller, who at this stage is the borrower in default. If you don’t have access to the cash, get the details of the default amount from the same excellent listings service that showed you the foreclosed property currently available in Alabama., check out other liens, and if there is some equity in that perfect place, consider assuming the loan in question.

Be aware of Alabama foreclosure law before you contemplate bidding at auction; the borrower has a right to redeem for up to 12 months.

Should you miss both opportunities by design or bad luck, cast your net a little further and seek out the big fish for southern frying in real estate owned Alabama foreclosed homes.

If you’re like a lot of Realtors and home buyers, you’re probably in the car a lot, driving to and from home showings, appointments with various real estate professionals and to and from your place of work. Sometimes, music can make those times in the car a little less onerous, but you also want something to get you and your passengers in the mood for looking at yet another property. Here is a list of songs that you might consider for your playlist:

Coming Home/Going Home:

On My Way Home – Enya
Home For A Rest – Spirit of the West
Within A Mile of Home – Flogging Molly
Who Says You Can’t Go Home – Bon Jovi
500 Miles – The Proclaimers
Homeward Bound – Simon & Garfunkel

Owning a Home:

Our House – Crosby Stills, Nash & Young
A House is Not a Home – Ella Fitzgerald
Our House – Madness
Heaven is a Place on Earth – Belinda Carlisle
Once in a Lifetime – Talking Heads
Home Sweet Home – Motley Crue

When It Just Isn’t Going Well

In Every Dream Home a Heartache – Roxy Music
Little Boxes – Malvina Reynolds
Burning Down the House – Talking Heads (Another torch-the-house song. But, hey, it’s cool.)
Take Me Home – Phil Collins (this is all about a patient in a mental institution, but, hey, it’s got ‘home’ in the chorus…)
Sunny Came Home – Shawn Colvin (of course, Sunny torches her home, but hey, it’s still got a great rhythm)

Location-Oriented:

Sweet Home Alabama – Lynard Skynard
My Tennessee Mountain Home – Dolly Parton
Home on the Range – traditional
Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver
California – Joni Mitchell
House in California – Keb Mo

Property Type/Style:

Cadillac Ranch – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Love Shack – The B-52’s
Pink Houses – John Cougar Mellencamp
Country House – Blur

These are only a selection of the many songs about houses and real estate. Flip through your mp3 and CD collection to see if you can find more. As a rule, positive and easy listening songs are the best accompaniment when driving to yet another “perfect home”. Location songs can also be good choices, if you have some that have to do with the area.

Unfortunately, the effectiveness of subtle messages has never been proven to actually effect people’s choices. However, it’s great to have some songs that can focus and motivate one in the realm of home selling, even if they don’t compel the client to buy!

Huntsville Alabama has become one of the better cities to live in the United States. Huntsville, with its surrounding natural beauty like the lakes, rivers and the mountains, is also the a city of technology, known as the southern technology capitol competing with Silicon Valley.

Redstone Arsenal, an Army military base, is receiving a major expansion due to BRAC. Extremely sensitive armaments are developed on this base. BRAC isn’t the only drive for the thriving Huntsville economy. The area has Northrop Grumman, NASA, Boeing, Marshall Spaceflight Center, Ford, Toyota and has the nation’s 2nd largest research park; Cummings Research Park.

The almost 170,000 residents is expected to significantly increase through 2012. This will be driven by the expansion of Research Park and BRAC. This growth will be adding to the 310,000 residents of Madison County. The lifestyle in Huntsville and Madison County boasts a clean healthy environment, great natural resources, and less congestion. Huntsville is in the top 10 Green Cities in the United States. The University of Alabama Huntsville is located in the heart of Huntsville near all of Huntsville’s major attractions.

When it comes to relocation all of northern Alabama boasts one of the best standards of living. Utilities, property taxes, insurance and home values are lower in Huntsville. This has made the area an attractive place to live. Most people who come to Huntsville never want to leave. They discover that it is an awesome place to live. The area is family friendly and convenient to many other great areas in the Southeast. Nashville and Birmingham are within a two hour drive, and Atlanta is just over a three hour drive.

Huntsville Al Real Estate, as mentioned above, is one of the best values in the country. Homes on the market have an average of eighty five days before selling. Home values are holding within two to three percent. Many areas of the U.S. are seeing values plunging twenty to thirty percent. The average cost of a home is around $200,000 and the average size is around 2,000 square feet.

The five-mile stretch between Bailey Cove Road and South Memorial Parkway and south of Airport road is the most popular Huntsville Alabama Real Estate. In the vicinity is the most desired school, Grissom High School. The neighborhoods are located conveniently to shopping and Redstone Arsenal. Also in the area is Inspiration on Green Mountain, Huntsville’s first Green Development, establishing construction and energy efficient standards based on NAHB Green Building Guidelines.

Inspiration is not the only new community in Huntsville. River Landing Huntsville is another great community. Homes begin in the $130,000’s range. The community has six pools, tennis courts, a basketball court and six distinct neighborhoods. You can play in the pools or take the boat to the Tennessee River only three miles away. River Landing Huntsville is a new community by Breland Companies, a Huntsville based Development Company. The style of the homes will be from Courtyard Homes to Estate Homes. The first four neighborhoods will be Pebble Creek, The Promenade, Nickel Creek and the Willows. This community offers everything for the retiree, single parent, and large family. It is only minutes from Redstone Arsenal, Bridge Street and restaurants.

If you would like additional information, click on a link of interest in this article. If you are looking for specific real estate you can also search the Huntsville MLS.

Collier Swecker video blogs about how the best marketing in the world can very rarely overcome an overpriced home listing. Collier discusses the situation where Birmingham AL home sellers face when they overprice their home for sale but demand world class marketing of their home. These sellers more often than not are perplexed why the marketing of the home is not working. They often blame the Realtors for not getting their home out to the masses but do not want to consider the fact that their Realtor may be marketing their home like a rockstar but no buyers are wanting to see their home because they have chosen to price the home out of the market. The morale of this story is that overpriced listing NEVER sell! The Mega Agent Real Estate Team has one of the best marketing programs of all real estate agent teams in the Birmingham area and even we cannot overcome a listing that is priced too high.

In recent years, people have quickly forgotten how compelling apartment living can be. There are many excellent apartments in Birmingham, Alabama. More importantly, there are many splendid things that these apartments have to offer everyone, whether it be families, young couples, singles, or the elderly. You simply need to decide what your priorities for your living space are and find apartments that fit those requirements. While you consider your preferences, you may want to think about the five reasons below that people often overlook when considering the next place they will call home.

1) Apartments in Birmingham, Alabama offer many more features than one can find in a house You are very likely to find many excellent choices in your price range for apartments. This may not be the case when it comes to houses. More importantly, you aren’t as likely to find quite the number of amenities (pools, hot tubs, putting greens, fishing lakes, appliances) in most rental houses, duplexes, or when you purchase your own house.

2) Apartments in Birmingham, Alabama almost always offer the convenience and comfort of central air conditioning. It seems like such a small thing until you are paying to have it installed in your house or the entire family is standing under one window unit trying to find relief from the August heat. As if that isn’t enough, the apartment communities also have someone maintain those units for you. You don’t have to be concerned about changing filters or making costly repairs.

3) No lawn work! This is something that can’t be stressed enough for many people. While many apartment communities are beginning to offer community gardens for those who appreciate working with the earth, there is no need to mow your own lawn. This frees up time to enjoy the fishing lake, putting green, or just head over to the pool for an afternoon.

4) Lower insurance rates than when purchasing a home. Insurance for renters covers the contents of your apartment only. The rates are much lower than if you were paying insurance for the entire value of the structure of your dwelling.

5) Better budgeting. When you rent one of the many great apartments Birmingham, Alabama. has to offer, you do not need to set aside funds each month for emergency repairs, replacements, etc…at least not for plumbing, heating, electricity, roofing, or appliances. You don’t have rising property taxes to be concerned with and many utilities are covered in your rent.

Obviously, these are not the only reasons that many people prefer apartment living but they are definitely reasons to weigh carefully when looking for your next home. With so many great apartments in Birmingham, Alabama. it makes sense to at least include them in your search.