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About Town: An Email Interview with Laura Silsbee

An Email Interview with Laura Silsbee

Laura is an agent at LAH, and the founder of Mountain Brook Trading Company. She and her husband Meade have three children and live in Mountain Brook.



On Mar 29, at 8:02 a.m. info@abouttownsite.com wrote:
So what's the current state of the Birmingham real-estate market?

laurasilsbee@lahrealestate.com wrote:
Times are a changing again in the real estate market, but this time for the better! We are having less inventory this year as compared with last year which means that there are more people buying again. Just in LAH alone on the residential sales side we have seen a dramatic difference in the upward swing. Our company had a total sales volume of $225 million compared to $170 million the year before. That is a 32% increase. In 2012 we had 797 closings and the year before we had 612. A 30% increase. Plus the average sales price has increased to: $282,498 from $278,897. All of this is very positive for our city.

On April 2, at 9:02 a.m. info@abouttownsite.com wrote:
What about commercial real estate?

laurasilsbee@lahrealestate.com wrote:
The LAH family is unique because we are both a residential and commercial company. On the commercial side we are seeing a much different world than what we saw in the past few years. In the early and mid 2000s we saw a lot of speculative development for shopping centers with large "anchor" stores, new office & industrial developments being built.

Now that the Birmingham real estate market is coming back after the recession, the transactions we are seeing and involved with are primarily owner-occupied small businesses. The "mom and pop" business owners of the town.

Another interesting thing is that office space is moving very slowly right now. The medical tenants are the main businesses that are moving into the vacant offices in town.

On April 3, at 7:42 p.m. info@abouttownsite.com wrote:
Is there is a major resurgence in the small "mom and pop" businesses?

laurasilsbee@lahrealestate.com wrote:
There are not necessarily more mom and pop businesses. However, as their leases expire these businesses are realizing it is cheaper to purchase a building instead of renewing the lease. The drive for this happening is because of the lower interest rates and the lower prices of the buildings. So it ends up being cheaper for these businesses to own instead of lease

On April 3, at 3:40 p.m. info@abouttownsite.com wrote:
Is it a buyer's or seller's market now?

laurasilsbee@lahrealestate.com wrote:
Actually, it is both a buyer's and a seller's market, which is highly unusual. It is a buyer's market because most sellers are pricing their homes reasonably from the start, we have a good number of homes on the market to select from and the mortgage rates are still fantastic!!!

It is a seller's market because there are many buyers now wanting to purchase again after a lull, the rates are great (which encourages the buyers to buy), and we have seen multiple offers on several properties.

 On April 8, at 12: 12 p.m. info@abouttownsite.com wrote:
So you started Mountain Brook Trading just a few months ago on Facebook, and you already have something like 14,000 members; what's going on with that group?

laurasilsbee@lahrealestate.com wrote:
I really had no idea it would grow to be that big at all. I didn't even know MBT would take off. But when I started it my plan was to sell some good things that my family and I did not use anymore. These items were still of excellent quality and really too nice to donate. So I invited my local friends on Facebook, and then they invited their friends and so on. There are some great items being posted for sale everyday.

I have since started a Facebook page and I am working on a website to help promote our locally owned businesses within Birmingham. We have such a great town with great people that support these local businesses and I want to see them succeed.

LAH Community Blood Drive | Tuesday, May 14

Community Blood Drive at LAH Real Estate, Homewood Office from 9AM - 3PM on May 14. This is a great cause, so please give blood and save a life.We'll see you there!

Austin Blair Named Head of LAH Commercial Real Estate

Austin Blair, Qualifying Broker of LAH Commercial Real Estate, LLC
Maurice Humphries, president of LAH Real Estate, Inc., has announced that Austin Blair has been promoted to head LAH Commercial as qualifying broker and sales manager. Austin will lead LAH's team of 11 commercial associates in day-to-day brokerage activities from the LAH corporate office
in Mountain Brook.

A graduate of Auburn University, Austin has been practicing commercial real estate in the Greater Birmingham Area since 2005. He has handled a wide variety of transactions including sales and leasing of Industrial, Office, Retail, Land and Multi-Family real estate. He and his wife Kelsey reside in Birmingham, and in his spare time Austin enjoys most any outdoor activity.

March Top LAH Agents

LAH March Top Agents

February Top LAH Agents

Top LAH Agents in the month of February.

How Are We Doing?


In 2011, LAH produced a total sales volume of $176,033,906.
Last year our sales totaled $232,071,135, an increase of 31.8%.
In 2011, our sales associates earned total commissions of $3,442,299.

In 2012, we earned $4,680,922, an increase of $1,238,623 or 35.98%.
In both years, our most active month for closings was June.

February, March and April are our most active months for listings by a fairly good margin.
28 of our agents had over $2,500,000 in production last year, 16 of us produced in excess of $4,000,000, 11 agents produced better than $5,000,000 and our top four producers all surpassed $13,000,000 in sales for 2012.

In the entire MLS, LAH ranked 4th in production overall while our average sales price was the highest of the four by far.

In our core market areas, "Over The Mountain" we ranked 3rd and again we maintained a considerable lead in average price among the three top companies.

Under Debbie Veteto's initiative, our Corporate Services Program continues to become a force to be reckoned with in Birmingham. With 45 community tours from 10 different Corporate clients, 2011-2012 has produced 10 closings and 14 renter to buyer conversion clients. In the first two months of 2013, Debbie conducted 13 community tours of Birmingham producing two buyer clients referred to agents, one in Homewood and one that recently closed in the Mountain Brook office and she is currently working with three renter prospects who will be converting to buyers within the next year.

In 2012, our relocation department headed by Pam Nickoli oversaw 225 incoming referrals, 87 of which were corporate listing opportunities. Pam's efforts resulted in 95 closings for our agents last year, a conversion rate of 42%.

And maybe best of all, 22 agents joined our ranks since 2012: Misty Wade, Frances Robinson, Holt Rast, Roxanne Lamb, Jennica McMillian, Barbara Williams, Russell Kurtts, Walter LaGroue, Sarah Sams, Peter Northcutt, Roger Conville, Krisalyn Crye, Jackie Gray, Jonathan Hogan, Natalie Innerarity, Harry Greenburg, Cynthia Zanaty, Dan Goff, Liza Roitman, Reba Myer, LeeAnn Davis, Rosalie Lowy.

I'd say we're doing pretty well and for 2013 we're off to the best start we've had in many years. It's an honor to be associated with such an outstanding group of professionals.



Maurice Humphries
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