A local look at new rules for Realtors

Commission settlement, interest rates examined in housing market outlook

Story by Carol Pappas

There’s more to being a Realtor than opening a door and showing a home, and a settlement by the National Association of Realtors that took effect Aug. 17 is being viewed as a means of demonstrating just that.

The suit centered on the nondisclosure of a buyer’s agent commission when a house is sold. The commission for agents for the buyer and the seller was shared, averaging about a 6percent split. As part of the settlement, the commission for the buyer’s agent and the seller’s agent are no longer shared when a home is on the Multiple Listing Service

“This is not a bad thing,” said ERA King CEO Josh Wright. “It’s us being more transparent in dealing with the client.”

Basically, the seller’s price increased to cover the total commission, and it appeared the buyer’s agent was working for free.

Now Realtors disclose who is paying and how. “Commission was always negotiable, it’s just more transparent is all as an industry we’re doing,” Wright said. A real estate agent is not part of the contract. The agreement is between the buyer and seller, and the commission is part of that agreed upon price.

Since the requirements of the suit have gone into effect, “we haven’t seen much disruption,” he said. As the trainer for ERA’s sales force, he stresses that they need to understand their own value to the process and relate that to the client.

He pointed to the over 100 services Realtors provide to their clients. Some of the key services include property valuation, negotiating the contract, marketing the house – a sizable cost and undertaking – overseeing the inspection process to make sure it is done thoroughly and facilitating appraisals.

Wright, whose background is in finance, sees the outlook for the housing market in a positive light. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a half point in September, which will have a good impact on financial markets, but it’s not expected to impact mortgage rates significantly in the immediate future. A better indicator, he said, is the 10-year treasury bond. Mortgage rates follow that trend.

Over the next 12 months, he expects mortgage rates to slowly drop, probably into the 5.5 percent to 6.25percent range. In the fourth quarter of 2025 or into the first quarter of 2026, he anticipates mortgage rates to be in the high 4percent range.

Rates would need to get into the 5percent to 5.5percent range “before it starts booming again. It’s closer to a buyer’s market right now.” A buyer’s vs. seller’s market is determined by how long a house is on the market. When it’s less than six months, it’s a seller’s market.

“We’re closer to a buyer’s market,” Wright said. “We’re starting to see things getting more normal.”

During the COVID pandemic, new construction “went away,” he said. Now it’s coming back in significant ways. In St. Clair, much of the growth is due to large builders developing subdivisions with a high number of homes and having the ability to offer their own mortgage rates in the 5.5percent range.

It’s still good news, Wright reasoned. “Overall, it’s the sign of a healthy market and a great one for our local economy.”

Keep on tickin’

Pell City man repairs clocks, jewelry

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Graham Hadley

James Denney had been a jewelry repairman for six years when a woman brought him an antique Ansonia clock. Probably made in the late 1800s or early 1900s, it had not run in 40 years.

 “I know you do jewelry repairs, think you can do clocks?,” she asked Denney. He could tell her heart was in it, so he took a stab at it.

“Turns out all it needed was cleaning and oiling,” he says. “She had tears in her eyes when she picked it up. That got me started.”

Denney had gone to school to learn jewelry repairing, but there are no such schools for repairing clocks. So, he bought a series of video tapes on the subject and began tinkering with grandfather clocks and grandmother clocks, the latter being smaller versions of the former. And yes, there are (even smaller) granddaughter clocks, too, but he hasn’t serviced any of those. He also works on mantel and wall clocks.

James Denney heating up a piece of jewelry he made

The first clock that he actually repaired came back to him, but he got it right the second go-round. “It’s very rare that someone doesn’t say how happy they are with my being here because it’s so hard to find a clock man,” Denney says.

Even though self-taught, he does have a filial background to draw from. His step-grandfather, Kirk E. Ross, ran Ross’ Jewelry in downtown Pell City in the 1960s. “I watched him my whole life,” Denney says. “Also, my dad was a jeweler for about five or six years, and an uncle had a jewelry shop in Florence.”

His business name, X-Dross Jewelry & Clock Repair, is a blend of names and a Biblical meaning. “My dad’s name was Denney, and his stepfather was named Ross,” he explains. “I wanted to blend my step-granddad’s name with mine, hence Dross. Then I found that word in the Bible, in Exodus, where God describes his people as having become ‘dross,’ meaning having impurity or foreign matter to them. In other words, slag. So, I added an ‘X’ to indicate ‘no dross,’ because it was Xed out.”

His shop is on the second floor in a building that houses several shops at 1600 Martin Street, just off US 231. His wife, Crystal, has a specialty dog boutique, Jazz’m Up Pet Salon, on the first floor. The front room of X-Dross is both the entry area and his clock workshop. It’s decorated with plants, clocks and paintings of Jesus, while a Bible can often be found on the arm of a comfy sofa.

A back room serves as a place for jewelry repair and includes a high-speed steamer for cleaning small items, a small Crockpot for acid dips, and an ultra-sonic jewelry cleaner. His watch and jewelry lathe is in his storage room, and there’s another storage room that he hopes to turn into a display area some day. He’s buying a new lathe for clock works because bigger gears require bigger tools.

If you’re in the shop at the top of the hour, you’ll hear five of his own clocks chime, but not all at once. He set them to chime in succession. At home, he has two clocks, one a grandfather that’s a “regulator” clock (powered by a weighted and geared mechanism). He changed out the handles with drawer knobs, painted the case and used adhesive blue varnish over the paint, and replaced its Korean-style motor with a German movement by Hermle.

He has serviced many brands of antique clocks, including a green mantel clock with Greek columns on each side of the clock face that was manufactured by the Sessions Clock Company.

He once took in a Black Forest cuckoo clock that had a “messed up” music box. He replaced one mechanism on it. He’s working on an Hermle mantel clock for a friend. “It probably has a bent timing arbor,” Denney says.

He restored the body of a crystal-enclosed mantel clock from the late 1700s or early 1800s by sanding it with fine sandpaper and steel wool, then buffing it.

Grandfather clocks are his favorites to work on because they are bigger, so it’s much easier to see the components. “I really enjoy restoring the cases as well as the workings,” he says. “The other day, a man brought me a Waterbury Clock Company clock from an old fire station that had caught on fire. Half the gears were bent. I bent them back, and it worked fine.”

 The toughest he’s ever worked on was a Herschede brand, a grandfather clock with a tube in back and a big hammer that hits on the hour and plays music. “The pendulum was not in sync with the gears, but I fixed it,” he says. “I had to readjust the pendulum’s swing and adjust the verge (tick-tock motion) mechanism.”

Another man brought in an Ingraham clock, and Denney replaced the motor, because the man was in a hurry and did not have time to wait for him to fix the movement. “Every job finished brings me a sense of accomplishment,” Denney says.

He has also repaired small timepieces, like a clock face in a tiny figure in the shape of a teapot. That one simply needed its hands bent and a new battery. “I work on all types of clocks now, but eventually will give up battery-powered ones,” he says.

So, what are the requirements for what he does? “Patience and finesse,” he says. “I don’t get bored with my work, and I have an eye for details.’

Showing how the hammers in a chime mechanism are timed

A favorite aspect of his business is making house calls. That’s right, this clock repairman will go to your house to service your clocks. “I like to service clocks in people’s houses because I like meeting people,” he explains. “Often, all the clock needs is a slight adjustment, but they want to keep their clocks going so I will oil them. I use a synthetic oil because it cleans and lubes without leaving a residue to build up, the way natural oil does.”

Recently, Denney has started “messing around” with gold plating on jewelry. He picks up a chain with an initial pendant on it, explaining, “That one didn’t turn out as shiny as I wanted.” He’s doing it for a friend. He can make gold or silver rings using a mold made of cuttlefish bone. “Each mold can only be used once because the hot metal burns it,” he says.

As for watches, their seals tend to dry rot and break, or corrosion can set in, or the hands come loose. Sometimes, the numbers on a watch face come off. But he can handle any of those problems. Ironically, there’s a wooden puzzle hanging on one wall of his shop that functions as a clock … when it works. That makes for an interesting conversation with a clock repairman.Goforth, Mayor Thomas, Lucy Cleaver, Lee Jeffrey, Mandi Rae Trot, Candice Hill, Blair Goodgame and Morrison; Springville Parks and Rec Board; bands and individual musicians who played on the side stage and vendors.

St. Clair Rx

Just what the doctors ordered

If you’re in need of medical services, no matter the specialty, chances are you’ll find it in St. Clair County.

That wasn’t always the case. Little more than a decade ago, an aging hospital served the community, but it was not able to keep pace with a quickly growing medical industry. A new, state-of-the-art hospital – Ascension St. Vincent’s St. Clair – soon took its place, offering everything from one-day surgeries to a comprehensive list of specialties, procedures, imaging and quality healthcare close to home.

The Col. Robert L. Howard Veterans Home, a model for the nation, and the School of Nursing and Allied Health at Jefferson State Community College, round out the medical landscape fronting Interstate 20 and serves an entire region.

Main Street Pediatrics opens in Pell City

Just announced is the hospital’s acquisition by UAB Health System, known throughout the country and around the world as a leader in medicine. The move is predicted to enhance the hospital’s ability to provide top-notch healthcare throughout the region.

Meanwhile, Pell City is home to two growing and thriving primary care practices – Complete Health-Pell City and Pell City Internal Family Medicine.  They offer much more than primary care with specialists of all descriptions providing services. Pediatric care in offered through Springville Pediatrics in Springville, Purhoit Pediatrics in Moody, and Main Street Pediatrics in Pell City, which has moved into the clinic formerly occupied by Children’s.

Complete Health also operates practices in Moody and Trussville along with its Birmingham locations, and Grandview is located in Springville.

Physical therapy services can be found in Pell City at Therapy South, ATI at PCIFM, Drayer in Leeds, Ascension St. Vincent’s St. Clair and Back in Motion in Springville.

No longer do residents have to travel to larger cities to have access to state-of-the-art diagnostics with MRIs, CT scans, colonoscopies and other advanced technology testing and imaging are available at Ascension St. Vincent’s St. Clair. Complete Health provides advanced imaging as well.

Orthopedic medicine is available through Montclair Orthopedic Surgeons and OrthoSports Associates at Complete Health and Andrews Sports Medicine at PCIFM. Orthopedists Dr. Carter Slappey and Stephen Cowley also practice in Pell City.

Birmingham Heart Clinic, located at the Complete Health campus in Pell City, offers full-time cardiac care at that location as well as its headquarters in Trussville.

ENT Associates of Alabama has just opened an office in Pell City for ear, nose and throat services, and Alabama Vision Center just joined the eye care community at Physicians Plaza in Pell City. Callahan Eye is located in that same building, and longtime vision care provider, Bedsole Eye Care, has expanded in recent years, operating from a new, larger facility on U.S. 231 South in Pell City.

For Dermatology, you’ll find a number of specialists – True Dermatology at PCIFM, Brookwood Dermatoloy at Complete Health, Southern Skies Dermatology at Physicians Plaza and Coosa River Dermatology on Martin Street South in Pell City.

Need a specialist? Check with local practices and the hospital for a complete listing of what services are available right here at home.

Growing demand for services

Therapy South adds to St. Clair medical community

Story by Paul South
Submitted Photos

High School catcher Tyler McGrady had his eye on the runner at first.

The runner broke for second. McGrady came up throwing, looking to nail the sliding runner. The catcher’s right elbow popped in pain. He knew something was wrong.

He was right.

Tommy John surgery and a year of intense rehab kept McGrady off the basepaths, instead putting him on a career path.

“I was in the therapist’s office more than I cared to at that time,” the Pell City native said. “But the impact of the therapy and the return to function drew me in.”

He elaborated. “I was drawn to medicine anyway, but just wasn’t sure which avenue I wanted to pursue,” McGrady said. “When you’re in high school or college and you’re an athlete, and you have an injury, your athleticism in that sport is kind of part of your identity as well. It’s tough to stomach that injury or being on the sideline or in the dugout.

“But just going through that process and rehabbing back, doing a lot of therapy, returning to throwing, all the way back to playing at the college level … The satisfaction you got from completing that process and being able to fully return (to baseball), seeing that firsthand is really what drew me to PT.”

Nearly two decades later, McGrady has 12 years’ experience as a physical therapist and serves as clinic director and partner at Therapy South in Pell City.

While most of us would define “athlete” within the narrow confines of the diamond, gridiron, track, court, course or pool, McGrady sees more broadly.

“There’s a saying that we use a lot of times,” McGrady said. “Everyone’s an athlete. Their sport is different. It may not be baseball or softball. It may be gardening or yardwork, skiing or whatever it is the patient wants to get back to. If we can help facilitate getting them back to something they want to do, that’s a validating feeling on our end.”

Physical therapy is a high demand, rapidly expanding profession in the United States. According to an April report from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of physical therapists is expected to grow 15 percent by 2034.

Closer to home, along with its clinic in Pell City, Therapy South also has a clinic in Gadsden. A second St. Clair County clinic is expected to open by year’s end. Nationwide, Therapy South is also expanding.

Baby Boomers are fueling the growth in physical and occupational therapy services, McGrady said.

“That’s the largest generation of people in the country that’s ever been,” he said. “There have to be enough practitioners to provide service for that many people coming through the system. That’s the growth of it.”

The profession, McGrady said, justifies its growth through evidence-based research. “What that does, is it allows us to make valid arguments to insurance companies, to physicians and to clients as well on the need and benefits of our service.”

A graduate of Jacksonville State who did his graduate work in physical therapy at Alabama State University, McGrady has also authored or co-authored scholarly articles for professional journals.

“It’s always important to learn and grow and to do more,” he said. “Any limitation of mine in the clinic is going to be passed on to my patient. So, I feel like it’s my responsibility to be up on the newer things and staying well versed so that I’m providing the best quality of care possible.”

Therapy South is an independent, faith-based, therapist-owned provider, with a nearly four-decade record of effectively treating patients in Pell City. The company now has 43 locations and is expected to grow to 46 by year’s end.

The Pell City clinic has six physical therapists and one occupational therapist.

“We don’t have any deals with anybody,” McGrady said. “We’re completely stand alone. All of our (location) owners – including myself — are still physical therapists and the majority of them treat patients in clinic every day. We really like that about Therapy South.”

He added, “We believe we’ve been given success by God, and it’s important for us to be good stewards of that success and grow and give people opportunities into the future.”

For McGrady, this work is a calling. “We’re all called to something,” he said. “If you are lucky enough to find that purpose and make a career out of it, I think that’s a really special thing.”

The company also mentors young and aspiring therapists.

“We spend a lot of time at Therapy South trying to identify younger people who will come in and do observation hours with us and try to develop relationships with them and find the right person that we want to grow with. You can teach a good person how to be a good therapist, but you can’t always teach a good therapist how to be a good person.”

In Alabama, the profession experienced a “huge” change this past June, McGrady said. In the past, physical and occupational therapists could not see patients without getting a physician referral. Now therapists have unrestricted patient access for up to 30 days.

“For the last 12 years, we could evaluate a patient, but without your physician providing a referral or providing oversight, we could not treat a patient. Now we have more unlimited access to patients.”

While technology has affected the entire medical profession in recent years – making it easier to schedule appointments, etc. – there’s no substitute for the hands-on treatment at the heart of physical and occupational therapy.

“There’s something valuable about being able to put hands on patients and really evaluate what’s going on, to provide that hands-on care,” McGrady said. “At Therapy South, we spend tons of money trying to make our clinicians the best we can so that they are doing the best they can to get our patients better as soon as possible.

“That’s the part that technology will never be able to replace,” McGrady added. “The old adage is that medicine is an art and a science. It’s tough to replace that balance with something like (artificial intelligence) or something that doesn’t have the human touch.”

In a competitive market, Therapy South is committed daily to doing its best for its patients. Most of its staff are homegrown, St. Clair County residents.

Thinking back, McGrady could not have foreseen his life’s work when his elbow blew out. But McGrady’s baseball setback provided lessons for his life and practice.

“Sports teaches a lot of lessons outside of how to throw and catch a ball. You learn how you’re going to respond to adversity. If you’re not the main guy, how are you going to respond to that? If you are the main guy, how are you going to respond to that? There are so many lessons to be learned on the field that correlate to later lessons in life. The lessons learned were more than worth it.”

His philosophy – and that of Therapy South – is simple.

“First and foremost, we’re called to love God and love people. If we treat everyone with respect, be a friend to them and listen to them … Just being able to spend time with patients is unique to therapy. Developing those personal relationships is unique to our profession.”

McGrady and his Therapy South colleagues are affirmed every day by their work, sometimes in sweet ways in keeping with small-town tradition.

“Every patient who comes in trusts you with their care. They come in four to six weeks later doing great. It’s really rewarding to improve someone’s life like that.”

New beginnings

Sawyer reopens Eden Dental after fire

Story and photos by Carol Pappas
Submitted photos

When David Sawyer was only 4, his father, Dr. Joe Sawyer, would pick him up from Avondale Mills kindergarten at noon, and he’d spend the afternoon with him in the denture lab.

“I don’t know much else but dentistry,” Dr. David Sawyer said as workmen were putting the finishing touches on his new building in Eden, replacing the facility his father and then, he, practiced in for decades.

Fourteen treatment rooms feature state-of-the-art equipment

On April 6, 2022, the Eden Family Dentistry/Affordable Dentures building fell victim to fire, and a brand new, expanded facility took its place in mid-July under the name, Eden Dental.

Within days of the fire, Sawyer was able to secure the building and practice of a retiring Pell City dentist, Dr. Sandy Lanter of Restoration Dental, and he has been operating there until the new quarters were ready. “We missed one week of work,” Sawyer recalled.

Now, he opens a new chapter with his associate of 20 years, Dr. Andrea Cibulski, as they welcome three new associates, Drs. Jennifer Reaves, Hannah McCalman Henley and her twin sister, Elizabeth Collier McCalman.

Eden Dental, now operating with five dentists, is a 7,000 square foot, all digital, state-of-the-art facility with 14 treatment rooms and an onsite denture lab. The practice includes children’s and adult general dentistry, implants, one-day dentures and soon, one-day crowns. They accept most insurance, including Delta Dental, which serves Honda.

Sawyer began his general dentistry practice in 1989. While he and his father took similar paths, they headed in different directions. The elder Sawyer started a general dentistry practice working with Dr. Bob McClung, but also worked with one-day dentures in the afternoon.

In 1976, he sold the general practice to McClung, which today is known as Pell City Dental, and worked full-time in dentures. (Coincidentally, Pell City’s one-day dentures were famously mentioned in Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg’s book, All Over but the Shoutin’.)

The younger Sawyer worked with his father, but when he graduated from dental school, he went into general dentistry and sold the denture lab. In the new clinic, dentures are back as part of the services offered, and he has hired a specialist along with nine other new employees to complement existing staff and make up the team at Eden Dental.

It’s a homecoming back to Eden, where it began for Sawyer, a native Pell Citian. He and his wife, Karen, owner of WellWay Whole Health Shoppe, are graduates of Pell City High School as are their three children. Kathryn just graduated from medical school. Hayden is a chemical engineer, and Evan is a certified financial adviser.

Sawyer points with pride to his hometown and the growth it is experiencing, noting that his expansion in terms of staff and services is aimed at serving the needs of that growth.

The Ark opens second location in Springville

Story by Linda Long
Photos by Mackenzie Free

The Ark restaurant in Riverside complete with its storied – and perhaps even checkered past – begins a new chapter this summer. After nearly a century, folks can now enjoy those fabled catfish and hushpuppies – arguably the best ever served, anywhere – at a second location, on Main Street in Springville.

“That’s right,” smiled Kyle Ostermeyer. He, along with his wife, Amanda, are co-owners of the iconic restaurant. “After 94 years, we decided to expand it and have a second location. Springville has welcomed us with open arms.”

Preparing some of the Ark’s famous dishes

As Amanda recalls, her husband learned about the restaurant and its fabled history when he worked as a food service distributor and sold to two of the original Ark’s three previous owners.

 “When Shirley (Shirley Abts) decided to retire in 2022, we purchased The Ark from her, becoming the fourth owner in 94 years,” said Amanda. “We kept the recipes and most of the staff, making just a few cosmetic upgrades to the original location. We always thought we might open another location in the distant future, but when the opportunity to purchase a historic restaurant building in downtown Springville presented itself, we couldn’t pass it up.”

The Ark, Springville, is located in what used to be The Springville Café. Touting the slogan, “Where Springville Meets to Eat,” the eatery proved to be a favorite with the townsfolk for 24 years, until COVID claimed it as yet another victim.

Nobody is happier to see the old restaurant up and running than Springville Mayor Dave Thomas. And he’s especially happy it’s opening as The Ark.

“Anybody who knows catfish knows about the Ark,” he said. “Their reputation precedes them.”

And what a reputation that is. As Kyle proudly points out, awards and accolades just keep on coming for the iconic restaurant. The Ark’s catfish platter is listed on the Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel’s “100 Dishes to Eat Before You Die” list. The Ark was also a finalist in a competition sponsored by the Alabama Catfish Producers Association called Bama’s Best Catfish Restaurant and was featured in USA Today’s list of the “Top Ten Catfish Restaurants In The Nation.”

“Opening up here in Springville is significant for everyone involved,” said Thomas. “Significant for the Ark because, I believe, they picked the right market and the right location to be wildly successful. I am thrilled to have such a notable establishment with a following that brings people from far and wide. And a restaurant that has such a rich history.”

That history is the stuff of which legends are made. It reads like pages straight out of a Southern novel with a plot both outrageous and irreverent.

As the story goes, seems the Ark’s first owner, “Red” Thompson didn’t let prohibition or lawmen from two countries deter him from selling alcohol to his patrons. With a rather ingenious, albeit illegal scheme Red bought a dredge barge, moored it just off the Coosa riverbank and operated a floating bar or if you prefer speakeasy.

The original Ark floating on the Coosa

Looking back, Red had a sweet deal going – all the booze thirsty patrons could drink and all the catfish he could catch and cook, right from end of the barge. The wily business owner continued to hoodwink authorities for several years, until the barge was destroyed by fire.

The Ostermeyers aren’t expecting any of that kind of drama in its Springville location, but they are expecting to continue serving up those long famous crispy catfish and hushpuppies.

There is nothing different here in Springville,” said Kyle. “We are duplicating it exactly. People who come here will get the same look, taste and feel that they do at Riverside.”

 That’s good news for the Micah Shelton family who represent three generations of Ark aficionados.

“I can’t get enough of the catfish, and my three-year daughter can’t get enough of the catfish nuggets,” he said. “It’s a place we can consistently get good food and good service. We are a family of four but the generation before me, my parents and my children’s grandparents used to eat at the Riverside location for years.”

Shelton says he is now following that family tradition and carrying his own family to the familiar restaurant. He says his wife Hannah’s favorite Ark offering is the deviled crab “and at the rate we’re going,” he laughed, “it wouldn’t surprise me if our three-month-old cuts his teeth on the hushpuppies.”

We’re really glad to have something that’s familiar to us and more accessible to my family. We’re much closer now that they have a Springville location.”

Mayor Thomas dittos the sentiment. “Folks don’t have to go all the way to Riverside now,” he said. “They can come here and enjoy the same food, the same people. The Ark is part of the Springville fabric and family now.”