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.”
In fact, it’s littered with so much uncertainty it’s really best not to form any preconceived ideas or make too bold of assumptions about what the future holds. Because the truth is… You. have. no. idea.
You will walk through things you never thought you would. You will find yourself in situations for which you absolutely can’t prepare. You will be forced to make hard decisions you never thought you’d have to make. You will make false friends and feel the sting of their ulterior motives. You will be humbled and have your heart broken. You will try and fail and face unexpected consequences and disappointments. You will lose people you love and thought you’d get to keep forever.
But you will also find love and unshakable friends. The right people stay, and the wrong ones will go. You will find grace and forgiveness are the best gifts you can give and receive. You will learn grit grows best in tough times, and trials really are the best teachers. You will find light in dark places and compassion in the eyes of hard faces. You may find your broken heart held together by unexpected hands and mended in ways you can’t really comprehend.
And just as soon as you start to assume you’ve got a solid grip on your life …
It will shift and surprise you all over again.
– Mackenzie Free –
Wife, mother, photographer & current resident of the unassumingly magical town of Steele, Alabama
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.
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.”
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.
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 WellHouse expands facilities to help rebuild lives torn apart by human trafficking.
Story by Roxann Edsall Photos by Mandy Baughn
There’s a harvest housed in a brand-new barn in Odenville. It’s hardly the typical crop; this one is life changing. From seeds of love and stability are grown a harvest of hope. Simply called “the barn,” the 3,600-square-foot facility is part of The WellHouse, a safe-house campus in St. Clair County for female survivors of human trafficking.
The barn is the new home for ShopWell, the work therapy program run by residents of The WellHouse. The ShopWell program, which provides job training in a safe environment as the survivors work to create and sell hand-crafted items, had outgrown their small working space in the administration building. As part of the year-long program offered at The WellHouse, residents are employed to make jewelry, clay dishes, candles, wood products, leatherwork and quilts.
The WellHouse Chapel
The new space offers room to create items and provides a small shop where volunteers and invited supporters can purchase items. ShopWell items can also be purchased through their online store. Within a year, they hope to have an off-campus brick and mortar store.
As ShopWell associates, these survivors, many of whom have never held a job for which they received compensation, learn about work culture by submitting employment applications, following work schedules and functioning as part of a work team.
The opportunity to create is also a part of the recovery process. “I love working with my hands to create something that is beautiful,” says Ava, a graduate of The WellHouse program, now serving as coordinator of the ShopWell program. “Working on beautiful things here is where my creativity came back to life.”
Ava smiles as she talks about the program that has changed her life. Despite having endured the horrors of human trafficking for more than 30 years, she is healing and has a new vision for her life. She has chosen the name Ava over her given name as a symbol of the beginning of her life in freedom.
For Ava, the nightmare began as one of her earliest memories at the age of three. Over the next 30 years, the trafficking continued. She was able to escape twice but was re-exploited both times by people in agencies she thought would protect her. “I went to them for help, but they were not who they said they were,” she recalls.
Eventually, she escaped again and fled to another country and looked for ways to help others still stuck in human trafficking situations. As part of her effort to help others, she returned to the U.S. to participate in an anti-trafficking conference.
It was in her efforts to help others that she realized how much healing she still had to do. After a month in a safe house in Ohio, she entered the program at The WellHouse. “I knew I needed to find healing myself in order to be able to help other survivors,” recounts Ava.
Her story of healing is still being written. She has since graduated from the year-long program and has moved into the Next Steps to Independence apartments on the 63-acre WellHouse campus. She has a car and is working on a degree in Psychology, something she hopes to use to help others. “At this point, I feel like I can start planning a future,” says Ava, beaming. “I have a broad vision but taking baby steps right now.”
For now, Ava is happy in her role as ShopWell coordinator. “Working with the ladies in ShopWell is healing for them and just as much for me,” she adds. “The biggest thing I’ve learned is how to walk in gratitude and not be offended at what life has been like. For me, that’s the key to learning to trust and to hope for the future.”
Learning to trust again is a mountain that survivors don’t conquer easily. Trauma-therapy is a big part of that recovery, and new individual therapy offices are now open on the second floor of the Barn, along with group therapy space and exercise options for residents. There are four therapists and four case managers on staff at The WellHouse to help them through the journey to healing and restoration.
“Through each one of these committed staffers, our residents have opportunities for healing,” says Carolyn Potter, CEO of The WellHouse. “These ladies who come to us seem to have an extra measure of resilience in them.
“We know from doing trainings that there is still a mindset that people who are prostituting want to do it for the money or for drugs,” continues Potter. “What we say is that if you look deeper, you will likely find there was childhood sexual abuse. That was the beginning of her trauma, her vulnerability to the tragedies of her life. The deeper we get into her therapy, we find there was someone who controlled her.”
Ava has worked hard to regain control of her own life. That resilience is what helped her work through the desperate isolation and hopelessness that characterized her life as a victim of human trafficking, a terrible journey that began as a small girl trafficked by a family member.
A 2020 report from Polaris Project, a nonprofit that works to combat sex and labor trafficking in North America, shows that victims usually know and trust their traffickers. Forty two percent of human trafficking victims are brought into trafficking by a member of their own family.
The WellHouse facility has been open for seven years and is currently working with 34 survivors. The 501c3 organization partners with many other agencies to provide information and advocacy for survivors.
Handcrafted items for sale
They are a provider partner for the Alabama Anti Human Trafficking Alliance, a statewide initiative funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. In that role, they serve as a frontline resource for survivors identified by the Alliance, offering crisis services, stabilization, restoration and support toward independent living.
Some of The Wellhouse partner agencies are Safe House Project, Rescue America, Homeland Security, UAB, Trafficking Hope, End It Alabama and Children’s Hospital.
These national and state agencies recognize that while the numbers of cases of human trafficking are lower in Alabama than in many states, Alabama is not immune to this epidemic. According to the FBI crimes database, National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), there were 36 human trafficking offenses reported in Alabama in 2022, the latest year reported in the system. That’s up from 21 cases in 2021. In over half of those cases, the victims were under the age of 18.
The WellHouse saw the growing need and, three years ago, opened a building with a program to serve minor girls, ages 11 to 18. The facility is currently serving six youths with a waiting list of others needing placement.
This past May, 47 people were arrested in connection with human trafficking cases in Tuscaloosa and Shelby counties. Though there have been no reported cases in St. Clair County, those who work in rescue organizations acknowledge that some cases go unreported or are classified as prostitution or drug-related crimes.
Gov. Kay Ivey signed new legislation called the Sound of Freedom Act in April, which she said positioned Alabama as the state with the “toughest punishment for anyone who is found guilty of first-degree human trafficking of a minor.” Effective Oct. 1, anyone convicted of trafficking a minor in Alabama will face a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison.
Human trafficking is the second most profitable illegal industry in the world, according to the International Labour Organization, second only to the drug trade, but is the fastest growing.
Citizens can help. A survivor’s rescue story often involves another person reporting to police something that just doesn’t seem right. “Don’t assume someone else will see what you see,” Ava says. “Be willing to take a risk to help.”
St. Clair County is home to a place that is helping these survivors reclaim their lives and their futures. Supported by contributions from individuals, civic and religious organizations, non-profits, foundations and government programs for crime victims, The WellHouse is an organization which provides a peaceful residential therapy program that is making a difference one shattered life at a time.
“The best thing about the program at The WellHouse? Being loved unconditionally,” says Ava. “You finally have someone in your life who is a constant, who stays with you the whole time and loves you. Then you can begin to see the worth they see in you.” That’s a bountiful harvest … a harvest of hope, putting together the pieces of a life torn apart by human trafficking.
Editor’s Note:To report suspected human trafficking, contact toll-free (24/7) the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text HELP to BeFree (233733). Additional resources are at: www.enditalabama.org for information on human trafficking;www.the-wellhouse.org to learn more about or to volunteer at The WellHouse; and www.shopwell-wellhouse.org to purchase from ShopWell.
