News - Friday, January 24, 2020

There was a time when Realtors possessed all the information about homes for sale in a given area. When buyers wanted to look at houses, they had to drive to a brokerage, where their agent would heave out a thick book containing the listings and flip through the pages with them.

The mounting noise from politicians could make 2020 a banner year for earplug manufacturers. Donna Van Natten won’t be them, though. She says she can turn off the sound while watching the presidential debates on TV and still know what’s going on.

Jacob Farmer and Emma Marion have joined Baker Donelson’s Chattanooga office.

Farmer concentrates his practice on state and local taxation, federal taxation, bankruptcy, real estate and HUD-insured financing transactions.

He decided to go to law school while he was a business student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Farmer graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville College of Law in 2019. A native of Franklin, his interests include the Tennessee Titans and spending time outdoors. Farmer is a member of the Chattanooga and Tennessee Bar Associations.

Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel has elected Cal Marshall, Jed Roebuck and Kirby Waddell Yost as shareholders of the firm.

“Cal, Jed and Kirby are excellent lawyers and have been integral to our firm’s growth and overall success,” says Mike St. Charles, managing shareholder of the firm. “Their unique skills and demonstrated expertise will benefit our clients and community for years to come.”

Chattanooga was the seventh stop for Crye-Leike President Harold Crye’s annual tour of the South to stoke a fire in the bellies of the company’s agents for the coming year.

During the yearly gathering, which took place at The Chattanoogan on Jan. 21, Crye praised the crowd for helping Crye-Leike achieve its highest sales volume in its history: $6.5 billion on 29,925 units closed.

Greater Chattanooga Realtors recently released its annual report on the local housing market, and it seems 2019 was a very busy year.

The average sales price was just more than $238,000, a 6.9% increase compared to 2018 ($222,852). There were 10,714 homes sold in the Greater Chattanooga area in 2018, a 6.8% increase compared to 2018 (10,034 homes).

The start of the new year in the Tennessee Valley is a great time to reenergize your home, and one of the most popular ways to liven up a room is to replace the floors.

New floors are not only about style and décor. Cost, durability, moisture and maintenance are other important factors to consider when purchasing new floors for your home.

Recently, we’ve seen an increased interest in mindfulness, although the concept itself is thousands of years old. Essentially, being mindful means you are living very much in the present, highly conscious of your thoughts and feelings.

However, being mindful doesn’t mean acting on those thoughts and feelings – it’s just the opposite. With mindfulness, your decision-making is based on cognitive skills and a rational perspective, rather than emotions. As such, mindfulness can be quite valuable as you make investment decisions.

I don’t believe anything has surprised me more while watching a recent movie than when Martin Lawrence calls a woman who likes Will Smith “smart and motivated” in “Bad Boys for Life.”

Lawrence says this while sitting at a bar and sharing drinks with Smith, which made it even more startling. If there’s ever a time to expect these two guys to engage in so-called locker room banter, that’s it.

When I talk with citizen groups in Tennessee about open government, people tell me they want more information about what their government is doing, not less.

An informed citizenry results in better and more accountable government. But in plain language, people just want to know what’s going on, particularly when it affects their lives directly.

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke has appointed Kerry Hayes as his chief of staff. He will replace Stacy Richardson, who has served as the mayor’s chief of staff since November 2015. Hayes had served as the deputy chief of staff since December 2017.

Kerri O’Connell and Monica Weaver have joined Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Signature Brokers.

O’Connell, who has joined Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Signature Brokers in Ooltewah, says she decided to become an agent after purchasing her first home.

Don Allen has retired as the chairman of the board of directors of the Hamilton County Emergency Communications District.

Allen began his service to the board in 1986 while the director of Hamilton County Emergency Services. During his tenure, he served 24 years as the board’s chairman and four years as its vice chairman.

Heather Abbott will be the guest speaker at Siskin Hospital’s 17th annual Possibilities luncheon Tuesday, March 3. The luncheon will take place from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

Abbott experienced a life-changing injury during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 200.

The Chattanooga Police Department’s Citizens Police Academy is accepting applications for its upcoming nine-week session, which will begin Thursday, March 12. Each session runs from 6-8 p.m.

Police officers will cover topics such as SWAT, explosive ordnance disposal, patrol, narcotics, special investigations and internal affairs.

Alabama-based Palomar Insurance Corporation has opened an office in downtown Chattanooga’s University Tower. The company provides commercial, agriculture, transportation, employee benefits and national plastic surgery insurance.

Ware Hart has joined the firm as vice president. Hart brings 10 years of commercial risk management and transportation experience to the position.

A partnership between Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga Area and Parkridge Medical Center is transforming the Orchard Knob community.

With support from Parkridge, as many as 30 homes in the Orchard Knob Neighborhood Association will be renovated and repaired.

Your options for a new electric vehicle in 2020 are more diverse than ever with an EV for nearly every vehicle type. But increased choice also makes it harder to choose. Edmunds has selected five top EVs that you’ll want to consider.

These vehicles have a range of at least 200 miles – which Edmunds’ experts have found to be easily sufficient for EV driving – and are on sale now or will be soon. We’ve arranged them in ascending order of price. All prices include destination charges and do not include any federal tax credits or state incentives.

Charles Davis was in the middle of the broadcast when his cellphone began buzzing.

The PGA Tour was having a tournament in Dubai, and professional golfers were texting Davis to say they were watching him call the Super Bowl.

Although he always knew how far the NFL’s biggest event reached, it made Davis appreciate his status even more.

The Tennessee Titans’ season came to an abrupt and conclusive end with Sunday’s 35-24 AFC Championship loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Such is the harsh reality of January football. But in their quest of going from “good to great,” – their words not mine – this group of Titans players and coaches say the 2019 season was not so much an end to a magical run but perhaps the beginning of bigger things and better expectations for a franchise that wandered 17 years in the wilderness between title game appearances.

Marcus Mariota walked quietly into the sunset off the same field where his most memorable and lasting moment as a Tennessee Titan took place. At Arrowhead Stadium, where just two years ago Mariota completed a batted pass to himself for a touchdown in a Titans playoff upset, the former No. 2 overall pick ended his five-year run with the Titans on Sunday, not with a bang but with a whimper.

Parkridge Health System is building a Parkridge North medical campus at 7402 Lee Highway. The first phase of construction – a full-service, 11-bed emergency room – is expected to be completed in mid-April. Located off I-75, between the Shallowford Road and Bonny Oaks Drive exits, the location will be the northernmost access point to emergency services in Chattanooga.