Saturday, we participated in the Asheville Holiday Parade. I am not sure who saw us, but we came right before Santa. Our float was a 9' tall christmas tree built out of recycle bins and decorated with recyclable decorations (pop bottles milk jugs shredded new paper egg crates etc) it was quite a site. While I drove, 20 awesome volunteers from Quality Forward walked along the parade route picking up all of the litter and debris left by previous floats and spectators. All told, the volunteers filled 26 bags of trash which made great looking presents undernieth the recycling tree. This is the third event we have done with the Great People at Quality Forward (River Clean 10,000 lbs of trash hauled from the river, Down Town Litter Patrol 34 bags of garbage picked up, Holiday Parade). Hauling... 11/24/2008

OCTOBER - 2008 It has always been difficult to say exactly what a "healthy" real estate market should look like. Prices and inventory seem to set the theme and "location, location, location" is not always the final judgement of health or desirability. In the Asheville area a "normal" real estate market is estimated to be where the housing inventory of homes for sale should be somewhere around 6 to 7 months supply. Asheville and Buncombe County are holding steady at about 15 months supply, on average. Nothing new.....The news nationally, almost constantly, is about the home prices going down as inventory goes up. In Asheville, we are continuing to see a slow reduction in home prices, as the inventory sits at the top of recent high numbers, although the inventory has begun to reduce due t... 11/21/2008

(A Note: You CANNOT leave a comment on this post, so if you wish to be contacted, please send me an Email message. Thank You) Let's talk about a possible TRADE of our Real Estate Assets. I am the Owner/Broker of a 3 Acre Vacant Lot  in Asheville/Leicester area - I can sell or take a Trade, or Trade Up or Down for Land or Home. Current Value of the land is $138,500 before subdivision.   As a seller or seller client of a listing agent, are you open to creative ways to sell your property? Have you considered owning property in Asheville? What about trading your real estate for my real estate? We adjust for differences in values, up or down or make it an equal trade. Do you need to sell before coming to the Asheville area? Or, do you need to reduce your real estate assets and get cash to bo... 11/20/2008

       Well, Halloween this year was one for the record books.  First time I ever dressed at the command of a three-year-old, (Ruby insisted I be a pirate) the most trick-or-treaters I have ever had, (we turned out the light after handing out over one thousand pieces of candy!) and it was the scene for the first Hickory Nut Forest M.O.N.S.T.E.R Jam.  If you would like to know what the acronym stands for I will refer you back to other blogs, however I can sum it up by saying that it is all of the good stuff, words like sustainability, eco, and mountain.  We started off preparing for the event by gathering a modest thousand apples or so from the Eco-Communities organic orchard, probably the last major pick of the year.  These delicious little prizes went one after another into the cider p... 11/20/2008

        Asheville Eco Community Hickory Nut Forest has been getting people together for various events over the past several months. This November the sustainable community is hosting the inaugural trek along the new Hickory Nut Gorge Trail.  Many people from the Asheville area are expected to attend this exciting event.  The hike will be followed a by a pot luck style dinner as well as bonfire.  To me this sounds like a great chance to get out into the woods and explore with good people; and there are few things I like more then sitting around a bonfire and enjoying nature with my friends and family, there is just something about that glow after twilight especially when accompanied by the sound of a creek running by that seems to tie together an otherwise ordinary night and make it a h... 11/20/2008

Asheville NC Real Estate Report     WNCR October 2008 Market ReportOctober Percentage Changes 2008 vs 2007 Homes Sold                        -24% Avg Days on Market            +28% Avg Selling Price                 -1.2% Median Selling Price            -7.9% Total Sell Price Volume        -25% Data is from the 5 county WNC Regional MLS system and represents total home sales in Buncombe, Madison, Haywood, Henderson and Transylvania counties. 2007 Total Sales     2008 Sales through Oct. 31     Single-Family Homes Sold 7471   Single-Family Homes Sold   4015 Average Days on Market 103   Average Days on Market   122 Average Selling Price $277,636   Average Selling Price   $259,443 Median Selling Price $220,000   Median Selling Price   $213,000 Average List Price $285,723    Average List Pri... 11/19/2008

Asheville, Buncombe County, NC Real Estate Market Statistics - Active and Sold - October 2008 and 2007 Comparisons Our Active Residential Listings have increased 7% from this same time last year.  The Average Asking Price has increased 4.2% and Median Asking Price has increased almost 2%. The real problem we still face is the SOLD numbers are down. This month the SOLD prices are up slightly because several very expensive homes finally closed, which raised the average selling price up. As you can see by the chart below, we have been down significantly on our SOLD numbers and that has been the case all of the last 12 months, yet our inventory has increased. The number Sold in October 2008 is down 20% from last October 2007 and the Average Sold Price is actually up  4%. Also the number of ... 11/18/2008

Vacant Land, Lots, and Acreage - Buncombe County, NC - October 2008 Buncombe County includes the cities or areas  of Asheville, Weaverville, Leicester, Black Mountain, Arden, Skyland, Candler, and Biltmore Forest.     Vacant land sales can be an indicator of the health of the real estate market overall. Buncombe County land sales in 2008 have averaged about 54% of sales in 2007, 322 parcels have been Sold in 2008 with an Average Sold Price of $150,192, a slight increase from September prices.   A breakdown of those sales, year to date, looks like this:   1 acre or under - 151 parcels sold with an Average Sold Price of $88,154. 1 to 2.99 acres - 104 parcels sold with an Average Sold Price of $132,441. 3 to 4.99 acres - 26 parcels sold with an Average Sold Price of $133,240. 5 to 9.99 acr... 11/13/2008

It's NOT my listing. It's NOT anyone's listing. It is however one of the most amazing green-built homes Asheville and we have ever seen.  (see photo) And I had the opportunity earlier this week to spend an hour with the genius who not only designed, but built it.  Here's how it happened: We were lost on our way to preview a home in Asheville, NCand stopped to ask  directions from a friendly neighbor... . He turned out to be The Man-He who not only discovered a totally awesome, south-facing mountain property, but recognized it as his opportunity to design a contemporary passive solar dream home. He knew right away, he explained, that he would limit the disturbance of native vegetation and maximize the visual connection to nature on the three-and-a-half acre site. ( We love the idea of th... 11/11/2008

OCTOBER 2008 Buncombe County is the home of Asheville, NC. Buncombe County and the surrounding areas of Asheville, Leicester, Black Mountain, Biltmore Forest, and Arden, like the rest of the country, have been experiencing many of the trends that keep the real estate markets unsettled.  There has been a slight change in the market conditions compared to last month, but only slight.  The continuing bad news is that the number of homes over or close to $1 million are not moving and the broad inventory is still hovering around the record high numbers, although there has been a turn to the down side. Until mid-summer the Asheville area has historically been immune from the negative real estate trends that the rest of the country has been experiencing. This is different now. The market "slum... 11/09/2008

and the highest good for all concerned....                             our wish....from the mountains of Western North Carolina... 11/04/2008

Asheville, Buncombe County, NC Real Estate Market Statistics - Active and Sold - September 2008 and 2007 Comparisons Our Active Residential Listings have increased 19% from this same time last year.  The Average Asking Price has increased 4.6% and Median Asking Price has increased almost 3.5%. The real problem we still face is the SOLD numbers and the SOLD prices are down. As you can see by the chart below, we have been down significantly on our SOLD numbers all of the last 12 months, yet our inventory has increased. The number Sold in September 2008 is down 29% from last September 2007 and the Average Sold Price is down 11%. Also the number of Days on Market is at the highest levels in over 5 years. Residential Properties = Single Family Homes, Condos, Townhouses & Mobiles on Owned Lan... 10/27/2008

SEPTEMBER 2008 It has always been difficult to say exactly what a "healthy" real estate market should look like. Prices and inventory seem to set the theme and "location, location, location" is not always the final judgement of health or desirability. In the Asheville area a "normal" real estate market is estimated to be where the housing inventory of homes for sale should be somewhere around 6 to 7 months supply. Asheville and Buncombe County are holding steady at about 15 months supply, on average. The news nationally, almost constantly, is about the home prices going down as inventory goes up. In Asheville, we are continuing to see a slow reduction in home prices, as the inventory sits at the top of recent high numbers. The real area of concern continues to be about the homes over $4... 10/26/2008

Vacant Land, Lots, and Acreage - Buncombe County, NC - September 2008 Buncombe County includes the cities or areas  of Asheville, Weaverville, Leicester, Black Mountain, Arden, Skyland, Candler, and Biltmore Forest. Vacant land sales can be an indicator of the health of the real estate market overall. Buncombe County land sales in 2008 have averaged about 57% of sales in 2007, 305 parcels have been Sold in 2008 with an Average Sold Price of $147,093, a decrease from August prices. A breakdown of those sales, year to date, looks like this: 1 acre or under - 147 parcels sold with an Average Sold Price of $83,326. 1 to 2.99 acres - 97 parcels sold with an Average Sold Price of $131,158. 3 to 4.99 acres - 24 parcels sold with an Average Sold Price of $139,400. 5 to 9.99 acres - 11 parcels s... 10/20/2008

SEPTEMBER 2008 Buncombe County is the home of Asheville, NC. Buncombe County and the surrounding areas of Asheville, Leicester, Black Mountain, Biltmore Forest, and Arden, like the rest of the country, has been experiencing many of the trends the rest of the country has, or is, experiencing. There has been a slight change in the market conditions compared to last month, but only slight.  The continuing bad news is that the number of homes over or close to $1 million are not moving and the inventory is still hovering around the record high numbers. The Asheville area has historically been immune from the negative real estate trends that the rest of the country was experiencing. This is different now. The market "slumps" in most of the country has now had an impact on the Asheville area, ... 10/19/2008

  Here are the trends and statistics for for the 3rd quarter of 2008 for Asheville & Buncombe County, NC. Buncombe County is made up of  Asheville, Leicester, Weaverville, Candler, Woodfin, Arden, Barnardsville, Black Mountain, and several other area locations. If you go to Realtor.com to search for listings in the Asheville area, be sure to put in Leicester and the other areas to get the complete picture of what is available in our beautiful part of the country. If you put just the word "Asheville" in a Google search you will get 11,000,000+ hits! The number one site for Asheville is Asheville.com. If you put the words Buncombe County NC you will get 1,100,000 hits. The number one site is Buncombe County. org. In comparison, if you put the word "ActiveRain" in you will get 700,000+ hi... 10/16/2008

Hey there this is my spooktacular second installment of a short series focusing on what to do around Asheville, NC this Halloween season.  In the last blog we looked at two of the best trick or treat haunts and talked briefly about events.  This time I want to talk more specifically about events.  Three in particular that seem to focus on fun for the whole family.   One I want toalk about is the MONSTER Jam out at Hickory Nut Forest.  This event features family entertainment in the form of costume contests, pumpkin carving, guided trail treasure hunts, and more.  I think the two chief strengths of this Halloween event is that its location is stunning, nestled out in the mountains of Gerton outside Asheville the setting couldn't be more alluring.  Secondly, the MONSTER Jam is set for Sun... 10/16/2008

Daily Real Estate News  |  October 8, 2008 "Pending Home Sales Up Sharply" These were the headlines that the National Association of Realtors® has presented on the NAR magazine web page. For the full story go to http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008100801?OpenDocument. Those headlines made me look deeper into how they relate to the market in Asheville, NC. Every month, for the last 7 years, I compile market reports for the Buncombe County market, which includes Asheville, Leicester, Black Mountain, Arden, Skyland and Weaverville. I (Realsearch) track New Listings, Number of Pending Listings, Sold Listings and Number of Expired Listings, each month. According to the NAR report "Pending home sales activity surged as buyers took advantage of low home prices and affordable inte... 10/14/2008

2009 real estate buyers' market housing trends and predictors are front and center as we head down "Possibility Road".  In Part 1  I talked about a plausible plan of action given the current situation is to focus on what we do know...and, in particular,  what we know about  Buyers in the 2009 Buyers' Market; that  1) 80+% of Buyers begin their search online, that  2)they seek information about property buying and investment issues, mortgages and listings, that  3) they are very interested in Trends, and most especially that 4) more and more, as they head down "possibility road" they want to have neighborhood details. (see photo of "possibility road taken last weekend at Hickory Nut Forest Eco-community) You know, as real estate professionals, most of us have attended to #1 and #2. But w... 10/14/2008

It is that time again in Asheville, North Carolina.  The leaves are changing, the shadows are growing a little longer, and the nights have taken on a certain surreal enchanting indicative of those last few weeks before Halloween.  Asheville Halloween is a wonderful and exciting holiday, the only trouble is people often don't know exactly where to go to enjoy this time of year with their community. And so I wanted to take a moment to write about some of the things that I know are going on and that make this one of my favorite times of year.  First and foremost on most people's mind when it comes to Halloween is trick-or-treating.  For this time honored night time walk around town I have to suggest heading to either Black Mountain or Brevard, NC.  Black Mountain transforms from the quaint... 10/13/2008