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asheville real estate Archives - AskAsheville - Asheville, North Carolina
The Parade of Homes is an annual event held in Asheville North Carolina by the Home Builders Association. Over 30 homes were a part of this event that featured beautiful hand-crafted homes by construction companies in Western NC. Osada Construction took home the “Best In Show” award, and other Asheville area home builders won awards as well:
We would like to give a big congratulations to all of the wonderful Asheville Home Builders who were a part of the Parade of Homes and to the 2016 Winners. We look forward to next year, with a bunch of new homes on the scene.
It wasn’t but a few years ago, about around 2008, when the real estate market in the Asheville North Carolina area, and all across the country pretty much dropped off of the face of the earth. Home builders were stuck with “Spec Homes” that they could not sell, Real Estate agents had all sellers and no buyers, Banks stopped lending and everyone was broke. Some lost a little, some a lot, some lost everything. It gave us a quick lesson on how to live light, maybe downsize, and hold on tightly to the most important parts of our lives and business. Our priorities became more defined.
Today, the Asheville Home Building, Construction, Remodeling and Real Estate industry is telling a different story, a new story; but this one surely promises a happy ending. Tourism and travel in the area at the moment is growing by leaps and bounds; hotels popping up left and right, pushing commercial real estate development to the next level. Soon the structures that were built out horizontally, will be revisited and rebuilt vertically. When it comes to houses, a caravan of folks are moving to the area from all over the country, making residential real estate once again a hot commodity. Brace yourselves, we are now in the middle of a seller’s market.
We recently talked to Pat and Donna of Keller Williams in Asheville and their team is searching daily for folks that want to sell their homes. Did you hear me? They have buyers and need more houses! If homes cannot be found and the major developers do not build fast enough; the next phase is where buyers turn to land, and build. Rick Ledford of Energy Tech, a home builder that moved to the WNC area from Raleigh during the decline, now has clients lining up for his contracting and consultation services. Jason Muhlenkamp Carpentry had only a couple of home remodeling projects at the end of 2013, and five months later he has hired a big team and has plenty of projects all around Hendersonville, Asheville and Edneyville.
The home building and real estate market in the Asheville area is definitely on the rise. The mountains, quality of life, the beer, the diversity, the people… so many reasons. So who is moving here next? Maybe you.
Welcome to our “Moving To Asheville” series for the Real Estate section of our website. We interview folks that have moved to the area, find out why, and what they are doing here. Maybe you moved here from somewhere and have a wild story to tell about the journey. Contact Us and we may interview you.
Here is what Marilyn Sholin has to say. She moved from Miami Florida to Asheville and Western North Carolina:
We moved from the Aventura area of Miami, Florida which is on the Dade/Broward line. My parents moved me from NJ to Florida when I was a junior in high school. I had been living in Florida for many many years but still had an “up north” mentality. After so many years, we had done just about everything to do in Florida from surfing and boating to playing tennis and much more. We thought about just going to North Florida but never really looked at it hard enough. Also considered Arizona for about 30 seconds and once we saw the heat there, we wrote that off. North Carolina became the place.
Every summer for many years when my son was little we took a cabin in Pigeon Forge and our friends did the same with their kids. Those were awesome summers. Then my son went to camp for a few years at the Cullowhee Experience at Western Carolina University. My neighbor in Miami has a family house right on Lake Lure. They were one of the original families there. So after camp, we would go to her house for a week on the lake. Then around 12 years ago, one of my Miami portrait clients built a home high up in Maggie Valley. She commissioned me to come up with her and her two teenage daughters and their friends to document their weekend in Asheville. We did two formal portrait sessions and the rest of the time I photographed her beautiful mountain home, details of it, and documented whatever we did and wherever we went for albums later. She took us everywhere in Asheville and Hendersonville. I was in heaven. This was my “dream” location is what I said when I got home. Never dreaming it could happen.
We were looking to move out of Miami after we got hit with multiple hurricanes. I had been through every hurricane in Miami since 1965 and I had finally had it. My parents had just passed, I was ready to close my portrait studio and continue to keep my best clients by flying back and to move on to the new art I was creating and teaching and writing about. We started scouring the real estate up here and made a few trips to teach here that allowed us to also house hunt. I spent time looking at houses on the internet every day. Had no idea what area to move to. But, my publisher, Lark Publishing, was based in Asheville and my editor was here so I called her and got more info and she helped me with a referral to a Realtor. We made another trip up to meet the Realtor and look at her finds plus the ones we found on the internet. To make a long story short, we had one house in particular that when we drove down the street to it, we loved the neighborhood. It is in Fletcher and seemed the perfect spot for us despite it needing some major work. We negotiated for three months and finally came to terms and signed the contract. We sold my property in Florida within six months of putting it on the market even in the terrible real estate market. From the time we decided to move here it was six months and we bought our house and sold our property in Miami in that time frame.
Asheville is divided into North, South, East and West. Each direction has a very specific feel to it and each neighborhood is very different. Be sure to look at all four before deciding where you want to live. We were literally just “lucky” because we did NOT do that homework but if we had, we still would have chosen Fletcher area to live. We moved here in December 2007 and Asheville south has grown so much even we are amazed at the new restaurants, shopping and other explosion of construction going on here. We feel that we are exactly where we want to be close to everything and far enough away from other places.
This town has everything we could want. The art scene is exploding again, the restaurants are very local and not full of chains, the fresh food, the lifestyle is perfect for anyone from young adults to retirees. Every service you could want is here with the best services also. The medical here is much better than Miami. Seriously, it is!
It was just a few years ago that Asheville was booming with home and property buyers. I mean folks were coming from all ends of the United States to get in on a piece of the action. Home Builders in the WNC area had a waiting list and got to choose the clients they wanted to work with. We actually had our main teams solely on home building and real estate media. And business was so good! That was around 2008-2009, right before the “Great Depression” hit. Some companies with a large overhead had to fold up and close their doors. Others had to layoff much of their staff and get extremely hands-on themselves. Companies that had been in business for years missed payroll for the first time. Lawsuits were as common as new clients. Money was no longer coming in, and people were spending a lot less. Everyone was suffering.
Today is a New Day! 2013 is here. People are settling down financially and mentally; and resettling in Asheville and Western North Carolina. I talked to Donna Prinz of Keller Williams Realty in Asheville today, and she asked me.. “Do you know anyone, ANYONE, that wants to sell their home??!” I was like Huh?! It caught me off guard as my mind spun and I thought about how my hometown community is not only exploding with tourism, but we are also headed back up on the real estate wave. Government shutdown or not, Asheville’s got it going on!
So are we back on track for Western North Carolina to come together and be one of the fastest growing areas in the United States? Many think so. Some of my real estate friends say the area is about to snowball, and end up with a long waiting list of people to get in. Developers and home builders will be overwhelmed with work, paying folks in the construction industry to relocate here and supply the demand. Next is attracting new jobs to the area. Sound great right? It’s gonna happen!
The Real Estate market in Asheville North Carolina is taking a great turn for the better. The Western North Carolina community was the land of milk and honey to newcomers until the market crashed a few years ago. Then folks could not sell their home in other States, so they could not move to Asheville. Everyone was paralyzed. Today, things are looking great. Home developments are opening again, construction is happening, and people are making their move to WNC.
When you talk about Asheville Real Estate, there are many sub-categories. Are you looking for a rental, purchase or build? Apartment, condo, land, home, mansion, or estate? How many bedrooms and bathrooms do you need? In the City of Asheville or out in one of our wonderful towns and sub-communities? The options are endless when it comes to Asheville Real Estate options.
There are many people who want to live, or move to a better place in Asheville NC but do not know where to start. Pat & Donna of Keller Williams Realty, also known as “Asheville’s Dream Team” when it comes to local real estate, has a full team of experts to help you every step of the way. If you are looking to relocate to the area or find a new home, they can show you some targeted options. The Asheville Real Estate market is growing by leaps and bounds. Get a piece of the puzzle while you still can. Contact Pat & Donna.
