About Buncombe County, NC

Asheville NC -Investors' LOTS and Land For Sale

I wrote a post not long ago about the Top 5 Eco-Friendly Trends for Investors to Watch in 2010 that gave investors lots to think about: Innovation - developing alternatives to technologies that have been demonstrated to damage your health and your environment."Cradle to Cradle" Design - fully reclaiming or re-using products end "cradle to grave" cycle of manufactured products. Sustainability - meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.Source reduction - reducing waste and pollution by changing outmoded patterns of production and consumption. This decreases reliance on landfills and incinerators.Viability - creating economic growth around "green" technologies and products.


But all this got me thinking about LOTS! Eco-friendly LOTS , that is. There are lots of LOTS for sale by owner and/or on the MLS in the Asheville NC  area.  What can distinguish these lots? They are informed by the list above. 

Such LOTS would take into account protection of the building site, solar orientation, wildlife preservation, erosion control, saving existing trees, and would incorporate plans for a "Cradle to Cradle" design. The LOT and the Investor would want sustainability to count. How many trips to the landfill, for example, could be avoided when the building process gets underway? (Source reduction.) And would bring green technologies into play.  Would you consider reclaiming or re-using timber?(see video below.)

I know of a handful of lots (that is NOT  a lot) that Investors looking for ROI might consider-LOTS where  conservation based subdivision design, Low Impact Development (LID), walkability, and land development that minimizes adverse environmental impacts adds up to a wise choice- 

Take a look at this one, for example. (see video) This LOT is NOT on the MLS. It's a FSBO.  It belongs to a poet-author....and when you watch the video, you may understand why he chose to invest in it--hint (waterfall and trails.)

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(*)/'(*)    ..........      ............Asheville NC Real Estate:     LAND in  Asheville.  Going Green  and Eco-Friendly Properties. Expert Tools for Sellers and Buyers of  Mountain Homes and Land Legacies. "On the roll for  sustainable  innovation."  © 2010. Asheville NC Real Estate     Unauthorized reproduction of any information on this site is a violation of existing copyright laws. All rights reserved.

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December - 2009

The health of the market is measured by the number of homes in inventory therefore, you must compare the current inventory to the number of sales that has taken place to project the actual number of months supply of homes.

The redundant question is: What is a Healthy Real Estate Market?

Rule of Thumb: That is not always an easy question to answer, but usually, inventory of unsold homes available should not equal more than a 5 to 7 month supply. Asking prices and inventory seem to set the theme.

At the end of the year it is obvious that Asheville is not yet experiencing the "healthy" market we had 2 years ago. In 2008, Asheville and Buncombe County were continuing to hold steady at about 14 months supply, on average. So far, in the last 12 months, the average is right at a 20 month supply.

As indicated below, we have 2.42 times more homes on the market than what a "healthy" market should have. This is a positive decline since March but a negative compared to February 2009.

In Asheville, we are still continuing to see a slow, but small, reduction in home prices, as the inventory has begun to drop from the top of recent high numbers, and the December inventory numbers are moderating. Some of the reduction is caused by weather conditions and not sales or uninterested sellers.

There has been an increase in the number of properties offered under the "short sale" concept, which is where the mortgage holder agrees to let the owner attempt to sell the house for less than what is actually owed, so as to prevent a foreclosure. Many banks are allowing the owners to stay in their homes for extended periods to see if a potential buyer will buy before a foreclosure takes place.

The ongoing area of concern continues to be about the homes over $400,000. The worrisome market is the homes at or over $1 million. The number of sales per month compared to the existing inventory suggests a rather long term for that inventory to either shrink or see prices drop by large percentages.

Sales of homes under $285,000 seem to be stable with only a small excess in inventory. This would indicate that the "average" buyer has plenty of homes to choose from and most of them are at fair market value.

The question is....where are the buyers? January 2009 looks like it will produce the lowest number of units sold in a month in over 12 years. December 2009 sales have been higher than December 2008.

Residential Properties = Single Family Homes, Condos, Townhouses & Mobiles on Owned Land

Copyright by Don Davies©

230 Hickory Ridge in Swannanoa is a unique and wonderful place. On my first visit with the sellers I was absolutely enchanted with the location. On approach, the house has a distinctive white picket fence, proceeding through the gate you find a nicely landscaped front yard with perennials, and a large covered front porch just meant for enjoying the beautiful setting and relaxing sounds of the rock fountain in the side yard. I can certainly see why the sellers say they practically live on this porch in the spring and summer. The most amazing part of the setting is a wooded play area, nicely equipped with a tire swing, slide, tree house and even a campfire area. There's plenty of room to run around and a lovely walking path across the property and a stream. Camping anyone? At 230 Hickory Ridge there is no need to leave home to go to the park!

The house itself has plenty of space and a flexible floor plan with 3 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms, formal dining room, family room and a bonus room. There are two master suites, one on each level and each master bath has a garden tub and separate shower. The upstairs master has an attached sitting/office area. The downstairs master could be an additional living room or an office. The bonus room has no closet but could be used as a fourth bedroom or would make a great office space. The kitchen is charming and well-equipped. The kitchen and family room both open out to the back deck for more outdoor living space.

This ideal home is located in Swannanoa, a convenient 15 minute drive from downtown Asheville. Shopping is within a 5 minute drive. So close, but far away enough to feel like a mountain retreat. On the border of Black Mountain, the Swannanoa area boasts beautiful mountain vistas along with lower taxes. It would make a lovely vacation home or a year round abode. You won't find another like it. 3 BRs, 3 baths, approx 2200 sqaure feet. 1.29 acres, unique setting. $249,900.

Check it out for yourself, call me, I will be happy to arrange a showing or provide more information!

Per the WNCRMLS as of 02-01-2010. Number of homes sold and total dollar volume will tend to go up for a few more days as transactions clear thru the system.

For more sales data go to The Asheville Market.

Searches on YOUR TERMS!

Please review our new Asheville Real Estate website. Search for foreclosures, short sales, green built, single level living, mountain view or any term that interest you. Just go to the advanced search page and type your search term into the remarks field.

Free Home Staging Service

Other than pricing, staging a home properly is the most critical step in the home selling proccess. We offer a FREE Home Staging service (by a nationally accredited Home Stager) for our furnished listings. For more information about Asheville Home Staging go to Staged Homes of Asheville.