Carol Clay, Broker/REALTOR Brevard NC Real Estate Specialist

If you're looking for a fun way to spend the Labor Day weekend, come visit the Brevard area and take in the Transylvania Farm Fair and Founders Day on Saturday, September 5 from 9 am - 2pm. Celebrate our rich mountain heritage and enjoy food from many of our local farms. Begin the day with breakfast with farm fresh eggs, sausage, and more. While you're there, be sure to pick up a jar of local honey or any of the other items available for sale thoughout the event.

From 10 am - 6 pm Transylvania Heritage Museum will be holding their first Annual Founders Day Fair, celebrating the Founding Families of Transylvania County. Starting at 10 am, crafts people will be demonstrating their skills in the old-fashioned arts of spinning, weaving, patchwork, woodcarving, and more. They will be selling their wares, many dressed in period costumes. Raffle tickets will be sold by the Museum for a hand-carved bowl made that day by Walter Kluge, with the winner announced at 6 pm, the close of the event.

Farm Fair is sponsored by the Brevard/Transylvania Chamber of Commerce. For more information, visit online, or you can call the Chamber at (828) 883-3700.

For GRITS like me (Girls Raised In the South), there's just nothing better than stone ground corn bread cooked in an iron skillet, buttermilk fried chicken, and all the other great southern food treats that I grew up with. My family roots run deep in southern soil and some of my fondest memories are from summer vacations at my grandparents small home on Pine Island, Louisiana where this kind of food was a way of life. We didn't worry about fat grams or fiber, we couldn't care less about calories, and it was a known fact that everything just tastes better with a bit of bacon grease. Sitting down to eat was all about sharing good home cooked meals made from scratch using recipes that were nearly as old and seasoned as the cast iron skillet that were used to cook with. Home grown green beans and tomatoes that we "put up" every season, country ham and homemade biscuits, turnip greens and pinto beans were staples in our family for as long as I can remember. Sadly, I don't have the time to cook like my grandmother did. I buy my buttermilk biscuits frozen, and my mom's fried chicken is reserved for a special occasion. But this time of year, when the tail gate markets are brimming with local farm raised vegetables, I still cook my yellow squash with onions and bacon and the smell takes me right back to my mom's kitchen.

So, when a friend of mine passed along this great website, I just knew I had to pass it along. It's all about southern cooking and the southern way of life in a style that looks like it came out of a 1950 Betty Crocker cookbook. You'll love the cooking instructions and the recipes. Right now there is a recipe for buttermilk pie that is high on my list! Be sure to check out the blog too. If you love all things southern, ya'll are gonna love this!

http://www.sugarpiefarmhouse.com

Home sales in the Transylvania County dropped slightly in the month of July. There were 20 closings compared to 25 in June. As has been the case all year, the lion’s share of sales have been in the $100K-$300K price range. The total number of closings were also down just slightly from July 2008 when there were 25 closings.

In July 2009 there were two closings under $100K; five sold in the range of $100-$200K; nine sold between $200-$300K; three homes sold between $300-$400K, and only one home was sold for more than $500K.

The average home sold during July was $241,255 and the median price was $232,500. Both numbers were down from June and from this same time last year.

The average number of days from listing to close rose slightly to 200 days.

For additional information about the home you see pictured, click on the image. For more information about all homes for sale in the Brevard NC area, contact the Clay Team at 828-551-6290, or visit online at BrevardNCProperty.com

Who says people aren't buying real estate?

We just closed on a residential lot that we had on the market for 12 days. We have a closing on a home this week that we sold in under 90 days. And another closing next week on a home we sold that had been on the market for only about 2 weeks before we brought the buyer!

Best of all, despite the dire news about lending, we haven't had a client yet that couldn't get solid financing.

What we haven't seen are people lining up or even asking about the $8,000 first time home buyer incentive. The effectiveness of that little nugget remains to be seen.

The real estate market in western North Carolina, including the areas in and around Hendersonville, Pisgah Forest, Connestee Falls, and Brevard, is very seasonal. Typically, the “buying season” starts in the spring, sometime before Memorial Day and peaks during the summer months. After the kids start going back to shool business slows slightly but picks up again during the leaf season. After Thanksgiving, or the end of leaf season (whichever comes first), the streets are quiet until the following spring when we ramp up once again.

This year has been no exception and while the overall numbers are reflective of the downturn in the economy, the pattern is the same.

In Henderson County, there were 111 homes closed during the month of June, a 29% increase over May, but only a very slight increase over June 2008 when there were 108 closings. Much like the neighborhing Brevard area in Transylvania County, the largest number of sales occured in the $100-$300K price range. There were 13 closings at $100K or less; 44 at $100k-$200K; and 34 closings in the $200-$300K price range. Homes in the $300-$400K price range had 12 closings. And there 4 closings in the $400-$500K range and in the $500K and up price range.

The average selling price in June was $220,091, only slightly higher than May, but it was a 20% drop from June 2008. The median price was $197,000, only a $10,000 increase over May and an 8% drop from the year before.

For more information about homes and land for sale in the Hendersonville or Brevard area, visit the Clay Team online at brevardncproperty.com, or call 828-551-6290/551-6291.