Jerri McCombs Real Estate Consultant Hendersonville NC Homes For Sale

NC Mountains are still glowing with color! Some friends came out for a visit and we decided to take a day for a little drive around the mountains. It turned out to be another gorgeous day and we went farther than we thought on this day trip. We started in Hendersonville, drove out Highway 64 east to Chimney Rock, finding some great stops along the way.

We then hung out in Chimney Rock for lunch. After, we drove up Highway 9 for an afternoon in Black Mountain. After that, we drove to Montreat for a peek at Lake Susan and Billy Graham's school. It was a lovely day, with sunlight dancing in the colorful leaves the entire time.

If you are in the area and have not been out to see the leaves, you are missing out. Today looks like another great day.

Fall in Western North Carolina is the BEST! I have traveled all over the country over the years and have seen a lot of falls all over the country. I really love our falls here in Western North Carolina and this year looks like it will be another pretty one. Tomorrow kicks off fall being October first, and for anyone traveling into the area, the main thing happening is the color of the leaves!

This weekend will be crisp and cool, with weekend temperatures hovering in the high 50's. The forecast calls for sun both days, so come on over to the mountains, and while you are here, take the time to check out some homes that can be yours for a great price!

Open houses run on Saturday and Sunday so just check in with the Hendersonville newspaper the Times-News and see for yourself.

In representing a buyer, how do you handle their final walk through? Do you have any set rules for this?

I found one that I stick to no matter. No more than 24 hours, preferably within 2 hours of, your closing a walk through must to be performed. And it must be performed by the buyers realtor and all buyers involved. And the second rule is that the property has to be 100% empty at that point.

If you are a buyer and don't get why this is important, then read on. Furniture, boxes and other objects can cover may issues. You absolutely must be able to investigate the home one final time, in it's empty state. Why? To see if anything has changed since you last saw it.

Case in point, a friend of mine a few years bought a home in WIlmington NC. The Realtor took them on the final walk through just a few hours prior to closing. The house was still full of boxes and so they were unable to really get in and see anything. In fact it was packed with boxes! They went to closing, signed all of the paperwork, and got the keys and went right to their new home. What did they find? Cat urine in bedroom carpets, so bad that they could not save it and even had to pull the subflooring below the carpet. Who paid for this? The buyers did, becasue they accepted the home as they saw it in the walk though. The walk through is to identify issues PRIOR to closing. These issues can get resolved before closing if found. Once the contracts are signed the buyer is out of luck.

Another reason buyers must inspect properties close to closing, is that anything can happen within the forces of nature. A tree can fall down on the home, winds can loosen shingles on a roof, or any number of other scenarios. Who pays for that? The person who owns the property the day the mess is discovered. If it is found prior to closing the seller will do it and more than likely they will have insurance to cover it. If you close and do not see the mess until after closing, then the buyer pays. Does a buyer really want to start home ownership with repairs and a fight with a new insurance company?

As Realtors we are held in a position to make sure that this does not happen to our clients. We need to be very careful about this rule. Always do a walk through as close to closing as possible, and always inspect the property when fully empty. As buyers doing the due diligence really does involve this point. Realtor or buyer, always insist on a walk through with an empty property the day of closing, hopefully within just hours of closing time.

Doing this can save head aches for buyers and Realtors alike.

I was driving home this morning during an unusually heavy rain and along my street were a group of electricians getting electrical lines back up. They were drenched I am sure, despite the heavy yellow slickers they doned.

I never realized how dedicated and hard working the electrical crews are until I lived on top of a mountain. When I first moved to Western North Carolina, I had power outages all the time, with the slightest wind or ice. What I saw out there was amazing. These crews were out in the worst weather, at all times of the day and night, hanging off mountain tops. I recall them on the road above my house one night, in pitch black, on a cherry picker, getting the lines back. It was in the wee hours of the morning, maybe one or two. I just couldn't believe the bravery they showed time and time again.

This morning as I passed by these workers in town on level ground, I had to remember the harder jobs they have and appreciate them all over again. We love to complain when our modern conveniences are on hold briefly. But we have to learn to appreciate the men and women who are there for us day and night, risking their lives so that we can have lights and other conveniences.

So next time you drive by a crew, give them a big smile and a thanks. They really are one of the unsung hero's of the world.

Many buyers aren't familiar with Easements in Western North Carolina. I would say that the majority of buyers coming to this area are coming from cities outside NC where there are mostly subdivisions. But here in Western North Carolina, many homes are located in rural areas outside of the protection of any subdivision rules and regulations.

So when you are moving to this area, if you are interested in a rural property this may be important information for you to know. A friend called me this week with an access issue for a property she owns. It appears that there is a parcel of land behind her home that may be landlocked. By this I mean that there are no clearly deeded easements leading to the lot in question.

Her concern was that the owner of the lot in question may want to use her land as access, since there is already an existing road into the area. There are other properties that the lot in question could use. But she wanted to know what her rights were.

In North Carolina it is illegal to block access to a parcel, or keep it land locked. So my friend has to be careful in knowing her rights. She doesn't want people driving through her property.

The owner of the property in question believes that she has the right to an easement through my friends property. I advised her to get copies of both deeds. This is the first thing to check. There has to be correct wording granting the right of way from one property to the other, and it has to be clearly stated on both deeds. This was not the case.

Next I advised her to look on her survey and the survey of the other property. A road should be clearly marked out on both surveys. There was an easement to the middle of my friends property, to her home, but it did not extend beyond that point. In other words it did not follow through to the back property. And the property in question has no survey.

My next words of advise were for her get an appointment with her closing attorney. It appears that the property in question has no legal right to access her land, but if the owner of the property that is landlocked pursues this issue, she will need legal advise to moves forward. Easements are a tricky thing and need the advise of a very good real estate attorney. The failure on the property in question was that this issue was not dealt with when the owner closed on it 10 years ago, when she purchased it. Now she can have a property that will never sell at a time when she is trying to sell it (it is for sale now).

If you are looking at property in Western North Carolina, and you are not within the city limits, or in the protected area of a subdivision, you need to look at more that just the land you are thinking of purchasing. What is around you that can effect the future use and enjoyment of that property? Always look at all parcels adjoining the property you are looking at, and investigate what can happen to you in the future.

What comes to mind here is what my first Real Estate Teacher said to us early on in the journey of this profession: The only thing you will know for sure in real estate will be that change will occur. And that is for sure a good one to remember. Change has changed the game over and over throughout the years, and in many ways. Make sure that your not a casualty of change, but rather a benefactor of it. Perform Due Diligence as if your life depended on it prior to buying a home or lot.