15 Destinations On The Rise

Asheville is once again featured on one of the TripAdvisors "Top" lists! Please click HERE to read the recent article featuring Asheville as one of "15 Destinations On The Rise"!

What to do this weekend - 12/30/11 - 01/01/12

A New Year's Celebration 2011

• December 31, 2011
• Location: Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa
• Address: 290 Macon Avenue, Asheville, NC 28804

Annual Downtown Asheville Holiday Window Display

• December 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011
• Location: Downtown Asheville
• Address: Downtown Asheville, Asheville, NC 28801

Old Farmer's Ball New Year's Eve Contra Dance

• December 31, 2011
• Location: Warren Wilson College
• Address: Bryson Gym at Warren Wilson College, Black Mountain, NC 28711

The Fritz with Duende Mountain Duo

• December 30, 2011
• Location: Mo Daddy's Bar & Grille
• Address: 77 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801

Toubab Krewe

• December 31, 2011
• Location: Orange Peel Social Aid and Pleasure Club
• Address: 101 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801

Tressa's Annual New Year's Eve Bash!

• December 31, 2011
• Location: Tressa's Downtown Jazz & Blues Club
• Address: 28 Broadway Street, Asheville, NC 28801

Winter Wonderland at the Grove Arcade

• November 19, 2011 - January 2, 2012
• Location: Grove Arcade
• Address: 1 Page Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801

19th Century Carolina Christmas

• November 16, 2011 - January 1, 2012
• Location: Smith-McDowell House Museum
• Address: 283 Victoria Rd., Asheville, NC 28801

Biltmore Candlelight Christmas Evenings

• November 11, 2011 - December 31, 2011
• Location: Biltmore
• Address: One Lodge Street, Asheville, NC 28803

Get Some Faerie Tail

• December 30, 2011 
• Venue:  North Carolina Stage Company
• Address: 15 Stage Lane, Asheville, NC 28801-2835

Soweto Gospel Choir

• January 1, 2012 - January 29, 2012
• Location: Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
• Address: Asheville Civic Center, Asheville, NC 28801

National Gingerbread House Competition & Display

• November 16, 2011 - January 1, 2012
• Location: Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa
• Address: 290 Macon Avenue, Asheville, NC 28804

Best Post of 2011: For Buyers - Even the Naysayers Say Now Is the Time to Buy

Best Post of 2011: For Buyers

by The KCM Crew on December 28, 2011

This week we are posting the best blogs of 2011 by category. We hope you enjoy them as much as you did when we first posted them. – The KCM Crew

Even the Naysayers Say Now Is the Time to Buy

 
Business School professors Eli Beracha of East Carolina University and Ken H. Johnson of Florida International University have done extensive research on which makes more sense financially: to rent or own a home. They published, Lessons from Over 30 Years of Buy versus Rent Decisions: Is the American Dream Always Wise? In their paper, the professors do not dispute the social benefits of homeownership:

“Home ownership is touted as the “American Dream”. It is credited with enhancing wealth, increasing civic pride, improving self-esteem, crime prevention, child development, and better educational outcomes, among other benefits. This paper does not dispute any of these claims.”

What the professors were proposing is that homeownership is not a better investment strategy than renting. The first of the two major findings was:

“After setting the holding period to the average American’s tenure in a residence, renting (not buying) proves to be the superior investment strategy over most of the study period… Individuals, on average, were better off in economic terms to have rented for most of the years in the study period. This first result is strongly dependent upon fiscally disciplined individuals that, without fail, reinvest any residual savings from renting.”

Historically, people do not actually reinvest savings “without fail”.  Check here for the findings of a recent study from The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard.
The second major finding says it all. According to both professors Beracha and Johnson, NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY!

“(F)undamental drivers now appear to be in place that favor homeownership over renting in the near term future…
The second finding might seem unwise to many given the recent crash in the real estate markets around the country. However, rent-to-price ratios now seem to be in place along with other fundamental drivers that favor ownership over renting.”

They conclude their research paper with this sentence:

“Conditions (historically low mortgage rates and relatively low rent-to-price ratios) now seem in place to favor future purchases.”

Bottom Line

Two researchers set out to prove that homeownership is not a good financial decision. After completing that research, they have determined that now is the time to buy. What more needs to be said?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Activities for the weekend of 12/22 - 12/25

"Rediscovering Christmas" Theatre Production

• December 21, 2011 - December 22, 2011
• Location: Black Mountain Center for the Arts
• Address: 225 West State Street, Black Mountain, NC 28711

 Black Mountain's own nationally renowned company Acts of Renewal, featuring professional actors Carol Anderson and Jim Shores whose material has been aired on PBS and other national TV and radio show, in their annual holiday production.  Known for their balance of humor, timing, interpretation, and message, Anderson and Shores have delighted audiences over and over at the holidays.  Original works set in a vignette format with each actor playing more than a half-dozen characters apiece... 

Annual Downtown Asheville Holiday Window Display

• December 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011
• Location: Downtown Asheville
• Address: Downtown Asheville, Asheville, NC 28801

 The Asheville Downtown Association's Holiday Windows Competition creates a wonderful FREE event for people visiting downtown... a Holiday Windows Walking Tour. Just pick a street and get ready to "ooh" and "ah" at the creative and festive windows through the month of December. 

Winter Wonderland at the Grove Arcade

• November 19, 2011 - January 2, 2012
• Location: Grove Arcade
• Address: 1 Page Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801

Make the Grove Arcade a part of your holiday plans.  With wonderful local restaurants and independently-owned galleries and shops, you can enjoy the holidays and downtown Asheville while getting your shopping done.  For the sixth year, the Arcade is partnering with the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa to display entries from the National Gingerbread House Competition.  The houses are on view Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.  

19th Century Carolina Christmas

• November 16, 2011 - January 1, 2012
• Location: Smith-McDowell House Museum
• Address: 283 Victoria Rd., Asheville, NC 28801

 Celebrate Christmas the old-fashioned way. The Smith-McDowell House Museum's time-line of authentically decorated period rooms showcase the evolution of Christmas celebrations and decorations. 

Biltmore Candlelight Christmas Evenings

• November 11, 2011 - December 31, 2011
• Location: Biltmore
• Address: One Lodge Street, Asheville, NC 28803

 As daylight fades into dusk, candlelight and firelight accent Biltmore House’s extravagant holiday décor, accented by live entertainment and outside illuminations.Candlelight Christmas Evenings tickets are available by reservation only, and include an evening self-guided candlelight tour of Biltmore House, next-day visit to the gardens and Biltmore Winery. Advance reservations are required. 

Home for the Holidays

• December 5, 2011 - December 22, 2011
• Location: Flat Rock Playhouse
• Address: 2661 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, NC 28731

 A fun-filled, high-spirited send up of the yuletide season.   Presented in a two-act concert format, this personable celebration promises to tickle the funny bone and warm the heart.  You can expect a new look on some old holiday standards peppered with a handpicked selection of new material by contemporary composers and lyricists.  Throw in an audience participation number, a few historical carols with a twist,  a novelty number or two reflecting our current views... 

Lighting of the Green

• December 6, 2011 - December 22, 2011
• Location: AB-Tech
• Recurrence: Recurring daily

Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College will host its second annual "Lighting of the Green" December 2 - 22, 2011. Experience the wonder of the holiday season at Fernihurst, an 1870s mansion once the center of social activity for the elite township of Victoria. The house will be open to the public from 6:00 - 8:00pm on December 6, 9, 13, 16, and 20 with entertainment and light refreshments. Outside lights at Fernihurst and Sunnicrest will be on each evening from December 2 - 22.  

Plaid Tidings

• November 30, 2011 - December 22, 2011
• Location: Flat Rock Playhouse
• Address: 2661 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, NC 28731

 Music and Lyrics by Various Artists?The holidays have never sounded so good! After two hugely successful productions of Forever Plaid, our boys are back to do their Christmas Special. The Forever Plaid sequel is a show for the whole family. Christmas with your favorite four Plaids will feature pop songs from the 50's along with Christmas standards that have all been "Plaid-erized," 

The Polar Express at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad

• November 4, 2011 - December 24, 2011
• Location: Great Smoky Mountains Railroad
• Address: 226 Everett Street, Bryson City, NC 28713

Get into the Christmas Spirit by enjoying a 1 hour and 15 minute round-trip journey to the "North Pole" Read along with the magical story and meet Santa himself! Guests will receive warm cocoa and special treats. First Class Upgrade for The Polar Express™ will receive warm cocoa in a POLAR EXPRESS souvenir mug and other treats, all served up in our premium first class seating coaches. Ride The Polar Express™ Christmas Eve Limited for an unforgettable evening and recieve a s...  

National Gingerbread House Competition & Display

• November 16, 2011 - January 1, 2012
• Location: Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa
• Address: 290 Macon Avenue, Asheville, NC 28804

 Contestants from across the country will bring their culinary masterpieces to The Grove Park Inn this holiday season. Delight in the imagination shown in these sugar-and-spice creations, strolling through the competition display is a sure way to be swept up in the holiday spirit. 

Carolina Mountain Sales December 2011 Newsletter

Click HERE to see our interactive December 2011 newsletter!

Residential Housing Ready to Awaken?

 Click HERE for the original article.

CNBC – Fri, Dec 9, 2011 1:06 PM EST


After half a decade of withering sales and slumping prices, there are strong and diverse signs that the single-family housing market is poised for a rebound.

In some metropolitan areas, the market has bottomed, with both sales and prices on the rise and foreclosures on the decline.

This contrarian - and largely overlooked - thesis flies in the face of the persistent gloom that has nagged the industry since 2007, when the subprime crisis flared.

Industry analysts and players cite a number of reasons - some traditional (employment), others unique to the post-credit bubble era (foreclosures)  - for the long-awaited sea change. An analysis of industry and government data also support the forecast.

"It has become increasingly apparent to us that the pieces for a housing rebound next year are beginning to fall into place," declared Barclays Capital analyst Stephen Kim in a recent note to investors.

Proponents admit that the nascent rebound could easily be derailed, but stress that after years of government efforts to support sales and prices as well as the volatile impact of foreclosures, the market has regained a measure of normalcy.

"With the exception of really hard-hit markets, the vast majority is ready to turn around," adds Jerry Howard, president and CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, NAHB. "The Washington, D.C., area is not only ripe for recovery, they need to start building units."

The iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction Index Fund (NYSE Arca: itb), for example, is up some 38 percent, while the S&P 500 is up about 21 percent.

Nevertheless, skeptics overwhelmingly outnumber the optimists, given the false-starts of previous years, the economy's sub-par performance, a new wave of distressed properties and the capacity for the European debt crisis to spook business, consumers and investors.

"I think it's premature," says Richard Smith, CEO of Realogy, the nation's largest real estate company, whose brands include Century 21, Coldwell Banker and Sotheby's International. "We see little indications here and there. Transaction volume is improving. Prices are still under pressure. This isn't going to be one of those spiked robust recoveries."

Smith is echoing the conventional industry calculus: that price increases follow sales growth amid consistently strengthening demand.

There's been little conventional, however, about this housing slump, which is one reason it's had so many false bottoms. Among its many firsts - housing starts fell through 1 million annual units, foreclosures topped 2 million in three consecutive years, and home prices declined on a national basis.

The catalysts to recovery are mostly the same: for potential buyers, residential rents have now risen enough to consider buying; existing-home inventory is the lowest in five years, while that of new homes is at a 40-year low; affordability is at a record high; delinquencies have peaked; consumer confidence is on the rise ; and job growth is accelerating. 

For investors, with a continuation of the gold rally in question, real estate is beginning to look like a viable inflation hedge alternative, while rising rents mean greater profits.

That thinking may help explain why the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction Index Fund (NYSE Arca: itb), a broad barometer for the housing market, is up some 38 percent from the stock market's October bottom, while the S&P 500 is up about 21 percent.

Finally, there's the intangible fatigue with bad news, and a desire to end the negative feedback loop.
"We believe there is sizable housing demand that could be released into the market," says Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, NAR.

The NAR is forecasting existing home sales will rise 5 percent in both 2012 and 2013; prices will edge up 2 percent in each of those two years, then 4 percent in 2014.

The NAHB is forecasting a 5.1-percent increase in new home sales and a 10-percent increase for new home starts in 2012.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

A turnaround in the housing market will require continued improvement in the job market.
The economy has created jobs 13 months in a row for a total of almost 1.9 million. Weekly jobless claims have been routinely below the key level of 400,000, and the national jobless rate is down to 8.6 percent.

There are already signs in some markets that an improving employment picture is boosting housing demand and sale prices.

In cities such as Tampa, Fla., South Bend, Ind., Grand Rapids, Mich., Raleigh, N.C., Wichita, Kan., and Green Bay, Wis.., the median sales price of an existing single family home increased 1-2 percent in the third quarter, during which time the jobless rate and/or payrolls growth improved dramatically.
Even in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. metropolitan area - considered the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis a few years ago - prices were just 1.4 percent lower in the third quarter than the previous year.

A new index by the NAHB and First American, the Improving Markets Index, IMI, launched in September, tracks housing markets throughout the country that are showing signs of improving economic health. Thirty cities - including San Jose, Pittsburgh, New Orleans and Winston-Salem, N.C. - are showing growth in permits, sales and employment.

In San Diego - where in the last year the jobless rate has fallen from 10.4 percent to 9.7 percent and 24,000 jobs have been added - home inventory is down to two months; in some areas of San Francisco (9.4 vs. 10.3 percent), it is one month.

More broadly, 40 percent of all states showed existing home sale increases on both a quarterly and annual basis in the third quarter, according to National Association of Realtors data. That includes high foreclosure-rate states, such as California, Georgia, Michigan and Utah. All but six states showed double-digit gains year over year.

Location, Location, Location

There's even a strong case to be made that the foreclosure crisis is easing.

"The pipeline of distressed property is plentiful but less than last year," when foreclosure activity hit a record 2.18 million, says Yun.

For the first nine months of 2011, foreclosure activity is down sharply from the same period last year (26.59 percent), whether it is the worst-off states - (Florida, 54.98 percent; California, 31.51 percent; Utah, 27.41 percent) - or better-off ones (New York, 46.57 percent; Mississippi, 33.25 percent; South Dakota, 26.59 percent), according to RealtyTrac, which tracks the data.

Third-quarter foreclosures (610,337) were up 1 percent from the previous quarter but down 34 percent from the year-ago period.

The wild card right now is an impending wave of new foreclosed properties on the market, following the removal of state moratoria and the settlement of state and federal lawsuits with lenders and loan servicers.

It's unclear how many properties will hit the market, but conservative estimates put the number at over a million.

Still, of the top 20 markets in the new wave, nine are in California, five in Florida and two in Ohio, according RealtyTrac, so the impact will be fairly concentated.

Another question is whether that wave will be a tsunami or merely a breaker. If the market is in fact recovering, why would banks want to weaken it again by deluging it with cheap properties.

"You could see them trying to gauge the market like speculators," answers Howard.

Kim of Barclays is among those who say the threat is exaggerated, perhaps misunderstood. He estimates that 40 percent of the foreclosed properties haven't had a payment made on them in two years, which means they are in poor condition and thus unattractive to many buyers.

"The deterioration has been great," he says. "It flies in the face of all the bearish arguments."

Kim's thesis is that there are now two kinds of buyers in the market; those who'll take a chance on a bargain-priced, distressed property and those who'll only make a conventional transaction. He says it helps explain why the Core Logic data he used for his latest report shows non-distressed prices flat or slightly higher in the past year.

"Even if the banks decide to move their inventory more aggressively, and I suspect they will, it's OK because the buyer is making a distinction," explains Kim.

"There's a ready appetite for it," adds Smith of Realogy, who agrees that there's substantial pent-up demand for housing in general but also great uncertainty. "If you can relieve consumers of some of that uncertainty, then I can see a nice little recovery."

That's the psychological dimension of the wild card - the negative feedback loop that has plagued housing.

Optimists say most of the uncertainty and fear is gone.

"The major driver of negative sentiment was that prices were going down across the market by large amounts," says Kim of Barclays. "Buyers need to see a stabilization."

A contributing element to that is the unwinding of government intervention - whether to artificially spur demand - as was the case with the first-time buyer tax incentive program of 2009 and 2010 - and/or to retard and prevent foreclosures.

Many regard those efforts as largely ineffective, if not counter-productive because they delayed the inevitable - a deep descent to a market bottom, which has finally been touched.

"The numbers you're looking at you can trust," says Kim. "There are no exogenous factors."
Though tight lending conditions and forthcoming regulations of the Dodd-Frank legislation are still an issue for some, sweeping housing finance reform is off the agenda for at least the next year.

"You're back to the natural forces of the market," says Howard of the builders association.

Just Listed - 81 Pebble Creek Dr

So Much For So Little! Condo in Pebble Creek! 

 
81 Pebble Creek Dr.

Asheville, NC 28803

Offered at $149,900

3 Bedroom / 2.5 Bath

2,070 sq. ft.

MLS # 510638

Click HERE for more information about this great condo! 

Price Reduced! Now offered at $275K

471 Blue Mist Way

Arden, NC 28704

MLS #505587

Year Built: 2003
3 Bed / 2.5 Bath

2276 Sq. ft.
Lot Size: 1.0  Acres

Cozy custom-built mountain home with lots of light! Home sits on a peaceful lot that touches Pisgah National Forest in a gated subdivision with hiking trails, pool, clubhouse, and trail to Blue Ridge Parkway. Wood burning fireplace. Hardwood & tile floors, carpet in bedrooms, tile in bathrooms. Composition/Masonite board exterior. Only 10 minutes from Biltmore Park shopping, restaurants, etc.