Behind the Scenes with a Marketing Maven Turned Economic Developer

Celebrate with us as the George Real Estate Group hits ten years of unparalleled service, right here on WHKP! Our latest episode commemorates this impressive milestone while peeling back the layers of Henderson County's evolving property scene. We analyze the relentless climb of home values and demystify the process of buying and selling in a market that's as fluid as life itself. With interest rates ebbing and flowing, discover why now might be the perfect moment to make your move. We also turn the spotlight on Brittany Brady, our Hometown Hero, to applaud her remarkable contributions to our local economy through the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development.

Venture further into our podcast as we track the remarkable trajectory of Brady's career, from her beginnings in marketing to her current role at the helm of economic development. Listen closely as we unpack the successes and challenges of integrating giants like Sierra Nevada into our community, against the backdrop of workforce evolution and the dawn of Industry 4.0. Brittany's personal narrative—a balancing act between demanding professional life, board duties, and family—will inspire and resonate with many. Plus, her outlook on Henderson County’s future, particularly in the transport sector, offers a forward-thinking perspective on regional growth and opportunity that you won't want to miss.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

The George Real Estate Group Radio broadcast is celebrating 10 years on WHKP. The George Real Estate Group is celebrating 10 years on the radio live every Thursday morning at 10.05 on WHKP 107.7 FM and AM 14.50 and streaming online at WHKPcom. Each Friday morning at 8.45, the George Real Estate Group presents the Hometown Hero Award to someone in our community who goes above and beyond to make our hometown a better place to live. Here's this week's Hometown Hero Show. At 8.45 we click in on our George Real Estate Group Hometown Hero Series Good morning, noah.

Speaker 2: 0:50

Good morning and happy Friday. Did you do that sound on purpose?

Speaker 1: 0:55

I'm running real close to the edge this morning. I need a little more Starbucks, I need just a little caffeine. How are you? How's things at the George Real Estate Group?

Speaker 2: 1:05

Well, a lot to be thankful for, and the market is incredible and it continues to move. Here in Henderson County, of course, we talk about this a lot with the supply and demand, regardless of these interest rates, regardless of the, you know, it doesn't matter, because life happens. Therefore real estate happens, and we're seeing that here more than ever, here in Henderson County. With the low inventory levels, though, prices keep going up. The average single family home price in Henderson County is at 529, and that's about a 7% appreciation from this current 12 months compared to the previous 12 months, but we've had an 11% drop in the number of homes selling, and so, but because of the low inventory levels and even though we have had a slight decline in demand, prices keep going up and I think we're going to continue to see that.

Speaker 2: 1:49

Someone just asked me, you know, should we, what should we do? I mean, like actually they were asking for their adult child, and you know interest rates are so high. But if you can afford to buy today, you should, because guess what, when interest rates go down, prices are going to actually keep going up because there's going to be even more demand hitting the market. And so it's a fascinating, you know industry, but you know real estate's a life driven event and so we're here, and we're grateful, to help our clients navigate through the buying and selling. I do have to say one thing about. You know there's a lot of national news about the real estate industry. One thing I want to remind listeners is commissions have always been negotiable. That actually was, has always been the case and so if you're working and considering hiring a listing agent, you can negotiate and decide if you want to negotiate commissions there. If you're working with a buyer's agent, you can negotiate commissions there. Again, that's always been the case, and so again, you got to be careful how the news spins things.

Speaker 2: 2:46

But, we're having. We're leaning into the conversation and we're grateful to have the conversation with our clients that are considering buying or selling and we'd love to help. We had the experience of helping over 1400 families throughout the years, you know, with the buying and selling and again it's business is going to continue to happen. Real estate is going to continue to happen because real estate happens around life.

Speaker 1: 3:06

You need to buy a house or you need to sell a house. I mean, it happens, and don't you have some open houses scheduled?

Speaker 2: 3:14

Actually thank you for yes, we have three open houses because we have three incredible brand new listings hitting the market today 1341 Chancelloop Drive incredible neighborhood right there in Flat.

Speaker 3: 3:27

Rock in.

Speaker 2: 3:28

Hendersonville. Then we have 828 Foster Hill Drive in Blue Ridge Estates, off of Little River Road in Berea Church. This home has million dollar views, but not for a million dollars. I mean like it's. You can see Craggy Mountain, you can see Mitchell Mountain, you can see Pisgah it is the most stunning long range views in. The house is perfectly situated to take advantage of that. And then we also have 209 Camelia Way in Timber Creek. These three listings I don't think they're going to last very long, but they're all being opened this Sunday 2 to 4.

Speaker 1: 4:01

Okay, you can get more information at your website, I'm sure, and see pictures.

Speaker 2: 4:05

Absolutely. You can call us directly at 828-393-0134. Find us online at realestatebygregcom and be sure to subscribe to our podcast. Sorry, that was a little bit of a long intro on the real estate market. We had a lot to cover, but so excited to have with us Brittany Brady, our hometown hero, this morning.

Speaker 1: 4:22

Good morning Brittany.

Speaker 3: 4:23

Good morning.

Speaker 1: 4:25

How are you?

Speaker 3: 4:25

I'm doing well. How are you?

Speaker 1: 4:26

I'm doing great, always do better on Fridays for some reason. That's right, that's right.

Speaker 3: 4:30

But the real question how's your bracket doing?

Speaker 1: 4:32

Oh well, I'm hidden there still, I'm still in there. Noah, you busted.

Speaker 2: 4:39

No, I am shockingly having one of the best brackets of my year. How about you?

Speaker 3: 4:45

I have three, and one's doing better than the other.

Speaker 2: 4:48

OK.

Speaker 3: 4:49

A couple of different groups, so we'll see if I come out on top on any of them.

Speaker 1: 4:52

It's exciting to know that it is. It's a fun time of the year.

Speaker 2: 4:55

And how about NC State winning last night? Yeah?

Speaker 1: 4:58

that's six in a row for them, that's right. Yeah, and I know it's amazing Good time of the year, man. Well, let's switch the conversation to the Henderson County Partners for Economic Development. Brittany, you are there and you have been for a long time. Tell us about your past with that organization. First of all, what is that organization?

Speaker 3: 5:21

Say, the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development is a public-private organization and ultimately we work to create and retain quality jobs in Henderson County.

Speaker 3: 5:30

A lot of times people hear economic development and they say they don't like it. In fact, if you sit through any public here and you probably hear people say they don't like it, I would like to tell you that you probably do. Only 1% of land in Henderson County is industrial-zoned, but your industry is 30% of your tax base and that only accounts for 12% of services. So we like to say that manufacturing pays the bills. It helps pay for our public services, it helps pay for our public schools and that's ultimately what we do every day is that we work to bring in good jobs and good investment into this community to preserve what we love in Henderson County. And I've been with the organization for 13 years. I started as a marketing coordinator kind of fresh off the streets, thought I knew a little bit about marketing places, and have moved my way up through the ranks and has been the president of the organization in the past six years.

Speaker 1: 6:16

Fantastic. Well, you must have a really exciting job. I can see all of those ingredients coming together to be really exciting and to try to match and meet everybody.

Speaker 3: 6:28

It is Every project's different, but they're all really fun.

Speaker 2: 6:33

Well, I can imagine the landscape has changed since you first started. You said 12 years ago.

Speaker 3: 6:38

Yes, absolutely. We talk about projects Pre-pandemic. They would come in, they would be in town for a while. You would take them, wind them, dine them, get them in the community. Now, a lot of that is done by desktop, and so your website better be great. The request for proposal that these companies are requesting better be perfect when you turn it in and then when you get them, you might have them for two hours if you're lucky on that initial visit, and you better show them everything that your community has. So it's definitely changed.

Speaker 2: 7:04

That's so fascinating. I mean, I know and obviously I'm a little biased, I'm sure you are too for our incredible community, absolutely. We live in and being able to share with these different industries and different corporations that are considering moving here. Is it just big corporations that you are courting?

Speaker 3: 7:19

We work with everybody, and that's another misconception about manufacturing. So there's over 130 manufacturers in the community and they're all shapes and sizes. So there's one person shop, there's 600 person shops and we work with all of them. And so if it's a local company who needs to expand, we'll help them out, or if it's a well-known C-suite kind of Fortune 500 company, we'll also help them out as well. So we primarily focus on manufacturing, but we dabble in professional services as well.

Speaker 1: 7:47

What kind of successes come to mind?

Speaker 3: 7:50

I think the success that put our organization on the map is probably Sierra Nevada. We work with again over 130 companies. But a lot of those companies are making components for cars or phones and you're not going and buying something for mayor to wear off the shelf, but you might be going and buying a product from Sierra Nevada off the shelf and so that kind of elevated what we do in the community and people got what we do. So that was really exciting. I think. For me professionally my first big win as a president of the organization was JBL. That is located off Upward Road in the Flat Rock community and it was a public-private partnership with the city of Hendersonville and Henderson County to actually buy and develop that industrial park in the middle of the pandemic. But it's been a great success and they have over-invested what they said they were going to do, which is always a win for our taxpayers in Henderson County.

Speaker 1: 8:37

Yeah, I know, I drove down 26 recently south, and what is that over there? That's what you guys are building.

Speaker 3: 8:45

Yes, we continue to work with developers to bring in new opportunities again in those industrial-zoned areas for more jobs for our community.

Speaker 1: 8:54

Well, I'm sure for one glad you did work with Sierra Nevada. That is a fun place. It is a fun place Go out there. I really do.

Speaker 2: 9:02

Can you explain for listeners what is the public-private sector? I mean, what is that? Who are you employed by? Sure?

Speaker 3: 9:10

So we're a nonprofit organization. We have about 140 private investors and those range from all sorts of companies to see the benefit. When companies are coming to town, such as Sierra Nevada, everyone is benefiting. You're selling homes and contractors are building. So we have all of those private companies investing in us. But the majority of our funding comes from our public partners. So Henderson County and the municipalities and the Henderson County pretty much contract us out to do the recruitment and retention of industry.

Speaker 2: 9:38

That's amazing. What are some other misunderstandings that someone might have? You mentioned a couple already. Did we cover the primary?

Speaker 3: 9:45

ones. The primary ones are there. I think there's a lot of questions right now about workforce and what that looks like and why would you recruit if workforce is as low as it is. But we're really marketing for the future. So, unfortunately, we saw continental close recently and we had to market for that ahead of time. And we're also marketing for a change in industry, and so we're seeing companies investing now in industry 4.0 or AI and that changes the landscape of jobs and so when you've got those changes, we're always trying to make sure we're bringing in the best types of companies. So if there was a closure or reduction in force, we're ready for that.

Speaker 1: 10:20

Incredible. Tell us about some of the other things that you're not just married to your job. You are involved in a lot of other organizations, board of directors and so on. Tell us about it.

Speaker 3: 10:33

So locally I'm here on the UNC Health Party Board, I'm also involved in the Henderson County Tourism Development Authority Board, and then at the state level, I'm the legislative chair for the North Carolina Economic Development Association.

Speaker 1: 10:46

Oh well, those are all three very busy jobs right there they are. Yeah, alice. Ok, the next question is your family. Tell us about who puts up with this busy schedule?

Speaker 3: 10:59

Yes, I'm married to my husband Zach. We've been married for 12 years and we have two children. We have a six-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter, so we are always busy in running in multiple different directions but having fun.

Speaker 2: 11:11

Did you ever see yourself in this role?

Speaker 3: 11:13

Oh goodness. No, I mean, my background was hospitality and tourism and that's what I thought, thought I was going to do. I didn't know economic development existed In fact, there's very few people who go to school for economic development but it's been fun. And while I didn't think I was in this role, I always loved Henderson County. I remember I studied abroad and I would go to every city and I would say, oh, I love Paris, but Hendersonville is still my favorite city, and so I still wanted to be a tour guide for my community, and I guess that's what I am now.

Speaker 2: 11:39

I mean you're an advocate for our community.

Speaker 3: 11:41

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1: 11:43

Well, really, both of you are. I was just sitting here thinking you both are showing the best of what we have about every day.

Speaker 2: 11:50

It is. I mean again, I think it's incredible with you and your organization doing Tell us about your team. Do you have?

Speaker 3: 11:57

Yeah, we're a small and steady team, so we do have a board of directors that we report to. And then we have a vice president, jamie Justice. He takes care of our business development going outside of the community and also working to secure industrial sites and buildings. And then Emily Martin is our director of industry and workforce and she takes care of those 130 companies, meets with them on a daily basis and then builds our workforce programs, including our apprenticeship program.

Speaker 2: 12:21

That's amazing.

Speaker 1: 12:23

My notes say only that your husband has a unique car.

Speaker 3: 12:29

We have a unique car.

Speaker 1: 12:31

We have a unique car he drives it more.

Speaker 3: 12:36

But yes, he has a 1981 DeLorean.

Speaker 2: 12:38

So really Fascinating.

Speaker 3: 12:40

Yeah, see, you'll probably see him around. He drives it. It's not his daily driver, but it's almost his daily driver and it's really fun for him to take our kids to school in the DeLorean. And the teacher's like how do we close the doors? What are we doing?

Speaker 2: 12:52

So that's amazing.

Speaker 3: 12:53

But it's a fun car for our family.

Speaker 1: 12:55

Oh, that's cool.

Speaker 2: 12:57

I mean for all the reasons that car carries a lot of just significance for a lot of people.

Speaker 1: 13:05

71. 81. 81. 81.

Speaker 2: 13:08

OK, wow, that's amazing. So do you see, where do you see the next 10, 20 years here for Henderson County?

Speaker 3: 13:16

That's a great question. I alluded to earlier. There's going to be more industry 4.0, which is more investment in machinery, and sometimes folks get a little nervous about that, but ultimately that means that there's going to be higher tech jobs and so, while it might change the landscape like a lot of folks are looking at the change with AI and what that means for jobs it's going to change the way some manufacturing jobs look, and that's OK. That means we're going to be able to have higher paying jobs. I think we're going to lean into that. We're really focused on the transportation component section, our sector of the economy. We're just north of, of course, rear South Carolina with BMW and just south of Asheville with Pratt Whitney, and so there's great opportunities in both automotive and aerospace and we hope to lean into that.

Speaker 1: 13:58

Pat, yeah, what a valid point. Just south of Pratt Whitney, just north of BMW, that's amazing.

Speaker 2: 14:06

Well, a few weeks ago we had a conversation with the VP of marketing of the Asheville Airport. And then the Asheville Airport. What a resource for our community.

Speaker 3: 14:15

Third busiest airport in the state and people don't recognize how well suited we are to have the Asheville Airport and the opportunities and we have industrial land right beside the airport. So we're really in a great position and we've got to be patient to find the right folks to work with and hopefully land the right aerospace client in the future.

Speaker 1: 14:33

Fantastic.

Speaker 2: 14:34

That's amazing Again quality of life here, and then for all the things that you're promoting, and then the corporations that bring their businesses here, and then the jobs and people get to raise their families here. Absolutely.

Speaker 3: 14:44

It's powerful. It's a great, great place to be.

Speaker 1: 14:46

Brittany, we really appreciate all the volunteer things and all you do for our community and we have a small token of our appreciation. Noah does some certificates and area restaurants.

Speaker 3: 14:58

Thank you so very much.

Speaker 1: 14:59

Well, thank you, and we wanted to ask you to come by and thank you for what you do for our hometown.

Speaker 3: 15:06

Well, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: 15:07

Yeah, noah, you've got 30 seconds to tell us about three big open houses.

Speaker 2: 15:11

Well, the three open houses. You can certainly find that on our website and follow us on Facebook and be sure to subscribe to our podcast, but we have three big open houses this Sunday and, of course, for all your rules, they need to give us a call at 828-393-0134.

Speaker 1: 15:26

Located in dangerous flat rock, north Carolina right.

Speaker 2: 15:30

Yeah, between the bakery and HUBBAHUBBA barbecue and Campfire Grill.

Speaker 1: 15:34

Yeah, stop by have a good weekend everyone, and let's watch some basketball.

Speaker 4: 15:39

Hey guys, it's Lucy Miller George, your favorite nine-year-old and I'm here to talk about the George Real Estate Group. Are you ready to sell your home and move on to bigger and better things? Well, let me tell you my family knows a thing or two about selling houses. We have the experience of helping over 1,300 families and, let's be real, selling your home is a big deal, but with our expert guidance and our terrible dad jokes and Lucy jokes we will make the process as easy and painless as possible. Want to hear a joke? Why did the real estate agent cross the road To get to the other listing? Okay, maybe our jokes aren't the best, but our selling skills are definitely are. Give us a call today 828-303-0134.

Speaker 1: 16:37

Have a nice day 8.7 FM and 14.50 AM, or stream online at WHKPcom, or download these podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. The George Real Estate Group brings you the WHKP Hometown Hero Series every Friday morning at 8.45.