George Real Estate Group Radio Broadcast

The Strategic Wealth Transfer: How Baby Boomers Are Reshaping Real Estate Giving

• George Real Estate Group

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Real estate ownership represents far more than just holding property—it's about creating possibilities, building legacies, and sometimes, making profound community impacts. The latest market insights from Henderson County reveal a continued strong position with the average single-family home price holding steady at $550,000, supported by consistently low inventory levels and robust demand.

A fascinating deep dive into the local condo market reveals this segment now represents approximately 10% of all real estate transactions, with median prices climbing nearly 13% since 2022 to reach $307,000. This appreciation pattern suggests particular strength in mid-range units, creating diverse entry points for various buyer profiles in our community.

Beyond immediate market conditions lies a transformative opportunity reshaping how we think about property ownership. Baby boomers currently control an estimated $19 trillion in real estate assets—representing 45% of their total wealth—as they approach the largest generational wealth transfer in American history. For nonprofits and community organizations, this creates unprecedented fundraising potential through strategic real estate gifts, with properties potentially generating 26% more growth than traditional cash donations.

For current buyers, there's encouraging news as mortgage rates have declined for seven consecutive weeks, dropping faster than economists predicted. Even small reductions can translate to meaningful monthly savings, creating strategic windows of opportunity despite ongoing market volatility.

Whether you're contemplating your first purchase, considering downsizing, exploring investment opportunities, or planning how your real estate holdings might leave a lasting community legacy, every property represents possibilities. Connect with us to explore how your real estate decisions can align with your unique life goals and values.

Speaker 1:

Hello friends, thank you so much for being here. This is the George Real Estate Group podcast, which is a production of our live weekly radio shows hosted on multiple radio stations here in Hendersonville, north Carolina. The George Real Estate Group serves Western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina and it is a privilege to share positive news about our local real estate market and community. Thanks so much for subscribing and, of course, if you have any real estate questions or if we can help you in any way, be sure to reach out. Visit us at georgerealestategroupradiocom for more information. Good morning and welcome to the George Real Estate Group live radio broadcast here every Thursday morning right after the 10 o'clock hour. Thanks so much for joining in. Hope you're doing well. Just a little bit of feedback there in the headphones, but grateful to be here with you. It's a live radio show here on WHKP sharing the positive news about your local real estate market and community. Just so grateful to be here with you. We got a lot of information to cover real estate market and community. Just so grateful to be here with you. We got a lot of information to cover. If you're tuning in for the first time ever, george Real Estate Group's located in Flat Rock, right next to the Flat Rock Bakery, hubba Hubba Barbecue, by the way, which I understand is their very first opening day my understanding is tomorrow, so they've been in hibernation. Our friends at Hubba Hubba Barbecue there in Flat Rock stopped by. Also, our friends at the bakery, the Hubba Lou Campfire Grill, the Wrinkled Egg, all those great local businesses, independent businesses, independent restaurants, and again, glad to connect and introduce you to them if you've not stopped by. That's where our office is located there in Flat Rock. We'd love to connect, love to meet up. If you're considering buying, selling or investing in real estate, we have a lot of great information to share with you. You can call us directly at 828-393-0134, 828-393-0134. Find us online at realestatebygregcom and again, the website is realestatebygregcom. We also podcast all of our radio shows. You can find that on your favorite podcast platform.

Speaker 1:

So got some information for you about the market, what's happening in the market. We're going to dive into some of the conversations. I got some specific information about the condo market which I think you might find fascinating. But the residential market, just to start off, there, where we normally do the residential market, we're averaging some 124 single-family homes a month selling in Henderson County and, by the way, there's only 396 active available homes on the market. I mean, just in the last seven days in Henderson County we continue to see activity. There's been 35 new listings, there's been 30 price drops, there's been 39 homes go under contract. So in the last seven days more homes have gone under contract than there's been new listings. And then 27 homes closed in the last seven days. And that's just a snapshot of a seven-day market for residential single-family homes in Henderson County. And again, we've been serving the community, coming up on our 1,500th family serve 1,500 homes sold.

Speaker 1:

Throughout my career this is my 20th year with my broker's license, but the average single-family home price in Henderson County is $550. Average single-family home price in Henderson County is $550. Average single-family home price in Henderson County is $550. It'd be fun to go back and look at the average single-family home price in Henderson County in 2005 when I got my license. I think it was below $200. I'll have to pull those numbers up, but again, just so fascinating. The market's the market, but we're grateful to be here with you. Here we are, in are middle of March. The market keeps moving, the activity's strong, prices continue to appreciate and we've been helping people. I mean we've had offers made last night. We have offers we're expecting to come in today. I mean the activity that our team is experiencing. There's so much opportunity here to help people and, again, whether buying, selling or investing in real estate, you know we'd love to have the conversation with you if you're now.

Speaker 1:

This is interesting in regards to the real estate market, in regards to the, you know the opportunity that's out there and you know just the amount of real estate opportunity that's out there and you know just the amount of real estate uh in there, uh in the country, that that they anticipate. You know, with baby boomers and we'll jump into that um conversation there the baby June, the baby boomer generation is undergoing a historic wealth transfer, estimated at $53 trillion, um, which you know. You think about what that means for so many. It's interesting, real estate actually comprises of 45% of the wealth $19 trillion and 72. Now, this is interesting the opportunity for you know if you have real estate and if you're considering giving to a nonprofit. 72% of baby boomers already are giving to charities and so you know real estate might be a potential opportunity for nonprofits and for donors. I mean, consider giving real estate to nonprofits and the nonprofit community here is so strong here in the community and we've been. You know we're actively promoting and help promote the nonprofits here in the community and we continue to do that. But it's interesting how real estate could be an opportunity for donors to consider giving you know in regards to real estate and obviously we have the expertise to help navigate through. You know what does that look like.

Speaker 1:

But let's go back to what's happening in the local market. You know I thought I'd do a deep dive into condos. We talk about single family homes all the time 124 single-family homes a month selling over the last 12 months. It was 123 the previous 12 months. The previous 12-month average single-family home price in Henderson County is at 528. The current 12-month average in Henderson County for a single-family home, not including condos or townhomes, is at $550,000. With a low inventory continued demand. About one in three offers in Henderson County are cash and so we still see cash offers. Interest rates are the interest rates. The economy is the economy, but the market remains strong here. But I thought I'd do a dive into the condo market and then we'll get back into the conversation about our baby boomers and just the generational transfer of wealth and what that means for a lot of different implications, but I wanted to dive into condos. Condos tend to be about 10% of our market. So there's about 1,400, almost 1,500 single-family homes sold in the last 12 months. Well, there's 141 condos sold in the last 12 months.

Speaker 1:

The average price over the last 12 months for a condo $335,000. Now how does that compare over the last few years with condos? You know the average condo price in 2024 was 333 and change. But let's go back to 2022. The average price for a condo was 305. And then in 2023, that number jumped up almost 9% to 332. Very minimal change from 2023 to 2024 with condos. But since 2022 through 2024, there's been a 9% appreciation with condos.

Speaker 1:

If you look at the average single family home price excuse me, the average condo price. Now let's look at home price. Excuse me the average condo price. Now let's look at median price. The median price for a condo in 2022 was $272,000. In 2023, it jumped up to $295,000. And then in 2024, the condo median price jumped up to $307,000. So from 2022 to 2023, that was over an 8% appreciation. From 2023 to 2024, it was a 4.3% appreciation. So not as strong, but the overall appreciation for condos was over 12%, close to 13%. So the overall condo market has seen consistent growth, though appreciation slowed between 2023 and 2024. The median price appreciation outpaced the average price appreciation. The median price went up almost 13%. The average price appreciation was 9%. Indicates a stronger demand for mid-range and lower-priced condos. You know higher-end condos still have appreciated, but at a more moderate rate compared to the broader market.

Speaker 1:

It's interesting. I was looking. There's just not as many condos frankly selling over 500,000, which is obviously a much different picture than the single-family home market. Single-family home market in Henderson County, our average price is at $550. And so the condo market is about 10% of our single family home market. Again, it's important. I thought it was important to take a look at that. We do tend to talk about single family homes. I use that as a barometer, but I mean the condo market is still strong. I mean you, you know, uh, again, 10% of our market is condos. Uh, when you compare it to single family homes, also, about 10% of our market are townhomes. So between condos and townhomes, it makes up some 20% of our market. Also on the market in regards to comparing new construction versus existing homes, About 25% of our market is new construction. I was seeing a report down in Greenville that a large portion of the market is actually new construction. I think some 40% of the market in Greenville is new construction. About 25% of our market here in Hendersonville is new construction. About 25% of our market here in Hendersonville is new construction. So it's just interesting. We're watching the numbers and all of this.

Speaker 1:

I don't sometimes I can really, you know geek out about the, about what the number, about the numbers, which are the numbers are so important? Because the numbers, you know, tell the numbers tell the story as to what you know what's available. Because the numbers tell the story as to what's available. The numbers tell the story about where the trends are going. The market tells the story. What does this matter to you In regards to your specific situation? What's your home worth? Does it make sense to buy and sell? Do you sell before you buy? Do you buy before you sell? There's so many scenarios and we've had people we're working with people from all over the country that come in to our office and you know they're relocating here. I think I've mentioned this before. Uha is the number three. Uha said North Carolina is the number three migrated state, incoming migration, and again recently passed, recently passed Florida with that. So many the numbers tell a story.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes we can get into the weeds. But your home, your situation, are you thinking about downsizing? You think about right-sizing, considering retiring? Maybe your family's growing, maybe your family, maybe the kids went off to college. You need to downsize. Maybe you want to travel more. I mean you might want to go from a single family home where you're taking care of everything to a condo where someone else is worrying about the landscaping and the upkeep. Again, whatever your situation is, we walk through it and we have a. There's no pressure, there's no cost, there's no obligation for a confidential consultation as to your house and your situation and how we can help navigate through what that looks like for you.

Speaker 1:

So I mentioned earlier, I've really been diving into the conversation with you know, and we're so grateful for our nonprofit community, but because of the historic wealth transfer uh, for baby boomers, you know, and with a significant amount of the wealth, um, being in real estate, you might consider and again, I'm not sure who's listening today Maybe you work with a nonprofit, maybe you self, maybe your self owns real estate and you're trying to figure out how do I, what do I do with it? Can I give it away? How do I do that? What do I do to protect my investment? How can I be strategic with my giving? Maybe your real estate, strategically, has a mortgage on it? What are the things that you're considering with your investment properties, but specifically with charitable giving?

Speaker 1:

There's so much potential for nonprofits in regards to real estate. 72% of baby boomers regularly donate to charities and again we see that here in Hendersonville and Henderson County with just a strong philanthropic mindset. There's a potential of $13 trillion of real estate gifts within the wealth transfer. They are anticipating some $53 trillion of total projected net worth transfer from baby boomers and again, 19 trillion of that, 43% of that is in real estate. So this is so interesting. You have 42% of America's real estate wealth is owned by baby boomers. It's so interesting. So what happens? I mean, how do you go about this?

Speaker 1:

The outside-the-box real estate gifts you might consider again as a nonprofit, if you're listening, real estate could be an outside-the-box way for donors to give to your nonprofit. $8.48 trillion represents unconventional or challenging real estate assets. You know, maybe the property has mortgages, maybe it's rural lands, maybe it's farmland, maybe it's distressed commercial buildings. 62% of US properties are mortgaged, so you know. So, for example, you know if someone does have real estate that they want to give. It could be challenging to give a property with a mortgage on it, but we have solutions for that. We can work with your donors to give real estate even if it has a mortgage on it. So there is an annual impact of some $446 billion per year of estimated value of outside-the-box real estate gifts over the next 19 years and so and that could be some $720 billion per year of total annual potential for major planned gifts, including all forms of real estate. So you know why real estate matters to nonprofits.

Speaker 1:

Real estate donations offer unparalleled value, enabling nonprofits to A one, establish endowments. Number two, fund large-scale initiatives such as capital projects or service expansions. And then three, service and ensure the long-term sustainability of their organizations for decades to come. There's a win-win for donors and nonprofits. For donors, real estate gifts provide significant tax benefits and we have solutions for our clients in regards to real estate. Whether you're looking to give it or not, we have solutions for tax strategies for our real estate clients, whether it's your investment property or commercial property. But there are ways to reduce estate burdens and allow donors to create lasting legacies and then for nonprofits, access to diverse high value gifts that often that offer financial stability. So this is so interesting we have out of the box real estate strategies and out of the box real estate gifts that we can help our nonprofits.

Speaker 1:

And so, if you're listening, maybe you're a nonprofit, maybe you're somebody that has a significant portfolio of real estate and you want to consider strategic ways to give. Again, it's okay if it has mortgages on it. We have ways. So, again, the the amount of wealth transfer in this in this country from baby boomers, you know some 19 trillion of it is in real estate and it's a there's a transformative opportunity for nonprofits. And so, you know, for my nonprofits out there listening, and if you're involved in a nonprofit, give us a call. We'd love to talk to you about opportunities to give vehicles for donors If they have real estate to give real estate. And there's solutions outside the box real estate gifts for nonprofits. And again, it can unlock billions in annual funding to sustain and expand our nonprofits missions here locally. And so, with the proper education, the partnerships and donor engagement, there's an untapped potential that can drive lasting impact over the next two decades.

Speaker 1:

And so something I learned over the last five years the average growth in total fundraising. You know, when nonprofits are receiving cash, only gifts, I mean, the studies find there's only an 11% growth there. You know nonprofits receiving any non-cash gifts there's a 50% growth. But when nonprofits receive securities and non-cash securities, the gifts grow 66%. So there's just huge opportunity for for uh for real estate. And so what happens in the same year? You know when gifts uh shift from cash, which again, most donor, most donors give cash, most nonprofits receive cash. But you know growth uh, cash typically grows at a negative 13%. Securities grow at an 18%, but real estate real estate grows at 26%. And so again, these are different approaches.

Speaker 1:

It's outside the box ideas for real estate plan, gifts for nonprofits. It's something we've been diving into. It's been solutions for our clients, it's solutions for our nonprofits and again I wanted to put that out there for our listeners. If you want more information about the non, about the outside the box, you know real estate gifts for nonprofits. If you currently own real estate and you're thinking about how do we strategize in your estate planning and your legacy planning, buy and sell and invest in real estate. But there's so much more to the puzzle when we dive in and helping our clients navigate through. You know what does that look like leaving a legacy and we're going to continue this conversation. We've been helping people think outside the box with their real estate and how that might impact and what you can give to our community and how that looks, and we've been helping our nonprofits through that. So we'd love to have a conversation, if you want to, and explore more about what the outside the box, how that looks like with real estate and how that might look like with giving and strategic giving and leaving a legacy. So you know it's interesting.

Speaker 1:

You know their interest rates have been all over the board and I shared with you all that one in three offers in Henderson County are cash. However, you know if you've been holding off to buy a home because of the high mortgage rates, you might want to take another look. Mortgage rates, as of Tuesday, dropped and trended down lately and it can give you a chance to jump back in. You know the mortgage rates have been declining for seven straight weeks now, according to data from Freddie Mac. Obviously, that changes daily, but the average weekly rate is now at the lowest level so far this year and obviously that might. I mean that might not sound like a significant shift, but it is noteworthy because the meaningful drop from over 7% to the mid sixes certainly can change your mindset when it comes to buying a home, especially when the forecast said we wouldn't hit this number until roughly the third quarter. So the rates are actually declining faster than expected.

Speaker 1:

According to Joel Kahn, the VP and Deputy Chief Economist at Mortgage Bankers Association, recent economic uncertainty is actually playing a role in pushing rates lower. I mean it's two sides of the coin. Right Great economy maybe that means higher interest rates. Economy. Economic uncertainty lower interest rates, so mortgage rates declined last week. Economic uncertainty lower interest rates, so mortgage rates declined last week. This is his quote. Mortgage rates declined last week on souring consumer sentiment regarding the economy and increasing uncertainty over the impact of new tariffs levied on import goods into the US. So those factors resulted in the largest weekly decline in a 30-year fixed rate since November 2024.

Speaker 1:

And the timing of the recent decline is great because it gives you a little bit of relief going into the spring market. But just remember Morgan's rates can be quickly a moving target. So guess what? The volatility is going to continue. You're going to continue to see them go up. You're going to see them go down. The good news is there's been a trend down and the window you have as they come down might be the sweet spot for your buyer as a buyer. So even the smallest changes can make a difference in a monthly payment. So you know, you know, on a on a $400,000 home, even interest rates going down just a little bit, you know if you purchased a home when the rates were at 7.04% back in mid-January, you know versus what it looked like now, I mean you could save $100, you know interest rates if they go down to in the mid-sixes, I mean you could save $100 a month. I mean that's a lot. When you're making a big decision, such as buying a home, every bit counts. So again, just remember, the shifts in the economy drove rates down faster but as, of course, that can change, interest rates go back. Go back up today. But again, you're watching the interest rates. You work with a trusted uh real estate professional and work with a trusted mortgage lender and again, it's a team that that works together to help you and help our clients navigate through the market. And, by the way, the interest rates are the interest rates you get what you can afford. You, you, you. You work with a real estate professional, you work with a mortgage lender to find out what's right for you. And again you're watching and again you can't time the market, but it is nice when those interest rates do bump down just a little bit.

Speaker 1:

We are in still a seller's market. I mean, there's other parts of the country. So here locally we still have low inventory. We still have strong demand. We still have a supply and demand problem. That's why prices have been holding steady at that 550 range. And you're starting to see in some other parts of the country where the inventory levels are going up and that's why you see prices going down. We're hearing in larger markets, some markets in Texas, markets in Florida, markets in California, where there's been a 20% drop in prices. We've not experienced that yet. Let me be clear We've not experienced that yet. The thing that would have to happen here locally is our inventory levels would have to outpace our demand.

Speaker 1:

And I share with you. Just in the last seven days there was 35 new listings, there was 39 new contracts. So the inventory that's hitting the market is being outpaced, and this is just a seven-day snapshot. The inventory hitting the market is being outpaced by the homes going under contract and so that's why we still see the low inventory levels and that's why prices are still holding. We do see price reductions because, you know, the market wasn't is not appreciating near the pace of what we saw, uh, in the, the previous years where in some cases, we were seeing double digit appreciation.

Speaker 1:

Uh, I shared with you in regards to the, the, the um, the condo market I mean from 2023 to 2024, that appreciation slowed down significantly, but still, obviously, when you look at the last three years, I mean, if you purchased a home within the last three years, you've had significant appreciation. And here's the good news as a primary home, if you've lived in the home at least two out of a five-year period, you're not paying, as an individual, the first $250,000 of taxes on that profit. As a married couple, it's $500,000. Again, there's so many benefits of home ownership. One of it is the tax advantages, not to mention the appreciation. Not to mention, of course, the emotional side of it, the enjoyment of it, the benefit of it, the use of it. Again, there's so many benefits of homeownership, not to mention all the financial benefits right now.

Speaker 1:

So, if you're curious what your home is worth. Again, over the last five years, nationally prices have been up nearly 60% compared to 2019. Normally prices go up. On average it's a 2% to 5% appreciation. So if you're curious what your home is worth, your home may be worth a lot more than what you think. Certainly, if you purchased your home in the last five plus years, it's had significant appreciation.

Speaker 1:

We're so grateful to be here. We're here every Thursday morning sharing with you positive news about your local real estate market, about your community. I know I I might've, um, you know the the new topic of, you know, giving to to, and again, we've it's not new to our support of nonprofits, but, uh, we've been diving into how real estate gifts can impact our nonprofit community. And maybe you have a commercial property, maybe you're done in the sense of managing it and want to look at some passive real estate investments. There are ways to shift from active real estate investment management to to, um, more passive ways. I mean getting out of the, getting out of that that management. You know, you know there's, there's ways to reinvest your property into a passive real estate options. We have passive real estate options. Um, there's ways for families to have an exit strategy that's tax and legally efficient and, in some cases, working with our partners, we have ways to actually you might be able to increase your income, reduce your taxes or maybe even both. Planning perspective. Working with our team, we have solutions that makes the most litigated asset, which is an inheritance real estate in an inheritance be equally distributed, in providing a solution that allows each of the beneficiaries to own their portion of real estate independently or of the other owners. So, again, we've been diving into solutions for our clients. When you think about owning real estate in your estate planning, when you own real estate in regards to your charitable giving I mean, there's so many conversations that we're having with our clients and maybe you're just growing your real estate portfolio, maybe you're trying to think about what that looks like to exit it, maybe you're thinking about retirement, maybe. Whatever your situation is, give us a call. We have solutions. We'd be grateful to have the conversation. Give us a call at 828-393-0134. Find us online at realestatebygregcom. Find us on your favorite podcast, georgia Real Estate Group Radio.

Speaker 1:

We're here, by the way, every Friday morning for our Hometown Hero series. Now, tomorrow morning is going to be special. We have east henderson high school's basketball coach marquintus jones. You know the eagles had an awesome season with a 27 game winning streak. Coach jones will introduce us to an outstanding member of that team, caden brewer, and we're looking forward to tomorrow morning's hometown hero series. East henderson high school men's basketball team special Special guest Caden Brewer and they have some pretty exciting news we're going to be sharing with you about what they're doing coming up and there's an opportunity to help them out. And again, we're excited to have the conversation tomorrow morning. 845. Be sure to tune in. We'd love to join you here, but thank you so much for joining us this Thursday morning. Oh, by the way, enjoy that ACC basketball tournament. Tippi and I normally talk basketball this time of year, but take care, have a great week, have a great day and we'll see you tomorrow morning.

Speaker 1:

The market changes. Interest rates rise and fall. Headlines tell a different story every day, but here's what hasn't changed People still need to buy and sell homes. At the George Real Estate Group, we've been navigating the ups and downs of the real estate market for over 20 years. We've been navigating the ups and downs of the real estate market for over 20 years. We've seen it all and we know what it takes to sell your home for top dollar, no matter the conditions. Buyers are still out there and with the right strategy, marketing and negotiation, your home can sell faster and for more than you might think. If you've been waiting for the perfect time to sell, it's now. Let's sit down, talk strategy and make a plan. Call the George Real Estate Group today at 828-393-0134 and find us online at realestatebygregcom. And don't forget to connect with us on social media and follow our podcast.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for listening to the George Real Estate Group podcast. Tune in next time for more industry news updates and real estate tips. You can reach Greg, the George Real Estate Group, at 828-393-0134 or at realestatebygregcom.