George Real Estate Group Radio Broadcast

Real Estate Still Happens: How to Navigate Today's Market Despite Fires and Interest Rates

• George Real Estate Group

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Rain brings welcome relief to Western North Carolina as the George Real Estate Group delivers their weekly market update amid ongoing wildfire challenges. This episode offers a moment of gratitude for first responders while providing crucial market insights for homeowners and investors navigating uncertain times.

The national housing landscape shows significant shifts: inventory up 27.5%, prices rising at a modest 3.8% year-over-year, and homes taking longer to sell at 66 median days on market. Looking locally, Henderson County's single-family home sales have stabilized at around 124 monthly transactions after decreasing from pandemic-era peaks. With an average price of $548,000 and one-third of purchases made with cash, the local market demonstrates remarkable resilience despite challenging conditions.

Strategic pricing emerges as a central theme through real-world examples. A property initially listed $100,000 above market value received attention but no offers until appropriate price adjustments triggered multiple competitive bids - proving market fundamentals remain unchanged despite shifting conditions.

Beyond traditional transactions, the conversation explores sophisticated strategies for investment properties, including 1031 exchanges that defer capital gains and charitable giving options that create significant tax advantages. With baby boomers transferring an estimated $53 trillion in wealth ($19 trillion in real estate alone), these approaches represent timely considerations for property owners thinking about legacy planning.

The episode concludes with a lighthearted discussion of Monopoly's surprising origins as "The Landlord's Game," created in 1903 to illustrate economic inequality - a fascinating parallel to today's real estate conversations. Whether you're considering buying, selling, or strategically positioning your property holdings, connect with the George Real Estate Group at 828-393-0134 or visit realestatebygregcom.

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 on the queue every Monday morning, sharing with you positive news about your local real estate market and community. We're so grateful to be here. We're so grateful for the rain, so thankful for the rain and our continued thoughts and prayers for those that are in the line of concern and challenges of the fire, and certainly so grateful for those that are fighting it and are, you know, from our firefighters to you know, emergency response to law enforcement, everybody that's involved, and we're so grateful for the incredible efforts there and it's wild, again with social media, to see all the news and all the things that are being done to fight the fires and strategies, and we've probably all learned more about fires than we've known about before. But at one point, and if I heard correctly, it was the number one fire priority in the United States, which is hard to comprehend. And also I think I saw at one point some 19,000 plus acres I don't know what it was at its peak. But again, so much to process and consider. I heard last week, six months ago, we were praying for relief from the rain and now we're praying for rain, for relief. Again, it's a lot to process and we actually had one of our clients that had a home under contract. The home that they had under contract was supposed to close in a couple weeks. It was one of the homes that was lost in the fires and certainly our thoughts and prayers for the family. They were able to escape and they were able to get out with literally the shirts on their back and their animals and they got out. But again it's heavy, it's a lot to consider and again our community is facing so much. We have so much resilience and so much we've walked through since the hurricane and then now with these fires. It's a lot to consider. And again, be kind, be kind to yourself, be kind to your neighbors, and it's remarkable how our communities come together, stepped up and helped one another through this time. If you're tuning in for the first time ever the George Real Estate Group we're located at Flat Rock, right there on Rainbow Row, next to the Flat Rock Bakery, hubba Hubba BBQ, campfire Grill, the Wrinkled Egg, our friends at Hubba Lou all those great local and independent restaurants and businesses the George Real Estate Group we're local and independent as well, quickly approaching 1,500 families we've served throughout my career. This is my 20th year with my real estate broker's license and if you're thinking of buying or selling or investing in real estate or a career in real estate, we'd love to have the conversation. You can call us directly at 828-393-0134, 828-393-0134. Find us online at realestatebygregcom. We are so grateful. We're so excited about the opportunity to show up every day and help our clients navigate through, whatever it might be.

Speaker 1:

Maybe you're selling your primary home and moving into a retirement community, maybe you're downsizing, maybe you're upsizing. Maybe you have been working on a property for decades. It's been your passion project. Maybe it's been an investment property that you have poured your heart and soul and tears and sweat and blood into. But maybe you're at the end of the season of that chapter in your life and maybe it's an investment property and you just are trying to figure out what it looks like to exit. How do you exit this property that you've curated and created and how do you move on? There are certainly some challenges with capital gains, but we have solutions for that. Maybe you're thinking about how do you move through that. How do you sell a property that's been an investment property? How do you take advantage of all the appreciation you've had again from a tax strategy? And we have solutions that we work with partners. With 1031 Exchange. We have places you can park your money when you move something. You can move something from an active real estate investment into a passive real estate investment. So these are different things that we help our clients with and certainly we're growing our team.

Speaker 1:

If you thought about a career in real estate, maybe you have your license, maybe you're just not getting the support, maybe you're not having the momentum you're hoping. The interesting thing is, every single day there's somebody buying and selling real estate. Life happens, therefore real estate happens, and so we've had the privilege and honor to serve the community and help our community and advocate and facilitate real estate. So if you're in any of those situations, maybe you're thinking about a career in real estate, maybe you're thinking about how do I sell my investment property, and we also have solutions. Maybe you want to consider the legacy that you want to leave and maybe you want to consider leaving it to a nonprofit.

Speaker 1:

But there are solutions that we have, working with our partners, whether it's our tax advisors or 1031 exchange specialists or financial advisors, it's a team and it takes a team to pull this off. And so, again, these things that we do, and it's not just one person, it takes a collaboration of professionals, from you know, from your, obviously. You have advisors, you have people that understand tax codes, you have, you know, working with your legal team, your financial team, your real estate professional. There's so many pieces of the puzzle that you can work together and we have the right people in place that we can help walk you through what it might look like to maybe consider giving real estate to a nonprofit, and we can talk about that too. But we're so grateful to be here. We're here every Monday morning right after the nine o'clock hour the George Real Estate Group and if you just want to have a conversation with us, give us a call 828-393-0134, 828-393-0134.

Speaker 1:

Let's dive into what's happening nationally but also what's happening locally, and we'll jump into the conversation. And again, because you want to provide every week, you want to provide value and information that can help you If you're just curious about the housing market and just wanting to provide value. So national housing trends to watch the supply of homes for sale nationally are up 27.5% nationally. There's more homes for sale and that means more options for your move. Home prices Home prices are still rising and home prices are still rising, but at a slower, more normal pace than in recent years.

Speaker 1:

The median sales price of existing homes from February 2024 was at $383,000 to February 2025 was at 398 nationally. That's up 3.8%. And then time on the market because of the inventory growth, homes aren't selling quite as fast, so you'll feel less rush when you buy. The median days on the market in February 2024 was 61 days. This February was at 66 days, so that's up 8.2%. So at the national level the housing market has shifted over the past year. There's more homes for sale, price growth is moderated and homes are taking a little bit longer to sell.

Speaker 1:

And then what does that mean locally? But before we get locally again, nationally adjusted, they are saying again, depending on where you're looking, but they are saying nationally we are around that 4 million, maybe 4.2 million, 6 million homes sold, existing homes sold over the last 12 months, and so there's some one. The benefit is and here's the thing it got up at the highest in 2021. It got up to actually in 2022, between 2021 and 2022, that number got up over 6.2 million annual homes sold in the United States and that's reflective of what's happened here locally. In 2021, henderson County had over 2,100, isn't that ironic 2,200 single-family homes sold, and then in 2022, that number dropped down to 1,700. And then nationally, that went from 6 million to to $5 million, and then in 2023, that number dropped down to $4 million and then in 2024, that number was still at $4 million nationally.

Speaker 1:

So locally it's a bit of a snapshot. You go from 2,100 homes single-family homes in 2021. 2022 saw 1,700 single-family homes sold, and then the last two years, 2023 and 2024, we saw about 1,400 single-family homes selling. That's still significant. We're still seeing. You know that's about 124 single-family homes a month selling in Henderson County. It's still healthy, it's still strong. I mean the market. We're still seeing homes sell. You know, every single day we're helping people navigate through the buying and selling process. But locally, locally, we currently have some 430 active single family homes on the market In the last 12 months. There's 1,482 single family homes sold in the last 12 months. I mean that and, by the way, I mean we don't have all of March's numbers yet Next week we'll be able to report that but January and February here locally we're up 6% the number of homes sold this January, february versus the previous January February.

Speaker 1:

Our average single-family home price in Henderson County is around $548,000. And that number has been fluctuating between 551 to 550 to 549, this morning at 548. One in three homes sold in the last 12 months, single-family homes, were purchased with cash. We also see here locally over half, actually some 60% of the homes sold in the last 12 months were purchased with or purchased in days on the market was less than 30 days. So I mean the size, the age, the improvements you've made, all of those factors come into play and that's where we do a very specific approach, specific to your home or property. Maybe you have, like I said, an investment property, maybe you have land, Maybe you have a rental property, maybe it's your personal home, but we provide a market analysis, we provide information and it's your information, it's the information for you to do with it what you want. I mean just because you don't have to take our advice. We can test out any price you want, but ultimately the market is the biggest litmus test and the market ultimately tells us what your home is worth.

Speaker 1:

There was an example of a property that we recently had multiple offers on here, recently on one of our listings. But guess what? It took a few months. You might say. Well, what do you mean? It was on the market for a few months and then, all of a sudden, you had multiple offers on it. Well, we started much higher. We started over $100,000 higher on this property the market. We got showings but we never got any offers. And then we did some gradual price adjustments and then we got to what we call it's fighting weight. And when it got to the price that the market was, that was in line with the market, well, we're not surprised. We're surprised, but we're not. But when it hit the right price, guess what? There was multiple offers on the property and then the buyer and sellers ended up coming to terms and they went under contract.

Speaker 1:

But it's just interesting, you can still overprice your home on the market and again, the price plus the condition plus the location, all those factors come into play to determine what your home is worth. But it's okay to make adjustments. It's okay to be wrong in the sense of we tried a price. Here's the interesting thing. We know what works to sell homes the price plus the condition plus the location, combined with our process. We have a proven and predictable process with our professional photography, our professional marketing, our advertising, our network of real estate brokers, combined with the syndication of homes across the MLS. I mean there's multiple ways that we go about ensuring that we're selling homes. The thing that we can't control and ultimately the seller decides, is where they want to price the home and majority of the time we're pricing it correctly right out the gate and if not, we are adjusting it. So there's so many factors that go into buying and selling. But again, we'd love to have the conversation. If you're curious what your home is worth, give us a call at 828-393-0134. If you're curious about a career in real estate, if you're curious about your investment properties, about 1031 Exchange if you don't even know what that means or want to talk about it, if you want to talk about tax strategies to avoid capital gains, if you're curious about what kind of taxes you might pay on selling your personal home. Again, so many factors go into play with the buying and selling process and you can give us a call at 828-393-0134.

Speaker 1:

You're listening to the George Real Estate Group radio broadcast here in the queue every Monday morning and, again, so grateful for the rain and I know the efforts for the fire containment continue. We're so grateful for those fighting the fires. We're so grateful for those fighting the fires. We're so grateful for those on the front lines and, of course, those that are in the line of concern. We continue to be there and pray and hope for the best. So if we can help you in any way, give us a call 828-393-0134. We're going to take a short break, so stay tuned in. We'll be right back. Good morning and welcome back to the Georgia Real Estate Group live radio broadcast here on the queue every Monday morning. Thankful to be here with you, so thankful for the rain. This is our last show of March. I mean, can you believe April is here tomorrow? Time is flying by, and just so much to be grateful for. We've had such an incredible year already in regards to helping our clients and our agents navigate through the buying and selling process. So if you're just curious and again want to connect with us, reach out to us.

Speaker 1:

We're in Flat Rock. I joke, it's a dangerous place for an office. You've got Hubba Hubba Barbecue, which is out of hibernation. You've got Campfire Grill. You've got the Wrinkled Egg. You have hibernation. You got Campfire Grill. You got the Wrinkled Egg. You have the Flat Rock Bakery and then Hubaloo all those great local and independent businesses there. The George Real Estate Group we're local and independent as well. We are so passionate and enthusiastic about helping our clients navigate through the buying and selling process. Call us directly at 828-393-0134. Find us online at realestatebygregcom and be sure to subscribe.

Speaker 1:

We podcast all of our radio shows, so we podcast on any of your favorite podcast platforms. We recently passed over 10,000 downloads, which was a cool mile marker for us, and we've been doing the radio programs. We have a number of radio programs. Actually, my first radio program we started in 2011. And, by the way, the tagline for the radio show then in 2011, if you can imagine the real estate industry was very challenging. We had over a different reasons, but guess what? The market. It's still healthy in the sense that we have a supply and demand, a healthy supply and demand. We're averaging some 124 single family homes a month selling. Back in 2011, we were averaging some 70 homes a month selling, but a significant amount of inventory and in some cases over a two-year supply. We have a three andand-a-half-month supply now but again, grateful to serve the community through real estate. This is my 20th year with my North Carolina real estate broker's license and if you're just curious about the market, if you're curious about do you sell before you buy, if you want to have a conversation about your commercial real estate or your investment real estate or strategies in regards to real estate and your giving or strategies in regards to real estate for your estate planning I mean, there's so many facets that we cover and can help our clients navigate through we'd love to have the conversation.

Speaker 1:

My daughter and I this weekend actually, my daughter asked if we could play Monopoly, and Monopoly is such a fun game and for a lot of people it might be frustrating because it can take a long time. We actually we played for about an hour and then she was like, wow, we got to just take a break, it's. It was just it's. I mean, she's 11 years old, so it's. And she's 11 years old, so it's a lot of fun to play Monopoly with her and she gets it. But I didn't know this.

Speaker 1:

I mean, monopoly was originally created in 1903 by an Elizabeth Maggie, an American progressive and game designer in 1903, and it was actually called the Landlord's Game, actually called the Landlord's Game. She actually designed the game to illustrate the problems of land ownership, rent and monopolies in the economy, and it was intended to teach the economic theories of Henry George, who advocated for a single tax system on land to reduce inequality. So it's just interesting. The game ended up being patented in 1904 as the Landlord's Game. But then over the years there was a lot of variations of it and a lot of popularity with it and it spread through word of mouth, particularly in Atlantic City, particularly in Atlantic City where local versions started to reflect real locations.

Speaker 1:

So it was in 1935, but in the early 1930s a man named Charles D'Addaro learned about the game from a friend. He redesigned it, commercialized it, made it more polished, improved the design and now the iconic Monopoly-themed gameplay. So he pitched the game to Parker Brothers, who initially rejected it. They actually cited 52 design flaws, but, however, selling homemade versions that became popular, the Parker Brothers reconsidered it and bought the rights in 1935. So just so fascinating, 1935. So just so fascinating. There were some legal disputes, unfortunately, with Elizabeth and Charles, and again the game just is fun. There's actually over a thousand different versions, like a Star Wars version, other city versions. I think I even saw one for Western North Carolina versions.

Speaker 1:

But again, it's the longest Monopoly game ever played 70 days Pretty wild, that's a long time to play Monopoly. So my daughter and I are only an hour into our game of Monopoly. My daughter and I are only an hour into our game of Monopoly, but I will tell you, though, there's a really fun Monopoly card game. If you're looking for something fun, maybe to do with the grandkids, there's a fun card game of Monopoly that actually only takes 15 minutes to play, and it's called Monopoly Deal. By the way, I have no affiliation with any of this, but I'm just saying it's a fun game. It's called Monopoly Deal. By the way, I have no affiliation with any of this, but I'm just saying it's a fun game. It's called Monopoly Deal.

Speaker 1:

Maybe you like the idea of Monopoly but you don't have the patience or the time to play a long game. But Monopoly Deal is actually a really fun card game version based on Monopoly, and I think Monopoly is great. It teaches kids about, you know, managing their, their, their cash. You know. It's like hey, you want to buy property to to make rental income. It also talks about guess what? If you can't pay the rent, you're going to have to sell the properties, and so it can be a great learning experience for your kids or grandkids. Um, in the the game and Monopoly is a lot of fun. So my daughter, lucy and I had a lot of fun playing Monopoly this weekend in the rain, because of the rain Again. So grateful for the rain. On top of that, we were certainly enjoying this time of year, with the basketball going on Again. It's a great time of year, I think, is it next week, the Masters start. Spring is here. April's tomorrow, and again. April's next, april's tomorrow, and again. We're so just so much to be thankful for, and so you know the interesting thing about.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to go back to our local real estate market just to give you again just a snapshot because you know it's just fascinating when we look at our local market what's going on. You know, in the last seven days in Henderson County single family homes, there's been 39 new listings. There's been 34 homes go under contract in the last seven days and 28 homes closed. So there's been a slight if you just look at a seven day snapshot a slight increase in inventory versus the homes closed. There has also been 37 price reductions. Also, interestingly, only three homes expired.

Speaker 1:

So again, the market is healthy in the sense that we have low inventory. We have healthy demand, albeit not what it was before. We still have healthy demand. And this is all in the context of these interest rates that we're experiencing, the interest rates you know, if you look at the 50-year history of interest rates, we're not that out of line. Now you know, the conversation that we're not having today is the increase of wages, the inflation, the economic environment we're in. But the thing that we know about real estate is it happens, it's going to continue to happen. It's so essential to life and so you might find maybe you're downsizing or maybe it's a new family formation. I mean, real estate is so pivotal to all of our lives and so we're going to continue to see real estate happen. We have strong demand. One in three of our homes sold in Henderson County single family homes sold were cash. Again, it's the environment and market that we're in and so the market's the market. The interest rates are the interest rates. The economy's the economy.

Speaker 1:

But at the George Real Estate Group, we're here to navigate through. Whatever your personal situation is, whatever your circumstances are, to provide advice, to provide guidance, to provide. We're here to advocate and to facilitate. Maybe you're looking to grow your real estate portfolio, maybe you're wanting to grow your real estate investments. There's never a wrong time to buy real estate. Again, it's about the investment that you're making. It's about the particular real estate I've heard. Don't wait to buy real estate. You buy real estate and wait Again. It's so interesting. So again, whatever your situation is, you're just your personal home, looking to buy or sell your real estate investments, your commercial investments, your land investments, your rental properties. Whatever it might be, we'd love to have a strategic conversation about it.

Speaker 1:

We are seeing the baby boomer generation undergo a historic wealth transfer. They're estimating it at $53 trillion, and so real estate comprise some 45% of this wealth $19 trillion and 72% of baby boomers guess what are planning and already giving to charities, and so real estate might be part of your strategy as a nonprofit. It might be part of your strategy for maybe in your estate planning Again, real estate can be. If you're a nonprofit listening and want to understand how real estate could be a really incredible opportunity for your nonprofit, if you're currently holding onto real estate and you want to talk about very creative and out-of-the-box ways to give real estate where you can again avoid capital gains, you can create endowments, you can still secure long-term return on your properties. I mean, for donors, real estate gifts provide significant tax benefits. It can reduce estate burdens and allow donors to create lasting legacies. For our nonprofits, there's access to diverse high-value gifts that offer financial stability. So, again, these are conversations that we're having on top of helping our clients with their everyday real estate buying and selling for their personal homes, we're expanding and helping more people with their strategies, with their real estate holdings, whether it's to give or thinking about for your family and legacies. You're leaving Again any of these situations and, of course, if you're thinking about getting into the real estate industry as a career, we're growing and we're hiring. So give us a call 828-393-0134. 828-393-0134.

Speaker 1:

Find us online at realestatebygregcom. Realestatebygregcom. Follow us on our podcast. We're on your favorite podcast platform, whether it's Apple, amazon, alexa, spotify. Subscribe to our podcast and, of course, we're also on social media. Or just stop by our office there in Flat Rock at 2720 Greenville Highway in Flat Rock.

Speaker 1:

We're so thankful to be here with you every Monday morning. I hope you have a wonderful day. Continue to pray for those fighting our fires and, again, for those that are facing those challenges. Our community is so resilient. But I hope you have a wonderful day. I hope you have a wonderful week and we'll see you next Monday.

Speaker 1:

Life has a way of throwing us into deep waters when we least expect it. Dr Robin Hainley Defoe knows this firsthand. One winter day, her car skidded on ice and plunged into a freezing river, trapped in sinking darkness. She had seconds to act. But instead of panicking, she reminded herself I can do hard things. She stayed calm, found a way out and survived. At the George Real Estate Group, we know that buying or selling a home can feel like that moment Overwhelming, uncertain, maybe even a little scary. But here's the thing you can do hard things and you don't have to do them alone. With decades of experience, we're here to guide you every step of the way, turning challenges into opportunities. So if you're thinking about making a move, let's do it together. Call the George Real Estate Group today, because when it comes to your future, you're stronger than you think.

Speaker 2:

The George Real Estate Group has the experience of selling over 1,200 properties and serving over 1,200 families with their real estate needs in Henderson County and throughout western North Carolina. The George Real Estate Group is located in Flat Rock, north Carolina, near Hendersonville in Henderson County. You can find them online at realestatebygregcom. The George Real Estate Group can be reached at 828-393-0134 or stop by their office at 2720 Greenville Highway, flat Rock, north Carolina. Tune in live each week on Monday mornings at 9.05 on WTZQ FM 95.3 and 1600 AM or stream online at WTZQcom.