George Real Estate Group Radio Broadcast

Life Happens, Real Estate Follows

• George Real Estate Group

Share episode

The disconnect between national real estate headlines and local market realities takes center stage in this illuminating podcast. While media reports focus on rising interest rates and cooling demand, Henderson County's housing market tells a remarkably different story – one of resilience, continued growth, and strategic opportunity.

Greg shares compelling local data revealing that Henderson County has actually seen more homes sold this year than during the same period last year – 42 more properties have changed hands despite the supposedly challenging market conditions. This strength persists even as mortgage rates have climbed from 2.98% in 2021 to current levels around 6.81%.

What explains this contradiction? For one, approximately one-third of Henderson County home purchases are cash transactions, creating a significant buffer against interest rate fluctuations. Additionally, persistently low inventory levels (just 498 active single-family listings) continue to maintain healthy demand-supply dynamics that support stable pricing. While the median days on market has increased from 21 to 33 days year-over-year, today's pace still represents historically strong activity.

Beyond the numbers, Greg shares powerful insights about focusing on what matters most – your specific circumstances rather than national headlines. Drawing inspiration from Michael Phelps' Olympic comeback story, he illustrates how success comes not from worrying about competitors but from concentrating on your own lane and goals. This mindset proves particularly relevant for navigating today's evolving real estate landscape.

The podcast also explores fascinating opportunities in real estate wealth transfer, with baby boomers currently in the midst of transferring $53 trillion in wealth, of which $19 trillion is tied to real estate. For those considering strategic planning, innovative approaches to real estate gifts can create powerful legacy options while providing significant tax advantages.

Whether you're curious about your home's current value, considering a move despite higher interest rates, or planning longer-term real estate strategies, this episode offers clear-eyed analysis and practical wisdom. Connect with the George Real Estate Group at 828-393-0134 to discuss your unique situation and discover the possibilities that exist beyond the headlines.

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 georgerrealestategroupradiocom for more information. Good morning and welcome to the Georgia 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. And we do have great news to share. Again, it's so interesting. Certainly, with the news out there, the markets the market, but we certainly still see real estate moving and life is happening. Therefore, real estate's happening. But if you're tuning in for the first time ever, welcome, welcome to the Georgia Real Estate Group live radio broadcast. We're here every Monday morning. We podcast all of our radio shows, so if you want to catch what we're broadcasting, follow us on your favorite podcast platform, whether it's Apple, amazon, spotify Again, grateful to connect with you. We're also on social media Facebook and Instagram. We post our listings and our open houses and our activity and we'd love to connect with you. You can also stop by our office anytime. We're at 2720 Greenville Highway. There on Rainbow Row, the famous Rainbow Row Flat Rock, our friends at the Wrinkled Egg, the Flat Rock Bakery, hubba Hubba Barbecue, campfire Grill, hubba Lou Dogwood all those great local and independent businesses. The George R Real Estate Group's local and independent as well. We have the experience of helping over 1,500 families throughout the years. We have over 100 years combined experience and this is my 20th year with my broker's license North Carolina broker's license. We are grateful and enthusiastic about helping our community, helping our neighbors with their real estate needs. Enthusiastic about helping our community, helping our neighbors with their real estate needs, whether it's buying or selling your personal home, or whether it's looking at your investment properties or maybe even a 1031 exchange or commercial properties you're dealing with or your investments and want to think strategy. Again, we can from your residential personal home to buying and selling or maybe your rental property or even, like I said, your investment properties. We'd love to have a conversation and we're so thankful. We get calls every week from our radio listeners and we're thankful for those that reach out and we're just grateful to serve the community through real estate. So if you're thinking of buying or selling or investing in real estate, or even a career in real estate, or want to talk about tax strategies with real estate, give us a call 828-393-0134, 828-393-0134. Find us online at realestatebygregcom or stop by our office. We'd love to connect with you. We have a great team, we have an incredible team actually in our staff and our team and our agents. And if you're again thinking about buying or selling or want to just connect and have questions, give us a call 828-393-0134.

Speaker 1:

You know this is interesting. There's a lot of news about the market and I'm going to talk about the national market and then I'll talk about what's happening locally. But the thing that we we are here locally experiencing still strong demand, still low inventory levels, and we'll talk about what's happening nationally versus what's happening locally. But the market, you know it's, it's a great time. It's a great time for the, for you and the markets. The market's the market.

Speaker 1:

The interest rates are the interest rates I mean as a seller. Home prices aren't skyrocketing like they were in 2021, 22. The median home price last month in the United States was $4.31, and that was up 2.5% from a year ago. But the other thing is interest rates. Interest rates right now. The average interest rate for a 30-year mortgage as of April 24th was 6.81%, compared to 2.98% in 2021. This is so interesting. The median monthly mortgage payment was $2,207 last year, versus $1,525 in 2021. So the higher mortgage rates have pushed some would-be buyers out of the market, but it's also meant that fewer home sellers are willing to sell, since most people selling their main residence have to take on a mortgage on their next dwelling, although I will say one in three. Here, locally in Henderson County, one in three homes sold or purchased with cash. So the market, though, is looking up, though for buyers.

Speaker 1:

This spring, the balance has tipped in buyers' favors, as a lot of home sellers have decided to stop waiting for interest rates to come down. This is nationally. The number of homes for sale increased almost 20% last month from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. Also, real estate agents are saying and this is nationally, and this is from a recent article on the Morning Brew real estate agents are saying buyers have more wiggle room to negotiate better deals. 44% of home purchases in the first three months of the year involved some concession from the seller and that was per a report from Redfin. Again, because of the tariff turmoil, the economic haziness a lot of Americans are hesitating. But again, the market's still moving and again, on a national level, the higher interest rates have led to fewer housing units getting built compared to 2021, 2022. So this is why we don't see an increase and analysts don't anticipate a significant increase in the number of the homes coming on the market. So again, this is where the home prices have been staying steady and, like I said, in this past month prices were up 2.5% nationally.

Speaker 1:

Again, just fascinating. Again, what's happening nationally, but I said I would share what's happening locally. Now just a quick snapshot In the last seven days in Henderson County there's been 44 new listings, 56 price adjustments, there's been 34 homes go under contract and 40 homes closed. This just in the last seven days in Henderson County. But the number of homes sold in the last 12 months in Henderson County were higher than the previous 12 months. And then I also did a study of the year to date versus the last year's year to date. But in the last 12 months there was 1,509 single-family homes sold. That's 125, almost 126 single-family homes a month selling in the last 12 months. In the previous 12 months we were averaging 122. Slight decrease, a slight decrease, excuse me, a slight increase in the last 12 months versus the previous 12 months.

Speaker 1:

The other thing that's interesting is the average single family home price is about flat. I mean it's come down from a peak of $5.51. Now it's at $5.41, but the previous 12-month price was at $5.37. Again, low inventory levels are keeping our prices steady. The average single-family home price over the last 12 months is at $5.41.

Speaker 1:

So I was doing some digging what's happened year to date versus year to date last year? So when we look at January 1st, through what's happened in April 28th, what has happened and when we look year to date this year there's been 444 single family homes sold. This is so interesting. The median price was at 463. If we look at the median price during the previous timeframe last year, that was at $4.56. So the prices have been holding there. When you look at the median price, the average price year to date, the average price year to date is at $5.28 versus $5.39 last year. So if you're comparing it does seem to be a downward trend in prices ever so slight, but it is happening. The other thing to take note of, the median days on market year to date is that the median is at 33 days. The median last year during the same time frame was at 21 days. The cost per square foot has actually come down. The median cost per square foot of all the single family homes sold this year versus the same time period last year is at $248 versus $261. So the prices, the cost per square foot's coming down slightly. The average price, the median price, they've come down this year, even though there's been a slight increase of the number of homes sold.

Speaker 1:

All that to say your specific home, your specific situation. Are you looking to sell before buying? Are you buying before selling? Whatever it might be, there is a path forward. But your home, the market's the market, the national numbers. And again, there's a lot of noise out there. The sky is falling. But I'll tell you here, locally, in Henderson County, we've actually had more homes sell year to date this year than we did during the same time frame last year. So that's again we're seeing strong demand. The demand is continuing. Actually, 42 more homes have been sold year-to-date this year than year-to-date last year. So, again, the market's healthy, the market's moving and there's been a slight adjustment In some of the areas of the country. You've seen some significant price adjustments but we are seeing still strong demand and prices are holding, albeit slightly lower than the same timeframe last year.

Speaker 1:

But your unique home, your unique situation. We do a market analysis. We actually do a two-step approach. We talk about your scenario, we talk about what your goals are, but if you're just curious what your home is worth, if you're curious, can you sell before you buy? Do you buy before you buy? Do you buy before you sell? Again, give us a call 828-393-0134, 828-393-0134. We'd love to have the conversation. If you want to just understand. We've helped so many people already and we've actually helped more people this year than we did last year and we're growing. We're hiring more agents, we're helping more clients again with the process and we'd love to interview for the job helping you. Again, the market is specific to your location and your neighborhood and we take a two-step approach helping our clients navigate through what that looks like with their specific home. Again, we've had so much activity with our open houses. We continue to see demand. I mean, we are busier now than we've ever been and we're so thankful for that. Again, it's the commitment, the enthusiasm, the work ethic. Again, the incredible agents we have at the Georgia Real Estate Group. And the market's always going to be evolving and changing, but we know, again, there's opportunity to help and so if you're thinking about a career in real estate, we'd love to have the conversation. But the market is still holding strong, albeit some slight adjustments. And so if you want to understand what your home is in context of today's market, to understand what your home is in context of today's market, give us a call 828-393-0134, 828-393-0134. We're passionate about helping our clients navigate through the market and again, we'd love to have the conversation with you.

Speaker 1:

You're listening to the Georgia Real Estate Group live radio broadcast here on the queue every Monday morning. We have a short break coming up, but we're going to keep diving into. Some of the numbers Also have some great stories. I recently heard that I wanted to share with you. But, again, thankful to be here every Monday morning. We're thankful for the support, we're thankful for the calls that come in. Again, the market's the market, but your home, your situation. We take a unique approach and a specific approach in putting a plan together and we'd love to help you out. So stay tuned in.

Speaker 1:

George, good morning, welcome back. This is the George Real Estate Group. I just was jumping into a sentence there, but, again, so grateful to tune in. I hope you're doing well on this Monday morning. I haven't had enough coffee, but go get your Sharewell coffee right the great Sharewell coffee. Grateful for their coffee and the service there. But thank you so much for tuning in this Monday morning. We're grateful to be here. This is a live radio broadcast here in the queue.

Speaker 1:

Again, the market's the market, the economy's the economy. But we know real estate happens in our life. It can be a really positive reason why you're buying or selling. It could be a challenging reason. Whatever that might be, we'd love to help.

Speaker 1:

Again, we've walked through multiple markets and the ever-evolving market and the changing market, and there's always cycles of the market and we've walked through them. I actually got my broker's license in 2005 and experienced the peak of the 2007 and 2008 market and then the crash of the 2010 and 2011 market and then the experience of what the market did during COVID and then. The market's always evolving and there's always cycles and we certainly see that cycle more evident in the stock market because that seems to cycle more than the housing market. But the housing market, interestingly enough, if you look historically, there's like a three to 4% appreciation, and that's also in spite of the interest rates. The historical interest rate over the last 50 years is at 6% and so we're not that far off if you look at that.

Speaker 1:

I think we all got spoiled with those 2% and 3% and 4% interest rates, which was a false sense of affordability. Maybe that's a way to look at it. But the market is still moving and we see that Life happens. Therefore real estate happens and again we understand and this is interesting life is happening and so this is a mindset issue in the context of whatever industry you're in, whatever work you're doing. Again, we're dealing with most people's biggest financial transaction they'll do in their lifetime and having an advocate, having someone there to facilitate it and to work enthusiastically and compassionately as we navigate through, whatever environment it is, whatever the interest rates are, whatever the housing market is. In a sense, the market that we're in is becoming more of a balanced market. The demand has remained strong, the interest rates are what they are, but a lot of people have more equity in their home than they realize and so being able to take advantage of the equity move it into the next home. The interest rates again if and when interest rates go down, you can evolve, you can refinance and adjust later. But buying what you can buy now, it's important to consider Again if the home that you're in doesn't meet your needs. We've been able to help clients, help them sell their home and then find and locate the next one, and in some cases we've helped clients buy first and then they sell. Whatever your situation is, you know we can help navigate through that.

Speaker 1:

So you know I love inspiration, I love motivational, you know tips, and I saw something recently where somebody was asking what is the best advice you've ever heard or received, and this was just a montage of different pieces of advice that we could break down, but all together at once. I was hearing this audio. And trees don't hang around with the grass, even though they all started from the same place. Spend so much time on self-improvement that you have no time to criticize others. The magic you're looking for is in the work you're avoiding. Listen, if you're a friend of everyone, you're an enemy to yourself. There's no losing, only learning. There's no failure, only opportunities. And there's no problems, only solutions. I didn't fall. I fell and as long as I get out of my way, if you always do what you've always did, you always get what you've always got. If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start.

Speaker 1:

The fact that it's painful is the reason that it's working. Today is difficult. Tomorrow is much more difficult. You know the day of tomorrow is beautiful and most people die tomorrow. Even you know you're, you're again. A lot of people are waiting for you to fail, but let them hold their breath.

Speaker 1:

Again, it's these, these motivational pieces. Again, there's real life stories, you know, about people. You know working hard. There's, you know, people. You know not avoiding the hard work and people that have gone beyond and that have have succeeded, even in in faces, in the face of so much and so the challenges that people face. You know the hard work people have done again to to get to where they want to go. You know it's. I love the um, the michael phelps story.

Speaker 1:

Again, he's the most decorated Olympic swimmer and he entered the 2016 Rio Olympics with something to prove. Four years earlier, he'd beaten the 200-meter butterfly by a younger rival, chad LaCloy, leading up to it, chad up to Rio. Lecloy engaged in theatrics, even shadow boxing, in front of Phelps to get in Phelps' head. And so the stage was set for a tense rematch and had many. Many wondered if Phelps could reclaim the title In the Olympic final.

Speaker 1:

Phelps demonstrated the power of single-minded focus and from the start he concentrated purely on his own race, his stroke, his pace, his goal, tuning out the circus around him. In stark contrast, lecloy became preoccupied with Phelps' presence In the now-famous image of that race. As they neared the finish, phelps' scene contrasted, charging forward, eyes on the wall, while Lacloy is caught looking sideways at Phelps. And that split second summed it up. Phelps stayed in his lane, literally and mentally, where Lacloy's lost focus about worrying about his competitor. I've heard this winners focus on winning and losers focus on winners. Phelps pulled ahead in the final stretch and won the gold where Lacloy, distracted and off his optimal pace, didn't even medal.

Speaker 1:

Phelps' victory came not from critiquing or out psyching his rival, but from out working and out focusing him in the pool. You know, the story illustrates that when you focus on improving yourself instead of comparing or criticizing, you perform at your best. Phelps spent his energy on perfecting his own performance, so he had no energy or need to criticize others, and the results speak for itself. The lesson if you're busy working on yourself, you won't have time to worry or tear down anyone else, and that's exactly what leads to success.

Speaker 1:

Another thing that I learned about Michael Phelps was when others were. This was very normal with the Olympics and training for the Olympics. Olympians typically trained six days a week and then they took a day off, and Phelps decided to work out and train seven days a week. You multiply 52 extra days a year times four, phelps ended up having 200 more days of training, and this was leading up to his incredible run. He ended up having 200 more days of training than his competitors. He ended up having 200 more days of training than his competitors.

Speaker 1:

And again, just the focus that he had, the resilience, again, the commitment that he had to success. And again, just embracing the pain. The pain means it's working. And again, the stories that we hear around no pain, no gain. It's a little cliche, but again, a lot of times, pain means it's working, but again, of course, not ignoring the signs of what you need to listen to, but again, it's enduring through difficult times. Today is difficult, but tomorrow more so. The day after tomorrow is beautiful.

Speaker 1:

But again, your situation, whether you're thinking about buying or selling, or investing or even a career in real estate, we'd love to have the conversation. You can call us at 828-393-0134, 828-393-0134. We'd love to have the conversation. If you're just curious, what does it look like to sell, or what does it look like to buy? Does it look like to? Maybe you own investment properties and maybe you want to consider what it might look like to sell it, but you don't have a plan as to. Again, maybe you want to think about what it looks like for your estate, for giving, what it looks like for your strategic planning.

Speaker 1:

The baby boomer generation currently is undergoing a historic wealth transfer. This is wild to me $53 trillion, and so real estate actually comprises 45% of this wealth. That's $19 trillion and this is interesting. The ability to use that for your family, the ability to use that for giving to nonprofits I mean, a lot of people are inclined to give to nonprofits. Again, the ability to how does that look like? And for nonprofits, this can be a huge, just incredible can change thousands of lives when you consider giving, and real estate can be a way to give to nonprofits.

Speaker 1:

Real estate donations can allow nonprofits to establish endowments, can fund large-scale initiatives such as capital projects or service expansions. Real estate matters to nonprofits and can secure and ensure long-term sustainability for their organizations. But for donors real estate gifts it can be challenging, but we have some solutions to provide significant tax benefits. You can reduce your estate burdens. It allows you to create lasting legacies. Again, we'd love to, if you want to hear about innovative strategies and some outside of the box real estate gifts. Again, nonprofits can take advantage of that. Our donors can take advantage of that. Let us know if you want to have a conversation about real estate planned gifts and how that might look like for nonprofits, but also how that might look like for your family and thinking through strategically about taxes. Again, it's another conversation that we're having.

Speaker 1:

Again, whether you're looking at your personal residence and what that might look like, whether you're looking about your investments in real estate. We have these conversations every day. Maybe you're looking for land, maybe you're considering selling your land. I mean all these different situations. Again, give us a call 828-393-0134, 828-393-0134. We're on social media Facebook and Instagram. That's where we post our open houses. We had two open houses.

Speaker 1:

We have seen so much activity with our open houses and so if you're just curious about our plan, how we help our clients navigate through the buying and selling process, give us a call. And again, the market is remaining healthy and strong. We are seeing 125 single-family homes a month selling in Henderson County over the last 12 months. Inventory is remaining low. There's only 498 active single-family homes in the market. We're still technically in a seller's market. We also have seen 42 more homes sold year-to-date this year versus year-to-date last year. Prices are softening a little bit, days on the market are getting a little bit longer, but it's still a very healthy market. So your situation, your unique home, your unique situation, give us a call.

Speaker 1:

We're so grateful for our radio listeners. We get calls every single week and we know radio works. We know our listeners are out there and again, whether you've been listening to us for a long time or just recently came across us, we'd love to have the conversation. Thank you so much for being here this Monday morning. We're grateful to be here every Monday morning. Find us online at realestatebygregcom. Follow us on social media. You can subscribe to our podcasts. But, again, grateful to serve the community through real estate. This is our next Monday. I think we're into May. Time's flying when you're having fun. Have a great day, have a great week and we'll see you next Monday.

Speaker 1:

There's a strange thing that happens in life. Sometimes, when things are just okay, we stay stuck longer than we would if things were truly bad. It's called the region beta paradox and explains why people stay in homes that kind of work neighborhoods that used to be okay, or rentals where the price isn't too bad because it's comfortable. But comfort can cost you your dreams. What if you didn't wait for something to break before you made a breakthrough? What if the nudge you've been waiting for is now? At the George Real Estate Group, we hear it all the time. I'm so glad I did it while I could the move, the decision, the change before it's too late. Whether you need more space, less stress or just a fresh start, you don't have to stay stuck, you don't have to settle and you don't have to do it alone. Call the George Real Estate Group at 828-393-0134. Don't let just fine hold you back. Let's make a move while you still can.

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 by Greg 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.