Why Local Real Estate Is Strong And Buyers Have Time

Headlines keep saying the market is tough, but our phones and closings tell a different story. We break down fresh Henderson County numbers—January sales nearly matching high-water marks, prices holding steady, and inventory sitting near three months—and explain why this balance creates real options for both buyers and sellers. If you’ve been waiting for a sign that it’s safe to move, consider this the data-backed green light.

We dig into affordability the way it actually works: the interplay between home prices, mortgage rates, and wages. With rates easing from their peaks and wages nudging up, monthly payments are becoming more manageable, even as prices stay stable. Buyers get something priceless back—time. Days on market have stretched to around 60, so you can tour thoughtfully, compare neighborhoods, and work with a local lender to set a budget by monthly payment first, then price. That way, you’re not making a quick decision—you’re ready to act quickly when the right home hits.

Sellers aren’t left out. Limited inventory and informed buyers put a premium on strategy. We share the checklist that works: price to today’s comps, lead with clean presentation, and remove friction with upfront documentation. Homes aligned with the market still spark strong interest and can move fast. We also get practical about real-life moves—right-sizing, estate sales, land, even court-ordered partition scenarios—and outline proven paths for buy-before-sell and sell-before-buy without losing sleep.

Our community matters, too. After a rough winter stretch, supporting local shops and services strengthens the neighborhoods we live in and the market we depend on. If you’re curious about what’s possible, let’s talk through your timing, numbers, and next step. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s on the fence, and leave a review to help more neighbors make smart, confident moves.

Transcript

Welcome And Local Routine Reset

SPEAKER_01 0:00

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 George Real Estate Group Radio.com for more information. Good morning and welcome to the George Real Estate Group live radio broadcast here in the queue every Monday morning, sharing with you positive news about your local real estate market community. So grateful to be here. I was just reflecting. Hopefully, this is the first quote unquote normal week. You know, where we have maybe a full week of Monday through Friday where kids are in school, and maybe we get a full week of Monday through Friday normal, you know, so not to jinx it, but definitely looking forward to to getting back into our normal patterns. And again, just uh here we are. It's it's we're you know second week of February, and you know, the uh I was also reflecting, you know, the the the holiday season, you know, you s it seems to start out with Halloween, and then you got Thanksgiving and Christmas and then New Year's, and then you have all the sporting events, and and uh you know, we have Valentine's Day coming up this this Saturday, and it just seems to be back to back to back just this this holiday season, and uh, you know, and then then we have March Madness and the Masters and Life, uh, you know, it's all these things going on. And and I hope, you know, it was fascinating during the you know the ice storm and the the snowstorm just to pause and to slow down a little bit, which was a gift. And I know it created a lot of challenges for for our community, and uh, and again, hopefully everyone managed to get through that uh unscathed as much as possible. But you know, here we are just grateful. I know my kids were grateful to get back to to school and uh you know, grateful to get back into these you know regular routines, and again, so much to be thankful for. If you're tuning in for the first time ever, welcome the George Real Estate Group. We're located in Flat Rock. We're there on Rainbow Row with our friends at the Flat Rock Bakery, Hubba Hubba Barbecue, uh Campfire Grill, uh the Wrinkled Egg and Dogwood, grateful to be part of the Flat Rock community there. We serve all of West North Carolina and the upstate as well. If you're thinking of buying, selling, or investing in real estate, we'd love to have the conversation. There's no pressure, there's no cost, there's no obligation for confidential consultation. We'd be honored to have the conversation. If you're just curious what the market's doing, if you're curious, you know, about your situation. Every home and situation is unique and different, and we take that approach to understand your goals and understand your situation and to provide information and clarity so you can decide you know what's right for you. And again, sometimes the decision is not to make a move, which is okay. Our job is to provide clarity and information. It's it's so interesting. It it is it this is a common conversation uh when I uh meet people or share with people that I've been that I'm in real estate. Uh this even happened last night at the Super Bowl game at a friend's gathering where uh the conversation came up that you know I shared the you know, the expl exchanging uh, you know, hey, what do you do and what do you do? And you know, just conversations about you know what we do for a living, and I shared that I've been real estate. And again, the reaction was, oh, that's what what a tough market. And and that's not the the case. I mean, I always try to, you know, people say, Oh, I'm so sorry you're in real estate. No, we we actually in 2025 at the George Real Estate Group, we had a record year, and we're so grateful for that. And the market, which I try to share here on the radio program, just the just what the numbers are. The numbers are the numbers, and we to provide information and clarity, you know, for our listeners here on the queue, and we provide clarity for our clients that are considering buying or selling, or what's happening in the real estate market. For example, in the month of January, this January, there were 102 single-family homes sold in Henderson County. That's only three off of 2005, January. There was 105. But get this, in 2023 and 2024, there was in the 80s, the number of homes sold in January, the you know, in 2023 and 2024 was 81 and 23 and 86 in 2024. We had a thousand uh 105 sold last year and then 102. So this, and I've shared that the market in 2025 in Henderson County, frankly, when you include condos and townhomes uh and residential, you know, single-family homes, uh pulling the numbers, we actually had a 10% increase in the number of homes sold, residential homes sold in Henderson County, a 10% increase in 2025 versus 2024. That is significant. In fact, the price stayed flat. Uh the prices stayed flat, which is uh amazing. Um, you know, the average, if you include condos and townhomes, uh the average sales price was at 518. If you looked at the just single-family homes alone, the single family homes alone uh was in the 540s. If you didn't include condos and townhomes, in fact, the current 12-month uh uh current 12-month average for single-family home prices at$543. And then the other remarkable thing is our low inventory levels. Our low inventory levels currently in Henderson County is at 431 active single-family homes on the market. And again, over the last 12 months, we're averaging 135 homes a month selling. It is, again, this perception, you know, that the the market's doing awful, you know, that the sky is falling, you know, again, these things are not true. I mean, certainly there's other markets across the country that are having challenges. I I talked to a real estate investor in Florida and in their market and in their part of Florida, that the prices have actually come down 20%, which is significant. And for us to say here in Henderson County, over the last 12 months versus the previous 12 months, our prices have actually held, and that's it's all about supply and demand. We have a three-month supply of inventory in Henderson County. Our inventory is low. And so if you're considering buying and selling, you know, as a seller, you have very little competition. I mean, a lot of people say, Oh, I'm gonna wait for the spring to put my house on the market. You know, guess what happens in the spring? You have more more competition. You know, it's also interesting, you know, the the the conversation about affordability um with with buyers, and for the last few years, you know, buying a home has felt out of reach for a lot of people. You know, the higher mortgage rates, the rising home prices, and the overall cost of living increases, and a lot of buyers just put uh play just simply hit pause and decided to wait things out. You know, the thing the thing is though, the the good news and new housing data shows that buying a home is actually becoming more affordable again. You know, not suddenly cheap, it's not easy, but more manageable than it's been in quite a while. When we talk about affordability, we're it's important to understand what it really means. It doesn't mean that home prices are falling. Instead, affordability is driven by the relationship between three things home prices, mortgage rates, and wages. And so the mortgage rates play a huge role in this shift. And over the past couple years, rates climbed quickly and priced out many buyers. And recently, those rates have come down and stabilized closer to their lowest point in about three years, and even a small change in interest rates can have a major impact on buyers' monthly payments, and in many cases, we're talking about saving hundreds of dollars a month, and that's what really determines whether a home fits into someone's budget. We say this all the time when we're working with our buyers, it's not about what you qualify for. You can tell the mortgage lender, the mortgage officer, the person you're interviewing to get a mortgage. You can tell them, hey, I feel comfortable at this monthly rate, and then they include taxes and insurance, and if there's an HOA fee, and they can work backwards to tell you where you feel comfortable at, what your price, what you should be shopping for, and it's not it's not about what you qualify for, it's like you can share with the mortgage lender what feels comfortable with your own budget. Also, at the same time of more at the same time, the mortgage rates um have have have been coming down. Home prices have slowed. I shared with you that our local home prices here have remained flat. And so prices I shared also in some markets, prices have come down, and some other markets prices are going up, but the pace has cooled significantly compared to the rapid increases we saw a few years ago. And the slowdown matters because it gives buyers a chance to breathe. Instead of chasing the the prices higher month after month, buyers can take a more thoughtful approach. In fact, that's where we've seen the days on market here locally increase to close to two months, 60 days. It takes buyers are taking more time, which is again because of the interest rates being higher like they were, the the increase inventory, I mean, different reasons are causing the days on market. In fact, in 2025, we saw a 33% increase in the days on the market until a sale. The days on the market until a sale went is increased to 64 days, which was a 33% increase from the 2024 year. So buyers have a little bit more time to make a decision. Now, that's not always the case. Homes that are priced aggressively, homes that are priced competitively, that are in a great location, that have a lot of features, and all these things, the condition. Sometimes we are still seeing multiple offers happen. We're still seeing homes go under contract quickly. And again, you have the average of 60 days, and then you see homes selling very quickly. Again, every situation, every home, again, all these factors that come into play. And so buyers are taking more of a thoughtful approach in their home buying process. It's more calculated, they're not having to rush. And then now the thing that we saw previously in the years in the years before, where the market was so competitive, you know, buyers were having to, you know, make very quick decisions. They were having to offer uh significantly above asking price. I mean, there's all these factors that go into play now, and again, now the buyers can be more thoughtful. Now, I've always said this with buyers buying a home is not a quick decision, but there are situations where you need to be prepared to act quickly. Again, it is not there's a difference between making a quick decision and acting quickly, and so we set our buyers up for success, working with the lenders, working with the uh our team, working with you know directly to to coordinate and facilitate, you know, when the right home comes along, being in a position to act quickly, again, difference in making a quick decision. Other another positive factor is income growth. Wages have been increasing faster than home prices recently, which helps improve affordability. Even if prices remain elevated, buyers are now spending a slightly smaller share of their income on housing than they were before. It's a subtle shift, but it's an important one. Now, let's be real buying a home is still a stretch for so many households, and traditional guidelines suggest housing costs should stay around 30% of income, and many buyers are still above that level. But compared to where we were recently, the pressure is easing. So, what does it mean if you're thinking about buying a home? It means now is a smart time to start the conversation, start the process, talk to a local lender. I encourage you to speak to a lender that you can sit across the table from. I know there's the all the internet and all the advertisements for the online uh mortgage options. I encourage you. We can give you a list of lenders that we trust and work with, and you can have you can interview them, but talk to a lender you can sit across the table from. Of course, you can still have the phone call with them, but you want to talk to a local lender. Understand your options, you know, run real numbers, you don't have to rush into a purchase, but waiting and definitely can be just as risky, especially if home prices continue to rise over time. And for sellers, this shift is also important. Improved affordability is going to bring more buyers back into our market. And today, and in today's market, buyers are more informed and they're more selective. And so pricing correctly is more important than ever. Presenting a home well matters more. Homes that are aligned with the market are selling, while overpriced homes tend to sit. Doesn't matter what type of market you're in. If the home's overpriced, the home's overpriced. The bigger picture here is that the housing market is becoming more balanced and it's healthier for buyers, for our sellers, and for the market overall. We're moving away from extremes and back towards a market that rewards preparation, strategy, good decision making. You know, and hiring the right real estate broker to help you navigate through your unique situation, your unique home, putting a strategy in place, putting a plan in place. You know, if you're waiting for the perfect moment, remember this perfection rarely shows up, but opportunity does. And right now, the affordability is quietly moving in the right direction. And so we'd love to interview for the job. There's no pressure, there's no costs, there's no obligation. The George Real Estate Group, we have over a hundred years combined experience. In in my career, this is my 21st year as a real estate broker. We've helped over 1,600 families in my career. It's a privilege and honor to help our clients navigate through buying, selling, investing in real estate. We're also hiring more real estate agents, and we'd encourage you to connect with us. You can call us directly at 828-393-0134. Find us online at realestatebygreg.com. You can also follow our podcast. We podcast all of our radio shows. We're here every Monday morning right after the 9 o'clock hour. We love sharing with you about what's going on in the local market and the national market. And again, grateful to be here with you. Um, time flies when you're having fun. We have a short break coming up right now, and again, you're listening to the George Will State Group live radio broadcast on the queue. We have another segment right after this break, so stay tuned in. We'll be right back. Good morning and welcome back. You're listening to the George Will Stick Group Live Radio Broadcast here on the queue every Monday morning. Thank you so much for tuning in. Again, hope you're doing well and again back to hopefully our regular routines. Um, and just grateful to be here with you. If you're tuning in for the first time ever, the George Wheel Sig Group's located at Flat Rock. Uh, we're here every Monday morning. Uh we uh we work. It's it's so funny. Uh uh a person was asking about you know owning your own business, and you know, you get to pick whatever 24-7 days and hours you want to work, and it's it is amazing, and it's a it's huge privilege, and it's a you know, the the joke that I've had is uh it's a you know, I'm an overnight success. It's taken 20 plus years of showing up every day again. You show up, you show up and you you follow up, and you again just grateful to serve the community through real estate, you know, 20 plus years uh working in the real estate industry. And we have an incredible team, we have incredible staff, we have incredible clients. That's ultimately what what makes it all worthwhile. Again, we're advocating. I mean, you think about the the holiday marathon we just went through again with Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's and and uh you know the Super Bowl, you know, again, all these plays all these events that uh so many of our clients love hosting, or you know, their home is the place where people gather, and how home matters so much, you know, for uh you know, home is just pivotal in our life. And and whether it's your home that you're you know raised your family in, or maybe it's your retirement home, maybe it's your vacation home. Again, home means so much and carries so much meaning behind it. And and you know, we you know, we know the market's the market. I I I try to balance out our radio show here with market data, market information, and yet we have seen this regardless of the economy, regardless of the interest rates, regardless of the housing market, how life happens, therefore real estate happens. And so we have the privilege and honor to walk alongside with our clients through, again, beautiful celebratory um you know reasons why people are buying or selling, or or just sometimes it's practical reasons, sometimes it's very sobering reasons, challenges that people have faced. And again, just because you face a challenge doesn't mean that's the end of the story. Again, you can walk through it, you can you can navigate through it. Again, we uh walk alongside with our clients, helping our clients navigate through whatever it might be going on. And sometimes that means selling your home, sometimes maybe not, maybe you don't decide to sell, but you get to decide how you face challenges, you get to decide how you move through what you're facing. And again, sometimes you know, real estate, again, it can be a really beautiful celebratory reason why you're buying or selling, and sometimes it's the challenging reasons you know why you're selling as well. Again, so these these things happen, and and so we we help our clients navigate through you know, through these things and providing information and providing clarity, and and the data is one part of it, but then sometimes it's the advocating and the and the facilitating and negotiating that we we get to do with our clients and helping them uh achieve their goal and and the stories that we get to hear and and walk alongside with our clients. And so again, if we can help, give us a call directly 828-393-0134, 828-393-0134. Find us online at realastatebygreg.com. I mean, there's all these ways to connect with us. Follow us on social media. We had an open house this past Saturday. I mean, the the we are now that the weather's cooperating, you know, getting back into the you know, getting back into the open house uh routine. Again, people are out there buying, actively buying. Again, I shared with you that 2025 had a 10% increase in number of closed sales in Henderson County than the year before. That is significant. A 10% increase, and we watch the numbers. We watch what's going on. Like I said, this January was on par with last January within a couple of homes. So the the number of home sales that you know, so that's amazing. Also, fascinatingly enough, there was nine more homes that went under contract in January, this January than last January. So that's a that's a trajectory and that's an indicator of where the market's going. We continue to see demand to remain strong. And so the another fascinating thing, this is interesting, the number of new listings in in this January was significantly less than last January. So, you know, the again, the perception, people like, oh, no one's buying or selling in the winter. That's just not true. Uh, we are actively helping people buy and sell all year round in the winter. Just again, some people that they just don't want to deal with the cold. That's okay. So, you know, the it's not the time of year, it's not what the interest rates are, it's not what quote unquote the market's doing or the economy is doing. You know, people are making decisions about real estate, and again, something I shared earlier. It's it's revolves around life, and so whatever. Whatever life events going on, there's different reasons why people you buy and sell real estate. And so we can provide clarity and information and the number of we are it's it's amazing. We've had the opportunity to talk to so many people now that are getting ready. You know, they're ready, they're they've been thinking about it, uh, they've been you know curious about what should they do, are they ready? And and we've helped a lot of people with the classic, you know, do you sell before you buy? Do you buy before you sell? And we've helped in both situations and and we can help navigate through that. And it's you know, the I've used the term threading the needle, and and sometimes it can be it can seem overwhelming, but we've helped our clients navigate through that buying and selling process. It is possible. You can buy and then sell, or you can sell and then buy, whatever you need to do. There's different avenues to navigate that. And this isn't our first rodeo. We've helped a lot of people navigate through those situations. We've also helped, we've been working with a lot of estates and and we work with a lot of attorneys and and and tax professionals, and and you know, it's not not always just the personal home. We also help our clients with their with their um commercial real estate and with land, you know, maybe even herited real estate. I mean, there's different scenarios and reasons why people buy and sell real estate. There's also in North Carolina uh a thing called a partition sale where uh parties that own real estate together can cannot come to an agreement, and therefore there's a partition sale in selling real estate, meaning a court-ordered sale to sell it. I mean, you hope you can avoid that, but this is real life. We've we've helped clients navigate through that. So, you know, all types of scenarios. It's not just selling your personal home. It's not and we've helped clients with their land, selling land. Maybe it's been in the family for a long time. And it's not just the navigating through the real estate transaction, it's thinking critically and connecting with tax uh advisors and financial advisors and our attorneys. There's so many pieces of the puzzle that we bring together that can ultimately provide clarity for our clients. You know, again, it's whether it's your personal home or whether it's an investment property. We help clients. We have people now that are considering hey, do I just sell my real estate investment or do I keep renting it out? These are active conversations that we're help helping clients with right now. So however we can help you, give us a call 828-393-0134. You can find us online at realestatebygreg.com. You can follow us on our social media, Facebook and Instagram. We also love to connect with you on our podcast. You can follow us on our podcast, and then ultimately just stop by our office there on Rainbow Road. I will say this encourage you to support local business. The weather has been really hard on our stores, our local stores, our local coffee shops, our local retail, our local businesses. You know, with real estate, we've been able to work through the storm. We thankfully, because our power and our our cell phones, we've actually at the George Real Estate Group group, even through the winter storms, we've been connecting with our clients. That is one of the flexibilities that working in the real estate industry allows. You know, we are able to work remotely. We can have the conversations, we can do the documents electronically. Again, you know, obviously we got to wait until we can get out to see the houses and in person, but our local businesses, our local restaurants, our local coffee shops and bakeries, and our local retail, I would encourage you now more than ever to support them. Winter's hard enough for our local businesses, and especially with the weather, with the power outages, we've our local businesses have had a lot of challenges. So again, encourage you to continue to support, which our community is so amazing at doing, anyways. Uh, you know, but but even now more than ever, the local businesses have been, you know, with the the the time off with the snow and the the weather, again, uh if you have a chance, go out and support local businesses now more than ever. We're so grateful to be here with you every Monday morning. We love sharing with you about what's happening in the community. We love sharing with you about what's happening in the local real estate market. But please give us a call if we can help you in any way. 828-393-0134. Have a great day, have a great week, and we'll see you next Monday.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

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 and near Hendersonville in Henderson County. You can find them online at realestatebygreg.com. 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 905 on WTZQ FM 95.3 and 1600 AM, or stream online at WTCQ.com. Maybe the house feels a little too big these days.

Experience, Hiring And How To Reach Us

SPEAKER_01 27:34

The stairs a little steeper. The pace of life a little too fast. But what if your next move wasn't about letting go? It was about making space. For peace, for freedom, for what matters most. At the George Real Estate Group, we understand that real estate isn't just about the house. It's about transitions, timing, and trust. We've helped thousands of families in Western North Carolina make smart, thoughtful moves. Closer to nature, closer to family, closer to home. So when you're ready to right-size, simplify, or start fresh, we'll be here. The George Real Estate Group. Local, trusted, proven. Call us today, 828-3930134. Find us online at realestatebygreg.com because your next chapter deserves to feel just right.