The Data Shows A Stabilizing Real Estate Market In Henderson County

The loudest real estate takes are usually the least helpful, so we stick to the numbers and the decisions that actually affect your life. We walk through a midyear snapshot of the Henderson County real estate market, including new listings, pending sales, closed sales, inventory, and what days on market is really telling sellers right now. The headline: the data points to a market that is stabilizing and normalizing, not falling apart, even as affordability remains a serious topic for many families across Western North Carolina.

From there, we zoom out to a bigger shift happening nationwide: the “silver tsunami,” or the massive transfer of wealth from baby boomers to their beneficiaries. Because so much net worth sits in real estate, families are facing real-world challenges like aging properties, landlord fatigue during retirement, and the emotional stress of siblings inheriting and managing property together. We talk candidly about why real estate, tax, legal, and financial professionals often operate in silos, and why coordinated planning can make transitions smoother.

We also break down two tax tools that come up constantly in our client conversations. First is IRS Section 121, the primary residence capital gains exclusion, including the biggest misconceptions we hear and a simple example showing how adjusted basis and capital improvements can change the math. Then we move into investment property strategy with the 1031 exchange: what it is, why “deferred” is the key word, the 45-day and 180-day deadlines, and why using a qualified intermediary is not optional.

If you’re planning a move, selling an inherited property, thinking about retirement, or weighing a 1031 exchange, this one will give you practical clarity. Subscribe for weekly real estate market updates, share this with a friend who’s making a move, and leave a review so more locals can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And How To Reach Us

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 on WHKP every Thursday morning right after the 10 o'clock news. Welcome back. Thank you so much for being here. And what a day we are having and excited about the day. I mean, of course, a lot to discuss about what's going on in the local real estate market and have a lot to cover this morning. Uh, it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day with a little bit of rain, and we'll see how the rain uh plays out uh this week. And again, we need the rain. That's why everything's so green. And looking forward to the rain and hopefully it doesn't impact your uh your your afternoon or week too much. If you're tuning in for the first time ever, welcome. Maybe you're listening to us on our podcast. We podcast all our radio shows. We are here live every Thursday morning on WHKP sharing with you positive news about our local real estate marketing community. We're also here every Friday morning sponsoring the Hometown Hero Series, which we are it's such a privilege to do. We love doing that. That's every Friday morning at 8 45. And tomorrow morning, we have blooms of kindness here. It's incredible. The group gathers uh donated flowers and vases and they deliver them to patients and healthcare facilities, veteran centers, living, senior living communities, housing crisis, uh children's programs, volunteers of all ages, from students to retirees, help deliver happiness one bouquet at a time. Kathin McDonald from Blooms of Kindness will be here tomorrow morning at 8 45. And if we're also gonna we podcast the Hometown Heroes series as well. And again, glad to connect with you. You can also give us a call. We so we're here every Thursday. Uh, been doing this radio program since 2011. Uh so some 15 years, been doing this radio program every Thursday uh for a number of years. I mean, I think we're at maybe seven or eight, maybe nine years doing the Hometown Hero series every Friday morning at 8 45. I've been I've had my real estate license for 21 years, uh broker's license, and we have incredible, uh you know, it's been an incredible experience. Grateful to serve the community through real estate, and we have an incredible team and 20 plus agents of the George Real Estate group. We're located in Flat Rock. We serve all of Western North Carolina and the upstate. Whether it's residential or commercial or land or investment properties, we cover it all. We do also specialize in 1031 exchanges. And if we can help you in any way, there's always, you know, no pressure, no cost, no obligation. If you just want to have a confidential consultation, you know, every situation is unique and different. Every home's unique and different, every property is unique and different, every timeline's unique and different. And if we can help you in any way, we'd love to have the conversation. We we have people stop by our office all the time just for a conversation. Like I said, no pressure, no cost, no obligation. You can cover, give us a call, 828-393-0134-828-393-0134. We'd love to have the conversation. You can find us online at realestatebygreg.com. Realestatebygreg.com. You can also go to George Realsteadgroupradio.com. You can find us on your favorite podcast platform, George Realstead Group Radio. Love to connect with you any any way we can. Or like I said, stop by our office, say hello. We'd love to have the conversation. Uh follow us on social media. We have uh Facebook and Instagram, uh, and then like I said, our website. And you can again reach out to us any way uh you'd like to stop by our office. So we're gonna talk about some of the things happening in the local market, what's happening, and maybe some conversations about what's happening on uh a larger uh level

A Coming Soon Flat Rock Listing

SPEAKER_01 4:47

too. Uh so we have you know some some conversations going on, um, what's happening nationally, and then we're gonna have some conversations about what's happening locally. Uh, before we do that, I want to give uh just some uh I want to share about this coming soon property uh that we have on the market. Uh what's a coming soon status, which means people can't see this until it goes into the status of active. It's in a coming soon uh status. 24 Turkey Roos Court in Flat Rock. It's in Dunroy. Amazing property, uh 34 plus 100 square feet, built in 2002, brand new roof. It has uh winter views and couldn't have year-round views. I mean, you can see the views through the trees, uh, potentially could be opened up for year-round views. Phenomenal property. And it's actually going to have an open house this Sunday, two to four. And want to uh give some uh just uh give some uh heads up about that property. It's an amazing property, 24 Turkey Roosh Court in Flat Rock. Uh you can find that on our website. You can call our office, glad to give some some some uh information about that one or come out and get a first look at that at the open house this Sunday, two to four, 24 Turkey Roosh Court in Flat Rock, uh Dunroy neighborhood. Great, great home, beautiful home. You can go to our website and see the photos. It's it's absolutely stunning uh property, and that's just one of many properties that uh we're we we have on the market. It's also one of many you know, properties that uh we we represent, and and there's some amazing properties uh that we've sold this year and continue to in homes that we have under contract. And we're so thankful. We love serving our community through real estate. And if we can help you with your unique situation, it could be your investment property, it could be your personal home. You know, there's there's all these uh different ways that we might be able to help you uh you know in in what you're looking at doing. So again, glad to have the conversation.

Henderson County Market Snapshot

SPEAKER_01 6:48

So here's a quick snapshot specifically for Henderson County. New listings, and this includes uh single family homes, condos, and townhomes, single family homes, condos, and townhomes in the month uh through the end of June in Henderson County. We're we actually have a 2.5 increase of new listings. This is amazing. We've had a 12.9, almost a 13% increase in pending sales through the end of June. And that's something to point out because there's a lot of noise out there. The sky is falling, the market's crashing. That's just not the case. We've actually had a hundred more single-family homes sold in the last 12 months than the previous 12 months in Henderson County. It's the this is not a market where you know we're we're panicking. If anything, it's stabilizing the market continues in Henderson County. Now, of course, this is a separate conversation than affordability and attainability, but if you if we just look at what the numbers are doing in Henderson County, the market actually, there's been more homes sold in the last 12 months than the previous 12 months. Inventory levels are staying low. Current inventory levels, single-family homes, when you take active on the market and you take out the the pending homes, there's only 652 active homes on the market. But if you look at as that's as of this morning, but if you look at over the last um you know year to date this year versus year to date last year, we've had almost a 13% increase in pending sales, almost a 6% increase in close sales. Now, prices when you include condos and townhomes and in single family, the median sales price is is down 2.4%. The average sales price is down 1.4%, so fairly nominal. The days on market, listing from going on the market, listing to closing, that that uh that's at 114 days, which is actually down uh about 1.7 percent. Uh days on the market until it goes under contracts at 69 days. So days on the market, cumulative days, days till it closes. Those numbers are up. I mean, like I said, uh you know, through the end of the through year to date, through the end of June, 114 days from going on the market to to closing on average, it's 114 days. So I will say this the market is, I'd say, normalizing, stabilizing the uh you know, last 12 months versus the previous 12 months, there's actually been more homes sold, which is something you can't ignore in the sense of like, I mean, people are saying, oh, nothing's happening or the the sky is falling, the market's crashing. These that's just not the case, you know. And so that's where context matters and the market data tells the story. Now, of course, you still you have to price it appropriately. The market still has to, you know, you still have to price homes, you know, based on the data. What does the data say your home is worth? It's it's not the crazy market that we saw a few years ago where interest rates were in the twos and the threes and the fours, but it's it's the market's still moving. Um, you know, over a hundred more homes have sold in the last 12 months than the previous 12 months. Single family homes. Actually, it's 138 more homes have sold. Prices, if you look at just the single-family home price, it's it's within $1,000. The current average price, uh, single family uh is within $1,000 of the previous 12-month price. So you're this is where, again, the data tells a story. Now, certainly, price points are there's different nuances. I mean, if you're over a million, there's some nuances there. If you're under 500, there's nuances there. But overall, we you know, we have a four and a half month supply in Henderson County. Economists say a six-month supply is considered a balanced market. Less than six months is a seller's market, more than six months is a buyer's market. Again, there's just there's just just context that that's important to consider when when we're talking, you know, it's so funny. People like, oh, you're if I meet somebody and and they say, What do you do for work? And I'm like, Well, I'm in real estate, and they're like, Oh, you know, that must be rough. And actually, we're having the last couple years, we've we've been having some incredible years helping clients. We've helping more people each year. You know, it's interesting.

The Silver Tsunami Wealth Shift

SPEAKER_01 11:35

There's this huge um they're talking. I don't know if you've heard this term called the silver tsunami. And and again, I'm gonna shift gears again, talking about you know what's happening locally, and again, your unique situation, your personal home, maybe your investment property. But there's a lot of conversations going on about the silver tsunami. They're calling it the largest transfer of wealth, uh, and they're saying it's underway in our nation. And it's and it's they're saying it's the silver tsunami's begun into the baby boomers. They're saying is the wealthiest generation in the United States is set to transfer trillions of dollars of assets to their beneficiaries. And this is so interesting. When looking at their total net worth, on average, 70% of their total net worth resides in two different asset classes, and it's real estate and then qualified investments, and 45% of the 70 is in real estate, 25% is in qualified accounts, and so in qualified assets, 70% of net worth uh is spread across real estate and qualified investments, and this is where you know we have these conversations all the time with our clients. You know, a lot of our baby boomer clients are managing real estate assets that they received or acquired. Maybe they inherited it, maybe they purchased it themselves 30, 40 years ago, and you have the typical this is normal. You got aging properties. A lot of our baby boomer clients are enjoying retirement now and are looking to enjoy the best years of their life, and and it's one of those things about being a landlord that it's land being a landlord comes with its challenges, of course, it comes with its rewards as well. A lot of our baby boomer clients are looking to enter assisted living communities and uh retirement active communities, and and this is also another thing is a lot of you know, this is where real estate you know can have its challenges with um again. We're not I'm not talking about the incredible benefits of real estate, but there's some challenges. Of course, baby boomers want their kids to work well together after they pass, thinking about how you know they can keep their family together, even at and planning ahead. And so this is where a lot of families have passed real estate down through entities like partnerships or trusts. But you know, this is where you know when we're working with clients and they're thinking ahead and planning ahead, one of the challenges in this world is a lot of our industry keeps professionals fractured. And and this is you know, it's it's a rare situation where you see the real estate professional, the insurance professional, the tax professional, the legal professional, you know, it's it's it's and maybe the banking and the investment professional. This is a a challenge in our industry. We see that you know no one's talking, and this is where we've been working uh together, and and really in the team we've been creating, we've been working and creating a team that maximizes uh estate planning, tax strategy, income strategy, and how real estate plays into that in regards to our baby boomer clients. And so it's so important to understand how these pieces work together, working in concert with your estate attorney, working in concert with your tax advisor, working in concert with your financial advisor.

IRS Section 121 Home Sale Exclusion

SPEAKER_01 15:48

There's these tax codes that are so important to remember, and I thought I'd dive into some of this, you know, your personal home versus investment real estate. You know, this is where everybody, most people, most people are familiar with the IRS tax code 121, and this is your homeowner's sales tax exclusion, and this is this is the one most people are very familiar with, right? Homeowners, when you're selling your primary home, homeowners may qualify to exclude up to $250,000 of gain for a single taxpayer, up to $500,000 for a married couple that files jointly. And this is an exclusion, not merely a postponement. The excluded gain generally never becomes taxable. And this is not there's some misconceptions, right? They they think that oh, I have to buy another house, I have to put it into another home. Those are those are some of the the misconceptions that are out there about this, but the general rule is the two out of five year rule is the seller must have owned the home at least two years, used it as their primary residence for at least two years, but you actually have a five-year period to meet those requirements. And the two years do not necessarily have to be continuous. You know, the ownership and the occupancy periods do not always have to be the same two years. And another thing to remember with this a common misconception is that the first 250 or the 500 of the sales price is tax-free. It's actually the gain that may be excluded. And this is where it's a very simple calculation is your sales price minus the expenses you had on the home minus the cost basis, what you paid for it, equals the taxable gain before exclusion. And so your adjusted basis includes the original purchase price plus your qualifying capital improvements. Could be a new roof, could be an HVAC, it could be you know major, you know, these capital improvements. So this is where let's use an example. Uh a married couple buys a home for $300,000, they put in $50,000 into the home for qualified improvements, and then they sell it let's say 10 years, 20 years later for $700,000. That's a very common story we see here locally. So if the sales price was $700, the $300 plus the $50 equals an adjusted basis of $350. So they actually have a $350,000 of gain. If you're following me, they they sold it for $700. They, because they're married filing jointly, they actually have a potential exclusion up to $500,000. And because their gain was $350, they don't pay any federal taxes on that gain. Now, this is something, again, they have as long as they've lived in the home as a primary home, two out of a five-year period. And you do not have to put it back into real estate. You can take your $350 of basis tax-free. You get to take the $350 of gain tax-free. You could go sail around the world, keep put that money into a money market or investment. You could choose to give the money away. You could choose to use it for uh maybe move into a retirement community. You do not have to buy another home. That money is tax-free.

1031 Exchanges For Investment Property

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Now, investment properties, commercial property. Investment properties does not receive that primary $250 or $500,000 our primary resident exclusion. When investment property is sold, the owner generally calculates the gain by subtracting the property's adjusted basis and selling expenses from the sales price. And the gain may include long-term capital gain, depreciated related gain, or depreciated recapture, potential estate income taxes, potential net investment income tax. So this is where, of course, during ownership, investors commonly deduct depreciation that can reduce taxable rental income, but it also will adjust your property's basis. But this is where this is amazing. And the tax code allows there's a tax code called you know the 10 1031 exchange. Um there's a 1031 exchange code. A 1031 exchange is a swap of one business or investment asset for another. And although most swaps are taxable as sales, if you transact through a 1031, you will either have no tax or a limited tax due at the time of exchange. This is significant. And we got to be careful. Here's the thing a property structured, a properly structured 1031 exchange allows an investor to define. Recognizing some or all the game by exchanging the business or investment real estate for another for another qualified business or in real estate investment. And again, the keyword is deferred. This is not ordin this is not ordinarily a permanent tax exemption. You know, the tax basis generally carries forward in the replacement property. And the tax may become due when the replacement property is eventually sold without another qualifying exchange. So this is a 1031 exchange usually postpones the tax. And so this is where the property that's primarily used for investment or used in a trade or business qualifies. And it doesn't have this is where another misconception is. It doesn't have to be identical. If you have a commercial property, you have to buy commercial property. If you have vacant land, you have to buy vacant land. But you actually can do this. You could actually sell rental houses and buy commercial. You could sell vacant land for apartments. You could sell retail property for an industrial. These are significant deadlines that as us as real estate professionals, working in concert with our attorneys and tax advisors and financial advisors. You have to identify potential replacement property within 45 days, and you have to complete the acquisition within 180 days. When you sell your investment property, you can't just say, Oh, I'm going to take the money, I'm going to keep it in a bank account, and I promise not to touch it and use it. The money has to be held by a qualified intermediator. It's basically a trust. Someone that's holding the money in trust on your behalf. It's your money. But the one of the rules, you know, the reasoning behind the government not making you pay the taxes, is they're saying you're not you're not touching the money. And again, I know I'm getting into the weeds, but for some people this might be very helpful. If you have an investment property, you've inherited property, if you have land, if you have real estate investments or commercial, you know, this is you could be looking at significant tax implications if you sold it. And this is why a 1031 exchange can be a solution for you. But a qualified intermediator is arranged beforehand, and we we help navigate that. And so these are things that can help you in your estate planning, in your tax planning, and your own investment planning. But this is where it has to be specific property, right? 1031 exchange, right? IRS code 1031. Again, you you are allowed to identify up to three properties. Um or you can identify unlimited property values if it exceeds 200% of the property that's sold. And and again, so these are things that we're helping our clients navigate, right?

Finding Replacements And Fractional Options

SPEAKER_01 25:58

The and and we have the the biggest challenge that we hear people say with in regards to 1031 exchange property is finding the replacement property. And we have access to institutional level real estate that qualifies as replacement property, properties that are managed by large private equity groups that are institutional level that are you know, you don't have to deal with the terrible T's anymore, the tenants, the trash, the toilets, or how about the termites? And and and again, you can let uh a professional uh property management company manage it. These we have access, and you can, by the way, you can diversify. Maybe it's multifamily housing, student housing. Um, maybe it's a healthcare uh property, maybe it's uh uh you know industrial, maybe it's student housing, maybe it's residential multifamily again, or maybe it's a self-storage investment. These are properties that you can buy into fractionally where you can invest your money. You you no longer have to manage your own property. It's it's fractional ownership, so it solves the estate problem in regards to challenges that your kids might have. It's a solution for in a lot of cases, certainly no guarantee with this, but in a lot of cases, our clients are actually making more money and paying less taxes with these different types of investments that they're selling their property locally. They're done, they want that mailbox money, they're deferring the taxes. Maybe it's a maybe it's family land, and there's 10 of you that own it together. This is a solution to unwind being in business together with family. There's solutions for this. Again, I I I I we've been navigating this. Not only, of course, we we have our residential business, which we've been helping our clients, and we love doing that. We're so grateful for that opportunity. And we've been helping more and more clients with their strategy for their estate, uh, strategies for their investment properties, strategies for their land that maybe they own with their their siblings or their multiple family owners. We have solutions that might be worth considering and just being aware of and love to connect and share with you about those opportunities. We've we've been navigating through the 1031 exchanges, working in concert with the financial advisors, the tax advisors, the the lenders, the attorneys. And again, we we'd love to share some of this information which you might not be aware of, but it could be a potential solution for you. And again, helping our clients with those solutions, it's not just oh, we're gonna help you sell the property. These are bigger solutions that selling the property is just one piece of the puzzle. And coming at it from a consultative and advisory role, it's been so fun to help our clients find solutions as they're planning ahead with their estate, planning ahead with their taxes, planning ahead with their their retirement, and and how real estate might play into that and how it might look like for the next generation or the third generation. We are having so much fun doing this, and it's a privilege and honor to serve the community through real estate.

Consultative Planning And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 29:18

We'd love to have that conversation. And if any of this, if you've if you've heard some of these things or want to learn more, we'd love to have that conversation. You can call us directly at 828-393-0134. You can find us online, realestatebygreg.com. You can also go to George Realestate Groupradio.com. You can stop by our office and say hello, 828-393-0134. We're at 2720 Greenville Highway. You know, we'd love to connect with you. You know, again, grateful to serve the community through real estate. And again, find us online, Facebook, Instagram. And also, if you're listening to us on our podcast, we welcome you. We hope you uh subscribe, share it with your friends and family. We not only do we serve uh Western North Carolina, we serve the upstate. And then again, whether it's residential or commercial, we'd love to have the conversation. We're here every Thursday morning at 10 o'clock on WHKP. We're also here every Friday morning at 8 45 with the Hometown Hero Series. We podcast all of our radio shows. Again, grateful uh to connect. Thank you so much for being here this morning. I hope you stay dry. There's the music. What a beautiful transition. And again, live radio here on WHKP. Have a wonderful day, have a wonderful week, and we'll see you tomorrow morning.

Closing Message And Sponsor Spot

SPEAKER_01 30:47

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 transition, timing, and trust. We'll house to the families and what's in North Carolina makes smart moves. Closer to nature, closer to family, closer to So when you're ready to write size, simplify, or start right, we'll be here. The George Real Estate Group. Local, trusted, proven. Call us today, 828-393-0134. Find us online at realistatebygreg.com because your next chapter deserves to feel just right.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

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 realestatebygreg.com.