Mountain homes in Western North Carolina have been slow to sell in the down real estate market and there are a number of reasons why. I visit gated developments all over the Blue Ridge Mountains and I've come to a few basic conclusions.
The most basic of these is that when it comes to destination communities (think golf course communities, mountain conservation communities, gated luxury mountain home communities, etc.) most developments in WNC are at a loss as to how to appeal to the buyer. Typically the term "end user" is used which just goes to show how dependent many of these developers became on the investment dollars that flowed in during the heights of the real estate bubble.
The problem as I see it boils down to this: Nobody wants to be the first person to build in a 200+ home site community.
Request some information from most developments in western North Carolina and a couple of things happen, the first of which is that a marketing brochure gets mailed out to you. Typically these marketing pieces are heavy on glitz and low on information. I can't tell you how many times I see the words "nestled into the mountains" used to describe a home site. I don't know how many ladies are getting hot stone massage at the community spa either, but this seems to be a favorite image to use. The grandchildren are riding horses and the neighbors are playing tennis. Only problem is that you need a mountain bike to get to the home sites because once you visit the community you realize that there isn't a paved road, nobody lives there, no homes have been built and the 45% sold out just means that there are 100 investors waiting to resale or foreclose on their property.
The number one objection I hear from people that visit North Carolina to look at Mountain Property is that the communities they visit are ghost towns. It isn't hard to tell, once you have your feet on the ground, if a community is the right place for you. The problem is that people tire out after spending an entire weekend looking at communities with no delivery on the promise made by their marketing. So few look to educated professionals prior to visiting. Rather, they respond to developer advertising and then settle for disappointment.
As it turns out, there are plenty of beautiful built out communities here in western North Carolina. Developers such as Biltmore Farms have done exceptional work. But many never see these communities because they tire of the search before they ever realize that a mountain home can be found that fits the bill.
It is to this end that I have started two sites. http://www.mountainhomecommunities.blogspot.com is a resource for buyers that announces upcoming events at various communities throughout western North Carolina.
http://www.nc-mountain-homes.com is a site that features only a few hand selected communities that I feel offer the best in mountain living. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about mountain property in North Carolina and best of luck with your search for a perfect property.
Matt
Partner
Exclusive Land Holdings LLC
828-505-2557
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Jernigan
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