HOME SALES ARE SKYROCKETING

Never before have so many homes sold in such a short period of time in the Cashiers/Highlands Plateau area.  Substantial surges in sales began in early spring and have only increase in the months that followed.  Why are the number of homes here in such short supply?

As the events of the coronavirus (COVID-19) unfolded,  many are leaving the densely populated areas and moving to suburbs and rural areas.  Buyers are looking for homes that are 20 to 30% larger in size, a huge contrast to the homes sizes they were seeking earlier this year.  Today's buyer wants a home with enough room to spend quality time with family. A home that provides space for cooking, entertainment, fitness or for a private office, since much of our work today is done from home 

They also want to live in less populated areas away from large cities.  Larger homesites with space around their properties and less opportunity for exposure are now a plus. Today's home buyers are looking for locations where shopping and services are easily accessible. They enjoy recreational activities that can be held out of doors, such as fishing, hiking, boating and biking.

All of these factors have caused the available homes for sale to dwindle over the past months.  Unfortunately, homes that still remain on the market are older and often require extensive and expensive renovations to make them acceptable.

Perhaps your best option today is to build a new home that meets your exact needs.  At Stonefly, we already have many home plans available that have been designed specifically for the terrain of each unique homesite in our growing community.  We invite your to come visit us and explore the options available in Stonefly today.

BUILD?

. . . . . . .OR NOT.

Any one who has ever visited Stonefly in the mountains of Western North Carolina, can see the appeal. It is understandable, the mountains are beautiful and the setting is peaceful.  Each season is distinct; snowy winters, springs full of life, mild summers, and breathtaking colors in the fall.  But building in the mountains is different from building anywhere else. It is an exciting and rewarding experience.  If the process of looking for a lot and building a house on it on your own seems overwhelming to you, you might want to look into a mountain community, like Stonefly,

Because Stonefly it is a community of custom homes each home and homesite is as unique as the individuals who live here.  Selecting a homesite and working with our builder to find exactly the home that fits your lifestyle and personality is a fun and rewarding experience.  Stonefly also offers paved roads, underground utilities and community wells.  There are also two access roads in and out of the community and easy quick trip to Cashiers.

Since you’re building the home from the ground up, you can customize the home by creating the layout, choosing the flooring, picking the colors and customizing features to meet your specific needs. For example, you can make the doorways 36 inches wide and install a wheelchair-accessible shower or install an elevator or stair lift.

New construction homes come with a significant financial benefit: low maintenance costs. When built in accordance with the latest building codes and safety regulations, new homes constructed in Stonefly are engineered to require less care and maintenance. With less to worry about and fewer unexpected out-of-pocket expenses after move-in, you can spend time enjoying your new home and exploring the natural beauty of the fauna and flora in Stonefly rather than making repairs and updates to an existing home.  Using energy-efficient materials such as insulated walls and ceilings, help to reduce heat loss during winter and keeping your home cool during summer. Cutting-edge plumbing fixtures, appliances, heating and air, engineered wood decks and siding make the home you build worry-free for years. 

With a new construction home, you can trust everything is updated, your plumbing will work and you won’t have any foundation problems that must be fixed before you can move into the home.  You also don’t have to worry about missing or dated appliances, as new homes come with your choice state-of-the art appliances already installed.

Just like when you purchase a new car, a new construction home – and everything in it – often comes with a warranty. This means you can buy with confidence knowing the builder will cover the cost of any issues during the warranty period, such as a leaky roof or broken water heater. This is unlike a pre-owned home where you may not know about hidden defects or problems until after you’ve purchased the home – and you’re left with the bill.  A new construction home warranty gives you one less thing to worry about during the home-buying process.

Pre-owned homes can be dark and boxy, often leading you through a maze of tiny rooms that have you seeing dollar signs for each wall you’ll want to tear down.  In contrast, our homes are bright and welcoming from the moment you walk in the front door. They feature a wide open floor plan and tall ceilings that give a spaciousness you can’t always find in an existing home.

Our homes are thoughtfully designed for the way people need and want to live in the mountains. Often featuring open eat-in kitchens or oversized island creates the optimal place to gather with friends and family, and bedrooms and bathrooms strategically placed to keep every family member or guest happy.

Buying a new construction home gives you a clean slate. There’s no red shag carpet, rooms covered in floral wallpaper or pastel colored bathrooms you’ll have to change as soon as you move in. Working with a new home builder gives you the opportunity to put your touch on your home without having to lift a finger.

With several options to choose from, a new construction home lets you design a space that fits your style. The choice is yours. Whether you choose 18”x 18” ceramic tile, granite countertops, finished wooden cabinets or a palatable neutral wall color, your home will be finished in a way that’s tailored to your preferences. You also have the added appeal of being the first to cook a meal in your kitchen or enjoy your brand new spa bathroom.

A lot of benefits could accrue from the decision to build one’s house where it is not most convenient for other people to build. Of course, if no other thing, there is nothing as peaceful as living in the mountains especially one with nature.

It’s all up to you. Build or not.

VACATION HOMES THAT FEEL LIKE SUMMER CAMP

When Marc Walters and 15 of his closest friends converge on Cashiers, N.C., in June, a spirited competition awaits. Eight, two-man teams will compete in 10 events, including Frisbee golf, shuffleboard, darts, croquet, pickleball, ping pong, pool and cornhole. Mr. Walters, a 48-year-old financial planner from Tampa, Fla., is organizing the competition, one he dubbed the Tournament of Champions, complete with a trophy. A more apt characterization, however, is this: Summer Camp for Grown-ups.

 Mr. Walters belongs to Mountaintop Golf & Lake Club, a private residential community located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina. While golf is a big part of the lifestyle—Mr. Walters and his 10-year-old son played 42 rounds there last summer—clubs like Mountaintop know that offering a raft of activities for all ages will attract affluent young professionals and their families. In the summertime, Mountaintop could keep even the most energetic scouts awash in merit badges—with kayaking, hiking, horseback riding, fly-fishing and clay pigeon shooting, among other options

 Mountaintop is just one of a dozen or so private clubs located on what’s called the plateau of Cashiers-Highlands, N.C. With an elevation of about 4,000 feet above sea level, the plateau is popular among wealthy homeowners escaping the summer heat in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana.

 “Tampa is bludgeon hot in July,” says Mr. Walters. “We’re outdoor people, and in Tampa we would walk to the garage and be dripping wet.”

 He and his wife, Melissa, chose Mountaintop because it offers tons of amenities for themselves and their five children, who range in age from 15 months old to 14 years old. In 2016, they paid $675,000 for a ¾-acre lot with golf-course views and they spent another $1.5 million to build a five-bedroom home, which was completed in July.

 Out of 325 home sites, 135 homes have been built and 14 more are under construction, says Rob Duckett, the general manager and chief executive of Mountaintop. The majority of second-home buyers are working professionals with children, and the community’s activities directors ensure there is plenty of programming for everyone. “We have a tremendous amount of creative events—a Fourth of July carnival with games, rides and prizes,” Mr. Duckett says. “It’s just a place where you can be a kid again.”

 Last month, Mrs. Walters and eight of her girlfriends enjoyed a weekend getaway at their mountain house, and later this year they’re planning a big bash there to celebrate Mrs. Walters’ 40th birthday. The couple envisions inviting 90 to 100 friends and family members to Mountaintop, where they’ll charter a bus to take them hiking and white-water rafting, and lodge them in 10 to 15 homes rented within the development.

 The market for high-end homes in the Cashiers-Highlands area has been particularly strong in recent years, according to the Highlands-Cashiers Board of Realtors. Last year, 74 homes sold for $1 million or more, up from 55 in 2013. Sales overall are up about 108% over the five-year period, the data show.

The average sale price of a luxury home in the Cashiers-Highlands area is between $1.2 million and $1.5 million, says Jody Lovell, a broker with Highlands Sotheby’s International Realty. “The most expensive homes sold last year were for $3 million and $4 million, and one estate sold last year for $8 million,” she adds.

  Mrs. Lovell worked with Craig and Judy Pauly, a retired couple who sold their ranch in Crested Butte, Colo., and recently moved to the plateau. Their budget was $2 million, but in September 2017 they found one with almost everything they wanted for about $1 million. Their 5,000-square-foot home is in Stonefly, a development that—like many of the clubs and communities on the plateau—is located along Highway 64 between Cashiers and Highlands.

 “Hiking, concerts, restaurants are abundant and quite varied, and many are just five minutes away from our house,” says Mr. Pauly, a former hedge-fund manager who, like his wife, is 75 years old. “Proximity to an airport was an important thing—we like to travel—and Asheville is just an hour away.”

Like many buyers on the plateau, the Paulys bought their home furnished—including everything in the refrigerator—and even bought the former owners’ car. So far, they have no regrets.

 “We have a lot of kids and grandkids,” says Mrs. Pauly. “It was hard for them to give up the ranch. They were a little reticent. I told them, ‘You’re going to love it, trust me.’ And they do, they love to come here to fish and to golf. And they’ve fallen in love, too.”

 Grandchildren were top of mind for Mark and Linda Cheadle, who moved from Destin, Fla., to escape the heat and tourists and built a 4,666-square-foot home at Chinquapin, a gated development in Glenville, N.C., about 10 miles north of Cashiers.

 By building farther out from town, Mr. Cheadle, a retired pilot for Eastern Airlines and FedEx, says they were able to get more house for the money.

 They paid $250,000 for a 2-acre lot with sweeping views of the mountains. Another $1.5 million was spent to build the house, which has massive mortise-and-tenon ceiling trusses that remind Mrs. Cheadle, a former dental hygienist, of her family home in Switzerland.

 Lots at Chinquapin range from $70,000 to the $500,000s, and homes range from $350,000 for a two-bedroom cottage to $3 million for a custom-built home on up to 8 acres, says developer Mark Adkins of Cornelius, N.C.-based Waterfront Group.

 The Cheadles’ location is far from the country-club scene along Highway 64—which was also important to them because at 72 years old they prefer a quieter way of life. It also saves them money because unlike most of the country clubs, Chinquapin doesn’t require homeowners to have a membership. To join Mountaintop Golf & Lake Club, for example, there’s a $150,000 membership fee for golfers or a $75,000 fee for nongolfers.

 While Chinquapin offers an abundance of amenities, golf isn’t among them. The course was disabled a few years ago and replaced with activities geared toward the whole family—canoeing on the pond, trout fishing, trails for all-terrain vehicles, ballfields and even teepees and wilderness cabins that can be reserved for overnight adventures.

 Mrs. Cheadle say their daughter can keep her horse at Chinquapin’s stables when she visits, and their son and grandson love the golf simulator in the amenities center. But the “great outdoors” that Mrs. Cheadle is most excited about involves adding a garden beside her new home, which was completed in December.

“I can’t wait for spring, when I can plant flowers and a garden,” she says. “I can’t wait to get in the dirt.”

 The Highlands plateau is beloved for its countless waterfalls, woodland trails and abundant wildlife. Talk to almost any local and you’ll hear of a bear encounter—how one nabbed a bag of blueberries from a garage freezer or copped some dog treats out of the cab of a pickup truck.

 For shopping or a bite to eat, residents typically head to downtown Highlands, with venerable outposts like MuCulley’s Scottish Cashmere, Ristorante Paoletti and Kilwin’s Chocolates & Ice Cream shop. Tourists are welcome here, but fast-food restaurants and mass-market chain stores are not.

 Highlands is increasingly attracting home buyers who want to live near downtown and enjoy the cultural offerings like the Highlands Playhouse and the Bascom, a center for visual arts, says local real-estate broker Jody Lovell of Highlands Sotheby’s International Realty. Options for these buyers include the gated community of Ravenel, where homes range from $2 million to $6 million, and Satulah Village, a development of English-style homes created by insurance entrepreneur and resident billionaire Arthur Williams, who also bought the Old Edwards Inn and Spa and spent tens of millions of dollars to restore it. Cottages in Satulah Village average about $1.4 million, Mrs. Lovell says.

 Even those living near downtown have ample outdoor activities, such as treks to Bridal Veil Falls or fishing and canoeing at Lake Sequoyah.  “A lot of people who have worked so hard to live here missed that in their youth,” Mrs. Lovell says.

 Written by Beth DeCarbo, Wall Street Journal 2/15/2019