Brevard North Carolina Real Estate Blog

About a year ago, I rescued a puppy from a busy road in the Brevard area. That's when I first learned about our county animal shelter and the abandoned and abused animal population here in Transylvania County. 

Our shelter is an old, sad building with extremely limited space for all the dogs that wind up there. When a dog is brought to the shelter, there is a 5 day grace period to allow the owner to claim the animal. If the dog is not claimed, and the shelter fills up (which is practically every day), that dog can be euthanized for no other reason than a lack of space. Dogs that have been surrendered by their owners aren't that lucky. They do not get that 5 day grace period and can be put down at any time.

Every single day of the year dogs end up at the Transylvania County Animal Shelter and the scenario is played out again and again. While other counties in our area have recognized the need and created modern new shelters and facilities, our county has been stuck in neutral, despite a plan for a new shelter that was approved and funded.

That's why organizations like Charlie's Angels Animal Rescue are so important.  Charlie's Angels is a non-profit organization whose only mission is to rescue dogs and cats from the shelter so the string of senseless deaths is stopped. So far this year, the group has rescued nearly 300 dogs. The organization pays to have every animal vaccinated, spayed or neutered, and treated for various medical conditions. From there, the animals go to foster homes or other rescue organizations who arrange for forever homes. If a foster home is not available or transport to a rescue group is not immediate, the group pays private kennels to keep the dogs safe while other arrangements can be made.

If you are in the Transylvania County area, Charlie's Angels Animal Rescue (CAAR) needs you! Volunteers are needed in several critical areas. First, we need foster homes where these dogs can be safe.  Secondly, volunteers are needed to help with transporting dogs to area kennels, and to and from the spay/neuter clinic. We also need volunteers to help with the never-ending need for fund raising. As a non-profit organization, CAAR relies soley on donations and 100% of those donations goes to the care and rescue of these precious dogs and cats. As a resident, you can also help by pressing our County Commissioners to move forward with their commitment to build a new shelter.

If you would like more information about animal rescue efforts in the Brevard area, or would like to simply donate, visit online at CharliesAngelsAnimalRescue.com.

And if you are not in this area, then I encourage you to do several things. First, support spay/neuter laws to help slow the unwanted pet population. Secondly, support the animal rescue efforts in your community with your time and your money. Lastly, when you are ready to add a dog or cat to your family, please go to your local shelter first.

If you think there are no "good" dogs at the shelter, meet Ace. His 5 day grace period was over and he was on the list to be killed. That was December of 2009. Ace is now a beloved member of our family and every time I look at his sweet face, I think about how close he came to being killed for only one reason - there just wasn't room for him at the shelter. What a tragic waste of a life that would have been.

Say goodbye to summer ya'll! It's good riddance if you ask me. Fall is my favorite time of year. Pumpkins and scare crows are already showing up at the road side stands. Pretty soon the leaves will be changing and before you know it, there will a cozy fire in our fireplace.

Fall is a busy time here in the mountains as "leaf peepers" from the lower elevations come in for mother nature's big show.  If you're planning to be here this season, here are some things do in the Brevard, NC area while you're here.

September 24 3:00 -7:00 pm
Discovery at Dusk on the French Broad River - A Guided Canoe Trip
This 4 hour trip down the French Broad River is a fantastic opportunity to watch the native wildlife up close. As the light of the day begins to wane, it's a magical time on the water. Reservations are required and are confirmed with a 50% deposit. The cost is $50 per person and includes canoe, paddle, life jacket, transportation to and from the river, and of course, a personal guide. For more information visit Headwater Outfitters online or call 828-877-3106.

September 25 and October 2 9:30 am - 1:30 pm
Colors of the Fall
Take a guided canoe trip down the river for a different perspective on the fantastic fall foliage. The cost is $50 per person. For more information visit Headwater Outfitters online or call 828-877-3106.

October 2 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Forest Festival Day and Woodsmen Meet
Cradle of Forestry in America, Highway 276 N, Pisgah National Forest.
$6.00 for adults; $3.00 for youth ages 4-15
Crafters, musicians, forest folklife interpreters, and forestry students gather to celebrate our forest heritage, and Blue Ridge culture, and compete in timber sports. For more information call 828-877-3130

October 8 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Transylvania County Handcrafters Guild Show and Sale
Brevard College
This is a juried craft show and sale. Perfect for some early Christmas shopping! For more information call 828-862-8554.

October 16 and 17 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
Tour de Falls
This annual event is a favorite. Enjoy a 12-mile shuttle bus tour of the waterfalls at DuPont State Forest. Bring your camera for all those photo opportunities. There will be plenty of time for short hikes. Volunteers will be on hand with information about the area and refreshments will be served at the last stop. $10 donation request. For more information call 828-692-2929.

October 30 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
28th Annual Halloween Fest
Downtown Brevard
This all day event with something for everyone! There is a 5K Flight of the Vampire Race sponsored by the Rotary, the 15th Annual Old Time Music Competition, and a day long street festival with face painting, a spooky hay maze, and more. For more information call 828-884-3278.

For more information about things to do in Brevard, NC, contact the Clay Team at www.BrevardNCProperty.com

Glen Cannon Country Club is one of Brevard’s most popular golf course communities and a great choice for year round or seasonal living. The gently rolling terrain, wooded landscape, and the flowing creeks and waterfalls combine to create a beautiful backdrop for this mountain community.

One reason many people choose to live in Glen Cannon is the golf course. The 6,548 yard, par 72 course is one of the finest in western North Carolina and is maintained for year round play. No matter what your handicap may be, you’ll find four sets of tees to accommodate and challenge every level of play. And, it is well suited for those who enjoy a round of golf by walking the course.

Glen Cannon Country Club also serves up plenty of action on their five tennis courts. Two hard surface courts are open year round and three Har-Tru clay courts are available April through October. Two of the clay courts are also lit for night play.

In the summer months, relax at the oversized swimming pool with its two deep-water pods, large recreational area for laps, and shallow kiddie area for the little ones.

The Glen Cannon community is only a short five minute drive from downtown Brevard and approximately 25 minutes from the Asheville Regional Airport.

Homes in Glen Cannon are priced from the mid $200,000 to the mid $800,000 range. Condominiums are also available in the mid $150,000 to $200,00 price range.

This stunning 4 bedroom home for sale at 1037 Glen Cannon Drive offers up some of the very best year-round views around! The incredible long range views reach across the expanse of the golf course and out to the Blue Ridge mountain range and they are yours from virtually every room of this 4,200 sf home. The main floor includes the master suite, updated kitchen with keeping room, formal dining room, enormous laundry and craft room and more. The finished lower level is perfect for visiting friends and family with two additional bedrooms, full bath, family room, galley kitchen, and private patio. This home has been aggressively priced for a quick sale at $499,900.

This 3 bedroom, 2. 5 bath home for sale at 183 Argyll Circle is moderately priced at $353,500. It sits on a 1.67 acres with end of the road privacy and long range views from the new deck. All the main living areas are on one level  and include a spacious galley style kitchen that opens to a large family room, the master suite, two additional bedrooms, and a formal living room with large gas fireplace. The lower level features a large workshop and additional space that could be finished for a variety of uses. The home has exceptionally good storage space and a two-car garage.




If you would like additional information about either of these homes, or would like to learn more about living the mountain life in the Brevard area, please give the Clay Team a call today at 828-551-6290 or 828-551-6291. You can also reach us online at BrevardNCproperty.com where you can find out more about the area, things to do in Brevard, and search for homes and land for sale in Brevard as well as the surrounding communities of Pisgah Forest, Dunns Rock, Penrose, Little River, Hendersonville and others.

If you're looking for a project you can sink your teeth into, an investment property with great potential, or if you have limited funds but willing to invest some sweat equity, this home for sale at 673 Pisgah Forest Drive is your opportunity.

The two bedroom, two bath home is located in Pisgah Forest Estates, a short 10 minute drive to downtown Brevard. It has excellent access off the paved road and sits on a wooded lot, overlooking a pond. 

The home was appraised in the last 30 days and is now listed below the appraised value at only $115,000 for a quick sale.

For more information about this property, or other homes for sale in Brevard, NC contact the Clay Team at 828-551-6290 or 828-551-6291. Or visit us online at BrevardNCproperty.com.

When we first meet people who are new to the Brevard area, there are two things they always comment about. One is how nice the people are and the other is how beautiful the area is. Of course, they're right on both counts.

With over 250 wateralls, pristine hiking trails, and clear clean mountain rivers and lakes, there is natual beauty everywhere you look. And because Transylvania County is home to two State forests - DuPont and Gorges, and the Pisgah National forest, the area is naturally protected from ever being over developed.

The Cradle of Forestry is a great place to learn more about the area's rich history of forest conservation. The Cradle of Forestry is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people achieve a better understanding of the area's ecology through education, information, and events for all ages.  According to the organization's website, "The 6,500-acre Cradle of Forestry Historic Site in the Pink Beds valley, NC, was established by Congress in 1968  and contains the first official school for forestry in America – the Biltmore Forest School. After purchasing land in the Asheville, NC area in the mid to late 1800's, George Vanderbilt was prompted by Frederick Law Olmsted to hire a forester to maintain his property. Vanderbilt selected Gifford Pinchot to restore and manage his massive expanse of lands. It was during this time that Forestry in America began."

If you're vacationing in the area,the Cradle of Forestry it's a great place to bring the kids. For instance, on August 7, celebrate Smokey the Bear's Birthday! Smokey is 66 years old this year and you can help him celebrate with cake and tons of fun activities. This fall, there is the Cradle Crafters Creative Connections - a display featuring the Cradle of Forestry's volunteers and their creations of fiber, wood, iron and more. In October, there is the Forest Festival Day where more than 50 traditional craftsmen, exhibitors and entertainers gather to celebrate our forests and forest heritage with live music, wood carvers, weavers, blacksmith, and a John G. Palmer Intercollegiate Woodsmen's Meet. This lumberjack-style event is organized by Haywood Community College. 

When you're in downtown Brevard, be sure to stop at the Forest Place Gift Shop at 66 South Broad Street. You'll find books, maps, great t-shirts, and other fun forest related products. Proceeds help the Cradle of Forestry continue their great work!

For more information about the Brevard area, visit us online at BrevardNCproperty.com.

We've been working with some out of state buyers for a good long while now. And even though they are stil in the process of putting the pieces together so they can move here, we've become fast friends. When they come to town, we look at homes, but the real fun begins when we get together for dinner. They're just good folks.

They are also dog lovers, like us. Maybe that's one of the reasons we get along so well. The other day, we picked up a package at the office that these folks had sent us, and in it was a scarf for our dog!  They even went so far as to have his name embroidered on it.  

Sometimes you meet people, you sell them a home and then you never see them again. But with these folks, I know that once they do get around to moving here, not only will we sell them a home, it will mean we will get to spend a lot more time with them...and enjoying their company.

Plus, they'd get to see their "adopted son" Ace more often!

Sometimes, clients do the nicest things!

A bazillion years ago when I was working in retail we were taught that if you have a customer standing in front of you and the phone rings, your obligation is to take care of the customer in front of you first. If you absolutely have to answer the phone, you take their number and ask to call them back, then return as quickly as possible to the customer standing at the counter.

That small lesson has stayed with me all these years and it still irks me when I'm in a store and I'm "bumped" while a clerk answers a phone call and proceeds to provide the caller with "excellent service" while I wait...even though I was there first.

For me, the same theory applies to phone calls. Call waiting and Caller ID are great, but some people abuse the idea.  If I'm on the phone with someone, and the important call they've been waiting for all day comes in.....no problem. Go take that call and get back to me when you can. But when I hear the words "hang on...I have another call coming in" that sends a clear signal that I'm no longer important and whatever it is we're talking about isn't important.

It's even worse if I'm standing face to face with someone and in the middle of a conversation and they put me on "hold" while they answer their phone. I have no choice but to stand there awkwardly while they carry on another conversation.  Again..if it's important and something that requires immediate attention. No problem. A simple "Excuse me, but I really have to deal with this....I won't be long"  will suffice. 

There is no law that requires we answer a phone just because it's ringing. That's why we have voice mail. If my phone rings and I choose not to answer, it's because I'm on the other line, or talking to someone else in person, and giving that person my undivided attention. It is rare that a caller doesn't leave a message if I don't answer...and if they don't leave a message, then I guess it wasn't very important anyway. Besides, my phone saves the number and I often will call back to acknowledge the missed call just in case I did miss something important.

If you ever call me (828-551-6290) and I don't answer, it's because I'm being courteous and attentive to someone else at that moment, but I will be happy to return your call promptly. And when I do, you can trust that I am giving YOU my undivided attention.

We have a good friend who is now retired from a long and immensely successful career in sales. His experience began in the 1950's selling televisions. From there he went on to own an art gallery, he built homes, he even owned a wig store for a period of time. He eventually retired as the President of national company that took multi-million dollars businesses to market.  He is full of wisdom and good advice and one of his favorite expressions is "Now and then, you have to take time to sharpen your saw." (It's actually the 7th Habit in Steven Covey's book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People).  Covey's belief is that we have to find balance in our lives through renewal, through social connections, exercise, meditaion, and learning. For me, it's about taking time to do the things we have to do to make sure we're always on top of our game; making sure we don't become dull from the day to day wear and tear of running our business and our lives.

In the real estate business, keeping your saw sharp can mean any number of things and they're all important if you want to be successful in the long run. It certainly means taking training classes, whether they are online or in the classroom. When I have down time, I'll log onto the Keller Williams site and go to the Keller Williams University for training videos on any number of subjects. I also have Inman News delivered to my email box every morning for a quick info fix with my coffee.

Our website is probably the biggest tool we own and keeping it sharp requires regular maintenance. We're constantly tweaking the listings, checking for dead links, and adding new content. In the winter, when business slows down, we use that time to do heavy maintenance on the site like swapping out pictures, creating new links, rebuilding pages, etc. This past season, we stayed busy all through the winter so as a result of the extra bit of business we decided to dedicate some of the proceeds to a whole new web site. Of course, building a new website is a post for another day!

Blogging has become another major tool that should be in everyone's tool box and you need to keep up with that. But do you take time to read other blogs...looking for new things you can learn?  A couple of years ago when I discovered Active Rain I spent a lot of time reading posts about a variety of subjects, including SEO and Blogging, staging before and afters, and others. There was a wealth of information that I used to improve our business and I can truthfully say that the things I learned just by poking around on Active Rain changed our business - for the better!

But as Covey points out, it's not just about work and learning. It's also about connections. When we're caught up in our day to day lives it's easy to lose track of the outside world...especially when our world is focused on trying to make a living. Sometimes I look up to discover it's Friday already and I've spent most of the week putting out fires, tending to day to day responsibilites, and taking care of clients needs, though not necessarily in that order. And even though I've never really been good at "time blocking" I look for time when I can step out and find ways to sharpen up the edges a bit. It might mean watching a training video or researching something I need to know more about. But it might also mean making time to sit and read a new book that has nothing to do with business. Or it might mean clearing my head by taking the dog for a long walk. The truth is, it can be hard to carve out time to keep your saws sharp. But if you do, I'm convinced you'll have honed your skills and gained the knowledge to cut a clear path to success.

Photo by Flickr

If you're looking for a home with a great mountain setting, in the cooler higher elevation of the Lake Toxaway, NC area, you'll find it here at 207 Little Elbow Mountain Rd.  This newer home is being sold with either 1 acre or 7 acres which could be subdivided at a later date.

Located in a quiet mountain setting, this home is finished on the upper level with two bedrooms, two full and one half bath, kitchen, living room with a soaring stone fireplace, and a loft area that could double as an office, play area, or additional sleeping space for visitors. The lower level is partially finished and ready for future possibilities.

One of our favorite places is the large back deck that over looks the wooded yard. It's a bird watcher's dream! There's plenty of room for a garden and lots of good walk around land to enjoy.

This is would make a great vacation home, but also a year round residence. It's located west of down Brevard, approximately 20 minutes. And about 20 minutes east of Cashiers.

For more information about this home for sale in the Lake Toxaway area, visit the Clay Team online today....or call us at 828-551-6290 or 828-551-6291.

Summer time is a great time to discover the Brevard, NC area. Even if you're lucky enough to live here year round, the summer months offer up plenty of things to do, for all ages!

One of the biggest events during the summer is the acclaimed Brevard Summer Institute and Music Festival. Every year exceptional students and faculty from around the world travel to Brevard for this learning opportunity and performance festival.  And this year, it's not all about classical music. On June 19, the summer festival kicks off with Rave On "An electrifying new show paying homage to rock 'n roll legend Buddy Holly." On the official opening night, June 25, Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano joins Artistic Director Keith Lockhart for performances that include Ravel's Bolero, Bizet: suite from Carmen, various selections from Broadway and Opera, and more!  Then on June 26, there's Tin Types - a musical review of Scott Joplin, Victor Herbert, George M. Cohan and others. The music festival truly offers something for all ages and runs until August 8! For ticket information visit  the Brevard Music Festival online.

On Saturday, June 19, the SongSmith Gathering is being held at the Porter Center for Performing Arts on the campus of Brevard College.  Tickets are available online at www.songsmithgathering.com. The event features singer songwriters Shannon Whitworth, Beth Wood, Nikki Talley, and Julie Lee. "The combined resume of these four women is plainly impressive, all having featured appearances at festivals such as Mountain Song Festival, Merlefest, Kerrville Folk Festival, Lake Eden Arts Festival and many others.  They are known for writing songs recorded by Alison Krauss and Pam Tillis as well as tunes featured on popular TV shows."  All tickets are general admission and proceeds benefit SAFE, a multi-faceted program committed to breaking the cycle of domestic and sexual abuse in Transylvania County.

On July 3, Asheville's annual Shindig on the Green kicks off. This free event is held in the new Pack Square Park, in the heart of downtown Asheville, about a 30 minute drive from Brevard. This event celebrates our area's rich mountain and folk art heritage with performances featuring old timers as well as the new generation of singers, mountain string bands, cloggers, and more.  There are stage shows and jam sessions every Saturday starting July 3 through September 4. 

These are just a few of the events you'll find in and around Brevard, NC. To learn more about the Brevard area, visit us online at www.BrevardNCProperty.com.