My New Blog

If you watch the news much, you can't miss the doom and gloom of the real estate market.  But you also can't judge one market by another.  We recently got back from the National Association of Realtors® real estate convention.  In one class we attended, we heard how some markets are "depreciating" homes in value when preparing a local market analysis!  We are happy to say that in this area, we are still "appreciating" homes 6.0% and sometimes more a year.  

A recent article in the Asheville Citizen Times (Friday, 11/30/2007) ranks the Asheville area home appreciation as 9th in the nation!!  This was an increase of "9.4 % in value over the 12 months that ended September 20, 2207, according to figures from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight."

Good news for this area and our market!

We specialize in finding people homes.  And we love it.  But we also know that there are many dogs and cats looking for that perfect home too!

Fall of 2006, I (Jennifer) met Henry at our local Pet Smart.  A way too skinny mix of need.  Seems he was about 10 months old and already big.  (and he would get even bigger) lol

So the next day, he came for a play date with our other dog and my daughter.  I was worried about this stray being around my two girls. But he was so gentle, so loving.  He just wanted lots of petting, to play, and to eat.  And that is exactly what he got and gets every day.

Henry came from T.A.A.G (Transylvania Animal Alliance Group) a local organization that fosters stray animals till a home can be found.  Are you a local?  Check out their site to see pets looking for a home:

www.petfinder.com/shelters/taag.html

Every community has programs for animals looking for that perfect home.  And hey... it was better than a puppy!  No potty training... no biting... no chewing up my furniture.  Just love and thankfulness!

Wow, who would have believed it, but apparently some residents of Transylvania County are reporting sightings of mountain lions!  The local reporter of the Transylvania Times ran a front page article on section B of the Jan 14 issue. She said that a local hunter named Joe Roberson claims to have seen the "purportedly extinct" Eastern Mountain Lion 4 different times in the past 5 years, 3 times in the DuPont State Forest.  And DuPont Forest supervisor, David Brown, believes he saw one in the early summer of 2007, on a Sunday around 7 pm. It ran across Cascade Lake Rd.

Please let us know if you see any or think you see any! Send us a photo and we'll send it to the local paper.

I'm a little concerned because I hike a lot in the forests here, and in the past all I worried about were bears and rattlesnakes. Yikesl I wonder if bear spray works against cougars. I better sharpen the points on the ends of my hiking sticks!

Anybody know how to repel mountain lions? I remember the reports from California of women joggers and bike riders getting attacked by mountain lions. Advice welcome.