Sunday, August 12, 2007
I Feel Blessed
Picture yourself on a typical "work"day …
Rolling pastures, and Appalachian “countryscapes” dotted with red barns,, white steeples, and greening crops that mean a supply of locally-grown food, border singing streams that bring a smile to your face, and the “wake up” calls of roosters actually may surprise you at any time of day. Surprises are fun.
It is wonderful. . Country breezes bring aromas of newly mown hay. A rigorous walk through the pasture might be at hand. Good exercise. (see photo ) .
There’s a sense of history in the air, too. According to Wikipedia, “prior to the 20th century, the people of Appalachia were geographically isolated from the rest of the country. As a result, they preserved the culture of their ancestors (most of them Scottish, Scots-Irish, Irish, German, and English) who settled the region in the 18th century. The region's culture includes a strong oral tradition (including music and song), self-sufficiency…” .
"Self sufficiency.” Yep, that’s you. You’re in your hiking gear and so are your clients who are practically bubbling with enthusiasm, just like the cascade you point out as you drive on.. . They love the land (and so do you.) They love the all the animals, especially the horses (and so do you.) . They love riding in your car with the top down.
Maybe you’ll have to step over rocks to cross a stream, climb some granite outcropping, sit for a story or two with the farmer on a screened in porch by her perennial garden. . And at the end of the day, the gem having been found, offer on the way or not, you feel that certain sense of satisfaction that arrives when you are at home with what inspires you.
Talk about "right livelihood"! As a REALTOR® who specializes in acreages with improvements such as stables and farm homes the short list of 10 above just begins to describe my day. I feel lucky and blessed to have such experiences. ...gifts I happily will share with you.
Labels: acreage, asheville real estate, energy efficient homes asheville, green real estate, green-o-lina, horse farms, stewardship, sustainable
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Just a Few "Earthy" Investment Thoughts
What if you just landed here on Earth and were
looking for opportunity in investment property?
What "kind" of land would attract you?
a) agricultural land
b) rural land
c) urban land
Let's say you could leave your footprint upon Terra Firma.
How would you plan to establish it and watch it turn into something special?
Maybe you would be like this little "green" guy who grew up on a farm on a faraway galaxy. You are interested in agricultural land. You head out with a vision to create a working farm, maybe your brother will develop co-housing facilities, and you will live in a sustainable eco-village. You love good food. So you decide to grow and supply organic crops and dairy products.
On the other hand, having come all this way in life in a crowded space craft, you now yearn for a private estate where you can set aside 1,900 of 2,000 acres of rural land. You want to hang out in nature, ride around on a horse,create a trail system for equestrian pursuits.- You will probably restrict use on 100 acres of such a parcel for a nature-education center so that other cosmic-environmentalists can get the Earthlings up-to-speed on how to take care of their planet.
- OR... Maybe too much nature kind of scares you. You don't really like all those noisy winds. You are an urban land kind of person. You want to design techonolgically-advanced systems in a LEED certified "green" office building.
THIS is another in the series of Featured Articles at Active Rain.
continue reading my BLOG at Active Rain here
Labels: acreage, active rain BLOG, green investment, green-o-lina, horse farms, j LEED, N.C. LAND, real estate, stewardship, sustainable trends
Classic Asheville Neighborhood, Montford
Over the past year, a number of my posts have been Featured at Active Rain. Here, and in the upcoming posts, are a few of my favorites....starting with this one
Montford a Neighborhood, Asheville, NC Real Estate Information-North Carolina
The Montford Neighborhood ~ Asheville, N.C. ~A Community Embracing a Sustainable Future.
MONTFORD: Where one picture tells the story.
The MONTFORD NEIGBORHOOD in Asheville, North Carolina: Historic and Happening!
Here is a neighborhood of about 300 acres that expresses a rich diversity of architectural styles, most constructed between 1890 and 1920.
Montford, like its residents, is a place of complex overall character.. .Romance and history are in the air, so expect to " feel" the artistic influences. Even residents of other neighborhoods in and around Asheville find themselves drawn to Montford.
Maybe you will see them strolling down a tree-lined boulevard. Maybe you will notice how often they stop to gaze at the majestic homes that grace the streets There are wondrous architectural details including those from such trendsetters as Bruce Price, Bernard Maybeck, the prominent Arts and Crafts architect, and Frank Lloyd Wright. The Arts and Crafts style made popular in Asheville by noted society architect, Richard Sharp Smith, supervising Architect to Biltmore House is well-represented here in Montford.
According to the National Park Service, "Smith's preference for pebbledash, shingles, high-pitched roofs and heavy stone foundations contributed to an overall form for the neighborhood.
to continue reading please follow this link
Labels: asheville real estate, green, green-o-lina, montford, restoration grenn-o-lina, stewardship, sustainable
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
" To BE....."
"The North Carolina State motto is Esse Quam Videre-"To Be, Rather Than To Seem." How appropriate for the region I call Home. Here a paradigm of personal and cultural change with compassion unfolds. almost as if it is one with the French Broad River and the startling magical Blue Ridge Mountains.
Asheville, population 70,000 is one of the world's most dynamic focal points for the coalescing society of cultural progressives. The city's motto of course is "Altitude Affects Attitude."
Locally grown food, organic and fresh, healthy-built homes and culturally diverse neighborhoods intrigue me.They are here in Asheville. And I like the fact that my home here in "green" Asheville is energy efficient and that it wasn't hard to find the qualities that make it so.
Asheville, population 70,000 is one of the world's most dynamic focal points for the coalescing society of cultural progressives. The city's motto of course is "Altitude Affects Attitude."
Locally grown food, organic and fresh, healthy-built homes and culturally diverse neighborhoods intrigue me.They are here in Asheville. And I like the fact that my home here in "green" Asheville is energy efficient and that it wasn't hard to find the qualities that make it so.
Labels: asheville green real estate, asheville real estate, energy efficient homes asheville, stewardship
Saturday, February 07, 2004
MARKETING EXCEPTIONAL PROPERTIES
Amazing tracts of land, land trusts, land preserves and spectacular properties require more time and marketing effort in order to attract just the “right” investor/buyer. When choosing a REALTOR to represent you in such transactions look for that person’s ability to:
1. Define the unique attributes of the property
2. Create a comprehensive marketing plan
3. Pay focused attention to the project over an extended period of time
Exceptional Properties Need Exceptional Definition
I like to define and differentiate exceptional properties clearly. Although such gems already stand out because of unique quality and eminent location, it is still wise to emphasize those qualities in a way that prospective investors/buyers easily can assess. Whether this means choosing multi-phased and varying graphic details, virtual tours available to a wide audience, or selected mailings to particular audiences, I love the challenge. Exceptional properties need exceptional definition.
Exceptional Properties Require Exceptional Marketing
The investor/buyer who appreciates the unique quality and location of a exceptional properties may come from the next town, the next state or from anywhere around the world. To successfully sell such properties, I devote dedicated resources to the project, and deliver a customized marketing plan that will reach a targeted audience of prospective buyers. Besides the standard marketing plan—brochure, database marketing, cooperation with other brokerage companies, advertising in local Real Estate publications, and MLS Listing support— customized press releases, and web site connections are “musts” on the To-Do-List.
The Internet has been a tremendous support in the marketing of all real estate, but is especially helpful in marketing exceptional properties. Virtual tours, expanded listing information, and the ability to search for homes geographically or by market bring million-dollar properties right to the desk of prospective buyers.
1. Define the unique attributes of the property
2. Create a comprehensive marketing plan
3. Pay focused attention to the project over an extended period of time
Exceptional Properties Need Exceptional Definition
I like to define and differentiate exceptional properties clearly. Although such gems already stand out because of unique quality and eminent location, it is still wise to emphasize those qualities in a way that prospective investors/buyers easily can assess. Whether this means choosing multi-phased and varying graphic details, virtual tours available to a wide audience, or selected mailings to particular audiences, I love the challenge. Exceptional properties need exceptional definition.
Exceptional Properties Require Exceptional Marketing
The investor/buyer who appreciates the unique quality and location of a exceptional properties may come from the next town, the next state or from anywhere around the world. To successfully sell such properties, I devote dedicated resources to the project, and deliver a customized marketing plan that will reach a targeted audience of prospective buyers. Besides the standard marketing plan—brochure, database marketing, cooperation with other brokerage companies, advertising in local Real Estate publications, and MLS Listing support— customized press releases, and web site connections are “musts” on the To-Do-List.
The Internet has been a tremendous support in the marketing of all real estate, but is especially helpful in marketing exceptional properties. Virtual tours, expanded listing information, and the ability to search for homes geographically or by market bring million-dollar properties right to the desk of prospective buyers.
Labels: asheville green real estate, exceptional properties, horse farms, listings, stewardship, sustainable
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
From a Hilltop Overlooking the River!
Ever felt as if you were zooming, full-tilt, down life’s highway while leaving behind your natural, “earthly” pace? Ever wish you had a place where you could just hang out and “set a spell’?
I know where you can find a slower pace, homemade peach cobbler, and the noble truth of just being! That place is Western North Carolina where small towns nestle comfortably in the Appalachians, some of the oldest mountains on Earth.
Take the small college town of Mars Hill, in Madison County North Carolina, for example.
Mars Hill is is just twenty minutes or so north of Asheville. There you will find the old-time white wood gazebo on Main Street. And "good old-fashioned" things are always happening in Mars Hill. Last Holiday Season, as I chatted with a couple from Michigan who are investing in a Land Trusts for their family, a parade with horse-drawn floats and a 20-piece marching band distracted us. I could see my clients’ eyes light up. “How often do you get to enjoy the homespun pleasure of simple elegance?” they asked.
Yes, you may come to know what Albert Camus meant when he said, “A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.”
Great and simple images. That’s what we have here! When you come to visit, you’ll find rotating exhibits paintings, photographs, sculpture, and other media from local and visiting artists in rotating displays at the College. And there is music in the air. Madison County has been home to some of the finest fiddlers of the Western North Carolina Appalachians. As the Madison County Chamber of Commerce says, “The mountains have nourished and sustained a musical heritage derived from the Celtic forbearers of present-day inhabitants.”
Traditional folk art is widely practiced here and in the many small towns of Madison County. Art. Music and let’s not forget Theater and Dance! The Folk Dance Company of Mars Hill College hosts the Southern Clogging Championships, and Mars Hill is well known throughout these parts for the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theater (SART).
What a great environment for a REALTOR to call home. I love finding unique properties for my clients around here, the great hiking on the nearby Appalachian Trail ;whitewater rafting and canoeing; mountain biking; horseback riding; fishing and more... It is a sweet place to call HOME.
Labels: active rain BLOG, asheville real estate, green real estate, green-o-lina, stewardship, sustainable
