Special offer

Sylva, NC Real Estate News

By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  Our new listing at 25 Walton Drive in the Sylvan Heights neighborhood of Sylva, NC gives us so much to write about!   First of all, who wouldn't love a house with a "getaway" feel but located just a few minutes walk from downtown? What a great sensation it is to feel like you're in the most private place but knowing the heartbeat of Jackson County is at your doorstep?   Within a short walk, bike ride or drive from 25 Walton Drive is the gorgeous Jackson County Public Library, the County Administration building, the Post Office, shopping of all kinds and restaurants like Lulu’s Café, Guadalupe’s, City Lights or several others. The new owners will also be delighted to see how close they are to the Tailgate Market, Eric’s Fresh Seafood, Sylva’s Bridge Park or Mark Watson Park. Within 2 o...
Comments 5
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  Now, tell the truth...you thought this would be a rant of some kind, right?   My cell phone rang earlier today and it was someone wanting to do a drive by on our listing at 847 Timbuktu Road but they needed directions.  As I was telling this person how to get to the house, I remembered a photo I took once on one of the roads leading to the house.  I was thinking...how lucky to be in a profession that we usually have a camera with us!       Timing is everything...    
Comments 20
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
In Sylva, some things are just for the birds!  In fact, the Town of Sylva, NC is considered a bird sanctuary and it isn't unusual to find people taking extra steps to make sure the birds have plenty to eat.  Not only are bird feeders kept full of seed, feed and suet but there are many gardeners only too happy to include plantings sure to encourage a wide variety of birds to visit their yard.     Our new listing in Sylvan Heights at 25 Walton Drive has a berry bush just loaded with bright red fruit intentionally planted to make sure the birds have plenty to eat.  Maybe one day I'll time it just right so that I can catch photos of the diners instead of the dinner!   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comments 11
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  It occurred to me the other day as I was photographing our new listing in Sylvan Heights that many of our clients, buyers and sellers, have chosen to share their homes and lives with rescued cats and dogs. Some of their pets were “found” pets but most were deeply intentional decisions to support the good works of local animal welfare/rescue groups. Many others chose to save cats and dogs from their deadly fates by adopting out of a county animal shelter facility. We have so many fine animal rescue groups here in the mountains of Western North Carolina for people to support. To make these actions easier for people of good conscience to open their hearts and homes to the cats and dogs needing forever homes, I spent some time this morning compiling a resource list for the local animal fo...
Comments 15
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  The very best way to get a song out of your head is to pass it on, right? After photographing a new listing in Sylvan Heights on Saturday, I noticed a rose just slightly past its prime but still lovely in its own faded way…and just like that I was back in 1973 singing along with Helen Reddy. Needless to say, the words come back immediately but they never leave quite as quickly! We’re very excited about our new listing on Walton Drive in Sylvan Heights and will be going into specifics here in the blog later in the week. Until then though, here is a link to photos and details about 25 Walton Drive in Sylva. The Sylvan Heights neighborhood is less than a 10 minute walk to downtown Sylva, the Jackson County Public Library, Mark Watson Park and one of my favorite coffee shops…Signature Bre...
Comments 9
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  Well, I’m relieved. Leslie and I went to our local polling place at the Balsam Willets Ochre Hill Fire Department yesterday and took advantage of early voting. Now it won’t matter if we get held up time wise at work or worry about the weather turning bad…we’ve gone ahead and exercised our right to vote. Early voting is wonderful and for those who have been trying to eliminate or reduce the time available for voting early completely mystify me. Jackson County alone has more than 28,000 registered voters…and we’re a small county. As it was, even with our handy dandy cheat sheet, the process still took almost a half hour. If we’d tried to take care of this on Tuesday, the lines would have been long and it would have been much tougher on the workers. For those of you who haven’t completel...
Comments 7
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  When you run for public office and you prefer not to be in the pocket of special interest groups because your goal is to actually represent the whole community   How do you pay for a political campaign when your goal is to represent the interests of your ENTIRE community, instead of being in the pocket of special interest groups?  Well, of course you try to fundraise on a personal and local level but sometimes you need to think outside of the box and concentrate on the reach you do have!   It is very much like a phone tree.  One person calls six and then those six call another six, etc.  What a remarkable time we live in with email, texting, social media and YouTube.  Now, the public service minded candidate can reach out the same way but with email.   Our email today presented us wit...
Comments 4
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
It is almost that time again...colored leaf season in the mountains of North Carolina.  Everyday another small change occurs, a few more leaves blowing on the ground, grass growing is slowing down, dots of color among the woods in the higher elevations, temperatures are a touch cooler and nature just sounds a little crunchier here in the mountains of North Carolina.  It certainly seems like the peak weeks for great color viewing will be the second and third weeks of October.     If you are planning a visit, I just hope you've already booked your hotel!    
Comments 24
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  Holy Cow!  Living in a region that has four distinct seasons is very awesome.  There's a lot of evidence outside that autumn is on it's way here in the mountains, cooler nights, lower humidity and leaves covering the ground. For the first time in a long time I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to summer yet.  When I was going through some photo files, I came across this cow photo from the East Fork community of Sylva taken early in the summer of 2010.     That's the great thing about photos, I look at the photo and can remember the day clearly and it makes me feel like I can delay the inevitable for just a little while longer.  
Comments 13
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  We have a closing tomorrow on a beautiful piece of creekside pasture property on Greens Creek here in Sylva, NC.  During the times I was showing the property or meeting the health department, I kept passing this cornfield on the right side of Greens Creek Road.  I saw these beautiful morning glories intertwined in the cornstalks and kept thinking I need to stop and get a few photos before they were gone.   Finally, the buyers returned from Ohio so that the wife side of the buying party could have a chance to finally see the property in person.  She loved it.  We parted company and on my way back to the office, I pulled into the farmhouse next to the cornfield.  I knocked on the door to get permission to go into their crop for the photos.  A little tiny voice beckoned me into the darke...
Comments 19
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  Buyers we’ve worked with before are ready to look at investment property. They were awesome to work with. They bought a house through us a little over a year ago and are ready to move on with their vision for their future. We can’t wait to work with them again. Who couldn’t use more good buyers? If we could place a classified ad for new buyers, what qualifications or experience would we be advertising for? Here’s a few I’ve come up with quickly and I’m opening the doors wide open for suggestions from the rest of the ActiveRain community.   Know what you can comfortably afford. Talk to a lender, talk to a lender, talk to a lender. Do everything they ask of you when they ask you! Keep us in the loop, we hate surprises. Have an idea of where you want to live. Even if you don’t have a loc...
Comments 20
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
To say I'm a trial to my office mates is probably accurate.  My mind is always on a dozen tasks at one time.  Leslie and the Office Manager do their very best to keep me on track, help me prioritize...remind me to return calls, complete CMAs, put out fires and pick up signs.  Picking up signs after selling a listing is easy and joyful, I never need reminding for those.  Since we rarely have sellers who don't renew their listings, those are a little harder to put on the front burner of my mind.     Leslie has been good to remind me to go get the signs off an expired listing...more than once.  She's absolutely correct.  Real estate signs should never be posted on expired listings, in fact there are MLS rules prohibiting agents from advertising non-valid listings.  The signs will be picked...
Comments 11
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
There are some common themes to what people are looking for in a home in the mountains of Western North Carolina...and let's face it...fireplaces are a major plus in a mountain home.   A friend asked us to take a look at her house, for a brief moment she was thinking about possibly selling.  The house was filled with these terrifice whimsical touches throughout the house but I particularly liked what looks like a distant cousin to the tree dudes I'm so fascinated with.      
Comments 18
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
Last week when I met with the Health Department to observe them testing for septic on one of the properties we have under contract, I had the pleasure of enjoying the view our buyers are going to have. The buyers are thrilled with this almost 5 acres in the Greens Creek area, and so they should be.  One of their borders is Greens Creek itself and the other border is this incredible pasture land with the short range mountain view.  They'll be coming here from Ohio for the closing and we're happy to see them take their dream into reality.
Comments 8
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  It was back out to Greens Creek this morning for day two of the septic evaluation.  The weather started out in the low 60s and a bit misty.  I waited with the guys and the bulldozer for the Health Department to arrive.  In the meantime I found this wildflower growing tall with blooms in several stages all on the same plant.        Not a bad way to spend the morning.    
Comments 14
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
This morning was two days ago...or so it feels like.  I started out early this morning meeting the inspectors from the Jackson County Health Department so they could evaluate the vacant land under contract for septic viability.   We'll have to go out there again Friday morning, this time with a bulldozer to dig pits...more about that tomorrow.  While I was waiting for the guys to test sthe soil, I spotted this beautiful shade of purple.         I think the morning spent soaking my shoes and socks in the tall, wet pasture property was worth it since I got the shot!                  
Comments 12
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  We check the closed sales in our MLS often so we can keep current on what's happening in our local market.  Much to our surprise this week a number of vacant land parcels have successfully closed.  This is such welcome news in Western North Carolina.   We have a beautiful lot in Greens Creek under contract for a client.  Thank goodness all the Due Diligence stuff is like riding a bike...you might get rusty, but you never forget.  A few rules have changed over the last few years.  Since the Steep Slope Ordinance went into effect 4 years ago or so, the protocol for obtaining a septic evaluation is a bit different.  Everything starts in the Planning Department in Jackson County.  Our clients needed to obtain a Land Development Application for $50 first.  The next step is to apply for a S...
Comments 0
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
We stopped off at our listing in Holly Hills this morning to take a couple of new photos. It was a beautiful morning here in Sylva, NC. Can you believe the day started out at 56 degrees? After the heat we’ve been experiencing the lower temperatures were surely delicious. Obviously, this little rabbit thought so too. He was enjoying the shade from the dogwood tree and the view of the raised bed garden. He was very considerate to pose for me for a couple of shots. The house in Holly Hills has such a pleasant park like atmosphere, that I wasn’t surprised to find this little rabbit hanging out.
Comments 10
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  Even when we don’t realize it, the posts to our blogs are like a shiny clear window into what’s going on with those of us in real estate during a snapshot of time. My mother and my friends can tell from my blog that this past week has been one of those eight day weeks. You know the kind…a couple of days ago I referred to it as “juggling with jello” and to those of you who loved the analogy will appreciate that this week felt like a marathon of running in quicksand. One of the goals this week was to take photos of our new listing on Timbuktu Road (really, that IS it’s name) in Sunset Summit in Sylva. It was a good note to end the week on and I‘ll get a link to it in here as soon as the photos are finalized. The sellers have done a lot of work outside and the place has a real Zen feel t...
Comments 18
By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  Okay, invasion is a bit of an overstatement.  Our sellers at the Lantern's Wick property in the Greens Creek community recently powerwashed their house and removed some personal belongings, and the listing warranted new photos.  When I got there, this beautiful moth occupied a prominent spot on one of the covered front porch shutters.   Mothra was Amazonian in size...at least 6 inches tall and gorgeous in color, a very commanding presence.         Don't you think this moth sort of looks like a jewel adorned velvet evening cape?
Comments 11