Real Estate News Radio with Rowena Patton

2025 Real Estate Bubble Alert: What Buyers and Sellers Need to Know

• Rowena Patton

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Real Estate News Radio Show, your trusted source for market insights around the nation, with some special love for our headquarters here in beautiful Asheville, north Carolina. I'm your host, romina Patton, and whether you're an agent, a homebuyer, a home seller, a builder, an investor did I miss anyone there? Or just curious about where the market's heading man, we got some figures for you today. So, before we dive in, I have an announcement After 13 incredible years hosting this live show every Saturday, our final broadcast on the radio will be on Saturday, june 14th. The local station is scaling back and recorded segments have replaced much of the live local voice, including ours, and I just love doing it live. So it's been an honour to be here with you live and I'll be continuing the show, just in a new format and actually it's an old format because I've been doing the podcast now for many, many years, so you can keep listening, learning and staying ahead with us at realestatenewsradiocom. That's realestatenewsradiocom, where the podcast version of the show, which I've been doing for many years, will continue every week, as it has for quite a while now. Which I've been doing for many years will continue every week, as it has for quite a while now A special shout out to my listener in Denver, colorado, who listens to me on her night shift, who just asked me to help with listing a home.

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And of course you'll still be able to call me, rowena Patton, at 828-333-4483. And we can help you around the country. And of course, I'm still listing homes here in beautiful Asheville and Andersonville and Waynesville and all around the mountains. So if you've ever tuned in and thought I'll call next week or I should go and download the podcast, now is the time to do it and you'll have the choice of all of those different categories and things to look at so you can choose what you want whenever you want to. So go and bookmark it realestatenewsradiocom. You can get it anywhere. You listen to podcasts and stay with us as we move into this new chapter more flexible, more in-depth and just as real, I promise you and as you get to listen to it whenever you want. And, quite honestly, many people now prefer podcasts over radio, especially as well. Many of our cars are set up today to link up with our phones for our navigation and everything else, so of course, you can play books on tape or listen to the podcast. You know where to find me, of course, as always. If you'd like more data or want to connect 101, call me directly, 24-7-828-333-4483. And that number is live 24-7, all day. Every day. We have people picking up the phone during the night, so if you've got any real estate questions or just want to say hi, you know where to find us.

Speaker 1:

Let's dive into today's hot topic, and we've got a whole bunch more for you as well. The first segment we're going to be talking about is home builder sentiment and why the latest numbers could signal a major shift ahead in the figures. You know I've been talking about this for a while. So, according from according to new data from the national association of home builders, they're set, they have a sentiment number, basically, and the home builder sentiment dropped to 34 in May 2025. Now what does that mean? It means it's at its lowest level for this month in 13 years. That's obviously a steep decline from 45 this time last year. The last time we saw a number this low, we were deep in the housing crash of 2007 to 2012. So what's going on?

Speaker 1:

Builders are seeing less buyer traffic, more cancellations and rising pressure to offer discounts. Over 60% of builders are now offering sales incentives just to get those deals for new homes across the finish line, and that's the highest level. This is a killer one. This is the highest level of builder incentives since 2009. So when we look at actual number of homes for sale, florida now leads the nation, and we're going to dig into these, because what does all this mean? But Florida leads the nation with more than 182,000 homes for sale. So just a year ago we were still saying, oh, there's not much inventory out there and gosh, we just don't have any homes to look at. Texas and California are right behind with 123,000 and then 65,000 active listings. Inventory in Colorado, north Carolina and Georgia is all up over 40% year over year. That's 40% more homes.

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And even with all that inventory on the market, home prices are still holding high in many places. In many places. Massachusetts tops the charts at nearly $800,000, followed closely by California and New York. So in short, we've got rising supply and still stubborn prices, and that's created what they call an affordability squeeze. Many would-be buyers are sitting on the sidelines and builders are feeling the pinch. Some states, like Montana and Colorado, are starting to see price drops. A few others, like New Hampshire and Idaho, are still trending upwards, but much less so than when they were before, and usually it all pushes up to that handful of states which we're going to talk a lot more about coming up here today.

Speaker 1:

So depending on where you are, the correction may have already started In our market. Here we flattened about two years ago and what I mean by that is things went up just a little bit and that's pretty much constant across all of the middle states and lower states across the south. So you know, for my regulars you'll know that I've been flagging this for almost a year now of constant price cuts greater than previous years. So what does that mean? In three to six months when these homes close? Obviously they'll close at a lower price because of the price cuts, which means that the other comparable homes will tend to trend down in value. You know, when you sell a home that gets closed out at a certain price on the MLS and the appraisers look at the price it closed at when they're looking to give appraisals for mortgages for similar types of homes. So we've already noticed an uptick in homes not appraising in areas around the country and generally this is because of homes closing at a lower price point and of course as well with what's going on in the economy, sometimes banks being more cautious because of the numbers that they're seeing.

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And before you jump into, oh, it will all be okay next year, again for my regulars, you've heard me talk about Clément Juglar. He set the economic cycle back in 1860, seven to 11 years. So I'd expect for the next two or three years here to be trending downwards, whatever that means where you're at. So the big takeaway is we may be heading into a real pricing reset, especially in the Sunbelt States. They're really overheated as well during the pandemic. That's a big part of it. It's all COVID related, because they went crazy as people moved out of those other states. So for agents, sellers, investors, this is the moment to pay attention. So that wraps up today's Home Builder Market Update on the Real Estate News Radio Show.

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And if you're wondering how this shift affects your market, or if you're thinking about buying or selling, don't go it alone. Visit realestatenewsradiocom, realestatenewsradiocom, or call me directly at 828-333-4483. Whether you're here in Asheville or listening from around the country, I'd love to help you navigate what's next. So stay tuned. We're going to have some more national trends, some more local trends, some smart strategies and a lot of local love coming from the mountains. So let's dive into our next segment, a trend that's picking up steam fast. Inventory is climbing in key markets, and I can do national and local here, because North Carolina is on this map halfway down.

Speaker 1:

So if you've been watching the real estate headlines, any news that you watch, or podcasts that you listen to or anywhere else where you get your news Although that's not really true, because a lot of agents are out there going, oh, it's the best time to buy, including a lot of celebrity agents, actually, because I think they're scared of telling people really what's happening in case the market goes really nutty. Nobody wants that to happen. But the fact is, the figures are the figures and I feel you're intelligent enough to make your own decisions by having your own numbers. So you may have noticed in some of these headlines that start giving you the figures, that there's a lot more homes for sale right now. So when you look at and a lot of these are sourced from realtorcom and Zillow and the research has been done on a number of different sites Some of the country's hottest housing markets are seeing an inventory surge, and you know we like to speak in plain English. What do we mean by that there's a lot more inventory. It's just houses, number of rooftops that are going out there, and we're seeing really are seeing a surge in some areas. We're seeing double digits, in some cases, 50% increases over last year.

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So here's the top 10 right now by number of homes for sale. And even though we're airing on the radio you may be listening to, we're also on the podcast, so share this podcast with your friends Realestatenewsradiocom. Just tell them to ask for the one on figures changing Gosh. I haven't come up with a headline yet for what it's going to be called, but you'll be able to find it as the date for 21, 22, the 24th of May 2025. And you should have that anyway, because these figures are generally from in the last couple of weeks. So here are the top 10 states, and that changes all the time, so we've got to keep watching right, which, of course, I'll do for you.

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Here are the top 10 states we need a drum roll here by the number of homes for sale and their year over year inventory growth. In other words, how much is it up from last year? Number one are you ready for this? Florida 182,589 homes are for sale. That is up 34.9%. So they're in order of homes for sale right now, not the percentage increase, because we've got some larger ones than that.

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Texas is the number two with number of homes for sale 123,237 homes for sale. That's up nearly 30%. California, are you ready for it? 64,963 homes for sale up 51.1% over 50%, guys. That's the largest one on here. I guess a lot of people are selling their homes in California and moving out. That is a trend that we've seen.

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And then in Georgia 42,000. Georgia comes in at number four 42,846 homes for sale. That is up 41%. And here we go. Number five North Carolina 35,438 homes for sale, up 43%. Pretty similar numbers in Western North Carolina, where our headquarters are. New York 31,562 homes for sale. Then we've and that's only up three percent from last year Arizona 30, and Arizona's another one to really watch. Um, I'm so Texas is up there at number two. Arizona and Texas, the ones to watch right now 30,084 homes, that is up 34.30%. These are big rises. This is a surge, guys. And number nine we've got Colorado 24,093 homes, up 50.3%. That is just behind California, which is at 51.1%. And then, of course, just south of us, in South Carolina, is up 29.4% and that's 23,898 homes for sale. So let's put that into perspective. We're not just seeing more listings, we're seeing an inventory growth at levels and I'm not saying this to scare you, I'm just giving you figures we're seeing inventory growth at levels not seen since the post-2008 housing crash.

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And behind the scenes, talking about builders, the builders are responding. Over 60% of builder listings now include some form of incentive. It could be closing cost assistance. It could be price reductions of incentive. It could be closing cost assistance. It could be price reductions, appliance upgrades and more. So what does that mean? It means that actually it's going to be a little harder in areas where you've got a lot of builders doing this to sell your used home. I like to call them used homes just because it's funny, because it's not a brand new home.

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And, by the way, guys, this is where CPO comes in. If you've got an older home and we've got so many agents now knowing how to do this that are fully certified around the country certified pre-owned that's where you get the inspection first. You need this. It's even better if you get the appraisal. Why? Because you're more able to compete with new homes. Even better, if you do the appraisal, the trifecta of certified pre-owned is doing the inspection before you list it. You don't have to fix anything can disclose it. That's where everybody goes in eyes wide open and it is a massive change when you do that because, especially if you offer a home warranty, that's the trifecta, as I mentioned, because now you're offering what the builders are offering. You're offering a home that doesn't have any issues or you know the issues, going in eyes wide open. The price we always say the price has taken that into perspective and I have agents trained for you everywhere in the country.

Speaker 1:

Guys, you're hearing the figures you need to certify pre-owned your home. I was just on the broker in charge In North Carolina. A broker in charge is a broker who is supervising other agents, so I've been a broker in charge for a long time. We have to do continuing education, like many other types of things that you know or industries where they have license. I did that today for many hours and I cannot tell you how much time we probably spent 50% of the time talking about what we should do in situations where there's complaints from buyers, from sellers towards agents against agents, against buyers against sellers, people suing each other because of things that went wrong with the house that weren't disclosed, certified, pre-own it and most of that goes away.

Speaker 1:

We're spending all of our time in real estate doing repair requests and pricing homes, not knowing what's wrong with them, and we're competing with new home builders here. You've got to listen to these figures. Over 60% of builder listings now include some form of incentive. So if you're a home buyer and again I'm not going to hide these facts from you because you need to know them, especially if you're selling an older home or one where you know it needs something doing to it, lets you have you competing at the same level. We've got plenty of help for builders as well. Don't worry, builders out there. We've got builder CPO we're going to be talking about in a second.

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But honestly, I spent I was on a Zoom call for four hours today doing my update and much of that talked about problems with inspections. The vast majority of that goes away to the point that, when you're not certified, pre-owned homes drop out on average over 30% of the time. Now what does that mean? It means you've got your house listed, you're going to get a contract. Everybody's excited. Over 30% of the time they're going to drop out.

Speaker 1:

It's not because we're not great listing agents, it's because we don't have control over the buyers. They may do something like I don't know, lease a car or something right before and not have the credit where they need it to buy the home, or not have enough income. Even more importantly, it's also because we haven't done I just think we haven't done our diligence as listing agents and the sellers, getting that inspection done first and again. You don't have to fix anything. I'm more than happy to go through all this in detail. 828-333-4483. I've got agents trained in this all around the country. I have a bestselling book on it.

Speaker 1:

If you've got builders that are offering incentives and you were a buyer, wouldn't you start looking at new homes anywhere in the country where this is happening and that's much of the country right now? Why wouldn't you look at a new home if they're offering all these incentives? So if you're selling your home, you need to be able to compete against new homes, and certified pre-owned is how you do that. What you know we've got closing cost assistance, price reductions, appliance upgrades and more from builders. So what does this mean for the average homeowner? And what about investors or agents? Let's look at an opportunity for people wanting to build a new home and agents that like to work with new homes is where it gets really interesting in my book, literally because moments like these create real windows of opportunity.

Speaker 1:

One of the biggest missed opportunities for agents right now is partnering with builders. Let's be honest builders need help and most of us as agents certainly everybody in my network have a big database of people that are always asking us to recommend a builder. So we're building lists of builders all around the country. We're going to see them as agents. If you want to get on that list, just give me a call builders 828-333-4483. And we have a program for you.

Speaker 1:

So builders around the country have spec homes now piling up. In fact, they're slowing down on building them. They've also got buyers that want to move in but haven't sold their existing home, and that's about 60% of people are selling their existing home to move into their new home. And how on earth do you know when to list your home when you're building a new one? Because builders most of the time and it's not their fault can't give you an exact date when they're going to get the certificate of occupancy. Ie, you can move in Two weeks before they get their CO. They do know and that's where Build a CPO comes in. So if you're an agent, build a CPO gives you the tools and the training and the coaching of course to solve one of the biggest pain points for builders and people building a new home. It's such a pain the contingent buyer, the one that can't move forward until they sell and how do they know when to list it.

Speaker 1:

What a pain with Build a CPO and I've done a whole show on this that you can find on the podcast called Build a CPO will be in the title. So if you want to learn more about it, go to realestatenewsradiocom. Realestatenewsradiocom. Realestatenewsradiocom. Remember the live show is you're probably listening way after this, because people listen to the podcast six months later on a particular topic. So if you're listening six months later, the show won't be airing live on the network anymore because they've cut most of the local talent. There are very few live shows left and they've offered me to record it every week, which you know. I can give you that on the podcast, quite frankly, and you can choose when to listen, and it's just better for you. So realestatenewsradiocom, just don't forget, hop over there. So you know it makes it much easier to unlock with Build a CPO when you're building a home.

Speaker 1:

The best part as an agent you get the listing because now you're the best agent to get that home sold because it's going to be certified pre-owned. It's all LinkedIn, guys, and that's anywhere in the country and you can get up to 70% of your funds, your equity, in your home within 14 days. That's how we're able to do it with a co. But it's not one of those cash offers. It's a full market value offer. We go in, we spruce it up. You don't have to do anything. Our funding partner pays for the upgrades up front and then we sell it and you get a second check. Two-thirds of our sellers make more. It's fueled by Cash CPO that you've already heard me talk about many times.

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If you're a regular listener, this is buildacpocom. You can go for more information if you'd like it. I've got all kinds of tools for you if you're an agent. We have an app now called Listing Royalty that. I've just been on a six-month hiatus almost to build this app and get lots of training and lots of coaching on there to elevate agents and help them with training. I've got all the top CEOs from all the real estate brokerages on there. It's called Listing Royalty. So if you're an agent, download it List royalty. I can unlock all kinds of programs for you on this. So you get to stay in the transaction as an agent. The builder gets to close and, most of all, the buyer gets peace of mind. If you've ever built a new house, what you're doing is calling the builder over and over again Is it ready yet? Are you still going to hit that date? Now all of that goes away. Ready yet? Are you still going to hit that date? Now all of that goes away. So all you do two weeks before the transaction, before the CO, the certificate of occupancy, that's when the builder says it's going to be ready. Two weeks before that, 98% of the time you will be able to hit that date.

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I actually did a whole show on this with Joe Shively a couple of months ago. You can look that up on the podcast at realestatenewsradiocom. Big button on their podcast. You can choose whatever different topic that we've spoken about. So the builder CPO is really it's a win, win, win. It's a win for the agent, it's a win for the person who's buying the new home A lot less stress, they're not so nervous and so stressed all the way through, and obviously it's a win for the builders, and you know we've got builders out there who are reducing their prices and offering lots of incentives to stay afloat and it's just, it's a really, really great program. So if you're listening to this as a homeowner, this is what you want to keep an eye on. So the inventory is rising. Prizes haven't fallen as quickly yet, so that's the good thing.

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If you're thinking about selling, now is the time to position yourself smartly. Stage it right, price it right, market it aggressively and it'll still sell well. But don't wait, please don't wait. It will mean more competition. We're seeing every month now unless you're listening in the northeast and we'll go through what they are. And if you are up there especially Massachusetts or Connecticut, new York, new Jersey give me a call, 828-333-3333, and I will go through all those numbers with you. 828-333-4483. That number is open 24 7.

Speaker 1:

We can help you anywhere in the country with the best trained agents. We now have an app that's got so much training on it and we unlock it all for our network agents, because we don't want to be putting agents onto you that are not trained in that. It's just a higher level of training and I don't want to tell you. We do a call every day in training. We do a deep dive on a thursday. We've got a facebook group and we've got this app with all this great training on it and it's five minute bite-sized pieces on all of this. And those of you who have listened to me before know that we've got senior living programs. We've got all kinds of programs on there to help you, whether you're a home seller or an agent, or you know somebody that's just trying to get into the next situation.

Speaker 1:

Now, of course you know we've talked about home sellers. It's all about marketing it right. Of course you can get your full market value offer at cashcpocom. Cashcpocom, you can put it in yourself or have your agent do it for you. You want some help with that? You can give me a call or go to realestatenewsradiocom for all of the details.

Speaker 1:

If you're buying, this is finally good news More choices, more leverage and builders who are finally willing to negotiate again, especially in the Sunbelt states like Florida, texas and the Carolinas, expect inventory to climb even higher through the summer and early fall. Why? Because it's our season. South Florida not so much so, obviously, but we've already seen big drops, especially in South Florida, especially in condos. So if you're thinking about picking up a condo down there, there's all kinds of incentives right now. You want it as a winter home and you live in the mountains or live somewhere cooler could be a good time to start looking Not a bad time at all. That's why it's always an opportunity. However you're looking at things, whatever is happening in the market, it's an opportunity for someone.

Speaker 2:

Hey, sean Hannity, here talking with the only real estate agent in your market. I recommend Rowena Patton with All Star Powerhouse. Now more than ever, buyers and sellers need an expert to navigate this ever-changing market. And what do you do to stand out?

Speaker 1:

You know I got into real estate in 2007. I have a lot of experience all of the way down and I sold more homes than anybody else. And I did that through experience, marketing, negotiation, and in today's market you need that experience more than ever. Agents for the last two or three years really haven't learned a whole lot about anything that's difficult about to market, because you could just stick a sign outside the door and put a lock box on the door and boom, it's gone tomorrow with three multiple offers. That is not the market we're in anymore.

Speaker 2:

Call Rowena Patton right now at 828-333-4483 or online at mountainhomehuntcom.

Speaker 1:

For those of you here in Asheville or Western North Carolina. All around here you're seeing a similar trend, but not quite as dramatic. Our inventory is up, especially in the 600 and up range, very similar to what happens in each price modification arena, shall we say, when prices are going down for three to five years and then they go up for three to five years, but they go up more in the three to five year next period, as the line you see in real estate is always up over time. So in other words, if you keep your home for 10 years, then chances are it's going to be worth dramatically more. We're starting to see some softening price expectations is probably a nice way of putting it. So the good news in Western North Carolina we've still got strong demand from relocators, retirees and second home buyers, although the second home buyer market is also the first one that gets hurt in a nervous economy, which is what's going on right now. I know personally people who are looking to buy those $600,000 to $900,000 homes or 600 and up homes that live locally, that want to come and stay here for the weekend Places like Charlotte, which is only two hours away plus people that just want a second home here. So this means sellers need to work with an agent who understands today's buyers. We need to use really smart pricing strategy and there's all kinds of things that go into that. It's not just oh, the house is $599, and therefore we need to put it at $600 to capture both of it. There's way more than that goes into it and also leveraging modern programs. So we've got builder CPO, we've got cash CPO, we've got senior living CPO. We've got all kinds of programs. There are estate CPO, tunnel to tower CPO to get deals across the finish line.

Speaker 1:

In case you just tuned in, I'm Rowena Patton. This is the Real Estate News Radio Show. You all know we're going to stop going live. You're probably listening to this on the podcast. Anyway, we've got 10 times as many listeners on the podcast on June 14th. So we won't be on at that 10 am spot on a Saturday anymore because the local station where everything used to be recorded is making big cuts and they're not having live producers in on a Saturday and I decided I didn't want to do a recorded show, which is what they offered me. So we won't be on at 10 o'clock after the middle of June. So make sure you check us out on the Real Estate News Radio show. I'm still doing the show realestatenewsradiocom realestatenewsradiocom. Or, of course, you can call me directly at 828-333-4483.

Speaker 1:

This is Rowena Patton with EXP Realty. So you're tuned in to the Real Estate News Radio show where we bring you our real estate trends from across the country. We have a special focus on our home base, asheville and the mountain counties of Western North Carolina. I'm your host, rowena Patz, and if you've got real estate questions, want to chat about strategy? I do strategy calls every day. So I've done over 3,500 transactions in my real estate career.

Speaker 1:

A lot of people know me as the person who can get those more unusual homes sold. So if you're out in the boonies, you'll know what I mean by that. If your house needs a little bit of work, if you've got a perfect house and it's out in the boonies and of course I live all the perfect houses in town as well. So don't think I'm only for the difficult to sell homes or more difficult to sell homes, not difficult to sell. Everything sells. It's just about the marketing strategy and the strategy to get it sold, everything that goes into that. So in this segment we're going hyper local. We're diving into real housing data for Buncombe, henderson, hayward, mcdowell, mitchell, rutherford and Yancey counties, looking at median home prices, price growth and inventory trends.

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Let's dig in Now. If you're listening around the country, as I know many of you are, I've got you calling me asking to sell homes in California, in Denver, in Florida. Help with those. We can help you all over the country network, many of whom, or all of whom, are highly trained and know how to do the cash CPO offer, the builder CPO, all of the other things that we offer, as well as, of course, conventional listings. I hope that goes without saying, but some of the you've never heard me before, so it doesn't go without saying.

Speaker 1:

We do all of the givens. So we do professional photography, we do great photography, we do great drone shots. We price it really well. I have a lot of experience at this point to do all the things you expect. We put it on 300 websites. All the things that you expect. I call those givens, but we do. We go over and above.

Speaker 1:

We do the memories video. The memories video is, if you want to. You know, usually we're attached to the house and we think we're attached to the house and really we're attached to the memories. What do I mean by that? I actually came up with this when I went to see a couple whose daughter got married coming down the stairs and she was described. I actually said to her Susan, susan, it really seems like you don't want to sell this house, and that is just right. And she said no, my daughter got married coming down the stairs and shared lots of other personal stories. And I said, well, that's okay, because we do a memories video for you. And she said I don't want to be on video. I said that's fine, we'll just walk around and capture the memories for you. We put it up on YouTube or you can just keep it on your computer and share it with your kids, your kids' kids, your great grandkids, whomever you want to share it with.

Speaker 1:

So let's have a look at some median home values in the seven Western North Carolina counties as of mid 2025,. Just in case you're listening to this one, in six months time or three years time, we've got many years on the podcast at realestatenewsradiocom. Share it with your friends, please. So Transylvania leads at 478. You might be surprised by that. One Buncombe is right behind. That's the heart of Asheville, of course. 473, 987, so 474 and of course a lot of these median prices are pulled down by condos and by houses that are a little bit further out in Buncombe County, because if you look at Asheville it's proper, it's more like 600,000. Henderson County, that's where Hendersonville is 433, so about $40,000 lower Henderson County, that's where Hendersonville is 433. So about $40,000 lower. Jackson is 442. Hayward that's an interesting one sits at 355,777. So 356. So, as you can see, considerably lower.

Speaker 1:

And for many years people have been moving west to Waynesville and Maggie Valley, which is Haywood County. So we've got the difference in Haywood County, which is only gosh. You've been at Haywood County in 20 minutes going west. If you're talking about Waynesville, you're more like half an hour. You can still get back into Asheville very easily if that's what you're looking for. So we've got the difference and I'm just going to round up here to make the numbers easier Between the median price at $356,000 for the Waynesville area, that is up over $100,000 in Buncombe County, the Asheville area, so $474,000.

Speaker 1:

So obviously that's a big jump. It's $120,000 more on average, I guess you could say, even though these are the median prices. And then we've got Yancey County at $313,000. Obviously it's a drop even more. Mcdowell County $256,000 or $257,000.

Speaker 1:

So remember too, when you're buying in these less expensive areas, these less expensive areas, this is how it all happens, guys, and you'll know this. People, you know the household income hasn't gone up anywhere near the same price at the prices of the homes. So people slowly but surely move out. You know servers, for example. A server is going to be able to afford the $474 median house point that is in the Asheville area and honestly it's more like $500,000, $600,000 when you look at Asheville proper. This is being pulled down.

Speaker 1:

But many people blue collar workers, people who work for a living can't afford a house over $400,000. And McDowell is coming in at $257,000. You can actually afford a house. So that's why people start moving out. As more people start moving out, that creates more of a demand which puts prices up. Big shocker. I know Rutherford is the lowest in that group at $209,000. You can buy a median home value in Rutherford County is 209. So you know the numbers confirm what we've all been feeling. Buncombe and Henderson remains the price anchors for the region. Nothing has changed there, while outer counties like McDowell and Rutherford still offer affordability, at least for now and by at least for now I mean as more and more people realize they can get a home there.

Speaker 1:

And here's the deal when you work with them. So let's say, you know there's a lot of restaurants here and a lot of servers after all, we are a tourist region. So if you're a server and you're in asheville and you say to your agent, hey, I need a house, most of those agents are going to set you up in buncombe County. Why? Because they don't necessarily want to drive an hour to Rutherford or drive an hour to McDowell to show you a home. That makes sense, right? So what you want to do is work with an agent in those areas, or work with an agent that has a team and has agents that live in those areas. Just being honest about that You're going to have. And also, if you live in Asheville or you live in Hensonville, how well do you know Waynesville? You might have an agent that says, oh, I grew up here, but you can't know the ins and outs of Waynesville if you don't live there or live in the area. So really, really, really worthwhile, you know, just work with an agent in that area. They're going to know more about it.

Speaker 1:

So let's talk about appreciation, because even though all this mess is going on and this gets so hard to understand, and I understand that. So let's talk about appreciation. How has there been appreciation when we're seeing price cuts go up so dramatically? Because the average consumer doesn't see that the price cuts are going through the roof. The average consumer just says, oh, I see there's a few more homes on the market. They don't see that there's half as 50% more than last year in most of our counties around the country, around the country. So they're not seeing that in six months time that's going to have a big jump in terms of, or a big drop, should I say, in terms of prices. So Yancey is up about 3%. That's leading the pack. But you'll also see in a lot of these areas I'm talking about, the average price in Yancey is 3.13. So if you've got a lower price, an increase of a few thousand dollars can push it up in those percentage points.

Speaker 1:

Mitchell County 2.2%. Mcdowell 1.9%. Henderson 1.4%. Buncombe is 1%. Haywood is 2.8%. Rutherford's the only one showing decline. It's probably because of the Lake Law area at minus 2.7, because of what happened in Helene. A lot of people are saying, oh, it's because of Helene, some of it is Rutherford. Probably is, because it was so devastating in all of Western North Carolina and in some ways because of the late law area and because that is primarily just a seasonal market, you know, probably double, triple, quadruples in terms of number of people in the summer that one got really hit hard. A love goes out to you Lake Lure and Rutherford County. So even though bonecrumbs are the most expensive, price growth has slowed and in the most expensive counties you're going to see more of a slowing than the other ones, which is the other interesting piece of that.

Speaker 1:

Now here's where it gets interesting. Active listings tell us where it's about to happen or tell us what's about to happen. Buncombe has around 1,100 for sale. Of course you know, by the time you listen to this the numbers will have changed slightly. Henderson has about 560, so about half. Hayward has 321. Rutherford 285. That's a lot for Rutherford. Mcdowell 145. Mitchell's 62. And Yancey 99. Buncombe's inventory is approaching pre-pandemic highs. I can show you all the map. If you live locally and want to see the map or the graph of what is happening, it's going through the roof More than happy to send it to you, 828-333-4483. Seven-year trend that's what we need to look at. So let's zoom in on Buncombe with let's put our hysterical glasses on otherwise known as historical lens.

Speaker 1:

Back in 2019, buncombe County had 1,300 homes on the market the peak. Then came the sharp decline. So, 2021, 460. Obviously, that's a massive difference. It's under a third. 2022, just 311.

Speaker 1:

No wonder people were saying there's nothing to buy. Of course there was 311. So I always said there's something out there, you just have to find the right one. 2023, inventory started climbing again 481. 2024, 649, right. So wow, we went from 311 in 2022 to 649 last year. And wait for it.

Speaker 1:

2025, we're back at 1125 homes for sale. That's a 262% increase in just three years and that tells us something loud and clear Buyers are gaining leverage. So, guys, you have to get it right. If you're thinking about selling your home right now, give me a call, I'll go through it with you 828-333-4483. So for buyers, this is great news, of course More choices, more negotiation power and a little more breathing room. For sellers, it really is time to get strategic. So gone are the days, for now at least, of multiple offers at 24 hours. It hasn't been that way in Western North Carolina and much of the country for over two years.

Speaker 1:

I've been saying that for two years now that we were flat and waiting for this decrease to happen, and many of you, even in that time, have said well, we'll give it another year, we'll give it another year. Things are still going up. Well, in Asheville we've had about 1% of increase. Now, of course, 1% is something, but in my book that's a big gamble. To wait it out for 8%, you know, I personally that all depends on where your risk tolerance is right. So, 1%, I probably. Of course you don't know at the time, you don't know it's only going to be 1%, but I would have said get out a year ago.

Speaker 1:

And of course, the best thing to do in most cases is sell and rent for three years until things are at the bottom. Two or three years at the bottom. But who can do that right? So you find a great deal on the other side and hey, just find a great agent for that. You can always call us 828-333-4483 and I'll go through your absolute figures with you, zip codes with 30 data points anywhere in the USA.

Speaker 1:

So you need staging. Maybe you need correct pricing and possibly some programs like Cash CPO, build a CPO, senior Living CPO, estate CPO to unlock equity faster and stand out. These are not cheesy cash offer programs where you get 70 cents on the dollar. Ours is producing 90 cents to $1.20 on the dollar because we go in and you don't have to do anything. You get up to 70% on the first round and then you know you're able to move and make a non-contingent offer on your next home and just take down that domino basically. And then we go in and do our HGTV like magic and sell your home and generally, when those things have been done and you don't have to put any money out or anything to do it, that all comes out of the profit at the end. Of course, none of this hard work comes for free, but two thirds of the time we're getting more money than with a conventional listing. But you haven't had showings, you haven't had a sign outside, you haven't had a lockbox on the door.

Speaker 1:

I've done lots of shows about this. You can go back in the podcasts at realestatenewsradiocom to find those quite easily If you've just tuned in. We will not be on air because it will be a recorded show from June 14th. So you won't hear us on air at WNC 570 or syndicated on Fox. You will hear us syndicated on the World Wide Web, of course, realestatenewsradiocom, and you can listen in your time zone when you want to Like. I have listeners who listen to me on their night shift, realestatenewsradiocom. Make sure you've gone there and downloaded the link to the podcast so I don't lose you as a friend in a few weeks here.

Speaker 1:

So let's go back and have a look at some more historical context for a minute, because it really does put it into perspective. And, of course, if you're listening from around the country, I've got an amazing network of agents that can help you. Give us a call 828-333-4483. This is the realestatenewsradiocom podcast with Rowena Patton, exp Realty. So if you're listening in from around the country, incredible, amazing network of agents that are more highly trained. I get them certified in all kinds of programs and I do day, literally daily training and a deep dive on a Thursday and I can get you started and give you maps of what's happening in your zip code 30 different data points. I can send you the report anywhere in the USA.

Speaker 1:

And if you're wondering about how unusual the current market slowdown is locally and remember, if you're listening, around the country this is happening, many, many counties some of them. You have way worse drops or uh differentials than we do. So we're a good bellwether for most of the usa right now, so right here in buncombe county. So so this is Zillow and Realtorcom data from April 2024 to April 2025. So 2024 to April 2025, we're looking at home value growth. So the last comparing the two Aprils, home value growth was 1.2%. So that sounds pretty decent, right? So that's what a lot of the agents, including some of the celebrity agents, are spinning. Oh well, you've had growth of 1.2%, and you know you think about a $500,000 house. What are you talking about? $5,000? That's a decent amount, right. So that's not terrible. $2,500 or $250. At least it's an increase, right? However, that's a huge drop from where we've been Again, it's a canary guys.

Speaker 1:

You've got to listen to the figures. Let's go back a few years April 2021, that's not that far away, right. We saw a nearly 14% growth 2022, so the next year, it spiked again to nearly 18%, and then 2023, it dropped to 4.4. And now we're sitting at 1.2%. Obviously, that shows a deceleration, right. So prices aren't crashing, that's not what I'm saying, but they're cooling quickly and we're returning to what looks more normal or even softening market.

Speaker 1:

In fact, I've been predicting for a while here now that it's going to soften. It's always going to soften at some point, unless we say that history doesn't hold true. And it's been holding true since 1860 with good old Clément Jugla who set the economic cycle. It goes down for a while and then it comes back up again, and with real estate it tends to be worth more. However, depending on what your plans are and that's why the strategy is so important it's likely to take it's seven to 11 years before we peak again. I think we're two years into it, so that would be five to nine years before we peak again.

Speaker 1:

If you can hold on for the lowest five years I always use 10 years because that makes it more realistic Then hold on, because your house is going to be worth more. Absolutely, have at it. I think it's a great idea. So you know, the thing is, guys, this is the kind of data that informs smarter decisions, more intelligent decisions.

Speaker 1:

So, whether you're thinking about listing it or buying in this market, or maybe you're investing, or maybe you're an agent, do you know we lost 84% of agents last year? 84%, that's insanity. Tell me some other business where you know that's happened. You can't because it hasn't right. It hasn years where you could stick a sign outside and a lockbox on the door and the home sells. That's why there were so many for sale by owners, because it was an easy sale.

Speaker 1:

Many agents just aren't schooled in what to do, because you have to do a lot more work when you're listing a home. There's a lot more work when you're in a market like we're in now. You need a lot more experience to get that house out there. You can't just stick a sign outside and hope that it sells. I think that's why we lost so many agents and because of the way the world's changing. You know a lot of these agencies now are virtual.

Speaker 1:

I'm in a virtual agency, exp. However, I also have an office. I do Zoom calls every day. I also have a physical office so that agents can come in, and for my agents around the country I have a Zoom call every single day. It takes work. It's just work in a different way.

Speaker 1:

So you know things are happening in real estate. It's definitely not all bad. It's just more normalizing. Guys, I hate to tell you. So you know, just just think about it if you're selling and if you are selling and you really want to get your home sold, ie you're not just dipping your toe in and saying, oh, we'll try it next year because, guys, next year the prices are likely to be lower. Just know that now. Of course, what your buyers might like might be lower too, depends on what you're doing. Maybe you're moving to another country. Maybe you're moving into an independent senior living. Maybe you're moving into assisted. Maybe you don't know yet All is good.

Speaker 1:

That wraps up today's full episode of the Real Estate News Radio Show. We covered national shifts, builder sentiment, soaring, inventory and the local landscape right here in the mountains of western North Carolina. Remember, saturday June 14th will be our final live radio broadcast, but this show is far from over. You can keep listening weekly at realestatenewsradiocom. It's free, it's flexible and it's where the show continues. No commercial cuts, no corporate restraints.

Speaker 1:

I'm Rowena Patton and you've been listening to the Real Estate News Radio Show. Want to know how your zip code compares anywhere in the country? Curious what's happening in your neighborhood? Head over to realestatenewsradiocom or give me a call at 828-333-4483. I've loved spending my Saturdays with you for the past 13 years. I've made it in through snow. I've never not made it to the radio show other than Helene, when they wouldn't let me in. Literally Thank you for being part of this incredible journey. The live show may be ending, but the conversation isn't and the live show is really when you call me at 828-333-4483,. Right, and it's all personalized. People are often interested when they actually get me on the phone because they think I don't know, I'm some kind of AI robot or something and I'm not real. But I really am here. I am and I'm waiting to help you. So head over to realestatenewsradiocom, follow the podcast and let's keep going together. I'll see you next week on the podcast. Your friend in real estate. This is Ro.

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