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Sylva, NC Real Estate News

By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  When you live in a region with four distinct weather seasons, like the mountains of Western North Carolina, there is a dramatic difference in the "color" of the season.  As I was scrolling through the memory card on the Sony camera this morning I was reminded how happy I am to be in a place with this kind of year round variety.       Today I "plucked" a few photos to try out with the www.ribbet.com website's collage and framing features.  This was fun...especially using the eyedropper color sampler to play with the borders and frames.       I wish everyone a good weekend full of seasonal beauty.
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
A few days ago while I was headed out East Fork to pick up some signs and a lockbox, I passed a familiar scene that I’d never stopped to photograph before…the Happy Shed of East Fork. Nope, springtime and temperatures in the 60s would have been too easy. Give me the high 90s, bees, ticks and snakes any old day! Of course, for those people considering a move to the mountains of Western North Carolina our “mountain breezes” actually make for a very cool high 90s and we are legendary for our friendly and well-mannered bees, ticks and snakes. East Fork Road is about 6 miles south of Dillsboro and 10 miles north of Franklin. There are bits and pieces of creativity like this all along the road. In fact, there are a lot of communities in Jackson County, NC that it is apparent the neighbors ha...
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  We’ve been hitting the ground running every day for the last several weeks working with local clients and people moving into the mountains of Western North Carolina. Those people moving here either for full or part time all share one thing in common…they want to be closer to these most ancient of mountains. Last weekend I had dinner at the new house of our friends from Charlotte, NC and even though the food was excellent…my favorite part of the entire evening was witnessing their contentment in just being here. They both described the feeling of all of their stress and tension peeling away when they drive up to their mountain home in Franklin, NC. Dessert for me was realizing how fortunate we are as REALTORS to so often be a part of positive changes in other people’s lives, which crea...
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  One of my favorite albums ever ever ever was Bette Midler’s "The Divine Ms M". I was in high school at the time…8 tracks I believe…and would play the album from start to finish over and over and over. It’s another jam packed week with that real estate stuff so I’m going to need extra energy and I can think of no better way to kick off the week than the toe tappin’ tune "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" done by extremely high energy mermaids!       All of you music lovers out there should consider joining this Monday Melodies group. Think you know where your prospective buyers and sellers come from? When I asked a person who called in to find out about us listing a property where he got our name…the blog! Turns out we share musical tastes.
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
     Location, location, location…we got the phone call from the sellers that they’d be interested in talking to us about listing their Holly Hills house in Jackson County. We were excited. It had been listed with a different agent and I’d already shown it with the then listing agent present who happens to be a gentleman. He just has a different listing philosophy than we do.   Location, great house and beautiful property...       It turns out that the sellers follow my blog and figured there might be different photos and more of them by listing with us. Leslie and I both loved the house and the property. The style of the house and furnishings was reminiscent of the Arts & Crafts period, a favorite of ours so we knew we had a few things in common with the sellers.                      ...
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  Are referrals handled with the same attention given the rest or your business or are they just  phone calls with names? REALTORS often have many chances to make and receive referrals with other agents. It could be that you’ve received a call to list a house, but the caller didn’t realize that their house really isn’t in your “territory”. Perhaps your seller is getting ready to move and they’ll need a Buyer Agent in their new location. Someone you know might have a second home in another state that they need to sell. There’s also always the possibility that you’ll receive a referral for a seller or buyer. At MoonDancer Realty, we take referrals seriously and it isn’t just handing someone a name over the phone and expecting to receive a referral fee. Whether giving or receiving, there’s...
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  It turns out it isn’t necessary to have curbs to have great curb appeal. Good thing, most of the communities in our area of Western North Carolina may have sidewalks but no curbs. Just because you don’t have curbs, do not neglect your curb appeal! You only get one chance for a first impression from the buyer. If your shrubs are haggard and ragged, your front porch unkempt and peeling, your flowers fighting to survive among the weeds and your obviously unused garden tools scattered about the yard then you are running the risk of either turning off the prospective buyer or starting their internal discount meter deducting money from your listing price. Landscaping doesn’t need to be lavish but it does need to look tended to. Touch up your paint…especially the front door, keep the grass t...
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
This morning I noticed a blog asking for some help by Pamela Seley in Temecula, CA in adding captions to photos.  Here's another chance to promote the PicMonkey photo editing site and give a quick tutorial for something so easy.   Here's the photo before caption.     Go to PicMonkey.com Select Edit Photo Work whatever magic you want with the editing tools Save your changes Select "Frames" Select "Simple Edge" Frame Use slider to remove "Outside Thickness" Use slider to remove "Inside Thickness" Use slider to increase "Caption Space" Select background color for caption using color selector for "Outside Thickness" Select text Save work You've mastered captions!   Here's the photo after captions.         Now, get busy!
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  One question we are frequently asked by buyers is “Will there be out of pocket expenses for me when I buy a house or vacant property?”. YES! YES! YES! Outside of loan associated costs, which are often rolled into the loan, buyers should be prepared to spend anywhere from $500 to $2,000 out of pocket BEFORE they ever see the closing table. You’ve found the house of your dreams and are ready to make an offer on the house. Attached to the offer itself is an Earnest Money Deposit and possibly a Due Diligence Fee. There are no standards for these fees. In our area, many sellers like to receive 1% of the purchase price as Earnest Money, but I’ve seen offers accepted with as little as $500. The Earnest Money Deposit is credited towards the purchase price upon a successful closing. If you wit...
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
    Normally, by this time we have all of our NC Continuing Education courses taken care of, after all the deadline is June 10th.  This year though was different.  Living in a small, somewhat remote area, we are left to the mercy of waiting until a course travels our way or driving to Asheville.  It's all about timing.  All that's left to do is our Mandatory Update and we'll do that in just a couple of hours.  Luckily a course was offered in Waynesville at the Waynesville Country Club Inn.   Agents have to take 8 hours in Continuing Education every year, 4 hours Mandatory Update and an elective.  If you are the Broker in Charge, you take the BICAR (Broker in Charge Annual Review) in lieu of the elective.  Leslie took her elective early on and even though I don't need an elective (Broker...
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
It’s not that I blame ActiveRain or the members for the early demise of the camera battery, I don’t. But, I can’t help thinking that if there wasn’t such a receptive audience to share photos with…I might not be as tempted to take so many. Of course, I can’t really blame real estate either…although MoonDancer Realty does offer far more photos on our listings than our competitors. Maybe I can blame the competitors! Guess there really isn’t anyone to assign blame to. You see, I’ve started noticing that the camera battery has begun to need recharging after every “photo shoot” and since I’m going to be taking a little trip with my mother soon I didn’t want to chance having such a short lived battery. So after showing property, we stopped into Radio Shack to buy another battery on our way ba...
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
Yes, I challenge anyone else in ActiveRain to top this record…I believe I am the record holder for those most miles traveled by an attendee to an Open House! Can you believe over 680 miles from Napierville, IL to little ol’ Sylva, North Carolina to attend an Open House at our new listing at 504 Holly Hills Road. Gene Mundt, senior Vice President with The Federal Savings Bank plus an ActiveRain member was visiting our area here in Western North Carolina with his beautiful wife, Marilyn over the last couple of days. He called yesterday to see if we could get together and it just so happened we were hosting a Broker’s Open House today. He is just as pleasant in person as he is online. It was a lovely visit and so nice to put an actual face and voice to someone I’ve enjoyed reading for the...
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  That Friday closing isn’t finished yet and the urge to look at something peaceful and serene ruled the evening. This Dogwood bloom surrounded by rich green leaves provided the sensation of calm and perspective. What wasn’t completed today will be taken care of first thing Monday.   Breathe deep...say ohmmm.
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  As REALTORS we do whatever we can to accommodate our clients whenever possible. I don’t know how other agents feel about Friday closings but to me they can introduce a whole new element of sssstressss to the process. Up to a certain point during the home search and contract phase, REALTORS have an element of control over scheduling, negotiations and inspections but once the Due Diligence period is over, to some extent we can feel like spectators to a waiting game until everything gets recorded. Whether we’re representing the buyers, sellers or both…we are powerless to dictate when the processor can deliver a loan package to an attorney or when the lender wires the funds to a trust account. Not such a big deal if there is a delay of a day Monday through Thursday, but if you have a clos...
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
Buyers may not realize it, but Sellers do not have a duty to disclose material facts about their property…however, REALTORS do. At least they have a duty to disclose material facts that they know about or might be expected to know about. That means research. There is probably a huge segment of the population who believe that REALTORS write up Listing Agreements all willy-nilly, take a few lousy photographs, put a sign in the yard and wait for the phone to ring. Sure, we all know there are some REALTORS who do business that way, but not at MoonDancer Realty. For one, the Office Manager would never stand for it and for the other…we just aren’t built that way. Again, I say…that means research. We’re getting ready to list a couple of properties that the Sellers honestly don’t know much abo...
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
It’s happened to just about every REALTOR at one time or another. You’re told the property is vacant, but still you knock and you call out before you enter. Even once you are on the property you’ve got the sense you aren’t alone. Then the unexpected encounter happens!       They didn’t hear you knock or call out because they were lounging in the hammock on the deck…it’s always a mystery as to who gets more surprised!  
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
  The BICAR (Broker in Charge Annual Review) is behind me now. This morning was spent at the Cumbie and Trull School of Real Estate in Asheville. Although there are many companies who offer BICAR and other continuing ed courses, my favorite is Cumbie and Trull. There’s a number of reasons, the school is in a great location…close to several restaurants and in a shopping mall so there are places to walk during breaks, the classroom setup is ideal and comfortable, good healthy snacks and hot drinks are available and the staff is pleasant and efficient. All that is good but the main reason I prefer to take real estate educational courses there is because of the instructor, Bill Trull. Bill Trull manages to keep the audience engaged and informed. His varied background of real estate experien...
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
We were headed to one of our favorite attorney’s office the other day to drop off an earnest money deposit when Leslie pointed out a great photo op. Sylva, as far as I know has never had this much activity going on around one utility pole. Leslie and I both thought that this scene looked like some kind of Claw Monster had invaded Sylva.
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
“I love this frickin’ view” he kept saying. Why not? The mountains of Western North Carolina is one of the most beautiful areas in the world and the frickin’ views from the cabins the buyers were looking at ARE amazing. This has been a good day that actually started last weekend. The reason that we are working with these great buyers this weekend is because I answered my cell phone on a Saturday afternoon and was agreeable to putting together a list of cabins that these buyers could do drive bys until I could meet with them on the following morning. My message to the agents these folks either never got a return call from…or got a milk-toast response from…well, let’s just say NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH! You missed out on intentional, motivated and focused buyers. If that doesn‘t sting enou...
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By Mona Gersky, GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.
(MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC)
We’ve been getting down to the nitty gritty of real estate lately. There have been some great posts on AR lately about simple organizational methods. Not a moment too soon! Like a lot of REALTORS lately we’ve been consumed with activity…offers, contracts, listings, new buyers, revamping marketing, more new buyers… Oddly enough, even though this isn’t Monday when I usually post some sort of musical video - I woke up with a song I hadn’t heard in YEARS and now I can’t get it out of my head. I guess because it always reminded me of forward motion and not having time to take a breath. That’s what it is feeling like lately…forward motion. Lenders are offering excellent products, money seems a little looser, public confidence seems a little more positive and people are looking at properties ...
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