Beverly-Hanks & Associates REALTORS®

Rose Hill Plantation in Northwest Asheville is a thoughtfully planned ‘Healthy Living Community.’ From the ground-up the community is dedicated to fostering an invigorating, healthy, and sustainable lifestyle for active adults.

The enclave of 103 single-family detached-homes is nestled into a pristine parcel of land and surrounded by breathtaking vistas. Of the community’s 58 acres, more than 40 acres are in a conservation easement that includes dedicated walking trails and communal gardens. Taking its lead from the surrounding beauty, Rose Hill Plantation offers homeowners the chance to preserve the allure of the mountains and contribute to the sustainable quality of life in the greater Asheville area.

The community offers a common focus on ‘healthy living’ and distinguishes itself through its many commitments and efforts to promote and support a healthy lifestyle. From its sustainable development elements, such as alternative power choices, rainwater collection programs; and its energy and resource efficient appliances, to hands-on activity programs, such as a community garden and student outreach programs, the entire village is built with discerning standards for conservation and healthy living.

“In designing Rose Hill Plantation we saw the opportunity to provide more than just a mountain home but a community with shared principals focused on a healthy lifestyle,” said Jeff Glover, developer Rose Hill Plantation. “Rose Hill Plantation is a perfect location — a serene pastoral backdrop yet only 10 minutes from downtown Asheville.”

Homeowners at Rose Hill Plantation will enjoy a sustainable-focused group of amenities and services that include: individual garden plots and programs that interacts with local farmers to discuss best practices for gardening; a water retention and re-use program that incorporates individual rainwater collection barrels; more than 40 acres of natural habitat that provides a natural animal habitat; a stocked pond for fishing and relaxing; wildflower gardens and natural herb gardens; a saline swimming pool; a fitness center and club house; as well as a Healthy Living Concierge to help plan community events and community outreach.

Homes at Rose Hill Plantation are priced from the low $300s to the low $400s. Each of the single family cottage-style homes range from approximately 1387 to 2100 square feet and offer two and three bedroom plans with garages and some have the capability of a finished lower level. In addition, the homes at Rose Hill Plantation offer a maintenance-free environment within a lock-and-leave setting, providing the advantages of a condominium lifestyle while retaining the privacy of a single family home.

Opening soon are several model homes including a “Green Showcase Model Home” — where homebuyers can preview green friendly upgrades that can be added to any new home prior to construction. These upgrades are designed to enhance the healthy environment, contribute to energy cost savings and help reduce carbon emissions.

“Rose Hill Plantation is truly a first for the Asheville area,” said Debbie Kelly, realtor with Beverly-Hanks and Associates Realty. ‘It is the only single-family community that offers a detached home with maintenance-free living in a gated community. This combined with the healthy lifestyle amenities make it the most compelling new community in Asheville,” added Kelly.

For more information or to visit Rose Hill Plantation at www.rosehillplantation.net or call: 828.337.2212.

You’ve already filed your 2008 tax returns and maybe you’ve already received your refund. That means it’s too late to obtain the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers enacted by President Obama’s Stimulus Plan, right?

Wrong.

The great thing about this tax credit is that you can still get the cash this year, even if you’ve already filed your taxes for 2008 – and the money is yours to keep. You don’t ever have to pay it back, as long as you stay in the home for at least 36 months.

There’s a lot of confusion in the media surrounding this tax credit, but it’s actually pretty simple. Qualified first-time home buyers (anyone who hasn’t owned a home in the three years prior to the purchase) can receive a tax credit of 10% of the purchase price up to $8,000. All you have to do is purchase a primary home (that means a home you’ll actually live in, not an investment home) any time between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 1, 2009. If you make a qualified purchase after April 15, or after having already filed your 2008 taxes, you and your tax professional can submit an amendment to your return and receive the credit on your 2008 taxes – you don’t have to wait until next April.

There are some income limitations and other factors involved, but give us a call and we’ll gladly review your financial situation and see if you qualify. With today’s combination of low interest rates and lower home prices, this tax credit gives you a second chance to benefit from the great opportunities in today’s Asheville real estate market.

Submitted by Beverly-Hanks Mortgage Services

Check out our completely redesigned Asheville Real Estate Search tool.

Looking for affordable, quality townhome or patio living in Asheville or surrounding areas?

Join us for the Grand Opening of Creekside Village on Saturday, April 25 and Sunday, April 26 from 1PM-5PM. Activities abound with a live 96.5 radio remote from 2-4 on Saturday, food catered by Pineapple Jack’s, movie tickets and popcorn by Carolina Cinemas, and enter a chance to win a day at the Spa in Biltmore Village.

Creekside Village is conveniently located in Buncombe County just 10 miles north of downtown Asheville and a quick bike ride away from charming downtown Weaverville. Creekside Village will have a 2.70 acre recreation area with pond, playground, walking trails, and within walking distance to Lake Louise. For additional information and to view the master plan for this community, visit http://www.creeksidevillagewnc.com/

Stop by this weekend to be a part of our Grand Opening and preview models of our 2 Bedroom Townhomes priced from $129,900, 3 Bedroom Townhomes price from $159,900 and our 3 Bedroom Patio Homes priced from $229,900.
Come discover OUR side of Asheville. The Location. The Lifestyle. Our Place.

From downtown Asheville: Take I-26 (US 19/23) west towards Weaverville to exit 21 (New Stock Road), turn right at the New Stock Road light at the end of the exit. Turn left at light onto Merrimon Avenue (US 25). Creekside Village is 1 mile on the left.

For additional information about Creekside Village, contact Kelly Gold and Cindy Bowers at 828-658-8400.

When: Sunday, April 26, 2009
Where: Fairview, NC (directions)

Rediscover Southcliff!

Never-before-released high elevation Asheville home sites with unprecedented pricing and incentives.

Southcliff will open the premier estate home sites to the general public at 2 pm and community-wide special pricing incentives will continue through the end of the day. Sunday’s activities will include informal chats with the builders, developer financing representatives, and community consultants who will all be on-site to answer your questions. The streets and parks of Southcliff will be abuzz with sandwiches, ice cream, popcorn, face painting and much more.

We look forward to seeing you April 26. Please call toll free (866) 844-0660 to RSVP and reserve your space today.

Marketed Exclusively by: Beverly-Hanks & Associates

10 Southcliff Parkway, Fairview, NC 28730
(866) 844-0660
www.southcliffasheville.com

Combining elements of an industry conference with an arts festival, Hatch Asheville has been in the planning stages since at least January 2008. The five-day event, beginning Wednesday, promises everything from mentoring and networking opportunities for artists to panel discussions, fresh new performances and art exhibits for the general public.

The mission of the festival will be fulfilled “if just one person comes out of this thing with the connection, with the insight that enables them to go down their destined path,” said Sean O’Connell, the driving force behind the Asheville Hatchfest, an event that’s been going on in Montana each October for the past five years.

If this week is a success, organizers hope to make Hatch Asheville an annual event as well.

Local businesses, including the Asheville Real Estate market stand to benefit from the success of Hatch Asheville.

Yarrow Kraner, one of the founders, shares his experience with Hatch Festival in Bozeman, “We have succeeded in creating the ‘best sales nights ever’ for numerous businesses in Bozeman, and there exists numerous unforeseen bonus perks for the local economy: return visits, real estate purchases, international press, etc.,” he said.

“Asheville offers inspiration through the many artists that converge, the canopy of creative energy that is created through collaboration and forging new paths, and the beautiful surroundings,” Kraner said. “Hatch is more than a festival, it is an experience, and Asheville is the quintessential canvas for the colorful life paints that mix together to form that experience.”

Hatch Asheville Festival Website

via AC-T 4/13/2009

Great article and encouraging statistics.

Snippets from the article at Forbes.com:

The economy shed 651,000 jobs in February and 4.4 million since the recession began in December 2007. Only a handful of metro areas have escaped falling employment over the past three months. Yet there are still some places out there that remain attractive to businesses.

Keeping Raleigh company at the top are fellow Tar Heel State metros Durham (ranked third), Asheville (sixth), Wilmington (13th), Winston-Salem (18th) and Charlotte (19th).

On their criteria and data sources:

Our rankings looked at the 200 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., which range from the New York metro and its 11.7 million people to Olympia, Wash., with a population of 241,000. We examined each on 11 different criteria. Economic research firm Moody’s Economy.com supplied data on job growth over the past five years and projections through 2011. Economy.com also provided business and living cost data as well as income growth and migration trends.

We also turned to Bert T. Sperling, city researcher and co-author of Cities Ranked & Rated for some labor supply and quality of life information. Sperling furnished data on college attainment, crime rates, local colleges and cultural and recreational opportunities in the area.

In a nod to the current economic climate, we added two new categories this year: projected job growth and subprime mortgages as a percentage of total originations over a three-year period. This change helped boost several metros in the rankings.

On the recession and the promising future of these top cities:

The current recession is too deep and widespread for even our best-rated cities to escape damage. Yet when things do turn around, expect many places ranked at the top to be at the head of the pack, notes Marisa Di Natale, an economist at Economy.com.

“[These top ranked cities] all have a lot of high-tech investment,” she says. “We think that is one of the first things that comes back once the economy does recover.”

Check out specific Asheville business statistics at Forbes.com.

And of course, we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t recommend checking out our handy Asheville real estate search tool. Maps, driving directions, the works.

Asheville, North Carolina is home to almost 2 percent of all alternative medical practices in the country, but until recently these therapies have remained for the most part separate from traditional Western medicine.

Mission Hospitals has launched a new Integrative Healthcare Program that is “dedicated to the safe and compassionate integration of complementary and conventional medicine through the activities of research, education, clinical services, and community partnerships. Our goal is to reaffirm the importance of relationships in enhancing wellness and healing in a family centered and culturally sensitive manner. “

The program will take advantage of the wealth of local alternative medicine practitioners by offering evidence-based therapies such as aromatherapy, healing touch and massage. It is hoped that this effort will help reduce costs through shorter hospital stays and the use of less medicine.

The hospital is currently focusing on educating doctors, nurses and hospital staff and hopes to have some alternative therapies available to patients by the middle of the year.

Sources: www.missionhospitals.org and AC-T article 4/1/09 “Mission embraces alternative healing”

The Asheville Buncombe Historic Commission and the Preservation Society of Asheville along with other historic and “green” committees will be hosting the kick off May 1st at Aston Park with food and informational booths and presentations. Should be a great afternoon. Come join us.

Press Release

Declare it Nationally, Celebrate it locally.

May is Preservation Month and Asheville will celebrate again this year with a kick-off event at the newly renovated historic Aston Park on May 1, 11:30-3:00 with music and refreshments.

The theme this year is Preservation Naturally, Celebrating Heritage Sustainably. Join us at Aston Park where there will be information available on Asheville’s historic neighborhoods and landmarks, rehabilitation tax credits and sustainable building practices.The picnic is the first of many events in the month of May to enjoy and appreciate both our unique natural and cultural heritage. Each day in May you can choose a preservation related activity or event to enjoy such as the 6th Annual Montford Music and Arts Festival in the historic Montford neighborhood, or the Griffin Awards ceremony, sponsored by the Preservation Society which recognizes outstanding historic property restoration achievements. You could also visit one of the City’s fabulous historic sites such as the Biltmore House and Gardens or the Smith McDowell House Museum or enjoy the spring sunshine with a walking tour of historic Montford, Riverside Cemetery or downtown Asheville with its outstanding collection of Art Deco architecture.

Check out our calendar at www.ashevillenc.gov/preservationmonth for more ideas and events.

The month is sponsored by The Historic Resources Commission of Asheville and Buncombe County, Asheville Historic Tours, Friends of Mountain History, Joan Richards Art and Frame, Asheville GreenWorks, Friends of Mountain History, Asheville real estate specialists at Beverly-Hanks & Associates and the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County.

In June 2009, AirTran Airways plans to begin nonstop flights from Asheville Regional Airport to Orlando, Florida, running three days a week. These new flights will be convenient for travelers to Disney World and other Florida attractions, and to business travelers attending conferences in the Orlando area.

Also beginning in June, Delta Air Lines will offer daily nonstop flights from Asheville Regional Airport to New York’s LaGuardia Airport. Travelers might find these new flights to be a convenient option to existing service to Newark, New Jersey.