The Settings at Black Mountain (Charlotte, Asheville: short sale, real estate market, crime rate)

[NCBND]

Where have you found other lots for sale in MLS? Their website has one .56 acre lot at $129K and another .59 acre lot at $185K.
Go to:

Coldwell Banker Kasey and Associates – North Carolina, Asheville, Waynesville & Hendersonville Real Estate land search

There's a dropdown menu where you can select the subdivision that you want to search (Note: it's under "The Settings...", not "Settings"). There are 66 lots in the The Settings of Black Mountain currently on the MLS ranging in price from $85,000 to $1.6MM.


According to sales rep I contacted they want to close out remaining 43 lots so they can focus on their newer development in Valdese - Lake Rhodiss, thus price reductions.
Yeah, I'll bet that they do. There haven't been any direct sales of their product in the local paper in months.

[EvanstonGirl]

Pony and Big Steve:

I hope you find what you're looking for, because this discussion has been extremely useful for me. I too wondered how you check the financial health of a developer, what happens to early owners if a development goes bust, etc. I'm interested in The Settings as well, but also Lake Lure (both developments and older neighborhoods around the lake) and Lake Adger. It seems to be a good time to buy land, but I'm really, really wary of new developments. Thanks for starting the discussion, and I'm happy to hear anything anyone else has to say on the subject, including whether these "environmentally sensitive" developers (like the one doing The Settings) really are.

[gottogetfishing]

If you check either trulia (Trulia - Real Estate, Homes For Sale, Sold Properties, Real Estate Maps) or realtor.com you will find numerous resales lots in the settings of Black Mountain. Many speculators bought up the lots prior to development and they are now trying to resell them as the community takes root. It's also true that they are attempting to close out the lots in Black Mountain and move onto their other NC development in Lake Rhodiss. There are 42 lots remaining (one sold this month) and they are somehwat negotiable on these lots. Naturally, these reamining lots may be somewhat less desirable than those already purchased, but the prices may be far more desirable. As a lnad owner in The Settings of Black Mountain I feel confident that the developer will succeed and the homeowners there who have invested greatly in their custom homes would agree.

[Asheville Native]

Originally Posted by gottogetfishing

I feel confident that the developer will succeed and the homeowners there who have invested greatly in their custom homes would agree.

Confident enough to invest, or just give advise?

Your expertise in this area?

[il66pony]

Originally Posted by EvanstonGirl

Pony and Big Steve:

I hope you find what you're looking for, because this discussion has been extremely useful for me. I too wondered how you check the financial health of a developer, what happens to early owners if a development goes bust, etc. I'm interested in The Settings as well, but also Lake Lure (both developments and older neighborhoods around the lake) and Lake Adger. It seems to be a good time to buy land, but I'm really, really wary of new developments. Thanks for starting the discussion, and I'm happy to hear anything anyone else has to say on the subject, including whether these "environmentally sensitive" developers (like the one doing The Settings) really are.

Hey Evanston Girl,

We are close neighbors now. We live in tiny Hawthorn Woods which is up by Long Grove. We really love WNC. You get four distinct seasons but winter is shorter than easier than Chicago. We like the higher elvations as we do want to see some snow and have cooler temps in the summer.

Good luck

[EvanstonGirl]

Thanks, and good luck to you too. Please let us know the outcome of your visit in June. I'm sending my husband to look at some places in mid-July. We want to see how crazy Lake Lure is on summer weekends, because otherwise it looks like heaven. But we still have kids at home, so we can't both go at the same time.

Wouldn't it be great to live in an area that actually has a spring? This is the worst I can remember in a long time. A little snow I can deal with, but these endless dark, cold rainy springs are so depressing... Are you going to keep a place in Chicago, or move to WNC full time?

[curious77]

We looked seriously at Black Mountain about 2 years ago. We looked at a lot in their $150k price range. It was not even 1/3 of an acre, no view, and had a major road right behind it. They were/are VERY overpriced.

I did go back about a year ago and did not see any progress. In looking at their website, it looks like there has been little to no progress.

There are many other developments in the Asheville area that are more reasonably priced and more established.

[il66pony]

Originally Posted by EvanstonGirl

Thanks, and good luck to you too. Please let us know the outcome of your visit in June. I'm sending my husband to look at some places in mid-July. We want to see how crazy Lake Lure is on summer weekends, because otherwise it looks like heaven. But we still have kids at home, so we can't both go at the same time.

Wouldn't it be great to live in an area that actually has a spring? This is the worst I can remember in a long time. A little snow I can deal with, but these endless dark, cold rainy springs are so depressing... Are you going to keep a place in Chicago, or move to WNC full time?

Evanston Girl,

Been off the boards for a while and saw your response. Keep a place in Chicago? -Not. Seriously, we have no family here except a 19 year old daughter in college. She is into fashion so will probably wind up in New York or LA. We are retired and in our late fifities. Niether of us grew up here (Mass. and Texas) so there are no ties.

While we like snow (actually watch it snow rather than having it on the ground for a long time), WNC will give us that without the real long cold Chicago winter. We want an elevation of 3,000 ft or more for cooler summers than Chicago.

Next weekend will be the sixth trip looking at places. There is so much to see and it will most probably be the last place we live on this planet so we are doing a lot of research. We did have one sales guy at a development up on Sugar Mountain say we only needed to look at two or three developments to know which one was right. Of course this was after we had said that this was the third development we had looked at and we liked his the best.

IL66pony

[EvanstonGirl]

Six trips?? You are really doing your homework. What are your favorites so far? And do you have a way of checking financial health? We just found out this morning on Morningstar that a developer that's a joint venture with Duke Power is now in bankrupcty. That doesn't mean they won't come out of it, but it makes you wonder what will happen with the nice amenties they're trying to build.

[gottogetfishing]

Big Steve, How was your trip to Black Moutain?

I tried posting something earlier, but I'm pretty sure it didn't make it. I was asked if I have expertise in land investment and it's not my career. But, I have taken cues from what I see at the Settings of BM, and that is a completed club house, completed roads, utilities in place. I have invested in this development after some reasonable due diligence. there are lots of developments to choose from and they're great. This one suited me. I haven't checked the D&B of this developer and I think that's a great idea. However, in an act of goodwill, and in fairness to the land owners, he cut our HOA fees in half this year because some of the infrastructure that he anticipated would be completed (pool for example) remain incomplete. From the stanpoint of progress, there are maybe 8 homes completed and about three or four more underway. These are homes that take 12 - 24 months to complete so while it doesn't sound like much, to me is shows some reasonable growth in a downturned financial environment. Becasue this developer is managing more than one community, with two of them side by side (BM and lake Rhodiss) with BM starting at least two years earlier than Lake Rhodiss, it only makes sense that he'd like to wrap up the one and concentrate on the next. They're both WNC communities and are only about 45 mintues apart.