A year unlike any other not only changed how Americans live, but also where we live, leading record numbers to choose Clay County as their new home.
A whopping 327 homes in Clay County were sold through MLS listings in 2020, up 33.5 percent from the 245 sold in 2019 and setting a new 15-year high, according to the 2020 Local Market Real Estate Analysis provided by Advantage Chatuge Realty. In the early stages of 2021, that trend shows no signs of slowing down.
"We have been just overrun with buyers," said Sonja Silvers, who owns Sonja Silvers Realty Group in Hayesville. "The market has changed. We went from people coming primarily from Florida, then Florida and Atlanta, and now it's people from all over the country."
Unsurprisingly, the housing boom sent local home prices soaring, making the current climate a strong seller's market. The median price of a Clay County home sold in 2020 was $285,857 — up almost $52,700 or 22.6 percent, from 2019. The numbers are even more staggering when you couple the increased number of sales with the rise in prices.
After home sales totaled more than $57.1 million within Clay County in 2019, that figure ballooned all the way to nearly $93.5 million in 2020.
"As of April 1 of this year, I will have owned Mountain Streams Real Estate for 25 years," realtor Liz McLamb said. "So, I can tell you that the past year has been like no other for our company."
A report from North American Moving Services ranks North Carolina at No. 5 on its list of "top inbound states" for those who are relocating. While the Tar Heel State first rose into the top five in 2016, a number of factors may have contributed to Clay County's added boost in popularity in 2020, including issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, an alarming spike in violent crime in cities over the past year and the rising cost of living in other parts of the country.
According to Ed Reams, owner of Advantage Chatuge Realty since 2002, the beginnings of the COVID-19 pandemic created as much concern for real estate as it did many other industries last year. By May 2020, worry had given way to an incredible rebound. He believes one factor in particular has driven an exodus from cities to rural Western North Carolina and Northeast Georgia.
"The only reason most of us can offer for why that tremendous rebound happened is that A, a lot of people discovered, 'I don't have to go into the office today, I can work from home,'" Reams said. "And then B, when they got that far, then they got to the point where they decided they could sit in their condo above Peachtree Street in Atlanta and look at the traffic or get a place in the mountains and have a lot nicer place to work. I think that's what's responsible for what we saw."
Silvers said the buyers she has worked with have tended to range from their late 30's up to early 50's and are searching for a home in the $250,000 - $300,000 range. Most still have full-time careers, which makes an already limited housing market even more complicated, as many depend on high-speed internet access for their jobs.
"Another issue we've had is finding homes with good internet service because people are working from home more and we have areas like Shooting Creek and Tusquittee that don't have fiber internet," Silvers said.
Meanwhile, limited inventory has not only created a domino effect of issues for those looking to move to Clay County, but also for those already here. Silvers said current residents who wish to move into a larger home are often not putting their own homes on the market because there's currently so little available to purchase.
Fierce competition has also forced prospective buyers to make fast decisions with little to no negotiation involved at times. Homes often last a matter of days on the market. Sometimes far less than that.
"If a house comes on the market, even if it's priced a little bit above what we think it should sell for, it's getting grabbed up," Silvers said. "We had a house listed two weeks ago that was on the market for an hour and it had a contract on it. A lot of buyers are buying site-unseen."
She attributes part of the willingness to make quick choices to a market of increasingly savvy buyers who do their due diligence using websites like Zillow and ultimately know what they want ahead of time.
While homes may be flying off the market, the same cannot be said for the sale of land lots, which have remained relatively low since the real estate bubble burst in 2007-2008. Reams said some land owners are now opting to have spec homes built on vacant lots, anticipating that if the housing trend continues, those decisions could lead to a much better profit.
The current real estate market's overall similarities to the great recession of 2007-2008 have led to concerns of a repeat, both inside and outside of the industry. However, Silvers believes there are key differences this time around.
"A lot of people, a lot of realtors even, say we're headed for a bust like '08 because mortgage rates are going to go back up and everything has sold and there's no inventory," she said. "I think prices are going to level out. I don't foresee a bust because more and more people are wanting to get out of cities."
Anyone interested in a copy of the 2020 Local Market Real Estate Analysis can reach Ed Reams via email at: chatugerealtor@gmail.com.