Why people from Atlanta select Western North Carolina for Vacation Homes

Here's a nice article from the Atlanta Journal Constitution regarding the Cashiers, NC area and why people from Atlanta are choosing to buy their vacation home here in the mountains!

Vacation Home of the Week: Cashiers, NC

Natural beauty with plenty to do

By Lori Johnston
For the AJC

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Mark Carruth and his wife, Dena, built a second home in Cashiers, N.C., because of its laid-back locale and proximity to high-end homes Carruth was building in the area, including in Trillium. Carruth, co-founder of Windsong Properties, which also creates active adult communities in metro Atlanta, chatted about their North Carolina getaway.

Their place: This is the couple’s third home in Cashiers. Features that they haven’t had in previous vacation homes include the outdoor fireplace. “Especially this time of the year, we enjoy sitting around it. That would be the most unique feature about the house,” he said. While their home in Atlanta is more formal, the North Carolina house features natural materials such as stone and antique beams and distressed wood floors. “It’s very cozy, warm. It just has a real good feel to it,” he said. Across the street is an unusual amenity, a croquet court - and their home also backs up to a garden golf course and trails. They’re walking distance to the activities center, which has a gym, spa and indoor tennis courts.

How far from home: About three hours from the north side of Atlanta. “You’ve got this incredible drive, for the most part,” he said. “When you get off the interstate, you get into some beautiful scenic areas.”

How often theyire there: Carruth is typically there every week, for work and relaxation.
What they love about it: The solitude. “We’re in a very quiet area where you’ve got the natural beauty of the mountains surrounding you,” Carruth said.

What they do when they’re there: Golf on Trillium’s mountain course. They also enjoy hiking and mountain biking. “It’s just incredible trails, with tremendous views. We had some friends up (one) weekend and hiked up to Chimney Top,” he said. On Friday evenings, they often meet with neighbors at wine and cheese events sponsored by the development. “That’s sort of where you connect and you go out to dinner and make arrangements for weekend activities from there,” he said.

At a Glance
Mark and Carruth’s home has 2 bedrooms, 2 baths and features such as a master on the main, vaulted ceilings and a stone fireplace. The home was completed about two years ago.

Community Overview
Trillium has more than 300 existing homes, with a total of 500 planned. Prices range from $400,000-$3 million in the community, which started development 12 years ago. The homes range from 1,500-6,000 square feet, with lot sizes averaging 1 acre. They have four bedrooms and 4 baths, on average, and features such as outdoor fireplaces or fire pits and a master on the main. Amenities include a lake, 18-hole golf course and golf learning center, tennis courts, pool, two restaurants, fitness center, garden golf and croquet. Annual dues in the community, developed by Trillium Links & Village, range from $6,000-$8,500.

To tour any homes for sale feel free to contact us at 828-226-8837. Resales and developer inventory are available in the Cashiers, Highlands and Sapphire areas.

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2008 Statistics are in for WNC-Best Deals Projected in 2009

The latest statistics are in for 2008 sales in the Highlands, Cashiers, Sapphire and Lake Glenville areas of Western North Carolina.

The peak of our market was in 2005 and has steadily decreased since. Predictions for 2009 offer the best opportunities for buyers in 10 years.

Large tracks of land are a steal, resale properties are competing with builders and investors are starting to take notice.

In 2008, there were 252 residential sales at an average sales price of $627,919.00 compared to 417 home sales at an average sales price of $702,012.00 in 2007.

Land sales were 132 compared to 341 in 2007.

There were 45 Townhouse/Condo sales in 2008 compared to 57 in 2007.

And, there were 12 commercial properties sold in 2008 compared to 18 in 2007.

Now is the time to buy. Interest rates are lower than at any time in the last 37 years, prices are down and sellers are becoming more motivated.

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Wine and Dine on the Mountain Special Event-Highlands, NC

The Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence is given to restaurants who have the most outstanding wine lists in the world. It recognizes the wine list's vintage depth, including vertical offerings of several top wines, as well as excellent breadth from several major wine growing regions.

Dine in casual elegance in one of the original homes in Highlands, dating back to the 1890's.

Take advantage of the beautiful cool mountain air by dining in the Garden Pavilion.
Dine on our outside covered deck or beside a fireplace in one of the cozy dining rooms.

For reservations call 828.526.3807.

Make your dinner reservations from our reservations page. Click here to visit

Go to our Uncorked pagefor special dates & events.Click Here

While you are here check out property for sale. Now is the time to invest in the mountains!

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HOMES AND LAND FOR SALE HERE

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Western North Carolina’s “50 most influential people

WNC Magazine lists region’s “50 most influential people”
by Jon Elliston on 01/02/2009

In its new issue, Asheville-based WNC Magazine presents profiles of Western North Carolina’s “50 most influential people, past and present.” The list, compiled with the assistance of historians from area universities, spans hundreds of years and a diverse set of figures.
Some of the choices — George W. Vanderbilt, Thomas Wolfe, Zebulon Vance, etc. — seem obvious ones. Other names are lesser known. Those featured include artists, politicians, athletes, writers, business leaders, activists, teachers and people from other walks of life.
WNC offered no shortage of potential personalities to include on the list, Editor-in-Chief Eric Seeger notes in an editor’s letter about the package. “We could have easily included 100 people on the list and still felt like we were leaving out a good many names,” he writes.

The magazine says it wants to hear from readers about other names that should make the list; suggestions can be sent to mailto:letterstoeditor@wncmagazine.com.
Click here to read the story, which offers summaries of what each person did to shape WNC.


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Fall in love with the land or the house?-WNC Mountains

The Long Road Home
It took a seven-year hunt and a major renovation, but Christine and Rick Mack
can finally enjoy their Highlands getaway, far from the bustle of Atlanta

written by lydia dishman / photography by gil stose

Christine Mack stands at her kitchen counter snipping glossy-leaved boxwood branches and placing them in small glass vases that she’ll use to decorate tabletops and shelves throughout the house. Mid-morning sunlight splashes down through tall multi-paned windows, as her bichon frise, Boo, curls amiably at her feet.

Before Christine and her husband, Rick, bought their Highlands retreat, they made frequent pilgrimages from the Atlanta community of Buckhead to the home of Christine’s best friend, Patricia, on Mirror Lake. “We just fell in love with Highlands,” Christine says. And so began a seven-year quest to find the right home of their own.

Their requirements were simple. Rick wanted acreage and privacy, Christine wanted something special that was close to town (“and shopping,” she exclaims, laughing at the emphasis she puts on her and Patricia’s favorite pastime).

“Patty was very patient,” Christine explains with an affectionate nod toward her friend, who has just popped in. Indeed, Patricia lent her support through the false starts and rough patches during the hunt, including the purchase of a lot off Cullasaja Drive, and a delay after the couple transferred to Washington, D.C., for work. Eventually they moved back to Atlanta, sold the lot, and started the scouting all over again. But one Memorial Day weekend, their luck changed.

The Macks spotted a For Sale sign on Webbmont Road in front of one of the first homes they’d seen—and passed up—during their initial search. “The house was a mess then,” Christine says, shaking her head at the recollection. Water had seeped into the house, rotting the floor joists. At the time, it was a larger project than the Macks wanted to tackle, especially with their demanding jobs in the city (Rick is the general manager of radio station Star 94 and Christine is in corporate real estate).

The interim owners had addressed the damage by replacing the floors and shoring up the structure, but Christine described the house as a rabbit warren, with “low ceilings, dark rooms, and no charm.” They did, however, fall in love with the property and quickly inked a deal. Even their architect, Norman Askins, who had immediately voiced his concern with an incredulous, “you didn’t buy that place did you?” was won over by the gorgeous five-acre expanse. Indeed the land’s gentle slopes and thickets of tall, slim hardwoods and pines create an air of seclusion, despite the closeness of neighbors and the short distance to the center of town.

Askins set to work sketching a plan for a major redesign and renovation. The vistas from the rise where the house sits practically begged for “a lot of glass” to connect the indoors to the environment. The rest, he says, was easy.

The Macks agreed to Askins’ bold initial drawing, which tore away the middle of the existing structure. In its place, a two-story gable became the focal point of the home, while the raised ceiling and multiple windows captured the light and framed the decadent views.

Askins also designed what Christine calls an “eating porch,” a series of screened outdoor sitting rooms that wrap around one side of the house and connect to the master suite and living room. Now, as she moves easily through the dining room, she says the “old” house presented her with a blank canvas, and that she, too, was inspired by their enclave in the woods.

The only furnishings she brought with her from Atlanta were a dresser that belonged to her grandmother and several of the painted trays she’s been collecting for more than a decade. So, she and Patricia happily whiled away the hours in local antique stores and home furnishing boutiques, choosing pieces that complemented the woodland theme.

For Christine, this served not only to fill her home with lovely pieces, but was also a way to meet her neighbors and local shopkeepers. “Now I know more people here than I do in Atlanta,” she explains.

The result is a combination of rustic wood, native stone, and thoughtfully chosen art and artifacts which create a balance and harmony. The overall effect is at once organic and casually chic. Askins gives credit to Christine for making the 3,000-square-foot abode “unaffected and honest.” He says, “I love the way the home integrates the land they’re passionate about. It’s laid back and easy.”

Christine echoes the sentiment, adding that the home is a popular spot for informal cocktail parties and holiday dinners. Though all the surrounding comforts embrace the immediacy of impromptu gatherings, the place itself exudes a sense of timelessness. The tan and white tones are soothing, the open spaces invite quiet lingering, and each window offers a different perspective on ever-changing slants of light, whether in fall or spring, at dusk or dawn.
Christine considers Boo as the pup snuggles against the backrest of the sofa. For her, this home is above all, a place to exhale. “The minute you cross into the mountains you are able to leave Atlanta behind.”

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