Real Estate Insights & The 79th North Carolina Apple Festival

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The George Real Estate Group radio broadcast is
celebrating 10 years on WHKP.
The George Real Estate Group iscelebrating 10 years on the
radio live every Thursdaymorning at 10.05 on WHKP 107.7
FM and AM 1450 and streamingonline at WHKPcom.

(00:24):
And streaming online at whkpcomEach Friday morning at 845,.
The George Real Estate Grouppresents the Hometown Hero Award
to someone in our community whogoes above and beyond to make
our hometown a better place tolive.
Here's this week's HometownHero Show.
Hometown Hero Show JimmyBuffett on Real Country and

(00:51):
Margarita Bill brings us to 845on Friday morning and that is
always our chance to gather withthe crew from the George Real
Estate Group and salute ourHometown Hero series and talk
about things going on in ourcommunity.
Ari Munoz is here from theGeorge Real Estate Group and
representing NOAA, who's outdoing other things today, I
guess like recuperating from arecent operation, but he's doing

(01:14):
fine.
We usually gather here withNOAA every Friday morning, but
Ari can aptly update us on thereal estate market here in
Henderson County.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, it's an honor to be here instead of Noah.
We're all keeping him in histhoughts.
We know he's recovering well.
I am going to take him some icecream in a little bit here
after this.
Good, good, good, but yeah.
So it is an honor for us tosponsor the Hometown Hero
segment, because it's so easy toget bogged down with.
We hear negative stuff on thenews every day, all the time,

(01:46):
and we know that there's goodstuff happening.
We see it all the time in ourcommunity.
We see heroes that are doingthe right thing for our
community, left and right.
It's important to highlightthat we know that energy can be
contagious and we like to thinkof ourselves as an agent of
positive change and positiveinfluence, and that's why this
is so near and dear to ourhearts.
But so real estate, right.

(02:08):
In a summary, the market isstill moving.
It has not slowed down.
I'm biased, like Noah would sayright, like.
This is a really desirableplace to be.
I myself moved here fromAlbuquerque, new Mexico, and I
understand why people want to bein our community.
Year to date, we've sold morehomes than we had sold last year

(02:29):
.
At this point, the market hasnot slowed down.
Prices are still holding wherewe would expect them to be.
The average days on market of ahome is now 60 days.
It is taking a little bitlonger for somebody's homes to
go under contract, but if thingsare priced right, if it's a
unicorn, if it's something thatyou know is highly sought after,

(02:50):
those things still go in a dayor two.
Maybe you know within the hour,but one thing we love doing is
serving our community.
We offer market intelligence.
We work with buyers, sellers,court-ordered sales intelligence
.
We work with buyers, sellers,court-ordered sales.
If you're in distress andyou're dealing with a reclosure
scenario, or if you're a buyerthat feels like you haven't had

(03:10):
a fair chance up until thispoint, well, come see us.
We can help you out.
We can get you set up forsuccess.
We'll help you find a home, orwe'll help you sell your home
and get you what you're hopingto net out of it.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Okay, Harry, get us in touch with the George Real
Estate Group.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Okay, harry, get us in touch with the George Real
Estate Group.
Yeah, you can find us at.
We're located by the.
Let's see the address 2720Greenville Highway, right next
to the Wrinkled Egg, the FlatRock Bakery, hubba Lou, hubba,

(03:46):
hubba Barbecue, all those thingsthat, as Noah would like to say
, are dangerously delicious, andI eat too many of those
chocolate croissants.
So come hang out with us.
We'll buy you a cup of coffee,we'll buy you a croissant.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
We'll be happy to sit down and visit with you.
All right, ari.
Thank you so much.
Josh English is here.
He's the president of the boardof directors of the North
Carolina Apple Festival.
And, josh, I know your to-dolist is picking up this time of
the year and I sure appreciateyou taking time to join us.
How are you?

Speaker 4 (04:08):
Yeah, good morning, Randy.
It's awesome to be here againand to talk everything.
Apple Festival that's coming uphere a little less than a week
or so, but yeah, that to-do listis getting quite large.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Looking forward to it and you're no stranger, you
kind of got the to-do list fromlast year.
Yes, sir, yeah, you Lookingforward to it and you're no
stranger, you kind of got theto-do list from last year.
Yes, sir.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, I've been involved with the Apple Festival
for countless years, but I'vebeen the president the last
couple years, and so I won't sayI'm a veteran quite yet,
because something new happensall the time.
But, yeah, feeling great andwe're going to put on another
great festival, this year.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yeah, it's the 79th year, man.
Yep, 79 years.
This town has gone a little.
Uh.
It gets a little crazy aroundthis time of the year, doesn't
it?

Speaker 4 (04:51):
it's an energy level in the air, it really is it does
, and you know these, uh, lastcouple weeks leading up to it,
um, that energy just builds,builds, builds.
Um, lots of new stuff, uh, the,the old stuff that you can
count on will be there and uh,yeah, just the, just the energy
is great and we're lookingforward to next weekend.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
We talked to one of the apple growers yesterday,
Kenny Barnwell, and he saysthere's plenty of apples.
He said there's plenty ofapples.
There are apples everywhere.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
Yeah, that was a concern, you know, obviously,
with what we went through afterthe Apple Festival last year.
You know that was a concern forour market and the community.
But we've We've rebounded welland all the growers are excited.
We've got a new grower that'sgoing to be downtown with us
this year.
But, yeah, there's apples,plenty of apples, like you

(05:43):
mentioned, and apple everything.
Ice cream, slushies are myfavorite, but pies, donuts, if
you can make it with an apple,it'll be downtown next weekend.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Harry, what do the kids like?

Speaker 2 (05:55):
uh, the best, and treats, so they will always go
for the slushies every time thatis their all-time favorite.
I am partial to those as well,though I when they're not
looking.
I sneak away and I get a coupleof those for myself too well I
think I told randy last yearit's.

Speaker 4 (06:11):
I guess I'm a kid at heart, because the slushy is my
favorite as well and I may ormay not go to every slushy stand
there is just to you know, makesure I remember which one is my
favorite.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
You bet, you bet.
It's important to be an expertright.

Speaker 4 (06:27):
Exactly.
No calories that we can't, theydon't count.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
You grew up here and I remember you saying that.

Speaker 4 (06:37):
You yourself as a kid yeah, yeah, born and raised um
here in henderson county, so youknow, for a local um, you know.
I think this festival is asource of pride, you know it is
yeah, you know something that wecan be um, very prideful, um,
and having here it's the state'snorth car Carolina Apple
Festival, and so I think that'spride itself and we're an

(06:59):
industry leader when it comes tothe Apple market in the country
, and so being able to displaythat and take some pride in it
as a local is a phenomenal thing.
And then anybody visiting herewe get to put on a great show
and a great festival for them.
So, yeah, very prideful there.
And you know, I know a lot ofour locals come every year to it

(07:21):
.
But you know, and now, as mydaughter has turned 18 this year
, but I remember riding thelittle strawberry ride, you know
when I was a kid.
Now that's one of her favoriterides oh man, she still does it
as an 18-year-old, so Cool, Very, very, very cool.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Well, take us through the weekend.
We start a week from today.
Probably along about this time,don't we in front of the
historic courthouse with theopening ceremony?

Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yes, we'll set up Thursday night so everybody can
expect Main Street to kind ofslow down a little bit Thursday
afternoon.
But Friday morning the festivalwill be open by 10 AM and then
we're doing opening ceremoniesat 10 30 Friday morning out
front of the courthouse.
Um, and then, yeah we'll, we'llgo strong Friday, saturday,

(08:10):
sunday, um, and then cap off ourweekend with the King Apple
festival parade.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yeah, I wanted to ask you who's the grand marshal
yeah, we're very prideful forthat as well.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
Um, john and uh, pat shepherd oh, come on.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, I mean, everybody knows, oh man knows
those two guys um that'sfantastic yeah, and so we're.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
We're very lucky to have them.
They have served on our boardfor, uh, at least 50 years um
we're counting.
This year's their 50th year,but it's probably been a little
bit longer than that.
That's incredible.
And so we were honored to askthem, and they were honored to
accept and be our Grand Marshals, and then they're there all
weekend.
They're there all weekend everyyear, yeah, working.

(08:49):
You'll find them at theentertainment stage.
Pat and her business with thedance studio.
They'll have her kids out thereperforming and it'll be a great
source of entertainment.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
That is just the best news in the world.
You always pull out a rabbitout of a hat for the Grand
Marshal and the Shepherds.
Couldn't be any better.
When I first the very firstApple Festival I ever came to, I
met Pat and John Shep and johnshepherd.
Yeah, and been there ever since.
So there's a, there's someparking changes and and rules

(09:24):
and some uh bargains and whereto park and and earlier, uh
yesterday, I think, our owntippy cresswell had a
conversation with brandyheatherly, who is Hendersonville
Communications, and we're goingto play that little clip for us
.

Speaker 5 (09:42):
Yes, tippi.
So get ready, hendersonville,the North Carolina Apple
Festival, is back.
From Friday, august 29ththrough Labor Day, september 1st
, downtown will come alive withdelicious food, live
entertainment and the belovedKing Apple Parade on Monday at
2.30 pm.
Main Street will close totraffic starting Thursday

(10:06):
afternoon to make room for allthis fun.
So event parking is availablein City Lots and the Fifth
Avenue parking deck, which willcharge a $10 flat rate fee
during the Apple Fest.
City Hall's law at 166th AvenueEast will be reserved for
handicap parking on Labor Dayweekend and all parking details

(10:27):
can be found at hblncgov slashparking.
So, last but not least, forthose safety and comfort of pets
, non-service animals arediscouraged at the Apple
Festival.
Festival attendees should leavepets comfortably at home.
Come celebrate the season,savor the apples and enjoy one

(10:48):
of Hendersonville's favoritetraditions.
Full schedules and parade infocan be found at
ncapplefestivalorg and all otherApple Festival updates and
holiday closure info can befound at hendersonvillencgov.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
That's hendersonvillencgov and the
ncappvilleNCgov.
That's HendersonvilleNCgov andthe NCAppleFestivalorg.
Yeah, so everything is rightthere that you could every
question you have Just bringsome comfortable shoes and enjoy
a really nice three-dayfestival in downtown
Hendersonville the 79th annualNorth Carolina Apple Festival.

(11:25):
Josh, what's it like to put ona big festival?
There's so many volunteers, I'msure.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
Yeah, our board is all volunteer and so you know a
lot of volunteers, you know, gointo putting this festival on a
lot of time, energy, um into it.
So you know great partnershipwith, uh, of course, the city,
um first responders, um in ourcounty and uh, it's just a great
partnership.
Everybody works really welltogether um to put this festival

(11:53):
on and um, and I wouldhighlight the, the website.
If anybody hasn't gone out toour apple festival website again
, it's ncapplefestivalorg.
We have completely renovatedthat website and something that
I've been really working andstriving and begging and
pleading for for years is a map,and we have a map this year so

(12:15):
you can go out to the website,click on that map and it'll give
you where our growers are,where some vendors and things
like that are.
That's something that a lot ofour visitors, when coming to the
festival, they want to knowwhere things are Bathrooms, that
type of thing.
So we're really excited to havean official map out there on

(12:36):
our website that people canleverage as well.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
Fantastic.
Our WHKP Peaks Magazine AppleFestival Guide is on the streets
too, at over 70 differentmerchants around town, including
here at Broadcast House.
You can pick up a free copy ofthat Apple Festival Guide too.
So, yeah, we go all out aroundhere about this time of the year
for the North Carolina AppleFestival and, just peeking ahead

(13:04):
, it looks like fall weather isgoing to come in here next week.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
Yeah, so far it looks great.
You know a little bit, maybecooler weather and none of the
wet stuff.
We don't want to say that outloud too much because we want to
have some great weather thatweekend, which we know we will.
But yeah, we're looking forwardto that.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Josh, thank you so much for coming in to visit with
us.
I know you're very, very busyand we're here all weekend if
you need us to and make anyannouncements and so forth, and
we're just tickled to death.
To welcome Apple Festival timeto Hendersonville.

Speaker 4 (13:38):
Well, thank you again .
Appreciate you all having usthis morning.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
Ari, we've got about a minute left for you to wrap us
up in the real estate worldwith george real estate group,
and we salute and tip our hatsto the george real estate group
for sponsoring our hometown heroseries every friday morning at
this time.
If there's a hometown hero thatyou think we need to salute,
let us know, and you can do thatat the george real estate group
also correct.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
We are located at 2720 greenville highway, right
next to the wrinkled egg flatrock bakery, habaloo haba haba
barbecue.
Come by, we'd love to visitwith you.
Whether you're buying, sellingor just curious about what the
market looks like, we will giveyou all the market intelligence
and strategy that you arelooking to gain there's a lot of
visitors to our area thisweekend.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
I'm sure that you guys will probably get one of
those people who got hooked onour place while they're here
visiting the Apple Festival andsay I want to move there, I want
to buy a house there, I want tomove there.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
Well, I'll be roaming downtown the festival this
whole weekend, so I'll beavailable.
You'll see me.
All right that?

Speaker 1 (14:44):
sounds great, guys.
Thank you both for showing upthis morning and thank you for
showing up for hendersonville,because that's what we do here
in western north carolina.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
Thank you for joining us each friday morning for the
george real estate group,hometown heroes salute maybe the
house feels a little too bigthese days, the stairs a little
steeper, the pace of feels alittle too big these days, the
stairs a little steeper, thepace of life a little too fast.
But what if your next movewasn't about letting go.
It was about making space forpeace, for freedom, for what

(15:17):
matters most.
At the George Real Estate Group, we understand that real estate
isn't just about the house.
It's about transitions, timingand trust.
We've helped thousands offamilies in Western North
Carolina make smart, thoughtfulmoves Closer to nature, closer
to family, closer to home.
So when you're ready toright-size, simplify or start

(15:41):
fresh, we'll be here.
The George Real Estate GroupLocal, trusted, proven.
Call us today, 828-393-0134.
Find us online atrealestatebygregcom, because
your next chapter deserves tofeel just right.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
The George Real Estate Group is located in Flat
Rock, north Carolina, nearHendersonville in Henderson
County.
You can find them online atrealestatebygregcom.
The George Real Estate Groupcan be reached at 828-393-0134
or stop by their office at 2720Greenville Highway, flat Rock,

(16:19):
north Carolina.
Tune in live each week onThursdays at 10.05 am on WHKP
107.7 FM and 14.50 am, or streamonline at WHKPcom or download
these podcasts wherever you getyour podcasts.
The George Real Estate Groupbrings you the WHKP Hometown

(16:43):
Hero Series every Friday morningat 8.45.