Hendersonville Board of REALTORS President Scott Barfield said each individual real estate deal contributes $105,000 to the local economy.

“Each dollar changes hands approximately three times,” said Barfield, owner of Scott Barfield Realty. “The seller spends money to prepare the home for sale, then inspectors and appraisers are paid and agents earn their commissions, then the buyer spends money on furniture and decor to make the home their own. On a new construction home, the ripple is about six times larger due to the dollars going toward the skilled trades required for the build.”

Barfield said that there are approximately 3,600 REALTORS between the Land of Sky, Hendersonville, and the Carolina Smokies Boards of REALTORS in Western North Carolina. Within these three boards alone, Barfield said about $4 billion moved through the economy due to the nearly 13,000 homes bought and sold in the last 12 months.

“That’s a lot of money rippling through these economies,” he said. “Also, think about the lenders involved in many of these transactions. Think about the electricians and plumbers consulted and those repairing newly purchased homes. There are pest inspectors, siding contractors, landscapers…the list goes on. That’s a lot of people pulling a paycheck from each transaction, all of whom are then spending money in the area.”

Barfield quoted Harry S. Dent Jr., author of “The Roaring 2000s: Building The Wealth And Lifestyle You Desire In The Greatest Boom In History”. “The book said that ‘in the future, people will live where they vacation and vacation where they live,’ and that is exactly what is happening here in WNC,” Barfield said. “People are leaving the Northeast and moving primarily to Texas, Florida, and North Carolina. People are looking for that perfect four-season climate and a professional business environment paired with great places for dinner, healthcare, and entertainment within about 20 minutes of their house. They can easily find that here in WNC.”

New technologies that have helped the real estate industry continue to flourish in recent years, Barfield said. “There is an app called LandGlide that my real estate agent father called magic,” he said. “With this app, I can look at a neighborhood, find out who owns what parcel, find the square footage, and walk the perimeter of the property just like I had a plat map in front of me. Social media has also made it simpler to advertise, virtual showings are allowing out-of-town buyers to view the property without making the trip to town, and DocuSign and Dotloop are allowing both buyers to write contracts on the spot, and both buyers and sellers to sign all of the associated documents without ever having to come to an office. It’s simplifying and speeding up the process.”