Watauga Lake Summer

Summer has been in full swing now for several weeks.  We have had lots of visitors enjoying our lake house with us and taking advantage of Watauga Lake's abundant recreational activities. Boating, swimming, fishing and hiking have consumed most of the daylight hours.  Evening time is prime for a campfire at the lakefront...of course accompanied by a glass of wine or two. We are so blessed here.  Watauga Lake remains an undiscovered paradise without the crowds and overt tourism found in other more well-known vacation spots.  Our college kids, home for the summer, have taken full advantage of the lake practicing and perfecting their wakeboarding skills.  They are having a blast!

Salvatore has been working. The real estate market is moving, slower than in years past, but moving none-the-less.  It is a reflection of the larger economic picture.  Financing appears to be the road block for most Watauga Lake real estate transactions. The interest rates remain low for home financing, but are higher for land purchases.  Sales prices have fallen slightly and the market remains a buyers market overall. However, the good news for sellers is that Watauga Lake real estate prices have remained fairly stable.  Past transactions reveal that property values here did not spike as in other geographical areas, but have consistently increased over time at a reasonable rate.  There has been a slight correction, but nothing compared to the Florida market, where properties have often been discounted 50% or more. Owner financing and other creative arrangements are enabling buyers to buy and sellers to sell.  This is good news for Watauga Lake real estate transactions. Watauga Lake also has the advantage of limited supply because of the restrictions on development around the lake.  The beauty of the Cherokee National Forest will remain unspoiled - a definite bonus for all who live here and vacation here.

Feel free to check out Salvatore's website:  www.salvatoremalantonio.com

Happy Summer!
Susan

Wicked Weather

It has been a busy week on the mountain!  Our dock was completed over the weekend - our installer, Judd showed up on Easter Sunday with his assistants to finish up - above and beyond in our opinion! The finished product is great! On Tuesday, Salvatore, and local realtor, Marty, successfully closed a sale for Salvatore's Cowan Town Road listing.  On the same day, Susan drove to Henderson, NC to look at a boat which also proved to be a successful venture.  The 2002 Moomba Mobius found its new home at our brand new dock by Tuesday evening.  A long, but productive day on many fronts. 

On Wednesday, Salvatore showed properties to a client all day and returned home around 7pm only to discover, that wicked weather was heading our way.  We, along with most other folks in the area, found ourselves glued to the television screen as the regular programming was interrupted by our local news anchors.  The forecast predicted golf ball sized hail and the likelihood of tornados!  Tornados in the mountains! A rare, but very real event was unfolding before our eyes.  The tornado watch did indeed turn into a warning and we, along with the three dogs hunkered down in our small downstairs "extra" bedroom which has no windows. We gathered up flashlights, batteries...and of course a couple of bottles of red wine.... Of course by this time it was late and as the clock ticked past midnight...well, the wine never was opened. We are happy to report that our properties were spared -  No damage to report.  We feel blessed. Other people were not as fortunate--lives were lost and properties destroyed. Our hearts go out to those who suffered the wrath of the storm.

Well, after damage assessment was complete on the home front, it was time to return to work and Salvatore spent Thursday and Friday showing properties. The season promises to be a busy one...more people are discovering the beauty of Watauga Lake...

April Flowers

After spending a couple of weeks in Florida, Susan returned to find that the woods are alive with the white blossoming dogwoods and intensely reddish-violet redbuds.  The daffodils are mostly gone, replaced by the vivid colors of tulips and irises. Absolutely gorgeous! The temperature is warming up too and it's deck time!  We hiked the other day, camera in hand and captured a small taste of what nature has to offer.  The field up and around on Dry Hill road is a sea of yellow with the goldenrods in full bloom.  We managed to befriend a couple of bulls in a nearby pasture and treated them to some freshly picked goldenrod and grass.  They seemed very happy with the attention.  

Paul and Debbie are back on a respite from their working world and they treated friends, Kim and Bill and us to an awesome dinner at their log cabin on Sunday night.  The merriment continued the next day when we were able to enjoy the scenery from the lake first hand on Monday from the deck of Kim & Bill's new pontoon boat.  Good food, good wine and good company made for a wonderfully relaxing day.  This is after all why we live here in this beautiful spot.  

The last couple of weeks have been getting busier on the real estate front.  People are looking at properties,which in the bigger picture bodes well for our economy, gas prices aside! We know the season is beginning with the phone calls, emails and entertaining clients that Salvatore has been busy with.  Let the season begin - we're excited!

 

Salvatore Malantonio, Watauga Lake Realtor

Watauga Lake is known for its rural living but necessity pokes its head into the household now and then and we discover that a trip off the mountain is needed for simple life sustaining supplies - like groceries.  City life is accessible with a trip down around the mountain and shoreline into Hampton, Elizabethton or Johnson City and easily enough accomplished with good planning - we always take a list of what is needed with us.  Although a day spent in Johnson City has its perks - movie theaters, mall, chain restaurants, we have discovered that as soon as we leave Hampton and head up the road onto the mountain that we experience a sense of calm and coming home.  It's a bit like leaving the world behind.  How lucky we are!

Although our day to day life is free from much of the hustle and bustle of the outside world, we are not isolated.  Technology has found its way around the lake.  Most of us have DSL internet access!  Woo hoo! That said, check out Salvatore's new website:  http://www.salvatoremalantonio.com  featuring Salvatore Malantonio, Watauga Lake Realtor.  Let us know what you think!

                                            Signing off for today....Susan & Salvatore

Spring Marches Forward

Spring on Watauga Lake is a rock and roll ride.  One day it is 70 degrees with a whisper of change in the  breeze, and the next the temperature plummets back to 40, reminding us that there are still dues to be paid before the gift of summer is upon us. But around the lake life is stirring...the frogs voicing their mating calls, birds building their nests...one even taking up residence in our mailbox.  But it is the incessant blooming of the flowering trees and bulbs bursting forth from the earth that reveals the vibrant beauty around the lake.  True to nature's finding a way, clusters of daffodils are noticeable even in the woods, outside the boundaries of anyone's garden.  Salvatore and I take in the sights on our long walks...sometimes with camera in hand, and sometimes just to bank the photographs in our minds eye.

Spring brings people too...thinking ahead to summer...searching for that perfect spot on the lake they can call their own.  Boats are visible too...fishermen, kayaker's, speedboater's cruising by...all indicators that winter is past and spring has it's foothold on these mountains.