From Staff Reports

LAKE LURE —The mountain community of Lake Lure — touted by a local Realtor as a “hidden gem” — recently was named one of the top 10 real estate markets for 2022 in an article by the real estate website Redfin, Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported on Dec. 30.

“We’re seeing houses sell within days of being put on the market,” Lake Lure Mayor Carol Pritchett was quoted as saying by News 13. Pritchett herself moved to Lake Lure from Houston back in 2011. “It’s a slower pace environment, but you’re also close to places like Asheville, Hendersonville, Charlotte,” she told News 13.

The TV station added that “those are the same reasons real estate broker Shannon Walsh says others are moving to Lake Lure as well — location, location, location.

 â€œThe location — I mean, you are so close to everything,” Walsh said in the interview.

Walsh told News 13 that Lake Lure — in 2021 — has seen nearly 250 real estate sales across the board and added, “Last year at this time, I probably had close to 60 homes that were available and turning around.”

As of Dec. 30, “there are only 28 homes available on the market, in total,” in the Lake Lure community, the TV station noted, prompting Walsh to respond that the small number of home available for sale did not surprise her.

“Everybody in this area likes Lake Lure, loves Lake Lure, realizes ‘yes, we have a little hidden gem,’” she was quoted as saying by News 13. 

“The environment is certainly one of them,” Pritchett said in the TV interview. “It’s a beautiful part of North Carolina, here in the Blue Ridge Mountains.”