Introduction to Real Estate in Hickory, NC

My first entry will help you get acquainted with me, my company Lake Hickory Realty, LLC and Hickory, NC.

My family moved to the foothills of NC in the fall of 1996 from Texas via Minneapolis (brrr). The Unifour, as Hickory was called, it lays in 4 counties:Alexander, Burke, Caldwell and Catawba, had just been put on the map with the Readers Digest's Best Place to Raise a Family award along with Lenoir, the county seat of Caldwell and Morganton, the county seat of Burke. Before the story broke, the local chambers had been mailing an average of 3 relocation packets a month to prospective newcomers. After the magazine hit the shelves, they were sending out over 300 every week. Baby Boomers had found Western NC and liked the possibilities of retirement on the lake and/or near the mountains. Investors came in droves. Developments popped up on all the area lakes and their developers flew buyers in from up and down the East Coast.



When my daughter reached the age of 10, I went back to work full time. I went back to college for a real estate class. I joined a company not but a mile from home on the first of January 2000, Lake Hickory Realty, LLC. Eight years later, the company was mine.

Those first few years were tough for real estate sales. The presidential election in 2000 when Florida's 25 electoral votes were in question, homes sales plummeted. America's citizens were glued to their TVs waiting to hear about the recounts. Then in 2002, Hickory's manufacturing of furniture, fiber optics and textiles went South to Mexico and East to China. We were often on the global news for having the highest unemployment rate. Hickory finally came out of with flying colors. Properties on the lake were being bought and sold like hotcakes once again.

Now, today, the Greater Hickory Metro, its new designation, is back to a very low spot with unemployment in Catawba and Alexander counties at 14.9 %, in Caldwell county 15.6 %, Burke  at 15 %. Pretty scary economics. But, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Hickory is as strong as a Clydesdale and will be coming back with a vengeance. Wait and see.

What is going to help Hickory stay on the map is its jewel, Lake Hickory. Seventeen miles of long with 105 miles of waterfrontage and 4,223 acres, Lake Hickory offers a variety of water sport recreation. We love to play on our lake. This paradise grew out of the Catawba River System, owned and managed by Duke Energy. The river starts in the mountains at Lake James and heads East to lakes Rhodhiss, Hickory, then South to Lookout Shoals, Norman, Mountain Island, Wylie, Fishing Creek and Wateree. Most provide electricity and water to neighboring cities.

Lake Hickory Realty has served many clients clamoring for their own piece of the lake. Customers have come from as far as Asia to realize their dreams. All I want is for my clients to be happy and to assist them in getting what they require to complete their mission of finding suitable property. Lake Hickory Realty is not all about lake property. Lake Hickory Realty is all about service. This locally-owned company has helped folks buy homes, acreage, building sites, commercial buildings, businesses, etc. throughout the Metro area for the past decade.

This blog, I hope, will shed some light on our real estate market as it heads back into a more vigorous economy.

Thank you.