Called shaconage, or “blue” by the Cherokee Indians, the fog-tinted Great Smoky Mountains are home to America’s most-visited national park, which bears the same name. Straddling North Carolina and Tennessee, the park covers more than half a million acres (211,000 hectares) in the southern Appalachians and is comprised of some of the oldest mountains on Earth.

Only about 12 to 14 percent of the estimated 100,000 species in the park have been identified—among them more than 600 organisms completely new to science. The natural richness of the Smokies combines with a deep human history that includes the Cherokees—whose ancestors originated there—and Scotch-Irish pioneers, who began settling there in the late 1700s. (more…)

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The Consumer Federation of America — which labeled the traditional real estate industry a “cartel” four weeks ago — is now directing its fire at the state regulatory bodies that oversee brokerage transactions. In a research report scheduled for release last Friday, the CFA said that more than four-fifths of all members of state real estate commissioners nationwide currently “earn a living through real estate transactions,” either as brokers, agents or in affiliated activities such as title agents or real estate closing attorneys. That built-in conflict of interest, in turn, “harms consumers both through omission — what (the regulators) fail to do — and commission — their initiatives that harm consumers.”

CFA’s research found that four states — Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Nevada — require that all real estate commissioners be real estate brokers or salespeople. Another 11 states require that at least 80 percent of commissioners hold real estate licenses. Three states — California, Illinois and Minnesota — have full-time professional regulatory boards, rather than commissioners with industry connections. (more…)

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“As the Gateway to the Smokies, we have the responsibility to make ourselves more aesthetically pleasing,” said David Perella, Gatlinburg’s director of tourism. And as the director of the Great Smoky Mountains Association, Terry Maddox, said, “It’s why Gatlinburg exists.” That’s why the city is focusing more on its own history and culture than it is on bringing in tacky tourist traps. “Over the years, we haven’t done a very good job of (focusing on) the culture and heritage of the Smokies,” Perella said. “So we’re moving in that direction.” And in 2007, the city will have a perfect opportunity to do that when it celebrates its bicentennial of the town’s European settlement.

Gatlinburg’s first century was highlighted by a Civil War battle, in which Cherokee Indians fought alongside the Confederate Army, and birthplace of John Reagan, who served as postmaster general of the Confederacy. But in the early 1920s, Knoxville photographer James Thompson’s pictures of the Smokies started drawing tourists to Gatlinburg. Ruth Miller knows all about those early years and what turned Gatlinburg into a destination spot in Eastern Tennessee. Her grandmother owned land in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park before 1934 when it was established by Congress. “There were 1,200 farms that had to be bought to make this a national park,” Miller said. “I asked my grandmother one time if she wanted to sell the land, and she said, ?We didn’t want to sell – we had to.? “But I could tell as an old woman, she was glad it was a park. We never had any money, but our mountain people loved their land.” (more…)

search for : Gateway to the Smokies, Gatlinburg, Smokies, Civil War, Cherokee Indians, Confederate Army, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

When our beautiful, 200-year-old red oak had fallen during a rainstorm while I was away, I was sad but not worried. The tree had narrowly missed the house and landed smack in the middle of our yard. While it was clearly a mess, I felt certain that our homeowners policy would pick up the cost of setting everything right.

The adjuster, surveying the scene, broke it to us. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” he said. Not only would our insurer not pay the staggering $10,000 bill for lugging away the tree, but it wasn’t likely that we’d get enough money to replace the trees and shrubs that had been wiped out. Had the oak fallen on our house, our homeowners policy would have paid for more of the cleanup and replanting. But because our loss wasn’t structural, my husband and I were looking at $20,000 in out-of-pocket costs. (more…)

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Redeveloped downtowns, apartments and more affordable smaller homes are coming into vogue. Big backyards, unbridled spending and buying into long commutes are leaving town. Just as the housing market boom left its mark on the economy and the nation’s way of life, the new real estate market of flat and falling sales and prices is reversing those trends, often creating simpler, less complicated lifestyles.

People are trading in big back yards for balconies, just as they’ve traded in boom boxes for iPods. Often young professionals and the older “echo boomers” (Baby Boomers’ kids), the new generation of home buyers, are choosing more affordable downtown living in high rises, close to jobs and cultural centers. They are marrying later and putting off child rearing so they don’t generate pressure to move into a big house. Likewise, older boomers who’ve redefined retirement are snatching up smaller digs to keep going in work and at play. Condo conversions underscore that demand as second home buyers, investors and speculators all move to snatch up compact housing. (more…)

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There are a lot of factors that have contributed to this growth in women buying and owning homes. Increased wages have boosted female homeownership as the gender gap in pay continues to slowly narrow. Another major factor is the increased availability of financing for women. Not so many years ago a woman seeking to buy a house faced formidable obstacles to obtaining a mortgage - or any kind of credit for that matter. Young women in today’s workforce would be appalled at stories their mothers, if they were at all financially proactive, could tell about trying to even obtain a charge account from Filenes or Sears as late as the 1970s. (more…)

search for : Single women, National Association of Realtors