Letters to the editor: 02/15/01

Realtors are not the enemy

To the Editor:

I am writing as a taxpaying resident of Jackson County, a Realtor, and a property owner. Contrary to popular belief, Realtors are not getting wealthy "selling off our mountains," nor do we want to.

This is our home, too. We are self-employed; we pay our own expenses, taxes, health insurance, etc.. We don't have any of the benefits that company ­ or government ­ employed workers enjoy. We don't have a guaranteed salary or even an hourly wage. We work days, evenings and weekends, and are never "off the clock." The portion of a property sale commission that we actually take home is relatively small. It is a risky but potentially rewarding profession; particularly when you can help people who are working hard towards their dreams.

That Jackson County is going to continue to develop is a simple fact of population; it is inevitable. Our responsibility as people who love and want to protect our mountains is to see that it happens in a thoughtful and well-planned way.

The Smart Growth meetings are a great step towards that. County zoning and land-use planning are the other obvious ways we can maintain our quality of life here. I am opposed to the land transfer tax only because I feel it will further inflate property prices in the area, making it harder for people to sell their homes, and making housing even less affordable than it is now.

I have news... Realtors do not determine list prices of property. Sellers do. Sellers who will have to pay a huge land-transfer tax will have to pass that on to the buyer in the sales price, inflating prices. This will in turn hurt our economy in all ways, affecting everyone who lives here. It's a simple economic principle.

I love this county. It's my home. If I were in real estate for the money I'd be selling it elsewhere, believe me. Realtors are not the enemy, neither are developers, rich Floridians, or our county commissioners. The only one responsible for protecting our home is us, each of us, individually. We can't complain unless we actively work towards solutions, and we'd better do it, because there is nowhere on earth just like Jackson County.

Thank you,

Susan Manning

Barkers Creek

Apple Realty

Land transfer tax will hurt Jackson County families

To the Editor:

Firstly, I wish to address the issue of recent property tax valuations or assessed values. I have personally, as well as some of my associates, taken time from our work schedules to gather sales prices, closing dates and descriptive information on recent property sales and given this information to property owners who felt they were unfairly assessed. I agree with many property owners that numerous properties are overvalued according to the new assessments, but there are probably just as many that are at correct values or undervalued. Unfortunately, real estate appraisal is not a perfect science.

The above mentioned letter stated that "skyrocketing and speculative increases in property values benefit the real estate industry more than anyone else." Any person that has spent any time as a real estate broker will be able to tell you it is much easier to sell two fairly priced properties at $60,000 than one overpriced property at $100,000 and make 20 percent more income in the process. The real estate brokers are not driving prices upward; often times it is a property owner who wants the list price inflated.

The letter in last week's edition said that the Board of Realtors'ad in The Sylva Herald shifted the blame to the county commissioners in regards to a land transfer tax. Well, I must have missed something. I was led to believe that the commissioners requested that our local legislators introduce this bill to the N.C. General Assembly. Who else is to blame? This is the same board of commissioners that reduced our mill rate from 53 cents per $100 assessed value to 48 cents per $100 assessed value. Property assessments increased by 58 percent across the county and the commissioners reduced the mill rate by 10 percent. Had they reduced the mill rate by 58 percent not a single property owner's tax bill would have increased.

I am not saying that the county does not need revenues to complete various projects both planned and under way. But this group of commissioners has 48 percent more money than any group has had before them and now they want more money through a transfer tax. What will be next? Increased building permit fees? Impact fees for new construction?

Housing starts is a major economic indicator, and when this number falters economist begin using the nasty "R" word (recession). An added tax to real property sales will only increase real estate prices as the seller of raw property tries to "pass it on" with an inflated price to the developer who in turn has to "pass it on" to the consumer or lot buyer. As prices rise, real property sales will be forced to slow down, as they can become unattainable for many families.

Once real property transfers slow down, my family, as well as the families of the surveyor, excavator, well driller, architect, builder, plumber, electrician, painter, mason and landscaper will be adversely affected by reduced work and incomes. When this occurs the restaurant owner, clothier and auto dealer will be affected by reduced revenues through there registers.

My hope is that this bill will be turned down at the N.C. General Assembly, not only for my family, but for all those earlier mentioned and others I have overlooked.

Respectfully,

Todd Baucom

Dillsboro

Let your voice be heard

To the Editor:

The Department of Energy has extended the deadline to Feb. 23 for comments on its proposed $4 billion new National Security Complex to be built in Oak Ridge. If you feel as I do that there are more constructive purposes to put $4 billion to, it is important to let the DOE hear your views now.

Write to U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Operations Office, DP-80, Attn: Gary Hartman, P.O. Box 2001, Oak Ridge, Tenn., 37831. Or comments may be emailed to Y12EIS@oro.doe.gov. More information can be obtained at the web site of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance: www.stopthebombs.org. This citizens'group in Oak Ridge successfully pressured the DOE into making the public draft environmental impact statement for the proposed National Security Complex.

Sincerely,

Pat Montee

Cullowhee

Experience should be preferred to master's degree

To the Editor:

I refer to the Textile Foundation in South Carolina. In a TV interview several years ago, the president of the organization was asked why he did not hire people with a textile or master's degree.

"What colleges teach in the way of running a business is contrary to the way it works," he said. "We have to un-train and re-train textiles managers. It is simpler to hire a degree in the arts, then train him the right way to run the business."

You are in need of someone who can put a stop to the waste of the present Jackson County Commission. He or she needs experience in running a business, not teaching school. It is about time we stopped wasting taxpayers'money on unimportant objects and procedures.

I might add that in my years of running an electric business, the most stupid electrician I ever hired had a master of science degree. I hired him at 8 a.m. and fired him at 10 a.m.

Frank Young

Cullowhee

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