John Davis & Banner Elk Realty: Selling the Past and Future of the High Country
Story by Sam Calhoun
One of the most vibrant economic components of the High Country is its bustling real estate market. In the early 1980s, less than 200 individuals in the region were REALTORS; today, that number is above 650.
John Davis, owner and broker of Banner Elk Realty, has had a front row seat to this dramatic increase and has watched the local market go through many phases and trends. This year, he celebrates his 26th year as Banner Elk Realty.
Davis is a Boone local—once removed. He lived in Boone from age 6 months to 6 years old “on Faculty Street Extension back in the old days,” he explained. After a short hiatus in Murfreesboro, NC, for his middle and high school days, and with an M.S. degree from Wake Forest University and a short stint in the Navy, Davis returned to Boone to attend ASU in 1974.
He earned his master’s degree there in recreation management and after graduating in 1975, spent the winter atop Beech Mountain running ski rentals for Fred Pfohl.
In 1977, Davis, using his degree in recreation management, opened the Elkhorn Company in the location of today’s Dunn’s Deli near the intersection in Banner Elk. It was an outdoor outfitters, similar to a smaller Footsloggers, that sold backpacking supplies, ski clothing, boots and the like.
But after three years, “I realized that if I wasn’t there I had to pay somebody to be there, and if I had to pay somebody to be there, there was no profit. I realized I needed to do something different,” Davis said.
So in 1979, Davis closed the doors of Elkhorn. After a short stint in a remodeling business, he decided to get his real estate license in 1980 and joined the team of Banner Elk Realty—a team that had been selling houses in the region since 1972.
In the early days, Davis couldn’t specialize in locations because the market was much smaller; he used to travel from Spruce Pine to Blowing Rock.
“I was doing anything and everything,” said Davis.
But that all changed in 1982. The market was about to explode, and Davis had just purchased Banner Elk Realty. He was now the principal owner and broker with a partner, Carroll “C.B.” Williams.
Unfortunately, Williams was killed soon after by lightning as he was trimming Christmas trees and the business was left in Davis’s hands.
What is Davis’s view of the High Country real estate market?
“It’s changed a tremendous amount,” said Davis. “Suffice it to say that the real estate market is a cyclical market just like everything else. We have seen nice runs, nice top ends of the market. We have also seen downturns—I’ve seen two in my years. The market is very good right now. I expect it will stay good because this area is very attractive, although it is a cyclical market and one of these days we’re going to see it turn again, just like it always has.”
“In my estimation, the last three to three and a half years has been a time of the most appreciation, the fastest appreciation, the most explosive growth—not only in our area, but in many areas around the country,” said Davis. “Now the mid-1980s was good, but this has been even greater.”
Before the current market conditions, Davis believes that the last “very good time” in High Country real estate with “explosive growth” was 1983, 1984 and 1985. “There was lots of activity, lots of interest,” he said. From 1986 to 1990, however, he said the market experienced a slowdown.
During that slowdown, Banner Elk Realty gradually trimmed its staff from six full-time brokers to eventually just Davis and his wife Carolyn. Davis moved to a smaller space and made major cuts on overhead.
“I realized it was a whole lot easier to run the business by myself and a lot less trouble. There were a lot less administrative problems, managerial problems, and I could do what I like to do best which is meeting the people and helping them find property,” he said.
He assumed all the duties of the business. From day-to-day activities to advertising, from showing the property to listing the property, from doing all the office work to handling closings, Davis took on a heavy load that he still bears today—of course, with the help of Carolyn who handles bookkeeping while also working as the City Executive Branch Manager for Mountain Community Bank.
And with all this, Davis still found time to give back to his community. Over the past two decades, Davis has been a board member of the Avery-Watauga Association of Realtors, a town council member in Banner Elk, a board member of the Avery-Banner Elk Chamber of Commerce and a board member for both the Avery County Tourism Development Authority and the Banner Elk Tourism Development Authority. He has also served on the board of Avery County Habitat for Humanity.
“I’ve tried to give back, tried to be civic minded, tried to be involved with the changes that are going on and the decisions that had to be made over the years,” he said. “There are people who have lived here longer than I have and who have been more involved than I have, but I’m happy with my level of involvement.
“But I’ve enjoyed it all—from the smallest little place that was somebody’s first home up to the million plus properties in some of the gated neighborhoods,” said Davis who has sold everything from $10,000 lots to houses that cost over $1 million.
“It’s an area of expertise that I have really enjoyed. I really enjoy helping people find the most important and biggest investment many will ever make, so it’s very important to me that I do it right. I’m very happy to get most of my business from repeat business and referrals and personal word-of-mouth referrals. I’m very gratified by that,” he added.
“I still enjoy helping people with all aspects of real estate, although now, I’m much busier in the Banner Elk area handling everything still. From large acreage tracks to residential, I can help people with anything, but I stay closer to home now because it’s much busier in the Banner Elk, Sugar Mountain, Beech Mountain, Elk River, Linville Ridge, Valle Crucis area.
“The real estate business, like any economic endeavor, is a double-edged sword. You have the good things that transpire from real estate development and you have some bad things, unfortunately. Some people don’t do developments as neatly as they should. They don’t follow rules and regulations as they should and, unfortunately, some of the developments don’t end up looking as nice as they should. That’s why I’m very happy that Banner Elk has a very good zoning ordinance that has been in place for many years and we have been able to help control some of the growth and keep it more aesthetically pleasing, keep it safer, etc., “ he continued. “With no thought to the future, all of a sudden we might be causing people who want to come up here for the natural beauty to decide to go someplace else. So we want to be very careful about how we do the development, in my mind.”
Even though the market has been very strong for the past three years, Davis expects an adjustment in the market soon, or a “cooling period,” when middle- to low-income families may have a better chance to live where they work—a trend that Davis admits would be nice to see take hold.
“During periods of highest appreciation, it’s almost like a feeding frenzy; everyone wants their piece and will jump in and they’re paying top dollar, but that’s not all the time,” said Davis.
But no matter what the market does, Davis will be doing what he enjoys best—helping others with selling and buying real estate. His modus operandi is simple: “It’s very, very important to listen. If you don’t listen to what your prospective buyers want, it’s very difficult to help them find what they need. You have to be a good listener to help people find what they want.”
John Davis’s Banner Elk Realty is located at 415 Shawneehaw Avenue (PO Box 336) in Banner Elk, next to the Red Caboose. For more information, call 828-898-9756 or click to www.bannerelkrealty.com.
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