Mountaintop home near Travelers Rest lists for nearly $5M | Greenville Real Estate Special Coverage

On the outside, there’s the hand-chipped stone exterior that would look perfectly at home in a European forest. Walking through the front doors, there’s a graceful floating staircase surrounded by warm wood detailing. And out the back patio—well, then there’s that view.

Indeed, for all the elegance and craftsmanship built into the residence at 15 Hidden Mountain Way in the Cliffs Valley community near Travelers Rest, the view still manages to steal the show. Perched on over four acres, the mountaintop home built in 2005 offers commanding views of surrounding hilltops and the North Saluda Reservoir below.

The price for that kind of view with your morning coffee? A cool $4.995 million, according to Cliffs Realty, which is listing the home.

That’s a hefty price even for Cliffs Valley, a gated golf community which has seen several sales of around $2 million recently, including the $2.1 million closing of a 7,200-square-foot home at 2,400 feet of elevation in September of 2021.

But the five-bedroom, eight-bath Hidden Mountain Way home ups the ante with four floors, seven HVAC units, and six fireplaces, according to the listing, foremost among them a double-sided masonry soapstone fireplace in the great room.

The residence also features a guest home above the garage—indeed, with its own fireplace—while the main home also includes a whole-home generator and water filter system, an elevator shaft, and a steel structure beneath the wood and stone exterior. Furnishings convey with a few exceptions. Ashleigh Connel of Cliffs Realty is the listing agent.

Keowee sale ranks No. 2 in Oconee

Prices on both sides of Lake Keowee continue to escalate, with one recent transaction marking the second-biggest sale on the lake’s Oconee County shore.

The 5,935-square-foot home at 165 Ridge Top Lane in the Cliffs at Keowee Falls sold recently for $3.95 million, according to Oconee County records. Among sales on Lake Keowee’s Oconee County shoreline, the transaction is eclipsed only by the closing of 207 Sunrise Pointe near Salem, which went in 2021 for $4.2 million.

Built in 2007, the Ridge Top Lane home sits on 3.92 acres and features 750 feet of shoreline, according to the listing. The interior includes three stone fireplaces, vaulted ceilings with wood beams, a 1,790-bottle capacity wine room, two laundry rooms and a nine-seat home theatre. The dock and pierhead includes a 10,000-pound capacity boat lift.

Jex to direct construction at Hartness

The Hartness community on the Eastside of Greenville has announced the promotion of Andy Jex to director of construction.

Jex joined Hartness in August of 2021, bringing over 20 years of project leadership experience. Previously, he had specialized in construction project management for various clients throughout the Midlands of South Carolina.

He has also served as project manager and builder at Toll Brothers, where he oversaw the design, implementation, and completion of up to 50 projects simultaneously. Jex earned his bachelor of science degree in public administration from Eastern Michigan University, and a master’s degree from Georgia Southern University.

NAI Earle Furman welcomes interns

The Greenville-based commercial real estate firm NAI Earle Furman recently welcomed 15 interns to its family of companies, which operate in Columbia and the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina in addition to the Upstate.

NAI Earle Furman’s internship program offers college students and recent graduates an in-depth perspective on the many facets of the commercial real estate business. During the eight-week program, interns are involved in educational sessions, site tours, and hands-on activities led by seasoned brokers and staff covering a wide range of topics including sales, leasing, site selection, property management, project management, prospecting, marketing and more.

The goal of the internship program is to give students the opportunity to gain valuable applied experience in commercial real estate and to help them make connections in the field as they consider their career path.

Pending sales creep higher in May

Pending home sales crept higher in May, ending a six-month streak of declines, according to the National Association of Realtors. Regionally, month-over-month results were mixed as the Northeast and South experienced increases while the Midwest and West posted decreases. Year-over-year contract activity slid in all four major regions.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings, inched up 0.7 percent to 99.9 in May. Year-over-year, transactions dropped 13.6 percent. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.

“Despite the small gain in pending sales from the prior month, the housing market is clearly undergoing a transition,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Contract signings are down sizably from a year ago because of much higher mortgage rates.”

According to NAR, at the median single-family home price and with a 10 percent down payment, the monthly mortgage payment has increased by about $800 since the beginning of the year as mortgage rates have climbed by 2.5 percentage points since January.