Answer Man: What happened with pricey West Asheville home? Reynolds Mountain light issue?

Today’s batch of burning questions, my smart-aleck answers and the real deal:

Question: About a year ago, you wrote about a home for sale in West Asheville that had at the time what seemed like an outrageous asking price, $525,000. What happened with that house? Did it sell?

My answer: Ah, let's all pause to reflect on those halcyon days of yore when a regular working person could aspire to buy a home in West Asheville for just a half a million clams.

Real answer: This was a home on Mildred Avenue that I featured in a Sunday column in April 2021, an eternity ago in the real estate world. The 1,800-square-foot home, advertised as an investment opportunity to be rented out, initially had an asking price of $545,000.

It had created quite a stir on social media, with many folks citing it as an example of West Asheville's overpriced housing market. It does seem a bit quaint now, especially in light of a story I did this week about another West Asheville bungalow, this one about 1,600 square feet, that recently sold for $775,000.

Property records indicate the home was transferred in September 2021 from grantors Dandridge David Giltz Jr. and Rachel Giltz to grantees DDG Real Estate LLC. But Danridge David Giltz Jr. is listed as a company official for DDG Real Estate, so it looks like they just created an LLC for the property.

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The registered agent for DDG Real Estate LLC is Patton Allen Property Management LLC on Haywood Road in West Asheville. The company manages rentals, and the basement apartment at 64 Mildred Ave. is listed as available for rent at $1,400 a month.

I'd noted last year that the basement was 722 square feet.

Hey, it's West Asheville, where everyone wants to be! At any rate, it looks like the owners decided not to sell but rather rent it out.

Question: My family and I live in a nice apartment complex in the Reynolds Village area of Woodfin, pretty quiet and well-maintained. I have an occupation that requires me to leave out in the early morning when it’s still dark, and the issue I’m having is with the lights in the resident parking area. They are street-lamp type lights with LED lighting, but there are three of them out in close proximity to the parking area. I’ve inquired to the property management, who are very aware and sympathetic of the situation, but they state that the lights are maintained by Duke Energy. The property staff maintain that they have contacted them on numerous occasions about the issue but they get no resolution. I was curious about a couple things: 1) Is this a result of the “Great Resignation” where Duke has a backlog of energy-related issues with no employees to handle them? 2) Does the apartment complex get some sort of credit on the bill I assume they pay for such lighting when it’s not operable? I know Duke likes to charge for non-existent subdivision lighting and such, at least the poles are here on this one, I guess.

My answer: You've got to admit that charging for non-existent services is a pretty brilliant business strategy. I'm starting up a new column, by the way, called "No Answer Man."  

Real answer: In that last sentence, the reader is referring to an Answer Man column I wrote last December about folks in a Leicester subdivisions who had been getting charged fees for electric street lights they never had. Duke rectified that situation.

On the Reynolds Village situation, Duke Energy spokesman Keith Richardson provided an answer.

"Our records showed no repair request for the complex based on the information provided," Richardson said via email. "The last record was for the installation of poles last year. However, the team has initiated a repair service order and has contacted the apartment complex management via their office voicemail."

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Regarding possible refunds, Richardson said, "Customers can request a refund if there is an existing repair order, and the work isn’t completed on time."

This is the opinion of John Boyle. To submit a question, contact him at 232-5847 or jboyle@citizen-times.com

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Answer Man: Pricey West Asheville home? Reynolds Village light issue?