SPARTA REAL ESTATE-ALLEGHANY REAL ESTATE-NC MOUNTAIN REAL ESTATE

As their traditional economies decline, Northwest North Carolina's mountain communities look to new ways of making a living. For most of them, that means finding ways to take advantage of the beautiful views and laid-back pace - while retooling their economies for a future built on tourism and development.

Over the last year or so, builders have approached county officials with plans to develop more than 500 acres into nearly as many lots. That's a 50 percent increase from two years ago.

Most of those lots are intended for vacation homes.

"It's a fairly easy way to import money from outside your economy," says Richard Crepeau, an Appalachian State University geographer and a member of Boone's board of adjustment.

Alleghany planning officials say that 18 major subdivisions are being built right now. Those developments have the possibility to bring as many as 1,347 new homes.

The demand for land and the rise in prices has been accompanied by a property revaluation set to take effect in 2007. Appraisers looked at a number of factors including land sales, which varied from $2,000 an acre to $15,000 or more.

And like it or not, the developers and vacation homeowners coming into Alleghany are building the tax base, Presnell said.

"You get people coming in. They want nice restaurants. They want nice motels. They want places to shop, and that provides another whole industry. They need someone to mow their yard. They need help cleaning their house. One thing feeds off another one," Presnell said. "The complexion of the county is changing. I look at this as one of those things that we have an opportunity to progress, and progress is never without pain."

"I think we are definitely moving more toward an economy that is dependent on people who visit the community and people who are part-time residents," he said.

Tourism generated more than $16.8 million in spending last year in Alleghany County, and it increased at a pace greater than the state as a whole.