“My first question isn’t what you want to buy. It’s how you want to live here.”
Alec CantleyWhat we do for buyers
Alec represents buyers across Western North Carolina: second homes, relocations and investments, and local buyers moving across town or downsizing.
Track record
More than $250 million in total sales and the top 1.5% of agents nationally (RealTrends Verified, 2026), with the Sotheby’s International Realty network behind every search.
Buying with AI research
Most buyers now arrive having already asked AI where to look, and the research is often good.
A tool can’t walk the lot, read the slope, or tell you which questions a property raises before you write an offer. You need a local expert, not a tour guide.
The process
The terrain writes the rules.
Every property in Western North Carolina presents different considerations, and our job is to make sure you know all of them. Alec grew up on construction sites and was running crews before he held a license, so he looks at the lot first and the finishes second.
Why you’re moving, the lifestyle you’re after, and your timing. Some buyers are relocating from another state. Others already live here and are moving across town or downsizing.
The agency agreement and your MLS portal, so listings that match your criteria reach you as they come on.
Most buyers start with Western North Carolina, narrow to a region, then to a community. Listings come matched to your criteria, with an education in the micro-markets along the way. Sometimes the right house in an unexpected area changes the plan.
What the market is doing shapes the structure and terms of an offer. Alec walks you through both before you sign.
Inspections, specialists and insurance, plus what this region asks of every property.
Slope, walls and zoning
Asheville and Buncombe County regulate steep-slope development: grading standards, ridge protections, and how a driveway can climb. Some lots can’t be built the way a rendering shows, and some homes sit on cut slopes and retaining walls that call for an engineer. We check slope and zoning early, and bring in geotechnical and structural specialists when a property needs them.
Water and trees
After Helene, some of the worst damage was nowhere near a mapped flood plain. Falling trees did much of it. So we look at both: flood history and elevation where water is the question, and tree health, root exposure and the slope above the house everywhere else.
Every inspection finds something. What matters is which items count and what they cost. Alec runs the negotiation. The team keeps every date and document on the way to the closing table.
The Sotheby’s Network
1,100
Offices worldwide
86
Countries & territories
26,000
Sales associates
Buyers find Western North Carolina from everywhere. The network is often how they find us first.
