The Year In Review 2023

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Rodrigo Afanador

Rodrigo Afanador

Rodrigo Afanador founded Asheville Cash Buyers in 2012, since that time he has been part of 100's of transactions in the Asheville area. He is a past President of the CREIA (Carolina Real Estate Investors Association), a non-profit education group for real estate investors. Rodrigo is also the host of the Who Is Asheville podcast; a podcast about the people, business, and ideas that make up Asheville.

Rodrigo has primarily focused his marketing efforts on direct mail and SEO/PPC. Although, he did build his business through cold calling before multiline dialers were common. In 2021 Rodrigo sent out over 55,000 pieces of mail. From his PPC/SEO efforts he generated just over 100 leads.

Craig Peters

Craig Peters

Craig, a native of Philadelphia, PA, is a 1991 graduate of LaSalle University and moved to Asheville in 2000 following a career as a casino marketing executive with Harrah’s Entertainment.

A seasoned business operator and sales professional, he has spent much of his time managing and consulting in the hospitality industry.

As investor relations specialist and loan originator, Craig is responsible for expanding ALFIE's reach between the Asheville and Upstate SC markets.

When he isn't working, Craig, the father of two wonderful teenagers, Kayla and Eric, can be found mountain biking, running, and hiking the trails of WNC.

Zacory Ruiz

Zacory Ruiz

Zac is the author of the Ruiz Report, the most widely read real estate market report in Western NC, and he is the founder of remc - real estate mission control. remc is dedicated to revolutionizing how data-driven real estate is done with their industry leading Agent Performance Management system (look up any agent in CanopyMLS's report card here!).

He's also a local broker, landlord, a real estate investor, and he's happy to share his expertise on all sorts of things you shouldn't do from his adventures in DIY home renovations.

Zac has lived many lives - he was a Marine Infantry Sgt with two tours to Iraq, he spent some time on Capitol Hill with Florida International University's Office of Federal Relations, and he had a fast-but-furious career at JPMorgan's investment bank in NYC before going all-in on entrepreneurship.

Since making the leap he's started a business in the short-lived temporary gold foil tattoo industry with the artists from Miami Ink ("it was a good idea at the time!"), designed, patented and produced a product in the plastic mold injection industry, and put his experience to work for others as a business consultant for clients ranging from realtors/brokerages to yoga studios to weighing solutions resellers.

Every step along the way made it increasingly clear to him that data and automation were the keys to any business' success at scale, so he began programming in 2019 and now focuses exclusively on real estate technology.

Jon Sarver

Jon Sarver

Jon arrived in Asheville in 1989 to attend Warren Wilson College. Jon is the Principal Broker and Owner of Sarver Realty Group LLC, established in 2005 as a vibrant boutique firm dedicated to client satisfaction and integrity.

Jon has brokered over $75 Million in commercial and residential real estate in his career. Recently, Jon assembled a series of historic buildings with an eye to preserving the character of traditional Asheville.

Jon is an avid cyclist and runner and he and his wife Amanda, who works as a property manager, have three children.

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