Treehouse-Like Home in the Blue Ridge Mountains Burt Reynolds Owned at His Peak Hits the Market

When actor Burt Reynolds was filming what would become the 1972 hit “Deliverance,” he fell in love with the Georgia wilderness in which it was filmed.

The film would mark his breakthrough onto the big screen, after his tenure as a television star in Western shows like “Gunsmoke” and “Hawk,” and he became one of the most famous actors throughout the 1970s and ’80s

About a decade after “Deliverance,” at the peak of his career, he purchased a home in the Blue Ridge Mountains just across the border in Highlands, North Carolina, according to previous reporting.

The 1970s home was designed by modernist architect Jim Fox, whose signature blend of simplicity and flair can be seen in the home’s flared roofs, glossy wooden interiors and suspended wraparound deck.

The home, which has traded hands several times since Reynolds sold it in the 1990s, is now back on the market asking $3.699 million with Jody Lovell of Highlands Sotheby’s International Realty.

Located on a 0.9-acre lot on King Gap Road, the three-bedroom home stands within the Nantahala National Forest at the far edge of a subdivision, giving it unobstructed views of the surrounding forests and the blue mountain skyline.

The house is designed to integrate into the surrounding nature. Photo courtesy of Highlands Sotheby’s International Realty

The home looks like a cross between a tree house and a yacht, with curved wood-clad ceilings, wood-panelled walls and floors, and wooden built-in furniture. The prevalent wood is balanced by large glass windows and stone walls, including a double-height stone monolith that centres the home.

The uniquely shaped home features a main level, an upper level and a lower level. The main level includes the common spaces, including a sunken living room with a half-circular couch facing the stone fireplace and a large, wood-framed window wall that slants over the garage.

The lower level includes a games room, office, wine cellar and an extra stone bathroom that Reynolds’ then-wife Lori Anderson built for the actor, according to Lovell. There is still an inscription on a painted wall in the “man cave” that Anderson wrote for him, signed in 1991.

The house was designed by modernist architect Jim Fox. Photo courtesy of Highlands Sotheby’s International Realty

In the early 2000s, the owners at the time hired the Highlands-based Fox to add an expansion, including a terrace with a stone fireplace, a plunge pool and waterfall. That’s in addition to a wraparound deck that extends from the main level as if suspended over the mountains, surrounded by minimalist green railings.

The sellers, who couldn’t be reached for comment, purchased the property in July 2024 for $2.975 million, above the asking price, and after only a few days on the market. Due to unforeseen health issues, they are looking to unload it sooner than expected, Lovell said.

Highlands, located in the southwest corner of North Carolina, is a popular vacation spot in the South because of its surrounding natural beauty and milder mountain climate. Since the pandemic, it has received a surge of interest from further afield.

“Deliverance” was filmed in Rabun County, Georgia, the pointed northeastern of the state, which juts into North Carolina and borders South Carolina.

Australia’s housing crisis will not be solved by first-home buyer incentives or tax changes alone, with leading property figures warning governments must tackle supply constraints if affordability is to improve.

Speaking at the Kanebridge Quarterly Property Leadership Summit in Sydney last week, expert project marketing specialist Sam Elbanna, property investor and fund manager Paul Miron and property consultant Karla McNeice said that a lack of housing supply remained the central issue facing the market.

Elbanna, Director of CPM Realty with more than 30 years’ experience in project sales, argued that successive governments had focused too heavily on stimulating demand rather than addressing the barriers preventing new housing from being delivered.

“The misconception is that politicians think the way to solve the housing crisis is to drive demand,” he said.

“The reality is that’s not the way. This is a supply-side problem, and it needs to be solved on the supply side.”

Drawing on his experience in project sales, Elbanna said policies designed to help first-home buyers often had unintended consequences, pointing to previous grants that ultimately flowed through to higher property prices.

Instead, he said developers were facing increasing red tape, approval delays and rising costs, which were discouraging new housing supply.

“In the absence of stock, demand exceeds supply,” he said.

Miron, a Co-Founder and Fund Manager of Msquared Capital, said the housing debate had become overly focused on tax policy while overlooking broader structural issues.

He argued that affordability challenges stemmed from a combination of factors, including planning constraints, supply shortages, migration levels and interest rates.

“No-one can be 100 per cent certain on the real reason for property prices is going up,” he said.

“The reason why property prices are higher is a combination of interest rates, lack of supply, migration, vacancy rates and maybe taxes play a role.”

Miron was critical of recent federal housing policy changes, warning they could reduce the number of new homes being built and further constrain supply that was even highlighted in the budget.

He also highlighted the importance of the property sector to the broader economy, noting that residential real estate and related industries employed more than one million Australians.

McNeice, who advises developers on sales strategy and market intelligence, said understanding buyers had become increasingly important as affordability pressures intensified.

While affordability remained a major consideration, she said today’s buyers were focused on value rather than simply price.

“People are looking for value for money,” she said.

She said buyers were increasingly evaluating factors such as transport connections, walkability, nearby amenities and flexible living spaces that could accommodate changing family needs.

“What infrastructure is going on? Can I walk to the shops? Can I meet people at the local cafe?” she said.

The panel also discussed the mounting pressures facing developers, with Elbanna arguing that many projects become financially unviable from the moment a site is purchased.

“The viability of a development happens at the moment the site is bought,” he said.

He said rising construction costs, higher interest rates and overly optimistic feasibility assumptions had left some developers exposed as market conditions changed.

While acknowledging the growing number of smaller and first-time developers entering the market, Elbanna said property development required expertise across finance, construction, marketing and legal disciplines.

“It is actually a business that requires a level of expertise,” he said.

Looking ahead, the panel agreed opportunities remained in the market despite current challenges.

Miron said property should continue to be viewed as a long-term investment and cautioned against trying to time short-term market movements.

McNeice said success would increasingly depend on identifying projects that genuinely met changing buyer expectations.

Elbanna said affordable housing remained achievable, but developers needed to deliver more than just homes.

“We can provide affordable housing in this country,” he said.

“But we’ve got to wrap that affordable housing with the things that people want.”

As Australia’s housing affordability debate intensifies, the panellists agreed on one point: without a meaningful increase in housing supply, demand-side measures alone are unlikely to solve the nation’s property challenges.

Treehouse-Like Home in the Blue Ridge Mountains Burt Reynolds Owned at His Peak Hits the Market

The 1970s modernist residence in Highlands, North Carolina, is asking $3.699 million.

Australia’s housing affordability crisis is being fuelled by chronic undersupply, planning delays and rising development costs, as politicians continue to focus on the wrong solutions.