There are a lot of real estate agents in the Asheville area. If you searched today, you'd find hundreds of licenses within a short drive of Asheville. So when people ask me what makes me different, I don't reach for a slogan. People should hire the agent, not the firm. I would take Bob from Bob's NC Realty over a big brand any day of the week if he's nice, has the experience, the customer service, and cares about helping me. 

I tell potential clients what I believe about service — and then I point them to what my clients say, because they describe it better than I can.

Here's what I believe, and what it actually looks like in practice.

When you hire me, you get me

Not a team. Not a call center. Not a junior agent you've never met showing up to your closing. I'm a solo broker and the Broker-in-Charge of NextHome Mountain Horizons, which means the person you interview is the person who prices your home, writes your offer, negotiates your contract, and picks up the phone if something goes sideways at 9 p.m. on a Friday.

I built my brokerage this way on purpose. Real estate is one of the largest financial decisions most people ever make, and I don't think that decision should be handed down a chain of assistants or coordinators. One client put it simply: with me, "you are in good hands" — and I work every day to keep that true.

I like to attend inspections — especially when you can't

This is the one that surprises people most, and it matters more here than almost anywhere. A large share of my buyers are purchasing from out-of-state from areas New York, Chicago, Florida, California, and overseas — relocating, buying a second home, or finding a vacation place in the mountains. They can't always fly in for a home inspection. So I go.

I walk the property with the inspector, ask the questions you'd ask, take photos and video, and get you on a call from the crawlspace if that's what it takes. One out-of-town buyer wrote that I "went above and beyond by being present for all of the inspections" she couldn't attend. To me that's not above and beyond — that's the job. In Western North Carolina, where homes come with wells, septic systems, steep driveways, and retaining walls, the inspection is the single most important day of your due diligence period. You deserve to have your own advocate physically standing there talking to the home inspector.

I answer the phone

Ask around about what frustrates people most about real estate agents, and you'll hear the same answer: they disappear. I've built my business on the opposite. My clients text and call at all hours, and I answer (whenever I can) — one reviewer mentioned getting responses at 11 p.m., and another said there was "never a time he did not answer". If it's late on a Friday and you have a question that's keeping you up, call me. I'd rather help you than sleep.

Communication isn't just speed, though. It's telling you what's happening before you have to ask. One couple wrote that whenever a new challenge came up, they found I was "already handling it" before they had to prompt me. That's the standard: you should never have to chase your agent.

I'll tell you the truth, even when it costs me a sale

I've told buyers not to buy houses. I've told sellers their price was wrong. I've pointed out the noisy road, the questionable retaining wall, and the septic permit that didn't match the bedroom count — on homes I was showing to my own clients. Out-of-town buyers lean on this the hardest: when you're purchasing from three states away, you need someone who will be, as one client wrote, "honest and forthcoming" about the areas, the property, and the market — not someone who tells you what closes the deal fastest so they can cash a check and move on.

My belief is simple: honesty costs me a commission occasionally, but it can earn me a client for life. The repeat clients prove it — one family has used me three times, from their first Asheville purchase to selling it to finding their forever home on a 132-year-old farmhouse with a VA loan. Another family just closed their sixth transaction with me.

I only work where I actually know

Some agents will drive two hours to any commission. I won't, and here's why: I don't believe an agent can deliver real service in a market they'd have to Google. I was born and raised in these mountains — I grew up in Marshall and I've lived in Weaverville for over twenty years — and I work Weaverville, Asheville, Marshall, Mars Hill, and the surrounding Western North Carolina communities every single week. I know which roads ice over, many coves that lose cell signal, and streets that flood in a heavy rain, and what a fair deal looks like in a specific area. That knowledge is the product. I won't sell you a watered-down version of it in a county I don't know.

What long-distance service actually looks like

Because relocation, second-home, and vacation-home buyers are such a big part of my work, I've built a process for buying well from far away:

Research. I learn from the buyers exactly what they are looking for. Once it is narrowed down to just a few homes, we set up a day or two for them to fly in and look at homes. 

Video-first touring. Sometimes I preview homes on live video and honest walkthrough recordings — including the flaws. I am not a home inspector, but if I see there is a brown stain on the bedroom ceiling...it's probably from a roof leak. 

Mountain due diligence, handled. Wells, septic permits, private road agreements, slopes, internet service at the actual address — I coordinate and attend the inspections, gather the documents, and translate what they mean.

Local contacts that outlast the closing. Inspectors, attorneys, contractors, and the person who can fix the thing nobody else can figure out. One second-home buyer wrote that I helped him "negotiate a better price" and connected him with local contacts — and that I was available every time he called.

One efficient trip. Most of my long-distance clients do the bulk of the search remotely and fly in once for a focused tour. Some have bought with full confidence without visiting at all — because by closing day, they'd seen more of the house through me than most local buyers see in person. I don't like to do it by video alone, because the buyers don't get a complete feel of the property and the area from video alone. 

Service doesn't end at the closing table

My favorite reviews aren't about the transaction. They're about afterward — the client I helped after closing to make sure she had everything she needed, the new homeowner baffled by an electronic door lock who found me on her porch fixing it without being asked. When you buy or sell with me, you're not a file that closes. You're a neighbor now. That's the whole point of the tagline I put on everything: Let's get you home — and home doesn't stop mattering when the paperwork is done.