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March can be a month full of sunshine, blooming flowers, and rainbows. It can also be a month surrounded by white snow, sledding, and icy mornings. Whether you’re sipping a sweet tea on the green grass or having a hot coffee in your cozy cabin kitchen, March is beautiful in the North Carolina High Country.
We really enjoyed participating in Blowing Rock’s annual WinterFest in January. Our firm was a sponsor of the ‘Ice Stroll’ and proudly displayed a skier ice sculpture (which didn’t last long in the sunshine, but was very pretty while it lasted) in front of our office for festival-goers to admire. The festival offered food, drink, fun, and even a Polar Plunge in Chetola Lake – for those who were brave enough! Consider joining us next year if you’ve never been to Blowing Rock’s WinterFest, and please see below for photos of some of the highlights from this year’s festivities!
Thank you,
Happy Fall everyone! Our agents have decided to share some of their favorite pieces of real estate advice, and a fantastic recipe for a homemade pumpkin spice latte. Each agent here at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Vincent Properties is knowledgeable, experienced, and ready to help you through today’s hectic market. Below you will find very valuable information that will help you regardless of whether you are in the process of buying or selling. Our agents have left small bits of advice that range from what lenders to use, to how to approach today’s market.If you have any more questions, please feel free to stop by or give us a call!
Now that you have read some great pieces of advice from our fantastic agents, we hope you feel more prepared regardless of where you are in your real estate journey. Now enjoy the Fall season by making your own homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte! The recipe listed below is our personal favorite,
and we hope you enjoy it!
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Vincent Properties is excited to announce that our front office recently had a makeover! We are thankful to Ashe County artist Alfredo Martinez for our beautiful new desks, and Vincent Properties is also sporting a new window display with light-up panels. We are grateful to have been able to update our office and elevate it with rustic and contemporary details. It’s still a work in progress, so stay tuned for the journey!
We still have a blank wall that needs some decor! What should we put here? Message us with your best ideas!
September 28th, 2020 is ‘National Be a Good Neighbor Day.’ Here in the High Country, we take great strides to be a united community, and that starts with being a good neighbor. Having healthy relationships with those around you can make your living situation better, and life happier. Although
You can create a healthy relationship by connecting with your neighbors. The best way to do this is to start by introducing yourself first to seem friendly and approachable. One way to do this is by bringing over a goody basket. This is a great practice to start especially when someone new moves in. This will help your new neighbor feel welcome. Being involved in your local community is a great way to connect with your neighbors. Try attending neighborhood meetings or events.
Another great way to connect with neighbors is by inviting them to your social events for a chance to get to know them better. When hosting social events always try to be respectful to your neighbors even if they were not invited. When having guest park be sure they never block a neighbors driveway, road, or cars. You should always keep the noise level of your gatherings down especially late at night. If a neighbor does ask you to quiet down try not to argue or get defensive. It is best to apologize and try to keep the noise level down.
You want to avoid being the house that “drags the neighborhood down” by keeping a clean and appealing look to your home. Doing so will help the whole neighborhood look better. This can be done by always maintaining curb appeal. Click here to see some of our tips on curb appeal!
It is always good to practice being a good neighbor to those around you! Live somewhere you are happy with not only your own home but your surroundings. Here at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Vincent Properties, we can help you find the perfect neighborhood to fit your needs.
Image 1- Image by David Mark from Pixabay
Image 2- Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay
Can you smell it in the air? Or have you seen the little pops of color in the trees? That dirty 4 letter word that starts with F. YES Ladies & Gents I mean Fall- is on it’s way! Now, don’t get me wrong, Fall, ahem, Autumn is a colorful time of year, and as one of the capitals of “Leafin’ Season”, the High Country is proud to be an authority on all things “Fall”. We love the array of colors, that spread across the tree tops, plus the tasty treats with pumpkin spice, nutmeg, and everything nice. As it starts to cool down, we can all gather around campfires to stay cozy with no pesky bugs nibbling on you and who can forget- S’MORES?
If you are a homeowner though, Autumn is a transition point from Summer to getting ready for Winter. What do you need to do to make sure the house looks nice and being well maintained? Below are 10 fall updates for your home that will not break the bank, typically will only take a few minutes of your time, and make you rest easy when it comes to your property.
Having a roof over your heard is one of the main reason you bought a house! Make sure that it stays in shape by making sure it is ready to handle the heavy weight and moisture in the coming months. Furthermore, you need to check your gutters. Clogged gutters lead to bad irrigation around your property’s foundation. To take care of both of these, it is as simple as climbing up on a ladder and visually examining both the gutters and shingles. If your roof is not to steep, you can cautiously walk on your roof to make sure there are not any weak spots or missing shingles, especially around your chimney.
Not comfortable with getting on a ladder? Or perhaps you already know there is a soft spot in your shingles? Then give our office a call, we can connect you with a local Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Vincent Properties approved Handyman or construction service.
Great one to share with kids! After collecting all your old fabric scraps, take a quick nature walk to gather as many different shaped leaves- or download a stencil. Using a fusible paper and iron, make stiff fabric squares. Once the fabric is not bendy, trace the leaves onto the fabric, and cut out the leaf shapes. Use bright embroidery thread around the edges to give it a more “handy” feel. For ornaments, use a short piece of string, pierce the leaf either from the bottom (stem) or one of the points, and make a loop. Hang from windows and door knobs for a nice accents.
To make a garland, use a longer piece of string, and again, pierce the leaf where desired, but make to put a little knot to keep the leaf in place on the string (like a bead). String and hang up in door ways or on stair railings!
Photo by Andrew McCaul
These filters are an integral parts to the functioning systems in your home. If they are clogged or damaged the machines may not work properly or cause a fire hazard! If you are unsure what kind or size of filters to get, simply pull out the old filter and snap a picture of the specs with your phone. Show the picture to service rep at your local construction supply store or Lowe’s/Home Depot.
For your furnace, it a good idea to take a vacuum hose to your heat vents and their openings in each room of your house-especially if you have furry pups like we do!
With your dehumidifiers, make sure that your drainage pipes are cleared and insulated for cooler temps. If your humidifiers have been in storage, make sure to disinfect the tank before you use them.
Iris, Tulip, Daffodil, Hyacinth, and Lilies are great bulb flowers that you can plant this fall, and will grow on their own the coming sprin. Yay for low maintenance! BUT-make sure to plant them BEFORE the ground freezes. Oh- for all our foodie readers- don’t forget the garlic!
You aren’t going to be needing the weed-whacker, garden hoes, and lawn mower when the ground is covered in snow. But these hefty (and expensive) tools need to be stored properly. Click Here for 3 Easy Winterization Steps for your Lawn Mower. In turn you need to make sure that your snow shovels, snow blowers, and ground salt are accessible and fueled up.
As I said before, pumpkin spice and everything nice! Nothing beats walking into a home with an incredible smell! There are many ways you can achieve good smells- candles, oil burners, and plug-ins- but my favorite goes down a more genuine route. BAKING! Click here to read up on some great baking recipes that all feature…you guessed it.. PUMPKIN!
Maintain the efficiency and safety of your hot water heater by cleaning sediment from the tank. You will need: A bucket, Plumber’s tape, Rags, and Slip Join Pliers. Learn the step by steps by clicking here!
You didn’t really think I would forget these guys did ya? Pumpkins are the staple of Autumn decor! Did you know most Christmas Tree Farms double as Pumpkin patches? The vines pumpkins help protect the Christmas Tree as they grow. One of my favorite pumpkin patches is Frosty’s Christmas Tree Farm in Ashe County. They make picking out your pumpkins a fun, family event! Many other local produce stand will carry pumpkins in an array of sizes so you can adorn your porch steps, dinning room table and mantle! Is it too early to get excited for Jack-o-lanterns?
As the cooler temperatures come rolling in, we hope you and your home stay cozy and safe. We hope that you find these to will be helpful and maybe even a few of them to be fun! Please remember, Vincent Properties is here to lend a helpful hand for whatever life may bring and would love for the opportunity to be your neighbor, so feel free to give us a call! Happy Fall Y’all!
828-295-0700 | info@bhhsvp.com
Team Henderson and Perry would like to thank all of our past clients for sharing their kind thoughts. It was a pleasure getting to know you and getting to share our passion for the High Country.
If you would like to learn more about Team Henderson and Perry, please click here.
We had the pleasure of working with Vickie and Ben on the purchase of our second home in Banner Elk. Their professionalism, attention to detail, and follow through was outstanding. I would highly recommend them to anyone who wants to buy or sell a property in the High Country.
-Kay Y
Vickie did an excellent job in marketing and selling our house. As anxious sellers, Vickie was a very good listener and addressed various questions and concerns that we had. We had a significant number of showings and she made sure the house was effectively presented. Overall, we were pleased with the job Vickie did in selling our house.
-Bob and Kathy W
I am so grateful to Ben and Vicki for hanging in there and helping me through some rough patches while trying to sell an old house in need of repairs. Their support and many suggestions helped me navigate a long and winding road to the sale. They were both professional and caring.
-Julie S
As first-time home buyers, Vickie was interested and knowledgeable, plus offered both encouragement and advice to get us into our forever home. We could not have done it without her! In addition to her hard work, she is just so friendly and pleasant to home-search with!
-Jamie N
My wife and I were first-time home buyers. Vickie helped make this process so much easier, especially during a pandemic. She advised us of specific things we were unaware of, offered encouragement and a gentle perspective, and made sure we were happy with our final decision. We are very pleased with her knowledge and assistance and it led us to our forever home!
-Michael N
Ben could not have been friendlier or more accommodating. We came down from Maine and so had limited time to offer him, but he scheduled things so that we were able to see everything that we wanted to see. He knows the area very well and was able to give us a great sense of life in Boone and the surrounding towns.
-Cristy M
Ben Henderson was wonderful to work with, he was diligent, always accommodating, and basically held my hand through the whole process. Ben is a kind, delightful, extremely hard-working man and I can’t praise him highly enough.
-Adrienne F
Mrs. Perry was an exceptional agent.
-Edith P
Ben was very helpful when I was trying to sell my rental doublewide. He found contractors to improve the property and provided advice about the paperwork involved. I greatly appreciate his help and am very glad the sale went thru so smoothly.
-Linda L
I found Ben by calling about a property that we were interested in. I quickly knew that he was the realtor for me. He was friendly, kind, and knew everyone and everything about the area. But why wouldn’t he? He’s lived in the area for 40 plus years! Little did I know, his teammate, Vickie, made this experience twice as good!!! She is smart, detail oriented, and has never met a stranger. Their teamwork allows for work to be done at twice the speed. I HIGHLY recommend them to help you with your home search. The knowledge they have about houses and the people they know in that area, make buying a home or property a fun process!!! They truly just want to help. I will be recommending them to anyone and everyone that is looking in the HIGH COUNTRY. 🙂
-Dana and Thomas Q
I had been looking six months for property in the NC mountains. When the time came to look at a few I had selected in Ashe County, Vickie was the right agent to call. She and Ben know the area, are very professional, and are easy to talk and work with. After viewing 3 properties I was ready to leave empty handed. Were it not for Vickie’s determination I would have missed seeing the property I eventually purchased. From showing to closing, Vickie and Ben helped me every step of the way. With their team approach, they referred me to a good home inspector, engineer, surveyor, closing attorney, and even to the roofing company that re-roofed the house. I am extremely happy with my purchase and my experience with the two of them as buyers’ agents. I look forward to working with them in the near future with some land matters in that area.
-Tony S
My husband and I had a wonderful experience with Team Henderson and Perry. They made us feel so welcome when we met in the office. They answered any and every question we had without hesitation. They were extremely responsive to our calls, texts, and emails. They made out entire experience pleasant and stress free. I would highly recommend their team to anyone!
-Lori I
We are honored to share our passion for the NC High Country and the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains with you.
We strive to be at the pulse of our community and be a friendly, informative neighbor.
If you are thinking about buying or selling property in the mountains, or in need for a recommendation for a good handyman or plumber, we are here as your concierge for whatever life may bring.
Soon we will be shedding our winter coats, flowers will start to bud, and we’ll see the green leaves creep up the mountainside. Observing nature start anew is refreshing and shows us how truly delicate it can be. Did you know the Appalachian Mountains are technically a temperate rainforest? This makes our eco-system multifaceted and truly unique. Our firm Vincent Properties is dedicated to the preservation of our beautiful surrounding mountains, meadows, and rivers. We would love your help! Here are some easy ways to ‘Go Green for Spring.’
Bamboo is an incredible resource that is flexible, durable, and can be used in many ways. Growing an incredible 3 feet per day, this renewable resource is great for making paper towels, toilet paper, flooring, and various composting plastics. Furthermore, the production of bamboo creates only 1/3 the carbon footprint versus its traditionally used counterparts such as trees. This makes bamboo an environmentally friendly substitute from sprout to finish.
Over 20% of carbon emissions come from landfills and food waste is one of the most impactful. You can help tackle this problem from home! Try investing in a compost waste bin or by installing a garbage disposal in your sink to grind up organic materials. By adding a disposal to your system, many enzymes in food will help break down other wastes found in your septic system. New age compost bins, such as the Vitamix FoodCycler, can easily break down a week’s worth of food waste into homemade fertilizer in less than 24 hours with no looming odors.
As you may have heard, the bee population is in great need of our help! The bee’s ability to pollinate plants affects many different eco-systems. This, in turn, influences many different forms of life, including us. The easiest way to help bees is to avoid harmful pesticides in your gardens. Bees tend to be a little OCD, focusing on one kind of flower at a time. Therefore, you can assist them by grouping your garden with similar blooms and allowing plenty of space between your flower beds. In addition, most species of bees live in the ground so having an area that is not often disturbed will help the bees create more habitats.
This is the golden rule of being an outdoorsman, and it is a rule we highly encourage. When you find yourself among the trees in the next few months, hiking or visiting parks. Please only take photos and do not take pieces of the forest with you. That could be some little critter’s home or food source! The exception to this rule is if you find trash or obvious non-native articles. It may seem unpleasant to pick it up, but please be a good steward of the earth and dispose of trash properly. Which brings us to the second part of that motto- please leave no trace of your visit, only your footprints!
So, there you have it, folks. Try incorporating these 4 simple tips into your routine and make the High Country a little greener. To quote the superhero Caption Planet “The power is yours”! For further questions on how to be green at home click here to download “The Eco-Friendly Home Checklist” by Conscious Abode. If you want more information on how Vincent Properties can use their real estate superpowers to help you in the sale of your property, please do not hesitate to call.
Banner Image by DreamyArt from Pixabay
Earth Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images form Pixabay
Panda Image by wal_172619 from Pixabay
Bee Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
There are many reasons to love the NC High Country; whether it be the scenery, community, or events- there is something for everyone. At Vincent Properties, the NC High Country is our driving passion for why we work in real estate. Since February is all about sharing the love, our agents thought they’d share their reason for loving the NC High Country.
Jay Vincent enjoys the High Country because it is a caring and involved community, describing it as “Small town USA, you know the people and they know you.” Jay is part of several different organizations in the community, such as the Western Youth Network (WYN), The Hunger Coalition, and the Watauga Humane Society. Jay particularly loves the work conducted by the Western Youth Network, which strives to positively impact at-risk youth in Watauga County. Their mission statement “is to transform our High Country community by nurturing and empowering our children so that they live HEALTHY, ENGAGED and FULFILLED LIVES.” By providing mentoring, after school, summer camp, and high school success/college training programs, WYN has helped raise our community for over 30 years.
At Vincent Properties, we not only love to help people but also animals. Jay and our office sponsor animals through the Watauga County Humane Society often!
When he isn’t working diligently as an NC Realtor® Josh Honeycutt is the Watauga High School soccer coach. His favorite thing about the High Country is our school system. Watauga County has an excellent school system, they are ranked in the Top 10 School Districts in North Carolina by Niche. The Watauga County School District was named an Accomplished District by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standard. If you are looking to raise kids in the High Country, our school systems should exceed your expectations. With great accomplishments, comes great opportunities! For instance, Blowing Rock Chamber of commerce provided funds to Blowing Rock Elementary School for a 3D printer. The 3D printer club has become an outstanding program for students. They even took home second place at the Annual Digital Design Manufacturing Competition. For more information on the 3D Printer Club, check out the article on the Watauga Democrat.
Since having her second child, Lindsay Pinckney’s favorite thing about The High Country is the family fun activities. Her favorite place, or really, her eldest son’s favorite place is Tweetsie Railroad. This is a local amusement park that opened in 1957 and has since become a staple of the High Country. The western-themed amusement park boasts fun activities for the whole family, such as Diamond Lil Can-Can Dancers, magic shows, gem mining, a petting zoo, arcade, wide selection of rides, and the famous Wild West Adventure train ride. The High Country is packed full of adventures for kids (or the young at heart), Mystery Hill is best known for their Gravity Vortex! This is a room that defies the laws of gravity. No matter how hard you try to stand up straight you will be standing at a 45-degree angle. In the warmer months, Lindsey enjoys bringing her kids to play at the Blowing Rock or Valle Crusis Park. These are just some of the many attractions in The High Country, click here to see our Pinterest board filled more fun attractions for kids of all ages!
Our agent Frankie Lancaster’s favorite thing about The High Country is the music. In the High Country, you can find many exceptional bands, both local and touring musicians. Frankie likes to attend the various free summer concert series held in the local parks. Throughout one weekend, there are dozens of shows being offered at Blowing Rock Park, The Best Cellar, Valle Crucis Park, and The Jones House. Many restaurants in the area have music weekly which is perfect in the colder months. As a graduate of the Miriam Canon Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University, Frankie also likes to see the many inspirational artists that visit the ASU Schaefer Center. This cultural arts center has hosts many National and International musicians, bands, and other arts groups. Check out their upcoming calendar by clicking here.
As a dedicated outdoor lover, our agent Kelli Burleson and her pup Hutch’s favorite thing about the area is the beauty of the Blue Ridge mountains- from hiking trails, cruising Watauga Lake, or just visiting the many national parks for a picnic. Kelli’s favorite place to be is on the Blue Ridge Parkway, checking out her favorite trails such as Rough Ridge, Linville Falls, Moses Cone, Watauga Lake, and the Boone Fork Trail. If you are looking for exceptional views from an easy hike Rough Ridge is perfect for you, despite its name. The hike is less than a mile and offers views of Grandfather Mountain and the Linn Cove Viaduct. Looking for scenery with water? Linville Falls is just one of the many waterfalls in our area. The NC High Country such gorgeous views and hiking for hikers of all skill levels. To see more of Kelli’s adventures, click here to follow her Instagram page!
Seems like there is something for everyone in the NC High Country. Do you have a reason to love our area, or perhaps you are aching for a reason to explore? Come visit and fall in love, ’tis the season! Once you are hooked by cupid’s arrow, one of Vincent Properties award winning agents will be happy help you fall in love with a High Country Home !