Alabama's in the House!

Jack Luber, Executive Director

Greetings and salutations!

Gulf Coast Keyholders of Gulf Shores, Alabama, has gained Accredited Member status in the NHWA.

Founder and owner Martha Kilborn Howard is a 25-year permanent resident of Gulf Shores and lifelong South Alabama native. Martha retired after nearly 30 years of service as a nationally recognized educator in Alabama’s public schools. She is committed to public service, involved in the life of the community and continually concerned with the safety and success of the area she calls home.

Martha and her family have held keys to neighboring houses for many years, watching the homes, answering security alarms, and reporting property conditions to owners. During this time, Martha and her husband, Wayne, acquired and renovated several older Gulf Shores homes. After retirement in 2006, Martha began managing her own vacation properties and recognized that other second home owners needed a local advocate watching their properties while they were away.

As Gulf Coast Keyholders, she and co-owner Walter C. Brewer believe in higher standards, expanded, flexible work hours, and the ability to respond quickly, personally and efficiently to clients’ needs. Walt brings to the business a background in both the boating industry and home and ground maintenance. He became interested in Home Watch after his in-law’s summer home’s new roof leaked, unnoticed, for months. They lost an entire season to mold remediation and renovation. Now working together, Martha and Walt serve coastal Alabama, providing Home Watch and related services to absentee owners and seasonal residents who don’t want to leave their homes alone.

In the Central Alabama Lake Area, Walt’s father, Richard W. Brewer, manages GCK’s Home Watch services. A 1969 University of Alabama graduate, Rick played football under the late Coach Bear Bryant and proudly wears a 1965 National Championship ring. Rick comes to Gulf Coast Keyholders with more than 20 years of experience in home inspection.

We had the pleasure of meeting all three Gulf Coast Keyholders at our Second Annual North American Conference in September.

 

Martha Kilborn Howard

 

Walt Brewer

 

Rick Brewer

Gulf Coast Keyholders serves South Baldwin County, Alabama as well as the Central Alabama lake regions. They can be reached at gulfcoastkeyholders@gmail.com or (251) 55-5601. You can visit their website at www.GulfCoastKeyholders.com.

Welcome, Martha, Walt, and Rick!

As always, I wish you
Much success,

Jack

Property Watch of the Lowcountry of Savannah, GA, joins the NHWA!

Jack Luber, Executive Director

Greetings and salutations!

Property Watch of the Lowcountry of Savannah, Georgia, has has earned accredited Member Status in the NHWA.

PWLC was founded by President Heather Bink, who is a full-time resident of the Lowcountry and has been involved in managing and maintaining property since 1993. Having renovated several properties, converting them to residential and commercial rentals in Savannah’s landmark historic district, she knows what it takes to keep a property functional and looking its best. Heather has owned and managed vacation rental properties at Savannah’s Tybee Island, as well as a second home in the mountains of North Carolina.

Heather has worked for many years in the disaster recovery and insurance restoration business. She has experienced many of the perils of absentee home ownership first hand, including fire, water, mold, wind, and storm damage. In addition, she has assisted homeowners with damage created by tropical storms, hurricanes, and floods. Dealing with tragic events on a daily basis has given Heather a unique insight into the importance of storm preparedness.

Heather was recently part of a team handling a mold remediation job at a home in a gated community in Savannah. This home was left unattended for three months. During this time a water leak occurred, causing extensive damage to the property. All hardwood flooring needed to be replaced as well as much of the sheet rock and wood trim. Had the leak been discovered sooner, the damage would have been far less severe. It was after completing this job that she decided to form Property Watch of the Lowcountry. Her hope is to bring peace of mind to the absentee homeowner so that they may fully enjoy the experience of each visit to the Lowcountry, rather than the anguish of not knowing what to expect upon their return.

We had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with Heather at the NHWA’s Second Annual North American Conference in Myrtle Beach last September.

 

Heather Bink

 

Property Watch of the Lowcountry serves Savannah, Tybee Island, Bluffton and Hilton Head. Heather can be reached at (912-398-5789) or info@propertywatchlc.com. You can visit PWLC’s website at www.propertywatchlc.com.

Welcome, Heather!

As always, I wish you

Much success,

Jack

Ohio's in the house!

 

Jack Luber, Executive Director

Greetings and salutations!

House Watch Plus, LLC, of Columbus, Ohio, has gained Accredited Member status in the NHWA.

Co-Founder Jackie Elizondo was born and raised in Columbus. Both she and Co-Founder Steve Brady chose Columbus to raise their families. Both have deep roots in Columbus and are proud to provide a service to the community. In 2014, Steve retired as the VP of Operations and Manager of Facilities from a local company, so he is familiar with contractors and coordinating repairs. Jackie worked for a local nonprofit as the HR manager for six years before joining Steve in retirement. 

After retiring, with time on their hands to travel, they became very familiar with the uncomfortable feeling of asking family members or neighbors to check in on their house when they were out of town. They took all the normal precautions before leaving,  but were still uneasy with the house being unoccupied while they were away. With limited options available when traveling, Jackie saw a need for companies that offer home monitoring services. Thus began their journey to create House Watch Plus, LLC.

 

Steve Brady and Jackie Elizondo

House Watch Plus serves Columbus, Ohio. Jackie and Steve can be reached at (614) 288-0202 or info@HouseWatchPlus.com. You can visit their website at www.HouseWatchPlus.com.

Welcome, Steve and Jackie!  

As always, I wish you

Much success,

Jack

Severn Cottage Services of Coldwater, Ontario, has gained third-year accreditation in the NHWA.

Jack Luber, Executive Director

Greetings and salutations!

Severn Cottage Services of Coldwater, Ontario, has gained Accredited Member status in the National Home Watch Association for the third consecutive year.

Owners Randy and Sandy Martin are located in the heart of Ontario’s cottage country in Severn Falls, Ontario. After spending 10 years in the oil fields, Randy decided to come home for a year. Having grown up in cottage country, he knew most of the weekend cottagers from the city. When they found out he was home, the cottagers started asking him to look after their properties while they were away for the winter, and he started Cottage Watch in 1990. In those days, there were very few companies providing a service like this--and virtually no information--so it has been a learning curve ever since. Randy returned to the oil fields overseas but continued with the cottage watch on a smaller scale.

In 2011 Sandy, Randy and their three children decided to expand their cottage services to a full-scale business, including Cottage & Home Watch Property Patrols, Cottage Rental Services and Cottage & Home Cleaning. The area they cover is very distinctive: as some of their customers’ properties have no roads, access is by boat or ATV in the summer and snowmobile or airboat in the winter. They developed an advanced electronic reporting system that proves to their customers that they have actually been to their property and gives them the peace of mind they deserve!

We have always enjoyed spending time with Sandy and Randy, at both of the NHWA's Annual North American Conferences, as well as other times they've come to visit the Myrtle Beach area. 

Sandy and Randy Martin

Randy is also on the NHWA's Advisory Board.

Severn Cottage Services covers a vast area: from the Severn River between Big Chute & Swift Rapids, Gloucester Pool, Six Mile Lake, the Honey Harbour area, Midland, over to Horseshoe Valley up to Orillia and along Lake Simcoe.

You can reach Randy and Sandy at (705) 686-7290 or toll-free at (855) 686-7290, or at info@severncottageservices.ca. They can be found on the Web at www.severncottageservices.ca. 

Congratulations, Martin family!

As always, I wish you

Much success,

Jack