This is another Breaking News COVID19 Update from Highlands, NC
The town board of Highlands met last evening and signed a supplemental Municipal Proclamation, effective immediately.
Does anyone feel like we’re in a set of an apocalyptic movie or TV show? This too shall pass, but for now, to keep Highlands healthy, these provisions have been put into place. There may be more down the road, only time will tell.
Please share it with others.
Highlands WANTS and NEEDS tourists, buyers, and vacation renters, but not right now. Please bear with us and rejoice with us when this is all over.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Here are a couple of other links you may want to know about for daily reading:
https://plateaudailynews.com/
To see how Highlands is doing without you, click here to see the Highlands webcam: http://www.highlandsinfo.com/
Here’s my Investing at 4118 article from today’s Highlands Newspaper:
Well, what else is there to talk
about? Plenty, but more on that
later.
First of all, a retraction of sorts. I
was quoted in last week’s issue of this fine
paper as saying “We welcome all renters,”
and while that statement is correct, and
remains true, the current conditions of
the Coronavirus have changed the meaning somewhat of the statement I made
on March 14th.
Traditionally, our ‘season’ starts in
June and goes through October, and then
there’s a little lull, and ramps up again
like July-the-fourth for Thanksgiving and
Christmas/ New Years. That being said,
we have weekend rentals all year long,
and sometimes weekly and monthly rentals through the winter, but especially in
April and May. Some of those renters are
escaping city life, (a term with a different
meaning this year) for a mountain retreat.
Some of them are renting two weeks up
to two months to wet their feet in the
Highlands Community. They
know what it’s like in the summer,
but they want to get a true feeling
of what a second home would be
like for them.
In my experience, there are
very few impulse buyers. You
know, the ones that discover
Highlands for the first time, start
to look for property that day, or
even make an offer the very first
day they visit! It’s as if they’ve been bitten
by the Highlands love bug, now that’s a
good bug to have. It doesn’t happen very
much, but it does happen. I doubt if it happens this April or May, but who knows?
Could fear cause people to buy, sight unseen? Yes, that could happen. People have
bought sight unseen before, and I can see
that as a big possibility this year.
At Chambers Realty & Vacation Rentals, we took a preemptive strike and prohibited all short-term rentals through the end
of April. Yes, we have renters that aren’t
very happy, but they understand.
All of the rental owners we’ve
talked with have been very supportive and back our decision.
Will the self-ban be extended?
We hope not, but if it’s needed,
we will extend the prohibition
of rentals. It is our commitment, and very important to us
that our community stay strong
and healthy. A quote from our
website blog, “We simply cannot ask our
community to bear unnecessary problems
by being inundated with guests, now just
isn’t the time.” Any reservation having to
cancel because of the COVID19 will get a
full refund.
Things like the Food & Wine Festival,
the June and August Arts & Craft shows,
Highlands Playhouse, PAC, and The Bascom events, all those kinds of things help
move the weekend traffic to our town, and
of course, once they’re here, they get to enjoy all the wonderful restaurants and shops,
and the original reason people flocked to
the area-nature.
Friends of Highlands, and property
owners, this too shall pass. We are not
alone in this, and we’ll be talking about it
for years to come. You know, when you’re
driving down the road and you hit an unexpected bump, a big one? The kind of
bump that makes your jaws rattle a little,
and you may even raise up out of your
seat? It’s a very jarring experience isn’t it?
Most of the time, about a mile down the
road, you’ve gotten over the sting of the
bump and you keep going. Sometimes,
those bumps cause reactions like accidents or a flat tire, and those can prove
costly. This time in our lives is a BIG
bump. It’s time to just keep on keeping
on- but this time, we’re keeping on from
the safety of our own homes, our asylum.
Want something to do? If you don’t
have a home in Highlands, but love to visit, get out your calendars and plan a trip today. The hotels and vacation rental companies will be
happy to talk with you about travel plans for later on this
year. Look up the restaurants in Highlands , they’re ‘Mom
& Pop’ types, not chain restaurants, but all restaurants have
staff that are affected by COVID19. Why not buy online
gift cards to use later? Volunteer at a food bank in your
area. Take a walk. Foster an animal. Have you seen all of
the free concerts, educational sites, and tours being offered?
Again, this too shall pass.
Oh, and one last thing. If you have a hankering, and
the means and would like to buy property in Highlands,
sight-unseen…have we (speaking for all brokers) got a
deal for you. I would say, “come on down, the price is
right,” but for now, let’s forget the coming on down part.
• Jeannie and Tucker Chambers are owners/brokers of
Chambers Realty & Vacation Rentals at 401 N. Fifth Street,
Highlands, although these days are probably working from home.
Highlandsiscalling.com or [email protected] and
[email protected]
