Contact Tom and Karen Rickard for Your Real Estate Needs on the Highlands - Cashiers Plateau

Meet Tom and Karen Rickard

TomandKaren@NCMountainLife.com 

Tom 828-547-0085     Karen 828-515-4449

Tom Rickard

Tom grew up working in his family’s construction business in the Midwest. In doing so, he learned to form foundations, pour concrete, lay brick, block and stone, do rough carpentry, shingle roofs and got a taste of everything in between the roof and the footing. During the lean years of late 70’s and early 80’s he worked on repairs of many residential, multi-family and commercial buildings learning causes and results of poor construction or aging buildings.
After earning his degree in Business Administration, Tom spent the next 35 years working with industry leaders in areas of instrumentation and control systems. As a part of 3 start-up companies, he learned to wear many hats and how to build a business from the beginning. In several of the roles he came to be recognized as a technical subject matter expert in addition to his sales and marketing roles. The underlying philosophy that has been and is the core is to be a reliable resource and to always keep the customer’s best interest first. In doing that, everything else takes care of itself.
After 27 years of living in Houston, TX., they purchased a mountain home and very successfully operated it as a vacation rental. As a result of his wife, Karen, and her love of the Highlands-Cashiers’ area, we “retired” and moved to the area full time. Tom and Karen earned their real estate broker’s license and joined NCMountainLife.com. Tom combines his knowledge of real estate, construction, contracts, sales, marketing and customer service to be a valuable asset to anyone wishing to buy or sell a mountain home. Their philosophy remains the same; be a great resource, work hard on behalf of others and keep the customer’s best interest at heart and everything else takes care of itself.

Karen Rickard

Karen is a native North Carolinian and has been coming to the mountains since she was a child. She started her career working with national CPA firms. Later, she moved to Houston, TX where she focused on family and volunteer positions while her heart was always in North Carolina. While in Houston, she was a leader of people while serving in leadership positions for numerous organizations. Additionally, Karen’s time working with a real estate title company deepened her knowledge of real estate and the mechanics of buying and selling property. In her role, she also assisted realtors in developing marketing strategies and worked with lenders as well.
Karen brought her kids to camps in the western North Carolina area so they too would have the knowledge and love of the mountains. Along the way she bought her first home in the Cashiers area and developed a specific love of the Highlands-Cashiers plateau. In addition to the real estate knowledge she possesses, she has a great knowledge of the businesses, restaurants, shopping and services offered in Highlands, Cashiers, Glenville, Sapphire and Lake Toxaway.
Karen and Tom are excited to share and utilize their knowledge and experience to assist buyers in finding your special mountain home, whether it is to be a rental, vacation home, or year-round residence or if you wish to sell the home you now own.