Bernie grew up in Kernersville, NC and graduated from Eastern Carolina University with a BS in Business Education and minor in Business Administration. He managed and created new restaurants as his first career with the culinary industry in Greenville, NC for 15 years. It was building new restaurants that gave him his first experience with construction, which helps him understand real estate and the cost of building new homes to this day.

In 2003, Bernie was asked to go to Hendersonville, NC to help his lifelong friend David Huffman sell and market a small gated community known as, Somersby Park in Laurel Ridge, NC. Bernie and David had huge success at Somersby Park and were recruited by other planned communities peppered throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains. Bernie went on to become Director of Sales and Marketing at Trillium in Cashiers, NC and a few years later at Bear Lake Reserve in Tuckasegee, NC, both are some of the most sought after properties in Western North Carolina.

After many years of managing and selling for developers, Bernie decided to step out on his own in 2008 to sell and market in the general Real Estate world. He first hung his hat with Coldwell-Banker until he was tapped by Sundog Realty in 2010. Since joining the Sundog team, Bernie has consistently broke sales records in the company and has been the number one Broker for the Sundog Realty for the past 12 years. Bernie is now the reigning Top Producing Real Estate Broker in Jackson County, year after year. No one even comes close. His awards and accolades are too numerous to mention.

When Bernie is not showing property or negotiating at the closing table, you'll find him relaxing and Living Blue Ridge while hiking mountain trails, fly fishing the rivers he sells and playing golf at one of the local golf courses that make this area so special. He also loves to Ski Cataloochee, a local ski resort, and spend the day on his boat out on Bear Lake as well as kayak and canoe the majestic Tuckasegee River. Living Blue Ridge is his Trademark.

Shelly has always loved these old mountains in Western North Carolina. She basically grew up in the Asheville area until her family moved away to the triad area when she was getting ready to start high school. She always knew that one day she would return to The Blue Ridge Mountains and call them home again.

Shelly earned a Degree in Psychology from Western North Carolina University which helped her pursue her true passion, teaching. After graduation she felt she had more to offer as a teacher than just a psychologist and wanted to make a difference in the lives of children. “I wanted all children to feel like learning was for them, not just for the “smart” kids.” With this burning desire to teach, she returned to college, Elizabeth City State University and East Carolina University, chasing her dream. Shelly then received her Masters in School Administration where she played multiple roles, teaching at the high school level and basically overseeing the PreKindergarten Special Needs program in Washington County, where she spent most of her teaching career that spanned almost 30 years.

After many satisfying years of teaching on the East Coast of North Carolina, she and her husband decided it was time to return home to the mountains. It wasn't long after moving to Sylva, NC that she met Bernie and the idea of working together was birthed. Bernie recognized immediately that Shelly's strengths of organization, research and communication skills were exactly what his business needed. Today, Shelly and Bernie can boast that they are Jackson County's number one Realtor Team.

Shelly has a wonderful husband of 33 years, Tommy, and two beautiful grown children Camille and Hannah, one near Raleigh and the other in Sylva, making life sweet. Shelly loves her family, fly fishing, hiking, and power walking.