February 28, 2008 Issue
Business Spotlight
At Your Wits End Vacation Rentals—
Working Hard So Vacationers Don’t Have To
Story by Sam Calhoun
Mike and Lynn Graham, co-owners of At Your Wits End Vacation Rentals, took their first day off in three years on Christmas Day 2007. Check that—they didn’t come into the office on that day, but they did clean some rental properties, so they’re calling it a vacation.
“There’s no down time in this business,” said Lynn, who, with her husband, has owned the business for three years.
But work isn’t that bad when you love what you do.
“I enjoy people,” said Mike, who added that he loves to chat and joke with all the customers. Lynn said that Mike finds common connections—mutual friends or similar experiences—with 98 percent of the people who walk through their office door.
Vacation rentals is a new business to the Grahams, and a far cry from their past work.
Both Lynn and Mike worked state jobs for many years—teaching, training, prison work, alcohol and drug prevention—before they opted to change their profession.
Mike is originally from Olivia and Lynn is originally from Concord, and they met while attending ASU in the early 1970s. Mike was in graduate school studying social services and Lynn was an undergraduate studying speech pathology. It would take 14 years before their paths crossed again.
On August 6, 1986—Mike is good with remembering numbers—Mike headed back to ASU for an alumni reunion. Almost immediately, he picked up a newly published ASU alumni directory and looked up Lynn’s phone number. Two years later, the couple got married, moved to Sanford and got hired by the state.
During their years working for the state, the couple purchased a cabin in the High Country, named it ‘At Your Wits End’ to poke fun at their stressful jobs and then put it in a rental program, similar to what they operate currently.
“We were just getting burned out with our state jobs,” said Lynn.
Around that time, the couple made fast friends with Wayne Underwood, owner of Mystery Hill. Underwood began encouraging the Grahams to quit their jobs and open a vacation rental business that would be headquartered near Mystery Hill.
“Without [Underwood’s] support and encouragement, we probably wouldn’t have done it,” said Mike.
So in 2005, the Grahams opened At Your Wits End Vacation Rentals, named after their original rental cabin and their son, Witt.
“It’s been interesting dealing with the public through this venue as opposed to our state jobs,” said Lynn.
At Your Wits End Vacation Rentals manages roughly 50 properties owned by private individuals around the High Country. Lynn and Mike are the company’s only full-time employees, and housekeeping duties are contracted out to four part-time individuals. The company handles renting out the properties, cleaning, maintenance and all the paperwork associated with the business. Profits made off the properties are paid to the homeowners on a monthly basis through an escrow account. The company does not use online booking for their properties because Lynn and Mike believe that practice eliminates a personal touch. Instead, the business handles all bookings over the phone or in person.
“Lynn does all the work,” added Mike. “I just talk all day long to the customers.”
Customers come from all over the nation, even the world, to stay with the Grahams. In addition to having repeat customers from Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas and Washington State, the Grahams also have hosted a member of England’s House of Lords, a family from South Africa and actress Rene Russo.
If customers call At Your Wits End Vacation Rentals and the Grahams can’t suit their needs, then they often refer the customers to other vacation rental agencies in the High Country. Lynn said that she doesn’t see the business as competitive—a sentiment other similar business owners share.
“We found it easy to work with other businesses in the community,” said Lynn. “We all agree—the goal is to get people up here and get them to come back.”
The Grahams also give back to the community and the region. Annually, Mike and Lynn give four vacations to four different schools in the Southeast to auction off for fundraisers.
“We try to do a lot of altruistic things to give back,” said Mike.
The Grahams have no plans on leaving the High Country anytime soon. The couple’s son Witt, 17, is a junior at Watauga High School and is an avid snowboarder, photographer and guitar player. Mike’s daughter Page, 22, is a Western Carolina University graduate and, after spending a summer working in Alaska, is off to attend graduate school at Eastern Washington University.
“We love this place and we love the cold weather. We just wish we had more time to enjoy it,” joked Mike.
At Your Wits End Vacation Rentals is located at 111-1 Mystery Hill Lane in Blowing Rock, between Mystery Hill and Tweetsie Railroad. The office is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, call 828-264-3535, 1-800-774-3493 or click to www.witsendrentals.com.
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