Your mountain home’s
first line of defense.
We are your local eyes, ears, and judgment when your mountain home is unoccupied — detecting problems early, documenting everything, and coordinating trusted help so small issues never become costly ones.
Highlands, NC
We show up like neighbors. We work like trained professionals.
Highlands Home Watch was started by Kyle Henson and his daughter Kylee Henson, both full-time residents of Highlands, NC. We live here year-round, which means we know what a hard freeze at 4,000 feet does to unprotected pipes, which roads flood after heavy rain, and which contractors actually show up when they say they will.
We are trained home watch reporters, not hobbyists. Our training through the Home Watch Academy includes the Water Zone method — a structured, systematic approach to checking every water-bearing area of a home on every visit. That kind of methodology is what separates a documented professional visit from a neighbor just checking the lights. You get both: someone who knows your community personally, and someone who knows what they are looking for.
We keep our roster small by design. Every property on our list is checked personally by Kyle and Kylee — no staff, no subcontractors, no one you haven’t met. That is not a limitation. It is the whole point. You always know who has been in your home, and we know your property well enough to notice when something has changed.
Our full story →
Why we limit our roster
When you keep your roster small, something changes. You actually know every home. You notice when something’s different. Your visit feels like a neighbor checking in, because it is.
Simple, flexible, personal.
We build a plan around your home
Every service plan is tailored to your property’s specific risks — elevation, exposure, systems, and access. Storm response is always included. We build in flexibility because mountain homes and mountain weather don’t follow a schedule.
We catch problems before they grow
Every visit includes a thorough interior and exterior walkthrough, with attention to water zones, mechanical systems, and the structural areas most at risk in unoccupied homes. Timestamped photos and a written report after every visit.
You have documentation when it counts
Issues found? You hear from us promptly, with photos, context, and a clear recommendation. Our reports are timestamped and archived — the kind of record that matters when filing an insurance claim or holding a contractor accountable.
Every visit. Every detail. Documented.
Six services built around the realities of mountain vacation homes, from routine watch visits to emergency storm response.
The damage you don’t see is the damage that costs the most.
A slow pipe leak behind a wall. A crawlspace flood after a freeze-thaw cycle. A storm-loosened roof flashing that lets water in for months. These are the problems that happen in empty mountain homes, silently, slowly, and expensively, unless someone is looking.
What we watch for →A small roof flashing issue: $400 repair. Left undetected through a wet winter: $18,000 ceiling and insulation replacement.
A slow supply line drip under a sink: $80 fix. Undetected for two months in a unoccupied home: $9,500 in subfloor and cabinet damage.
Wildlife entry at a crawlspace vent: $175 seal. Ignored through spring and summer: full insulation replacement and remediation.
Timestamped visit reports establish baseline condition and date of discovery. When a claim is disputed, homeowners with documented home watch history are in a far stronger position than those without.
Your privacy is protected
We never discuss your property with others or reveal who we serve. Your privacy is built into how we operate.
We never signal that the owners are away.
Our visits are conducted with discretion, nothing about how we show up suggests the home is unoccupied or the owners are out of town.
Everything goes directly to you
Visit reports, issue notifications, and all communications go only to you, or whoever you designate. We don’t share, copy, or forward anything without your explicit instruction.