About Us

Loretta Peake Newton

I love the mountains! As a young woman, growing up in South Carolina, when all my friends wanted to go to the beach, I headed in the opposite direction to the mountains of western North Carolina. My idea of heaven is hiking, canoeing/rafting, fishing, or just a mild stroll under the great green canopy of the Appalachian Mountains.

In 1997, I founded Florida Estate Management Services, a full-service HomeWatch company dedicated to the complete home maintenance needs of seasonal homeowners of Palm Beach County, Florida. Our clientele was a nice mix of seasonal homeowners that needed our specialized HomeWatch Program and ‘a la carte services, to the more exclusive clients of Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens for a more tailor-made, comprehensive, pre-scheduled Gold-Card maintenance approach to their homes. This was a labor of love and hard work and after a decade, my husband and I decided to transition to what we hoped would be our forever home in Franklin, NC.

Larry and Loretta Newton

As our next project, we purchased 40 acres west of Franklin and Larry created the beautiful community of Santeetlah Ridge, an enclave of 20 homesites. Larry had just passed his general contractor exam when we moved to NC and wanted to have a real hands-on approach to the development. So, he became a certified erosion control grading and land clearing contractor in Macon County. He constructed the ¾-mile road, put in underground power/phone/water lines, and oversaw the installation of the two community wells. Now Santeetlah Ridge has several beautiful homes with beautiful families that we proudly call our neighbors.

Now, we are thrilled once again to offer HomeWatch Services through Mountain HomeMinders, our company serving the needs of those living in Franklin, Lake Nantahala, Highlands, Cashiers, and Lake Glenville, while working together again as a couple.

We would love the opportunity to meet you to discuss how we can meet your needs!