Spyce Hogan is a member of our Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate family all the way from Berkeley California.

Spyce is part of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Reliance Partners and was kind enough to write about one of her ghostly experiences for us to share.

The first time I ever remember feeling spirit energy in a house was when I was 6 years old. We lived across the street from an abandoned property and I’d sneak into the house whenever I could and rummage around, imagining the people that lived there when it wasn’t a shell of a loved home. I know now that I was truly getting an actual sense of the original occupants, but until I learned to accept what was coming to me as info, I thought it was just my imagination. 

Fast forward many years, and while Daisy Rock was not my first house purchase, it was about to be my best yet. I had been a realtor and investor for a while now, but this was something special. From the moment I saw the picture on the MLS of a window with thesunlight pouring in, I could feel the energy of those who had looked out that window before. I immediately went to the property for a visit and the moment I went in, felt the strong love of a man and a woman. I knew I had to know more. 

Luckily there was more, as Harry Chepriss, the man who built the house with his wife Daisy, had been something of a local celebrity in Asheville NC, and during his lifetime has been featured in quite a few local publications, including an Oral History of Asheville transposed in the late 70’s for the local university. So once I started to dig into it, I was able to find the whole story. 

It turned out that my intuition was right and Harry and Daisy were deeply in love, despite a large age gap and incompatible backgrounds. So together they built their home on the side of Old Haywood road, and created their sanctuary from the everyday world, and a place to live and love as they pleased. Their care for the property was apparent in the home’s rockwork, spiraling gardens, flowering trees, and Greek inscriptions laced about the property. 

This fairyland feel is what drew my husband and I to this place, along with the love that emanated from it’s every stone, and we knew we had to have it. Two other groups had been there in between Harry & Daisy, but their energy was still so strong in that place that they loved, and we felt them cheating us on through every aspect of the purchase. We all know how real estate transactions are almost never totally smooth, but we were lucky enough to become its stewards, and immediately set to work revitalizing the property back to its former glory. 

We remodeled the home using all natural products, and worked to create a comfortable space, with all the modern amenities needed, while still paying homage to the old world charm inherent in the property. 

The custom designed beach themed kitchen gives a nod to Harry’s Mediterranean lineage, as well as our own love of the ocean. Blues and beach pebble co-mingle with wave-like lighting fixtures and handles, and sandy colored cabinetry. The other rooms were painted to create a relaxing and inspired feel in the Southwest lounge, the Purple Passion Suite, the Zen Grass Den, and that’s just the inside! 

Outside there are so many mature trees and flowering plants, a stone BBQ that Harry & Daisy built with their bare hands, and a well that still had water in it all these years later. This was important to Harry as he liked to welcome people to his property, and offer them water. So on the well, and all over the property you can find his name carved into the stone, as well as his place of birth in Greece. The place he loved but never really got to return to. 

So even though Daisy Rock Cottage (as we aptly named her) has always been a place of love that everyone feels, it can also be a place of longing, and a wistful feeling of home. That’s why we loved the years that it was an Airbnb, as we know Harry loved people, community, and travelers. He was a social person, and he struggled with being an immigrant and being separated from family. We loved providing him with travelers and families to visit with. 

Some people are afraid to hear that perhaps someone died in the house they might buy but for me, I’ve had a wonderful time connecting with these loving entities. And because we cared enough to pay homage to them, and thank them for building this sweet space, we’ve been able to create beauty and magic for many. 

Of course not every house and the spirits residing there are that easy to fall in love with, and I’ve had to remove dark energies from houses as well. But that’s a story for another time! This Halloween I’m sharing a spooky love story and giving thanks and acknowledgment to my friends, Harry & Daisy! 

A house is a living thing. It holds the energy of the many people that have lived in it over the years. People who have lived, loved, laughed, cried and died in the home. A home is a very special thing. Everyone wants one and most of us do our best to get one in the course of this life. As real estate agents, our life’s mission is to help people in this realm and make the home buying and selling process delightful and stress free. 

Not everyone that I work with needs to see or feel the energies in a house, or even believe in it! But for those that do, I can provide a certain extra something to help my clients manifest their dreams like I did!

If you enjoyed Spyce’s story as much as we did consider checking out Barbara Tesa, Krissy Many, Barbara Matchett, and Sandra Medina’s stories.