Sponsored by:
Teresa Karnezis
Teresa is originally from Candler, west of Asheville. She was originally trained in Interior Design at Western Carolina University. Graduated in 1992 and married her college sweetheart, Angelo, in 1992. He is now part of the team as her realtor and partner. They have three grown children and a beautiful grandson.
Teresa's hobbies include a love of traveling and cooking for her large family and loves to entertain. She has seen so much growth in Asheville with tourism and people moving into the area. Teresa, along with much encouragement from her husband, decided that her love of old houses and saving them would be the career change from teaching middle school that she always wanted.
n 2013, Teresa left her teaching career and went out on her own as an entrepreneur with the goal of “flipping houses”. That goal soon changed as she realized the vast amount of old houses in the area that were in dire need of saving. She has become an expert renovator of these houses that she loves so much.
The oldest home she has renovated was built in 1902 with the newest one built in 1950. She has developed a method to the madness of building an awesome team that shares her enthusiasm (most of the time) of repairing these homes and giving them new life. She loves teaching and has been speaking publicly about her renovations for about 5 years. She truly loves saving these homes and providing another 100 years of being a home for so many families.
Matt McMaster
Matt McMaster is a local business owner with a commitment to family and community. He is the founder of WNC Property Solutions, a real estate development firm specializing in quick and easy home buying solutions. With several years of experience in real estate, he has purchased, rehabbed or built, and sold nearly 100 properties in the greater Asheville, NC area.
Born and raised in Erie, PA, Matt served in the Army National Guard for four years after graduating high school. After serving his country, he decided to move south to Charleston, SC, where he was in private banking for 15 years. During that time, he worked his way up to Vice President of a local bank. He also opened a small bike shop there that he still owns.
Seeking a better work-life balance, he decided to transition to a career in real estate. With his background in finance, he has a passion for the art of putting a deal together that is beneficial for all parties involved. Matt founded WNC Property Solutions in 2016 with just himself and a project manager.
As the company continued to grow, in addition to overseeing all of the projects, he was also handling all of the office admin work, coordinating marketing efforts, conducting seller appointments, and managing all of the details on the purchase and sale of his properties. Thus, in 2019, he saw the need to bring on an office manager. In the beginning of 2022, he brought on an office admin/project coordinator as his office manager developed into a marketing and acquisitions manager role. Also in 2022, Matt obtained his NC General Contractor’s license.
When not working, Matt enjoys mountain biking and hiking. His love of the outdoors, as well as the authenticity of the people here, called him to Western North Carolina several years ago. Now making Asheville their home, Matt and his wife, Alisha, enjoy experiencing all that downtown Asheville has to offer, and exploring the WNC region. They have a young son they look forward to raising here in the mountains.
Edward "Zen" Ramp
Edward Ramp (Aka, Zen) is the sole owner of Zen General Contracting and Zen Mountain Realty. He started his first construction company in 2005 and obtained his bachelor's degree in Construction Management from Michigan State University in 2010. After serving as Project Manager over a 32 house renovation project awarded to his previous employer in Detroit, MI, he made his move to his current home of Asheville, NC.
It didn’t take long for Zen to see the opportunity that real estate sales offered in WNC. After working with buyers and sellers for a few years and opening his own brokerage, he worked his way into his first personally owned flips and obtained a General Contractor’s License. Teaming his love of building construction and the knowledge acquired by understanding the unique local real estate markets, rehabbing houses for himself and other investors quickly became the focal point of his business and is now the foundation for a multi-million dollar a year construction company. Coming to the end of his third year in business, Zen will have completed just shy of 50 local renovations, with 20+ set for completion in 2023.
With a vision moving forward of creating a contracting business that not only can fill the void of professionalism, communication and fairness in contracting, Zen has made it a point to display the same values he has learned as the proud father of four, to ensure a happy healthy work environment for his employees and subcontractors. Implementing daily practices of positive affirmation, gratitude and victory, along with a generally compassionate approach to dealing with his colleagues, Zen will win over the right professionals in order to be able to serve the greatest number of people effectively while making the world a better place to live.