Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA

EP# 366: From Polk County Roots To Trusted Knoxville Guide In Homes And Hospitality

• Skip Mauney & Rob Howard • Episode 366

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A house fire in childhood doesn’t sound like the start of a thriving real estate career, but for Rob Howard—better known as “Knoxville Rob”—that early disruption became a compass. We sit down with Rob to trace his 23-year journey from a $32,000 first home to a relationship-first practice that guides clients through some of life’s most stressful transitions. The result is a candid, practical conversation about what really matters when you’re buying, selling, or investing in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.

Rob breaks down how he went from university marketing to rentals and then into full-time agency work, carrying an investor’s eye into every client conversation. He explains why the industry’s biggest myth is that all agents work the same way, and he makes the case for a service model where empathy, consistent updates, and clear expectations are the real differentiators. We dig into multigenerational trust—helping first-time buyers, their parents downsize, and their kids find college housing—and how continuity creates better outcomes over time.

We also explore Howard’s Pond, his Airbnb “micro resort” on family land. Rob shares lessons in guest experience, tiny-home design, rural amenities, and how short-term rentals fit into a broader strategy for lifestyle and income. Along the way, he offers actionable advice on navigating inspections, appraisals, financing, staging, and local regulations. If you want an agent who acts like a Real Estate Sherpa—steady, prepared, and relentlessly people-focused—this conversation shows you what to look for and why it matters.

Subscribe for more local business stories, share this episode with a friend who’s planning a move, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

SPEAKER_00:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Money.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, hello, everybody, and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. So we are very excited today to have uh someone in our studio for the first time and uh excited to learn all about them and uh what they do in the real estate business, among other things. It sounds like there's a lot going on. Uh, but it is, I'm sure you'll be just as excited as I am uh to learn all about them because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Mr. Rob Howard, who is with the Hutch and Howard real estate team with Keller Williams, among other things. Rob, how's it going?

SPEAKER_02:

Doing great. How are you, Skip?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm doing fine again. Super excited to have you here and uh appreciate you taking time out of your your schedule to be here and uh want to learn all about your business. So why don't you just tell us what you do?

SPEAKER_02:

Sounds good. Uh well that's kind of a long story, but I'll I'll try to keep it short. Um, I have this is my 23rd year working in uh in real estate. Uh I grew up in Polk County, so I work like the the southeast section of uh of East Tennessee from Knoxville, actually from about Morristown South. Gotcha and then yeah, we could go down the list of I I like Knoxville Rob back in 2007 when people were inventing and discovering Twitter. I uh created Knoxville Rob as my little catch name. And a lot of people know me just as Knoxville Rob. They don't necessarily know me as uh as Rob Howard or Ron Howard in this case.

SPEAKER_01:

Knoxville Rob, I love it, I love it. Well, uh Rob, um how how did you get into this business? How'd you get started?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh now there's where the long story starts. Um I guess when I was in when I stepped onto campus, like I said, I grew up in Polk County, uh, which is on the Tennessee, Georgia, and Western North Carolina borders. Um I uh I guess it was uh I got into real estate, the back of my head, a little kid, um, our house burned down when I was a child. And um I I think growing up and going coming up to Knoxville for college and everything, still in the back of my head, it was like, you know, at some point I want to have a backup place to live. And um so directly after graduating from college in uh uh well I graduated in '96, but in '99, I bought my first house. It was uh didn't want to live in an apartment, and I bought my first house for 32 grand at a at a time when regular houses were selling for about a hundred and hundred and twenty. So, you know, it was not a very nice house even back then. Um, but from there I turned that one into a rental and uh moved to my next house and and so on and so forth. And you know, in the back of my mind, that little kid wanted to have a uh a backup house, you know. So I ended up with with a few rental houses and um things like that. And uh it was kind of a natural progression. I was I was working at UT for uh the food service doing marketing, and uh real estate just seemed like the next natural step.

SPEAKER_01:

So here you are, 23 years later. I am 23 years later, yeah. Well, congratulations. That's nothing to sneeze at, man. 20 23 years. Um well, and I'm sure there's plenty of these, but what are some myths or misconceptions in the real estate industry that you can think of?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, myths are pick a name out of the book, you know, because we are we are a diverse crowd, and um different people have different different ways of doing things. You know, there's Tennessee has a set of laws, and you know, we all have to operate within those laws, but there's some people who operate, they call it transactional versus relational and things like that. Even even in my first year, I primarily worked with friends who had seen me buying rental properties and wanted to either invest or get their first house and you know get started and things like that. And those generation after generation, you know, those same people have called me when they're uh when their parents are ready to sell and move to a smaller house or when they're ready to go to a uh assisted living or something like that. Um, I've also helped their kids get you know a place to live in college, you know, so all at least at least three or four generations I've uh I've been able to help, you know, and it's just it's just caring, consistently caring about people. Um I've always not been, you know, as far as I had safety in the backup house, you know, um not really been dollar driven, more more relational. And uh if I care about you, then we're gonna have a great transaction. Um most of my actually about 90% of my business throughout the years has been friends and friends of friends. So wow, but it's awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, but obviously obviously your service is good, or you know, it wouldn't go from generation to generation.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, they like I said, if you care about somebody, if you love them, if you love them, then you're going to do a good job for them. And uh I try to treat everybody, you know, the the golden rule, try to treat everybody like I would want to be treated. Awesome, awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, outside of work, I mean you got a lot of you got a lot of different projects going on at the same time, it sounds like. Uh, but uh when if you do have spare time, what do you like to do for fun?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, growing up, again, I keep talking about Polk County, and it's a it's a beautiful place to be from. Um, but my mom and dad always had um call them jobbies, like they're their little side businesses and side hustles because mom worked in a in a bank and dad worked in a factory, but he was a small town wedding photographer for everybody in in the county, and mom did every every little old lady's hair, you know. So uh so I have a series of those that that have you know proved consistent over the years, you know, just little things like that that I love to do, but um have also turned into something. I mean, the being a landlord or being I've got a um a little Airbnb, I call it a micro resort, but it was my grandparents' uh they had seven acres down in in Polk County. Um and uh my dad was an only child, so they left left it to him. And for 25 years, mom and dad just kind of went over there and mowed it and you know kind of maintained it. And as they got older, mom pressured dad to uh sell it, and that was kind of like asking him to sell his kidney. And so I I bought some uh some tiny houses and stuck them on there and kind of monetized it and gave them a little hobby job of uh being the host, helping me host the uh it's called Howard's Pond. And you can anybody wants to see it, you can look at Howard'sPond.com and uh but it's just uh it's my grandparents' old house and a couple of other houses, and then seven acres to tromp around on and a pond, and so good bass and bluegill fishing, and and your and your 10 minutes from the put in for the Yokoi River and for hiking in the Cherokee National Forest and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh wow, very nice. Very sounds awesome, actually. Howard's Pond, I'm gonna check it out. Howard's Pond sounds great. So uh let's change gears a little bit. Um, could you describe a hardship or a life challenge that that you've gotten past and how it made you stronger on the other side? Anything professional or personal?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, the the uh I've almost after all these years of actually you know turning my hair gray and all that, uh there are two different things. Business is personal, and personal is business, and it seems like every every step of my life has been um informed by the personal. So, like I told you the story earlier about my house burning down as a kid, my parents really struggled. Um, you know, thank the Lord we had a a a set of people that cared about us and and helped us through that time, but it was um it truly was a a struggle going from being, I guess I was eight to eight to eleven maybe, uh, without having, you know, a a a firm, steady home, you know, like the one that we'd lost. And then uh, I mean we we had a place to stay, but it didn't feel like home until until they uh were able to kind of recover a little bit. And uh and so I kind of take that that that hurt that's down low and and try to you know put that on anybody else who is dealing with um with a move or anything because it's stressful regardless whether you have a house that you're moving from or you're buying your first house or you're you know helping the the parents transition to the assisted living. It doesn't matter. There's it's one of the most stressful times in your life, just knowing that you're gonna have to pack up your stuff and go. So I guess that would be my biggest uh hurdle that I've overcome.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, and you know, I've always heard that some of the that there are like three top stressful things to happen to you in life is moving, death of a uh a family member, and uh what was the third one? Divorce, I think.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, divorce, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

To three of the most stressful times in your life. Uh and I can relate.

SPEAKER_02:

And all those involve some kind of usually some type of real estate transaction. Yep, yep, that's exactly right. It's all part of I've heard the number one stressor was actually you know, you own the land and you build a house, that that that that causes a lot of divorces, that causes a lot of stress, you know, beyond above and beyond.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely, absolutely, no question. Well, um, if you could think of one thing uh that uh Rob that you you would like our listeners and viewers to remember about you and about Knoxville Rob and uh a Hutch and Howard real estate team, what would that be?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh just uh I would rather you be in a happy situation, you know. Um my job uh sometimes I don't know, there's there's a lot of situations where you go into a house. I'm I'm kind of try to be there for as a Sherpa to help you, you know, climb to the top of the mountain and and and see the valley. But um, you know, my my job is to make sure that that that transaction is as smooth and as stress stress-free, or I'm gonna be with with you every step of the way. That's the big thing. Um, you know, there's I I do a lot of things and I've uh I I always made a joke that I've had a social disorder because I uh just love people, love and being out of amongst people, love going to like UT football games, and I really don't follow the football as much as you know the crowd and and the band and you know the some of the people I've got yeah, and same with tailgating. But um anyway, I just I think in anything that you do, find somebody that really cares about and is knowledgeable about what's going on, and um, there's a whole lot less stress involved all the way around. Very good thing to remember.

SPEAKER_01:

So if any of our listeners are interested and uh they're potentially looking to buy or sell a home or invest, um, how can they learn more?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, number one, they can go to knocksvillerod.com, which is kind of my little hub page. It actually goes to a blog that I've started years and years and years ago, but it has a lot of tips and tricks and a lot of things to, but it it talks about it does talk about my my Airbnbs and it talks about my um a lot of real estate stories. It also has stuff about my novels that I've started writing a couple years ago. And so just I mean, that's that's the best way to reach me. You can call uh my cell number is 865-3859070, and um the killer Williams office is 865-966-5005. And both of those are are great ways to reach me.

SPEAKER_01:

And that's the Noxilrob.com. Is that the your website?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, noxilrob.com. Uh that it's a blog. I'm I'm working on a website for it that has an author site and the Airbnb site and uh whatever, the podcast site. I do my own podcast. We didn't even mention that yet. But all right. I gotta check that out for sure.

SPEAKER_01:

But very cool. Well, and uh, and you know, you could even you could even call yourself the real estate sherpa. I like that.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh uh, you know, I don't have a catchphrase. You know, maybe it's maybe it's a for for for Ronnie.

SPEAKER_01:

I guess that was the final I like the I like the real estate sherpa, but you know, real estate sherpa. Yeah, I like that. I like that. Sounds good. All right, well, Rob, I I really, really appreciate you taking time out of your schedule from all your projects that that you're working on, uh, to be on the show and to tell us about what you're doing. And uh appreciate your approach to business uh very much because I think that's what I look for people like you to do business with, and I'm sure our listeners do as well. So good to know. Um and um I'm happy to have you as a good neighbor. Absolutely. Well, we're we're glad to have you, and and we wish you and your family and your business and all your projects all the best moving forward. Thank you, likewise. Absolutely, thank you. Maybe we can have you back sometime. I'd love to. All right, you have a great, great rest of the day. Thank you, you too. We'll see ya.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Tri-Cities.com. That's GNP Tri Dash Cities.com or call four two three seven one nine five eight seven three.