Heather Campbell- NWA New Construction From Price Points To Floor Plans That Sell.

 From "Finding Nemo" to Number One in the World with Heather Campbell

Episode Summary: In this powerhouse episode of NWA and Beyond, hosts Carter Clark and Russell King sit down with a true real estate legend, Heather Campbell. Recently named the #1 Weichert Agent in the World, Heather shares the incredible 20-year journey that took her from a Walmart vendor exploring a career change to the pinnacle of the global real estate industry.

Heather pulls back the curtain on the "secret sauce" behind her longevity—including her 20-year partnerships with premier local builders like Mike Payne and Terry Ali. We dive deep into the current state of new construction in Northwest Arkansas, discussing which floor plans are winning, how land prices are changing neighborhood amenities, and why "quality always wins" in a shifting market.

But this isn't just a talk about stats and sales. The crew reminisces about the early days—including the hilarious story of how Carter and Heather first met over a showing of Finding Nemo and the "trailer years" of moving furniture down the road. Russell also highlights Heather’s heart for the community, sharing a moving story about her quiet support during his kidney transplant.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• The State of New Construction: Trends in Bentonville, Springdale, and Fayetteville, and how COVID permanently changed what buyers want in a floor plan.
• The Power of Loyalty: How Heather has maintained builder relationships for two decades and why she has stayed with Weichert since the office only had 15 people.
• Managing the Real Estate Rollercoaster: Heather’s expert advice on curing "real estate anxiety" through consistent activity and living in the moment.
• Building a World-Class Team: A look at the support systems and "organized chaos" that allow a top-tier agent to manage high-volume subdivisions while providing elite service.

Featured Builders & Communities:

• Payne Construction, Boulder Creek Homes, and Brittenum Construction.
• Insights on Scissor Tail, Aurora, Jacobs Crossing, and the modern builds at Livingston.

Whether you are an aspiring agent looking for a blueprint for success, a builder wanting to know what’s trending, or a local resident curious about the growth in NWA, this episode is packed with heart, humor, and high-level strategy.

Connect with us: Like, follow, and share NWA and Beyond wherever you listen to podcasts!

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Transcript

Welcome And Heather’s Big Milestone

CARTER 0:05

Welcome to NWA and Beyond. This is Carter Clark and Russell King, and we're here today with our own Heather Campbell. Welcome Heather.

HEATHER 0:12

Thank you. Thank you.

CARTER 0:14

This is fun. Yeah. Heather? Uh. Congratulations to you. You're just named the number one wert agent in the world. Yeah.

HEATHER 0:22

In the world.

What Wins In NWA New Builds

CARTER 0:23

In the world. Isn't that fun? How about that? Absolutely. That is good. So, super excited to have you here and, and, uh, just share a little bit about your career and. How you got into what you're doing. But let's start off talking a little bit just about the state of new construction right now in Northwest Arkansas. Like what are you seeing in new construction in northwest Arkansas, that's your world, right?

HEATHER 0:42

Right, right. So new construction, you know, we're, we're we pretty much, you know. Run things, you know, the same over time. Um, there's few changes. You know, we've got national builders here that's, uh, uh, absorbing quite a bit of inventory. Um, and so we're having to switch things a little bit more. We're trying to be a little bit more precise in what we're building, um, how we're building. Quality always wins. Um, and I've got great builders that build great quality and that always wins. Building in the right spot, the right home, um, all of that stuff always wins and that's what we're seeing in new construction. Uh, the right price, the right home, the right floor plan, the right finishes, uh, are continuing to sell and sell at great paces. That's awesome.

1:28

So

CARTER 1:28

who are you working with right now?

HEATHER 1:30

So, who

CARTER 1:30

are your builders?

HEATHER 1:31

So I, I have three builders that I work with right now. Um, Payne Construction, Mike Payne, uh, Boulder Creek Homes, Ali and Terry. Um, and then I have Brina Construction with John Brina and those builders I've had for quite a long time.

RUSSELL 1:47

That's awesome. All right, so I also wanna dig into like, how did you get started in real estate?

HEATHER 1:53

So how I got started in real estate's kind of crazy. Um, I was a vendor to Walmart and took a leave of absence to help a family, um, who had a catastrophe. So I took a leave of absence to help them and during that time I decided I wanted a career change. I was tired of traveling. So I, um, explored real estate, getting my real estate license at the same time as getting my pharmaceutical sales license.

RUSSELL 2:19

I didn't know that.

HEATHER 2:20

Yeah.

RUSSELL 2:20

You picked the right one.

Community Giving And Quiet Support

HEATHER 2:21

Yeah. Yeah. Picked the right one. Well, what I did is I went and I just, um, spent some days going to doctor's offices and sitting there and asking. Pharmaceutical reps if I could sit in with them and listen to how they talk to doctors. And then, um, at the same time, I went to open houses and, and kind of explored and talked to real estate agents and tried to get in the active part of both those businesses. And I found out real quick pharmaceutical sales. Seemed to be very much a man's world, and there was more talk about golf and things like that. And, and when I went to, uh, real estate and open houses, um, agents weren't turning on lights. They didn't have any idea of the addresses that they were at. And, you know, they had black and white flyers and I was like, Hmm, I think I really can set myself apart in the real estate. World so you can step up the game doing the little things right. It was the little things. I was like, I've got this. So I just decided to do real estate and, and ironically I had. Taken the real estate class about six years previous to this, and I didn't really finish it, and so I said, I'm gonna try this again, and got my real estate license and just never looked back.

RUSSELL 3:36

That's awesome.

HEATHER 3:37

Yeah.

RUSSELL 3:37

I don't think most people will know this, and you probably don't even know I'm gonna bring this up, but you were just mentioning that you had taken time off to help a family. Mm-hmm. Is that right? That's correct. Little, little detail there.

HEATHER 3:47

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

RUSSELL 3:47

Um. But most people don't realize that you were one of the biggest supporters and financial givers during my kidney transplant time. Yes. I mean, you text like crazy to me. My wife Yeah. Supported us in all kinds of ways and I think that's just something that goes unnoticed maybe. Mm-hmm.'cause you do it kind of anonymously. Mm-hmm. Almost. And I just. It's just a huge thing to see somebody who's at the Pinnacle top agent in the world and is given so much. I mean, you're a giver and a lot of people don't notice that, so I don't know if you can speak to that or maybe you just wanna keep silent, but

HEATHER 4:19

No, no, I think that that was a great moment for Wert and for just. In general, the real estate community. You know, we did a, we did a fundraiser for you, uh, associated with an open house. And, um, the build my builders contributed, ERT contributed, and then our local agents came out. Yeah. And everybody came out. It's, it's probably the best, uh, realtor event that I've ever had, and we came out to support you and that was awesome to see our community support. Fellow real estate agents.

RUSSELL 4:49

So yeah, but it's just huge because a lot, a lot of times I don't think agents, uh, maybe or the public doesn't realize that. Somebody with your kind of reach, so to speak, was able to rise all these boats, you know? Mm-hmm. With the tide, rather than just, Hey, let me get out in front. It was like, let me bring everybody with me. Right. On multiple levels, whether it was new construction, new subdivision, you know, an agent who needed help, or just a human that needed, you know, some support. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And you did all that at the same time. It's just kind of a thing that I don. I don't think most people can do, you know? Yeah. It's like, it almost makes me tear up to ru, you know, just to be kind of

HEATHER 5:19

a party. Well, you're gonna make me tear up. But yeah, I mean it, you know, there's something to be said to be able to, to do what we do and influence towards helping people. And I think that there's nothing that can ever take the place of that. And you know, we've got a great community, real estate agents. You know, we, we thrive in, in helping people and why not do it for our own? Yeah. When we can.

RUSSELL 5:43

It's good.

CARTER 5:44

And there's a small group of us, you know, it's really a small group of real estate agents out there when you really look at it.

HEATHER 5:49

Yeah.

Finding Nemo And Growing With Wert

CARTER 5:50

Tell, tell us a little story about how you and. The, my favorite story is where we met the first time me and Heather met. Russell was a, I didn't know this trip. So,

HEATHER 5:59

yeah, so I, so when I got into the business, um, I jumped right into, uh, uh, new home sales. And I was with a company that was, uh, representing a subdivision and that's where I started with two of my builders, um, in these subdivisions. So, uh, paint construction, Boulder Creek I've had for 20 years. Um, which. Probably is one of my biggest prides that I have in real estate is that, you know, it's unheard of to represent a build, uh, you know, builder for 20 years. And I've got two of'em that I've done that. So that's a great pride. It

CARTER 6:30

says a lot about you, you know, like in that relationship and

HEATHER 6:33

Yeah, and I think it says a lot about just the company that I'm with and, and, and that kind of stuff. And I'll, I'll touch on that a little bit. But, um, I met Carter. Carter knocked on my door and I was sitting at a model home. About three months into real estate. And I didn't know anything like I did. I literally didn't know anything. And he knocked on my door and he said, Hey, um, you know, what, what do you, what do you think about real estate? You know, how are things going? And you know, I'm showing him around like, I'm gonna sell him a house. You know, I had no. Clue. We get upstairs, I'm showing him the house. We get upstairs to the media room and Finding Nemo, right?

CARTER 7:09

Yep. Finding Nemo was

HEATHER 7:10

on Finding Nemo is playing and Carter goes,

CARTER 7:11

he's the classic opportunity to visit with Finding Nemo on the background.

HEATHER 7:15

And Carter says, I love this movie. And I'm like, you do? And he is like, ah, nah, not really. You know, I don't watch movies. And I was like, oh, okay. We sat down and we watched Finding Nemo. It's probably the only movie Carter has ever watched.'cause Yeah, I

CARTER 7:28

didn't really watch it'cause we were just talking the whole time we were talking. We weren't a lot of watching.

HEATHER 7:31

And we sat there and just talked and we're like, gosh, we're kind of, kind of alike. We think alike. And um, from there that was it. From there, um, I was hooked and, and met Brandon soon after that and been with you guys ever since. It's

CARTER 7:49

the funniest, like where that began and then like all the pasts that we've gone, how many model homes, me and Brandon have sat in the back of a. Trailer moving for you, and then finally the last one.

HEATHER 8:00

Yeah, and I mean, and, and, and really like, we kind of grew up together in this business because when I tell you I don't know what I was doing, I didn't know what I was doing, but I was selling houses and so we would, we would have a model home or what we would call a model home. It was really now what we call a staged home. And we'd, we'd stage it and, and I'd sell it. And I would call the guys and call you and Brandon and say, Hey, we need to move. We were, you know, two guys in a, in a trailer at the time in a

CARTER 8:31

trailer.

HEATHER 8:31

It was not even a truck. Let, was do a

CARTER 8:33

trailer. We moved.

HEATHER 8:34

Yeah. Here my owners are of my company, which who knew? You know that this happens, but they would, they would move us. One time Brandon was driving and. No. Yeah, Brandon was driving, Carter was on the back and we lost Carter. Um, so I mean, we lost couches. We lost Carter. We lost,

CARTER 8:50

if anybody knows, the hummingbird knows what pace he was taking and moving, moving furniture down the road. It was, it wasn't at a leisurely stroll, you know?

HEATHER 8:59

Yeah. I'm, I'm glad I didn't run over you, but yeah, we lost Carter and he walked the rest of the way to the house. Um, very slow. And, uh, we just went from there and after about 12 moves they said,

CARTER 9:09

that's it.

HEATHER 9:10

We're not moving you anymore.

CARTER 9:11

That's it, Heather, you're on your own now. You gotta move your own.

HEATHER 9:14

But yeah, I mean, just how we started is, is hilarious. And just the growth from there is just. Unbelievable

CARTER 9:23

for everybody. Well, it's been fun. You've been, you've been with us since, I mean, we had 15 people, right? Yeah. You know, and, and to where we are now and just the different feel of the way the office is, the kind of tools and resources that we have, the people we have now. Yeah. Like it's, it's such a fun ride to. Be on together and, and kind of see how we've been able to impact everybody's career.

HEATHER 9:45

Yeah. It's, it's funny because I, I've listened to a couple of the podcasts that you guys have done, and it, it just takes me back home. Mm-hmm. Because it's so wild for me to think that things are so the same but so different. And like, we are the same people. We are the same goofy people. You're the same person that fell off that trailer. You know, I'm the same person that, you know, was learning as we were going and. Lord, help us, Brandon say, just make it up as you go. Yeah, we make it up as we go and, but we're so much better, you know, we're so much better. But we're the same people.

RUSSELL 10:18

Hey, I'm, I'm gonna speak on that and I don't need you to Pat Carter on the back, but you know, you could really go anywhere, like really, right? I mean, the number one agent in the world.

HEATHER 10:28

Oh,

RUSSELL 10:28

you could, you could be at any firm. Mm-hmm. You could be in any town. Mm-hmm. Like, let's speak to that a little bit about why you've, why you've never moved, why you've, you know, where, why are you here mm-hmm. Now mm-hmm. You know, for the last 20 years.

HEATHER 10:40

Mm-hmm. You know, it, to me, success is who you surround yourself with. Mm-hmm. And, um, I, I realize real quick that, um, I can be more successful. With who? I surround myself with people that help with my weaknesses, people that encourage me, people that think like me, and people that wanna win. And, um, there's better splits out there. There's, there's, uh, fancier offices out there. None of that matters when at the end of the day you depend on the people around you and who you are. Yeah. And wt in my opinion, Brandon Carter specifically. Um. Get the best out of people. And you know, they demand themselves to be the best and they want the best out of people. And best idea has always won. And, um, that's why I'm here. And you know, a cool thing is happening at Wert that I'm seeing, and it's this growth that's happening and not just happening with new agents coming on, but we're starting to see this generational growth. And I'm seeing things like Hannah Wagner or. She's not Hannah Wagner, um, but Tina Wagner's daughter Hannah coming on. Edward, Edward, Hannah Edwards, Edward, yeah. Um, coming on. And I've known her since she was like, known

CARTER 11:56

her as Hannah Edwards, her or Hannah Wagner. Her whole life,

HEATHER 11:58

her whole life since she was like five. But like, I'm seeing her come on. Uh, my daughter Haley. Yeah. And, and what she's doing for the company. And I'm seeing this generational growth and. You can't find that in every company. You can't find best idea wins. You can't find, you know, thinking outside the box. You can't find the training. And it's all those things. And, and some of them I do, some of them my, my team might do, but it's the people around me doing it. Yeah. And it, it, it matters. It matters where you are. It matters who's pushing you. It, your splits don't matter. Your splits don't matter. Your office doesn't matter. Your mindset matters. Yeah. And the leadership at Weikert has the right mindset.

RUSSELL 12:42

You know, it speaks to the whole fact that like loyalty is a lost art, but it's more than loyalty. It's not even like, well, I'm just gonna grind it out for my broker. Right. It's like a movement that happens within yourself and the people around you, like you said, like surround your people, you know, surround yourself with the people that are, that are forcing you to grow. Yeah. You know, or you can, you can go by the wayside and just make it easy.

HEATHER 13:03

Yeah.

RUSSELL 13:03

You know? But that's not changing your own life or anybody else's.

HEATHER 13:05

No, no. And, and loyalty is a two-way street. I mean, like, like. The guys have been loyal to me. I mean, super loyal to me. I'm super loyal to them. And like that is what builds foundation. And until you have a foundation, you have trust. You know, this, this, this industry is hard, you know? And at the, when, when you sit and say, who's in my corner? I, I, I can name 50 people in my corner. You know, and some of those are outside agents, but a lot of them are WT people and it's wt people at corporate, it's whiter people local and, um, you know, I don't ever have to question. Yeah. And, and the, the trust and the loyalty and the foundation that they've built is what's helped me. Yeah. Be where I'm at.

CARTER 13:51

Yeah. Well, and you know, we love you. You know, so it's like, it's different.

HEATHER 13:54

Yeah. Yeah.

CARTER 13:55

So let's talk a little bit about, let's, let's talk about what you do day to day and what makes your business hum and what makes you do what you do. So right now you're working with. Three builders. Mm-hmm. How many subdivisions do you have going on right now?

Price Points Floor Plans And Locations

HEATHER 14:07

Ooh, I've got several subdivisions going on. I've got, uh, big Sky, I've got Scissor Tail, I've got Aurora. Those are all in Bentonville. I've got Trail Ridge in Bentonville. It's kind of a one street subdivision. I've got Hawthorne Heights. That's with a um, uh, investment group that's in Bentonville. I've got Osage Hills, Jacobs Crossing, Livingston. Those are all Britain communities. Uh, Bentonville and Springdale and Fayetteville. Um, I've got new, uh, neighborhoods coming on the market. Um, some in, uh, Bentonville, so I've, we've got a lot going on.

CARTER 14:45

That's great. So what are you seeing right now as far as like trends in new construction? Mm-hmm. Um, let's talk a little bit about the difference between trends going on in Bentonville. Like what price would somebody be looking at a new construction house in Bentonville? Uh, in the different price points, what do those houses look like?

HEATHER 15:00

Bentonville? Um, Bentonville has really got, uh, three key markets. You know, we've got an opening price point, um, you know, under the 400 mark. It's kind of hard to find, but in that, right at that 400 mark is a good price point. We're seeing, um, you know, good quality builds there out of, out of Brina. Um. You know, in general we're competing with national builders. Um, and nothing wrong with national builders, but they offer a different product. Um,

CARTER 15:29

so would that be your Dr. Hortons?

HEATHER 15:30

Yeah.

CARTER 15:30

Is kind of the competition

HEATHER 15:31

in that. Yeah. Ross Coleman, Lennar, that kind of thing. You know, they're, they're cranking out. You know, track level homes, that kind of thing where Brim's offering a little bit more spice to life a little bit, um, better finishes, that kind of stuff. Um, and then, you know, there's some different price points. You know, there's that middle price point. And then what I dabble in is the upper price point. So anything over about 800 is kind of what Boulder Creek and Payne are doing. Um, super good quality. Um. Smart, smart floor plans, secondary bedrooms on the main level, bonuses on the main level, just really hitting what people are looking for in communities and locations that they're looking for.

CARTER 16:10

What in that price point is kind of like, uh, the finish outs that somebody could expect in a$800,000 new construction house? Size wise, price wise, and

HEATHER 16:20

I mean, you're expecting courts, you're expecting, um, some, some dabbles of uh uh. Like some woodwork, some beams, some things like that, some wow factors. Um, you're expecting cabinets to the ceiling, you know, really great kitchen, great kitchen layouts, uh, primary suites that really make sense and offer, you know, a, a variety of options from like a sitting area or, um, different things going on in the, in the bathroom that are just luxury type things, but really. Uh, our keys are to hit the floor plans and, and floor plan keys are secondary bedrooms down. You know, you need, families either need a place for a, a small child or they need a place that their parents can come and not have to go on stairs. You know, everybody's looking. COVID changed things for us a little bit where, you know, we were strictly before COVID, everything was focused on bonus room. Um, now that bonus room is a utility room, so it might be a exercise room, it might be a bonus room, it might be a, a kids' learning center, you know, things like that. So we're trying to be universal and, and try to hit things, you know, that, that. You know, people are wanting, and people that are people that are moving here. So it's not necessarily always our move up buyer here. It's what people are used to seeing out in the market.

CARTER 17:38

So you have subdivisions in Bentonville Warehouse or you doing stuff right now? I know Fayetteville and Springdale. What's, what's it like down there?

HEATHER 17:45

So Springdale is such a growing market. Um, we're on the east side of Springdale. Right. So we're over there on the east side of Springdale and on the right

CARTER 17:55

side

HEATHER 17:56

Yeah, on the, on the right side. Yeah. And, um, we've got a, for

CARTER 17:59

those that don't know, Heather's directly challenged, so everything in front of her is, is north. North, yes. And then to the right would be the east

HEATHER 18:04

side. Yeah. And if I back up, I'm going south.

CARTER 18:06

Yeah, exactly.

HEATHER 18:07

So yeah, I'm very directly challenged. That's never gonna change. Um, but in Springdale, we've got a great, uh, subdivision called Jacobs Crossing. And so it's a brick and build subdivision. Um, it, it's just a fantastic, uh, community. Um. We've got lots. It, it's a, it's a ready to go home, um, with fence, blinds and gutters, everything included. Um, so it's ready to go and great floor plans. It makes sense. It's, it's in Springdale and then Bri's got another subdivision going. It's, it's really a unique, uh, opportunity for somebody. Um. It's called Livingston and it's off of old wire and crossover. Fantastic community. Um, very unique style houses, uh, great, great finishes. Um, kind of a modern style, um, in such a desired location.

CARTER 18:55

We had the, the, you had the open house over there the other day. Yeah. And, and just the floor plan and the layout of those homes is awesome. And it's right there by Gully Park. It's right close to the schools. It's a awesome location.

HEATHER 19:07

Yeah, and, and just a cool different thing. I mean, we're keeping Fayetteville funky, so, you know, we, we stayed in line with that and it's, it's really a, a cool build.

CARTER 19:15

What are some of the subdivisions, like amenities, things? What are some of the cool amenities that some of the neighborhoods have that would kinda stand out to somebody if they're looking to buy? New construction in any of the communities.

Amenities Costs And Smarter Building

HEATHER 19:26

Yeah, you know, we scissor tail, I, I've got, uh, Boulder Creek that still builds in scissor tail and we've got Aurora. Those subdivisions are top line amenities, um, two pools, you know, um, different kind of play areas, that kind of stuff. We're seeing a little change, I think going forward. Land prices are so expensive here, so finding the right amenities for the right cost, um, in subdivisions is getting tough.

CARTER 19:50

It almost makes it. Impossible. It in some cases

HEATHER 19:53

it is, it is almost making it impossible for the, for the one, for the insurance, but for the build out of those amenities. So, and, and in, in the timing of what you can do with those, you know, um, not everybody has a, you know, not every developer has a million dollars.$3 million is set aside to build amenities and, and it's expensive. Um, so we're seeing some different things. You know, I think we're gonna see more type recreational type type amenities where walking trails and, um, maybe like walking slash exercise type stations and some different things where we may not see as many pools, um, in the near future with land prices.

CARTER 20:33

I like it. What, um. What, what are some of the biggest changes you've seen in the way homes were built 20 years ago when you started in this mm-hmm. To what they are now? What are some of the trends that you're seeing that have changed to where this is the new norm now? Mm-hmm. Where somebody that hadn't bought a house in 10 years mm-hmm.

HEATHER 20:53

And

CARTER 20:53

when they were looking at new construction back then, it's a whole different

HEATHER 20:56

mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

CARTER 20:57

Finish or whatever the trends are. What do you see in some of the trends right now that are, that are popping in popular?

HEATHER 21:02

Um, you know, we went through. I, we went through that whole gaudy stage of everything was gold and maroon. Okay. Thank goodness we got outta that. It took us a while, but we got outta that. And then I feel like we went through a throw everything. You know, in the houses. And that's when we, that's when we were coming out of that bubble trying to get people to buy and we throw, threw everything in there. Then we went to very sleek and slim and gray and, uh, no, you know, not a lot of trim, not a lot of accent, you know, because we went in this market where you could build anything and it would sell. We're now in a market where it's gotta be right and it's, it's got to hit the right price. So depending on what price point you're in, maybe you need. Crown molding, maybe that's coming back. Um, maybe you need, uh, better appliances. Um, maybe you're in a lower price point and you don't have to put those extras. It, the trend right now is to hit it, right? So you've gotta know who your buyer is. You've got to know, um, you know what they're looking for, and you've got to be very smart. As a builder right now, you cannot put in finishes that you don't have to have because the margins are too tight. Um, also as a builder, you can't leave something out because this person's expecting it in this price point. You know, it's crazy.

CARTER 22:25

It's a fine balance of walking to exactly what that buyer needs and doing your homework before you even start the project.

HEATHER 22:30

Yes. And, and, and, and making sure you know that because, you know, in that, in that upper price point, those houses are taken six to eight months to build. Um. Sometimes in our market, six or eight months is, is long history. And so you've got to be, you know, on top of what you're doing. And, and it's, and especially with the price points, you know, we're, we're building a house that, you know, we built four years ago, very similar house, and we're selling it for$150 more square foot now. Wow. You know, so does that change, that buyer? It might do. We have to update and make sure we're meeting the needs of that buyer. Yeah. You know, and, and, and what they're looking for. It's more important ever, in my opinion. In new construction to be on point with where you're building, what you're building, what it looks like.

RUSSELL 23:17

Yeah. I think it speaks to the unique matrix that gives you the ability to not build a cookie cutter house next to a cookie cutter house, next to another cookie cutter. Right? Yep. You have to know exactly.'cause otherwise you're just flipping the floor floor plan and then you're not elevating the. The community or the

HEATHER 23:32

subdivision or

RUSSELL 23:33

any of that.

HEATHER 23:33

That's right. Right. And, and there's a, there's a, there's a right spot for that cookie cutter.

RUSSELL 23:37

Sure.

HEATHER 23:37

You know, um, but what land prices are going for right now and what lots are going for, you gotta be on point. And so if you're gonna be cookie cutter, you better turn volume.

RUSSELL 23:46

That's good.

CARTER 23:47

Let me ask you this too. So you've been with your builders for a long time.

HEATHER 23:50

Mm-hmm.

CARTER 23:51

And there's a trusted relationship there that you've built and grown and developed over the years. How has your role changed? Where now you're like a trusted advisor, almost a partner with them on this mm-hmm. Project. Mm-hmm. And have been for a long time. Mm-hmm. What does your role look like with them now? Mm-hmm. Um, day to day as far as helping'em hit that number, hit the mm-hmm. Hit the right floor plan. Are you with them from the get-go as far as when they're picking plans, picking lots, all that sort of thing?

HEATHER 24:17

Yeah. I'm, I'm, I'm with them from the get go, probably before we're even. I, I, I'm with them at the GG sorry, at the get go. When we're looking at a field and does this field make sense? Is this where we want to go? Um, whether, whatever town that's in, whatever, you know, we're doing, we're, we're, we're from the get go of price point, look, house finishes, targeted buyer, all that kind of stuff. Um, it's funny because with my builders, it's kind of the same thing as with you and Brandon. Everything's the same, but it's different. Mm-hmm. Um, they, they trust me as much as I trust them and, um, they. They look to me for insight to what's going on. Um, and you know, I, I know that they're gonna build the product that's gonna sell. And so, you know, um, it's, it's that kind of relationship that I have with them. And like I said, you know, Boulder Creek and, and Payne Construction, you know, we've been together 20 years. That's a long time.

CARTER 25:17

Yeah. And everybody's got their lane and they're really good in their lane.

HEATHER 25:19

Yes.

CARTER 25:19

And we, you know, everybody's really good at what they do in their spot. Yeah. And everybody knows their role and their. Capitalizing on it.

HEATHER 25:25

Absolutely.

CARTER 25:26

You're not telling them how to build a house, but they're, they're looking at you for your expertise and your market knowledge and what's trending and all that for them.

HEATHER 25:32

That's right, that's right. And, and, and, and looking at me to make sure I know what's going on out there. You know, um, the best builders are targeted on what they're doing and taking advice from those around them. I, I need to know what else is selling. I need to know the next place to. To, to build. I need to know what we should be building. And so they look to me for that and, and I try to stay up on that.

CARTER 25:55

That's great. So if, if somebody was out there right now that was thinking about getting in the real estate business mm-hmm. I mean, you were, went from vendor world to, you know, thinking about what your options were, single bomb, you know? Mm-hmm. And you said, I'm gonna jump in this real estate mm-hmm. World.

RUSSELL 26:11

Mm-hmm.

CARTER 26:12

I mean, obviously not everybody's gonna be doing new construction, but they could be doing resale, right? It could be doing new construction, they could be doing whatever. What advice would you give somebody that was getting in the business? How would you tell them to kinda structure their career for a long last? We know that everybody that's been in this business knows it's a snowball, right? Yeah.

HEATHER 26:29

Yeah.

CARTER 26:30

And it, and it's hard to plan for that snowball if you said. Hey, this is the path you need to jump on. What would you, what advice would you give somebody?

Activities Systems And Closing Advice

HEATHER 26:37

Yeah, so it's funny'cause I just came out of a meeting with my team a little bit and we talked a, we talked a little bit about this real estate is a rollercoaster and those that can master the rollercoaster can master success in real estate. You gotta take out the highs, you gotta take out the lows. And the only way, in my opinion to do that is activities. Um, I. I don't want anybody to think that getting into real estate. Um, my nephew's new into real estate and I just talked to him about this. Real estate creates anxiety. It just does. It just, it just really does. You're either a little bit anxious because you don't have a deal or you're a little bit anxious'cause you got four deals and you're trying to juggle. Yeah. And so you have to control that anxiety and to control anxiety. Over time, I've learned that you just live in the moment. You're right here, right here, right now. I'm fine. If I start worrying about the past, I get a little anxious. If I start worrying about the future, I get a little anxious. So it's right here, right now. What can I do right here, right now? Well, I can do an activity. What activity Can I do? Something that's money making? Let me make a call. Let me send out something outta my CRM. Let me do something that's money making right now. To ease that anxiety and to ease that unknown. And if you just keep doing that, then you're just fine. And that's what I think I would tell anybody getting into real estate. Don't worry about who's doing what. Don't worry about what you did. What you did yesterday. Doesn't matter. Yesterday was the easiest day you're gonna have.

CARTER 28:04

That's good.

HEATHER 28:04

Okay. Today

CARTER 28:05

you gotta live in the present.

HEATHER 28:06

You gotta live today. Yesterday was the easiest day you're ever gonna have. So it's today. And do an activity, if you feel overwhelmed, do an activity. Do an activity that's money making. Um, and, and, and it'll, it'll cure your anxiety. It'll cure the rollercoaster and it'll make a career outta real estate.

CARTER 28:23

That's awesome. So the, it's, it's funny too,'cause we just talked about Griffin Growth Labs today. Mm-hmm. And that's all it is, right? Mm-hmm. It's just activities. That's planned and strategic, that managers are gonna walk right beside the agents with, to make sure they're doing all the right activities to get'em there. Mm-hmm.

RUSSELL 28:37

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

CARTER 28:38

You know, the other thing that you just talked about is you can't worry about yesterday or tomorrow. No. Um, that's a whole different mindset than a lot of businesses. So what's interesting is about this, and we've lived through this a few times, is the market changes, right? One day it could be hot as a firecracker. When we opened in 2003, we didn't realize what a rise we were on when we opened. And we realized it pretty quick in oh 7, 0 8, you know, like we realized we were on the ride up, you know, and I remember sitting in a lull with you and Barry and Marcy and Brandon and Yeah. And we were like, all right, we gotta have this much money this month. Mm-hmm. To keep the doors open. Heather goes, I got two. I go, I got two. Brandon says, I got one. Barry says, I got to. And, and we're like, all right, if we do that, we can keep the doors open. Mm-hmm. Um, and that was real. But, but what you realize after you've been in the business and you've ridden a couple rides, right? You ride that. You ride that little ride up, you hit oh eight and the world's falling, and then you climb back out. Yep. And then you hit COVID and you go, what's gonna happen today? What we do know is there's always still people behind to tell.

RUSSELL 29:40

Yes.

CARTER 29:40

It didn't matter. It didn't matter what the environment was at the time. Whether it was the worst national news in the world, or the best national news in the world, people were still buying and selling houses in northwest Arkansas and all over the place.

RUSSELL 29:52

Yeah.

CARTER 29:53

The difference is the people that were. So busy watching the news, they forgot to go do this stuff.

RUSSELL 29:58

Yeah.

CARTER 29:59

You know, like the people that that looked around and go, oh my God, the world's falling. There's no way that anybody's gonna think about buying or selling a house today. And guess what? There's people buying or selling a house every single day.

HEATHER 30:08

Every single day. Yeah. And every single day. That's the coolest thing about what we do, is you have control over you. You have control over what you do and, and if you just do the right things, there's somebody that's going to buy or sell a house with you. And so it happens every day. Just how much of the piece of the pie are you going to get? That's right. And if you're not getting enough piece of the pie, check your activities. Yeah. You know? And if, and if it's a

CARTER 30:35

mirror check.

HEATHER 30:36

Yeah. And if you're getting a good piece of the pie and you're, you're overwhelmed with some of the aspects of that, check your processes. It's about activities and processes that makes things smoother. And something to be said to that, you know, one, a big part of my success and, and some of the things you're asking is about who my support is. And so that's another thing that I'm so prideful about is, you know, I have a listing assistant that's been with me 11 years, I mean. It's longer than my marriages. I mean, it's a long time. They're laughing at me. But it's the truth. It's true. I mean, and Carter's Carter's been with me a long time. He knows what it takes for 11 years, but she has been with me 11 years. That is amazing. That is, I mean, it's amazing. She can turn circles around me when it comes to listing houses. Um, my, my closing assistant, Nita, she's been with me six years. Um, she's also my personal assistant. I would not have electricity if it wasn't for her. Yeah. Like she just runs. The world for me and allows me to do what I do. Kaitlyn's my new, um, marketing person. She's been with me almost a year and she's fantastic. I have these long-term people that have been with me that are my support staff. It's more than support. It allows me to do what I do, but what they do is unbelievable. You know, in the back end of things. And, and, and they're, they're, they're, you know, I, I al if you ask them what their, their, um, most important role is, you're gonna laugh. But their most important role is to make me look better. That's what they will tell you. And that's not to say that I need to look good out there. It's to say. We can be chaos on the back end, but on the front end we know what we're doing. Yeah. And if you don't have that kind of staff and that kind of support, it's hard to do the volume that we do.

RUSSELL 32:29

Yeah. It's the people, tools and systems that Yes. That you apply every day. Yes. And you can sit here and say, well, I wanna make money tomorrow, but what's the activity you're gonna do today that gets you money tomorrow?

HEATHER 32:38

Yeah.

RUSSELL 32:38

Right.

HEATHER 32:39

Yeah.

CARTER 32:39

Well, in our business it's all chaos, right? Like it's, it's organized chaos. Yeah. And that's the part that many people don't understand that aren't in the business. Like our job is to. Be the calm in the middle of the storm and everything's a storm. Yes. I mean, you're, you're dealing with a highly emotional purchase for a lot of people. Yes. Um, and sells for a lot of people too. And in the construction side, there's many wrenches that can be thrown in the thing.

HEATHER 33:01

Oh. And, and, and, and you know, we don't like fires. We have fires. We have time in our day to put out fires. But it's the processes and, and, and my staff that creates pro, like I'm telling you right now, if something goes wrong today. My staff will have a process for it tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't have to come up with that. They do. And that's the greatness of, of how we work. And, and weigert's the same way. You know, if, if we find a glitch. Then we create a process to fix that glitch or to fix that void. And it's ever changing. There is no day in real estate that's the same.

CARTER 33:38

Well, we've said it a million times. We're we're far from perfect.

HEATHER 33:41

Oh,

CARTER 33:41

you know, but, but we're at least trying, we, we go to work every day to get better, you know, and that's the thing about it.

HEATHER 33:47

I mean, I, I, I think when you can identify that, you know, you're not perfect, is is the best you know, that you can do for yourself. We all need grace and we all gotta give grace. You know, we're lucky to be able to do what we do. Yeah, absolutely. And, and to have the success that we've had and, um, more importantly, to build the relationships that we've been able to build. Um, you know, one of my, one of my things too that I'm so prideful about is the relationship that I have with other agents. Um, I have agents that, um, you know, I at a drop of a hat. Will do anything for me and I'll do anything for them. And I have agents that, you know, I might not see for a year and see'em and give'em a hug. And, you know, I have mentors out there, MAISA Harris is probably my biggest mentor and she's just a phenomenal person. And, um, so I have deep, deep relationships that this, this industry has given me. And so not only can you help people, not only can you, you know, build relationships, but this can be a successful career.

CARTER 34:47

That's great.

HEATHER 34:48

Yeah.

34:48

Well,

CARTER 34:48

thank you so much for taking the time Yeah. To sit down with this. It has been fun. Kinda catching up, kind of hashing back, but the old days and, and kinda how it all went down. The old Finding Nemo moments. The old days. Yeah. The old Finding Nemo moments standing in the back of a truck, sitting on a, uh, sitting on a couches. Were moving it down the road, but. It's been an absolute joy, fun ride. So proud to see your success. Yeah. Proud. Proud to see all the things that you've done and

HEATHER 35:14

well, thank you.

CARTER 35:15

Appreciate you sitting in with

HEATHER 35:16

us. Yeah. And, and, and just so you know, I don't know if you know this, but Brandon's thrown me from a car too. No. Yes. We, we, we were on the golf course and if you've ever been in a golf court cart with the hummingbird, he took a left quick. I went rolling to the right. To the

RUSSELL 35:32

right.

HEATHER 35:33

Yeah. That does not

CARTER 35:34

surprise me.

HEATHER 35:35

Yeah.

RUSSELL 35:35

I am not surprised. Well, again, thank you for Yeah, coming on the show and hanging out with ust.

HEATHER 35:39

You bet.

RUSSELL 35:40

All right. That's our show for today. Thank you so much for spending part of your day with NWA and beyond. the best way to support this show is to share it with one of your friends who you find it helpful, like follow and share wherever you listen to podcasts.