Meet the $20 Million Club

The Region’s Top Real Estate Agencies
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The Region’s Top Real Estate Agents
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Of the 3,753 real estate agents registered in Northwest Arkansas, only a dozen had sales of $20 million or more. Even among that crowd, only 10 closed enough deals to reach the very highest of local Realtor realms — Northwest Arkansas’ Top 10.

Those go-getters are profiled here in conjunction with the Business Journal’s annual highest-grossing real estate agents list.

The rest of this year’s $20 million club includes David Mix and Mike Philip, two other perennial contenders for the area’s elite.

The number of agents from Benton and Washington counties registered with the Arkansas Realtors Association was up 10 percent from 3,400 agents in 2003 and up 17 percent from 3,199 in 2002.

The Rogers board, with a 27 percent increase in agents last year, saw the biggest change. So even among more competition than ever, this year’s Top 10 found ways to excel using everything from Girl Scout cookies to “bag-lady syndrone.”

Local real estate companies report sales for the Business Journal’s annual list every February. For the individual sales totals used here, team sales were excluded. Also, only agents with at least $2 million in residential sales, were included.

Total sales reported by the 345 individual agents who participated this year were $2.2 billion, up 30 percent from 2004.

Last year, agents with $1 million or more were included, giving the list a total of 436 agents.

The 2005 Top 10 combined had $302.5 million in residential sales, or 13 percent of the entire total. Seven of the Top 10 agents are women, and about 50 percent of the Top 100 are female as well.

When the Business Journal highlighted the “magnificent seven” in its April 2, 2001, issue, their sales from 1997 to 2000 were tallied.

Meza Harris was listed as No. 1 that year with $76.9 million, followed by Pat Moore with $46.3 million, Rick Hawes with $46 million, David Mix with $43.5 million, Margie Moldenhauer with $43.4 million, Lana Patrick with $40.4 million and Kirk Elsass with $39.1 million.

Harris, who has remained at No.1 since 1999, had a sales volume of $14.4 million that year. Rick Hawes, who is ranked second on the 2005 list, was No. 1 in 1998 with $11 million.

Sales from the Business Journal’s highest-grossing real estate companies list, which also excluded team sales, totaled $2.9 billion, up 43 percent over two years from $2.02 billion in 2003.

Not all of the agents who’s totals are included in the companies’ totals reported their figures for the individuals’ list. Some firms also elected not to report their individual agents’ figures:

Total firm sales increased 35 percent in 2003 from $1.49 billion in 2002 and increased 22 percent from $1.22 billion in 2001.

So sales have increased by 137 percent during the last four years. Only individual agent sales were tracked in our upscale real estate issues prior to 2001.

So here’s a look at each of 2005’s top grossing real estate agents, followed by the overall listings.

Meza Harris
Age: 60
Lindsey & Associates Inc.
Rogers
2004 Sales $56.1
2003 Sales $37.44
Percent Change 49.8

Meza Harris said she has only had “floor duty” once in her 11 years as a real estate agent. That’s because she gets so many referrals. She attributes her continued success to her larger referral base. Harris has a team of four assistants, of which three are licensed agents. Her average sale is $388,000.

The Bentonville native jokes that she has made Northwest Arkansas her home longer than Wal-Mart has. She and Wal-Mart Chairman Rob Walton were both 1962 graduates of Bentonville High School.

“I grew up here, and I know a lot of people,” Harris said. She said that time and knowledge are both integral to her success.

“You want to gather as much information as you can and know the market, and that’s what I share with people,” Harris said.

Harris has designations such as Graduate Realtor Institute, Accredited Buyer Representative and Certified Residential Specialist.

“Real estate is my life,” she said. Harris said she began selling real estate when her children were in college, so she was very available to clients at all hours.

“You couldn’t work the hours that I do unless you loved it and unless you were having fun,” Harris said. “I love the excitement of it.”

Rick Hawes
Age: 44
Benchmark Real Estate
Lowell
2004 Sales $41.25 million
2003 Sales $14 million
Percent Change 194

Rick Hawes said his motivation to sell is to provide for his seven children.

“I’m just blessed to be in this market,” he said, noting he didn’t think much of himself as a Realtor. His success is more tied to the booming market and the conditions surrounding him than his sales skills, he said.

But Hawes ascended to the No. 2 spot on this year’s Top Producing Residential Real Estate Agents list without the help of a sales team. He just hired his first certified assistant in early March, he said. And, 2004 was Benchmark’s first full calendar year.

The average home Hawes sold was for $580,000, he said.

Hawes, who is also a pastor and a part-time cattle rancher, grew up in Little Flock. From there, he attended Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he earned his degree in Greek and religion, and then two master’s degrees in classical languages. After that, he was a pastor in Tennessee for six years before health problems brought him back to Northwest Arkansas in 1993.

That’s when Hawes got his real estate license and began his current career working for Lindsey & Associates in Rogers. He was there for about eight years before striking out on his own, he said.

Keri Barber
Age: 29
Dallas Real Estate Services Inc.
Fayetteville
2004 Sales $38.42 million
2003 Sales $3.22 million
Percent Change 1,093.2

Selling luxury and making personal sacrifices are what Keri Barber said helped her make it into the top three this year for residential real estate sales.

“I don’t have time to read, much less attend a seminar,” Barber said. “I barely have time for my family. Lunch is overrated, too. It was just a wild year, and by last fall I had to hire Kim Autry [from Coldwell Banker] as my assistant. It got to the point where I could not keep up by myself anymore, and I could not have done this without her.”

Barber said her listings range from $100,000 to $1.6 million, but her stock-in-trade is the $350,000 home. Luxuries such as wine cellars, digital electronic setups, security systems, faux paintings and plaster molding are moving houses in that price range, the Danville native said.

Only in her second year of real estate, the University of Arkansas graduate said it doesn’t hurt that she and husband/developer Brandon Barber have a lot of friends in the area. But their network of home-buying-age customers has more to do with her success than the fact that the Barbers own an interest in Dallas Real Estate, she said.

Few of the subdivisions her husband is building contributed to her sales, Barber said. Instead, she has expanded her offerings market-wide, and particularly with a new office in Benton County she’s taking on commercial and residential listings there.

Larry Kelly
Age: 50
LandQuest Realty
Bentonville
2004 Sales $30.1
2003 Sales $9.25
Percent Change 225.4

Larry Kelly of LandQuest Realty has been selling real estate in Northwest Arkansas since 1992 when he moved to the area from Houston to start his own real estate firm, Kelly Group Realty. Kelly said he was supposed to have another partner who backed out at the last minute.

The certified real estate instructor then worked fro Re/Max for five years before joining LandQuest in 2003.

He attributes LandQuest sales successes to the firm’s vertically integrated real estate concept that has its realtors selling on-site in model homes in its subdivisions.

“We work with our builders to figure out what the market is demanding, and we put together an advertising and marketing program for our builders and our group,” Kelly said.

Kelly is no stranger to the model sales market, which is where he got his start as an agent in Austin, Texas.

“Really I got some excellent sales training from the very beginning,” Kelly said. He said he has read the works of motivational real estate trainers such as Tommy Hopkins and Mike Ferry.

Kelly is a two-term past president of the Bentonville-Bella Vista Board of Realtors and currently serves as chair of its legislative committee.

Margie Moldenhauer
Age: 52
Re/Max Associates
Fayetteville
2004 Sales $26.08 million
2003 Sales $23.32 million
Percent Change 11.8

Margie Moldenhauer is driven by the fear of becoming a bag lady.

“I’ve always had a bag-lady syndrome,” she said. “I keep working hard so I don’t end up being a bag lady.”

As the No. 5 residential real estate sales person in Northwest Arkansas, it’s not likely that Moldenhauer will end up being a bag lady anytime soon.

Moldenhauer grew up in Wickes, near Mena, and attended the University of Arkansas. She has been in local real estate sales for the past 24 years. After working for three local real estate companies, she opened Re/Max Associates in 1987.

Moldenhauer has two buyers’ agents and two unlicensed assistants on her team.

She has attended 16 seminars presented by Mike Ferry of California, who she describes as her mentor.

To get going every morning, Moldenhauer said, “I just start every day at zero.”

“I go back every year and track where my business came from,” Moldenhauer said. “I try to improve the weak areas and keep doing what I did in the strong areas.”

Her average house sale last year was about $260,000.

Moldenhauer is a Certified Residential Specialist, Certified Relocation Specialist, Accredited Buyer Representative and member of the Graduate Realtor Institute.

Patsy Chance
Age: 56
Dallas Real Estate Services Inc.
Bentonville
2004 Sales $25.54 million
2003 Sales $3.73 million
Percent Change 584.7

Running on a lean mixture of Girl Scout cookies and coffee, Patsy Chance did more during 2004 than three times her previous best year in sales.

“Mama loves shortbread,” Chance said.

Her sense of humor, plus a love of hustling for the customer, help Chance keep pace. The only way she could sell more, Chance said, is by giving up sleeping. But “finding that perfect home or piece of property” for buyers, or the right buyer for sellers, inspires Chance to keep going.

A 14-year real estate veteran, and 39-year local resident, Chance recently opened her firm’s 2,500-SF Bentonville office where she will serve as principal broker. She was executive broker for the firm last year, and said the Bentonville move is designed to better serve an increasing number of listings in that area. The new office will start with about six agents.

She credits the “entire Dallas team” for her success.

Chance’s bread-and-butter is mid-range homes, but she sells everything from development to commercial property. A growing demand for investment property and an increasing inventory of mid-market homes are the other trends she’s seeing. In particular, west Fayetteville, Centerton, Rogers and Bentonville are “hot.”

Danelle Carpenter
Age: 63
Matlock Real Estate Services
Springdale
2004 Sales $21.69 million
2003 Sales $4 million
Percent Change 442.3

Danelle Carpenter has been in real estate for 21 years, and she’s never seen a year like 2004. Her firm focuses on new construction for the middle-income market, or houses up to about $160,000. Carpenter Construction Inc., her son Tad Carpenter’s company, switched from building high-end homes to the middle segment last year.

That cranked open a pipeline of listings for Danelle Carpenter, who said her 2003 tally was her previous personal best.

“We strive to provide the best possible homes in range that’s affordable,” she said. “It’s the range that sells. That means sometimes I have to work 12- to 14-hour days, but we all know it’s not going to last forever and we have to do what we have to do while we can.”

Carpenter, a member of the Graduate Realtors Institute, is an associate broker for Larry Matlock but her sales totals are solely her own. She said her listings sell themselves because Carpenter Construction provides the mid-market with elements of upper-tier homes.

“Buyers want more for their money now,” Danelle Carpenter said, and quality of construction is a big concern she hears.

Carpenter Construction is now building at Springdale’s Brandon’s Way and Fayetteville’s Salem Meadows — two subdivisions adjacent to the new Springdale High School and Fayetteville’s Holcombe Elementary School. It’s also doing custom jobs from Elkins and Prairie Grove to Benton County.

Seth Mims
Age: 32
Mi Casa Real Estate Inc.
Springdale
2004 Sales $21.32 million
2003 Sales $10.30 million
Percent Change 107

Dallas native Seth Mims came to Northwest Arkansas in 1994 because his father saw an expanding niche in the area’s Hispanic market.

Mims speaks fluent Spanish, and the senior Mims told him to pick something to sell — cars, houses, furniture, anything — and do it. Mims said he picked real estate and 28 days later had his license. He hasn’t looked back since.

Now, the Hispanic market only comprises about 50 percent of Mi Casa’s business, he said.

In 2004, Mims closed on about 201 residential transactions, and he said his average selling price was about $120,000 on each. He’s already on track to double his sales in 2005, he said, because he’s done a brisk business in the first quarter — about 20 percent of last year’s.

He said traditionally he will do about 12 percent of his business in the first quarter, so he’s optimistic for the rest of the year.

Mims earned his associates degree from North Lake Community College in Irving, Texas, before moving to Northwest Arkansas.

For volunteer work, he said the company gives a lot of support to the area’s Hispanic churches, but he said he doesn’t do it for recognition or glory.

Pat Moore
Age: 55
Lindsey & Associates Inc.
Rogers
2004 Sales $20.9 million
2003 Sales $22 million
Percent Change -5

Pat Moore received a degree in education from the University of Arkansas in 1970 but soon went into real estate because of the flexibility.

In real estate, Moore said she can set her own hours, but sometimes that means 18-hour days during the summer.

“It’s sun up to sun down,” she said of the long days of summer. “In the winter, people don’t want to look at houses.”

In addition to real estate, Moore helps her husband Bob, who co-owns MasterCraft Homes along with Billy Witcofski.

“I hope to help him more, but I hope to keep selling real estate,” she said.

Moore has three people on her sales team.

“They do all the hard work,” she said. “They do all the paperwork. They’re awesome.”

Moore spent 10 years in real estate in Austin, Texas, before moving back to Northwest Arkansas, where she has worked in the field for the past 20 years.

Moore said her average sale last year was about $350,000.

Moore is a Certified Residential Specialist and a member of the Graduate Realtors Institute.

She is on the Job Advocacy Center board in Little Flock and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Moore said her favorite book is the chronological Bible, which she reads every night.

Mary Bassett
Age: 55
Bassett Mix & Associates
Fayetteville
2004 Sales $20.64 million
2003 Sales $28.72 million
Percent Change -28.1

Mary Bassett said she can’t imagine doing anything for a living other than real estate sales.

“Every house is different,” she said. “Every client is different and has different needs. You get out. You’re not stuck at a computer in a dark room. You have freedom.”

Bassett, who grew up in Fayetteville, has been in the local real estate business for the past 22 years. She and business partner David Mix founded Bassett Mix in 1989.

Bassett said she doesn’t strive to beat her previous year’s numbers every year. She’s more concerned about the success of the business as a whole.

Bassett said her average residential sale in 2004 was about $400,000. She has one part-time assistant.

Bassett said Realtor magazine is an excellent tool, and she found the book “Who Moved My Cheese?” to be inspirational. The message in the book is that when the cheese is moved, its time for the mice to find a new source for cheese instead of waiting for it to reappear.

Bassett is a Certified Residential Specialist. She’s also a member of the Graduate Realtors Institute and Association of Real Estate License Law Officials. Last year, she finished serving six years on the Arkansas Real Estate Commission.