Top Residential Realtors Sell $1.08 Billion in 2011

There are 219 Realtors included in the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s annual list ranking the top-producing residential Realtors.

That’s up about 15 percent from a total of 190 in 2010.

Each year the Business Journal requests sales figures from real estate firms in Benton and Washington counties.

To qualify for the list, which begins on page 24, agents had to have sales volume of $2 million or more during 2011. Firms had to have a volume of $5 million or more.

The number of firms ranked this year held steady at 20. Combined, the companies had a 2011 sales volume of $1.75 billion, up slightly from 2010’s total of $1.57 billion.

Lindsey & Associates Inc., bumped to No. 2 in 2010 after nine years at the top, returned to No. 1 in 2011 with a strong year, reporting $363.65 million in sales volume, an increase of 16 percent from 2010.

Coldwell Banker Harris McHaney Faucette slipped a spot to No. 2, but still showed a modest increase in sales volume with $348.51 million.

Keller Williams Realty of Northwest Arkansas showed the biggest improvement among the firms on this year’s list, reporting 2011 sales of $54.49 million, an increase of 73 percent from 2010.

Among top-producing Realtors, this year’s group combined for a sales volume of $1.08 billion, the highest total in three years.

In addition, 75 of the 219 Realtors showed a positive increase in year-over-year comparison with their 2010 totals.

The number of agents with a sales volume of more than $10 million also increased in 2011, with 19 agents reporting more than $10 million, compared to 11 in 2010.

For a look at this year’s list, please click here.

The names at the top of the list are largely unchanged as well. Kendall Riggins and Meza Harris, both with Lindsey & Associates, claimed the top two spots for the second straight year and eight of the top 10 agents last year returned to the top 10 this year.

Riggins, based in the company’s Fayetteville office, reported a volume of $24.75 million in 2011, an identical total from 2010.

Harris, who works from the company’s Rogers office and has been the area’s top-producing agent nine times since 1998, reported $23.36 million in sales, down slightly from last year’s total of $24.7 million.

Sean T. Morris, who helped form Walker & Associates Realtors in Centerton more than 15 years ago and teams with ARC Walker Construction Co., also topped $20 million in 2011 volume and is at No. 3 on the list.

Two new faces in the top 10, Toby Crawford and Toni Farmer, are at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively.

Farmer, an agent with Coldwell Banker Harris McHaney Faucette and the exclusive listing agent for ADR Homes by Roth properties, shot up 22 spots from last year’s list with a volume of $15.73 million, an increase of 124 percent from 2010.

Crawford opened the doors of his company, Crawford Real Estate & Development in Lowell, in January 2011 and hit the ground running.

Teaming primarily with Signature Builders, Crawford reported a 2011 sales volume of $19.5 million.

“We were really rolling last year,” he said. “And I’d say 70 percent of that [sales volume] was new construction, mostly with Signature.”

Crawford said he believes the market in Northwest Arkansas has turned the tide.

“If the first couple of months are a gauge,” he said, “this year is going to be phenomenal.”

Crawford was an IT manager with J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. in Lowell until eight years ago, when he turned to real estate full time.

He worked for a few other firms in the area until establishing his own company last year. His technology background has helped jumpstart his real estate career, he said, touting the company’s use of VPiX technology. It’s about a $20,000 investment, he said.

“It’s not a typical, virtual tour that you see on a lot of websites,” he said. “We build a lot of spec houses and pre-sold houses and this allows us to take the customer and walk them through every part of their house. In high-definition. They really are amazed and nobody else does this up here.”

Crawford said he and Signature owner Devon Ross are in negotiations to begin new subdivisions in Washington County. A subdivision expected to be a success, Crawford said, is The Iveys, located on Mt. Hebron Road in southwest Benton County.

“That’s a big project we are going to start that’s going to be good for us,” Crawford said. “It will be a tornado-safe neighborhood and as far as I know, it’s the first one in NWA.”

Every house will have an in-ground shelter installed below the garage, accessible even with a vehicle parked inside.