Then & Now: Necessary scales back career to focus on family

Editor’s Note: The following story appeared in the May 20 issue of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal. “Then & Now” is a profile of a past member of the Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 class.

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Marcus Necessary began selling residential real estate in Northwest Arkansas in 2003, and the numbers show that he is one of the most productive agents in the region.

He finished last year with a residential sales volume of just under $20 million, which ranked No. 30 on the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s annual list of top producers among an estimated 3,800 licensed real estate agents. Necessary has previously been ranked among the top 10 on multiple occasions.

But Necessary became aware of his limited time and energy somewhere along the line. While spending most of his career working for an independently owned Weichert, Realtors affiliate, Necessary’s workload grew. He managed a team of licensed agents under the Necessary Real Estate Group banner, was an executive broker for the company and sold homes for his book of business.

“I wanted to do a good job with all of that,” he said in a recent interview. “But the number of responsibilities I’d put on myself made it more challenging.”

After evaluating what is important in life, Necessary decided he wanted a change of pace. In February this year, after 14 years working for Weichert, Realtors-The Griffin Co., he left for a more scaled-back job with another of the region’s top real estate brokerages — Coldwell Banker Harris McHaney Faucette (CBHMF), Northwest Arkansas’ top firm last year with over 300 agents and a total residential sales volume of $777 million.

For Necessary, 43, the decision to transition to a less demanding job was difficult. However, he recognized the need to rebalance his life and prioritize his family. As a husband and father of two sons, aged 13 and 11, Necessary understood that his role at home was equally, if not more, important than his career.

“I’ve only got a handful of years left with the kids in the house, and I want to spend time being a dad,” he explained. “Is it the most important thing right now to be the top seller in the market? No. Right now, the most important thing to me is family and making time for them in a way that maybe I didn’t in my 30s.”

“I have a job to do, and I want to help people. But my family is the people I want to help and serve first. That’s what I’m doing now. That’s why I’m picking up my kids from school today.”

Necessary said he spoke with several full-service brokerages about job opportunities but kept returning to Pat Harris, CBHMF’s principal broker and owner.

“When I decided I wanted to make a move, he was the first person I called,” he said. “What he has built here and his reputation is somebody I wanted to align myself with. It was the fit that I was looking for.”

Necessary has lived in Northwest Arkansas his whole life. He graduated from Bentonville High School and earned a degree from John Brown University. He came to a real estate career naturally. His grandfather, Ralph Walker, was a homebuilder, and as a kid, Necessary rode along to check job sites. His grandfather paid him $4 an hour to pick up trash. Later, his grandfather encouraged the career path in real estate and paid for the schooling.

“He planted the seed that there were opportunities in real estate and for me to help people,” Necessary recalled. “And he thought I was smart enough to do it well.”

Three years after earning his real estate license, Necessary earned a broker’s license in 2006 and quickly became Weichert’s top overall agent in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas. The Northwest Arkansas Business Journal recognized Necessary as a Forty Under 40 honoree in 2014.

Necessary said he feels uniquely qualified to help home buyers and sellers in Northwest Arkansas. His two decades of experience and lifetime residency support the claim.

He also strikes a confident tone about the region’s real estate market. Home sales were down about 10% last year, compared with 2022, but the numbers were essentially flat in the first quarter this year.

“I feel really good about the market being in a more normal situation,” Necessary said. “There is a perception that the market has slowed down, but in reality, it’s sustainable growth.”