Although I live in Flippin, my office is in Yellville. Yellville is the county seat for Marion County but with a population of 1170 people, it’s certainly not the big city.
We don’t have big city coffee shops but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a good cup of coffee. At The Loft Coffee Shop you can get just about any type of coffee drink you’d like. And, in my opinion, it tastes better than coffee you get in that large coffee shop chain you can find worldwide.
https://youtu.be/mNAWr4d3Oaw
Imagine That Flowers and Giftsis co-located with The Loft. You can order flowers and plants for delivery or buy a cute gift for your friend’s birthday. Since we’re moving to the country this week, I’ll probably need this little gift for myself.
I’m especially thankful to Lyndsey, the owner, who allowed me to debut my gourmet marshmallows (another blog!) in her shop last week.
I love these shops, their owner, employees, and products. If you’re in Yellville, stop by. I’m sure you’ll love them, too!
Do you like the shows Million Dollar Listing LA and Million Dollar Listing New York? I do. I love looking at the luxury properties, the oversized personalities of the agents, the flashy cars, and the fabulous fashions.
https://youtu.be/n5R5zihW1MU
On some level, I must have thought that my real estate life would resemble their lives in some way. So please forgive me that thought. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I thought I would be showing big fancy houses. Nope. I find myself out “in the dirt”a lot. There is a lot of raw land available for sale in Arkansas and I have shown so much of it.
I thought I would be wearing pretty dresses. Nope. Out in the dirt, I’m typically wearing jeans and a T-shirt. If I get dirty it doesn’t matter if I get caught on something pokey, it doesn’t matter.
I thought I would be wearing kick butt shoes. Nope. I’m wearing my rubber boots. That way, if I have to walk in chiggers or a creek I am equally protected.
I thought I would be wearing big beautiful earrings and other fancy jewelry. Nope I wear diamond posts and my silicone ring in place of my wedding set.
On days when I’m actually showing houses, I’m really excited! It’s a fun change from the dirt. I have to say though, the longer I do it, I get more comfortable with being in the dirt. I’m learning about the various things you need to buy land and what you need to consider before building a house on that land. I’m learning about Corp, river, and lake property. I’m learning about easements, septic systems, and perc tests.
I’ve gotten so comfortable with showing land that I’m actually considering going to the Land Institute and getting some extra training so that I really know what I’m doing. Who would’ve ever thought?
It’s been quite awhile since I blogged about anything at all. I probably have no readers left but I’m picking it back up because I want to share my new career in real estate. 🙂
My dad was a realtor when I was growing up and I always wanted to sell real estate. Because of David’s career in international telecommunications, I never got the chance to settle down to get my license and get a business going.
Several years ago, we were doing a project for Wind Stream in Little Rock. In our travels around Arkansas, I saw Flippin on a sign. I told David, “Someday I want to live in Flippin, Arkansas so I can tell people I live in Flippin, Arkansas.” Ask and you shall receive. We moved to Flippin in June of 2019.
When I got here, I knew I wanted to work but wasn’t sure what to do. I saw an opening at the Board of REALTORS and I applied. My friends, who are in real estate, though I’d like the job and I was hired that day before I even got on the other side of town. I worked at the North Central Board of REALTORS for a little over the year and I learned the real estate business. I loved that job because I’d always wanted to run a non-profit and, adding in the real estate portion, it was just everything I hoped it would be. It was constantly changing and always challenging.
Eventually, I realized that this was my opportunity to actual make a life long dream come true and become a realtor. I studied hard and got my license and an office at Davenport Realty in Yellville. Ray and Sandy Davenport helped us with the purchase of our Flippin house (see what I did there?) and I knew I wanted to work with them. The fact that Davenport is the number one brokerage in Marion County was also enticing. I wanted to kill it along with Sandy. I was so happy when she told me I could work with her.
And what a whirlwind my first three months were. The market was hot, hot, hot and I had no idea what I was doing but I was loving every minute of it. I feel like I was born to sell real estate. My education in the actual real estate world has been full and varied. I know things I never even thought about knowing before and I’m thrilled to finally feel like I know a little something. My confidence grows daily.
I have loved the clients I’ve worked with and the other agents outside of my office who I also learn from whether they know it or not.
My very first listing was this adorable little cabin in Saint Joe. I had never been to Saint Joe until I went to that listing and it’s another pretty spot in North Central Arkansas. This cute little cabin was under contract in under 24 hours and, because of the listing, I was connected with many new clients and awesome people. I started being known as the Cabin Queen because, since I could only sell that cabin once and everyone wanted it, I knew (and still know!) where every cabin in the area is. I have shown cabins from Yellville, to Saint Joe, to Mountain View, to Calico Rock and back. I was sad when that property sold and was no longer in the MLS.
It finally started slowing down around Thanksgiving and I’ve had a chance to look back over what I’ve done in my first three months as a realtor. I’m proud of all I’ve done, all I’ve learned, and I’m so looking forward to the coming year. I love being a realtor so much. I have always been good with people and that part of the role has been super easy. Being able to help people find the home of their dreams or sell their current place so they can move on is just so gratifying.
I am so happy to be able to sell real estate in such a beautiful location, too. Not a day goes by – even when it’s dark and dreary – that I can’t find something beautiful about our area. If you are looking to buy a house or sell a house in the Ozarks, please give me a call, I’d love to help you!
I LOVED this book. Once I got going, I couldn’t put it down. It’s one of my favorite books for the year.
Set in 1938, Beatrice is a society wife with a husband who drinks and has affairs. Harry says they should summer in Montauk and he plans to leave Beatrice out there during the week while he goes back to the city to work. Beatrice wasn’t raised in this world and she finds it a little off-putting. She wants more to her life than frivolity.
On a trip back to the city where she plans to surprise her husband for their anniversary, she finds that she is the one who is surprised when she passes an unknown woman in the hallway of their building and then finds evidence of their affair.
After that, Beatrice goes back to Montauk where she finds meaning and friendship with the woman who does the laundry for the resort guests and the man who runs the lighthouse.
This book has such great characters and a great story line. You will not want to put it down!
This book started a little slow for me but I love Sophie Kinsella and I’m glad I kept going because I ended up loving the book!
Fixie works in her family’s department store. Although she has two older siblings, they aren’t really interested until their mom takes a vacation with their aunt. Then they want to step in and change everything. Fixie is called that because she’s compelled to fix things. She’s never been able to stand up to her siblings and she frets while the store starts doing worse with their ideas.
She also thinks she’s in love with a guy who is really just using her. He treats her so bad I wanted to shake her at one point. But, like most of Kinsella’s characters, there’s a huge growth in Fixie where she not only fixes what goes wrong with the store but she fixes what’s going on in her personal life.
This is a fun read about backstage at the White House. Beck is hired almost by accident to be a stenographer at the White House. This is her actual story of what that life is like, flying around the world on Air Force One, running on the treadmill next to President Obama in the mornings and all of the other situations a young White House staffer finds herself in.
I’m glad Beck realized that she really is a writer because she wrote a really good book. I hope to read more from her in the future. 🙂
This book just tickled me and I loved it! The story bounces back and forth between Charlotte’s story in 1949 and Olivia’s story in the present day.
Olivia is in advertising and is hoping to be able to deliver the winning proposal to the Metro Subway system. In her research she and her assistant come up a bit of history that gives them some great ideas.
In the 1940’s there was a sort of beauty pageant called Miss Subways. Every month, a new girl would be chosen and her poster would grace the walls of the entire subway system. Many of the girls went on to fame and fortune from their Miss Subways exposure.
Completely by accident, Olivia discovers that her next door neighbor is a former Miss Subways and she is Charlotte. Charlotte always wanted to be in advertising and, when she couldn’t find a job in advertising, she let her friends submit her as a candidate for Miss Subways. She eventually wins and, because the family hardware store is going out of business, she gives up her dream of a career in advertising and applies her advertising goals to the hardware store.
This is just such a great book. It made me smile so much. I highly recommend it! 🙂
This was such a good book. Nina is married to a man who sold his tech company for a lot of money. They are living the life, so she thinks. He’s successful, she’s involved in philanthropic projects, and their son has just been accepted into Princeton.
Then her perfect son makes a bad decision which victimizes a scholarship student at his tony private school. The word, and the photo, get around fast and Nina’s world stars to fall apart.
The father of the girl, Lyla, is a carpenter. His wife is an alcoholic who left him to raise their daughter alone. His whole life revolves around her and when he sees what has happened, he wants someone to pay.
This book is well written, as all of Emily Giffin’s books are. The storyline sucked me right in and I couldn’t put it down!
I loved this book! Kind of Cinderella-like and I love it when the good girl wins.
Maia is a house cleaner. She has two kids with a lout, Colin, who didn’t even have enough motivation to marry her. He’s unemployed, drinks, gambles, and sleeps around. Meanwhile, Maia is trying hard to make a better life for them.
One of Maia’s cleaning clients dies and leaves her enough money and the direction to put her kids in a fancy private school. They begin to thrive in the school but with the associated fees for uniforms, etc. Maia just can’t keep her head above water. But, in the end, she prevails through some unexpected twists in the story.
This story, while sad in some spots, I’d also sweet and very funny. Two thumbs up! Loved it.
OMG I LOVED THIS BOOK! Dark, it was very dark and completely unexpected. I couldn’t put it down.
At first I kept being reminded that it is a modern day book every time I’d read, “let’s take a selfie”. There was something about it that made me feel like it was written about an earlier time.
Lavinia is a wealthy New York party girl and Louise is a poor girl from New Hampshire that’s just trying to get by working a bartending job, tutoring SAT students, and hoping to be a writer.
They become very close friends and then the story takes off and the twist and are amazing.
I’ve never read a book like this before. I would give it more than five stars if I could.
