Editorial
Front Page - Monday, November 30, 2009
Local Realtor and Arkansas native prepared to lead FCBOR
Rebecca Brockman
Associate Broker and Faulkner County Board of Realtors President, Kelli Small is looking forward to presiding over the board in the upcoming year. She acknowledged that there would be challenges ahead, but she’s used to obstacles. A couple years ago Small had a listing that included a fury, four-legged buffalo. The listing was actually a buffalo farm in Greenbrier and the emotional owner had to leave her unusual pets behind. In the end, Small and the owner found the buffalos a nice home in Atkins, Ark., and Small sold the farm. She smiled as she recalled the story and remembered how sad the seller was when she had to leave.
Within the few minutes of talking with Small in her Conway office at Pam McDowell Properties, she gains your trust with her calm, welcoming nature. Her office is decorated with pictures of her two daughters, colorful artwork and inspirational sayings.
Born in Pine Bluff, Small moved to Conway in 1993 and has been selling real estate since 1995. Before she sold real estate, Small and her husband opened Copy Systems inside Wal-Mart. The store was similar to Conway Copies and according to Small, the store did a little bit of everything. “We did printing and copying, shipped UPS, gift-wrapping, a lot of gift-wrapping. We also ordered and made T-shirts,” said Small. When asked if she enjoyed owning the one-stop-stop, she promptly replied, “No, it was too confining.”
In addition to opening Copy Systems, Small also opened a tax and bookkeeping company when they arrived in Conway. While juggling the two businesses, a friend of Small approached her and asked her if she wanted to attend real estate school. Without much hesitation, Small joined her friend and received her license. Although the friend left town after finishing school, Small stayed in Conway and went to work for Prudential. The lease term for Copy Systems was also approaching around this time, but since Small was “doing well in real estate,” the couple decided not to renew.
In Dec. of 1995, Small was introduced to Pam McDowell and Hal Crafton, through Crafton’s wife, Lisa.
“Hal asked me to talk to Pam about transferring my license,” Small said. The meeting obviously went well, because at the start of the new year, Small was working at Pam McDowell Properties. “There were only five agents when I started. Now there are about 26 or 27 agents,” she said. Those original five agents turned out to be her mentors. In addition to McDowell, Pat Edwards, Teresa Vaughn, Kay Cordes and Sharon Rietzke taught Small how to solve problems and negotiate when it came to real estate. Before their large office on Hogan, the company was located in a small, two-room brick house. Velda Lueders, who is now a successful Realtor, was the receptionist. Because the office was so intimate, “You couldn’t help but hear, [what the other agents were saying], but it was good to listen to them,” said Small. When they moved to their current office location, the small group didn’t know how they would ever fill up the space. But according to Small, “There’s been a time when we’ve had double agents in offices here!”
The recently inducted FCBOR president is also looking to increase the amount of agents at the monthly board meetings. “I appreciate the board a lot more since I became secretary. We have to have a board, the board is only as strong as its members,” commented Small. Having Leuders, a former mentor and friend as her vice president is also a comforting fact to Small. “Velda has already given me a lot of information. I think it’s going to be great having her there,” Small stated.
Starting in February, the meetings will take place the second Wednesday of every month at the Centennial Valley Country Club. When speaking about her fellow Realtors, Small said, “We all get along really well. We are a very sociable and fun group. We work hard together and respect each other, but you have to. We are competitors, but we all have the same goal, so you have to be able to work with one another.”
Teamwork has been especially vital in the past year in the real estate industry. According to Small, perception is an important issue facing Realtors today. “We are not in the situation like some other places in the north,” she said. “We have slowed some, but we have been very fortunate that we are not in the serious condition that the rest of the [country] is in. I think our biggest problem is the getting the public to realize that. We are more stable than the rest of the country.”
Realtors are challenged and responsible for building confidence in first time homebuyers and the general public. As Small prepares to lead the board in the year ahead, she is optimistic about the future of her industry. “I do believe next year is going to be much better than 2009,” she said. It also helps that the mother of two has some extra incentive, “I have a wedding to pay for this summer, it has to be better!” Small said with a laugh.
From gift-wrapping to
finding buffalo a new roof and successfully selling real estate for the past 14 years, no job is too big for Small.
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