Tune in to this episode of The Same Day Podcast as Yoni Schmidt talks with Dick and Diane Higgins about their journey in the real estate business. Dick and Diane explain the decision to sell their business, why strong relationships and team building are essential in property management, and what they have planned for the future.
Working With Your Spouse: An Inspirational Journey in the Real Estate Industry
Dick and Diane Higgins are a husband and wife duo with over 20 years of experience in real estate that includes home sales, property management, and investing in real estate rental properties. Together, they have built an impressive personal investment portfolio and have managed over 200 properties. They are the founders and former owners of Main Street Property Management, which they sold to Keyrenter Property Management Arkansas.
Dick and Diane are both realtors for RE/MAX Real Estate Results. After selling their business to Keyrenter, Diane transitioned into a Business Development Manager role there, continuing to have a significant impact on the property management landscape. Dick is also a Realtor at Prime Real Estate & Development. Additionally, Dick and Diane work with nonprofit organizations such as Cobblestone Farms and Beautiful Lives Boutique.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Why building strong client relationships is essential in the real estate business
- What Dick and Diane Higgins learned from the 2008 financial crisis
- Diane talks about why duplexes are a sensible investment property
- Why Dick and Diane decided to sell their business to Keyrenter Property Management
- Preparing a company to be attractive to potential buyers
- The importance of team building in growing a property management business
- Working with your spouse: Dick and Diane’s insights
- Real estate market and investment trends in Northwest Arkansas
- Dick and Diane’s future personal and business plans
In this episode…
Working with your spouse can be challenging for any couple. However, Dick and Diane Higgins have managed to build a career together in the real estate business.
With over two decades spent in the real estate and property management business, Dick and Diane have dedicated their lives to helping others buy homes and guiding investors to find suitable rental properties. For spouses to work together effectively, Dick and Diane credit understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses and maintaining communication and a solid relationship. This carried over to how they’ve managed a thriving business. One of the most significant keys to success in their line of work is building relationships with property management team members, real estate investors, home buyers and sellers, and tenants. They believe treating people as individuals through direct involvement in the process and valuing their specific needs and goals is essential.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Yonatan Schmidt on LinkedIn
- Walter Bowser on LinkedIn
- Mat Zalk on LinkedIn
- Keyrenter Property Management
- Keyrenter Property Management in Tulsa | Oklahoma City | Arkansas
- Keyrenter Property Management email address: [email protected]
- Diane Higgins on LinkedIn
- Diane and Dick Higgins on LinkedIn
- RE/MAX Real Estate Results: Team Dick and Di
- The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann
- “From Sale to Closing: Fine-Tuning the Home-Building Process” with Noah Bleicher on The Same Day Podcast
- “Closing the Deal With Real Estate Investors” with Scott Reeves on The Same Day Podcast
- Blackstone & Company Real Estate
- Ryan Blackstone on LinkedIn
- Mike Parker on LinkedIn
- Prime Real Estate & Development
Sponsor for this episode…
Keyrenter Property Management:
This episode is brought to you by Keyrenter Property Management.
Keyrenter Property Management is a full-service property management company that helps clients buy, renovate, and operate real estate assets.
The team helps clients build wealth while taking the headache out of property management.
That’s why, no matter what rental you have — single-family homes, condos, townhomes, or apartments — they can give you the management solutions you need.
To learn more about their services, go to https://keyrenterpmc.com/ or send them an email at [email protected].
Episode Transcript
Intro 0:05
Welcome to The Same Day Podcast where we discuss driving incremental business growth and other topics related to real estate, property management and entrepreneurship. Now to the show at hand.
Yoni Schmidt 0:16
Yoni Schmidt here hosting today’s episode of The Same Day Podcast where I connect with top business and real estate leaders. Past guests include Noah Bleicher, Director of Operations of Capital Homes, Chris Lile from State Farm and Scott Reeves, Senior Vice President of commercial lending at Chickasaw Community Bank. Today’s episode is brought to you by Keyrenter Property Management. At Keyrenter Property Management, we are a full service property management company, helping our clients buy, renovate and operate real estate. We help our clients build wealth while taking the headache out of property management. Listen, Dick and Diane we’ve helped Kurt Volker acquire a three package single family residential home portfolio in Midwest City, Oklahoma, and completely renovated one of those houses. That’s why no matter what rental you have single family house, condos, townhouses, apartments, we have the management solutions that you need, go to keyrenterpmc.com or email us @keyrenterpmc.com for more information. Before introducing today’s guests, I want to give a big thank you and shout out to Ryan and Jared Blackstone from Blackstone company. And thank them for introducing us to Dick and Diane, who have have since we’ve met them really enriched our lives. Go check out their website. Now, blackstonecompany.com. Today, on The Same Day Podcast, we are honored to welcome the dynamic duo of the real estate world Dick and Diane Higgins as the founders and former owners of Main Street Property Management. They’ve built an impressive legacy in the property management sector, managing over 200 properties and cultivating remarkable relationships with their clients. Their journey in real estate spans over two decades showcasing their unparalleled expertise and passion for connecting people with their dream homes and investment opportunities. After successfully selling their business to Keyrenter Property Management, Diane transitioned into a role that continues to influence the property management landscape as a business development manager, further expanding her impact in the industry. Together they have not only built a formidable personal investment portfolio, but also dedicated themselves to helping others achieve their real estate goals. Beyond their professional achievements, Diane and Dick are deeply committed to their community in Northwest Arkansas. Their work with organizations like Cobblestone farms and Beautiful Lives Boutique demonstrates their dedication to making a difference in the lives of others. Diane’s involvement in children’s education, and her role in the local church further illustrate her commitment to fostering positive community growth relocated from Texas over a decade ago, they have embraced the culture and beauty of Northwest Arkansas, making it their home and a central part of their incredible journey with degrees from Baylor University and the University of Arkansas respectively. Dick and Diane’s educational backgrounds in finance and marketing have been instrumental in their success. Today, we are thrilled to dive into their story, learn from their experiences, and get inspired by their journey. Welcome Dick and Diane to The Same Day Podcast. And that was the longest intro that I’ve ever done, but you deserve it. And no one else deserves it more.
Diane Higgins 3:27
A long time. So we have a long story. Yeah,
Yoni Schmidt 3:30
yeah. I love it. Thank you so much for being here. You know, we’ll dive right in Diane, and Dick you’ve built an impressive portfolio and real estate over the years. Can you share what initially drew you to the world of property management and real estate investments?
Diane Higgins 3:48
Dick tells this story the best
Dick Higgins 3:49
Well, I had I had a friend in doing property management and I, I asked him for a job. And he said, What do you want to do? Do you want to paint what do you want to do? I said, Why don’t what you want to do? And he said absolutely not. I don’t want to partner. But he said he would help us with he didn’t want any more business. And so so he said, I will I will feed you is exactly what he said. And that’s how we got started. And I leaned heavily on Steve and you know, and it worked and we worked really hard. It’s not an easy job. And there’s nothing
Diane Higgins 4:23
He knows that.
Dick Higgins 4:24
Yeah, I’m not telling you anything to the choir. You know, it’s somebody was talking about that last night and I said well, you know, first of all you have to decide Yeah, I’m clean that bathroom out. You know, that’s part of it. It’s a tough job. It just did. Yeah, we really enjoyed the the contact with all the different people.
Yoni Schmidt 4:46
I love that. Yeah, my dad used to pay me in allowance for cleaning his apartment, and that’s how I would earn my keep. But it’s nice to know that there are good people along the way, who are also willing to To help and educate and watch you grow and invest in you. So that’s a great way to start. Thank you, Dick. With over two decades of experience in real estate, Diane, what are some key lessons that you’ve learned in the industry that you think are crucial for success?
Diane Higgins 5:19
Well, I think for me, and the reason I think I just received recently realized how much I love real estate and admit it, you know, openly because of the relationships. And I think that we’ve found success because we do prioritize that. And sometimes it costs you money to do the right thing. And sometimes, you know, a lot of times actually, in real estate it is and but the, to me, the real golden life is those relationships. And so we have friends that will have to die through real estate. And I think that’s why I love it so much. And it pays pretty well, too. So yeah, yeah. Love it.
Yoni Schmidt 6:03
Yeah. Relationships. They’re just such a key component to success in this industry. And if you don’t know how to build them, and foster them and grow them, it may be tough. Dick, as someone who enjoys the hands on aspects of property management, what strategies have you found most effective for building those strong relationships with tenants?
Dick Higgins 6:29
With tenants? Ah, oh, gosh, okay, hands. Uh, well, I was going to I don’t know if you can see my things or not, but I was painting this morning, I’m still working on one of our duplexes, but but I really think that being directly involved, whatever it may be, and being willing to help somebody, whatever their problem is, or is certainly then developing those relationships with the people that will actually come and do the repair. I can do a lot of stuff, but I’m just as likely to do it wrong the first time and, you know, check, take three hours instead, it was 35 minutes or whatever. But but you know, that the, and I think value, really valuing the tenant, as well as I recently read someone’s lease agreement, and I wouldn’t not signed that agreement. It was so to me, was, golly, yeah. Anybody you know, but but it was like, golly, no, I don’t want to do that. Because because I respect those people. It’s just like the guy that like I say, you’re used clean, I mean, guys should get dirty, you get filthy, but it has to be done you and you have to respect all all the different things that happen, you have to have respect for people on both sides. And I think that’s especially true with tennis that they to us, they were not really just tenants, they were the people that were helping us with our business. So well, if it was our own place, they’re playing my pay my mortgage, for crying out loud, you know, it’s right. You got the respect for people, whatever that is, whatever their role in
Diane Higgins 8:11
one little part of our lives, our story that that you might have, had really delved into is that back in 2008, we had some rental properties. And at the same time, we were going through a transition moving back to Texas, and we had to sell all those properties and lost our shirts. Oh, my goodness, took a bath. So we pretty much, you know, had to kind of start over financially. And we rented for several years. And it’s funny how you look back on your life. And you think, Wow, that really prepared us really well to deal with tenants. Because I mean, we’re the same people. We were been, yeah, we just had different financial circumstances. And not because we’re bad people, you know. And so I think it helped us with our mindset, with, you know, just respecting other people and having empathy for him. So
Yoni Schmidt 9:04
that’s good. Yeah. As did many people, I guess, lose their shirts. And I’ve heard many stories from friends and mentors of mine who have, you know, gone through that the financial crisis in 2007, eight, and it was a challenging time. And oftentimes, I agree with both of you the respect to the tenant, oftentimes, property managers who forget that the tenants that pay the rent are also the tenants that pay their salaries, right. You know, get lost in the shuffle, and think, you know, they’re just a tenant, but really, they’re another human being and you have to show them that respect. So that’s a great lesson that I hope all property managers out there can learn and benefit from. Together though, you have manage to build and grow your personal investment portfolio? You know, I guess post business sale then also before the business was sold, can you discuss your approach to selecting long term properties that are suitable for investments?
Diane Higgins 10:19
Well, I think just from what what I’ve personally learned, and this is from the dad department is our pastor would say, but I really like duplexes, because it’s not like trying to manage a whole complex, but it’s just exponential in terms of income, you know, and so we were able to buy these duplexes and they were in pretty poor repair, but we bought them and I mean, the return on them is, is amazing, just compared with the single family home that we have. And so it just that that’s kind of my future outlook is I’m going to be kind of having my radar up for good duplexes. And it helps that these are five minutes from our house. So that helps.
Yoni Schmidt 11:08
That always helps. Yeah, keeping an eye on them. My dad always pushed me to buy duplexes and I also love investing in duplexes myself, they are a great investment opportunity. I mean, when one side is occupied, the other is vacant doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re funding it. Mat Zalk though would say same would go if you have two single family residential homes, right. And he would argue the Yeah, that would say, yeah. Can you talk a little bit about what was the motivation behind selling Main Street Property Management to Keyrenter? And how did you know that it was the right time to make that?
Dick Higgins 11:48
Change? Mine again, I’m Oh, I had not even considered when, when when Mat called me. He said, I want to take you guys to lunch, and talk to you about buying your business. And I said, well, the lunch part sounds good, or do you want to go and deny that I went knowing full well that I was gonna hate this guy, and I didn’t even have anything to do with him. But I’d take a free lunch and I forget where we went. But if the Mat Yeah, yeah. So I get over there. And it’s like, hey, I really liked this guy what it is not working out like I thought and and met
Diane Higgins 12:29
all you guys you.
Dick Higgins 12:32
But what really what it amounted to was that we, we, you’re you’re looking at the business. I mean, we had our daughter was working with us, a young man was working with us. We think we had, I mean, well, by the time by we may have had maybe five of us all together, okay. But I got to thinking about you know, I’m in good health right now feel good, I go out and fix of whatever or chase down and do whatever. But I’m, you know, if, if I had a stroke this afternoon, or the same time when I was talking to a business, I you know, would have nothing I would we’d be like, Oh my gosh, you know, that he Dick’s in a wheelchair, and she’s got to take care of me. It’s like, there goes the business. And, and Mat’s talking to me about a realistic thing. And just like,
Diane Higgins 13:20
it was like a gift. Yeah, he was like,
Dick Higgins 13:23
Oh my gosh, maybe you’re right, man, that’s
Diane Higgins 13:25
better than having to, you know, look up and say, Oh, my gosh, we got to sell this business. What are we gonna do here?
Dick Higgins 13:29
Yeah, but but but the other part of what you are not saying is that Keyrenter has systems and people that that know how to work those systems that we didn’t have, we were busting it on our own. And, and I’m looking at what you guys were doing is like, that’s what we wanted, but we knew we could we could spend the next three years doing picking their brains and still be way behind. And that I mean, for the we’ve already talked about the relationships we had with our, with our, our tenants, and with our owners, and to be able to say these people, you know, yeah, we’re going to sell to these guys. And here’s why. Because they’ve got the system. So they’ve got the ability. And yeah, this is going to be a better deal for all of us. And so that’s really what you know, what, what tripped, triggered, you know,
Yoni Schmidt 14:22
yeah, well, I love that story. I mean, it’s, that’s great to hear. I knew a little bit about, you know, that and now you really do need to get a little more in here, when
Dick Higgins 14:35
it’s when it’s your stuff or maybe, you know, it’s like yeah, how do I how do I say to my friend, whoever Doug or anybody else, you know, gosh, we’re gonna we’re gonna be selling house like, you’re not, you know, well, here’s why.
Diane Higgins 14:53
Guys that we sent a client of ours that we helped him by him and he and his wife by house and and became really good friends with them. You know, we said your way now it works for you guys. So yeah.
Yoni Schmidt 15:08
Yeah, he’s a great property manager love Dan, he’s, you know, doing a great job for all of our clients. I I did not know, actually that you sent them our way. So that is news to me. And thank you for that. You answered a little bit about you answered this next question a little bit. You know, the the next question is, how did you ensure that your values and the quality of the service that you provided to your clients would be maintained after the sale to Keyrenter? And I think you touched about the systems and the processes. And that was what ensured the consistent, you know, high level of customer service that your clients had enjoyed for years when you were building the business. And it ensured that continuation into Keyrenter, but how did you ensure that the values also aligned when you decided to sell your business to Keyrenter?
Diane Higgins 16:06
Well, I think we knew that we had, we were culturally and we were aligned with values just because of the time we spent with you guys before we pulled the trigger. adequate time to figure that out. And to make sure that we kind of were on the same page there, but also just staying on for about a year with you in different roles, capacities that just kind of helped us to, to know, you know, that that everybody was doing well. And, and it also gave our clients a little bit of comfort to know we were still involved and and that we weren’t just you know, leaving the country? Yeah.
Yoni Schmidt 16:54
Yeah. Yeah, we loved we loved having you. And I think I told you that before you decided to go live and work in the nonprofit world, and now subsequently, come back into real estate and launch your own team, you know, in your own business at REMAX is that I wish you wouldn’t leave us. So that was a great time. And I appreciate and value that what advice would you give other entrepreneurs or property management? You know, industry leaders in business owners that will consider consider selling their business? And then how can they prepare their company a little more to be attractive to potential buyers? Oh,
Dick Higgins 17:40
yeah, those are good questions. We found Well, and again and again, you know, let’s go back and talk about some we haven’t brought up but we all went through that COVID thing. And you know, when that hit, was like, Oh, my God, what is this going to do to my business, we are terrified. And within a week, maybe a week and a half, we knew what we were going to do, because everybody stayed home. And so we had so so much more work than we could imagine it pairs and and again, y’all came along, somewhere along in there, were we we were only working seven days a week all you know, and usually not more than about 16 hours. And so, you know, it was Yeah. to to to encounter guys like yourself that are not only able but but excited about expanding their business and doing a good job and attracting more more good people into the organization as well as as, as investors that they want to take care of their properties. Yeah, I mean, it was it was it was refreshing to us. To to meet you guys and to know that you are not only able to but were indeed going to expand and do more and get better at what you were doing. We when we met we had some book that I can’t remember. Do you remember that? Oh, give it a go giver? Yeah, that was I mean, it did that. I don’t think you guys rehearse that before I think which is that but it was awesome. That book or guessing it in your in your staff and I forget who was doing what but we saw us like wait a minute, these guys really are thinking about something besides just you know how much money we’re going to make this month and how we’re going to increase next month. And all it is. It’s how you do it and it’s who you work with. And if at the end of the day if we don’t respect one another and this is something we told our people no matter on which side at the end of the day. If you don’t trust me and you don’t you don’t feel it. We all need to do the same. We used to, you know, that’s so important in, in every business but, but especially in this where you got a guy sitting in Tulsa and he’s got houses in, you know, wherever we are, it doesn’t matter where you are, but, but to know that you got people that are actually doing what they profess to do, you know? Yeah, well, I’m not my
Diane Higgins 20:24
perspective, I feel like, what I would do differently, if I had it to do all over again, is to from the get go, I would hire out the different functions and property management is very complicated, as you know, in terms of just the structure of it, because you’ve got your, you know, all your accounting, and I mean, it’s all very interwoven, because you’ve got, you know, the, the rents come in, and then you have your fees, and you got to pay your vendors and then you pay the owner, it’s very intricate. And so just kind of almost like frog in the kettle thing. I mean, I started out doing it all and, and I knew who at some point is like, I need help here. But I was so busy and so entrenched in all of it, I was just, I could, could not crawl out to do that. So what I would tell entrepreneurs that want to start a property management business is from the beginning. You need to hire, help to do those things that you don’t necessarily need to be doing a you’ll oversee. I mean, I would want to oversee it, of course, but just paying all the bills and all that, you know, all the things, it was just overwhelming. And so I am one of my strengths in life has been team building. And I don’t feel like I built a very good team, but I was too busy in the business to build the team. And so we would have had a better organization had I stepped out of all the weeds and did what I do best, which is not accountable. By had done what what I what I’m strong in and then hire other people to do it. They’re strong. And
Dick Higgins 22:11
that becomes that’s, that’s really the property manager’s job is not to go out and do it. And that and I struggled with that as well. I gotta remember that I gotta go back. I can’t do this. I gotta be well,
Diane Higgins 22:22
I can save this owner. $10 by Yeah, exactly.
Dick Higgins 22:27
Standing in the rain with that hot water heater. Yeah, anyway.
Yoni Schmidt 22:33
Sounds like an interesting story. I
Dick Higgins 22:34
want to hear that. I’m thinking like, thankful I didn’t break something. But, but but but my job is I was coached along there was was to find the person that’s, that will do these things and do it well, and be responsive. Whatever it is not go do it myself, that was always a challenge for me. Yeah.
Yoni Schmidt 22:53
It’s also a challenge for me. And you talk about trust, Mat Zalk always says, Trust comes by, comes by foot leaves on horseback. Right. And what you’re describing is, you know, it’s working on the business rather than in the business. And those when you’re working in the business, it sometimes bogs you down, and you’re unable to continue to grow and scale. And that growth and scale comes with benefits to the rest of your clients. Because now you’re feeding a plumber, a lot more work. And then you can, you know, consistently plead that plumber to where they’re only working for you. And it helps your owners because you get preferential treatment and preferred preferential pricing, and guarantees and warranties on the work. And there’s a lot that just goes into it, as you say, Diane, it’s such an intricate business with so many moving parts. And all of those parts Dick was standing in the rain and holding them so I hope, you know, yeah, I hope they’re not too heavy. But I, you know, I want to, you know, ask you a little bit both of you write a little bit about your partnership and you know, business and maintaining a successful partnership in business and in life can be challenging. So what’s your secret Joe working, you know, together so effectively.
Diane Higgins 24:26
A little bit of a mystery. But what I think the bottom line is, we’re really good friends and we laugh a lot. And I have strength that he recognizes he has strengths that I recognize we respect each other. I won’t say we never have any kind of disagreement now then, but
Dick Higgins 24:46
I seldom win.
Diane Higgins 24:49
Well, you know, thanks here. But But I think that we we together we complement each other a lot. Uh, in terms of strengths and where we’re not as strong, and so I do rely on him a lot for he’s a really good judge of character. And he’s, you know, he can pretty much say, Yeah, we don’t want to mess with that person. And if I, if I insist on it, then usually he’s, he was right. You know. And so that’s another thing, as you know, I think it’s really important to be careful about what owners you take in to your business, because there are toxic people that, and that’s just the way that I live, basically. And so you know, you can, you can, when you’re, when you’re just starting out, you kind of have to take out anything and everything. But be aware, you know, that people like that can use a inordinate amount of your time, and hurt human, mentally. And so it’s important to watch out for those people, but he’s a great judge of character, which helps a lot, Chris,
Dick Higgins 25:54
but that’s, that’s yeah, I mean, you, if you if you feel like it’s it, you’re going to have a conflict with that person, if it’s a tenant, or if it’s an owner, or if it’s whatever. If it’s there, there are times when you’re starting that you’d have to say yes to almost everything. But if there’s something that’s telling you not to do this, you probably shouldn’t.
Diane Higgins 26:16
And I would love to say, thank you so much for visiting with us. I don’t think we’re a good fit for you. And that’s exhausting. Yeah.
Dick Higgins 26:23
Because you’re up front. And once you have something established, and again, you’re not just talking about an owner, you’re talking about an owner and a tenant and or more tenant. I mean, there’s a lot of people, as you were saying a while ago, that are involved in this and you’re providing for people, you gotcha, that’s, that’s one of one of my proud parts of our business is that we help people okay, we help them with their lives. They got a place to live. You got a place that you guys like you mentioned a plumber. Gosh, you know, it’s a huge thing. It is here. Yeah, you’re in
Yoni Schmidt 27:01
your Yeah. Oftentimes, when you also push away those clients, that’s when they double down and they really want to work with you. More people want what they can’t have to take away. Yeah, yeah, I that is definitely something I think I learned a little bit more from you, Diane, is how to actually say no to some business, because sometimes you see it, and you get so excited over it. And you’re not thinking through it. Because all you’re thinking of, Oh, I love the growth opportunity. And I, you know, this is going to contribute to the business. But if you end up spending, you know, 80% of your time on 20% of your clients, right, then you may not actually be growing a sustainable business in the long run.
Diane Higgins 27:55
It hurts the whole team to take on people like that. So
Yoni Schmidt 27:58
yeah. Love that. Diane, right now as an executive broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Results. Can you tell us and Dick, you’re a licensed agent as well. And you’re working under RE/MAX with Diane, of course, transferred over from Mike Parker, the esteemed Mike Parker from Prime Real Estate we absolutely love. And he’s very nice guy. But can you tell us what trends you’re currently observing in the real estate market in Northwest Arkansas?
Diane Higgins 28:35
Yeah, absolutely, um, that the we were just looking at stats this morning. All of our numbers are up. Okay, as far as how number of homes sold as compared to this time last year. Our our average sale price in Benton County is 350. down from about 200 Not Know About 300. Last this time last year, but everything is creeping up because of interest rates down. Things are starting to come alive again. We had a pretty quiet last order. But I’ve gotten busy again. And I think you know, that seasonal also, every year slows down at Christmas time but then kind of picks back up in January, February. But we had a pretty, pretty robust slowdown last year. I think everybody did. But the thing we have going for us here is that we don’t have much inventory. And I know that’s kind of nationwide. But we have a ton of people moving here because of Walmart. And so Walmart you may or may not know is building a new headquarters here. And we heard I heard this morning they’re they’re going to be recalling, like 5000 people that worked for them before to come back into some of these executive positions. So the demand for We’re getting round here is gonna really go up. And so that’s, you know, the builders are trying to try to keep that but, but it’s a growing area. So we kind of have our little insulated from a lot of what’s happening. I think in other parts of the country as far as you know, price prices falling in that our prices haven’t fallen.
Dick Higgins 30:21
So that’s been nice prices are going up. And as she said, I found myself yesterday, I was going to run out a little town northeast of your inspection. And she called us and I don’t have to go. And so I turned off the freeway and I found myself on Eighth Street and Eighth Street runs right through Walmart’s head home home office, which now a real office instead of just an old warehouse. The warehouse they were in was the same warehouse that I called on Sam in 1971. They were not they wouldn’t spend any money. But the new the new, the new people that run this thing now are saying, Look, we’re the we’re just the largest retailer in the world. So let’s show it. I mean, Holly, it’s it’s it’s coming together data and it is it is impacting us people don’t you know, everybody’s Oh, gotcha. And a Walmart Gosh, anyway, well, okay, but it’s really impacting northwest Arkansas, and it will continue for years to come. And there are people coming here that they’ve never even really heard of Arkansas, they don’t know anything about it. They make a lot of money, they have a lot of demands. And they those demands and, and their monies will be met because this is an exciting place to be. And the investment opportunities here like crazy it. You know, we lived in Dallas for a long time. She’s from there, I lived there. 30 plus years. And everybody here says, well, Dallas has I mean, northwest Arkansas, the new Dallas it is Dude, it is you can feel it. When you hear there’s a lot of excitement and a lot of things going on. And you guys have the systems to make it work.
Yoni Schmidt 31:57
I love that. Yeah, I see the the progress on the home office every time I’m in town. And it’s just absolutely incredible. At some point, I heard that there was no access to concrete in the northwest Arkansas area, because Walmart needed all of it. And it was just, you know, a there was a big shortage. And I mean, I they could what have spent a billion dollars on this home office. I don’t even know. No, maybe not that much. But
Diane Higgins 32:29
a lot of a lot in in conjunction with that the Walton family has invested so much into this area, making it a wonderful bike trade. The beautiful museum we have and just all the things that make a place somewhere you want to live, and it’s just getting better all the time. And they they keep doing amazing, wonderful things. So it’s really a cool place to be
Yoni Schmidt 32:53
excited. Yeah. Crystal Bridges, great museum absolutely love it. For those who didn’t know, it was designed by the same architect who built Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. And it’s a really beautiful place, I guess, maybe talking a little bit about investors, specifically, trends that are more related to investors. Sometimes I get the sense that buying investment properties in Arkansas is difficult and you have to be a little bit opportunistic. A lot of the clients that we’re serving are accidental landlords rather than intentional investors who are coming to the area and wanting to invest, even though we’re getting a ton of calls from people who say, I would love to invest in Arkansas. And asset values, as you said, are high. So it’s sometimes hard to make things cashflow unless you buy them cash and you’re okay, just letting it rip out a 5% interest or cash on cash return. And that’s kind of the return profile that you want to see. Can you tell us a little bit about, I guess, strategies that you see with investors buying properties in Northwest Arkansas?
Diane Higgins 34:11
Yes, I find the same thing that you were talking about is that you know this for the last six months or so it’s really it has been hard to get any kind of return that investors are looking for. To begin with, just with the insert interest rates and all but I think what I find is that I have a lot of investors that are interested in multifamily. And there’s just not much multifamily for sale around here. Yeah, there. There’s a lot being built. I think probably the best way to go is to contract with a builder, find some land contract with a builder and go about it that way rather than wait for something to be for sale because it gets you know things get sold immediately even before print. You don’t have. We don’t have much to choose from. So that’s one thing I’m interested in doing. Is, is connecting with because I have so many buyers, I want to connect with owners of apartment complexes all over northwest Arkansas, just to see if they would consider selling in. And just Yeah. Speaking that way, you know, and
Dick Higgins 35:15
I think I think a lot of from the from the investor’s perspective, you’re going to have to look forward. You can’t I don’t know, I don’t know about right now. I’m just talking about trying to find some office space yesterday, in in if it’s over and Johnson London anyway. And I was talking to this girl, I said, Well, is there anything available? She says we’re a year out. I mean, they’re, they’re pre booking everything. And that’s pretty much what’s going on in the whole area. So if you’re talking to an investor that wants to look at Northwest Oregon, so seriously, then the any any major investments are going to be a pickup some things here and there. But, but but a major investment, some of this really looking to the future, I strongly believe that this is I don’t think it’s a risk. I think it’s I think it’s an opportunity. And I think, you know, unless you just do some stupid is like, Oh, I gotta have it played. Well, you okay, but but if like we did, yeah, don’t get, don’t get too emotional. But But I think that probably, you’re gonna have to book out at least a year. And with a builder and, you know, make some long term plans. I don’t think you’re I don’t think your your return on your investment is going to be next week. But I but I add that the return is here and will continue to be here is place is immense.
Yoni Schmidt 36:19
I agree. I mean, so the strategies are just to look long term horizon. And this is real estate in the long term tends to be forgiving. And, you know, for those who may have purchased real estate over the last call it five years and locked in a 30 year conventional rate that’s at you know, 2, 3, 4 percent, consider buying your next home, right, moving to your primary call Dick and Diane, right, have them find your next home and turn the one that you’ve locked in at a low rate into your investment property so that you can benefit from the depreciation and the tax benefits that come along with owning rentals right?
Diane Higgins 37:22
There because you have a lot of equity, all these all these people have, and, you know, tapping into your next home and start building wealth.
Yoni Schmidt 37:31
Yeah, yeah. And the scary thing is, as you mentioned, is once interest rates continue to decline, those assets value asset values will start blowing up, making it more difficult to buy those investment properties. So the time to buy was yesterday, As Dick said. That’s
Diane Higgins 37:51
right. That’s right. Prices are not going down.
Dick Higgins 37:54
I hate using those cliches, but it’s true. Yeah, today’s the best day, you got to buy some. Yeah.
Yoni Schmidt 38:01
So finally, for both of you what’s next, I know you love spending time with your grandchildren, your five grandchildren. Is that correct? Your children?
Diane Higgins 38:08
Five, she’s gonna be almost. Yeah,
Dick Higgins 38:16
we were laying down our. Almost five. We’ll have we’ll have the fifth and April.
Diane Higgins 38:22
Yep. Lorelai.
Yoni Schmidt 38:23
Congratulations. And you know, your kids are around or Yes. Two of the three of your kids are living in the area. Are there new projects or ventures on the horizon? In your real estate journey? I know that you talked a little bit about maybe planning a trip to Vietnam and visiting with your friends there who are also clients I believe of ours now. Right. So what’s next for Dick and Diane?
Dick Higgins 38:50
Well, we’re hoping we’ll do a trip to Costa Rica as well this year. And let’s see what else we’re trying to lay out that calendar right now for this particular year and see where we’re going to go. We’ve got we got ambitious goals for the number of closings for the year. So we want to we want to Yeah, we’re making some pretty pretty heavy plans.
Diane Higgins 39:14
I want to buy two more duplexes this year.
Dick Higgins 39:16
There you go. I knew that was coming onto the checkbooks this morning like oh my god.
Diane Higgins 39:23
I needed to say we need to spend that money.
Yoni Schmidt 39:26
Don’t forget Dick. Yeah, two more duplexes this year. Love it.
Dick Higgins 39:32
That’s that’s the thing, finding the right location. And yeah, yeah.
Yoni Schmidt 39:38
Well Dick, Diane, thank you so much for spending this time with us and sharing with your experience sharing a little bit about your past and that the exit that you made from Main Street stuff that you’re doing and seeing right now in Northwest Arkansas. You know, you truly enriched my life personally, and I love that I Up to know you both and I hope to see you in Fayetteville very soon.
Diane Higgins 40:05
We will always consider you a dear friend.
Yoni Schmidt 40:08
Thank you
Diane Higgins 40:12
want me to cook when you come? Okay.
Yoni Schmidt 40:14
I will definitely let you know. Thanks. Thank god
Outro 40:23
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