[title subtitle=”WORDS Jennifer Burchett
IMAGE Jennifer Burchett and courtesy Josh Harmon “][/title]
At twenty-seven-years-old, Josh Harmon is the youngest principal broker in the River Valley. Together with his wife Hannah, Josh started Harmon Real Estate Company last November, establishing himself and his team in the region. Yet beneath all his success in the real estate business, it is his ambition, entrepreneurship, and zeal for community development that sets him apart.
As a child growing up in Virginia, Josh’s ambition was carved from his athletic experiences on the basketball court. Sports were the mechanism by which he challenged himself to become better while never giving up. After all, with exceptional parents like his, he didn’t have time for anything else.
“Richmond is a very diverse area,” describes Josh. “My mother, she is a very strong-willed and independent woman. And my dad, he always drilled the Bible in me. Together they instilled values and shaped me into who I am today.”
Those values served Josh well when he left home on a college basketball scholarship. “I was always super competitive but wasn’t the best. I always had to work hard to get better,” says Josh. In time, those nights of practicing long after the other players had gone home would pay off in ways he didn’t imagine.
It was while working at a bank that former University of Arkansas Assistant, Coach Justin Bailey, approached Josh about joining the Lion’s team. He was only twenty years old at the time but took the opportunity as a chance to continue his ambitions on and off the court.
“Coach Bailey and Coach Josh Newman were huge inspirations in my life. I went from wanting to be the best athlete, to wanting to leave school with something; knowledge, a degree, confidence. I left knowing where I was going.”
Josh navigated the last quarter of his career in sports and embraced the next game of his life with maturity. During his last year at UAFS he and Hannah prepared to become a family of three. And just like that, those same ideals that supported and prompted him to always strive to be the best were again placed at the forefront of his career, but this time it wasn’t as an athlete. It was as a professional family man.
“I got into real estate because I wanted to be an entrepreneur and I wanted to be in a field that would allow me to utilize my skill set; sales, relationship building, and I’m very ambitious as well. Real estate gave me that…”
In March of 2016, Josh obtained his real estate’s license and hit the ground running. His game plan was simple, to play the odds. With an ambitious goal of making one hundred cold calls per day and five call contacts, Josh set the bar high.
As a new agent, he focused on apartment complexes. He reviewed tax records to find out who owned properties, and then called the owners to propose selling their property for them. Not often, but sometimes, they said yes. That’s all Josh needed to sink his teeth into the business. Eventually he forged the relationships he needed to be successful.
“It was tough,” Josh describes. Every day he would go to work with a world of responsibilities on his shoulders, not least of which was knowing he was the only person who looked like him, doing what he was doing. Even to this day, Josh is the only black principal broker in the River Valley.
“I had to hold myself to a higher standard because I was going to have people coming up behind me. If you don’t see somebody who looks like you, doing what you do, it’s hard to believe that you can do that as well. So, yes, I put a lot of pride, I hold a lot of responsibility, into helping people’s dreams come true.” After the experiences he had as a young agent, Josh pledged to help others understand just what was possible, and what they were capable of.
Slowly, he built his name, built his relationships, built his portfolio, and built his family. At the same time that his career was quickly blossoming, his family was bursting at the seams. Josh smiles when he talks about his children. “Being a family man helps me deal with people. I have three of the toughest negotiators in my household. Tough investors are nothing compared to three little kids!”
After being an agent for two years, Josh became a principal broker and promptly started Harmon Real Estate Company on November 1, 2019, fulfilling the other half of his career goal: entrepreneurship. Immediately, the team built upon the foundation that Josh had laid. But being a business owner changed everything.
As of today, the River Valley has fewer than ten black real estate agents. According to Josh, “We don’t need any more hope at this point. What we need is opportunity.”
Harmon Real Estate promptly established a scholarship program to fund the pre-licensing courses and state & national dues for people of color. The two recipients of those scholarship, Chris Jacobs and Raneisha Lewis, are doing well and look forward to becoming licensed agents to serve the River Valley. According to Hannah, the scholarship program is ongoing and Harmon Real Estate will continue the endeavor until “we don’t need to anymore; until we see a change.” It is through their ambition and accomplishments that they create a roadmap for future prosperity in our community.
These days, Josh sells three or four apartment complexes per month and due to the level of unsolicited business he and the company receive, he only makes around five cold calls per day. Added to his repertoire are family homes. Since establishing Harmon Real Estate, Josh and his team have sold over $10,000,000 in real estate.
“Things are a lot different today than they were when I first started,” he smiles. “There’s always a way, a strategy, to making dreams come true.”
It’s no secret to anybody in the business that the roadmap to success isn’t always straightforward. With the plethora of nuances associated with the real estate, success is a labyrinth of opportunity. There’s location. Price point. Mortgage. Square footage. Possible investors. Interest rates.
Family values have guided Josh throughout his childhood, during his stint as a college basketball player, and now as a young entrepreneur working to build a better community for all of us. The relationships he has built have sustained his transition from young adult to prime professional. Even former UAFS Basketball Coach Josh Newman remembers him well. “Josh has always been very focused, determined, and driven to be successful. His work ethic and values as a person were clear from day one. As well as Josh’s motivation and drive, I have always respected his character and warm heartedness.”
Harmon Real Estate Company
911 S. May Avenue, Fort Smith, Arkansas
harmonrealestatecompany.com
479.763.1288
