HOMEgirl Realty unites longtime co-workers, friends

Melissa Westphal, Heather Marek, and Charla Howard love to casually drop mention of their combined 80 years of real estate experience in conversation. It’s certainly nothing to scoff at.

They’ve spent most of that time working in the same office. The trio first met through their various jobs at the Boulevard Realty office, then moved together to Golden Crest Realty, and again to Elliott Realty, before finally settling at their new location across from Washington’s newest mural, complete with its very own neon-style sign.

“There was a working relationship we’d developed over those years, it just made sense,” Managing Broker Melissa Westphal said. “We had some ideas about how a real estate office could be set up to run more efficiently.”

Broker Associate Charla Howard said she was glad they stuck together.

“What makes us unique is that we have, all three, switched at the same time,” she said. “Most agents, when they want to make a switch, they do it individually, they go out on their own … but we’ve done it collectively. Every single time, and this is our final destination, this is where we want to be.”

The business’ name has “nothing to do with the sex” of its employees, according to Howard, who said the team was open to adding male brokers.

It’s more about the vibe.

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"The name is very chill, and very user-friendly, and I can’t tell you how many people walk in that door and go, ‘Hey Homegirl!’“ Howard said. ”People love it.“

The brokers said they wanted to capture that “fun and trendy” energy, not only in their name, or slogan (“The real estate company that you can trust to keep it real,“) but in their day-to-day operations.

“We’re very serious about our business, but we also like to have fun, we don’t take ourselves too serious,” Broker Associate Heather Marek said. “We don’t let our own egos get in our way, and I think that name reflects that.”

That’s not to say they don’t mean business.

Marek, Howard and Westphal are each licensed brokers, not salespeople working under a broker, a norm at many real estate offices.

That means the team is more flexible, more independent and more experienced than many in the field, according to Howard.

"We’re not just real estate agents, we’re problem solvers,“ she said. ”We’re constantly solving a problems, putting out fires, new problems come up that have never come up before, it’s an ever-learning experience. Every day, we learn something new … because getting to the closing table is a huge process.“

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com