Carol Jones celebrates 20th year in real estate business

In May 1983, a real estate company was started at Carol Jones' kitchen table. Newly divorced with two children to support, she started out with five agents and the money from the sale of her home.

"We were all excited, but I was absolutely terrified," Jones said. "I thought, If I lose this $100,000, I'll be so humiliated that I'll just leave town.'"

Twenty years later she is still in town, but the kitchen table has been replaced by 10 offices, 360 agents and about 50 office staff. Carol Jones Realtors is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month.

The company started slowly, with Jones unable to hire many of the agents she would have liked to work with. A noncompete agreement prevented her from taking Jones & Company agents for two years. Her former husband Jim Jones was owner of Jones & Company.

A few of the company's initial listings were obtained the first Sunday after it opened.

"I got five listings on the way out of church, and the most expensive one was $70,000," Jones said.

After its slow start, CJR is shattering records. In April, agents wrote 610 contracts for a total of $76 million.

The company's previous record for highest sales was July 2002 with $64.5 million. Total sales for the first four months of 2000 were at $160 million, which were surpassed with a total of $233 million for the first four months of 2003.

In 1994, CJR was purchased by Iowa Realty Corporation, an affiliate of Home Services America, which ultimately is owned by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway. The purchase gave Jones the chance to retire and travel around the world.

"While I was gone over six years, there wasn't a day I didn't cry because I was sorry that I had sold the business," she said.

Sales dropped in Jones' absence. Miles Noennig, CFO for Carol Jones, Realtors. Noennig said CJR sold between $350 million and $357 million in a five-year period, and the new owners made a change.

"The ownership probably thought Carol's vision and leadership would help revitalize the company," Noennig said.

Jones said she was stunned to receive the phone call asking her to return to the company as president and CEO. She came back three years ago with Jim Bolin as general manager and Noennig as CFO, bringing a new level of energy to the firm.

"We know the minute she enters the building," Bolin said. "She's whooping and hollering, and she's a cultural icon in the community. People know her and recognize her face and her name."

Rick Gardner agrees, calling Jones very energetic and a good leader. Gardner, who joined the firm in 1987, said, "There was kind of a pause when Carol left, it seemed like, and then a rejuvenation when she came back."

Part of that rejuvenation has included new agents joining the firm. "We started rebuilding immediately and we started rebuilding from the ground up," Bolin said of the company's focus on hiring and training new agents. In the last three years, the number of CJR agents has increased from 250 to 360.

Jones said the real estate industry has definitely changed in the last 20 years.

"There's a lot more work for the agent to do than there used to be," she said. "All the papers (buyers) have to sign to buy a house is tremendous, where before we had one sheet. You just wrote up a contract on one sheet."

Jones said she thinks Springfield and Branson will continue to grow.

Bolin agrees.

"It's difficult to stop the growth of southwest Missouri," he said. "It's just taking people a little longer to find out nationwide what this area is all about."

CJR benefits the area through community service projects including the Boys and Girls Club, Carol Jones Women's Recovery Center and Family Violence Center. The company recently completed a house for Habitat for Humanity in honor of the company's 20th anniversary. "We're grateful for everything the community does for us and we want to try to give back in return," Bolin said.

Jones said she is thankful every day that she got the call to come back. She missed the challenge and she missed the people. "I like making superstars. I've made a lot of superstars. They work at every (CJR) office in town."