Lewis Realty Associates

What’s it like to grow up in the “woods" of Holly Ridge, shrimp with your dad along the Carolina coast, and then go on to build one of the largest real estate companies in the area? Meet Chris Rackley, the owner and President of Lewis Realty Associates, and a local leader in vacation rentals and real estate on Topsail Island. In this episode, Chris shares his personal journey, from working on shrimp boats as a kid to leading a full-service real estate team managing over 170 vacation homes. We talk short- and long-term rentals, home buying and selling, investment properties, community growth, and what it means to stay rooted while the world around you changes. Whether you’re a visitor, a local, or dreaming of coastal life, this episode is full of insight, warmth, and local know-how.

Topsail’s Top Choice Awards: 1st Place for Favorite Vacation Property Management Company and 2nd Place for Favorite Real Estate Services

Lewis Realty Associates, Inc.
320 N New River Drive
Surf City, NC 28445
(910) 328-5211

https://www.realestatetopsail.com/

https://www.vacationsontopsail.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TopsailIsland/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lewisrealtyontopsail/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewis-realty-associates-inc-28960a108/

X: https://x.com/lewisrealty

Topsail Insider is Sponsored by Saltwater Resort & Suites - Topsail Island’s premier luxury hospitality experience! Book your beach getaway today at SaltwaterTopsail.comor call (910) 886-4818!

Please Follow/Subscribe to Topsail Insider on your favorite podcast-listening platform!

Please also visit www.topsailinsider.com and sign up for our Mailing List where you’ll get early access to upcoming episodes.

Or leave a Voicemail for Topsail Insider right from the website - your message just might be featured in an upcoming episode!

Follow Topsail Insider on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube!

If you are a Greater Topsail business owner or nonprofit, Register to be a Guest on our website at www.topsailinsider.com!

Or if you wish to Sponsor or Advertise with Topsail Insider, please email christa@topsailinsider.com or call/text 910-800-0111.

Thanks - I’ll see you around Topsail!

Transcript

Christa: 0:02

Welcome to Topsail Insider, where you can hear all about the businesses and events in the beautiful coastal towns in the greater Topsail area of North Carolina. Coming up today we're interviewing Chris Rackley, the owner of Lewis Realty Associates. He is a true Topsail local, born and raised right here. And we'll be discussing vacation homes, short-term and long-term rentals, home buying and selling, investment homes, and much more, today on Topsail Insider. It is time to indulge and experience the finest coastal hospitality on Topsail Island with Saltwater Resort Suites in Surf City, North Carolina. Designed to exceed your expectations, guests can enjoy elegant suites featuring premium luxurious bedding, fully equipped kitchens with dishwashers, 75 inch flat screens, en suite washers and dryers, and gorgeous ocean views. With the grand opening of their newest location, you can now relax in their saltwater pool and modern clubhouse, perfect for unwinding, socializing, and private events. Book your next beach getaway today at saltwatertopsail.com or call (910) 886-4818. Saltwater Resort Suites redefining luxury on Topsail Island. Hello everyone. Welcome to Topsail Insider. My name is Christa and I am your host. Today we have Chris Rackley joining us. He's the owner of Lewis Realty Associates, located on Topsail Island in North Carolina. Welcome, Chris. Thank you so much for joining me today. Yes, ma'am. Glad to be here. To kick things off, why don't you give me a quick overview of your business because you do more than just buying and selling homes. Yep. we're the second oldest company in the Topsail area. And, we're a full service brokerage. We do vacation rental property management. Long term property management. We do represent buyers and sellers, commercial and residential. We do it all. Oh, commercial too. I didn't know. Commercial. Yes ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Before we go on, I also wanna ask you about Top Choice Awards. Yeah. Because you won two awards. Yeah. Yeah. That was a, that was a very stressful time for, for myself and my wife who owns the local business Salon Blue Hair Salon. the contest? The contest. Really, it was stressful. We were stressed. I'm sorry, but it was fun. we, we were, fortunate enough to be voted the, number one vacation rental company in the area. Yeah. And the number two real estate company in the area. And my wife, got an award for. best hair Salon as well. Hair Salon, that's right. What's her name and what's the name of the salon? her name is Misty, Rackley and her, salon is Salon Blue Hair Salon. It's on two 10, like in between Lowe's and Surf City. Totally drive by it all the time. Yeah, all the time. All the time. Alright, well congratulations to you. We are about to, get 2025 season kicked off we're gonna start reviewing the categories, maybe make a few changes and make a few changes in the rules as well to kind of tidy things up, but, got you. But y'all did great. You killed it, so thank you. And while we're talking about awards, I also know that you were realtor of the year. When year when was this?

Chris Rackley: 3:11

This was back in 2003. I'd been in real estate for, about three years and, you know, be, to be realtor to year one, you have to be an outstanding, realtor and follow the code of ethics and be honest. And you also need to do things for your community. In that time I was a volunteer firefighter And it's basically your peers, vote for who they think deserves that award. So in '03, I was realtor a year, and then '06 I was voted the board president. I was in my twenties.

Christa: 3:38

Is this the, the Realtor's

Chris Rackley: 3:40

Yeah. Topsail Island Association of Realtors? Yep. So in my twenties I was the board president and at that time we

Christa: 3:45

in your twenties. 500 members. Dude,

Chris Rackley: 3:47

Yeah. So that was, that was interesting. And I wasn't satisfied with everything that I'd gotten done. So I ran again. so I've been board president twice, and, that was, I think I was 30 the second time. Mm-hmm. So young. And then, 2016 I was voted Topsail Island in Chamber of Commerce, man of a year, I believe it was

Christa: 4:06

Nice.

Chris Rackley: 4:06

Nice. Yeah. And, Served on various committees with the towns and with the local association. I served with the base of Business Alliance for a Sound Economy. It's a group of lobbyists for the housing and real estate industry. I was on their board for some years. So I've, I've been real active nowadays. Like, I'll bump into some people and they're like, where have you been? And I'm like, well, I'm, I've been incognito, you know, I'm raising children. So it's, it's, it's, yeah. Yeah. It's hard to, to be that active, But, uh, there's a. There's a taste for the civic activities and for politics that I do like, and I can't say that I won't get back in that. Yeah. Once my children are growing. But right now my family's the focus, you know? I mean, that was, that's the purpose of life far as I'm concerned.

Christa: 4:53

Alright, well I moved here the end of 2015. And, since I've been here, it's so rare that I meet someone who was actually born and raised here. And you were? Yes, ma'am. Where were you born? I was born actually in Jacksonville. Yeah. But, live in Holly Ridge I call it the woods. It's out in the country, you know, down, down by the, waterway marsh landing area. Is it still the woods? Not as much as it used to be. Yeah. Unfortunately, there's a lot of subdivisions around us, but, you know, we own a parcel of land there that was family owned and, there's conservation land next to us, so once you get to our property, much like it was years ago in the pre-interview you were talking about, you lived on a piece of land with multiple houses on it. That was mostly your family, right? Yes, Yes, ma'am. So is that also the land you grew up on?

Chris Rackley: 5:35

It is I am a third generation that, lived there and my children are fourth

Christa: 5:41

and, incredible.

Chris Rackley: 5:41

Yeah, it's, it was awesome. To, to have a place where family can, can be together is super rare. you know, it's my wife and I and our children in one house, and then we've got her mother and stepfather in another house, and then my father and his wife and another, yeah. You know, so on Saturday morning you may hear the, the door slam shut and it's just the kids and they're one of the grandparents houses. I see. That's the

Christa: 6:03

coolest.

Chris Rackley: 6:04

Yeah.

Christa: 6:04

Where I grew up, which was also in, in the Woods. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. We were actually on a tobacco farm, but we were all within a, a five mile radius of my grandmother. My cousins. Yeah. And, and it was fantastic. Oh, yeah. And the cousins were the best friends growing up, and, and we played in the woods. It was just. It was a, a great life, I just want to get back, I really want you, I mentioned this on the pre-interview, but if you just keep an eye out Yeah. For anything that could be turned into a compound.

Chris Rackley: 6:31

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I really want one. It is my dream.

Christa: 6:35

It's so cool that you're on the same property that you Yeah. were raised on Yes,

Chris Rackley: 6:38

ma'am.

Christa: 6:39

how many houses do you have on that property?

Chris Rackley: 6:41

we used to have four actually, but one of them got away from the family, when I was much younger. But you know, the people who bought it are just good people like us and mm-hmm. I mean, they're almost like family fit. They fit in. Yeah, they fit in well.

Christa: 6:54

So, I've seen a vast amount of growth even from 2015, and you've been here your entire life. Give me your perspective as a local here, the changes that you've seen, not just in Holly Ridge, but Greater Topsail, just the impact on the environment and, the culture

Chris Rackley: 7:11

Mm-hmm. Yeah. when I was in high school, us kids would go to the beach, you know, on a Friday or Saturday night after work and we'd go one of two places. We'd go to the Scotch Bonnet Pier or Barnacle Bills Pier, and, neither of those are here. They were lost in 1996 to Hurricane Fran. but in the wintertime, when we would come over, it would just be local kids there playing in the game rooms and, you might pass one or two cars on the island. The whole entire time. And we joke that in the wintertime, they rolled the streets up on the island, because it was that slow, restaurants, were closed during the winter? was kind of almost like a ghost town. But I mean, now you go to the island even in December on a weekend and you've got a wait, you know, there's, there's people here all the time. there's so many more amenities now. We've got so many more stores, grocery stores and, and mom and pop shops and more restaurants and some big box and all these things. And, and those are wonderful. I mean, growing up here, I remember when Highway 17 was a three lane road, there was no grocery stores around here, and we would travel to Wilmington, with an ice chest in the back of the car Oh wow. To bring food back. was like a weekly trip we we're going to town. Yeah. You know, like that saying. So, so, now I go to town,

Christa: 8:25

Surf city

Chris Rackley: 8:26

Day. Yeah. if groceries, there's no weekly shopping, it's like, oh, I need this, I'm gonna grab it on the way home. So that's wonderful. the negative of it, of course is, the infrastructure is, is changing and growing with it, and there's some headaches there with traffic and, things like that. I have noticed, you know, I come from a commercial fishing family, my father commercial fished and so I'm real in touch with the water. I've noticed that we've got more polluted areas and things like that. What, what kind of things are you seeing to indicate the pollution? Is it debris floating? just runoff. mean, yeah, anytime you've got a, a development, you're, you're gonna have some runoff there's things that, that we do from the real estate side of the, of, development, with stormwater management and things like that to cut that down. But there's always gonna be some impact. you'll see, like with shellfish, you'll see if we have torrential rains, they may be closed for a week or more. shellfish are filter feeders, so they're filtering all that. They're actually cleaning the water, but you don't want to eat it when they're cleaning the water. Right? Yeah. So, so that was, that's probably the, the most negative thing I've seen. But, you know, the state, all in all, and the towns do a good job in managing that, we've got things to, to, to cut down on that risk. Mm-hmm.

Christa: 9:35

So you said your dad was a commercial fisherman. Was he out of, surf City here, or was he down in Sneads Ferry?

Chris Rackley: 9:41

More or less Sneads Ferry. But he really, he was all over, up and down the coast. he had, he was a shrimper mainly. And, when I was four years old, they took me to Mobile Bay, Alabama. And I lived on a shrimp boat for six months.

Christa: 9:53

oh, that's Forrest Gump.

Chris Rackley: 9:54

Forrest Gump, just like it, you know, so, and then I grew up working on the boats with him, in the summer and,

Christa: 10:01

How old were you then?

Chris Rackley: 10:02

just growing up, 8, 9, 10 on up, I worked on the boats with him until I was about 18 or 19 and that's when I decided I was gonna go to college. And then in my mid twenties I worked with him a week in Pamlico Sound, shrimping. he was down a crew member. And, I mean, I love it.

Christa: 10:23

you like it as much at 20 as you did when you were eight, nine, and 10?

Chris Rackley: 10:26

Probably not.

Christa: 10:27

Probably. You're like, I'm going back to

Chris Rackley: 10:29

Yeah. Yeah. Probably not. I mean, it's, it's a great life and, and, and, and I do love it, but it's hard work. It's dangerous, And, and right now seafood prices are down, you know, because we've got an import problem. You know, we've got imported seafood coming in, so that drove the, the, the local seafood price down.

Christa: 10:47

I was gonna ask you if you've noticed a difference from when your dad was, actively fishing for a living versus, and, are you still tight with the fishing community down in the

Chris Rackley: 10:57

yeah, absolutely. All up and down the coast of North Carolina, we know fishermen all over,

Christa: 11:02

Is business better or worse these days or the same

Chris Rackley: 11:05

last year was a tough year for 'em. really? Yeah. The prices on shrimp were like a dollar, a dollar and a quarter. And you know, for instance, these, these boats burn 20 gallons a diesel an hour. I mean, easily know

Christa: 11:16

and we know if fuel went

Chris Rackley: 11:17

Yeah. Diesel's $4 a gallon. So, you know, calculate out that for every pound of shrimp you get a dollar 25. And for every gallon of diesel, you've lost $4. So it, it doesn't, doesn't balance out. Mm-hmm.

Christa: 11:31

Mm. That's a tough year. Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 11:32

Yep. So, well, I'm hoping you see

Christa: 11:34

turning around?

Chris Rackley: 11:35

I'm hoping, you know, I've mixed feelings on the whole tariff situation in national politics, but, but I'm hoping that it will help to seafood industry and, and that's a big, if that's, if they do target imported seafood with the tariffs, drive that cost up and that people still want seafood. Because I wonder, you know, if, if inflation continues and, and companies pass tariffs on to us, are we gonna be able to even afford to buy the seafood to begin with? So is that the, you know, right.

Christa: 12:08

We'll,

Chris Rackley: 12:08

see. I, I think some of the commercial fishing, organizations are think it's gonna help 'em, so I, I hope it does. Yeah.

Christa: 12:15

I really hope it does. I do.

Chris Rackley: 12:16

Absolutely.

Christa: 12:17

Since we're on the topic of, of how things have changed and infrastructure, do you think that that bypass, you know, bypass Was originally supposed to start by the BP station here, and now it's moved up towards the high school now. Do you think that, that's gonna help traffic through Hampstead?

Chris Rackley: 12:35

I, I think so. I think it's a godsend. Hamstead used to just be a wide place in the road when I was growing up and, and now it's like, I mean, it's like little Manhattan, you know? It is, it is wild going through there and the wrecks and the people getting hurt and all the traffic. So if I was coming from another area and previewing this area and I drove through Hamstead, I'd go right on. I mean, it's just, it's, it's that bad. Yeah. So I don't see how it, it can't help. We gotta get some cars off of 17 and on something else. Yeah. Through that area. Now would I have rather it had went to the VP in Surf City?

Christa: 13:11

for sure.

Chris Rackley: 13:11

for sure. Yeah. But, and I feel like at some point that it will connect

Christa: 13:15

do you know why they changed that?

Chris Rackley: 13:17

I don't, I don't. Now I have interesting thing though, is I have heard that the long range plans and, and these are just, you know, analyst's opinion of where things are gonna go. But they say eventually at the lows in the BP station, that there'll be an overpass there that will go over 17. It'll come off of the, of the bypass when it's extended there. And you'll have an overpass dropping you off on two 10. And I mean, we're talking 50, 60 year long range plan, I mean, the high rise bridge in Surf City was on a long range plan for 30 years. I mean, we would, we would, I mean, I remember in the nineties they'd say, yep, we're getting a highrise bridge. And we'd be on the list and then, you know, legislatures go through the budgeting process and it would drop off the DOT master plan.

Christa: 14:03

mm-hmm.

Chris Rackley: 14:03

would move it somewhere else. So when we finally said that we were getting a bridge, I didn't believe it till I saw the first piloting going down. I'm like, yeah, whatever. Sure we are, but it's there. Yeah.

Christa: 14:13

So we moved here when I think that the bridge was already being built, if not close to completion in 2015. Does that seem right?

Chris Rackley: 14:22

15, 16, something like that. Yeah.

Christa: 14:24

So, I mean, the, the, the swing bridge was still in place. Mm-hmm. And we were here for the removal of that. But, did that, I, I didn't go, I wasn't going over to the island a lot at that stage. So did that make a big difference in the traffic going to and from the island? 'cause I still feel like it's a, a bottleneck.

Chris Rackley: 14:42

it's always gonna be a bottleneck when you, you know, no matter what you do when you get to the island, there's always so many places you can go. It's one of two ways. Yeah. You know, so you're always gonna have a bottleneck there. And, and we have to face it, unless we build a freeway coming into the island, you're gonna have a bottleneck on the mainland side. And if you go to any beach town on the eastern seaboard of the US on Fridays and Saturdays, it is traffic. Yeah. And that's just life in a beach town.

Christa: 15:09

you know, do you feel like the roundabouts have helped out?

Chris Rackley: 15:12

like, yeah, I think so. I think it, it helps to keep traffic flowing. I do too. You know, if, if people use it right now, a lot of people get nervous and they do a complete stop and all that, and you're like, oh, come on, let's go.

Christa: 15:24

Well, honestly, it took me a minute to realize like, Christa, why are you stopping? Like it was just kind of habit. But now that I've gotten used to it, I was probably one of those you were behind. Like what is she doing?

Chris Rackley: 15:35

Yeah. I remember, I remember I, Dr. I had a Jeep Wrangler when I left for college. I went to NC State and I piled all my stuff in the Jeep and I drove up Highway 50 all the way to Raleigh. I didn't take 40 because the Jeep was slow. And in Kenansville there's a roundabout, I believe it's Kenansville. And when I got there, I had never seen a roundabout and I didn't know what to do. I was just like, what? So I understand, but I know now what to do.

Christa: 16:02

There's a, but there's some down in Wilmington that got me used to it before that one was actually installed. So I kind of got the feel for it. So let's talk about what drew you into becoming a real estate agent. I know your aunt played a big part in your life, so can you tell me a little bit about her? Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 16:15

my great aunt, Elizabeth, but she's known as Peggy, that was her nickname Lewis. And you know, people will say, when did you start real estate? And I say, when I was eight years old

Christa: 16:24

Yeah, I remember you saying that's crazy. Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 16:26

on Saturdays, aunt Peggy would, would take me over to the office and, she would pay me probably $5 on a Saturday to wash real estate signs or clean the office and things like that. So I was in the environment, from a very young age, moving up into the teenage years, I got to the point where I'd answer the phone and she had a small rental department and I'd take reservations and this was so long ago, we were still doing it by hand on paper, it was no computers. This was early nineties. And as things progressed and I got older, I'd work a little bit more. Then I left for college. And honestly, I never thought I'd come back. I had big dreams of I was

Christa: 17:03

No real estate. What did you go to college

Chris Rackley: 17:05

I went to college for, communications and a minor in computer science. And what I wanted to get into was advertising copywriting. Mm-hmm. You know, I wanted to write advertisements. Okay. you know, like commercials and things. But, I, I kept

Christa: 17:16

Where'd you go to school?

Chris Rackley: 17:17

North Carolina State,

Christa: 17:18

Go Pack.

Chris Rackley: 17:21

but I kept in touch with Aunt Peggy and, she would discuss business with me and things that was going on and, and she made the comment to me, it was around 2000, late 99, 2000 that she thought she'd sell a business she was getting up in, in years. And she was ready to retire. And she made the comment, she said, you know, you worked in the office and stuff, but you never showed any interest in taking it over and. Thought to myself, I was like, wait, what? And she was like, you never showed any interest in taking over. If you had have, I'd have turned it over to you. And I was like, that was a possibility.

Christa: 17:51

You didn't even

Chris Rackley: 17:51

I didn't even think that way, at that age. So I said, wait, let, let me think a little bit before you do anything. So I came home and, really it was a trial run just to see if I liked it. And, it was a very small operation. It was my aunt and one other lady. we were on the causeway where the marina is now, the little white building, 4 21 Rowan Avenue across from East Coast Sports. That's where the office was. I think we had eight vacation rentals. and, and so I cut my teeth with that and I got my real estate license. And back then it was a sales person's license first. And then about a month later, I got my broker's license. Then my aunt went to Turkey for two weeks and just left me in charge

Christa: 18:34

and said, go for it. It just jump right in. Sink or swim. How, how did that go for you?

Chris Rackley: 18:39

It went better than expected. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I had some tough decisions, which I won't go into now that I had to make, but I kept the business going those two weeks, which was an eternity back then for somebody 20, 21 Then one thing from another, gradually, she started teaching me and. And next thing you know, I was the one making the decisions and running and she was coming into office less and less and less. And, you know, fast forward to today, it's a much different company and we were managing 170 some vacation rentals and

Christa: 19:08

Wait, what? Yeah,

Chris Rackley: 19:09

what, yeah. Yeah. From

Christa: 19:09

170.

Chris Rackley: 19:10

Yeah. Yeah. We're one of the larger vacation rental companies now. you know, we're turning real estate into the brokerage side, you know, with some of the big boys. So it's, it's, it's a whole different operation. Wow. Yeah. Been very fortunate.

Christa: 19:23

I had really had no idea it was that many. Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 19:26

Okay. So that's why I got a couple gray hairs, so

Christa: 19:29

so very few. You're doing fine. Okay. I'm assuming that the, all the people that have been relocating here, and it's, it's a lot.

Chris Rackley: 19:37

yeah, it's a lot.

Christa: 19:38

That would obviously be wonderful for your business,

Chris Rackley: 19:41

I mean, it's just mind boggling growth. And you we're seeing it in different demographics. We're seeing it in retirees that are moving here. probably because some of the good medical facilities we have in Wilmington and what a better place to live at in the beach, but we're also seeing the young professional move here. Yeah. In the twenties and the thirties. And that was something that was never here. like if you were in your twenties and you were single at Surf City, you had to go to Wilmington or somewhere else to meet People, so now it's, it's a huge change, having that demographic here and, and young families. And then of course we've got the military. And so the, the area is just, it's just fascinating how it's grown.

Christa: 20:20

you probably had a lot of military from the get go,

Chris Rackley: 20:23

Yeah, we, we always did from the get go. The weird thing was, was in the nineties, it was like you went over to Sneads Ferry and now Sneads Ferry, predominantly military and you know, even h Ridges and, but it, there was really no military presence there. There was no military personnel there in the nineties. It didn't seem one or two here or there. It was like they didn't even know we existed. And yet we were the back gate of Camp Lejeune.

Christa: 20:45

Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 20:46

And then I think the change really started happening in 2003 when George Bush, he did a, they called it brack. It was base realignment and something act, and it was when they closed down some bases and consolidated with other bases. So some bases left and some grew. Mm-hmm. Well, can't lajeune be the largest amphibious marine base in the world was not gonna be shut down. It grew. And they've moved people from the West Coast operations over to Camp Lajeune. They moved from other marine bases. They still are. Still are. Yeah. Yeah. And, and that was when we saw like the Sneads Ferry area just explode with growth. You know what I mean? We've got Marsoc got special forces, right. They're here,

Christa: 21:28

here. They just relocated from California.

Chris Rackley: 21:30

that's right. Yep. Yep. So, so I, that really spurred the military crisis was in 2003 and from their on, I mean, it's just exponential. And the amazing thing is, is many of them stay, you know, they, they love the area as much as we do. And them, when they retired, they end up staying here.

Christa: 21:47

So in 2008 there was the, the Great Recession housing crash. How did that affect you?

Chris Rackley: 21:53

yep. what, you know, like in 2004, 2005, the real estate market was, I mean, it was like on steroids. I mean, prices were jumping like crazy. For instance. I had helped a lady buy a condo. A year later, she calls and says, put, put it on the market, and we put it on for a hundred thousand dollars more and it sells. Oh, wow. You know what I mean? It was just wild. Yeah. you know, then we got to 2007, 2008 and the crash started. That lasted from oh eight to 2010. And at that time, you know, I'd only been in real estate with a license about seven, eight years. And, so I mean, I had had a great career for an early 20 something, the banks had loosened up lending requirements and they were, you know, we used to joke that you could be in prison and get a

Christa: 22:39

Mm-hmm. I mean,

Chris Rackley: 22:40

mean, it was like we never heard denied, it was always approved and they would do adjustable rate. mortgages, which means that the interest rate might be 3% right now and the payment might be $800 and everything's great. And then you get a notice in the mail, your interest rate's 4, 5, 6, 7 and the payment goes up. Yeah. And now, no longer. Now you can no longer afford it. So the foreclosing and the bank sells for pennies on the dollar. 'cause banks have insurance that gets money back so they can afford to sell for pennies on the dollar. Yeah. So then you start having the market value drop and then you got people that are over leveraged. I mean, it was just a chain reaction. Yeah. you know, so, so by the time 2008 came around, you know, we were going home and I turned on the news and it was another bank had collapsed. So basically my industry was at the center of the problem. I. And we had people that were desperately needing to sell property. And we'd list it and we'd do everything we could do, and it just, nobody cared. Nobody wanted to buy. Nobody could get a loan. I would tell clients, look, I can go outside and stand on my head in the front yard, and they will not take a second look. I mean, I had doctors that I represented that had 13, 14 properties that couldn't even get a loan, and they were well funded, you know what I mean? It was just like the whole system had halted. So here I was, the rental department hadn't been built up to any degree. I think I had like 30 properties then, which was bigger than when I started. But it just hadn't, hadn't got traction yet. And, we were still a small company and I worked for two years with absolutely no paycheck.

Christa: 24:13

for two years,

Chris Rackley: 24:15

went through every bit of savings. I was fortunate enough that I had had a good early start in my career, but I mean, it ended up in a financial disaster for me. But there was an adage that I always. Kept saying in my head was that you never know how close to success you are if you quit. And that kept me through those two years till things started picking back up and we could put the pieces back together and move on. And I mean, I'm so thankful for that. My wife we were newly married and then the crisis happened and, you know, she made money. She's, she does hair, she was still making some money. I wasn't making anything. She's like, why don't you go get a job? And I'm like, I, I can't get a job. She's like, why? And I was like, 'cause I, I was like, I've got an opportunity here and I know what I can build. If the economy straightens out, if I go get a job, I'm just gonna help somebody else build it and I'm not gonna get the reward. So I'm stubborn as a mule. And I told her, I said, look, I'm gonna stay there till they dragged me out. Yeah. You know, I'm not leaving. And thank God I was right. It was a big chance, thank God.

Christa: 25:16

So it took about two years for it to turn

Chris Rackley: 25:18

Yeah. Yeah. Two years we started seeing, you know, change. It wasn't a good market. It wasn't, you know, you weren't getting rich, you were just barely getting by. But about two years it started, you know, the government pumped a bunch of money in the economy. They did a bunch of, aid, they did a bunch of legislation to get things going. I mean, 'cause

Christa: 25:35

right. I forgot about

Chris Rackley: 25:36

Yeah, yeah. I mean, 'cause we really, you know, we were, we were basically at the Great Depression in a sense, you know, because you'd hear your grandparents talk about that. And it was getting to that point. I mean, there was, on tv there was tent cities, you know, people living in tents 'cause the bank had took their house 'cause they couldn't pay for it.

Christa: 25:53

So, yeah, so people were in these, in these loans that they could no longer afford to pay because of the adjustable rate. If they can't pay the loan and they can't sell the house, then it forecloses, and then so everyone lost

Chris Rackley: 26:07

everyone lost. Everybody lost. And we had to learn a whole new way to do real estate sales. We were doing, what they call short sales. And that was where we would be selling for less than what was owed. And the bank had to approve it. And it was kind of like a, kind of like a bailout for the bank in a sense, you know, that we'll get this much instead of nothing. we were doing a lot, we were representing actually, bank of America, ed in my office had over a hundred listings with Bank of America that were foreclosed

Christa: 26:37

you were essentially you're selling for the bank? That's,

Chris Rackley: 26:39

Yeah, yeah. Yep, yep. The whole, we industry changed and, and you know, banks were corporate America and they had certain requirements and certain forms and certain procedures and, you know, I mean, it was like learning real estate all over again, really, you know? But thank God that ended.

Christa: 26:55

Yeah. Yeah. What about Covid? How did Covid affect your business?

Chris Rackley: 27:00

When, and I don't know how I knew this if, but when I, there was an A, b, C news special 2020 and they were talking, you know, I had heard the word Covid and such, but they were showing the cities in China were just deserted and it scared the you know what, out of me. I'm like, my God, you know, this might be a real thing, so I started thinking about, well what, what are we going to do? And I was already kind of preparing my mind how we're gonna handle vacation rentals if there was quarantines and all these things. So the first three, four months of it was gut wrenching. we've really had no guidance from the government on what to do with existing vacation rentals and, we have to answer to two different bosses. We have to answer to the vacationer, to the owner. And it was just kind of winging it. And, you know, some of what we call the OTAs, like VRBO and the Airbnbs, they were just willy-nilly canceling reservations, and giving people their money back, which our owners were screaming at us. And so we were trying to take it case by case basis. And, so the

Christa: 28:05

so the travelers were not canceling?

Chris Rackley: 28:07

no, the travelers wanted to come. I mean, they,

Christa: 28:10

wanted

Chris Rackley: 28:10

they still, yeah, they still wanted to get to the beach town and, you know, but due to the quarantines in different states and different things, they may or may not could leave, they may or may not come back. So it was just like, it was just unbelievably chaotic

Christa: 28:25

So the first two or three months, you had just a ton of

Chris Rackley: 28:27

can, yeah, just tons of cancellations. I mean, it was like I was signing checks for refunds nonstop, and yeah, it was, it was wild. but once, I think it was around in May or June. You know, things started, settled to the point was like, okay, we've given ourselves to quarantine break now for the ones that want to go out in the world and go, go and if you wanna stay home, stay home. Yeah. But then we saw it was just unbelievable.

Christa: 28:55

oh, really?

Chris Rackley: 28:56

I mean, just like we couldn't, we couldn't find enough houses to rent. It was just, they were all being filled up and that ran for three years solid. Just unbelievable. I mean, unbelievable. And then finally in 2024, we did see a, a slight tick down, and that was industry-wide on vacations. But my theory is, is that, you know, social media is just that. It gives you a snippet of the social mood. And when I look at my social media feed last year, a lot of my friends were going on cruises. They were going to resorts, they were going overseas because they hadn't been able to do that.

Christa: 29:33

For. Okay.

Chris Rackley: 29:34

Yeah. And I feel like that was, you know, talking to colleagues in other areas that were in vacation rental space is they saw the same thing. but it was like if you took Covid out and you said 2019, and then fast forward to 20 24, 20 24, still a better year than 2019. Realize. Yeah. So, so it was like the linear growth that would've happened without Covid Gotcha. Has now started. Yeah. And Covid was the anomaly And in 2025 our books are looking better than 2024, you know, so we're back on a linear track of growth, which is sustainable. It's a

Christa: 30:08

a dip, but it's not, it's, it's, yeah. Where it should be.

Chris Rackley: 30:11

be. It's where it should be. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yep. Covid was just, that's so interesting. It was wild. But, you know, COVID, in another sense, in the, in the late nineties. I took some internet classes at State and that was groundbreaking. Well, we were like revolutionary that we would get on a computer and dial up and take a college class. Yeah. But, so we've known that we could work from home. We've known that we could go to school from home. We've known all this for 25 years, but yet nobody ever kicked us in the butt and made us do it. Covid did. Yeah. And then the light bulb went off and everybody's like, wow, I could live at the beach. I could live at the mountains. I could live here. I could live there. Yeah. And still work. Yeah. So here comes all your 30 something professionals. Oh.

Christa: 30:51

ah,

Chris Rackley: 30:52

it's been in hindsight, COVID was a challenge, but there's always benefits, And, and I mean, I'm not a dinosaur yet. I'm 47, but I remember a time when there wasn't internet, when it wasn't computers in your thirties. Now there was never a time, it's just second nature to them, you know, to work from home. That's normal. Yeah, yeah,

Christa: 31:14

We know that the retirees from up north, they come down here. I've heard it's because North Carolina is central. It's, if you go any further than us, it's a little too hot and too many bugs. And there's alligators and we're sort of like, we're at the, the lowest point that they want to go outside of the north. Right. But the temperatures are so much milder here.

Chris Rackley: 31:33

Yeah. Yeah. We're, we're actually class subtropical. A climate, which, you know, this past winter, I'd argue that, but we're supposed to be subtropical. They

Christa: 31:42

we had about six inches on the ground. it was a good time. when we first moved here, we made the mistake of putting some palms in our yard. Yeah. And it snowed I think 18, 17 or 18, we got snow and it's sat on those palm trees and they were dead. And then if people move here and they do, they, that's, they want those palm trees in their yard. I'm like, y'all be careful

Chris Rackley: 32:03

yeah, I've got some in our office parking lot. The girls at the office just like were all over me to put palm trees up. And I'm like, no, no. And they kept on. I'm like, fine.

Christa: 32:13

Well, good luck. I'm been better luck than we did. I think I'll stick with the magnolias and

Chris Rackley: 32:18

Yes.

Christa: 32:19

All right. so we have all these people moving here. Have you seen a slow down at all? No.

Chris Rackley: 32:25

no. you know, interest rates has been a big topic the last couple years.

Christa: 32:29

How do you feel about that? I've,

Chris Rackley: 32:31

I, I've, I've been in this 25 plus years active with a license and I remember a time in the early two thousands when the interest rate dropped under 6% and we clicked our heels together and said, my God, it's free to borrow money. 5.9%. It's free. And people bought houses and everybody was excited. So now when I hear somebody griping, oh my God, the interest rate is 6%. And I'm like, you just been spoiled, you know? Yeah.

Christa: 32:59

well we had a 3% interest

Chris Rackley: 33:01

Yeah. And that was not normal. that was not, if you look at the history, that was totally an anomaly And, you know, 6% is notoriously a great rate. So, and so the people come into this area, that's not a deterrent for them. Now I certainly can argue that. For a first time home buyer, typically you're, you're strapped and you're on a wing and a prayer and a point in the interest rate will make a huge

Christa: 33:26

it does. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 33:27

But, but here it doesn't seem to make that big a difference. I mean,

Christa: 33:31

People can always refinance if they do go lower. Right. And so you're not seeing a slow down at all. I thought I was seeing, I thought I was seeing houses sit on the market just here in my own neighborhood. They were sitting on the market a long time. By that I mean 30 days. Right. That's a long time. Because at one point people were like, before you list your home, could you please let me know? So I have dibs people were out bidding each

Chris Rackley: 33:52

Oh, yeah. Yeah. There was a time that, like we'd put a house on the market and within two hours we'd have multiple offers. Yeah. It was, I mean, it's fun, but it's pandemonium, but in a traditional market. You're looking, two to three months Yeah. For home sales, and that's usually you're happy. Yeah. so when it takes 30, 60 days, I'm like, great, no problem. Yeah. Awesome. You know, we, we found a good, solid buyer and it's probably gonna be a great transaction. I did,

Christa: 34:22

I saw the dip, but I swear I think it's picked back up again where people, it's, they're going a lot faster again, so. All right. Well, I was kind of hoping it was slowing down a little bit, just because our schools are overcrowded.

Chris Rackley: 34:35

I know, I know.

Christa: 34:36

How old are your kids?

Chris Rackley: 34:37

my, oldest is 12. She's, in middle school at Dixon Middle. And our youngest is eight and she's at Coastal. And I mean, the middle school, Dixon Middle is two stories. It looks like a movie. High school. Yeah. To me, because, in my graduating class in 95 at Dixon High was like 120 They have, in her class there's like five or 600 kids just in the sixth grade class. And I'm like, there wasn't that many people in the school, you know, like, it's just mind blowing. But, you know, the, the school system, Onslow and Pender County, Pender County's got many accolades with Topsail, through the years and, you know, and Dixon has been, good for my children. They've, they've grown in leaps and bounds and, yeah. There's a lot of kids, but, they're keeping up with the growth.

Christa: 35:21

yeah, yeah. They're doing their best. Yeah. I can tell you that. And we, we've got two new schools being built here. I think a lot of people were up in arms because they weren't building a new high school. So we have one high school and multiple middle schools and multiple elementary schools. But what we didn't understand was that the plan was they're gonna build the new middle school toward near South Topsail. Mm-hmm. And then they're gonna take the middle school that is here by the high school and make that, I think the ninth grade. So it's gonna be, it's gonna go back into being, a high school. It may not be substantial, but it'll be any little bit helps. so being a, a real true local here mm-hmm. I know you've got the advantage of, you know, the area better than the new people that are coming in here and, but what, what else, what other advantage is there to being a real true local here and selling real estate?

Chris Rackley: 36:10

Yeah. there's an old nickname called an Old Salt. you know, like an old sea captain on the coast. He's an old salt. And that's kind of how we are. We're old salts. We, we've been through the hurricanes, we've been through the economic recessions. We know the area, we know their property owners. We know the pitfalls with insurance and the taxes and, and the, regulatory agencies with the state. And you, you can't do a real estate transaction without having service providers, you know, home inspector, surveyors, pest control, Attorneys. We know all of them personally. We know the good ones. We know the not so good ones. when I, if I was to come into this area, without that knowledge, it would be super hard to, to give the level of service that we give. You know what I mean? 'cause it'd almost be like, I've got blinders on. I don't know which way to go and I'm learning as I'm helping my client. And that's not what they hire us for. They hire us for the knowledge.

Christa: 37:07

Let's talk about the different real estate services that you offer, and, and who each one is for. So let's start with the vacation property management. This is for homeowners who trust your team to manage their property rental, whether they live locally or not. Are most of them local or not?

Chris Rackley: 37:25

most of 'em are not. you know, we have a lot of clients from the triangle and from Oh really? Charlotte and, and, Greensboro, Winston-Salem. But we have equally as many from Ohio and Pennsylvania and New Jersey. And New York, and we even have some that live on the west coast of California that have homes out here. so I mean, really they're spread around. There's clients that we've had for, Lord, they even were back with my aunt that I've never met. But I know 'em just as good as I know anybody else. Yeah. Because we've worked with 'em, so never laid eyes on 'em, so Yes. It, it, it's wild. But, but yeah, we've got a full service, vacation rental department. I got a full-time property manager, full-time maintenance coordinators, full-time housekeeping director, reservationist, full-time accountant on board. And our goal is that we handle everything for the homeowner maintenance, you know, guest concerns, booking reservations, cleaning. Cleaning, yeah. Everything. Our goal is that in the end, all the owner has to do is check their bank account for the direct deposit or go to the bank and cash a

Christa: 38:29

Mm-hmm.

Chris Rackley: 38:29

And that's all they have to do. Yeah. We do everything else for 'em. Collect accommodation, tax, sales, tax, all those reports, all those things. Yeah. So, so it's, it is totally full service.

Christa: 38:38

I would imagine that some of those owners, do they ever, this is also their vacation home? Like, do they say, okay, in this, these two weeks, I'll be there? Don't book it out. Yeah,

Chris Rackley: 38:48

Yeah. There's, there's some companies that will put a limit on that and we never have. I've always said, look, you know,

Christa: 38:55

your house.

Chris Rackley: 38:56

it's your house. It's your house. If if you wanna block it out and you want to come or send your family, understand you're not gonna make money. And understand if it's a peak season, that you're taking a great opportunity to make money from us. And at the end of the year, if you're not happy, it's because you booked it too much. Yeah. You

Christa: 39:14

I get it

Chris Rackley: 39:14

So, and I've never, I've never ever, 'cause I can fire a client just like they can fire me. We can fire them. I've never, ever, ever had to fire a client because they used it too much. Okay. so I have no need to put that barrier

Christa: 39:27

have you ever had to have a talk.

Chris Rackley: 39:29

Never have. Really? No. No. I mean, 'cause they got expense just like us. And I mean, they're successful people and they understand how money works, and they're like. You can come down, you can come down in the fall when it's not gonna be booked. Yeah. and I'm fine. We're totally fine with

Christa: 39:44

it's honestly the best time to come anyway. Love fall. Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 39:47

Love it here.

Christa: 39:47

Yeah. It's locals high

Chris Rackley: 39:49

That's right. It's almost like, you know, we don't go out to eat as much during the summer and, and you

Christa: 39:54

no. 'cause you can't get in anywhere.

Chris Rackley: 39:55

in. And then October we, you go out to eat and you see all the locals and we all joke. It's like we're all like a bunch of roaches crawled out from underneath things.

Christa: 40:06

it safe to come out yet? funny. okay. So, tell me what you do then for the renters.

Chris Rackley: 40:13

Oh, for the renters is, give 'em a great guest experience. when they, when they call in to book the reservation, of course their reservation is help 'em find a home that will fit their needs. Mm-hmm. And we've got like 50 pictures and, 3D walkthroughs online, floor

Christa: 40:27

your website?

Chris Rackley: 40:27

Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, basically they're seeing the house before they ever get there. So we help 'em select it and then, we make everything as easy for them as as possible, just like we do. The owners, the linens are delivered beach toys and beach chairs, those are delivered and ready for 'em. They can

Christa: 40:42

You work with local companies

Chris Rackley: 40:43

local companies. Yeah, local companies. Yep. And they can do it all through us. So it's just one, one invoice for their vacation. That's great. And then we coordinate all the others. And of course we've got a 24 hour emergency line. 'cause you know, an air conditioner's gonna break in the summer. Right. It's just, it is, there's, it's too hot for 'em.

Christa: 41:00

Plumbing issues, like whatever can happen.

Chris Rackley: 41:02

Yep. So it's, it's not out the ordinary that, two o'clock in the morning, we've got our staff, handling a problem. And the beautiful thing is, is that we do so much volume with, with local vendors that I can actually get an air conditioner guy out there at 2:00 AM

Christa: 41:15

Mm mm Yeah, because you've developed those relationships so well. Relationships.

Chris Rackley: 41:19

Yep. Because we're local. Yeah. Yep. So

Christa: 41:22

What about the linens? Y'all provide the linens or, or people bring their own,

Chris Rackley: 41:27

here. About two years ago we made the change where we include the

Christa: 41:32

Mm-hmm.

Chris Rackley: 41:32

Mm-hmm. before that it could be that they could bring their own linens or they could rent their linens. Okay. Yeah. But, you

Christa: 41:38

and they would rent them through you or through a service Okay.

Chris Rackley: 41:42

Yeah. And then they'd be delivered. But, we made the change to, to include linens now on everything. Just, you know, industries change and demands from your consumer changes. And that was one of the things is they didn't wanna, they wanted all inclusive.

Christa: 41:55

yeah. we're already over packing anyway. The last thing I wanna do is now have to bring in my sheet sets and comforter covers and all that stuff, did you say you have laundering facilities at your

Chris Rackley: 42:04

We, yeah, we actually have, have a room designated to laundry and because, you know, we'll switch out comforters from week to week and, you know, you gotta have 'em laundered while you're using the other one. And, you know, sometimes there's, you know, they get sold and they need to be cleaned. So, you know, rather than run to the mainland, to the laundromat and do this, do that, we just have it there.

Christa: 42:24

That's great. Love it. Okay. Is there anything else you wanna say about your vacation property management that I haven't covered?

Chris Rackley: 42:33

Well we're award-winning in Vacation Rental Management. you know, of course we got the, the Topsail's Top Choice Award, and here's an award I haven't announced to anybody. So this is Breaking

Christa: 42:44

Alright. There's.

Chris Rackley: 42:45

a website called compare.com. And what Co Parent is, is it compares vacation rental property management companies for a property owner that's seeking management. And we recently got awarded for the market leader in Topsail. That's amazing.

Christa: 42:59

That's amazing.

Chris Rackley: 43:00

it's Congratulations. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. And it's, it's based on actual data comparing meshes in with our vacation rental systems. So they're looking at all our finances and our bookings and our ADRs and all these things. And that's how they pick that you're a market leader and we, we got that award. That's cool.

Christa: 43:16

wonderful. Tell me, also, I'm looking at your, your website here, the VRMA

Chris Rackley: 43:20

Yeah. VRM accreditation, we are the first, and to my knowledge still the only only company in Topsail that, has that accreditation. And what VRM is a Vacation Rental Management Association. It's a trade organization and they provide training and knowledge and different things for vacation rental managers, and they have an accreditation. It took me probably three or four months and a, about a two or three inch stack of paper mm-hmm. That I had to produce of how we did things, the results, our procedures, our policies, our finances, and then after they review it, then if. You're in compliance with how they think things should be done. They accredit you Nice. And, and so we're the only accredited company in the area.

Christa: 44:01

That's incredible. Very good. And then what is this the proud member of the 100 collection?

Chris Rackley: 44:06

Yeah, the Hundred Collection is a, group that goes out and curates vacation rentals and they have certain guidelines, it's gotta be this way, that way it's gotta be this quality or that quality. And, the Hundred Collection contacted us and wanted to select some of our vacation rentals to, to market in their collection, to their guests. And their guests expect quality and service because it's part of the Hundred Collection. And it provides a mechanism, I mean, really any property could be part of the a Hundred Collection. You might have to do some things, but you can always bring the quality up. So it, it provides a mechanism that if an owner wants some more attention, we have these things that we could do to get you accepted by the Hundred Collection.

Christa: 44:49

Okay. Okay. Out of your 170

Chris Rackley: 44:52

Right now. I mean they gave me a, a gamut of properties that we, we could have advertised, with them. But of course there's always a fee. So we didn't advertise 'em all because some of 'em didn't need it. Some of 'em are already booked for the summer. Right. but I think it's probably around 20 right now which seems to be kind of the norm with other companies in the Hundred collections, around 20 or so. But, so far just given us some good results. We've been happy with it.

Christa: 45:17

And before we move on we have all different people from all walks of life coming here with all different budgets. So do you have properties that fit all the different budgets? Yeah, absolutely.

Chris Rackley: 45:28

I mean, from the, from the small one bedroom condos at the north end to the, 10 bedroom houses. It doesn't matter what you're looking for. We've got it.

Christa: 45:37

Alright. You have long term rentals too, and you mentioned seasonal rentals. So tell me about those.

Chris Rackley: 45:42

Yeah, so long-term rentals, you know, if you're living in the area and you wanna sign a year lease, you actually live in the property. Typically on the island, it's hard to find a year lease because most of the time, either if the owners are using it or it's a vacation

Christa: 45:56

right? Yeah,

Chris Rackley: 45:56

do have a handful on the island that are long term, but, not as much as we do on the mainland. Yeah. what we do different in that is we actually, it seems that some companies would put a person in the house and then they don't go back in the house again for another year. Oh my God. What could happen in a year? You know, the dog could have tore the carpet up. It could be holes in the wall. Yeah. It could be filthy. So we do quarterly checks on our long term rentals. Okay. And, and that gives us the opportunity, one, to know the, the tenant better and to work with the tenant if there is a deficiency, whether caused by the tenant or whether just maintenance in the house. Yeah. 'Cause sometimes maintenance goes to the wayside. The some tenants don't wanna bother you. They're like, oh the sink's leaking. I don't wanna bother 'em.

Christa: 46:42

in the meantime it's costing more

Chris Rackley: 46:44

In the mean. Yeah. Now the cabinets

Christa: 46:46

Creating more damage. Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 46:47

we need to know. So that's one unique difference that I see is that we actually go look at the

Christa: 46:53

And you let the renters know up ahead of time like, this is what we're gonna be doing. And you don't get any pushback.

Chris Rackley: 46:59

How do you always get pushback with human beings?

Christa: 47:01

I don't even know why I asked.

Chris Rackley: 47:03

How houses are easy. People are hard.

Christa: 47:06

Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 47:07

but, but it's, I mean, we'll we do everything we can do to make it convenient for 'em, but it's part of our job is to go make sure the house is being taken care

Christa: 47:16

gotcha. Okay. And what about the seasonal rentals?

Chris Rackley: 47:19

what a seasonal rental is, is, let's say we've got a vacation rental and it rents like dynamite from May to October. Mm-hmm. And then we have crickets chirping from November to May. Yeah. And the owner may, not want to come down or may just wanna turn some more money. so we have a list. It's, we call it seasonals. And it's basically kinda like snowbirds or even, we've had military programs at Camp Lejeune and they would bring in, Marines and soldiers that would be staying in the area and they'd have a government budget for housing. And, they may be here for three, four months and they would stay in 'em. you know, so it is, it, is it, what it is, is a stay longer than 90 days because if it's 90 days or less, it's still considered vacation rental. And that's from, that's codified with state legislature. Okay. so it's gotta be more than 90 days. There's no accommodations tax. It's really akin to a, to a year lease, but it's just shorter. Mm-hmm. and a lot of times you'll see things like, Utilities will be included because I mean, why take the utilities out of the owner's name for four months? Yeah. so we'll put a cap on, electricity. Hey, if you, your first 200 is on us after 200, you gotta pay the difference. Things like that. But what it does, I mean, our owners love it, you know, I mean, because of course it turns money. There's no reason rhyme to it. I can't ever predict how many people's coming, why, when, where. Yeah. It's just, here's the list they call and we try to,

Christa: 48:41

so if you have, if you have a list of 30 houses that you do this with, what's the percentage that you

Chris Rackley: 48:47

Prob probably around 60. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's not bad. No. I mean, and there's been years, like with the Ospreys, the, the real funny looking planes that the military have. Yeah. Yeah. They do vertical takeoff and horizontal flight. the Marines, that's a marine plane, and the Air Force were training on it. So this was back mid 2000 tens, you know, in that range. every year there would be like 20 Air Force pilots that were coming from somewhere out west, and they'd be a Board Camp Lejeune for that training program on the Ospreys, and they would stay with us. We had actually made the list of being recommended to these pilots.

Christa: 49:23

you if the, if the base was the one that was, is setting up that contract with y'all, like, we've got 20 people coming in, we'd like to use your facilities. That's great.

Chris Rackley: 49:33

Yeah.

Christa: 49:33

Well, I know a lot of people who moved here did want to rent first. Whether it's waiting for your home to. Get completed or to really get to know the area and figure out like, which neighborhood do I wanna build in? And that, I think something like that would be really perfect for them. The only problem is, is you haven't figured that out by a certain date. You still have to get out because you need it ready for, for

Chris Rackley: 49:55

Yeah. Typically, we're moving seasonals out around May.

Christa: 49:58

Is that when it happens in May? I thought it would happen a little sooner than that actually.

Chris Rackley: 50:02

I mean, at the latest May. It depends, on the house and the volume of the house, you know, how many vacations it's gonna turn that year, but no later than May. Sometimes we're moving 'em out in March and April if we've got things to do in the house to get ready for vacation rental. Mm-hmm.

Christa: 50:19

You've got two websites. So let's give the website address for the vacation

Chris Rackley: 50:23

vacationsontopsail.com.

Christa: 50:25

vacationsontopsail.com. ma'am. So home sales and buying. We're talking about your traditional real estate now. So, I have a question for you and, and I feel like it's a dumb question, but I feel like there are other people out there like me who don't know the difference. I'll tell you, I had someone reach out to me who's gonna be relocating here from New York, and he asked where the brokerages were. Mm-hmm. And I'm like, let me get back to you. So I kind of, I need to know the difference between just a real estate agent and a real estate broker.

Chris Rackley: 50:59

Yeah, in this state there are no agents anymore. they're all brokers that when you go to real estate school and, and you pass the class and the estate exam, you get a, what we call a PB license. It's a provisional broker's license. And what that means is that one, you've done the minimal requirement to have a real estate license and that two, you've got to take 90 more hours of education to upgrade your

Christa: 51:27

90.

Chris Rackley: 51:28

yep, 90 more hours. And then the third thing is, is that you can't work unless you're associated with a broker. That's broker in charge eligible or a company who has a broker that's broker in charge eligible. And so, so let's say I'm a PB and I've got a hang, my license is determined. Are you using, and it comes from the, you have to hang it on the wall in a, in a brokerage

Christa: 51:51

that is exactly the term that he used. I had no idea.

Chris Rackley: 51:54

from the old days when you just, you hung your license at the brokerage house. Okay. So you've gotta hang your license and then, then I've gotta do my 90 days and then I'm a broker. I still can't be a broker in charge because I've got to take and produce experience and I think it's two or three years experience. And this class and that class, there'd be broker in charge eligible. And so then if I further my education and I get that experience and I'm broker in charge eligible, I can go to work for a company and be their broker in charge and run their sales department. Or I can open my own company or

Christa: 52:29

Can there be multiple brokers in charge?

Chris Rackley: 52:32

There can be multiple broker in charge, eligible people in the office, but there can only be one broker in charge that is in charge. Gotcha. Yep. And you know, namely, the whole sales operation is under that person. They're responsible for what these other agents are doing

Christa: 52:48

is that you?

Chris Rackley: 52:49

no. Thank God it used to be He

Christa: 52:52

Who is the poor soul? Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 52:54

ed McKenna, my vice president, he, he runs my sales department, our sales department, and he's the, he's the broker in charge for sales. Now I am the broker in charge on the vacation rental side, and it, and it's very similar. I'm responsible for everything my people do, and I've gotta provide 'em guidance and I gotta know what they're doing and, and whatnot. Okay. Yep.

Christa: 53:12

how many agents do you have working for you? We've got,

Chris Rackley: 53:14

We've got, five agents right now. we're still actively hiring. I've had as many as 10, but some have retired and some have gotten out of the business. there's companies that I call 'em a clearinghouse for agents. They just love to hire agents and they may have 200 agents. And the truth of the matter is, is that these agents are paying a fee to be associated with that company. And agents in my mind, have become an invoice and how is one broker in charge gonna manage 200 agents or not? Yeah. The agents don't get the guidance they need. They're just out there. And that's not our philosophy. I'd rather have a smaller team that is skilled, close-knit and manageable. Is, is how we've always done.

Christa: 53:57

just going back to that, you were born and raised here and you're local. Mm-hmm. do you choose agents to come and work for you that are also local or they kind of run the gamut?

Chris Rackley: 54:08

yeah. No, they're local.

Christa: 54:09

they're all local

Chris Rackley: 54:10

All our agents actually live here. They've lived here for some time. they may not be as local as I am 'cause I'm as

Christa: 54:16

Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 54:16

you can get. But, but, but they are local. That, that's key. That's key for us. I mean, our slogans, simply local, simply better.

Christa: 54:23

Simply local, simply better. Okay. I wanna ask another question that might be dumb, but I'm learning today. Do some agents only represent buyers and then some only represent sellers. Or does everyone kind of

Chris Rackley: 54:36

yeah. In, in, in our office we do both. It depends on the client's needs. Now, there are companies that are buyer agent only companies, and there are companies that are seller, agent only companies. But we do both. We've taken classes to represent a seller, and on the other side, we've taken classes to represent a buyer. And, when, when it's called agency, when we sign an agency agreement with you, that means that it's our fiduciary responsibility to look out for your best interest and always try to get you the best possible price, terms and conditions, disclose material facts, basically take care of you. Mm-hmm. And, you know, we do that for sellers or buyers, depending on the situation.

Christa: 55:18

What kind of buyers do you tend to see the most? Families, retirees, military, or those young, single 30 somethings.

Chris Rackley: 55:26

It is, I mean, on the island, usually investor slash family that's investing is typically what you see on the island. Now, you know, you don't, you don't see as many military on the island unless they're higher up the chain. 'cause the

Christa: 55:42

Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 55:43

has gotten so crazy that, you know, it's just not feasible. But on the mainland, it's a very good mix of, you know, you're 30 something early, 40 something professional, maybe 20 somethings, and, you know, military. Mm-hmm.

Christa: 55:58

Hmm. Okay. And going, talking about the real estate investors, what kind of opportunities are there in the area right now? if people are looking,

Chris Rackley: 56:08

Yeah. Here's something that's, yeah, I mean we think, you know, I see a house for 1.3, 1.4 million and I'm like, my god, that's a lot of money. 'cause I remember when that same house would've sold for a hundred thousand dollars, 25 years ago.

Christa: 56:21

Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 56:22

Yeah. But when you go out away from here and you go to other areas like up north or down south of Florida, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 is a bargain. You know? So we have people that will sell property in New York and it would be a modest property. Yeah. But they've got $2 million. Their buying power is so strong.

Christa: 56:45

Very modest house for a million. Just a million

Chris Rackley: 56:48

Yeah. Yep.

Christa: 56:48

Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 56:49

And that worries

Christa: 56:49

a fixer upper. Yeah, a

Chris Rackley: 56:51

or upper. Yeah, fix or, yeah. And that worries me about this area. 'cause I remember when Starter Hanes were 150, 175,000. Now the bottom of our market on the mainland's 3 50, 3 75. Yeah. And you know, I'm like, how do people get started with that? That that's difficult complaint, right? Yeah. It's

Christa: 57:08

buyers, how do you get started?

Chris Rackley: 57:10

is super difficult. And then another worry that I have with the price appreciation is that you've got people that's been here and they're of modest income, modest living, and they've been here, you know, much like I have for generations upon generations. And the property values increasing and the taxes are increasing. And you seen this in other areas as it gets to a point where they can't afford to even pay the property tax. So now they have to sell their home place because of the growth. And I'm like,

Christa: 57:35

that makes me sad. Yeah.

Chris Rackley: 57:36

Yeah, it makes me sad too, and I'm like, why doesn't, which I'm not running for office. I, but if I was to run for office, that would be one of the things is that the state legislature needs to have some kind of buy down on property tax in those situations. Yeah, because it's happening all over the state. North Carolina's just everywhere you go. It's growing

Christa: 57:55

a whole

Chris Rackley: 57:56

whole life everywhere in North Carolina, you know? So it's not just a Surf City, Topsail Island problem. It's a North Carolina problem. Yeah.

Christa: 58:03

My parents live on the Intercoastal up in Havelock. and the house is paid off, but they're on a very fixed income. And those, they do talk about those property taxes and the insurance

Chris Rackley: 58:17

Yeah. If you're, if you're retired and living on a fixed income, you're just one invoice away from a disaster. I mean, growth is great for us, but it's not for a lot of people. Yeah. You know,

Christa: 58:30

I thought you were gonna say like, so their property value's gone up and now they can sell and they are rich.

Chris Rackley: 58:35

were,

Christa: 58:36

Like they bought it for 30,000 and now it's 300,000 and they're doing great.

Chris Rackley: 58:40

that's, and that's true. But you know, I'm in touch with so many locals. They don't wanna sell.

Christa: 58:46

They don't wanna move. That's, that, that's

Chris Rackley: 58:48

yeah. That's where they raised their children and their, you know, their mom or dad was born. You know, I mean, different stories, family stories, and that's the last thing they want to do is sell it and have, and where do they go, you know? They go somewhere else. That's expensive. Yeah. So, so, you know what I mean? So, yeah. Can they make a bunch of money? Yeah. And do some of them do it? Yeah. But there's a lot of them that are like, I, I don't want to leave.

Christa: 59:13

So the one last thing I wanna say here is that website address is different now for your traditional real estate site. That is RealEstateTopsail.com.

Chris Rackley: 59:21

RealEstateTopsail.com and that focus just on buying and selling real estate. And, and it has every property that's listed in the North Carolina regional MLS no matter if it's listed with us or another company. 'cause we can represent you. And the North Carolina regional MLS is about 9,000 and some agents and all their listings, it spans from as far north as like New Bern, Washington, all the way south and inland. Now I won't say that we never sell outside our area. 'cause if it's a coastal community, you know, like we've sold in Oak Island, we've sold in Wrightsville, it's similar enough that we're comfortable. Our license says I can can do brokerage activity anywhere in the state. But typically, you know, being local, you focus on your local area 'cause that's where you know the area and you can give the, the great service. Yeah. you know, and I represented myself on a mountain cabin that I bought, but that was for me, I wouldn't represent a buyer for a mountain cabin because,

Christa: 1:00:17

Just don't know the

Chris Rackley: 1:00:18

I, yeah. I just don't know. Do you know as much about that as I do coastal property, so

Christa: 1:00:23

So you may go outside of Greater Topsail, but you, you, you stay coastal in the areas that you know

Chris Rackley: 1:00:28

the area. Yeah. Okay. Yep. I mean, 'cause we get, we get investors, I mean we get, most people love Topsail. It's just, I gotta be a Topsail. But we do get investors. Like, I don't care where it is, I just wanna be on the coast. Yeah. You know, so we'll shop, you know, we'll take 'em to Emerald Isle, we'll take 'em. Oak Island,

Christa: 1:00:47

Okay. Let's talk about your future plans. Where do you see Lewis Realty Associates in the next three to five

Chris Rackley: 1:00:54

next three to five years. I mean, continuing the growth curve. You know, I'm, I'm not satisfied with the size of the company just yet, even though it's great in leaps and bounds. I get bored easy and, and growth keeps me from being bored.

Christa: 1:01:06

Mm-hmm.

Chris Rackley: 1:01:06

Mm-hmm. so continuing the grave curve, we do heavily marketing for, vacation properties to manage and, and sales listings. So, keeping that up, focusing on technology. 'cause technology's where it's at, it's where it always been. With the internet, we can reach out and, and touch people that are interested instead of, blindly advertising to people that have no interest whatsoever. And, focus on the local area.

Christa: 1:01:32

Are you hiring any new agents Anytime soon.

Chris Rackley: 1:01:35

yeah, we, we, we always take 'em case by case. 'cause we just won't take anyone. It's gotta meet a certain criteria, but always

Christa: 1:01:41

before we wrap things up, I like to leave the listeners with one last final thought. What, what would you like to leave our listeners with today?

Chris Rackley: 1:01:48

Well, you know, you see on TV and you see on social media that, people say buy local, you know, for Valentine's Day, and that's great. Absolutely buy from mom and pop, buy from the gift stores, everything. But that's even more important in real estate. And you know, it's deal with the local agents. You know, you don't wanna deal with a big box that they're all over the place. They don't know the area intimately. You wanna find that agent that knows that area, lives in that area, has done business in that area. And that's where we come in is because that's who we are. you know, we, we know this, this area, and that's the value of us.

Christa: 1:02:23

Before we go, what is, what is your physical address?

Chris Rackley: 1:02:26

Physical address is 320 North New River Drive in Surf City. we're right beside the famous Island Delights, little 1950 style, hamburger and hotdog and ice cream. Yeah. restaurant. Yep. Right beside them.

Christa: 1:02:38

And you said you did some new work to this building recently?

Chris Rackley: 1:02:40

Yeah. we had started, that building was built in oh three, the first part of it, and then a few years later I bought the lot next door and made that a parking lot. And then just before Florence in 2019, we started, with a, addition and it was for the sales department. And, so we've added on the buildings around 6,000 square feet now.

Christa: 1:03:05

that's huge.

Chris Rackley: 1:03:05

It's quite huge.

Christa: 1:03:06

I'm gonna have to stop by there and

Chris Rackley: 1:03:08

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Big nice conference rooms and many offices and, you know, really kind of a state of art facility from, from what it started as, when I started our office was like. 600, 700

Christa: 1:03:21

Mm-hmm.

Chris Rackley: 1:03:21

Mm-hmm. Very small. So, so it's, it's, it's quite, quite different. People ask me that, that's known me for years. I'll say, you still in real estate? And I always say, yeah, the bank won't let me leave. And that's why.

Christa: 1:03:33

Oh, that's funny.

Chris Rackley: 1:03:35

Okay.

Christa: 1:03:35

And just to, repeat those, website addresses again, one is RealEstateTopsail.com and the other is VacationsOnTopsail.com.

Chris Rackley: 1:03:44

Phone number is, it's been the same phone number for 60 some years. It's (910) 328-5211.

Christa: 1:03:51

And what email address do you like to give out?

Chris Rackley: 1:03:54

Yeah, you can do info@topsailarea.com

Christa: 1:03:57

Are you also on, the social Facebook, Instagram X or LinkedIn or any of the other

Chris Rackley: 1:04:01

Yeah, absolutely. I know our Facebook address by heart is the most coveted Facebook address out there. It's facebook.com/topsailsland.

Christa: 1:04:08

Oh my gosh, you do not have that. That's awesome. You grabbed it up. Grabbed it up. Oh, that's

Chris Rackley: 1:04:14

it up. And the Instagram, you know, the, the X and the LinkedIn, I can send you those. I don't know those by heart,

Christa: 1:04:20

I'll find them. Well, thank you so much, Chris, for coming in and, and, and explaining all those things to me and telling me about your, your, your personal history as well growing up here. And I find it so fascinating to find someone who. I was born and raised here and just has those deep roots. I love it. So thank you and thanks for telling me all about Lewis Realty Associates. Yes, ma'am.

Chris Rackley: 1:04:40

ma'am. Thank you.

Christa: 1:04:42

Hey, if you enjoyed today's episode of Topsail Insider, please show your support by clicking the follow or subscribe button on your favorite podcast listening platform. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Please also go to topsailinsider.com and join our mailing list by clicking on the Make Me a Topsail Insider button. While you're there, you can click the Send me a voicemail button and let me know exactly what you're thinking. Your message just might be on an episode of Topsail Insider. You can email me at christa@topsailinsider.com or call or text me at (910) 800-0111. Thank you for listening and supporting Topsail Insider and our local businesses and nonprofits. These are our neighbors and our friends, and together we build a mighty and a beautiful community. I'm super proud to be a part of. I'll see you around Topsail.