A husband and wife duo help their clients find their dream home with Coastal Carolina Real Estate and Carolina Coast Contracting.
It’s a family that makes a house a home. And for Jackie and Jeff James, that takes on a literal meaning. This husband-and-wife duo put people in their dream homes — whether they find the perfect home with Jackie at Coastal Carolina Real Estate or custom build it with Jeff and Carolina Coast Contracting.
“We just make a good team, and we work very well with each other,” Jackie says. “Clients can make one call and they get a real estate professional and a construction company. With one stop, we can help you buy a lot and build a custom home.”
In addition to each other, they have a small, tight-knit team of employees and talented and reliable trade contractors who have worked with Jeff for years.
“It takes a good team to build something,” Jeff says. “I have excellent subs that do quality work, consistently. Building a home is like putting a puzzle together. You need all the pieces to create exactly what the client wants.”
Jeff has been building homes for 23 years, specializing in custom homes, mostly on Topsail Island, Surf City, North Topsail and Hampstead, but 90 percent of their new homes are on the island. Their specialty is large beach homes that are mostly vacation homes.
“With custom homes, you get what you want,” Jeff says. “I’ve been out with Jackie and clients looking at houses and they just don’t see themselves in that house or find what they want. That’s when I tell them, ‘I’m going to build you what you want.’”
With a low inventory of existing homes for sale, it’s much easier for clients to buy a lot and then build the home of their dreams. On average, Jeff and the team build 10 homes each year.
Jackie has been in real estate as long as Jeff has been building homes on Topsail Island. What she loves most about what she does is seeing people happy at the end of the deal.
“When you help someone find something they like, it’s such a satisfaction,” Jackie says. “And then the real work begins. The negotiations, the inspections, coordinating attorneys, everything. That’s where experience and local knowledge are important.”
Jeff and Jackie have called Topsail home since 2000. Though they run separate businesses, together they create a unique opportunity that’s a win-win for their clients.
“When you hire one of us, you have both sets of eyes on a build, remodel or home purchase,” Jackie says. “I can come into one of Jeff’s homes and I might see something that I would do differently, and he values my opinion. And I’ll go through a house when it’s just about finished and check it out and come back to Jeff with my own punch list before the clients ever see the home.”
This team knows how important a stellar reputation is for referrals and repeat business in both industries, and neither would want to recommend someone they could not stand behind.
“We have a very strong referral business,” Jeff says. “Not only clients that we’ve built homes for, but other real estate agents who know the quality of Carolina Coast Contracting’s work. They trust us.”
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Coastal Carolina Real Estate
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