We are excitd to bring to our readers a spotlight series.
My parents were high school sweethearts. They started dating shortly after my dad's mother, who was a teacher at their school, suggested that he get to know Norva Rodgers. Both of my parents grew up on farms in a very rural part of western North Carolina. While I grew up in the city, I always loved going to visit my grandparents and other extended family there. My mom's dad taught me to drive a tractor, how to feed his cattle, and how to tend a vegetable garden. He even had me working his summer produce stand that was in front of their farmhouse on Highway 9. My paternal grandfather, Jack, after whom our oldest son is named, taught me to drive a car when I was 10. And he loved to take me along during his regular (and frequent) visits with friends in their homes. He would also take me to the “fillin’ station", as he called it, where we would get a “co-cola” and sit in rocking chairs so that he could speak with people coming to the station and its store. He was a very relational person, which I believe that I inherited from him as well as from my dad.
I was almost born in Hawaii. That would have been cool! Instead, my dad was sent to Vietnam to serve in the war, so Mom moved to Camden, South Carolina to be closer to one of her sisters when she gave birth. I was named James Arthur Fagan, Jr. - after my dad. Initially they thought they were going to call me Arthur. But instead, they decided to call me Jimmy. I was the 5th generation of Fagan men to be named James, and now, our son Jack is the 6th. Our youngest, Davis, whose first name is McCord, is the 4th generation of McCords on Beth’s side of the family.
After Dad returned from the war and completed his Radiology residency at Wake Forest School of Medicine, we moved to Charlotte. I was 3 years old at the time.
My parents bought a house in Robinson Woods located off Sardis Road, and that was where we lived until I went to college. It was a great neighborhood in which to grow up. There were lots of boys my age with whom I became great friends. We would play football and basketball in each other's yards and spend hours catching crawdads in the neighborhood creek.
Upon graduating from high school, I enrolled at Wake Forest University. When growing up, I had always been a die-hard Clemson fan. My dad, grandfather, and many of my cousins on the Fagan side went there. We spent lots of time going to football games, and until my high school senior year, I had planned to go there as well. But deciding that I wanted to be a physician, like my dad, Wake Forest seemed a better choice. During the fall semester of my sophomore year though, I started to question that career path. I had some older friends at Wake who were pre-med majors who appeared to do nothing but study when they were not in class. I had a lot of interests in college, like being a member of the University choir, being in a fraternity, and other things. I'll never forget when Dad came to visit me that Fall on his way to a class that he was taking at Duke Medical School. I shared with him that I was questioning whether I should continue with a pre-med major. I knew at the time that most of the partners in his practice had gone to several of the top medical schools in the country. And I knew that to practice in a city like Charlotte, I would need to likely do the same. While I believed I was capable of doing that, I just wasn't sure that I wanted to make the sacrifices necessary to do so. After Dad listened to what I had to say, his response was that he had always thought that I would be great in sales. To his credit, he had never tried to push me into medicine. But this was the first time that he had actually made a suggestion regarding a career that I should pursue. Shortly after our conversation, I decided to major in business. I loved the business classes that I took, and I'm really glad that I made that choice.
While at Wake, I met a beautiful girl from Indiana who had been recruited to play basketball there. I'll never forget the first time I saw her and quickly resolved that she was someone I needed to get to know. Even though a few months went by after making that resolution, once we started dating, we were inseparable. That Midwestern Beauty, who is more beautiful today than when I first saw her, has been my wife for the last 31 years. We have three children - a daughter and two sons. Our daughter, Lindsay, is married to her college sweetheart, they have two children and one on the way. Beth and I have now discovered that being grandparents is wonderful. We also have two awesome sons. Jack graduated from University of Colorado and now works with us. It’s really fun to be teaching him about how to be a great real estate agent. Davis is a rising senior at Clemson. My dad was thrilled to have one of his five grandchildren go to his alma mater - and that of his father Jack. And Dad was in the first pledge class of the fraternity to which Davis belongs.
For as long as I can remember, I loved to work. I do not mean that I have ever been a workaholic. But growing up, I liked spending money. When in grade school, I sold greeting cards door-to-door. In middle school, I mowed lawns. In the summers after ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades, I worked in the Radiology Department transporting patients to there and from their rooms. During my senior year, I worked in a men’s clothing store, then at Wachovia Bank as a teller that summer. I loved all of these jobs and met so many wonderful people through them.
Upon graduation from Wake, I started a job as a property and casualty insurance agent with a small firm in Charlotte. I quickly determined that the best path to success in that industry was to specialize in a particular type of insurance. Having connections in the medical field as well as led me to specialize in medical practice insurance for physician practices. That eventually took us to Raleigh in the mid 90’s when I went to work as Vice President of Sales for North Carolina’s largest malpractice insurer, Medical Mutual.
It was 1999 when I decided to embark in real estate - a career that has now spanned 25 years. It’s hard to believe it has been this long. During that time, I’ve been involved in the development of commercial properties in the Carolinas, invested in a variety of real estate around the country, and of course, helped a lot of people buy or sell a home. Today, I focus my time on leading Fagan Realty Group, working with most of our seller clients, and overseeing real estate investments that my brother, Jake, and I own in Charlotte.
What I love most about my work is the personal nature of what we do. We get to celebrate with clients who are buying their first home, those who are getting married or having children. But we also help clients who may have lost their job, a spouse may have died, or they could be selling their “forever” home to move to a retirement community. It’s a privilege to come alongside people going through all of these events, and many others. One of our goals has always been to make the buying and/or selling process easier and less stressful. While our industry considers our profession to be real estate sales, I do not view it that way. We are here to provide sound advice, so that our clients can make the best decisions for their situation. We are not selling anything; we are simply serving.
Everyone is influenced by others. Some of that influence can be negative and some positive. I have been so blessed to have been positively Influenced by a number of people during my life. The first who comes to mind is Bo Roberts. I met Bo when I was a senior counselor at Camp Seagull. Bo was the director of personnel at that time. He had a magnetic personality that simply drew others to him. While working in the insurance industry, I spent a lot of time in the Raleigh area where Bo and his family live. We started getting together regularly for lunch, and he imparted a lot of impactful advice to me at the time. A lot of that advice had to do with how to be a great husband and father. An example of something that he once told me was to not believe that it’s all about “quality time” with our children. Bo knew from experience that it is all about quantity time. He saw that the way to have deep and meaningful relationships with one’s children comes from the amount of time that you spend with them - especially once they are in the middle and high school years. Still today, I remember a lot of the life lessons that he taught me, and I have been able to pass that advice along to several young men whom I now mentor.
On a professional side I have been influenced significantly by Gary Keller, the founder and Chairman of Keller Williams. He is arguably the most influential person in real estate today. I have learned so many lessons from him since moving our team to Keller Williams about how to run a successful business. And I had recently had the opportunity, along with 199 other top team owners, to spend 2 days with Gary at KW’s headquarters in Austin.
My favorite things to do when I am not working are traveling, snow skiing, working out, and playing pickleball. Each summer, we spend 1-2 weeks at a cabin on Lake Huron in Ontario that was built by Beth’s grandfather 1938. It is a very special place for our family. I started going there in 1990, and our three children were infants when they first went. For a lot of that time, we had only dial-up internet service, and even now, the service is not as fast as what we have in the U.S. For this reason and many others, the cabin has been a great place for all of us to get away from technology and decompress. But unfortunately, since the cabin is not winterized, we can only use it in the summer and early fall.
I am passionate about snow skiing. When I was 8 years old, my parents decided that we should learn a sport that we could do together as a family. Once the four of us went on our first ski trip, we were all hooked. That turned into yearly trips to many ski resorts in Colorado and Utah. Our collective favorite place turned out to be Steamboat Springs in northwest Colorado. At some point, we started spending Christmas in Steamboat. Beth and all of
been able to continue the family tradition
that my parents first started almost 50
years ago. Now that our children are out of
the nest, Beth and I try to make out to
Steamboat 3-4 times/winter.
I do not remember the exact year, but I believe it was 2017. That was when my good friend and marketing guru, Sam Casey, suggested that we start reviewing restaurants and include one review in each of our monthly newsletters. It sounded fun, because Beth and I have been foodies since we first started dating. We think nothing of driving out of the way for good food. During COVID, we were at Hilton Head and drove 1 ½ hours to St. Helena Island to eat at the Shrimp Shack. It was our favorite Lowcountry seafood place when we used to go to Fripp Island with my family.
In picking restaurants for the reviews, I had two main criteria. I wanted to focus on locally-owned establishments, since as business owners, we like to support other local businesses. And the second criteria was that we had to like it. It generally takes several hours for me to write a review, and I did not want to waste my time writing negative reviews. That has meant trying some restaurants that we did not like enough to write a review. But that is part of the adventure.
After one year of including what we called the Fagan Foodie Review in our newsletters, the response from our readers was overwhelming. I would run into people who would say how much they look forward to reading it each month. Now 7 years later, that continues to occur. And that makes the time that we spend looking for potential candidates and the hours writing each review worth it. It has also turned out to be a fun way to include friends on our foodie adventures.
When people first learn about the Fagan Foodie Reviews, they often ask me, “what is your favorite restaurant?” And my response is that it depends on the cuisine. Charlotte has so many good restaurants. How can I pick just one? So, I thought that I would share some of our favorites here. You can click on the links to read our Fagan Foodie Review of each place!
Toscana & Luce - both owned by Augusto Conte
The Jimmy - Italian with French influences
Lang Van for Vietnamese
Nikko for sushi
Fin & Fino - upscale seafood
The Blue Taj for Indian
Inizio for pizza
Midwood Smokehouse - the best baby back ribs in town
Park Road Soda Shoppe for hamburgers,hot dogs, and milkshakes.
Rai Lay for Thai
United House of Prayer for soul food
Dish - great country-fried steak
Bossy Beaulah’s Chicken Shack - for a great chicken sandwich
I also have many clients and friends who ask what my favorite neighborhood is. Like restaurants, there is not just one, so I will share a few. Montibello is where we have lived for the past 16 years. Located next to Carmel Country Club, it is a popular neighborhood for people who are members of the club. The neighborhood has lots of mature trees, spacious yards, and a nice blend of home styles. The most prevalent style is the classic 2 story red brick Georgian.
I like Dilworth a lot. It is very convenient to Uptown, SouthEnd, and Plaza Midwood. I’ve always been drawn to the Bungalow and Arts & Craft styles which are prevalent there. If Beth and I wanted to live in that part of the city, Dilworth would be our first choice.
A similar, but less expensive option is Chantilly. Located between the Elizabeth and Plaza Midwood neighborhoods (also cool neighborhoods), it too has a lot of bungalows and some Arts & Craft homes. You can find some of the original bungalows which have been renovated as well as a number of newer homes which mimic the two styles. Interestingly, when looking for our first house, our realtor suggested that we buy something in Chantilly. he believed that the neighborhood would see significant appreciation over the next 10 - 20 years. But at that time, the neighborhood was not in great shape, and we did not feel comfortable moving there. But our realtor turned out to be right. It is an extremely popular neighborhood for people who want to live in the area, and home prices have skyrocketed since we bought our first home in 1993.
Providence Plantation is another South Charlotte neighborhood that I have always loved. It has a real serene setting, and the homes are set on larger lots. The neighborhood has a strong sense of community which is partly helped by the fact that they have a neighborhood swim club.
For younger homeowners, two of my favorites are Beverly Woods, located near South park, and Madison Park, Located near Park Road Shopping center. Madison Park was primarily built in the mid to late 50’s. It is very popular with first and second time homebuyers. Beverly Woods was built in the 1960’s and is very popular with first time home buyers. Many owners in these neighborhoods live there until their growing family (if they have children) makes them want to have a larger house. But there are also homeowners in each neighborhood who have been there for years.
I hope this has given you a more in-depth look at me. I have always been very relational. Our business has allowed us to meet all kinds of people - many of whom have become friends. That is one of the reasons that I love what I do. In building Fagan Realty Group, I have been very intentional in selecting members for our team who share my desire to care for our clients as if they were members of our family. In hearing from past clients, and all of the 5-star Google reviews, I believe that we are accomplishing that. And we are committed to doing so in the future.
Comments