NWA Investing

We sat down with Nathan See, Mayor of Pea Ridge, to talk about what’s actually happening on the ground in one of the fastest-growing cities in Northwest Arkansas. Pea Ridge has added over 1,000 new single-family homes under his watch, is running 17% population growth over the last two years, and is quietly positioning itself as one of the most developer-friendly cities in the region.

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In this episode, we dig into why Nathan says investors who haven’t visited Pea Ridge lately are sleeping on one of the best remaining opportunities in NWA, how the city is building infrastructure ahead of growth rather than reacting to it, and what a 24-hour response policy and 120-day permitting timeline means for developers who need to move fast.

We also cover the downtown revitalization vision, the sewer and water capacity picture, the McGee Farm green space acquisition, and why Nathan believes Pea Ridge will hit 32,000 people within four years...it's currently at 13,000.

00:00 – Nathan’s path from mower to Mayor
04:00 – Why people are choosing Pea Ridge over neighboring cities
09:00 – Embracing growth vs. fighting it
13:00 – Sewer capacity and what investors need to know before they build
21:00 – Vision for Downtown Pea Ridge
26:00 – How Nathan pitches Pea Ridge to developers
30:00 – The Tractor Supply story
35:00 – 10-year vision for Pea Ridge
39:00 – Fire Round: biggest misconception about Pea Ridge

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We sat down with Taylor Rayburn and Mitch Moore, founders of The Wanderlust Co., one of Northwest Arkansas’s leading short-term rental management companies, inside one of their flagship Bentonville properties to talk about what Airbnb investing actually looks like in 2026, and why most investors are getting it wrong before they ever close on a property.

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In this episode, we dig into why the 2018-to-2022 playbook of buying an Airbnb and "furnishing it with Wayfair" is dead, how Fayetteville’s density cap is quietly driving up average daily rates for permit holders, and the “invisible excellence” operating philosophy that has kept Wanderlust at a 4.9-star average across 100-plus properties.

We also cover how to underwrite a short-term rental from scratch, what a realistic expense ratio looks like, and why Taylor and Mitch say they talk more investors out of Airbnb than into it.

00:00 – Most investors misunderstand short-term rentals
04:00 – What’s driving the Airbnb market shift?
12:00 – Origin of The Wanderlust Co
17:00 – Operation strategy and "invisible excellence"
26:00 – The “Wanderlust experience” vs. the “Airbnb stay”
30:00 – Underwriting a short-term rental
39:00 – The 55% expense ratio investors need to plan for
43:00 – What the NWA short-term rental market looks like right now in 2026
48:00 – Fire round

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We sat down with Omar Kasim, founder of Plomo Quesadillas, inside his flagship location on Dickson Street in Fayetteville, a building he now owns. Omar graduated magna cum laude from the University of Arkansas in three years and has spent the decade since quietly building one of the most interesting business and real estate portfolios in Northwest Arkansas.

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In this episode, we dig into how Omar turned a $5,000 back-door quesadilla experiment into a three-location brand and how he bought a 100-year-old school building in downtown Springdale. We also cover why downtown Springdale is still producing deals that Bentonville and Fayetteville stopped offering years ago, and what he'd do with $20,000 and a fresh start in Northwest Arkansas today.

00:00 – Restaurant vs. real estate: the difference
04:00 – The speakeasy origin of Plomo Quesadillas
13:00 – Getting told no by investors
21:00 – The $60,000 property: Omar's first real estate lesson
26:00 – Bidding $635,000 on a 100-year-old school building
30:00 – Why downtown Springdale still makes sense
35:00 – How Omar bought this Dickon Street building
43:00 – Fire round

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We sat down with Scott Eccleston, President of Campus Planning and Facility Management for Art and Wellness Enterprises, inside the Heartland Whole Health Institute in Bentonville, the building he helped bring from sketch to reality. Scott is the person Alice Walton has trusted for nearly two decades to turn her vision for art, health, and wellness into one of the most ambitious campus developments in the country, and this conversation pulls back the curtain on all of it.

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In this episode, we walk through the origin story of Crystal Bridges, the Frank Lloyd Wright house shipped across the country in two JB Hunt trucks, and the moment Alice introduced a fifth pillar ~ wellness ~ that changed everything. We also dig into the Heartland Whole Health Institute, the Alice Walton School of Medicine, and the newly announced STEM University rising on the old Walmart Home Office site.

00:00 – How Scott began his career with Alice Walton
04:00 – Crystal Bridges
17:00 – The Momentary
21:00 – Transporting the Frank Lloyd Wright house
35:00 – The Heartland Whole Health Institute
39:00 – Alice L. Walton's School of Medicine
43:00 – The STEM University
53:00 – Fire round

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We sat down with TJ Lefler (founder of Lefler Capital and former principal at Sage Partners) inside Blume, a nine-story Class A office tower he acquired across from the original Walmart Home Office and transformed into one of Bentonville's most talked-about amenity-driven workplaces. TJ has built a portfolio of roughly 30 commercial properties worth more than $250 million across Arkansas, and this conversation is a masterclass in how he evaluates deals.

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In this episode, we dig into how TJ underwrites value-add commercial deals when a building is half empty, why cap rates are largely irrelevant until a property is stabilized, and the GP structure that allowed him to take a $4 million renovation from acquisition to 86% occupancy in just over a year. We also cover why NWA office is outperforming national trends, the warehouse asset class he can't stop buying, and the honest advice he gives every young investor starting with limited capital.

00:00 – TJ's gut-driven approach to value-add acquisitions in NWA
04:00 – Why The Blume exists
09:00 – How TJ structures deals with investors
13:00 – Going from 50% to 86% occupied in a year
17:00 – hat TJ learned from 16 years as a broker
21:00 – Cap rates and leverage
26:00 – Why NWA office is thriving (while the national market struggles)
30:00 – Class A vs. Class B office in NWA
35:00 – Advice for young investors
39:00 – Fire round

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We sat down with Josh Saffran, co-owner of The Gents Place in Bentonville, and Director of Plug and Play Northwest Arkansas, inside the brand-new speakeasy business lounge on the Walmart Home Office campus to talk about what it actually takes to build a business, scale it without losing its soul, and invest across multiple vehicles without chasing a quick buck.

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In this episode, we dig into Josh's journey from CPG executive to entrepreneur, the systems behind one of NWA's most experience-driven businesses, and what Plug and Play's Silicon Valley playbook reveals about where NWA is headed as a startup and innovation hub. We also cover why Josh thinks most investors are dangerously under-diversified, what it was like to be hand-selected by Walmart for their new campus, and why networking in this market isn't optional — it's the whole game!

00:00 – Josh's strategy for building long-term wealth
04:00 – From CPG executive to entrepreneur
09:00 – The early lessons of owning a labor-intensive business
13:00 – What makes The Gents Place more than a barbershop
22:00 – What to delegate and what to hold when scaling a business
26:00 – Inside Plug and Play Northwest Arkansas
30:00 – Is NWA the next Austin?
34:00 – Being hand-selected by Walmart for their new campus
39:00 – 25 years of investing wisdom
44:00 – Fire round

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We sat down with Joe Puggi and Kim Minnis of TCS Management (a Philadelphia-based property management company now operating across 16 states and nearly 5,500 doors) on-site at Parkside at Lowell in Northwest Arkansas to talk about what separates investors who build lasting portfolios from those who quietly bleed money on a property they thought was performing.

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In this episode, we dig into the questions every investor should be asking before hiring a property management company, why maintenance and vacancy are where most investors lose the most money, and what out-of-state investors consistently get wrong about NWA's sub-markets. We also cover TCS's unique agent-driven leasing model, the role of AI in modernizing operations, and why Joe says the minute you get off the plane in Northwest Arkansas, you can feel the difference from every other market they operate in.

00:00 – What separates investors who thrive from those who struggle
04:00 – TCS: from Philadelphia to 16 states
09:00 – Questions to ask when vetting a property management company
13:00 – How TCS uses social media marketing to fill vacancies faster than competitors
17:00 – Where investors lose the most money
22:00 – What makes NWA tenants different from every other market
26:00 – Breaking down NWA sub-markets
30:00 – The agent-driven leasing model
34:00 – Fire round: biggest investor mistakes
37:00 – What excites TCS most about Northwest Arkansas

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We sat down with Eric Hill, founder of Fay-Ark Lawn Co., at a property Eric's crew just finished (Zach's own home) to talk about what it actually takes to build one of the fastest-growing landscape companies in Northwest Arkansas from scratch. Eric started mowing lawns his junior year of high school in 2018, and today he's running 15 crews and 43 employees, nearly doubling year over year.

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We get into why cheap landscaping costs property owners far more in the long run, how Eric scaled a service business through delegation, software, and systems, and what developers and investors should be thinking about before they ever break ground. We also cover drainage mistakes that kill property values, the ROI of outdoor living space, and the branding move that made his company look twice its size overnight.

00:00 – How Eric won the job at Zach's house
04:00 – Why cheap landscaping creates expensive problems down the road
08:00 – Starting Fay-Ark Lawn Co. in high school
13:00 – The software systems that gave Eric's team transparency and ownership
17:00 – Scaling quality: sign-off sheets, crew leads, and communication
21:00 – Vendors vs. true partners
25:00 – Red flags to watch for when hiring landscapers
31:00 – When to invest vs. maintain
35:00 – Why developers should involve landscapers early
39:00 – Landscaping ROI before a sale
44:00 – Fire round

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We sat down with Tom Allen, executive vice president at Cushman & Wakefield | Sage Partners (and the man overseeing Hunt Ventures' entire commercial real estate portfolio across Northwest Arkansas) inside the brand-new The Visionaries building in Rogers, a 400,000-square-foot development in the Pinnacle area.

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We dig into what out-of-state investors consistently get wrong about the NWA market, how Tom filters deals on character before he ever looks at the numbers, and the underwriting principles that have kept Hunt Ventures ahead of every market cycle. We also cover the triple-net lease shift reshaping Class A office rents, Tom's step-by-step roadmap for young investors starting with limited capital, and why he believes the single best financial decision of his career was one he chose not to make.

HIGHLIGHTS

00:00 – Inside The Visionaries building
04:00 – The "love where you work" design philosophy
09:00 – Tenant profile: Nestle
13:00 – What out-of-state investors get wrong about Northwest Arkansas
17:00 – Why relationships with tenants matter more than lease language
22:00 – Humility, abundance mindset, and what keeps Tom calm on big deals
27:00 – Patience as a deal filter
31:00 – Risk vs. uncertainty in NWA
35:00 – Training young investors
39:00 – Rapid fire
43:00 – The best financial decision Tom ever made

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We sat down with NASCAR legend Mark Martin (40 Cup Series wins, nearly 100 top-three finishes) at the Marque Collection Suites in Rogers to talk about what actually separates high performers who burn out from those who enjoy the ride, and WHY he wishes he'd learned that lesson decades sooner.

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In this episode, we walk through Mark's rise from Arkansas dirt tracks to NASCAR, the brutal financial collapse that wiped him out in his early 20s, and the disciplined rebuild that followed — including the compound-interest investing strategy that set him and his wife up for life. We also dig into mentorship, why he moved to Northwest Arkansas, and what the Marquee Collection means for local investors and car enthusiasts.

HIGHLIGHTS

00:00 – Mindset, discipline, and why winning isn't everything
04:00 – Rediscovering joy in racing
07:00 – Work ethic rooted in family
12:00 – Rebuilding from scratch
15:00 – Mentors and how they evolve as you grow
20:00 – Life after NASCAR
24:00 – Building wealth slowly
31:00 – Why Mark moved to Northwest Arkansas
33:00 – Inside the Marque Collection Suites
36:00 – Fire round

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