Tower of Success

Dustin Goff, 28, who has been with Tower Real Estate for about six years, says Hot Springs is a great town with a lot to offer.

After attending the University of Arkansas for three years, Goff said he moved back to Hot Springs, got his real estate license and began working with his dad, Rick Goff. “And I’ve been doing that ever since,” he said. Goff said he finds it exciting to meet and work with new people to help them find a place they’ll “really enjoy and hopefully spend the rest of their life in.”

While he is relatively new to the real estate business, Goff said he hasn’t found anything yet about the industry that he doesn’t like.

“I sometimes wish a house would sell faster than it does or I could help someone find their perfect house a lot faster, but other than that I pretty much like it all,” he said.

Working with his dad, and brother-in-law David Hall, Goff said the company offers a diverse list of services including property management, auctions, and residential and commercial real estate sales. “We kind of do a little bit of everything,” he said. “We try to be available when our clients need us, and with three of us working, when one is unavailable, one of the others will be, which is good. We’re pretty much always there for our clients,” he said.

While many people want to live on Lake Hamilton, Goff said the available properties may not be as great today as they were a couple of years ago.

“We’ve seen an upswing in the market, both on and off lake. Summertime usually brings a pretty good in-

crease in lake sale. Everyone loves Lake Hamilton, which is a good thing,” he said.

Although the real estate industry experienced a downturn in 2007 and 2008, Goff said the inventory of available properties is still good.

“For a while, you could turn on your computer and you would hardly ever see a big house, but we’re definitely seeing an increase in the $600,000 to $800,000 price range. That is really picking, up,” he said.

And after being oversaturated in the Hot Springs market for a number of years, sales of condominiums have experienced an upswing, Goff said.

“It’s still hard to get second market financing, but a lot of local banks are offering in-house loans on condos these days,” he said, adding that sales on condos and houses include purchasers from out-of-town, as well as local residents who may be upgrading, purchasing a second home, or just moving to be closer to a particular school district.

“Hot Springs is a really good retirement community and a lot of people seem to pick Hot Springs as their final retirement location,” he said.

While Goff and his company persevered through the recessionary period of 2007-2008, home sales are picking up again, he said.

“They are, without a doubt. Interest rates are great right now and this is a great time to buy a house,” he said, noting that it is probably cheaper to buy a house than to build one.

“You don’t see a lot of spec homes like you used to see. I don’t think it’s back to the point of where it was,” he said, adding that the market still favors the buyer.

“I think for a while, in Hot Springs at least, prices were over-inflated. I think a multi-million dollar house would be a hard sale. But I think they are reaching a more normal level,” he said.

Photos by RICHARD RASMUSSEN