Ebony McArthur & The McArthur Group with HomeSmart

Award-Winning Realtor, Real Estate Investor, Author, & Founder of “The Werking Mom”

Article By Alyson Turner Photography By Ro Moreno

Ebony McArthur and her husband, Jerome McArthur Jr., started in the real estate industry as investors. The more they became involved in investing in real estate, they more they wanted to learn. Ebony and Jerome decided to take classes together to become licensed realtors working as a husband-and-wife team. Ebony says, “I worked as a nurse, then I was a stay-at-home mom. Once my kids were in school, I went back to what I love, getting my degrees and then going into real estate. I would sit up late nights and teach myself contracts. I would always step up to do showings or open houses. My first goal was to sell one home. We learned so much once we became licensed realtors, it was a turning point.”

Ebony and Jerome started out as real estate investors in 2005. They had invested in a few properties and decided to buy and hold as landlords. They had a vision of holding several different investment properties including homes and businesses. Then, Ebony felt called to learn more on the realtor side of the industry. “The investor and the realtor wear two different hats. We were always hiring realtors to work with contracts and we both decided to enroll in the course. Everyone told us how hard it was to get into real estate as a new agent,” Ebony tells us, “I earned my real estate license in 2014. My very first year I won top producer in my brokerage and I started to build my business.”

Ebony took that challenge to heart and continued to successfully build several aspects of her business while going to school and raising a family with her husband. “I work full-time as a realtor and my husband is dual-career. He is a disabled military

veteran and works with the government full-time. We have 4 children. All of our children are student athletes. People don’t see the dedication it takes to succeed. We moved to the area 5 years ago from Baltimore, Maryland and we relocated our business,” she says, “I am licensed in Maryland, DC, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. I can get to several different locations in an hour. We decided to centralize ourselves. We moved away from everyone we know to work this business. I started the McArthur group 2 years ago. I lead and mentor 21 people on a daily basis. We have won Diamond awards, GCAR awards, Top Producer awards and all kinds of customer service awards.” Along with being an award-winning realtor, Ebony, and her husband Jerome also flip homes and create luxury rentals for low-income families with their investment company, TMG Homes.

Ebony has a passion for financial literacy, teaching others how to build wealth through real estate,

and giving back to the community. Ebony tells us, “I am a mom. My husband and I have known each other since I was in high school and we are celebrating 15 years of marriage this month. I hold a Bachelors in Finance, an MBA in Business Administration and I am a full-time doctorate student in Business Administration graduating in 2022. I have a real passion for building wealth through real estate. I contracted my first home when I was 18 years old and it has taken over since then. By the time I was 25, we had around 2 million dollars in real estate. “

Through her finance business, “The Werking Mom”, she teaches financial literacy at local high schools, local churches, and with women’s groups. “I have learned through the process that a lot of people don’t know where to go, where to start, or how to get their credit in place. I have found an even deeper passion to assist people towards owning real estate and land. I have my Werking Mom podcast and I interview local business owners, other moms, and dive into financial literacy. People always ask me when I have time to sleep, but it is organized chaos. The great thing about real estate is that I can organize my days. If I need a down day, I schedule it,” she says, “It doesn’t feel like work when you love what you do. This is my calling, I enjoy doing it, I love doing it. My kids are very much involved. It is really a family movement. They all love it as well.”

Through all of that, Ebony also shared her story with her recently published book, The Fragrance of a Resilient Woman.

“I published my book in September 2020. It tells a little bit about my story. I came from the field of pediatric nursing to get into real estate. About 3 years into my business, I started working by referral only. I wanted to focus more on relationships rather than becoming so transactional. The past 4 years I have been working 100 percent by referral. Focusing on people more than the transaction. I tell my clients, ‘Call me any time, ask me questions, share your thoughts, ask me how this process works. I am always available for people especially first-time home buyers. Alot of first-time home buyers are looking for the perfect dream home. I share my story; that I flipped our first home and sold it for a $100k profit. This is the reason I niched myself as a first-time home buyer expert,” she says, “Alot of realtors don’t work with first-time home buyers. I am always grateful for the realtor that decided to work with us at that time. At our next property we were able to build a half a million-dollar home, and I went back to her because she worked with us. I always look back on that and I want to give that service to my clients to assist them through the process. I want to educate them as much as I can, and often times my clients feel that they know so much more about real estate. I am also a licensed insurance agent. Many people are buying homes, they also have a car and my company is always able to shop for the best rates. We go back and try to help people in Baltimore City where we are from. We always want to give back and I want people to know that I will take a chance on them.”