OUR STORY

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Matt's story begins much earlier than he was even thought of, when his grandfather, John Hawks, moved back to Conway in the early 80's. John retired from Walmart and began to establish new roots in his childhood home of Conway, and pursued a career in real estate and development.

In 1983, Hawks Realty opened its doors and began to make its mark on the Faulkner County real estate market. Matt's mother and father, Lanny and Diana helped open up the real estate office and began working with buyers and sellers as they watched Conway grow to new heights. Lanny quickly realized he had a knack for the business and eventually spent a couple of years as the top producing real estate broker in all of Arkansas, out of little ole Conway.

In 1996, Lanny knew he had to expand. At the time of its conception, the term "team" in relation to real estate wasn't as widely used as it is today, it was every man for themselves. But Lanny was so busy helping clients, he realized he could only do so much as one person and could operate much more efficiently by having a support staff in place, all working towards one common goal.. Taking care of their clients, whenever and wherever! So with one other agent, he formed The Grissom Team, which eventually grew to nearly a dozen agents until Lanny tragically passed away from ALS in 2004.

In 2008, Matt followed in his families footsteps and got his real estate license at the age of 20 and embarked into the same career that Lanny had so much success in. Growing up in the business, Matt learned all of the ins and outs, the lingo, and how to put a deal together like his dad, at a very young age. It was Matt's goal to continue that same team dynamic so that he could continue to serve clients with the same efficiency that Lanny had. 

A few years after Matt was licensed and started becoming more established, he brought back The Grissom Team as an encore in 2016 when he joined the #1 Real Estate Firm in Faulkner County, RE/MAX Elite and as of 2022, rebranded the team to The Encore Group. The name was chosen as a way to pay homage to Lanny and The Grissom Team, while also modernizing our brand so that we can ultimately grow our services into other markets. The word "Encore" was chosen as a nod to Matt being Lanny's encore. Because Lanny would want nothing more than to see Matt continue to fulfill his fathers legacy in real estate.

Matt is still very much involved in leading the team and has brought on Cliff Wekkin and most recently, James Lacy, who is also Matt's brother in law. Cliff is the associate broker of the team. James is newly licensed, but already has several deals under his belt. James is also a licensed insurance agent. Matt is married to his wife, Haley, who is a teacher in Conway and they have two boys, Jett and Cruz. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, talking sports, and being around people.

We hope that we can get to know you and look forward to the opportunity to earn your business.