2026 The Thousand: eXp team provides ‘Anchor’ for military families

When Kelli Salter launched Anchor Real Estate in 2020, the military spouse and real estate professional was searching for a better way to serve members of the armed forces who form the backbone of the Jacksonville, North Carolina, housing market.

Six years later, that decision has helped propel Anchor Real Estate to national recognition.

The business earned the No. 16 spot for transaction sides among medium-sized teams in RealTrends Verified’s 2026 The Thousand rankings — closing 285 transaction sides last year and accounting for nearly $86 million in volume.

Anchor has built its business around helping service members and their families navigate frequent relocations, tight timelines and long-distance transactions.

The team’s growth has continued through changing market conditions and affiliation with eXp Realty in February 2025.

“I founded Anchor when I did not see what I needed in the marketplace to support me in growing my business, so we created what I needed,” Salter said. “We certainly appreciate our military families for trusting us with the buying and selling of their homes as they come to our area for to be stationed here and trust us with selling them when they leave.”

Meeting the needs of military families

Jacksonville’s market is heavily influenced by military assignments and transfers, creating a unique environment for real estate professionals.

The city is primarily built around Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune and the adjacent Marine Corps Air Station New River. They support a massive military community of more than 130,000 individuals — including active-duty personnel, family members, civilian employees and retirees.

Salter noted that market conditions and national events often affect the pace of military relocations and, in turn, local transaction activity.

Despite those variables, Anchor said its production levels last year were consistent with other recent periods.

“Open, transparent communication is so important,” Salter said of working with military clients. Understand that timelines are critical and that those timelines are changing — they’re moving targets. They’re often trusting [real estate agents] with a purchase or sale while they are not local. You need to truly understand what being their fiduciary means, that you are their eyes and ears on the ground.

“They are trusting you with a substantial purchase, and we have to treat it with that kind of importance. In my opinion, there is a much greater level of skill and care that is required when you are working with a client that has extenuating circumstances.”

Why Anchor joined eXp

Salter said the move to join eXp Realty was the result of careful evaluation rather than a sudden change in strategy.

“Anybody who’s ever owned or operated an independent brokerage understands the level of work that comes with that,” she said. “[eXp] provided me, as a broker, with a platform to be able to do what I love, which is coach agents and take care of the consumer without the need to have to deal with back office or with legal accounting and broker compliance support.”

Seeing respected leaders and major franchise operators move their businesses to eXp prompted a closer look at whether an independent model would continue to support long-term growth goals, Salter added.

“Ultimately we decided that we had spent our entire real estate careers ensuring that we were in the right rooms, and it became very apparent that eXp was the right room for us to move to — moving our independent brokerage to the eXp platform,” she said.

The business mindset behind transaction success

While technology has transformed many aspects of real estate, Salter believes many fundamentals remain unchanged.

“Always understand that real estate is a business,” she said. “I oftentimes see agents get in the business for a plethora of reasons, but not truly understand that real estate is a business. I have been known to say, ‘You are the CEO of You Incorporated, so hire, fire and promote accordingly.’

“If you don’t work your business, your business is not going to be where you want it to be or provide the life for your family that you want. As flashy and fun as it is, at the end of the day, it is a business and it is a full contact sport.”

Salter said agents often become distracted by technology platforms, marketing tools and industry trends while overlooking the most important aspect of the profession: relationships.

“The people that win in real estate are the people who talk to the most people who want to buy and sell real estate,” she said. “The tech is great. I have wonderful tech partners that I absolutely love and would consider friends, but your tech, your platform, your broker — all of the tertiary things mean nothing if you don’t actually work your business and go talk to the consumer.”

Advice for agents considering a major move

Having successfully launched an independent brokerage and later transitioned it to a national platform, Salter encourages agents considering major career moves to seek guidance from the right sources.

“Ensure that you explore your options and talk to people that are doing what you want to do,” Salter said. “Go outside of your current peer group to talk to people who are actually at the level that you want to be at and understand that they’re talking to people that are also at the level that they want to be at.

“There are a lot of people who want to reach back and help you on your journey. Ask a lot of questions. In the real estate industry, it’s so important that you ensure that you are talking to people who have a business and live a life that you actually want to live.”

For Anchor Real Estate, that willingness to evaluate options, embrace change and remain focused on serving military families has helped transform a brokerage founded to solve a local need into one of the country’s top-performing real estate teams.