Lacey Kearney loves helping people — it’s always been at the core of what motivates her. While she may have started out in the healthcare field, she is now a rising star in real estate with $28 million in closed volume, and leader of her own team, Grace Homes Realty Group.

 

As someone who enjoys personal growth and life changes, Lacey celebrates the big moments all at once — from getting married and relocating to starting her own business and having children. Lacey approaches these things with optimism and grace — for herself and others — hence, the name of her real estate group.

 

On the cusp of her marriage to Patrick, she met a very successful broker in Richmond who tossed out the idea of real estate to Lacey as a career choice. Lacey admits the option had never crossed her mind. “But I thought, ‘What do I have to lose?’” Lacey shrugs. She was young and didn’t have children yet, so she continued her day job while working to get her real estate license.

 

She got married on September 8, 2018, and started working as an agent on September 11. "No time off,” she points out. “I was just pushing myself out of my comfort zone.”

 

At this point, Lacey, who was born in Lexington, Virginia, had only been in Richmond for a year. She learned from other agents on the team as quickly as possible. “I hit the ground running and haven’t looked back since,” she says.

 

Lacey wasn’t afraid to get out and explore all that her new city had to offer, including a new career path. While some people shy away from change, Lacey embraces it with her whole heart as she aims to be empathetic for her clients during their struggles, going through some of the biggest life events, including moving, marriage and job changes. Each is stressful enough on its own, but Lacey tackled them all at once. “In my mind, I thought, ‘If I have this many things changing, it won’t feel like one stressful thing after another,’” Lacey recalls. “‘It will just feel like one trying thing and I’ll just knock it all out.’”

 

In 2019, Lacey ran past the $4 million mark in transactions. Then in 2020, she ran past $7 million in transactions — during a pandemic and having had her first baby that August. Lacey was seven months pregnant when masks became prevalent. She kept showing houses since real estate was deemed an essential service by the government and fearlessly continued to service her clients, taking her booties, gloves, and masks with her every day. The result was 25 transactions in 2020. Lacey also won an award in 2021 for the highest sales volume and highest units sold at Providence Hill.

 

“My faith, and being willing to take the leap of faith in these situations, is what has gotten me through,” she says. “I don’t think it’s luck. I think it’s being able to persevere through it and knowing that it might suck while you’re in it, but it’s going to be good when it’s done. The light at the end will be even better. And if there is still one thing remaining, it will seem like a breeze.”

 

“Purchasing a home is stressful,” Lacey continues. “Clients need someone alongside them to alleviate that, someone from the outside looking in, as a sounding board, supporting them.”

 

Lacey had been on a team with Jenni & Company since 2018 when she got her broker’s license in 2021. Shortly after leaving Jenni & Company, she started her own team, Grace Homes Realty Group. Lacey was six months pregnant at the time with a toddler — her son, Tripp — at home. Her second child, Beckham, was born in May 2022, the same year she received a third-place award for the top team sales volume. But in 2022, she realigned her goals to set her focus on the long game. “I had to give myself the grace I needed to take a step back. Hence, the name of the company,” Lacey explains. “It was okay to take a step back to propel into 2023.”

 

To Lacey, taking a step back only meant she was gearing up for bigger and better things. She wanted to host events and client appreciation efforts. “A lot of it was trial and error — what’s going to work, what’s not going to work,” Lacey notes. “We were just putting the infrastructure in place so we had a full calendar going into 2023, full of events, gifts, giveaways and social media, and all the things I hadn’t had to do on my own prior to then.”

 

Her goal for 2023 includes growing her team. “I would love to have four agents, including myself, by the end of the year,” she says.

 

Lacey’s husband, Patrick, is her biggest cheerleader and supporter. “We still love making our way into the city for dinner or to spend time with friends,” she states. This includes visiting The Tobacco Company Restaurant where she and Patrick first met.

 

Impressed by all the development and growth that has taken place in such a short time, the Kearney family enjoys calling Richmond home.

 

“We love living, working and growing our family in such a great city,” Lacey says with a smile.