To hear Davis Scott and Austin Wyble talk about their families, their team, and their firm, Nail & Key, it would be easy to assume that they really are brothers that share a similar DNA.

“While we really didn’t know anything about real estate when we first started out, we both felt that it was an easy industry to experiment with because of the low barriers to entry,” Austin said. “For both of us, it quickly developed into a true passion for providing value to people while helping them go from where they were to where they wanted to be.”

Beyond their friendship, the desire to help others is something they also share. The two met at a church group outing while attending college at Texas A&M. Davis was a political science major and Austin was studying marketing. Davis and his then-girlfriend, Jenna, always had a vision for starting a large family right away, which meant for Davis, figuring out a career path that would help him create the life he wanted. So, they got married and Davis earned an alternative teaching certification. Jenna, who was also in school to become a teacher, became pregnant and the two graduated soon thereafter. 

While Davis and Jenna were initially teaching at the same campus after their first child was born, they had to make some changes after they quickly had two more children.

“I had three kids under the age of four,” Davis said. “My wife was staying at home with the kids, so we were living on one teacher’s salary. I knew I needed to do something to supplement my income.”

Growing up, Davis always had an interest in architecture and design that came from his father. He said that many family vacations revolved around going to see houses of notable architects that his dad liked. So, he earned his real estate license and began working at Keller Williams. 

Austin graduated from Texas A&M and started working at an ad agency. During that time, he was volunteering at the same church Davis attended and volunteered at. The two reconnected there and picked up their friendship. Austin quit the agency job and went to work as a missionary at a church camp in East Texas. 

Davis started talking to his friend about real estate and how it would be great to work together on the same team. Austin had never sold anything in his life and knew next to nothing about real estate. But he had faith in his friend, so he took the plunge. The two became teammates at Keller Williams, and then in August of 2020, decided to hang out their own shingle as Nail & Key Real Estate Group.

“We named it Nail & Key because we loved the play on words and the dual meaning aspect,” Austin said. “It applied to housing and symbolized our Catholic faith.”

While the two had three years of experience working together at Keller Williams, running their own real estate firm proved to be a whole new experience.

“For the first six months, we purchased leads, we bought radio ads, we even took an entire day driving around dropping off postcards on random people’s doorsteps,” Davis said. “Then we realized that we weren’t good at playing that game of drumming up business from cold calls and ads. More importantly, we realized that we didn’t want to be good at that game.”

The two decided that they would make a transition to focusing on referral business and to provide the best service they could to friends and family and to trust that they would tell their friends and family. They had faith that their network would grow from there. And, that’s exactly what happened.

“Our clients are typically similar to our own situation,” Austin said. “They’re on baby three or four and they’re busting at the seams in their houses. But at the same time, they don’t think they can afford to upsize. We teach them that it’s possible.”

“Educating our clients and our agents is at the heart of our agency,” Davis said. “We work with a lot of first-time home buyers. We actually like it when these buyers don’t have any prior experience because we can then teach them about the process and make sure they understand it from front to back.”

As far as educating and coaching their agents is concerned, the two men ensure that they are empowering their agents to build the life they want through real estate. 

“We host team meetings, skills groups, seminars, personal coaching and development, all in an effort to make the agents that hang their license with Nail & Key to be the best in DFW,” Austin said. “We even go as far as to set an annual receiving goal with each of our agents. It's not just ‘How many homes do you want to sell?’ It’s ‘What do you want to be, do, have, and give in your life and how can we fund your passions through real estate?’”

If having big families and running a business has taught the two men anything, it's how success can only be attained if people give it 100%. 

“Anything less than that and it just doesn't work,” said Austin. “That’s why we care so much about how we train our agents and develop people.”

While being family men—Austin has three children and Davis now has six children—and running a real estate firm would be enough to fill anyone’s plate, both men still find time to honor the force in their lives that brought them together in the first place.

“We live just down the street from each other in Coppell,” Davis said. “Mother Teresa once said that you don’t need to come to the slums of Calcutta to serve God. So, we try to serve through ministries in our local community.”