'It's important to give back': Realtors build homes with Habitat for Humanity

Nearly 50 real estate agents and lenders volunteered Wednesday at the Show-Me Central Habitat for Humanity affordable housing subdivision to get their hands dirty and give back to the community.

The Columbia Board of Realtors organized the second annual Realtor Build with Habitat for Humanity, where members help construct new houses in a Habitat for Humanity subdivision. Real estate teams, lenders and Realtor companies gathered to lay flooring, paint ceilings and walls, install cabinets and more.

Habitat for Humanity provides qualifying families with zero-interest loans to cover the cost of building a home, which is constructed with volunteer labor.

To date, Habitat for Humanity has built more than 190 affordable homes in Columbia. Upon completion, the Boone Prairie Village subdivision will feature 143 homes, ranging from three to five bedrooms. More than 20 families have already moved into the 30 completed homes on the lot.

Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Jennifer James said Boone County is short on affordable housing, as shown in a housing study conducted by the city of Columbia.

According to the study, 37,000 new housing units will be needed in Boone County by 2050. James said Habitat for Humanity typically constructs around eight homes a year, sometimes more if they have enough volunteers and build events.

James said applications for homes open in March. Selected applicants are required to volunteer 250 “sweat equity hours” working on a home, sometimes even the one they will eventually move into.

Volunteer labor from home buyers and the community enables the organization to keep mortgage costs low, averaging around $650 to $750 per month for a three-bedroom home.

“We know how expensive homes are,” Realtor Ashleigh Stundebeck said, “so being able to help those who may not be able to obtain a home otherwise is very rewarding.”

Rick Weisner, Habitat for Humanity director of construction, said he loves watching the families get to know one another through volunteering.

“It’s the only neighborhood I’ve known where the neighbors actually worked on each other’s homes and their own,” he said.

Weisner said volunteering gives the families a way to build a closer-knit neighborhood.

“It’s a lot easier to ask them to turn the music down or to borrow a cup of sugar if they painted your living room,” said Mirei Marzolf, the Columbia Board of Realtors professional development director.

Marzolf helped coordinate the first Realtor Build with Ashley Switzer, the director of community outreach at Habitat for Humanity.

Star Simmons and Missy Lewis, from Weichert, Realtors — House of Brokers, donned bright blue paint smocks to spend the morning painting a house’s ceilings.

“For people that look like me, minorities,” Lewis said. “I like to be a visual representation that there is someone in the community that will be able to help you.”

Simmons, who attended last year’s Realtor Build, said it’s important to help those in need of affordable housing, and that it’s fun to see Realtors with other companies work together to do good.

Local brokerages and businesses were also given the chance to participate in Realtor Build’s “Stud Wars,” where an office could sponsor a stud for $250 and creatively decorate it, in hopes of earning the “coveted” Stud of the Year title, according to a news release.

The 2026 “Stud of the Year” winner was The Walters Real Estate Team, whose stud was decorated with floral tendrils and read, “Peace be to you & peace be to your house & peace be to all that you have” (1 Samuel 25:6).

The decorated studs are eventually built into the houses at the subdivision.

“It’s important to give back to the community that you live in,” Stundebeck said. “I’d encourage all of Columbia — you don’t have to be a Realtor — whoever can, volunteer even just a couple hours. It really means a lot, and it makes a difference.”