Jimmy Akers

Owner • Southwest Virginia Native • Community Champion • Storyteller • Dream Builder • Always Looking Forward

There are places you live.

And then there are places that become part of who you are.

For Jimmy Akers, Southwest Virginia has always been the latter.

He was born in Buchanan County near Vansant, spent part of his childhood there and later grew up in Springville in Tazewell County, where he attended Graham High School. He went on to Virginia Highlands Community College, but his story never carried him very far from these mountains.

In 2001, Jimmy and his wife, Lenore, made their home in Lebanon.

They fell in love with the community, the people and the feeling that this was somewhere they could put down roots. More than two decades later, Jimmy is still here—and he'll happily tell you, with only a little bias, that Lebanon just might be the best community in Virginia.

But Jimmy's understanding of Southwest Virginia reaches far beyond the town he calls home.

A career in sales took him from Lee County to Montgomery County and through countless communities in between. He came to understand that every town has its own rhythm. Every community has its challenges. Every little corner of these mountains has stories that belong only to it.

And yet, there's something that connects them all.

The people.

The resilience. The neighbor who shows up. The pride in where we come from. That hard-to-explain Appalachian spirit that Jimmy believes simply can't be replicated anywhere else.

Eventually, real estate gave him a way to turn that love of place into something more.

He could help someone come home.

Or stay home.

Or discover this place for the very first time.

He could walk a piece of land with someone and listen as they imagined what might someday stand there. Open the door to a house and watch someone begin picturing Sunday dinners, Christmas mornings or ordinary Tuesday nights inside it.

Because the property matters.

But the life someone hopes to build there matters more.

When Jimmy chose Stuart & Associates, he did so intentionally.

He wasn't looking for the largest office or the biggest roster of agents. What caught his attention was exactly the opposite.

Bee Stuart had built a small team of carefully chosen people, and she believed deeply in quality over quantity.

Jimmy wanted to be part of that.

What he couldn't have known then was just how much that decision would shape what came next.

Bee became more than his broker. She became his mentor, his teacher and, in Jimmy's own words, someone who became “like a second mom.”

She challenged him. Supported him. Expected more from him. And perhaps most importantly, showed him what those expectations looked like by living them herself.

Then came a moment neither of them could have imagined at the beginning.

After more than 25 years of building Stuart & Associates, Bee had to decide who she trusted to carry it forward.

She chose Jimmy.

That isn't something he takes lightly.

As Stuart & Associates becomes Akers & Associates, Jimmy isn't interested in erasing what came before him to make room for something new.

He wants to honor it.

And then he wants to build upon it.

His vision for Akers & Associates is rooted in the very thing that first drew him to Bee's company: good people.

People with different strengths. Different personalities. Different passions and perspectives. People who can challenge one another, learn from one another and still come together around one standard—taking exceptional care of the person who trusted them enough to walk through the door.

At the same time, Jimmy is looking forward.

He sees opportunities to embrace new ideas, better technology and new ways of telling the stories of the properties, communities and people Akers & Associates represents.

Not change simply for the sake of change.

Evolution with a reason.

Because underneath every new idea is something Jimmy doesn't intend to change at all:

Real estate is about people.

It's about the couple searching for their first place together. The person coming back to the mountains after years away. The seller saying goodbye to a home filled with memories. The buyer standing on a piece of land and seeing something there that no one else can see quite yet.

It's about what comes next.

When Jimmy isn't working, there's another side of him entirely. He loves traveling with Lenore, playing cornhole, gaming and iRacing—a combination that hints at both his competitive streak and the fact that he genuinely likes to have a little fun.

But when someone needs him, Jimmy has always been pretty simple about it:

His phone is on.

He'll answer. He'll show up. And he'll work.

Now, as his own name goes on the door, Jimmy isn't simply taking ownership of a real estate company.

He's accepting responsibility for a legacy.

For the people Bee brought together.

For the standards she established.

And for whatever this little company from Southwest Virginia might become next.

The story isn't starting over.

It's simply turning the page.

And Jimmy Akers is ready to see where it leads.

Built on Legacy. Made to Evolve.