Melissa Harmon of Home Warranty of America

Written by: Susan Marquez

Photography by: Abe Draper Photography

Since a home is the largest purchase most people will make in their lives, it only makes sense to have a good home warranty to take care of unexpected situations. Melissa Harmon sees the importance of that in her job each day. As an account executive for Home Warranty of America, she loves working with REALTORS® to make sure the homes they represent are covered. “The REALTORS® are my clients, and their clients are my customers. I feel my responsibilities lie with both.”

Born and raised in New Orleans, Melissa moved west after graduating high school to attend college at Arizona State University. She then did the college program at Walt Disney World and was hired after the program’s completion working there for three years. “I took a class called Cornerstone where we were assigned to do a SWOT analysis on a Fortune 500 company. I was assigned WorldCom in Jackson.” Melissa says she worked on her analysis for WorldCom and her project was graded by the WorldCom representatives. “When I was finished, they asked if I was willing to move to Jackson and work for them, which is how I got here.”

I knew I wanted to stay in real estate, but I didn’t know at what capacity. That week I saw the job opening for HWA. “

After working in the corpo- rate world for a while, Me- lissa got into real estate. “I was a REALTOR® for three years,” Melissa says. But with two girls who are very active in sports and a hus- band who has a busy event rental business, Melissa says she needed a better worklife balance. “Our girls play travel soccer and it was not unusual for my husband and me to meet in a parking lot for the girls to hop from one car to another.” Melissa real- ized she needed a change of pace when one weekend she had an open house scheduled on a Sunday afternoon at the same time there was a family function. “I already had the open house scheduled, so I couldn’t cancel it. It was the first time I ever had an open house where no one showed up. All I could think about was how everyone was together, and I missed all of the fun. Not to mention, I had two very upset little girls.”

About that same time, Home Warranty of America needed a representative in the Jackson area. “I knew I wanted to stay in real estate, but I didn’t know at what capacity. That week I saw the job opening for HWA. It was the home war- ranty company I used for my clients, so I was already familiar with them.” It was June 2017, and Melissa had already sold 26 homes that year. “I was crazy, my hus- band was crazy, something had to give! I knew I could make more money in real estate, but what I really needed was the schedule.”

Melissa has been with Home Warranty of America for three years and says it’s been the perfect job for her. “I have been a REALTOR®, I know what it’s like to be on their side of the table and it helps that I understand their needs. My favorite part of my job is to help my agents grow their business. Every successful REALTOR® has a formula, I love helping them find theirs. Oftentimes the key to their success is right in front of them; they just need a new pair of eyes.”

Home Warranty of America is a small company started by two brothers in Buffalo Grove, a community outside of Chicago. They later sold it to Direct Energy, a company located in the Houston area. Direct Energy’s parent company is

Centrica, based in the United Kingdom. “So really, we are still a small company, but within a much larger company,” states Melissa, who explains that there are advantages to being under the umbrella of Centrica. “We have strong buying power. We can get products for a much better rate than people can on their own. In turn, we are able to save our homeowners a great deal of money!”

Melissa says that Home Warranty of America is a great company to work for. “They are great to their employees, and more importantly, they fight hard for their customers.”

For more information, contact Melissa Harmon at melissa. harmon@hwahomewarranty.com.