Our Instructors
Everett "Vic" Knight
Vic has 40 years of brokerage experience and currently owns Chapel Hill Appraisals & Consultants. Vic is a Certified General Real Estate Appraiser and served as a National Director of The Appraisal Foundations Board of Trustees. Vic obtained a BS in Civil Engineering Construction Management from NCSU in 1976. Vic is a Past President of the NC Association of REALTORS® and a Governor's appointee to the NC Real Estate Commission serving as Chairman from 2013 through 2014 and a member of the NC State Bar Board of Legal Specialization.
Vic has authored numerous CE courses and articles for the NC Real Estate Commission and the NC Association of REALTORS® and is a contributing author for the NC Real Estate
Commissions Real Estate Manual and chaired the Square Footage Guidelines Task Force.
Vic is a (ITI) Certified Instructor from the North Carolina Association of REALTORS® prestigious Instructor Training Institute and is a Distinguished Real Estate Instructor Candidate. Vic is a certified Continuing Education (CE) Instructor for the North Carolina Real Estate Commission and the North Carolina Appraisal Board, teaching the NC Real Estate Commission's annual mandatory UpDate and Elective Courses and continues to teach Broker Pre-License and POST-License courses. Vic is a co-founder of Start School of Real Estate.
John B. Walker
Sheila Knight
John is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill with a degree in Advertising from the School of Journalism & Mass Communication. He is also a Fellow with the E.A. Morris Fellowship for Emerging Leaders, Class of 2007.
John has been a North Carolina licensed real estate Broker since 2004 and a North Carolina licensed real estate Instructor since 2015. He partnered with his father, Ken Walker, in 2005 to form one of the highest producing real estate partnerships in the Triangle/Triad region.
He has Co-Owned RE/MAX Diamond Realty for thirteen years and also served as the Chief Operating Officer for a networking company for five years (2010-2015).
John was awarded the DREI Designation (Distinguished Real Estate Instructor) by the Real Estate Educators Association, in 2019. He was awarded the Rising Star Award by REEA in 2020.
He serves as a Senior Advisor for several companies, non-profit organizations, and public figures. He is a member of the Burlington-Alamance County Association of REALTORS and serves that Board in a variety of roles. John is a co-Founder of Start School of Real Estate.
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Sheila is an experienced commercial real estate and economic development professional, spanning thirty years as a successful real estate broker owning both a residential and commercial brokerage & property management firm. She then served as the Executive Director of Jacksonville Onslow Economic Development for ten years.
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She was appointed in 2014 to the Board of Directors of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC), the lead economic development organization in the state. Sheila was recently re-appointed to her third term and is currently serving on the Megasite Readiness committee and is Chair of the Advocacy committee.
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Sheila founded SK Strategies, LLC, an economic development and site consulting firm, and is a partner in Sanford Holshouser Economic Development Consulting, LLC, a full-service economic development consulting group with offices in NC, VA and Canada.
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Sheila was honored to serve as the founding chair of the North Carolina REALTORS® Economic Development Committee, and has held many leadership positions on local, state, and national levels of the REALTOR® organization. As an experienced instructor, she brings timely economic development topics to the classroom.
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Sheila is a native of Maryland and a graduate of Salisbury State University receiving a BS in Biology. She also holds the international designation of Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM).
Jeff Malarney
Jeff Malarney is a highly accomplished individual who possesses a diverse range of
experiences in the fields of law, real estate, and business. He is a graduate of
Wake Forest School of Law, having obtained his degree in 1991. Jeff served as a
Commander in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps, where he
received numerous medals in recognition of his exceptional service, including
multiple Navy and Marine Corps Commendation, Achievement, and Global War
on Terrorism medals.
Jeff's impressive career has spanned across various fields. He has served as the
General Counsel for Twiddy & Company and has been a partner in several law
firms, including Malarney & McCown, PLLC, where he practices civil litigation and
real estate law. Additionally, Jeff founded H2OBX Waterpark, which was voted in
2020 as one of America's top 10 national waterparks. He is also a partner in HOM
Develop, LLC, which specializes in mining and residential development in Dare,
Currituck and Tyrrell Counties. Furthermore, he is the principal in Pro 1 Pest
Control, a premier provider of pest control on the Outer Banks.
Apart from his successful ventures, Jeff is also a licensed real estate broker and
holds an insurance license. He is currently serving his fourth term with the North
Carolina Real Estate Commission, where he previously held the position of
Chairman. Jeff is happily married to the Honorable Amber Davis Malarney, a
North Carolina District Court Judge, and is a proud father to Cullen and Lainy
Malarney.
Our Philosophy
The foundational philosophy of the START School of Real Estate is the pursuit of student success by utilizing the Socratic teaching method. The START educational experience involves students as active participants (not spectators), with encouragement towards asking questions and applying learned knowledge. In short, the focus is on the student, not the instructor. That notwithstanding, we also know that having the right instructor can make or break facilitating a successful learning experience.
Whether you are looking to pursue getting a real estate license in North Carolina or fulfill your Post-License and/or CE requirements, we invite you to join one of our classes.
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START was founded by award-winning instructors,
Vic Knight and John Walker.