Honesty
If you like the truth, clear communication, and full transparency delivered in a positive way, we’re the team for you.
About Five Pillars Team
Who We Are and How We Work
We’re Shelby and Drake Johnson, both military veterans. We keep Five Pillars Team small on purpose, so you work with us directly.
We came to real estate after the military, Shelby as an Army officer and Drake as a Marine. Neither of us planned on it becoming our career, but helping people buy and sell homes quickly turned into an obsession.
Shelby earned Keller Williams Rookie of the Year in her first year. Alongside helping clients buy and sell, we spent three years buying and renovating 74 rental units, and our work was featured on the BiggerPockets podcast and in Business Insider. We don’t buy rentals anymore, but those years taught us what lasts, what gets expensive, and which upgrades are worth paying for.
Five Pillars has been local, then national, and now local again. The way we work hasn’t changed: tell people the truth and take care of the details.
- Families helped
- 550+
- 5-star reviews
- 140+
- Helping buyers & sellers since
- 2018
Going virtual
How Five Pillars Nation Grew
When COVID hit, we went virtual, and it worked. What started as an online version of our team grew into Five Pillars Nation, a nationwide community of more than 200 real estate agents. Shelby also took over hosting Real Estate Rockstars, a show with more than seven million downloads. On paper, the business had never looked stronger.
But the virtual world took a toll. We felt isolated and burned out, and we missed being around the people who made the work meaningful.
After a lot of reflection, we realized we didn’t want to live a virtual life.
Today
Why We Started Over With a Local Team
So we came home to Lexington and built a local team again, bringing the service of our original team and everything we learned running a national one.
We’ll tell you what matters now and what could cause trouble later. Sometimes that means telling you not to buy the house.
Military service
The Best and Worst of the Military
Shelby served in the Army and Drake in the Marines: eleven years between us and thirty moves around the world. We saw the very best and the very worst the military has to offer. The best? High standards, discipline, respect, and teamwork. The worst? Building some of the closest bonds imaginable, then losing them.
Our mission, “to create lifelong relationships through exceptional service,” is about more than real estate. It’s our daily reminder that at the end of the day, relationships matter more than anything else.
How We Work
The Five Pillars
Adaptability
In life, nothing goes exactly as planned. We stay flexible, handle the curveballs, and believe there’s no problem without a solution.
Initiative
We don’t sit back and wait. We lean forward and use our experience to help you see around corners and avoid mistakes.
Resilience
Want a team that isn’t afraid to fight for you? We’ll keep pushing to get you every bit of what you want.
Ownership
From start to finish, we own every detail. Breathe easy knowing we’re on top of it.
Let’s Work Together
Tell us what you’re thinking about, and we’ll take it from there.