Inspired Homes LLC

Throughout a 30-year career in the Kansas City market that has included roles as CFO, COO, CEO and president, Raynard Brown has cultivated the vision and leadership that has helped him guide organizations through various phases, including start-up, organic growth, acquisitions and ownership transitions. Raynard excels at developing a strategic vision, then implementing the action plan to bring that vision to life and profitably grow the business. As president of Inspired Homes, Raynard will leverage that expertise to help the company expand its residential development portfolio while solidifying its reputation as one of Kansas City's leading homebuilders and facilitating sustainable financial growth.

Deon Cross was born to work in the homebuilding industry. His father was a custom homebuilder in Kansas City and Deon and his three brothers all followed their father's path. 'Homebuilding is all I've ever done from a very early age — we were working on job sites after school,' Deon says. From there, Deon cultivated a career that included leading his father's building company after his father retired, then nearly two decades spent with a national homebuilder in their Chicago office. Now, as Area Director of Construction and Warranty, Deon uses his extensive experience and knowledge to help Inspired Homes achieve our top priority: creating happy homeowners. To do that, Deon will work closely with both our construction and warranty teams to help in all aspects of quality from start to finish. He'll focus on continuous improvement, spotting opportunities to make our systems and processes even better while meeting or exceeding our already high quality standards.

Throughout the last three decades, Eric Lauterbach has worked in almost every role in the homebuilding industry, from carpentry to field superintendent to purchasing. That firsthand experience — along with a degree in interior architecture and time spent working for a leading architectural firm — have given Eric unmatched insight into the building and design process with an emphasis on delivering an exceptional client experience. He's also repeatedly helped previous employers increase their market presence while also spotting opportunities to streamline key functions like construction purchasing and estimating. As part of the Inspired Homes team, he'll use his accumulated knowledge while closely following the market to help ensure our building process prioritizes both quality and efficiency to deliver lasting value. To those who know the Kansas City native, it's no surprise he's cultivated a thriving career in the homebuilding industry. Both his dad and grandfather were local Realtors, and as Eric says, 'homes and building are in my blood.'

As Sales Director, Jodi Palin manages all sales and community marketing for Inspired Homes. Jodi uses her previous experience with numerous builders and developers in the Kansas City Metro area to better coach and mentor her sales team while aiming to reach maximum profitability. In her current position, Jodi enjoys being able to influence and assist salespeople to help them develop their skills and see them succeed in their careers. Her leadership and mentorship abilities make her a valuable asset to Inspired Homes. Born and raised in Canada, she moved to the US and worked as an elementary school teacher and ran a home-based business before selling real estate. Now she is a licensed Realtor in both Kansas and Missouri selling new homes since 2002. She is a member of the Kansas City Realtor Association and Kansas City HBA, certified in Green Building. She is also an award-winning sales professional and was the recipient of the 2018 NAHB Sales Manager of the Year award.

With 20 years of experience in the field of engineering, Raegan Long is a skilled professional with a passion for finding unique solutions to challenging site constraints.  Raegan received her degree in civil engineering from Kansas State University.  She began her career as a design engineer with Burns & McDonnell in their aviation group before taking a role as a project manager for Barron Collier, a Florida based land holding company, focused on commercial and residential real estate development.  For the past 15 years, she has served as the Development Engineering Manager for the City of Shawnee.  With experience in both the public and private sector, she understands the crucial role land selection, subdivision design, and the entitlement process plays in the success of a project.  Raegan has a passion for looking at development from a holistic standpoint and finding ways to ensure new projects compliment the original characteristics and charm of the land. 

A proven finance leader, Tamara brings more than two decades of experience to her role. With an aptitude for bridging the gap between operations and finance, Tamara achieves efficient accounting processes and strong internal controls. She's not only experienced in analyzing data to develop better, more efficient solutions; she's enthusiastic about it! With experience managing both information and people, she understands all facets of accounting, including how to spot opportunities for improving financial performance and communicating that feedback to management. With Inspired Homes, Tamara will leverage her insight and expertise to make strategic accounting and financial recommendations that will enable measurable company growth, both in the short- and long-term, while also providing data and feedback that will support operational decision-making.

As Director of Communications + Design for Inspired Homes, Valerie focuses on efficient communication, clean design and consumer behavior to deliver effective marketing. Originally from Iowa, Valerie received her degree in advertising from Iowa State University and has 12 years of experience in marketing within the real estate industry. With Inspired Homes, Valerie shares her passion for working in real estate and connecting homebuyers with their perfect home. In the past, Valerie has led the marketing department for top area real estate brokerages in Kansas City and has also worked with top homebuilders. At Inspired Homes, Valerie enjoys utilizing her ability to cut through clutter while focusing on logistics and efficiencies in how messages are delivered.