About
Rooted in Community. Built on Trust.
For more than 30 years, Southern Heritage Realty has helped individuals and families across Eastern North Carolina find a place to call home. Founded in Clinton, North Carolina, by Faye Byrd and Joanne Bacon, the firm has built its reputation on something that never goes out of style: serving people with honesty, care, and a genuine commitment to their goals.
Today, that legacy continues under the leadership of owner Janette Hernandez.
A Legacy with Local Roots
A Sampson County native and Hobbton High School attendee, Janette’s connection to her community runs deep. As a proud Mexican-American, daughter, sister, wife, mother of two, and most recently, grandmother, family and heritage have always been at the center of who she is.
Long before beginning her career in real estate, Janette served local Hispanic families throughout the community through her family’s tax preparation business. That experience gave her the opportunity to build strong long lasting relationships with the people around her. It also reinforced a value that continues to guide her work today: people deserve someone they can trust when making life’s biggest decisions.
In 2020, Janette brought that same commitment to service to Southern Heritage Realty when she began her career in real estate. After years of helping clients buy and sell homes as part of the firm, she stepped into a new chapter in January 2026 when she became its owner.
For Janette, leading Southern Heritage Realty is both an opportunity to honor the firm’s history and to build upon it for the future.
Helping Clients Feel at Home
Buying or selling a home is about much more than a transaction. For buyers, it can mean achieving a dream they have worked toward for years. For sellers, it can mark the beginning of an entirely new chapter.
Janette and the Southern Heritage Realty team believe every client deserves knowledgeable guidance, strong advocacy, and personal attention from beginning to end.
For buyers, that means helping turn the dream of homeownership into reality. For sellers, it means working to make the process as seamless and stress-free as possible - from strategically marketing their property and negotiating on their behalf to guiding them confidently to the closing table.
Above all, it means honoring the trust clients place in Southern Heritage Realty.
Our Heritage. Your Home.
Southern Heritage Realty may have grown and evolved over more than three decades, but its foundation remains the same: community, family, service, and trust.
Under Janette’s leadership, the firm is proud to carry that heritage forward, helping Eastern North Carolina buyers and sellers navigate their next chapter, supporting brokers as they build their careers, and continuing to serve the communities that have been part of the Southern Heritage story from the beginning.