“I love being in a small town. I love my team that I work with. I put the fun in dysfunctional,” she says.
By day she’s the principal officer, manager and owner of the Waipukurau branch of Harcourts and in her 32 years in real estate, she’s gained a reputation as a force to be reckoned with.
But by night, she’s a social media sensation.
Her first reaction to going viral? Disbelief. Looking at the view count on her phone, she remembers questioning her eyesight and thinking, “Well, that number can’t be right. Oh, bugger, it is”.
Edwards nearly didn’t post her most popular video, which has amassed 2 million views. When she filmed it, she feared the unscripted video may have been “a bit too casual”.
“There was nothing scripted, that’s just me being me,” she says.
But it was that authenticity that audiences connected with. Social media users have called her “a ray of sunshine”, told her “You are everything” and asked, “Do you do weddings Heatha?”
And it turns out, yes, she does.
Because Edwards is a jack of all trades.
It began when she left home in Wellington at 15.
She took on work as a cleaner and worked at an eel factory to save for her first home. By 17, she’d scraped together enough money for a deposit, only to discover she was too young to legally buy a house – she had to be 18.
Undeterred, she found her way onto the property ladder anyway, nabbing her own home and a whopping 22% interest rate.
Determined to succeed, she continued to build an eclectic career; working in a shoe shop and at the freezing works before applying to a broadcasting school “for a laugh”. Out of about 200 applicants, she was one of just 20 selected, and eventually landed the only job on offer.
She worked in radio, where she became a creative director writing advertising campaigns and jingles – skills she uses in her online content today.
“I’ve never had a CV. I still don’t have one. I’ve got no idea what I’m going to do as a grown-up,” she says.
“I’m just muddling along like the rest of us.”
Edwards is also mum to three children in their 30s and has three grandchildren. She made her move from radio to real estate shortly after having her kids, after a dispute with a new station owner.
She applied for a real estate role in the early 1990s, and after some psychological testing (which she says she passed in record time) was offered a position in Waipukurau in 1994, where she still works today.
“I love helping people. I love making someone’s day. My goal is getting the result for both parties so that both are happy.
“This week I had very happy new buyers – first-time buyers – and they’re thrilled with their new home. I just love seeing that reward on their face.”
Edwards sees real estate as her calling. According to property website homes.co.nz, over her career, Edwards has more than $128m in confirmed sales. She also won the Rate My Agent awards, voted by buyers and agents, in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
She works seven days a week, leaving her staff wondering where in her office she keeps her bed.
“I’ve never stopped being enthusiastic. I don’t ever wake up and think, ‘Oh no, I’ve got to go to work this morning’. I don’t.”
Edwards believes it’s that enthusiasm that saw her go viral, at a time when so much online content feels “AI and sanitised, scripted and plastic”.
“I never stop and think, Is my hair done? No. Did I check my lipstick? Also, no. But that’s okay, because it’s not actually about me, it’s about the property.”
Being a social media sensation also comes with pitfalls. When her videos first gained attention, trolls made Edwards feel like a “little fur seal being clubbed to death with a big stick”.
She quickly realised ignoring the comments wasn’t a tactic she was interested in. Instead, she hit back.
“I’d like to have a few words to them,” she says.
“[If] you want to get up at the crack of lunch in your scruffy pyjamas and your food-stained gumboots, you have at it, love. Hiding behind your fake accounts with your anime picture. My gosh.”
But there’s also been a great amount of good that’s come from her newfound notoriety; she’s been approached about speaking engagements and a range of new opportunities.
But she says, “first and foremost, my business and my clients are my priority”.
“But it is nice to think I’ve made someone’s day.”
Did we mention Edwards is a whiz in the kitchen too? And if New Zealand was looking for the next Jo Seagar, Edwards is up for the job.
Heatha Edwards has been selling real estate for 32 years. Photo / Supplied
Alongside her real estate content, she shares practical recipes and budget-friendly cooking hacks online. Her no-cheese microwave béchamel sauce has been a real hit.
Recently, a “mud-covered man driving a ute” pulled over, wound down his window and told her, “Excuse me, I’ve learned to cook because of you”.
“That just made my day,” she says.
“If anyone wants to put me on a cooking show, that would be hilarious fun.”
But behind the catchphrases, viral videos and social media fame is someone who consciously chooses optimism.
“You choose to make your own happiness,” Edwards says.
“I had a s**t background with a s**t childhood. Now, I could go, ‘Oh boohoo me’. But lots of other people are in the same boat.”
Instead, she’s spent years embracing the good things: her family, her town, her work and the chaotic weekly dinner gathering she hosts for her children and grandchildren.
“Every week the world stops. We have midweek at Mumsy’s.”
Edwards says sometimes it’s bedlam, it’s almost always chaos.
“And that’s just the way I love it.”