Are Erin & Ben Napier Close With The Heirloom Hotel Owners In Real Life? A Look At Their Friendship

Since 2016, fans have flocked to HGTV to watch Ben and Erin Napier work their renovation magic on underloved properties. The couple's efforts have revitalized their "Home Town" of Laurel, Mississippi, into a popular tourist location, as well as providing a boost of joy for viewers who idealize smalltown living. The fan-favorite couple's much-anticipated spinoff, "Home Town: Inn This Together," promised even more success for Laurel as the Napiers helped fellow renovators Josh Nowell and Jim and Mallorie Rasberry turn an abandoned department store into a boutique hotel. In a heartbreaking turn of events, the property caught fire just as the rebuild was being completed. 

Erin Napier is now rallying to save the Heirloom Hotel by pressing the inn's insurers to move on the claim. The setback was devastating for the HGTV stars not only because of the property loss, but also because it affected their lifelong friends. Most of them met at the University of Mississippi, and Erin and Jim are actually first cousins. Their shared love for their college town of Oxford led the foursome to move back to Laurel and begin renovating apartments. "We all loved living in Oxford, and we wanted a little bit of that charm and magic in downtown Laurel," Erin explained (via HGTV). "Our thought was that if it wasn't there, we would do everything we could to create it." 

Since then, the group has restored over 40 homes alongside thousands of square feet of commercial space, in addition to launching their own businesses, such as the Laurel Mercantile store and Ben's Scotsman Co., which specializes in quality woodcrafts. As if they weren't busy enough, Jim is also a financial adviser, while Josh and his wife owned the Petrolia Land Co. prior to joining the Napiers' ventures.

The "framily" of Erin and Ben Napier, Josh Nowell, and Jim and Mallorie Rasberry has weathered plenty of joys and sorrows alike. All of them are proud parents: The Napiers and Rasberrys each have two girls, and Josh and his wife Emily broke the all-girl trend with their two sons and two daughters. Naturally, the Rasberrys rushed to their friends' side at the hospital when Ben and Erin's older daughter was born in 2018. "Trying not to ovary act here!" Mallorie punned on Instagram at the time. She and Mallorie have been as close as sisters from the time they met at Ole Miss, despite one memorable beauty disaster. 

As Mallorie shared with HGTV, Erin once gave her a failed home highlight treatment. "If that isn't an indication of our friendship, then I don't know what is," Mallorie quipped. "She messed up my hair and I still talked to her." On the men's side, Josh came through for Ben when he was short on rent money. "To have that as the foundation of our friendship meant I knew I could always trust Josh, that he would always be there if I needed him," the "Home Town" star acknowledged. At the time of writing, the Napiers, Rasberrys, and Nowell are slowly starting the process of restoring the Heirloom Hotel again. 

Naturally, Ben and Erin are always available to offer their pals some advice or a shoulder to lean on. "I think having the support of your friends and family in anything you do is important, whether it's a renovation project of a commercial building or just making life decisions," Jim told HGTV separately. "You want to have people that you can trust around you, ones you know have your best interests at heart."