By Ethan Nahté
Tabitha Booher of Holly Springs Real Estate was selected as the Real Estate Agent of the Year for 2023 at the Mena Area Board of Realtors (MABR) August meeting.
“I’m still trying to peel myself off the ceiling! It was so unexpected,” she said.
Booher has plenty of sales experience, but she has only spent five years in real estate. Moving to the Mena area from Indianapolis in 2002 was a choice she has enjoyed. Originally, she and her family are from Kansas City, Missouri. After moving to the Ouachita Mountains region, she not only has sold millions in real estate to clients, but she sold her family on the area, as well.
“My whole family moved here. I imported my husband, Greg, here from Tennessee.”
Apart from one sister, her grandparents, parents and other siblings moved to the Mena area.
“That was before I was a real estate agent. That is now part of my sales technique when I’m showing properties. I tell them I love it so much that my entire family moved here. Somebody told me that means ‘you’re the heart of your family.’”
As for her own family household, she and Greg also have five children.
New territory
One would think the competition, regardless of size or population of an area, would be tough… even cutthroat, but Booher said, “For the most part, everyone gets along really well. The realtors in Mena are a great group of people. They help a lot of groups, too, such as Special Olympics and others, so we’re always working together and interacting, even though we’re competitive in real estate.
“I was kind of freaked out and the first time I got to a meeting. There’s all of these people and I had no idea who they were. I was wondering, ‘Are we supposed to talk with them? They’re our competitors.’ I was in computer software before this and we never spoke with our competitors on the convention floor.”
MABR was chartered in 1988 and averages between 37 and 52 members according to their website. They have an all-volunteer board of directors and serve not only Polk County, but also parts of Scott and Montgomery counties in Arkansas and parts of McCurtain and LeFlore counties in Oklahoma.
“I’m in the Top 5 salespeople of units sold in Polk County and surrounding areas in 2023.”
Being in the Top 5 wasn’t what earned her this year’s title. She was nominated by someone, but she said, “The Realtor of the Year is about being a member of your community, a good citizen, full of realtor spirit, and volunteerism, versus a realtor’s amount of sales. Your commitment to your clients, ethics and integrity are what count.”
Beyond real estate
When not busy helping to raise a family or selling real estate, Booher also enjoys horses. In particular, she enjoys competing in rodeos. Just this past weekend she was barrel racing at the 70th Annual Polk County Rodeo. Three weeks prior, she was competing at the 55th Annual Grannis Rodeo.
With her laughter and personality, there’s no doubt she probably gets along as well with her competitors at the rodeos, the same as she gets along with her real estate competition and her clients.
Instead of being The Real Estate Agent, she said, “A client called me The Friendestate Agent because I end up making so many friends with the people moving to the area.”
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