Elaine Boyd-Osby was reared on a farm in Pikeville, Tenn. Her father grew crops and raised cattle on the 50-acre plot, where Osby shared gardening chores with an older sister and a younger brother. She has fond memories of her time there, and occasionally returns with her siblings to reminisce.
“That was a lovely place to grow up,” she says. “It’s a beautiful part of God’s country.”
Today, Osby resides in Hixson, Tenn., with her husband, Randy Osby. Instead of a farm, they own a home in the Valleybrook Windbrook community. She’s left her gardening chores in the past, too, to be the broker at Prudential Realty Center in Hixson.
Osby loves real estate, and not because she doesn’t have to get her hands dirty; rather, she enjoys meeting new people. “Some of my best friends are people I met during a real estate transaction,” she says. “You meet the best people in this line of work.”
Real estate isn’t Osby’s first career. She married as soon as she graduated from high school and went to work as a long distance operator for South Central Bell. She laughs at how long ago that was. “That’s going back a ways. Phones have changed since then,” she says, looking at the smart phone sitting on her desk.
Osby worked at South Central Bell for five years, and then quit her job to start a family. She and her first husband produced a son and a daughter, who in turn blessed them with five grandchildren. When Osby counts kids and grandkids, though, she doesn’t stop at her own; she counts her stepchildren and step-grandchildren, too. “I have lots of children, stepchildren, grandchildren, and step-grandchildren,” she says. “Altogether, I have five children and ten grandchildren.”
This makes holidays at her home a festive, if noisy, affair.
“Everyone is nearby, so holidays are huge,” she says. “We do Thanksgiving at my house, with me doing most of the cooking. We do Christmas Eve at my house, too.”
Osby can easily get caught up talking about her family – to the point of leaving other topics behind. But she returns to real estate to offer a brief history of how she came to be sitting at the broker’s desk at Realty Center.
“I got my affiliate’s license when my youngest began kindergarten,” she says, thinking back to 1978. “At the time, my now ex-husband and I owned a Century 21 franchise. It was located down the street from here.”
Osby liked the freedom working in real estate gave her. “You have some control over your hours,” she says, “so I was able to make time for PTA meets, band boosters, and the other things my children needed me to be a part of.”
After Osby and her first husband parted ways, she worked for different Realtors for a time, but eventually decided to earn a regular paycheck. She took a position at a local newspaper, where she worked her way into the advertising department.
Real estate was in her blood, though, and in 2001, it lured her back.
“My children were in college and getting married, so it was just me again,” Osby says. “I still had friends in the business, and the real estate industry was starting to see tremendous growth, so I returned to the business.”
Osby interviewed with Realty Center, and has been there ever since. She was an affiliate her first few years there, and then took over as broker.
Being the broker of an office with several dozen agents can be challenging. Osby says she turns to local professional organizations such as the Greater Chattanooga Area of Realtors for assistance. “They provide me with the help I need to broker my agents. They’re wonderful at equipping me to do my job,” she says.
Osby is also an active member of the local chapter of the Women’s Council of Realtors. She’s currently president-elect, and in December, will be installed as president. “WCR is a phenomenal networking organization. You really get to know the women and men who are a part of that organization. When you’re at one of their meetings, you drop your brands, and you’re no longer from Realty Center or another company, you’re two Realtors who are getting to know each other. Then, when you have an opportunity to do a deal together, you already have a good relationship. That’s also helpful when I need to talk with another broker about an issue that’s come up. I can do that comfortably because I have a personal relationship with her.”
Osby also keeps busy at her church, Clear Creek Church of Christ. She’s a part of the women’s ministry, works with the greeters, and bakes the communion bread one month each year.
Hearing all Osby does, one might think she has no time for anything else, but that’s not the case. She and her husband own a convertible, which they enjoy taking on “colors tours” each autumn. They also drive it to Alabama football games, something for which she offers no apology. “I get a lot of ribbing about that around here,” she says, smiling.
Hixson might not have been Osby’s first hometown, but it likely will be her last. She’s been rooted in the community since the late 1960’s, and many of the places she’s lived and worked were “just down the road” from where she’s sitting. Likewise, real estate might not have been Osby’s first career, but it probably will be her last. “This is my life,” she says. “This is what I do, and I love it.”