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| Women Who Mean Business 2011 |
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Barbara Rogers
A bright smile and positive attitude have given her staying power in Lafayette’s real estate industry for more than 30 years.
For Barbara Rogers, being a Realtor for Van Eaton & Romero Real Estate is about more than just earning another commission; it’s about helping families through the most pivotal point in their lives: finding a home.
“I think the joy of not so much selling, but being in real estate is that you’re able to share with other people and enrich their lives and make a difference. It’s exciting; I get pumped up,” she says.
Rogers, a New Iberia native, has served as a real estate agent with Van Eaton & Romero for more than 20 years. While she originally attended UL Lafayette to major in elementary education, it was actually her sister Nancy who convinced Rogers to take a real estate course at UL to save her from taking it alone. While Nancy eventually left the real estate industry, Rogers stuck with it and says she couldn’t think of doing anything else.
“I think when you have pride in the job that you’re doing, you find great joy in that,” says Rogers. “It makes working a pleasure and I look forward to coming to work, especially working with people. I’ve met some outstanding people in the 30 years that I’ve worked in real estate.“
Her list of achievements include being the president of Realtors Association in 2005 and Realtor of the Year 2011. She also won the 1997 and 2010 Peer Awards that were voted on by her fellow Realtors — her most prized honors.
While Rogers may work with people in some of the most traumatic times of their lives, whether it is the death of a husband or wife or even a divorce when a family is forced to downsize, she says there is also great pleasure in selling real estate to new couples looking to buy their first home or families thinking about their dream home. “It’s stressful, but I think if you focus on working with the individual family and how you can help them that they remember that.”
She also dedicates her time at Van Eaton & Romero to encouraging young agents whenever they come into the fold however she can. “We have such bright and talented young people coming into the real estate business; I see a really positive future for the real estate industry,” she admits.
“Lafayette is such a unique place to live,” Rogers says of the city’s financial climate. “I feel that Lafayette has a can-do attitude, that we make a difference. I don’t think that we wait on the government to influence our economy. The local government works with Lafayette to help us to bring progressive, wonderful growth into the community.”
She is also very active in her community as both a member of the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and the First Baptist Church of Lafayette where she moonlights as a Sunday school teacher of a couples’ class.
For Rogers, a parallel can easily be drawn between real estate and teaching, because whether she is helping new agents or listing someone’s home for the first time and explaining to them how to make it easier to sell, she is always helping those around her better understand the process of making a home for someone.
“Every time you go to a closing, and the people are so grateful because a home is, most of the time, the largest investment that a person has and...to be able to help them through that process,” Rogers sighs, “every day it seems like Christmas whenever you’re able to help someone.” — Wynce Nolley
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