Lauren Stobaugh

Written by Elizabeth McCabe | Photos by Ezekiel E. Photography

Lauren Stobaugh has discovered something about golf: You can’t fake the reps.

She only picked up the sport this summer. She hired a golf pro, started taking weekly lessons and began spending time on the course. She is still learning, still practicing and still figuring out a game that can humble even the best players. And she loves it.

“I’ve never done it, so why not?” Lauren says. “I like a new challenge.”

That sentence could just as easily describe the way she has approached her entire life, including real estate. “The more you practice, the better you are,” she says. “It’s the same thing in real estate.”

Lauren earned her real estate license in April of 2022, and by the end of 2025, she had closed over $22 million in sales as a solo agent working solely from referrals or word of mouth. Her success may look fast, but the work ethic behind it took decades to build.

Learning to Hustle

Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Lauren attended Missouri State University, where she studied recreation and leisure studies. After college, she moved to Tulsa and worked for the City of Tulsa Parks Department as a recreation coordinator, organizing sports, summer camps and special events. Later, she moved into Streets and Stormwater, handling residential recycling education.

“I know the ins and outs of Tulsa,” she says.

That experience gave Lauren an understanding of the city extending far beyond houses and sales. She has experienced Tulsa as a resident, city employee, mother and now REALTOR®. But another chapter gave her something equally important: grit.

Lauren became a mother when she was young. By 24, she was divorced with a 2-year-old daughter and would spend approximately six years as a single mom.

“I used to work three jobs and made, like, no money,” she says. It solidified her work ethic. Lauren learned how to hustle because she had to. “Now I work hard and make good money,” she smiles.

Years later, a friend asked whether becoming a mother young, going through divorce and working in government had helped shape the real estate agent she became. Lauren didn't hesitate. “Absolutely,” she said.

In 2019, Lauren and her husband, Hunter, moved to the Austin area for his career with QuikTrip. Her two younger daughters were born in Texas, and when the family returned to Tulsa, Lauren wanted something different professionally. She wanted a career where effort mattered.

“I don’t mind working hard and hustling,” she says. Real estate proved to be exactly that.

People Knowing Her for Her

Lauren’s business has grown through word of mouth, friendships and referrals, including people who knew her long before she sold a house. Two families whose homes she listed had known Lauren since around 2016, when they worked out together. They had watched her raise her oldest daughter as a single mother. Years later, when they needed a REALTOR®, they remembered the person they had known all along.

“You’re the first person we’d call,” they told her. “We know you personally and trust you.”

For Lauren, that means everything. “What you see in personal life is the same,” she says of her business. “I’m very open and transparent with everyone I meet.”

That authenticity carries over to social media. Lauren uses it extensively, but she doesn't view it primarily as a tool for selling houses.

“To me, social media is to sell me,” she explains.

Clients can find houses online. Lauren believes an experienced agent’s real value is everything around that search — understanding a family, evaluating a property, navigating inspections, negotiating and keeping an emotional transaction grounded in logic.

“Finding the house is the easiest part,” she says. Her role is to give clients professional guidance without taking away their control. “This is my professional advice, but it’s your ship to steer,” she says. “I’m here to guide.”

One client even sent Lauren a bomb-squad meme after an especially emotional situation, telling her she had essentially defused the bomb going off inside her. “It’s very emotional, and you have to keep it logical,” she points out.

Service at Every Price Point

Lauren doesn't believe exceptional service should be reserved for clients at the highest price point. A woman once found Lauren through Reddit and hesitated to contact her after looking at her social media.

“I don’t think we’re in your price range,” the woman told her.

“No, no. I’m everyone’s price range,” Lauren told her.

Lauren remembers where she started. Her own first home as a single mother cost $89,000. Today, she may be working with a $190,000 buyer and a $1.2 million listing. The number doesn't determine the level of care. Everybody deserves to feel valued.

That’s why Lauren remains hands-on. Although people have encouraged her to build a team, she isn't rushing to do it. She has a full-time transaction coordinator, but Lauren remains her clients’ primary contact.

At a recent listing appointment in Bixby, she spent approximately two hours with the homeowners. “You are paying me a lot of money,” she says. “I will make it worth what you’re paying.”

Living and Breathing Tulsa

Midtown Tulsa is home for Lauren and her family, and her knowledge comes from living it every day. Her three daughters attend both private and public schools, giving Lauren firsthand familiarity with options that matter to families relocating to the area. She works throughout the Tulsa metro and jokes that Midtown may be harder to master because neighborhoods can change block by block.

“We live and breathe Midtown,” she says.

Lauren and her husband have been married for eight years. He works in roofing, and with three daughters and two demanding careers, life requires teamwork.

“If I’m golfing, he’s getting the kids,” she says. “If he’s doing something, I’m getting them.” They are, as Lauren puts it, still “grinding.”

One thing she values most about self-employment is greater ownership of her time. She can volunteer at school, handle pickups and spend those seemingly ordinary minutes in the car with her daughters. “Those little things are actually big things when you look back,” she says.

Lauren has also learned to protect that time. “There are no emergencies in real estate,” she says. Her phone goes on Do Not Disturb at night. Boundaries allow her to work hard without letting work consume everything else. “You have to take care of yourself first.”

The Next Challenge

Taking care of herself rarely means sitting still. Lauren and her husband have spent years doing CrossFit. She also cycles, practices hot yoga and plays in a volleyball league. Last year, she ran the Oklahoma City Half Marathon. Now there is golf.

It is another challenge to tackle, another skill to learn and another opportunity for an outgoing REALTOR® to meet people.

“Every place I go is new people,” she says.

But golf has also reinforced something Lauren already understood. Getting better requires practice. She could have tried to figure it out herself. Instead, she hired someone who knew more and started putting in the reps.

“The more you pour into yourself, the better you can provide for your clients,” she says.

It is the same mindset that helped take Lauren from two transactions during her first partial year in real estate to more than $12 million in volume in 2025. She knows she has to keep learning. Keep showing up. Keep challenging herself.

And when something new presents itself? Lauren already knows her answer. “Why not?”