Paula McGuire

Written by Elizabeth McCabe | Photos by Kenneth Baucum Photography

“Experience is the best teacher.”

After 43 years in real estate, Paula McGuire doesn’t just say that. She lives it.

At 70 years old, Paula still moves through her days with the energy of someone half her age and the wisdom of someone who has seen every possible twist a transaction can take. She started in 1983. No cell phones. No online listings. No glossy digital marketing. Back then, listings were printed in a bulky book that real estate agents lugged around, with a new one coming out every two weeks. If a buyer wanted to see a house, you physically drove them there because there were no photos to scroll through.

“There were many times I left dinner on the stove to go show a house,” she says. “It’s not an easy job if you are successful.”

And successful she has been.

This past year alone, Paula closed 71 transactions totaling more than $17 million. In a town of just 18,000 to 20,000 people, she has almost sold a house on every street. She seldom does less than $10 million a year and remains one of the top producers in her area without chasing business.

“I don’t get out and solicit business,” she explains. Her work comes from repeat clients and referrals. “If you treat people right, they will come back to you. I go above and beyond.”

And she means it. She has painted houses to make deals work. She has helped families pack. She has navigated zoning battles where protests showed up. She has developed subdivisions, including the first gated, no-maintenance-fee subdivision in her area, at a time when that was especially challenging for a woman in development.

“The more challenging, the better for me,” she says with a smile.

Real estate is in her blood. She is a fourth-generation presence in her community. Her father was a builder and developer, and she grew up around the business. Originally from Oklahoma on Route 66, she eventually planted roots where she now serves generation after generation of families. In fact, she recently closed a transaction for the fourth generation of one family with great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, and now the children.

“I become part of people’s family,” she says. “When I get a hold of the client, I don’t lose them.”

Paula began her career after owning a children’s clothing boutique for five years. With a one-year-old daughter at home and a desire to contribute financially, her father suggested real estate. Why pay someone else to sell property when she could do it herself?

She earned her broker’s license and has remained with the same company since the beginning, through mergers and changes. “I’m not big into change,” she laughs. She keeps her same office, her same steady approach, though she admits she has someone help her with technology. Her son jokingly calls her generation “the lost generation” when it comes to tech, but she has adapted, just as she has adapted to every market shift over four decades.

She has sold commercial properties, handled zoning for major businesses, and developed land. “You really know what you are talking about,” a recent client told her after a land consultation, a reflection of the deep knowledge that only time can build.

“I have a really good reputation and have a lot of knowledge,” she says. “I try to be very honest. Don’t act like you know if you don’t. I will find out.”

Honesty. Integrity. Word of mouth. That’s her formula.

Her career hasn’t been without hardship. She lost her husband to sepsis following surgery, a devastating chapter that would have stopped many in their tracks. Instead, Paula threw herself into her work. Clients became close friends. Real estate became both anchor and outlet.

“It’s my hobby,” she says, a statement that feels almost impossible when you consider the volume she handles. But for Paula, the thrill is in the challenge. “There is never a dull moment in real estate. Every day I wake up and never know what you are going to be faced with.”

Outside the office, discipline fuels her stamina. She is a devoted Pilates enthusiast with more than 1,500 sessions and counting, often arriving at 6 a.m. before anyone can claim her time. “It’s changed my life,” she says. She follows Pilates with a three-mile walk four to five times a week. Health is non-negotiable. “I’m hardly ever sick,” she adds. “I’m a firm believer in Pilates.”

From 6:00 to 8:30 each morning, she invests in her body. After that, she invests in everyone else.

Paula was married to her soulmate and is part of a blended family of five children and 12 grandchildren. These days, she calls herself more of a homebody after years of travel, preferring time with family and her grandchildren. But when a complex deal hits her desk? That’s when the spark lights up again.

“You have to be willing to make sacrifices,” she says. “You have to be very flexible.”

Forty-three years later, she is still flexible. Still sacrificing. Still solving problems others can’t.

And in a business where many come and go, Paula McGuire remains. She’s steady, seasoned, and still very much in motion, establishing a legacy of four decades and counting.