In 1988, when Patty Probasco first thought about getting into real estate, she was told she would “have to eat, sleep and breathe real estate” if she was going to make it in this business.

Probasco took the advice to heart, and in her 20 years with Coldwell Banker Realty III she has sold more than 1,200 homes in the Enid area, roughly one for every week she has been in the business.

That kind of success led to Probasco being selected by Goldline Research as one of the 10 Most Dependable Real Estate Profession-als of the Central United States.

She was the only real estate professional in Oklahoma to earn that distinction. The list was published in the Oct. 27 edition of Forbes Maga-zine.

“I finally do feel like all these long hours and everything, I feel like I’ve really accomplished something now,” Probasco said. “It’s rewarding when you work with customers and they are just thrilled with the house you’ve found them and everything you’ve done to help them. This is just an extra perk that is special, a really a nice award.”

Goldline Research, an independent market research firm, contacted 1,835 Realtors in the central United States in consideration for the award, then narrowed that list to 58 and then to 30 before choosing the final 10.

Probasco admits to being “scared to death” when she was first approached by a friend about getting into the real estate business.

“It was strictly commission,” she said. “I didn’t know if I could sell anything.”

She found by eating, sleeping and breathing real estate, she could, indeed, sell.

“I was here every day, 10 hours a day and taking anything I could get,” she said. “I was just bound and determined that I was going to do my best.”

She quickly learned real estate is not an 8 to 5 job.

“It is pretty much a seven-day-a-week job,” she said. “There are times I have been out presenting contracts at midnight because time is of the essence.”

By her second full year in the business, Probasco already had become No. 1 in Enid in total sales production. She has earned the distinction 16 more times since. She has increased her sales volume every year she has been in the business. She now averages between $12 million and $14 million in sales annually.

Probasco’s boss for the past 20 years, Coldwell Banker Realty III President Phil Edwards, called her “the type of agent that every broker dreams of. She really gives back to our industry. She is just not in it to see what she can get out of it. She has set the bar at a level that few others achieve.”

Probasco has done it through hard work and by putting her customers first, some of her former customers say. And those former customers and past clients make up 90 percent of her present business, she said.

“Patty is one of those individuals, she pretty much would work around the clock for you if that is what it took,” said Jim Parrish, president of Central Machine and Tool. “She is very knowledgeable in her approach to getting things done.”

“You can always reach her, but she didn’t bug you, she wasn’t pushy at all,” said Dan Dillingham, chief executive officer of Dillingham Insurance. “You could always reach her and she was very helpful.”

Probasco said she is “driven to provide the best possible service that I can, and going the extra mile for my customers and clients.”

Buying or selling a home requires a Realtor to help clients make important emotional and financial decisions.

“You are experiencing an emotional as well as a personal change in your life,” Probasco said. “I try to make this transition as simple and painless as I possibly can in a thoughtful, professional and ethical way.”

Probasco, a native of Parsons, Kan., first came to Enid in 1980 when her then-husband was assigned to pilot training at Vance Air Force Base. Enid has been home ever since. She has one daughter, who lives in Houston with her husband and son.