THE REAL DEALS
Tara Stark , Heads Up The Tara Stark Real Estate Group at Kellery Williams
14 Years In Real Estate
T
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ara Stark’s most valuable
strength is her compassion for
her clients and the attentiveness
she has for them.
“I feel like I’m strongest
because I listen to my client’s
needs and desires,” Stark said.
“Being able to make a difference
in their lives, let them go where
they want to go on their sched-
ule.”
Stark deals with a lot of people
in a lot of different circumstances.
Some are living in the best, most
exciting time in their lives, buying
a first home, buying their dream
home. Others are facing big
changes in their lives, not alto-
gether happy ones. Still others are
leaving their farms, changing their
lifestyles.
“It’s bigger than that for me,”
Stark said. “It’s about listening to
their goals and knowing what’s
going on in their lives and help-
ing them see what they want to
happen come true.”
Why?
“I think I have a great ability
to hear what my clients are really
saying,” Stark said. “Being empa-
thetic and being able to use my
professional skills [while] work-
ing with them to make their goals
happen.”
Stark was drawn to real estate
through a transition in her own
life.
“It was a life change for me,”
she said. “And the reason I made
the change was I saw the oppor-
tunity,” she said. “I came from a
cutting-horse industry background.
My life transitioned from cutting
horses and I learned a whole lot of
new skills.”
Stark became a realtor 14 years
ago. “I’ve been through a boom
and a shift in the industry. I’ve
seen both the ups and the downs,”
she said.
Transitions impact everyone
in the household, not just the
humans.
“My funniest real estate story
involved a cat,” Stark said. “A
realtor and her client arrived
early for an open house, so I
stepped out to let them look at
the house. In just a minute, the
realtor called and said that the cat
wouldn’t let them in the house.
We came back, opened the door
and pushed the cat aside. We
walked through the house and let
them in from the backyard. They
entered the house through a small
sun porch in the back. When
they came into the house, the cat
barreled through the house and
tried to attack them. The cat was
hissing and growling. So, I take
a broom and tried everything to
keep him away from these people.
I’m guarding them, and I’m trying
to keep the cat away from them,
and he leaps at them just trying to
get to them. I tell them to get back
out the back door and we end
up locking the cat in the laundry
room. We call the owners and
they don’t believe us at first. But
we went ahead and had the open
house and the cat was fine. It was
just about the one set of people,
but I watched him closely the rest
of the day.”
What is the most intriguing
trend in Parker County real estate
today?
“It’s the future opportunity of
growth that Parker County holds,”
Stark said. “We are minutes
outside of a major geographic
area. Opportunity for growth and
change. And because growth is
inevitable, we get to be a part
of that change, part of what’s
coming.”
Stark’s favorite memory came
from working with a family going
through just such a transition.
“A family was moving out of
town to the farm they bought,”
Stark recalls. “They wanted their
daughter to learn responsibility
to raise chickens and be around
farm animals. To do that, they had
to sell and move from the family
ranch. Their life had changed and
they needed to be closer in to
hospitals and the city. When you
have to make a move like that,
it helps them to know that you
will take care of them. It makes a
difference for those people, and
they are so thankful they tell you
on closing day that you made a
difficult time seamless and stress
free for them. We had presented
them a book of special photog-
raphy that we had taken of their
home. We ended up making
ten more of the books for all the
grandkids to have one.”
Stark’s Forecast: What does she
see driving the real estate market
in the next five years? Ten years?
“The growth and fact that we have
an amazing economy. Not just
the US right now, but especially
the state of Texas. It’s so afford-
able to live here. We are in close
proximity to the Metroplex. You
can get what people consider a
large piece of land close to cities.
The opportunity for develop-
ment and houses that are afford-
able. Residential is seeing a lot of
growth, but even commercial is
booming right now. In the next
decade, it’s going to continue and
will grow and develop. We have
the space for it.”