LINCOLN — If Seth Goodman’s mom and dad want to spend time with him, they often need to track down the busy 24-year-old real estate professional at his open houses on weekends.

But they’re used to that.

At age 10, Goodman pleaded with his parents, Scott and Gaynor Goodman, to start taking him to open houses in his hometown of Lincoln, and they obliged. He can trace his interest in real estate even further back than that, though.

“When I was 5 or 6 years old, I was drawing floor plans, just talking about houses,” he recalled. “I’ve never figured it out. From the time I was young, (real estate) was exactly what I wanted to do. I’ve never second-guessed it. I’ve never had any doubts.”

Goodman became a licensed real estate professional as soon as Illinois law allowed, which was on his 21st birthday, and began working at ME Realty in Lincoln. He wasted no time in making a name for himself in his chosen profession.

According to Bob Kidd, executive officer of the Logan County Board of Realtors, the young Realtor has been the most successful of the county’s 56 real estate professionals for the past two years.

Goodman had sales totaling $12.8 million last year. So far this year, he has closed on $5.3 million in properties. With a total of 104, he has a quarter of all active real estate listings in Logan County.

That success has put him in the running to be one of the top 30 real estate professionals in the United States younger than age 30. He was notified last month that he is among 50 semifinalists for this award, the winners of which will be named the middle of next month. They will be featured in Realtor magazine, the trade publication of the National Association of Realtors.

Receiving that recognition “would be one of the biggest achievements,” Goodman said. “That’s always been something I’ve really wanted.”

Housing obsession

What he calls his “overall obsession with houses” sometimes irritated his parents when he was growing up, according to Goodman.

“We’d go to Walmart or Kroger or out to eat somewhere and people would come up to me, a 13-year-old kid, and say, ‘What do you know about this house?’” Goodman said. “And I would know. I could answer their questions. And my mom would go, ‘What is wrong with you? You’re a kid. You’re supposed to be doing kid things.’”

“He wasn’t a kid in the typical sense,” his mother recalled. “He never played video games; he drew houses. The first thing he would do when he got home from school every day was check new listings.”

It was when Goodman turned 13 that his parents were relieved of the duty of taking him to open houses. At that point, local real estate broker Doris Oltmanns took over.

“She’d call me on Sunday morning and say, ‘Do you want me to pick you up today?’” Goodman recalled. “We’d go to the open house and we’d go to lunch and we’d talk about real estate.”

Goodman’s career in real estate began two years later, when he started working for Oltmanns. She took him under her wing because of their shared interest and the potential she saw in him.

“I knew he was going to be great, and he is. He’s a great person and a great Realtor. I have a lot of good memories of him,” Oltmanns said, adding that she also has drawings of houses that he gave her back then.

Online approach

Mike Simonson, owner of ME Realty, recognized Goodman’s emerging talent when the pair met five years ago.

“I started telling people at the time, when he was only 19, that he was going to be one of the top Realtors, and I nailed it on the head,” Simonson said. “He has definitely changed real estate in Logan County.”

Goodman, who earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from Millikin University in Decatur, attributes that in part to his innovative marketing methods and use of technology.

“I took a lot of accounting and marketing classes, so that’s helped me manage my business, market myself,” he said. “People do like my marketing technique. It’s a little bit different from what they are used to around here. I’m more online-based, more Internet-based.

“I connect a lot via text messaging, Facebook, things that are easier and more convenient for people rather than a phone call, which is always nice, but some people prefer different kinds of contact.”

Goodman said that his reputation as “a go-getter” who is willing to work long hours has helped him stand out among his peers.

“People will contact you all hours, every day,” he said, adding that he can often be found at the office till 3 a.m. and generally sleeps only five or six hours a night. “It’s one of those careers that it really does cut into a personal or private life. I think, honestly, to be successful, you have to be available all the time. And that’s my advantage right now with my age and so forth and not having any commitments. But I understand that other people do. I think that’s what’s given me the edge.”

People know him

His willingness to accept any listing also contributes to his success, according to Goodman.

“Every single listing, I get excited,” he said. “Every contract I write is still exciting, whether it’s for $10,000 or $300,000. It doesn’t matter as long as you’re helping somebody out. I’ve sold a $3,000 mobile home, and right now, I have a $750,000 listing. I do not discriminate on anything. There is a buyer for every house.”

In an industry whose mantra is “location, location, location,” Goodman is content with the area where he practices his trade and has no intention of relocating.

“Everyone always says, ‘Why don’t you go someplace else.’ Lincoln’s all I know,” he said. “It’s where I was born and raised. It’s where I’ve always wanted to do it. And what I like about this town is I can drive to any street and say, ‘I know that house, I know that house, I know that house.’ And I know the people.

“One of the biggest things that has helped me is that people have known since I was young that I wanted to do real estate … They say, ‘We knew you back then. That’s all you’ve ever wanted to do, so we know you’ll do a good job for us. We know that it’s not just a way to make money. You love doing it.’”

Growing up in Lincoln, home to an annual hot-air balloon festival, Goodman developed an interest in hot-air ballooning. He has paired his passion for this pastime and real estate by purchasing a hot-air balloon and naming it “Movin’ Up.”

“I bought that for myself for my 22nd birthday,” said the pilot-in-training.

As far as Gaynor Goodman is concerned, the sky is the limit for her son.

“He’s just kind of a testament to what good hard work and perseverance can do,” she said. “He’s living his dream. What more could a parent want?”

Theresa Schieffer can be reached through the metro desk at 788-1517.