Enid, Oklahoma. — Chad Forbeck, 2023 President of the Northwest Oklahoma Association of Realtors, is an entrepreneur by nature.
The owner of E-Towne Realty and Property Management started in the real estate business in 2005 with Enid Homesellers.
“I was lucky to start with Keith Fowler and a really good group of realtors,” he said.
Realtors still operating in Enid today include the association’s new vice presidents Sondra Hernandez, Sarah Brennan and Sarah Jones.
“They helped me get off to a good start and get things done,” Forbeck said.
The Association’s President-elect is Jenny Smithson, Secretary/Treasurer is Patrick Countryman and past President is Amber Sprague.
After five years as a real estate agent, Forbeck partnered with Jim Henderson of Enid Property Management, acquired most of his business and started E-Towne Realty and Property Management.
He started with one employee and now has 18 employees and lease-managed properties across the state, including Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Forbeck has another branch in Woodward.
“Chad has a lot to offer, and I think he’s going to help the Northwest Association of Realtors stay relevant with all the digital challenges,” Hernandez said.
Forbeck said he was in good shape to enter the leadership of an association and was looking forward to working with good business people and executive director Carolyn House.
Forbeck said he loves business and got his first taste of entrepreneurship at the age of 8. He saw a boy pushing a lawn mower that cost $10 to mow the lawn across the road.
So Forbeck found more lawns down the street for him to mow, charged them $15, and pocketed the difference. It got him thinking about business.
When he was 14, he began collecting baseball and basketball cards and opened a card store on the corner of Independence and Broadway.
“I collected hundreds of Michael Jordan rookie basketball cards and that kept my business going,” he said.
He laughed when he said he wished he had kept a few of these cards because they are so valuable today.
Forbeck went to Southwestern Oklahoma State University thinking he would be a pharmacist, but he didn’t like chemistry. He signed a delivery contract with Enid’s Post Office and began taking business classes at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.
His contracts with the Post Office led him to purchase FedEx contracts in northwest Oklahoma and Edmond. Forbeck sold those contracts and went into real estate.
He also owns maintenance, lawn care and debt collection businesses.
“I’m a corporate grower,” Forbeck said.
He has been a board member and is involved with several nonprofits, including Hope Outreach, Loaves & Fishes, and Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center. He is a member of the Enid Rotary Club and Oakwood Country Club.
“The Northwest Oklahoma Association of Realtors is involved in many community projects, and we hope to do even more this year,” Forbeck said.
“We look forward to the arrival of new leadership and have had a great year,” Brennan said.