By William Jones

Raelenna Ferguson has been working in real estate for the last 22 years. She is based in Southeast Missouri, where she was born and raised, and she owns EPM Real Estate, the boutique brokerage she founded in 2023. Alongside her husband, Jeremy, she also oversees EPM Real Estate’s sister company, Executive Property Management, the Property Management Company they have owned since 2010.

She entered the industry at just 27 years old, making her one of the youngest agents in her area at the time. She had no college degree and no prior real estate experience, only what she calls the “College of Life.” Even so, she earned Rookie of the Year in her first full year and has stayed at the top of her market ever since. Over time, she has built a career grounded in honesty, hard work, attention to detail, and a steady commitment to the people she works with.

Today, Raelenna is known in her community in a few different ways. Some know her as the “go getter” Realtor, others see her as a community advocate, and others know her through her work with animal rescue. She says what she is most proud of is when people know her as all three.

Starting Young in a Demanding Industry

Part of her drive came from necessity. Raelenna became a single mom at 18, and work was not optional for her. “I didn’t have a choice to fail, and work was necessary to survive,” she said. That early experience shaped how she approaches her career today, although the meaning of work has changed for her. She is no longer just trying to get through and survive. She now describes herself as thriving and passionate about sharing what she has learned with the agents at her brokerage, now pouring into them and leading them to success.

Building a Boutique Brokerage

EPM Real Estate was created with a specific intention. Raelenna wanted to operate differently from the larger firms that in the past have dominated the industry. She built it as a Boutique Style brokerage that focuses on personalized service rather than volume. The team works to understand what each client actually needs, and the strategies are tailored from there. Eight full-time agents are licensed under her, and although they do not run as a team in the traditional sense, the group closed over $83 million in sales in 2025. She mentions this not as a boast but as something that means a lot to her, especially because they reached that number while staying true to the niche boutique model and only in their 2nd year of the brokerage

A Strategic Approach to Every Listing

Her approach to listings is detailed and deliberate. “I am very strategic, I think and overthink almost all things,” she explained. When she takes on a new listing, she begins by thinking carefully about the marketing first. The photos, the wording, the way the home is presented on social media, all of it is intentional. “I like to know what the sellers favorite parts of the home are and use that, and lean into more of the emotional side, not just the facts.” She is also particular about how a home looks before it goes on the market. She has her own crew of painters, powerwashers, and cleaners that she works with to make sure each listing is ready before buyers see it.

Two decades of community involvement have given her a wide network in Southeast Missouri, and she leans on it often. Raelenna has thrived in this industry by combining business and life, she really does not see a separation, the two go together for her. In a smaller market, she said, knowing people matters, and caring about and giving back to your community is important. She is just as comfortable working with a first time buyer looking at a $75,000 home as she is with a client looking at a $1.5 million property. “People are people,” she said, and her job is to treat each one with the same level of diginty, respect and effort.

Life Beyond Real Estate

Outside of Real Estate, Raelenna is the mother of five children and is heavily involved in her community. In 2017, she and Jeremy founded a local Non Profit originally called One City, now known as Grace Recovery. She sits on Grace Recovery board and is currently the project manager for a sober living home for women that the organization is opening in 2026. She also fosters cats through Southeast Missouri Pets, where she serves on the Board of Directors. She jokes that she has a constant rotation of foster cats at her house and is a self proclaimed “cat hustler.”

She has been recognized along the way for her work in the community as well as her career. She received the Missouri State Realtor Good Neighbor Award in 2018, the Southeast Missouri Board of Realtors Community Award in 2019, and she has consistently earned Top agent recognition within her local MLS for over 20 years.

Steady Growth and a Lasting Foundation

In 2014, she broke the all-time sales record for an individual agent in her MLS, reaching $21 million. In 2021, she closed the largest single transaction in her MLS history, totaling $7.1 million. In 2022, she surpassed her own record, achieving $23.4 million in individual agent sales and just this past year in 2025, she once again broke the record again, selling over $28 million dollars.

This past year, Executive Property Management, her Property Management company, has also reached a notable point, now managing over 1,000 properties, the largest portfolio in the region. Raelenna’s husband, Jeremy runs the daily operations, and the company built its reputation on upper end rentals and college housing. When Raelenna speaks about her biggest professional achievement, she points to leaving the brokerage where she had spent 18 years to start her own, and the 8 agents who entrust her as their broker and leader. She is honored to lead her agents: Bridgett and Brandon Kielfhoner, Ashley Cross, Presley Angle, McKelvey Steger, Dana Shirrell, Kara Nesbitt and Taylor Kielhofner.

After 22 years in the business, what stands out about Raelenna is the consistency of how she shows up for her clients, her agents, and her community.