At the beginning of last year, Ashton Theiss started her own brokerage, The Ashton Agency. Just 18 months later the firm is on track to finish its second year with $100 million in production. In May, Theiss closed a huge deal on the Piedra Valley Rach property in Pagosa Spring, Colorado, that had been listed for $33.9 million.
“That certainly was a milestone deal,” Thiess says. “It was a really cool transaction to be a part of.”
The Ashton Agency has established a mix of business in both the residential market as well as land and ranch properties. Many of its clients are Texas buyers looking for second homes. Theiss estimates that more than 75 percent of them want something within two hours of home. That prompted her to become licensed in Oklahoma. She later added a Colorado license to help clients looking for properties in that area.
A Blessing in Disguise
In hindsight, Thiess says that starting a brokerage during the pandemic may have turned out to have been a blessing in disguise.
The unexpected situation allowed her to spend more time getting things hashed out and established the way she wanted. She was set on building her brokerage from the ground up without any franchising or affiliations.
“That’s the only way I wanted to do it,” says. “I wanted to make sure it was done the way I’ve done my business. It was a long process, but I really feel good about where we are. We now have seven agents and two staff members.”
An Unconventional Path
Theiss’ path to real estate is unique, to say the least. Growing up, she competed in pageants for 11 years, including Miss Texas USA. During that time she participated in competitions on the local, state, and national levels.
“It was a great experience,” she says. “I can say that so many of my friendships and my network come from those experiences and the relationships that I built over that time. I’m super, super grateful for that experience.”
A native of Hockley, a town to the northwest of Houston, Theiss first moved to North Texas as a student at TCU. Near the end of her senior year, she realized she wanted to have a job where she was her own boss, and where her success would be entirely dependent upon her work. She earned her real estate license a month after graduation when she was 22. By her 29th birthday, she was one of the youngest, if not the youngest, female broker-owners in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
About five years into her career, Theiss become the farm and ranch specialist for the company she was working for at the time. It’s a part of the business she has come to love and quickly excelled in. Today she is proud to have found success in a part of the business that is overwhelmingly dominated by men.
From Reality to Her Dream
While working in real estate Theiss was also a contestant on ABC’s Amazing Race show in 2017. After seeing one of her friends on the show a few years back, she and another friend decided they wanted to do the show together and submitted an email on a whim. The producers called back, but since it was a season of individuals contestants instead of pairs, Theiss competed on her own. She traveled to stops in, Panama, Brazil, Tanzania, Norway, and Italy before being eliminated.
A couple of years later, she received a call out of the blue to be on an episode of the HGTV show My Lottery Dream House. She helped a professional poker player and his family find their Fort Worth dream house.
Helping others find their dream house is what Theiss is firmly focused on these days. She believes that the D-FW area has lack of quality boutique brokerages. She also thinks there are agents who want that kind of experience and culture.
Opportunities Ahead
Looking ahead, she plans to continue expanding her ranch and land business while maintaining her presence in residential. She has another potential $35 million deal listing on the horizon that she hopes to announce soon.
Theiss says she says she has no desire to ever become a massive brokerage. Instead, she hopes to grow the business with a quality over quantity approach. She has no regrets about starting her own company and really couldn’t see herself doing anything else
“I feel like this isn’t just for me. It’s for my team and my future team being able to have a home that‘s missing in the market,” she says. “It’s been incredible. There have been lots of growing pains for sure, but I have some incredible people with me.”
