Luke Robb, a senior at shares an office at Mid-America Land Services with his dad. Luke is currently a senior at Fr. Tolton Catholic High School.
Luke Robb works on his laptop on Jan. 31, at Mid America Land Services in Columbia, Mo. Robb prepared a slideshow showing examples of properties he oversees.
Luke Robb sits across the room from his father at their joint real estate business, Mid America Land Services.
Luke Robb holds a pitching wedge at Mid America Land Services in Columbia. Luke has played golf at Fr. Tolton Catholic High School.
Luke Robb’s putting green stretches across the office floor. He said he likes to putt and pitch while considering real estate business deals.
Luke Robb’s real estate certification hangs on the wall at the Mid America Land Services office in Columbia. At 17, Robb was the youngest Missouri resident to be licensed as a real estate agent.
Luke Robb, a senior at shares an office at Mid-America Land Services with his dad. Luke is currently a senior at Fr. Tolton Catholic High School.
Luke Robb works on his laptop on Jan. 31, at Mid America Land Services in Columbia, Mo. Robb prepared a slideshow showing examples of properties he oversees.
Luke Robb sits across the room from his father at their joint real estate business, Mid America Land Services.
Luke Robb holds a pitching wedge at Mid America Land Services in Columbia. Luke has played golf at Fr. Tolton Catholic High School.
Luke Robb’s putting green stretches across the office floor. He said he likes to putt and pitch while considering real estate business deals.
Luke Robb’s real estate certification hangs on the wall at the Mid America Land Services office in Columbia. At 17, Robb was the youngest Missouri resident to be licensed as a real estate agent.
When a phone rings during class, most students at Fr. Tolton Catholic High School would let it go to voicemail.
But when senior Luke Robb’s rings in the middle of English class, he asks to step out.
“I tell the teacher I’m going to the bathroom, but really, I’m standing in the halls, dealing deals on the phone,” he said.
Recently Luke was in the midst of a 27-acre land sale in Versailles, Missouri. He took the hall pass, finished the call and walked back into class.
“With real estate, you never know when you’re working,” he said. “It could be during the middle of English class. It could be at 7 p.m. It could be on the golf course.”
Luke, now 18, made history last year as the youngest person in Missouri to get his real estate license. He finished real estate school when he was 17, passed the exams, turned 18 in November and started working.
He’s still in high school, but he works at least 20 hours a week selling real estate.
Luke shares an office at Mid America Land Services with his father, Mark Robb, also a real estate agent. Mark takes on the farm and ranch sales; Luke handles the commercial side.
Right now, Luke is working on nine separate deals, as well as collaborating with his father.
“It’s exciting working with your son,” Mark Robb said. “It’s definitely rewarding to see him expand his wings on new things and bring new deals to the table that I hadn’t found yet. So, it’s awesome.”
In June, Luke hatched a plan for a big deal while in Springfield where he lived alone for a while to attend real estate school. On his morning coffee runs, he favored 7 Brew Coffee and decided Columbia could use one.
So, he contacted the coffee company, worked his way up the chain of command, scouted a building in Columbia, worked out the details, made an offer and the deal should close in April.
The old Lutz’s BBQ on Nifong Boulevard would become a new 7 Brew, ideally opening in mid-summer.
“Each and every day in this game is never the same,” he said. “It’s not always office work.”
Sometimes it’s driving long distances to meet an auctioneer or checking out a farm. Sometimes it’s examining a building or calling up clients.
“You wake up every morning not knowing what you’re going to be doing.”
With his plate full, Luke requires organization all the time.
“I’m a big believer in ‘you’re a product of your environment,’” Luke said.
Thus, he always keeps his room tidy. A discarded coat immediately goes in the closet, which has been organized into categories — coats, flannels, jerseys, shirts.
Every night, he lays out his school uniform, brushes his teeth and sets his alarm, parking it all the way across the room so there’s no snooze button.
In the morning, he just has to grab his lunch and a cup of coffee and head out the door at 8:45 a.m. for school.
Until 3:15 p.m., Luke’s day is filled with classes — graphic design, science and religion, college algebra and, his favorite, Vietnam studies.
He typically gets to the real estate office by 4 p.m. His dad never has to drag him to work.
“It’s ‘When are we going to the office?’ It’s ‘Give me a key to the office,’ it’s ‘Oh, let’s get copies of the keys,’” Luke said. “I love business.”
But always, his education comes before his job. It’s caused him to miss out on some deals, but Luke said school and grades are more important.
In high school, Luke has taken a number of business classes with teacher Ehrich Chick, who describes him as a go-getter. The pair have had many in-depth business conversations, even after class is dismissed.
“There’s just something about his brain and business itself that, you know… He has that ‘it factor,’ basically,” Chick said.
Once, Luke joked that Chick should let him him teach the class. So the teacher gave him a fresh topic and opened up the floor.
Chick said his jaw dropped. Luke not only conquered the challenge of teaching something new, but he also made it fun for his classmates.
The teacher was taken aback. The value of a hands-on approach was never more apparent. As for Luke, Chick was struck: “This kid is kind of a real deal with this. He knows what he’s talking about, which is very rare for a teenager.”
When not occupied with work or school, Luke finds himself in the great outdoors. He loves to hunt, fish, play golf and spend time with family and friends. He also plays pool and builds large LEGO models.
“I’m not just a real estate agent at the end of the day,” he said. It’s just another tool in his belt.
Mom Danette Robb explained, “Luke’s always been that kid that if he says he wants to do something, he’ll do it.”
Real estate isn’t his first business gig. An entrepreneur since middle school, he’s sold candy and soda, resold high-end tennis shoes and performed manual labor for four years through Luke’s Lawn and Leisure.
His mother calls it pretty unusual for kids these days. “I see Luke making his own way, making his own name, chasing down his own clients,” she said. “He’s a really hard worker.”
A lot of his classmates don’t know what to think about him, Luke acknowledged. Many kids his age might go to parties on Friday nights, but spending time outside or with his family is more to his taste.
“Some kids would say I’m weird,” Luke said. “I say I’m eccentric.”
Next fall, he plans to take that spirit to the University of Tennessee. Not only is orange his mom’s favorite color, but he is excited to jump into the finance program there, and the nearby Smoky Mountains are bewitching.
For him, it all goes back to being a product of his environment, and Tennessee is the next environment for him.
His father will lose a business partner, his brother will gain a spare bedroom and Luke will discover what comes next for him in business and finance.
“If I want to be in the business world, I want to understand money,” Luke said. “That’s just an environment I’d love to be around for the next four years and learn and grow.”
Last year, Dora Grafakos took home second place and a $4,000 scholarship at SkillsUSA National Commercial Baking competition.
Community reporter, spring 2023. Studying journalism and English. Reach me at fcs2d8@umsystem.edu, or in the newsroom at 882-5720.
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