Johnny Leonard has been recognized by his colleagues in real estate as a “Realtor Emeritus.”

“Do you know what emeritus means?” Leonard asks. “Well, I didn’t. I had to go look it up.”

What he learned was his newly acquired status, as bestowed upon him by The National Association of Realtors, is both fitting and complimentary.

Still, Leonard will only admit to being “semi-retired,” even though he already has 40 years, in real estate, to his credit.

“I’m somewhat of a consultant now,” he says. One can still make an appointment with him, sit down and visit about real estate investments, transactions or just talk about business and community changes, any day, at his Century 21 Group One office just off the Route 66 service road in south Claremore.

A look around Leonard’s wood-paneled getaway, tucked inside the decades-old building, reveals family photos and momentos of years spent buying and selling houses, land, farms, ranches and businesses, not only in Rogers County, but throughout northeast Oklahoma.

“It’s a family-owned business,” Leonard explains. A business, he says, he would encourage a young person to consider even in today’s sometimes volatile economic marketplace. His son Stormy Leonard is following in his footsteps.

Leonard admits the real estate business has had some fat years and some lean years. He’s lived and worked through them all.

He puts the last 40 years into perspective:

“I was licensed in 1966, and my license number was 21084,” he said. That means he was the 21,084th person to become a licensed real estate agent since the state started issuing such credentials in 1950.

Compare that to one of his more recently licensed colleague’s number — 155,018.

Leonard recalls that in the mid-1960s, the average price of a home was around $18,000. “I’ll say $20,000 for a home in Tulsa.” he says.

“Today our average selling price is $160,000.

“Appraisals were $25 to $30 each, back then. Now, one will cost you $350 to $400,” he continues. “Average building costs were $8 a square foot. Now, you pay $90 to $100 for non-luxury construction.”