Jack and Gloria Koke have seen first-hand how Gretna has grown throughout many years in real estate.

“I was going through some of our old stuff, and I found a picture of a Gretna boy riding a horse where Phillips 66 is now,” Jack said. “It had a population sign of 440 for Gretna.”

When Jack graduated from Gretna High School 1955, he had 16 students in his class. Gloria had 18 in hers.

“Our grandson has over 400 in his grade,” Jack said.

This month, Jack is celebrating the start of his 50th year selling real estate in Gretna. Gloria will begin her 50th year next month.

“When we first started, some of these new construction homes were selling for $18,950 brand new,” Jack said. “The same homes today are selling for $200,000.” Jack said Gretna was always popular because of the school district so as he continued selling real estate, he continues to see more and more houses being built and more and more people moving to town.

Jack’s grandfather and his uncle were the original developers of Gretna, so real estate came naturally to him.

“A lot of these subdivisions in Gretna are called Langdon Brothers editions,” Jack said. “That was my grandpa and his brother, which maybe that’s how I got into real estate.”

Before entering the real estate business, Jack farmed with his dad and his uncle.

“I went into real estate because a gentleman from Omaha would come out here to visit me and wanted me to go into real estate,” Jack said. “I thought ‘Oh, I’d never do that.’ One thing led to another and he talked me into joining Harney Realty.”

He added: “It was probably one of the best decisions I ever made.”

Harney Realty was an Omaha-based company that was eventually taken over by the Kokes and moved to Gretna in 1987.

The business started in downtown Gretna off McKenna Avenue. The office was then moved to Village Square, where it remained for 22 years. About 12 years ago, the Kokes moved their office into their home.

“There’s a lot more people getting into real estate these days,” Jack said.

Recently, there were 100 houses pending sales in Gretna and only another 22 on the market.

“When I first started selling real estate in Gretna, we didn’t have maps,” Jack said. “We didn’t have anything. It was just who lived next door to who.”

Jack remembers trying to give directions to an Omaha real estate agent on how to find a house in town.

“She said, ‘Well how do you find Gretna?’” he said.

The Kokes’ business has gone from walk-in traffic only to internet listings and scheduling appointments. Jack said it was once 95% walk-ins, but now it’s only 5%.

The real estate business used to print listings in a book that would be published every two weeks.

“Now, you go on the internet and you find what’s out there,” Jack said. “You better run and hurry because some have multiple offers already.”

The cheapest house currently listed in Gretna is $300,000. Jack said the average time on the market is two to three days after listing a home for sale. When he first started in real estate, houses would be on the market for two to three months, if not more.

“My very first listing was 20 acres with a house and a barn,” Jack said. “We listed it for $20,000 and sold it for $18,500.”

Back then, Jack said it was a big deal to sell a total of $1 million worth of real estate. Now, just about any real estate agent can do that in a matter of days.

“You take $18,000 to $20,000 houses, you had to sell a lot of properties to reach that milestone,” Jack said. “In the month of February, we totaled over $1 million in just three sales.”

Jack has thoroughly enjoyed the real estate business, specifically working in real estate in Gretna.

At the time the Kokes started selling real estate, Gretna was eligible for the Farmers Home Administration. First-time home buyers with lower income could get interest rates as low as 1%.

“Most of our sales back in the day were first time home buyers that could qualify for that,” Jack said.

Jack said most of his customers now aren’t first time home buyers unless they are recommended by family or friends who have used Harney Realty for home buying in the past.

“There’s been a lot of great people in Gretna who have done business with us,” Jack said. “We’ve done business with multiple generations of families in Gretna.”

Jack enjoys seeing his customers come back to him from generation to generation.

“It’s always great to work with all of those people,” Jack said.

Jack hasn’t kept track of how many total houses he’s sold in the Gretna area, but at his peak he was selling more than 325 houses, farms and lots in a year.

“We don’t do quite that much anymore,” Jack said. “Gretna is just a great community to be from.”

Jack and Gloria plan to continue selling real estate in Gretna as long as they are able to because they truly enjoy what they do.

“I’m too young to retire,” Jack said. “I’m only 82.”

This story first appeared in The Gretna Guide & News and was shared through a partnership with The Daily Record. Find more at gretnaguide.com.