Women in Business: Mimi Nolen - RealtySouth

With a decade of real estate experience, Mountain Brook resident Mimi Nolen is consistently ranked among the top 1% of all RealtySouth agents.

“Mimi understands the needs of her clients and has built a booming business among the 20, 30, 40-year-old Birmingham buyers,” said Jan Camp, managing broker of RealtySouth’s Mountain Brook office at 2807 Cahaba Road.

“When it comes down to the heart of real estate, it’s really about the people, and I have met some amazing friends that I would never have had the opportunity to meet in another career,” Nolen said.

A Mountain Brook High School and University of Georgia alum, Nolen sold her first property not long after graduating college. She comes from a family of attorneys and considered following in their footsteps, but she found that real estate brought together her love for sales and negotiations. 

After three years working with Ingram, Nolen made the move to RealtySouth, where she sells houses in Mountain Brook, Homewood, Forest Park, Crestline Park and across Birmingham. Nolen said the Golden Rule is one of her guiding principles: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

“When we go into transactions representing a buyer or a seller, if we’re just out for ourselves and have no respect for what’s going on with the other side, those deals tend not to work out,” Nolen said.

Being a real estate agent feels a lot like “conducting an orchestra,” Nolen said, because she has to bring together buyer and seller, closing companies, insurance providers, inspectors and the many variables of the housing market. But when it all comes together, it’s always a victory.

“It’s such an honor to be in people’s lives, whether it’s a first time buyer or a downsizer, while they make one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives.”

Nolen said she particularly enjoys the chance to work with people moving to Birmingham from other cities or states. She gets to act as an ambassador for the city and provide information on schools, restaurants and anything else to make sure the city, not just the home, is the right fit.

“Being born and raised in Birmingham, I want the brightest to be here. So when somebody is telling me they’re choosing between Birmingham and Nashville and they’re choosing this week, my competitive juices really rev up,” Nolen said.

Camp, who has been with RealtySouth since 1998, said Nolen is not only a talented agent, but also a great coworker.

“She is fun, she’s a team player, she is positive. She looks for solutions,” Camp said. “If I could clone her, I would clone her.”

For most of her career, Nolen’s business has entirely been based on referrals from previous clients. She said families looking to buy or sell a home should take the time to find an agent that is a great personality fit for them and their needs. That makes the entire process easier, and Nolen said she always strives to fulfill each client’s needs.

“It’s a really gratifying feeling leaving a closing table knowing my client’s home is going to make a positive impact on their daily life. It is about more than bricks and mortar,” Nolen said.

Just as Nolen has learned from the guidance of many mentors in her career, she strives to be a role model for others, especially her two daughters. She frequently goes back to advice her father gave many years ago.

“My dad, who is an attorney, once told me that the most important business you have is the business currently on your desk. I really took that to heart and try my very best to work 200 percent for whomever I’m working for at the time, and the rest just seems to take care of itself,” Nolen said.