Marylou Frost Finds Success as Real Estate Agent at 64

Marylou Frost waited until she was 64 to become a real estate agent, a decision that has since defined her career and made her one of the top-producing agents at EXIT Realty Group in Trenton, Ontario. The timing turned out to be just right.

Frost first considered real estate decades ago at a career fair. Sitting nearby with a friend, the two imagined selling homes in their community. “You’re 21, and you’re thinking you’re the best thing since sliced bread,” Frost recalled with a laugh. Then came the word that quickly snapped them back to reality: commission. “When you grow up, payday’s on Friday,” she said. “The word commission was so foreign to us, we just went, ‘Holy jumping!’ It just wasn’t in my mindset.” Frost walked away from the idea for decades.

Real estate never completely disappeared from her mind. She was fascinated by homes, enjoyed learning about the people who built them, and over the years she and her husband, who worked in construction, renovated and flipped properties. Instead of a career change, she spent years running a successful in-home daycare with her daughter. Then, one day, she decided it was time. “I never checked the market. I never set a goal,” she said. “My goal was, ‘I’m gonna get my licence,’ she said, adding that she spent many long evenings devoted to her studies.

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Today, at 74, she averages about 50 transactions a year as a solo agent. Frost acknowledges that she entered real estate at a fortunate time, with her career taking off as the housing market began its long climb. But she doesn’t credit the market alone for her success. Referrals quickly became a major source of business, she said, helped by a steady presence in the community.

“I think it was a whole combination of things,” she said. “People became very familiar with me, whether they knew me or not.” While many agents today focus on digital marketing, Frost says some of her earliest clients came from far simpler methods. She’d print basic flyers on plain paper and deliver them herself to neighbourhood mailboxes.

“It was not flattering. It was not anything, but I’ll tell you, those pieces of paper—I have made deals from.” Her advice to young agents is not to be focused on the “razzle dazzle,” as she puts it, but to lean into what actually works. “We don’t have to be covered in gold. Those simple little pieces of paper – concise, printable … get your name out there, and run around neighbourhood,” she said. She said she built her business up not in droves, but with consistency, which has ended up paying off.

“In my career, I knew how to sell, how to hustle, how to do everything. Then, when the market quieted and slowed, I wasn’t frazzled because I had the experience and the tools to ride the wave.”

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A surprising secret weapon

Frost says she’s always tried to stand out with her marketing. Long before ready-made templates and AI tools, she designed her own mailers and feature sheets from scratch. These days, she has help from an enthusiastic collaborator: her 19-year-old granddaughter, Clare Frost, whom she’s brought on as an assistant.

Frost describes Clare as her “little sidekick,” helping bring marketing ideas to life while introducing her grandmother to new digital tools. The two regularly bounce ideas off one another. Clare, who is studying business, marketing and communications in college, has also begun taking her real estate courses.

Paying it forward

Community involvement has been a constant throughout her career, earning her a nomination for CREA’s 2026 Realtors Care Award. Among the causes closest to her heart is Women Inspiring Women, an annual event she founded to celebrate female entrepreneurship and bring together women-owned businesses, sponsors and members of the community.

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Proceeds support the Women Inspiring Women bursary at Loyalist College, which helps female students entering the Business and Marketing program. Since its launch, the initiative has raised thousands of dollars for the scholarship. In 2026 alone, the event raised $10,000. Combined with a $2,000 contribution from the Spirit of EXIT Charitable Program, the total donation reached $12,000—enough to support three additional students this fall.

“I’m very, very proud of it. I’m not going to lie,” she said. Frost’s volunteer work also extends to organizations, including the Kinsmen Club of Trenton and the Frankford Huskies Jr. C Hockey Club.

Frost says she isn’t looking to retire any time soon. What keeps her motivated is supporting her granddaughter through her studies, as well as her steady business. “I was super quiet and had to go back and start pounding the pavement and starting fresh, I’d probably go, ‘Mmmm, maybe not,’” she said. “But because my business is what it is, I’m quite happy with it.”