ENCINITAS — San Dieguito High School Academy graduate Beth Van Boxtel is a woman on the go who is raking up the accolades. The 35-year-old realtor recently won three big local awards and has broken sales records in two markets.
In January Van Boxtel won two awards in real estate — Top 5% realtor in San Diego County, for individuals selling at least $15 million to $24 million or 15-24 units; and Top 40 under 40. She said no other Encinitas agents won Top 40 under 40 in San Diego County.
“I feel like the awards are a symbol of how hard I’ve been working these past several years. Each year has been better than the last,” she said. “I now have a formula to list homes for sale that make them stand out against the rest. I broke sales records last year in Oceanside and Vista with two listings. I have also helped lots of home buyers with writing creative offers that stand out in a multiple bidding situation on a popular home.”
Van Boxtel began her real estate career working for a top real estate agent in Rancho Santa Fe, then for an agent in Carmel Valley before going out on her own and joining Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty. She’s worked as a realtor in Encinitas for seven years.
“I am so passionate about our city so it’s really easy to sell homes in a place that I love,” she said, adding that she sold 25 homes last year.
She also became a first-time homebuyer last year. She bought a twin home in Village Park last April which had 11 offers on it. She remodeled the home and moved into it in November. She’s now working on revamping her garden and patio.
Van Boxtel became a member of the American Rose Society (ARS) a few years ago and recently won the organization’s Rising Star Award.
“This was a big honor and I’m so thankful,” she said. “Growing roses is one of my favorite hobbies. I didn’t have a green thumb before I grew roses, but now I have more than 60 roses, and collecting roses gets addicting. Pruning and maintaining them is therapeutic for me.”
She says she’s a fan of roses with striking color and lots of petals and her favorite blooms are Chihuly, Ring of Fire, Paradise, Earth Angel and Distant Drums. She names Carding Mill and Neil Diamond as her two favorite fragrant roses.
Van Boxtel said she’s interested in growing the community of rose enthusiasts in San Diego and says she’s so inspired by ARS president Bob Martin’s Escondido garden of more than 500 roses.
“I love caring for roses, I love exhibiting my roses at rose show competitions, I love the idea of hybridizing new roses, and I love collecting rare roses at auctions and roses from long-time rose growers that can no longer care for their roses,” she said. “I have had great joy being in the company of other rosarians.”
Van Boxtel runs the website and social media for the San Diego Rose Society and is also planning a big event at the peak bloom season at the Balboa Park Rose Garden on June 14.
In addition to real estate and roses, Van Boxtel volunteers with Casa de Amparo, which supports those affected by child abuse and neglect, and Solutions for Change, which helps families affected by homelessness. She’s also the San Dieguito 2002 class rep and helps organize her class reunions.
“I organized the 10-year reunion in 2012 with the help of a few of my best friends,” she said. “It was a great turn out. We sold about 80 tickets and had people fly from across the country to attend.”
She said the reunion was at the Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club and they served burritos from Rico’s Taco Shop in Encinitas. She added that she’s starting to plan the 20-year reunion for 2022.
Van Boxtel also mentors two college students, from Cal State San Marcos and USD.
“I love being a mentor,” she said. “I think having a mentor, especially in college, is critical to figuring out the next steps after college. Mentoring two students keeps me accountable and it pushes me to work harder and set a good example for them.”
All this and she also speaks five languages. In college, she took classes in Spanish, Italian, French, German, and Mandarin Chinese. She said she’s fluent in Spanish.
“I like to push myself,” she said.
