Sunday, October 22, 2006

Life is “Simply the Best” for 2006 HAR Chair Lorraine Abercrombie by K. Pica Kahn


Lorraine Abercrombie is simply the best and she carries this theme through her whole life.

As the 2006 Chair of the Houston Association of Realtors®, Abercrombie brings to the position class, caring and creative genius.

Born in New Orleans, she would move to Houston at the age of 8 moving to Virginia for boarding school at the age of 15.

Attending LSU and the American College in London, she would return to Houston where she worked at Neiman Marcus. A fashion merchandising major in college, Abercrombie learned early on that retail wasn’t for her, “I knew I just wasn’t cut out for retail. My father was a contractor and large property owner in the French quarter and did a lot of historical renovations and rentals.”

That was her entry into the world of real estate, and she has combined the two parts of her background-fashion merchandising and real estate into her professional life.

She obtained her license 20 years ago.

She now uses her creativity in both her position as director of marketing for Greenwood King Properties as well as her position as Chair of HAR.

Taking the helm unexpectedly a year early, Abercrombie was up to the task. She didn’t hesitate to jump in and begin her tenure. Believing in her work and in the association, she takes pride in HAR.

“We are so blessed to have a board and staff like no other association of its type in the country. We are the model for real estate boards across the U.S.. The website has won awards, and has one of the largest world-class boards in the country following only Long Island in size. I am honored to be chair for this year.

Abercrombie got involved in HAR seven years ago when HAR.com was considering doing customized websites for local brokers.

“We wanted the Greenwood King website to be updated often, and we wanted a customized site. We were one of the only customized sites in the city of Houston at that time. Our website was designed by our local in-house designer working hand in hand with HAR. Technology brought me into HAR. I wasn’t on the board, but was working closely with the technology department, when they asked me to become more involved. It was quite an honor.”

“HAR Houston is so far ahead of others in staff and members. We own a production studio to shoot stills and video. We have billboards, ads on TV, and in the Chronicle. The real estate industry in being attacked by the community, but HAR is very proactive at showing how much money people save by working with a realtor.

“Most realtors are unaware of how lucky they are to have all the advertising means at their hands. With the web, TV there is so much. In order to have a first-class association you must hire a world-class staff that is exceptional. When it comes to customer service they are on par with the Ritz Carlton. They return you phone calls within a nana second. There is nothing they cannot do, even if they have to work all night. They never say something is impossible.

“I guess you would say they are simply the best which is the theme this year.
When we go to conferences, we have a greater appreciation for what we do. People come from all over the country to see what we have developed and are overwhelmed by our technological advances.”

Although she brings many things to the position at HAR, her technology is one of her strongest qualities. She believes that what the organization has brought to the city is “phenomenal.” And anything she has learned at HAR she has immediately brought into her own company as marketing director of Greenwood King.

By the time she found her way to the HAR board, she was well established in the real estate industry. Working for Greenwood King in Memorial/Tanglewood area for the last 16 years, she takes her experience in marketing to HAR.

“In my position as the head of marketing, I oversee direct mailings, special projects; I do a lot of training and help to improve their branding through HAR technology. We have three locations-the Heights, Kirby and Voss. The Kirby office has 70 agents and the Voss location has 50 agents. Our Heights location with 20 agents is in an Historic home. I love what I do. Every day is different.”

And apparently she is very good at what she does. Julie Greenwood and Linda King, partners in Greenwood King Properties could not agree more. “We are extremely proud of Lorraine for both her leadership position with HAR and additionally for the wonderful contributions that she makes to the community. For the past fifteen years, Lorraine has served an invaluable role with Greenwood King as a manager and head of our marketing department.”

According to Bob Hale/President/CEO Houston Association of Realtors, Lorraine Abercrombie has done an absolutely amazing job as the 2006 Chair of the Houston Association of Realtors®.

“This past year has been one of significant growth for the industry and our Association, as we added more than 3,000 new members in 2006, and Lorraine never wavered in her commitment to making the Association “Simply the Best” for both members and consumers. She is truly the epitome of a graceful, decisive leader, and the 25,000 Realtors in the greater Houston area are fortunate to have benefited from her leadership.”

Others couldn’t agree more. “Lorraine is simply the best, classy, smart and eloquent,” said Robert D. Cook/Robert Cook Properties/2006 HAR Chair-Elect.

Married nine years ago to Memorial builder John Abercrombie, she lives her work and is proud to bring it home. She and her husband talk about work 24 hours a day.

“He is simple divine and he thinks my company is great, very professional.”

The couple doesn’t do everything together however. She doesn’t join him on his hunting and fishing trips. This doesn’t mean that she isn’t as involved as her angler husband. A master scuba diver, she loves to travel. “It energizes me,” she said. “It helps in my quest to be simply the best.”

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