By Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Grace Lipman has always felt it was her duty to perform community service.
From her early years visiting nursing homes to her adult career as a Realtor and now as the incoming president of the Amelia Island/Nassau County Board of Realtors, she has just felt it was the right thing to do.
“I’ve have been a very active volunteer all of my life from the time I was a young woman,” said Lipman, a Realtor with Century 21 John T. Ferreira & Son, Inc in Fernandina Beach. “I was always volunteering in a nursing homes or entertaining the sick and elderly by singing. It is who I am. Do I have the time? No, I absolutely do not have the time. But, I very strongly feel that it is up to each individual to do what they can for their industry and their community.”
Lipman initially got involved in the board on the activities committee because another agent asked her to serve with her. Eventually, Lipman was nominated to serve as president-elect. She takes office in January.
As the new president, Lipman is going to focus on getting more of the membership involved in the local and state association.
“I’m going to do it one-on-one,” said Lipman. “I’m going to set up meetings with brokers and agents and explain to them why it is important to get involved with their local association. We have a lot of new members who are new to the industry and they don’t have a clue what the association is about.”
Lipman feels it is her responsibility to educate them and tell them what’s in it for them.
Many, she said, are new to the area or new to the association and feel that because they are new, that they are not welcome.
“That is just not true,” said Lipman. “They think they are not welcome or that they do not know enough, but we want to include them because the only way you can find out what goes on at the association is to participate. If you just come to one meeting a month and listen to what is said you don’t get the same value. We have a very short time to address the membership because we have a speaker and we have to eat. This is not the place.”
Lipman said participating in committees is a key.
“They are supposed to participate,” she said. “When we induct people into the membership, we tell them that their obligation is to participate. We want them and we need them. We want everyone’s input because there are different viewpoints and people have good ideas. It’s not a good thing to have the same people over and over running the show.”
This past year as president-elect, Lipman has spent the time preparing for her new role.
She has attended the Florida Association of Realtors and National Association of Realtors conventions to help her get ready.
“I basically listened and learned,” said Lipman. “Every now and then, there was a problem common to associations of any size that I was able to enter the conversation and comment on. But basically, I was there to pick up whatever information I could gather to help me with this upcoming year.”
She has also attended several leadership-training seminars that help prepare her for what is coming.
Lipman said John Lasserre of Curtiss Lasserre Realty, who will step down as president in January did a good job.
“He did a very good job,” said Lipman. “John was in a very difficult position. He is a very young man surrounded by us older Realtors. There is a big age gap and John has handled himself very admirably.”
Attending seminars and watching your former president is one way to prepare to take office. The other is preparing your business for your absence.
“I have a feeling that my business may suffer a little bit,” said Lipman. “I’m trying to bring in some help to prepare for that. I’m hoping to add another assistant this year to help me through the year. I realized I really didn’t have time for a lot this year and I think this coming year is going to be worse. I’m also trying to fill out my entire calendar for the next year this year with meetings that I would like to attend.”
Lipman feels that her position as president is to be a cheerleader to the members of the committees.
“I want to encourage them, compliment them when they do a good job, give them a boost and let them know that they are appreciated,” she said. “These people give hours and hours of their time and they are not being paid or compensated in any way shape or form. If you can give them a pat on the back every now and then you can make it a positive experience for them where they want to come to the committee and be involved.”
The Amelia Island/Nassau County Board of Realtors is a growing association with 250 members and 60 affiliates.
With such few members, it has allowed for a more intimate setting where Realtors can really get to know each other.
“It’s getting larger now,” said Lipman. “It’s getting to the point where there are faces that we can’t always connect to names. We need to do a better job of getting those people into committees and getting them involved.”
Even though the association is growing, don’t expect them to move to a new location any time soon. So far, they seem to average about 70 at each meeting who fit nicely into the association’s meeting room.
Since they are small, they also do not deal with the magnitude of problems that larger associations do.
“We are very fortunate that we don’t have a lot of the problems that big associations have,” she said. “There are associations that have thousands of members and I’ll go to committee meetings and they will complain that the same people over and over again run the association. We don’t have that. We have been very fortunate here where people step up and take their turn. Take your turn, do the best you can and then step down and let someone else take a turn.”
In addition to getting involved in the board itself, Lipman would also like to encourage more involvement in local politics.
“I would like them to be more active in items such as land use and to be a little more knowledgeable of what is happening in the area politically,” said Lipman.
Lipman started her real estate career many years ago in New Jersey.
“I got in it sort of backwards,” she said. “I started out in a salaried position with a builder as an assistant and his whole staff quit one day. I was able to hold the place together and not lose any business until he could be located. He said, ‘You did a heck of a job and if you want to get a real estate license, you can be my salesperson. So, I did’.”
She helped him with that project and then he gave her her own subdivision to sell. She eventually left the builder and became a general sales agent in a Century 21 office.
She sold real estate for 10 years before moving to Florida in 1989, but she didn’t want to sell real estate here because her licenses didn’t transfer and she would have to start all over from scratch.
“In New Jersey I was the manager of a Century 21 office and I would have to start all over from square one,” she said. “I was tired and burned out and I had three teenagers. One was headed to college, one was in high school and one was in middle school, so I just decided to take a break. I like to say I have been in the real estate business for 23 years with time off for good behavior.”
During her time away from real estate, she opened a business on Centre Street, The Classy Needle, a needlepoint and yarn shop.
Seven years ago, she got back into real estate with Century 21 John T. Ferreira & Son, Inc. and sold the shop.