by Fred Seely, Editor
All she wanted was a part time job. “A few years out of college and my daughter had arrived,” said Dale Orr. “I wanted to have some hours, but that was it.”
She answered an ad. A mortgage brokerage needed a part time assistant.
She got the job. Six months later, they talked her into going full-time. Five years later, she was a part owner of the company.
“And that was my start,” said Orr, who now lives in Jacksonville and heads another company, VyStar Title, part of the giant financial services company that started as the Jacksonville Navy Federal Credit Union.
When her career started, Orr and her husband were in Atlanta, the favored spot for University of Georgia grads like themselves. They stayed there 15 years before they decided to move to Jacksonville in 2003, to be closer to family.
A job? She interviewed with the credit union and got a biggie: vice president of mortgage lending.
As always, one thing led to another and today she’s running the title company with a staff of 10 on Jacksonville’s west side.
“It was a change to go from the origination side,” she said. “It’s a big operation — we do over 1,000 closings a year — and we have to be lean and mean.”
Her work isn’t limited to VyStar members or agents — anyone can use the title company.
And, of course, she faces the same challenges that all others in her field have.
“Communication with real estate agents, that’s No. 1,” she said. “If they have a closing coming, they need to call if they have any issues at all and let us help.
“Doing it right, too. A closing is a big challenge for sellers and buyers. There are so many rules and regulations involved that there’s a blizzard of paperwork. We take the time to make sure everyone understands what they’re signing. We can’t give legal advice, of course, but we can review the documents. It doesn't matter if the process takes 15 minutes or three hours, we’re going to make sure everyone is comfortable.”
Orr finds time to play tennis and she’s on the board of the Rotary Club of Riverside. The daughter is now teaching in North Carolina and their son is a college student at Georgia Southern. Husband Scott is a sales trainer for Florida Pest Control.
And, they remain “big Georgia Bulldog fans,” going to Athens for games and annually hosting a big party here during the Georgia-Florida football weekend.