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I developed my work ethic working
on the farm where we had lots of chores before and after school.
I wanted to become an entrepreneur.
I had no idea of what it meant,
or how to spell it,
but I knew I wanted to do something.
Ebby Halliday Realtors was founded
on the principals of service.
Service to the client,
Service to the association itself,
And service to the communities
in which we are involved.
And we were, very very fortunate
In that good people came to us.
I would tell them to sit across the desk,
and listen to me
and go with me and
and they would learn a lot about the business.
Now when I came on board, there were three offices,
and thirty five agents.
And so, I'd been listening to her,
I'd listen to her negotiate with people and do things...
It's kind of subliminal how much you learn with that.
And I said, "Ebby, we'e selling a lot of property in Richardson, Texas."
And Mary Frances came to me and said,
"Now, I will stay as your secretary if you want me to."
"But I would like the opportunity to go to Richardson,"
"and help open up that office."
I peeked over the guard wall and saw a light,
That women can make money,
be independent, and do very well.
And I said, "Mary Frances, I would just hate to lose you."
"And I want you to go to Richardson."
"But I know that you have the capacity to grow in this business,"
When I went to Richardson, we talked quite a bit.
But basically, she had, she had really trained me.
And she trusted me.
She had a good work ethic.
And she had all of the skills,
And she handled all of the people well.
If you look at the map,
done it progressively with where the market is.
You can see that we have
And, I spent a lot of time driving around,
Checking the market place.
Seeing where the retail strips had gone in,
Seeing where the builders were building houses
Checking to see where the employers were,
and how many they were hiring.
I brought the concept of computer back.
But Mary Frances is the one that understood it
and that really developed it.
So, we did some studies, two or three of us
about the software that was available.
And I started going to national meetings with her a couple of years after that
and I would hear all of the people. I would go to seminars,
and symposiums and forums and talk to people about what was going on.
We started our website in ’96. It is absolutely wonderful.
It’s one of the best marketing tools ever.
I have people walk at me or friends that say,
“I wanna buy the house on so and so.” And I say, “Just go to ebby.com,
type in the address and it will come up and tell you about the property...”
All of the things that I had been doing, she did better,
and-including, perhaps, the association work.
We need to give back to our community, give back to our association.
And we think it’s very, very important. And maybe it sets the pace. So, we encourage that.
Which with the wonderful help that and executives
that have been developed
under her guidance and with my approval.
It is not and has never been a one-person company.
It has been, truly, a team effort
The Ebby Halliday family has grown a lot.
In the 50th anniversary year June of 1995, we acquired the Ellen Terry firm.
And in May of this year, we acquired the Dave Perry-Miller & Associates firm.
We also have Home Team Mortgage, which is eleven years old.
We wanted our clients to have the best service possible from our offices.
We have an insurance agency,
So, we’re trying to make the process as smooth, as seamless, as effortless
as we can for our associates and, therefore, for buyers and sellers.
So, we think that this is a great team-
And she is my choice to take us on,
and Mary Frances is the great captain of that team.
since I’m 96 years of age.
I hope to be here at least for the Superbowl in 2011.
but Mary Frances is capable
of carrying this company on with the wonderful structure of people.
Over the years, we’ve seen alot of changes.
But one thing that’s always remained stable is this company.
And we have a lot of people who have 25 year pens for this company,
which says a lot.
And then we have 15-year pins. There’s a lot of those people, too.
So, it tells you that Ebby has been a pied piper, as she was for me for many, many years.
And so people come and they stay,
We're a rather large family, but we like each other.
We like the business, we like what we do.
And Ebby has left an imprint on all of us.
Which will continue.
And long after Ebby's gone and long after I'm gone,
We continue, because we are trying to put people in place,
who have the same work ethic
the same business ethic, and code of ethics that we do.
Who will continue to give service to the clients and service to the industry.
We have to continue growing and doing, and spending our time,
And service to the community.
which always cost a lot of time and effort and money.
our effort and our money.
So we want to keep on doing that.
So that we are sure that we are doing just the right thing.
We are very much aware of our obligation,
To our associates,
To our staff, and to our community and clients
So, the best is yet to be.
We're going to make sure we're there working hard for it.
And keeping Ebby's name at the forefront.