Editorial
Front Page - Friday, September 3, 2010
Realtor working hard while many people are taking it easy
David Laprad
Associate broker Graham Burns became a Realtor after many years as a stay-at-home-mom. She specializes in residential sales in the greater Chattanooga area, and has been a multi-million dollar producer annually since starting with Herman Walldorf in 1994.
- David Laprad
Associate broker Graham Burns has done a lot of things longer than she’s done real estate.
When her husband, Bud, passed away in 2008, they’d spent 46 years together as husband and wife. Their first child is 42, making Burns a mother for that same length of time. She’s even living in the same house on Lookout Mountain in which she grew up.
“I’ve been around in circles and gone nowhere,” she jokes.
Burns has also been a member of First Centenary United Methodist Church since 1962, and has faithfully attended McCallie School football games since that same year. In essence, one of her defining characteristics is longevity.
Yet, she’s been a Realtor for only 16 years. For many people, that would be a considerable swath of time, but Burns is 71 years old, making her real estate career a relatively new endeavor. Her work is anything but an asterisk to a life spent in devotion to others however, for she brings to her clients the same degree of care and commitment she’s given to her family and community.
“It’s important for me to do my best for my clients. If someone asks me to list his or her house, I commit myself to that person,” she says.
A list of her designations suggests Burns is speaking the plain truth, as Southern women of her generation tend to do.
She’s a Certified Residential Specialist, an Accredited Buyer’s Representative and a graduate of the Realtor Institute of the National Association of Realtors. Burns specializes in residential sales in the greater Chattanooga area, including Lookout Mountain, Signal Mountain, North Chattanooga, East Brainerd, Ooltewah and North Georgia. In addition, she’s been a multi-million dollar producer annually since starting with Herman Walldorf in 1994.
Burns became a Realtor after many years as a stay-at-home-mom. She says she’s always been interested in real estate, and for years would pick up a copy of Homes and Land Magazine whenever she went to her bank. She also had a standing invitation to join the team at Walldorf.
“I’d seen Charlie, Herman’s youngest son, at a party many years prior to my becoming a a Realtor, and told him I’d like to go into real estate at some point. He told me to see him when I was ready, so I did. I reminded him of our conversation,” she says.
Burns says the things she enjoys the most about being Realtor are finding good homes for her clients and working with her fellow Realtors.
“I like picking out the properties I think would meet someone’s needs, whether they’re my listings or someone else’s. As Realtors, we’re here to help each other,” she says.
While most people in their mid-50s are starting to think about their exit from the workforce, that’s when Burns made her initial foray into the world of employment. But the transition was easier than most people think, as Burns had spent nearly three decades raising seven children.
“I’d been going full-time plus for many years. We did diapers for 16 years, and this was when they weren’t disposable,” she says.
Burns shakes her head as she recalls what Sunday mornings were like when her children were young.
“By the time I got all of them dressed for church, it was time to go. I’d usually strap them into the car and then run back into the house and get myself ready.”
Even though her children are grown, Burns says between keeping up with her family and staying on top of things at work, she’s as busy as ever.
“There’s so much to do, I’ll never get caught up. Fortunately, I don’t need a lot of sleep,” she says.
Burns doesn’t foresee a time when she’ll be able to slow down, either, but that’s OK with her.
“I’ve been plowing straight ahead for a long time. But I need to work, and I want to work. I enjoy it, and I’ve built up a clientele from which I would not want to walk away. As long as my mind and body will go, I’ll be working,” she says.
A life-long resident of Lookout Mountain and the Chattanooga area, Burns is a graduate of Girls Preparatory School and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At UNC, Graham was president of the Women’s Honor Council and named “Outstanding Senior Woman.”
Professionally, Burns has served several terms on the board of the Chattanooga Association of Realtors. She’s also served on the boards of the Junior League of Chattanooga, the Chattanooga Nature Center and Scenic Land School. In addition, she’s served on the Endorsing and Ranking Committees of the Southern Tennis Association and the Tennessee Tennis Association.
“My kids played junior tennis, high school tennis, and two of them played college tennis. This was before we had computers. I remember having draw sheets all over my dining room table. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun,” Burns says.
While Burns continues to “plow straight ahead,” any portrait of her that only illustrates how hard she works would be incomplete. In actuality, Burns is a woman with many interests and passions.
She has, for example, always loved photography.
“I see God in nature. I live on the western brow of Lookout Mountain, so I’ve been blessed with beautiful sunsets for many years. If I look down, I can see Wal-Mart and Covenant Transport, but beyond that, I have mountains and sunsets. They’ll never be able to take those away,” she says.
Burns also likes the beach, watching UTC’s basketball team play during March Madness and making good use of her Vols’ season football tickets. She’s also passionately patriotic and concerned about the environment. Burns does her part on both fronts, displaying the Stars and Stripes at home and minimizing her footprint on the world by recycling.
“We need to take care of what the Lord gave us, but we’re not doing a good job,” she says.
No one could accuse Burns of doing a poor job. Whether she’s taking care of a client, or keeping up with her 11 grandchildren, she puts all she has into every waking moment.
Remarkably, Burns has more waking moments than most people many years her junior. The sun might set at the end of each day, but Burns keeps going, long after the stars have taken their place above her. That’s the way it’s always been, and if she has a voice in the matter, that’s how it will always be.
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