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Ebby Halliday Ebby Halliday is largely credited with "single-handedly changing the face of real estate for women" when she opened her first real estate office in 1945. With her combination of business sense and feminine flair, she made selling real estate a fashionable and admirable profession.
by Rachel Sokol
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ccording to RealTrends Inc., Ebby Halliday, Realtors® sells more homes than any other broker in Texas. And this company was founded by none other than its namesake – Ebby Halliday, who is 102 years old. (Yes, you read that right!) One of the first successful female entrepreneurs in Dallas, she’s created one of the most respected real estate firms in the country and she still goes to work nearly every day! But of course, she also benefited greatly from the help of Mary Frances Burleson, current president and CEO of Ebby Halliday, Realtors® and Halliday’s righthand woman for more than 50 years. "Mary Frances is the woman to lead us into the 21st Century," said friend and mentor, Ebby Halliday. "She has been a driving force in pointing us toward a vast utilization of all our latest technologies and impressive expansions." As a testament to Mary Frances' impact on the real
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estate industry, Inman News recently named her among the Inman 100: Most Influential Leaders, their picks for the most influential leaders from across the nation that affect today's real estate industry. According to Mary Frances, the company’s growth has had a lot to do with Halliday’s personal growth as well. “Ebby has always been very ambitious, has always been a voracious reader and always trying to learn and expand her horizons. She brought back the idea of computerizing the company when she attended the convention of the National Association of Realtors,” she states, “She was always willing to speak to groups around the Metroplex, around the state and around the country. That certainly led to her knowing Realtors around the country and to the fact that she was a founding member of the National Association of Realtors. As she grew and expanded, she gave many of us the opportunity to grow with her.
