Who We Are

Who We Are

NEIL LYON FOUNDER, CRB, CRS, GRI

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eil Lyon has been one of the top producing brokers in Santa Fe every year since 2002. A licensed real estate agent since 1975 and a licensed broker since 1979, Neil moved to Santa Fe in 1993 and was the managing broker of Sotheby’s International Realty until 2002, when he stepped down to devote 100% of his time and energy to working with sellers and buyers.

Neil has been with Sotheby’s International Realty since 1984, with the exception of a 12-month period, when he was president and CEO of a 15 office real estate brokerage in Fairfield County, Connecticut. The sale of that company reunited Neil and Sotheby’s International Realty in 1991.

Neil specializes in luxury homes and building sites in and around Santa Fe. His serious work ethic and his ability to get difficult transactions completed are his hallmarks, evidenced by his high level of productivity, which since January 1995 has been over $600,000,000 in closed sales volume.

An impressive record for a market whose median residential sales price

is approximately $475,000. Neil’s business is equally split in most years between working with sellers and buyers. Of the buyers that he works with, well over 75% are either moving to Santa Fe or purchasing a vacation home.

In 2001 Neil received Santa Fe’s Realtor of the Year Award that recognized him as a real estate professional who has consistently exemplified a high level of ethics and quality of performance, has been active in his industry’s professional organizations and served civic and community groups faithfully. He has addressed real estate brokers from around the world at various Sotheby’s International Realty conferences, over many years.

Neil also served as the President of the Real Estate Brokerage Manager’s Council in 1992 and Chairman of the Realtors National Marketing Institute in 1995. Neil has earned professional designations that include Certified Real Estate Brokerage Manager (CRB), Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) and Graduate, Realtor’s Institute (GRI). He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Real Estate Finance from the University of Oregon. Neil was also a Master Instructor for the Real Estate Brokerage Managers Council in the 1980s and 1990s.

Neil is married to Cindy and they have two children. Victoria is a graduate of the University of Richmond and Washington University in St. Louis where she earned a master’s degree in Public Health. She is now a research scientist in the Pacific Northwest. Jake is a graduate of Dartmouth College with a degree in earth sciences and now lives in the Northeast working as a geologist. neillyon.com

MY STORY

My father’s real estate career began in 1948. By the time I was born 8 years later, he was well into building his highly visible real estate business and excellent reputation. As a result, many of my early memories are related to his business. As the son of a broker and entering the business at a young age, the real estate business has defined my identity to many who have known me for much of my life.

In May of 1975, two weeks before graduating from Wilson High School in Tacoma, Washington, I passed the salesperson real estate exam. I was told by people who should have known such things that I was the youngest ever to earn a real estate license in my home state. I was 18 years and 5 months old. In 1979, after graduating from the University of Oregon with a bachelor’s degree in real estate finance, I earned my broker’s license. I was still young, but not record-setting young. In June of 1976, in the summer between my freshman and sophomore years, I sold my first home for the princely sum of $42,000. While visiting Tacoma, I have pointed that home out to my wife enough times that it has become a standing joke. What makes the story of my first sale even sweeter and more special is the very young girl who was one of my clients’ two toddlers, has become quite famous in her field internationally. When I hear about her or see stories of her achievements and success, it makes me very proud to have played a small but important role in the evolution of that wonderful Tacoma family.

Who We Are

My father, along with the help of many, including my brother and me, built up the family company to the point that it was acquired by Coldwell Banker in 1986 as they expanded into the Pacific Northwest. The sale of the company occurred approximately two years after I decided that I needed to stake my claim to the business outside of my family and Tacoma. After a failed partnership attempt in Southern California in the summer of 1984, I ended up in Boston on a very cold late afternoon in December of the same year, which in some respects is what I consider to be the true beginning of my real estate career. I worked with a special man and mentor, Saul Cohen, who taught me a great deal about life, real estate, the culture of the great community of Boston and chutney.

After becoming a senior vice president and general manager of the 33-office residential division of the very large and well-known firm in Boston (Hunneman & Company, established in 1914, and the Boston-area affiliate of Sotheby’s International Realty), I was lured away to become the president and CEO of a 15-office Connecticut real estate company. It was sold exactly one year later, which lead me to rejoin Sotheby’s International Realty at their world headquarters, then located on New York City’s upper eastside. It was a great position. I was one of four senior executives who managed the affiliate business worldwide. However, it required a 3 ½ hour round trip commute on days when I didn’t travel, and 100 to 150 days a year of travel to the distant markets in my territory. My region included great cities like Toronto and Honolulu, and many wonderful places in between, which included Aspen, Telluride, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Chicago

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and yes, you guessed it, Santa Fe. One thing led to another, and in 1993, my wife Cindy and I, with our 2-year old daughter, took a huge leap of faith and moved to Santa Fe with my new responsibilities of managing the Sotheby’s International Realty affiliate firm, owned by Chris and Patti Webster. To this day, my family has the Webster’s to thank for all of us becoming Santa Feans.

In addition to managing the offices of Christopher Webster Real Estate/ Sotheby’s International Realty, I began listing and selling homes and land in September of 1995, and then worked my way up to becoming the top producing broker in Santa Fe by 2002. It was in that year that I stepped down as the Qualifying Broker of the company so that I could direct 100% of my time and efforts to serving my buyer and seller clients. We also had the good fortune of selling Chris and Patti’s firm to Sotheby’s International Realty in 1998, which was the first time in the company’s history that they acquired an affiliate firm.

Cindy and I had our second child in 1995, paving the way for the one member of the Lyon Family to be a true native New Mexican. Both kids were very successfully raised and educated in Santa Fe, with both ending up at great schools (University of Richmond, Washington University in St. Louis and Dartmouth) after graduation from Santa Fe Prep.

They now live on opposite coasts, causing us to miss them greatly, but our pride and admiration for them is the reward for the few times each year that we see them.

During my non-working hours, I get tremendous satisfaction from riding my mountain bike on single-track trails in northern New Mexico and neillyon.com

surrounding states. (A bike which interestingly cost about 40% of what I paid for my first home. An inexpensive first home and an expensive bike).

During the winter months my bike gets stored in our garage and my skis become my main recreational vehicle.

I primarily enjoy the steep terrain in the Taos Ski Valley or at some of the great ski areas in Colorado and Utah.

Once every couple of years I splurge and go to British Columbia for a 5-7 day heli-skiing trip which is always one of the great weeks of my year.

Our job at the Neil Lyon Group is pretty simple… take care of our clients as well as we possibly can, satisfy their real estate needs professionally and extremely competently and continue to refine and expand our business practices so that our clients receive the best that we can deliver as the world and the real estate business evolve.

Simple on paper, but very challenging in practice. It takes a very talented and committed staff, a commitment to technology and innovation and the stamina and the resources to achieve this year after year. That is the Neil Lyon Group’s vision and that is what we deliver with great pride.

MATT DESMOND BROKER

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att Desmond has lived and worked in Santa Fe since 1991.

He began his real estate career in 2005 with French & French which later became Sotheby’s International Realty. Subsequently, Matt moved his license and eventually worked as a qualifying broker managing one of the largest real estate companies in New Mexico. He has since moved back into full time real estate sales and returned to work with leading luxury real estate brokerage in Santa Fe, Sotheby’s International Realty. Matt has a diverse education and background. While attending school near Boston he earned a BA in Biology and completed a year of exercise physiology research.

Post college he worked with a biotech start-up in Santa Fe doing molecular toxicology research.

Matt’s career path took a turn in 2004/2005 and he began his career in real estate. In addition to selling residential real estate, Matt has had several unique opportunities to broaden his knowledge in the profession. Matt worked as a Project Development Manager in the energy industry, building utility scale wind and solar projects. He also consulted

for a transmission line company building projects throughout the Southwest. These roles required technical research, securing land for projects, permitting, and interaction with various specialists including biologists, engineers, attorneys, etc.

Matt assisted in the drafting of the Best Management Practices (BMPs) for the State of New Mexico and a Renewable Energy Ordinance for Lincoln County.

Matt was a consultant for Santa Fe County and for utilities and telecom companies acquiring easements in rural Northern New Mexico. During this time, he was involved with several of the largest landowners in New Mexico and frequently interacted with landowner associations.

Matt built his real estate business utilizing his knowledge of technologyincluding the internet and social media.

Given the trajectory of the industry, this continues to be his focus and passion.

Outside of real estate, Matt is an avid Triathlete and has completed 26 Ironman triathlons. In their freetime he and his wife enjoy coaching their daughter and other kids through a program they founded in 2013 called the Santa Fe Multisport Juniors. This program introduces kids to the sport of Triathlon.

MY STORY

My career in real estate came in a roundabout way. I never intended to get into this business. I graduated with a degree in biology (just short of a chemistry minor), had taken the MCAT exams and had set my sights on medical school. However, before I made that commitment, I wanted to see if I could make it as a professional triathlete. While that dream didn’t neillyon.com

last long, it did ultimately sidetrack me from a career in medicine.

During my youth, I spent my summers helping to remodel homes and had always figured that building a home from scratch would be an interesting endeavor. In 2003, I purchased a lot in Colorado mountains in hopes of building that idyllic log cabin in the woods. I had a friend at that time with whom I took long mountain bike rides and after a few postride beers and the use of his CAD programs on the weekends, he and I designed home for the lot.

I hired a friend who owned a custom log home company to scribe the logs for me and build the shell of the cabin.

After much research, I decided to sit for the general contractor’s exam and, passing that, I then applied for permits to begin the arduous process of construction. Even with the license, I was still no expert so I hired sub-contractors on the condition they would use me as one of their laborers (and I would pay myself). I was interested in learning all the trades from scribing the logs to framing and wiring. I pulled every wire in that house which turned out to be one of the most physically demanding aspects of that project.

Did I mention the house was at 11,200 ft. above sea level in the Rocky Mountains? I will never forget pouring the foundation on October 31 st , the day of the first big snowfall for that year. Needless to say, it is really cold at that altitude and we were putting the final trim on the house in the frigid month of February.

When all was said and done, I was pleased with the outcome and there

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Who We Are

is no telling as to how much I learned from this experience. As I was nearing the end of my log cabin project and eager to keep learning, I decided to get my New Mexico Real Estate license.

I began selling homes in Santa Fe in 2005 and spent the first couple of years working as an assistant to Neil Lyon. At that time his team was averaging $35M to $40M sales volume per year which meant that I had the opportunity to be involved in a wide range of transactions. While some wondered why I was working as an assistant, I knew that it was important to learn the business from the ground up – just as I had approached the building of my log cabin – and that eventually my approach would pay off.

challenge I met it head on andgained a ton of knowledge in the process.

However, the timing for my decision to branch out on my own couldn’t have been worse. In 2008 when I endeavored to fly solo, the financial crisis hit. I struggled to maintain my business until 2012 when I was approached to enter the energy business. This opportunity allowed me to use my real estate skills in contract negotiations with landowners and ranchers and to interact with engineers, transmission experts, biologists, lawyers and even politicians. It was a rich and rewarding assignment and lasted until 2015 when the company I worked for pulled up stakes and left New Mexico.

Ultimately, I find working independently allows me the greatest opportunity to outwork my competitors. I am not lacking in any desire to achieve, although it is sometimes a challenge to find just the right context in which to realize it. Sotheby’s International Realty has always been a market leader on both the regional and global stage. Neil Lyon has maintained his market edge consistently since we first crossed paths in 2005. In his company again now in 2020 and with his team of like-minded individuals, I know I can utilize my drive, energy and knowledge to the fullest. I look forward to maximizing all my potential and reaping the many rewards for me, my family and my clients that are waiting for me in this context.

I returned to real estate and, motivated by the desire to optimize my understanding of the business, I obtained my Qualifying Broker license in 2015. That led me to a position of Managing Broker for one of the largest real estate companies in New Mexico. Approximately 225 brokers worked under me. Some thought it was crazy to take on this responsibility, but always one for a

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In late 2019, after many discussions with my family, friends and colleagues, I decided it was time to step back into full time real estate sales. As I considered the reasons to make this change, I concluded that working independently would allow me the freedom and flexibility I desired to meet both my professional and personal goals. I have a 12-year old daughter who has inherited my love of sports and competition and I want to support her as she moves into her teenage years.

I am still involved in competitions myself and love to travel to wherever that competitive urge takes me.

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STEPHANIE HAMILTON BROKER

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tephanie moved to Angel Fire, NM in 1981 where she began a real estate career in subdivision development, log home construction, sales and property management. She has been a top producer and owned several boutique and franchise firms in Kansas and New Mexico. In 35 years, Stephanie has guided six real estate start-ups to lucrative businesses. Her skills in mentoring and training brokers, developing and refining office systems, and her constant efforts at self- improvement are the keys to her success. “When I need motivation, I find a book or CD by John Maxwell.”

Stephanie’s excels at understanding her clients’ motivations and lifestyle, deepening relationships, and contract negotiations. “Many years of experience and continual learning have taught me to not only anticipate the intricate issues of each contract but the importance of being compassionate. Buying, selling, relocating, downsizing, moving, financial and family decisions are all stressful situations that give rise to many sensitivities, too.

With each situation I need to walk in my client’s shoes.”

Stephanie is a fierce advocate for her clients; ensuring they are well-informed and well-represented every step of the way. She values her clients’ opinions, concerns and, above all, their needs. “Work can sometimes be ultra-demanding, but helping people navigate some of their most important life events never gets old, nor does it feel like work.”

Real estate is a relationship business. She embraces the team concept by working closely with title and finance professionals, contractors, stagers and real estate brokers to ensure her client’s success. “I love working with fellow Realtors whose creativity and professionalism I admire; where competition and comradery go hand in hand.”

“When I reflect on a career of 35+ years in real estate, it’s the names and faces of past clients that I remember… the families and first-time home buyers, seniors selling their home full of memories, new babies, exciting new jobs, the excitement of a vacation home. The “why” people buy and sell – is so personal. It energizes me. My principle goal is to add value to others.” Her clients return to her time and again knowing the value of a seasoned broker with an extra personal touch MY STORY

Like many of my buyers, my husband and I owned a beautiful second home near the Santa Plaza. We had plans to move from Angel Fire to Santa Fe to be near our three grandchildren and their parents. Five years ago, we made that permanent move to Santa Fe. We have four married children and now SIX grandchildren! They delight and entertain us and we are thrilled that they want to spend time

with us. We cherish our family events that include band concerts, volleyball matches, golf, drama, ski/snowboard trips, farm activities, cooking together, and quiet times with sweet babies.

I’ve been a floral designer for over 20 years. When a retail floral shop in our small Kansas town was for sale, I bought it. At that time, I owned a boutique real estate company so running a business was not new to me. I named this new enterprise “The Wild Geranium”. Thanks to a talented staff of designers, creative and loyal employees, the business became popular and profitable. I discovered that real estate had prepared me well for retail with the similar demands it makes on one to listen, collaborate, communicate and observe deadlines.

Most importantly, my floral business reinforced the interpersonal skills that are so important in real estate – caring about my clients, customers, employees and vendors. I still love floral design and keep my skills sharp by creating arrangements for select events in Santa Fe. I am an avid gardener and enjoy sharing the fruits of my labors with neighbors and friends.

I absolutely love Santa Fe and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

The architecture, culture, art, music, climate and diversity bring me joy.

I have found Santa Feans to be passionate about causes, abundantly talented, open and accepting. I am happy to share the benefits of living here with my clients. There are many areas with unique settings that can suit a variety of tastes. It gives me joy to help others find what works best for them. I consider myself very luck to live and work in Santa Fe.

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NINA FARANA OPERATIONS MANAGER

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ina has an extensive background in administration and planning.

She graduated from Stanford University in communications and pursued graduate studies in education. She was the administrative director of the Urban Studies Program at Stanford University for 13 years. Concurrently, she studied and performed modern dance and became the founder and director of Inside Out Arts, a dance theatre company based in San Francisco and the Bay Area. In that capacity, she created and produced works in collaboration with a team of artists skilled in a vast array of disciplines. She has lived in Santa Fe since 1993 where she has continued to provide administrative oversight and direction in a variety of business environments including education, the arts, development, construction and design. In the last decade she has focused these skills on commercial and residential real estate working in operations for some of the largest real estate firms in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Her style in art and in life is to bring value to clients, customers and colleagues by providing an experience based on exceptional service, beauty, balance, order and an avid commitment to the details. She is a visual artist, poet, passionate rose gardener, lover of all

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Who We Are

things Italian, animals and tango.

MY STORY

Beauty is it. The imperative, the desire, the point, the problem. I must find it, must create it, pursue it, please it. At first it was the word. I wrote poems about the heart and loyalty and faith and won awards that sent me to Stanford University where I wrote long essays in the English Department.

The “Summer of Love”, Gloria Steinem and Mary Tyler Moore turned the tide and women wanted less to be teachers and more to be reporters and commentators. So, I clipped my writing in graduate journalism studies at Northwestern University that was known for its program to combine arts and the press. But they didn’t combine them enough and my graduate advisor from the Chicago Sun said my writing was too evocative for the news rag.

Once a poet always a poet. Go and chase the essence of art, he said, instead of the bite of the byline.

So, I did. Ran after beauty again until one step became another step and that became the dance. Back to Stanford for graduate studies in dance and education until it moved me to my own company and collaborations with other artists. “Inside Out Arts” was born in which I conducted and performed the creative imaginings of myself and another artist who was a musician, poet and actor. As the company was my brain child, the production and direction relied entirely on my efforts.

It was the most public expression so far of my bicameral way of life.

At that time, paper started to dance, too. I moved copious cuttings around on a page searching for the common element, the one component to which all could align – not unlike discerning the core from the pattern of exercises or that one compelling, demanding note of poem. They became collages until the mystery inside all of these artistic pursuits required a bigger mystery to be encountered. One that moved and then moved me to another clime altogether.

On a sure and certain impulse, with only what I could pack into a Honda Civic, I Ieft San Francisco and made my way to Santa Fe. I dissolved my company, the administrative position I held at Stanford University for 13 years and headed for a great unknown. Little did I know that I was going from ocean to desert, from the City of St. Francis to the City of Faith, from a place where one could lose all faith while living on the grave of an ocean and find it again in the halleluiah of a sunset sky.

Little did I know and much did I learn.

Art became less metaphor and its metaphor became life. I was used to patterns, rhythms and forms. They were absent in Santa Fe. Beauty became the reassembling of chaos. I improvised as I never had to before.

Every plate was thrown into the air and where it fell I planted a stake until the wind would toss everything into the air again and the dancer scrambled to find her footing. More than once I found myself up righted in real estate – where people ground, hunt for a refuge, secure an oasis or sequester in a castle.

So, beauty – like the sky in Santa Fe – had to stretch, defy its container and

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genuflect to a transfiguration. She had to adapt to survive. She learned it was not just a poem, a dance or even a picture. It is life. It is the foundation of life and it seeks order constantly.

My work in real estate is alive to its impact and direction. As much as any other art form, to manage an operation requires discipline, grace, diligence, and commitment. It is service meant to touch others with beauty in the places where it goes largely unnoticed.

Work that is honest, sincere, clear, informed and thorough brings Beauty near and makes her tangible. She is a well-ordered contract as much as she is a perfect design. She is accuracy and timeliness as much as she is a harmonious song. She is attention and responsiveness to a client’s need as much as she is the burnish on steel.

Beauty is it and she is grace. I seek her impulse and her voice and to convey her touch in all that I do.

DONALD BURG MARKETING & DESIGN DIRECTOR

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fter a successful career of providing creative services for large corporations, smaller businesses and nonprofit organizations, Donald Burg joined the Neil Lyon Group to apply his multi-disciplinary design skills and formidable background in marketing and design to the Neil Lyon Group’s new and bold marketing initiatives.

Donald Burg is an award-winning graphic designer and creative consultant who owned and operated his own firm, Tugboat Design LLC since 1999. As the creative force behind Tugboat, Don conceived and produced visual identities and materials for new products and business ventures.

His expertise extends from creating identity programs, to designing print, packaging and electronic communications. He has been key in the development of dimensional designs including displays and exhibits.

He is well versed in defining brand characteristics, determining the essence of the brand, and then applying those attributes to an integrated visual identity across the spectrum of creative that clients demand and require.

His clients have included major corporate and consumer brands such as Timberland, Applegate Farms, Ben & Jerry’s, DIAGEO, P&G Prestige Products, The Gillette Companies, Unilever (Maille) and Stonyfield Farm.

Nonprofit clients have included Clean Air-Cool Planet, Partnership for Prevention and New York University.

During the course of his professional design career, Don has also worked with leading design and communication firms in Chicago and New York including Porter Novelli one of the world’s leading marketing public relations firms. Headquartered in New York City, he was Senior Vice President and Creative Director of the New York office as well as Creative Director for the Chicago and San Francisco offices of the firm. As such, he was responsible for managing the Porter Novelli brand identity, including designing the logotype, creating and monitoring brand standards and maintaining those applications internationally.

He and his team created awardwinning designs for the firm’s clients in Consumer, Health Care, Food and Nutrition and B2B sectors.

He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a BFA in Design.

MY STORY

Conceptor. It may not be a word, but I get it. In fact, if it were a word, people would use it to describe me. Although I’m usually labeled a Designer, I really am – and have always been – a Conceptor. I’m the first to be invited to a brainstorming session and the last to give up when the best solution to a client challenge is slow in coming.

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I’m the idea guy people turn to when they’re looking for a fresh way to bring a brand alive. Or give it a jolt. They know I’ll think outside the box since I never like it inside the box anyway.

I know driving innovation is a big part of the job. As is taking risks.

Yet, a Conceptor also has to be grounded. If the idea doesn’t make clear sense for the brand and the business, what’s the point? And since I usually have to sell it through, I want the client to be able to feel the creative concept emerging naturally from the strategic vision of the brand from the moment I open my mouth.

I’m driven by the same things that drive a lot of other people crazy. I enjoy shifting gears frequently and am happy working for a global spirits client one moment and centuries old French mustard brand the next. I like working with demanding clients who feel passionately about their brand, their business or their cause.

And even the most strong-willed and independent creative staff I have managed would be the first to tell you I like collaborating with others and generating great solutions together.

I have run my own creative business and my own department within a larger marketing communications firm. Now I am excited to contribute all of my background and experience to the Neil Lyon Group as the team’s creative Conceptor. A label that fits.

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Who We Are

CINDY LYON ASSOCIATE BROKER

Cindy’s goal is to serve the clients of The Neil Lyon Group with the utmost professionalism with an eye on honoring each individual client’s unique needs. She brings her integrity and energy to all that she does.

MY STORY

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indy Simha Lyon has been a licensed real estate agent and broker since 1985. She began her professional career in New York as a technical analysis and assistant trader for Spear, Leeds and Kellogg. Which then lead to her becoming one of the first female brokers at E. F. Hutton in Boston.

Subsequently, she was self-employed in the oil and gas industry and then became a commercial real estate agent, specializing in retail leasing.

Cindy and Neil moved from Connecticut to Santa Fe in 1993 when their eldest child Victoria was 2 years old. After having Jake, and building a new home, she joined The Schepps Company as the leasing agent at the Sanbusco Center. When her children approached school age, she chose to stay home and focus on raising them, while becoming an active participant and leader in local philanthropic activities. She has worked on behalf of many organizations including The Santa Fe Children’s Museum, Buckaroo Ball, United Way, Rio Grande School, Santa Fe Preparatory School, Meow Wolf and 100 Women Who Care Santa Fe. She also served as President of the Board of Temple Beth Shalom.

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To me, helping our clients buy or sell the home that will become the place where the most meaningful experiences of their lives happen, is very serious business. The satisfaction of a job well done on behalf of our clientele is of utmost importance to me.

The relationships that have developed over a quarter of a century in Santa Fe are the most valuable gifts I have been given. The extraordinary people that I have come to know through the very personal process of buying and selling homes constantly inspire me.

For almost a quarter of a century (longer than I have lived anywhere else) my home has been Santa Fe,where Neil and I have spent most of our married life, raised our children and look forward to years of even more adventures. For us, there is no better feeling than being a part of the fiber of this community. We love living among such an eclectic and interesting group of people who live, work, relax and play together. Neil’s mountain biking friends and our skiing friends range from people in their 20’s to those in their 70’s, with as broad a range of careers and interests. While I was born in New York and lived for many years in New England, I have happily chosen to be a Santa Fean.

When searching for our current house, I sought a house which would provide all the spaces we needed for our young(ish) family while in close proximity to the children’s school. I neillyon.com

love the ocean and since that is one amenity we don’t have here, the sky is my substitute. I wanted large windows to bring the multi-colored glow of the sunrise and sunset into my home.

The sky here is like a painter’s canvas: surprising me each day with a unique perspective. The “paintings” are vastly different from season to season, week to week, and day to day. After 24 years, it still takes my breath away.

We want our clients to wake up in the morning and feel like there is no place they would rather be. If you want to be a part of this special place, we want to help find the right place for you. Of course, if you have been living here and life pulls you elsewhere, we will do our utmost to make that transition be the best it can be.

Becoming part of the Neil Lyon Group at Sotheby’s International Realty, was something that was 30 years in the making. Marriage is the ultimate team relationship and the success of our personal team is something I am incredibly proud of. The trust, support and common goals Neil and I share on behalf of our clients is something we have honed during our years together and while parenting our two now-adult children.

A major goal in my life is to treat people well and to make sure that my little corner of the world is a better place because of my contributions to it. I am deeply committed to the wellbeing of my family, friends and community. At the NLG, we pride ourselves on our work, our ethics and our dedication to our customers. We are grateful to those who came into our lives as clients and will stay a part of our life as friends.

Who We Are

DEBBIE CRAWFORD ASSOCIATE BROKER

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hen the Communist party took over British-controlled Hong Kong in 1949, Debbie Crawford’s father gathered his wife and five daughters and smuggled them out of the country. They immigrated to the United States and settled in Tucson, Arizona, where he raised his family (eventually welcoming a son into the fold) and started a retail business. A well-educated man, Debbie’s father wanted his children to have that opportunity in the US. Debbie and her siblings all pursued a college education and she obtained her BA in marketing from the University of Arizona.

Having started life with a major continental crossing, it is no surprise that Debbie loves to travel. She has indulged that urge many times with to her native city, Hong Kong, as well as visits to Thailand, China, England, France, Italy, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Turkey, Greece, Israel, Canada, Mexico, Australia and the Caribbean.

Debbie enjoys an active lifestyle with a particular yen for hiking and tennis.

Her aptitude for tennis led her to join the tennis team at Pima Community College in Tucson where she was

named “All American” both years that she played. In 1985 Debbie married and she and her husband, Richard, had two daughters. In the years her children were growing up, Debbie volunteered for the Arizona Kidney Foundation and Tucson’s Junior League. She and her family escaped the hot Arizona summers with sojourns to San Diego where they had a second home in the Gas Lamp District.

and backgrounds. I also love adventure and am not afraid of change.

No doubt, my family’s exodus from China when I was nine contributed to this fearlessness. As the eldest of my five siblings, I have always played the role of helper and caretaker which shaped who I am today. I raised two daughters and for many years nursed my husband who suffered with a terminal illness.

As her children grew and became less dependent on her, Debbie became interested in real estate. She joined Coldwell Banker Realty in 1995 and later joined Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty in Tucson. As a top producer, she specialized in high-end properties and gated communities.

Her professional designations include Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), Graduate of the Realtors Institute (GRI) and Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ACR).

As a Realtor I find matching a client to the right home is an extension of my passion to help. Assisting a client with the single largest purchase that that he might make in a lifetime is very satisfying. I am an advocate for my clients and do everything possible to make their decision-making easier.

In another life, I might have been an interior designer. I take great pleasure in envisioning my client’s dream house and imagining their life in it. Santa Fe life is rich and it is easy to steer others to it.

In 2016 Debbie decided it was time for a change of scenery. Her husband of 31 years had passed away and the mountains, food, art and culture of Santa Fe beckoned. She moved to the City Different in 2018 joined the Neil Lyon Group at Sotheby’s International Realty. Since then she has become a trusted member of the team, applying both skill and exuberance to all her interactions. In between enjoying her regular pastimes, Debbie visits her daughters and her grandchildren in Oregon regularly, enjoys her frisky Lab, Bullet” and love “the second time around” with her new life-partner, Eric.

MY STORY

I am definitely a “People Person.”

Growing up in a large family instilled in me a love for big gatherings and meeting others from different cultures neillyon.com

I know the visual intrigue of Santa Fe prompted my desire to move here.

Replete with history, art and many things to do, it combines the best of the old and new. With less than 80,000 people there are many opportunities to cultivate community and good friends. The Neil Lyon Group thrives on building relationships. I relish our team efforts to provide our clients with fabulous homes in a city that has so many great things to offer and many things to do, it combines the best of the old and new. With less than 80,000 people there are many opportunities to cultivate community and good friends.

The Neil Lyon Group thrives on building relationships. I relish our team efforts to provide our clients with fabulous homes in a city that has so many great things to offer.

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Who We Are

NEIL LYON, CRB, CRS, GRI FOUNDER

505 660-8600 cell 505 954-5505 office neil@neillyon.com MATT DESMOND ASSOCIATE BROKER

505 670-1289 cell matt@neillyon.com STEPHANIE HAMILTON ASSOCIATE BROKER

505 603-1919 cell stephanie @ neillyon.com NINA FARANA OPERATIONS MANAGER

505 954-5522 nina @neillyon.com DONALD BURG MARKETING AND DESIGN DIRECTOR

505 988-2533 donald@neillyon.com CINDY LYON ASSOCIATE BROKER

505 660-8400 cindy@neillyon.com DEBBIE CRAWFORD ASSOCIATE BROKER

505 216-8571 debbie@neillyon.com

SANTA FE BROKERAGE

326 Grant Avenue Santa Fe, NM 87501 505 988-2533 sothebyshomes.com

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neillyon.com

MARCH 2020