New Realtor exec stays busy

May 26—HIGH POINT — Since beginning her job May 1 as association executive and CEO of the High Point Regional Association of Realtors, Lisia Amburn has hit the ground running.

She’s already been to legislative meetings in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the members of the association, which serves as the voice of the local real estate industry.

“I think this is a great area,” Amburn said. “I have a good friend I’ve known since high school who lives in Durham, so I was familiar with North Carolina. It’s growing, and I really like the cultural diversity here. The members are really involved. They sincerely care about their business, and from what I’ve witnessed so far, their participation in the community is awesome.”

She replaced Joe Sutliff, who resigned as association executive in March.

Association President Karen Allred said Amburn has 20 years of experience and has had an impressive career leading three different Realtor associations, while obtaining several professional designations and certifications, including Realtor Association Certified Executive.

The RCE is the only professional designation designed specifically for Realtor association executives.

She also holds At Home With Diversity and ePro certifications, as well as the Commitment to Excellence endorsement from the National Association of Realtors.

A native of Abingdon, Virginia, Amburn started with the Southwest Virginia Association of Realtors in 2003.

“I was there for 13 years and grew it from 130 to over 300 members,” she said. “I started a real estate school for the association so we could get members trained in-house.”

From there, she led associations based in Fredericksburg, Texas, and Morristown, Tennessee, before being recruited to High Point.

Amburn said legislative advocacy is already a strong suit of the association and she looks forward to enhancing its efforts to maintain relationships with lawmakers and stay abreast of pending legislation that could affect the industry.

“Realtors don’t just look out for their business. They look out for communities. They look out for homeownership rights and the real estate industry as a whole,” she said. “They support candidates who support the industry and homeownership rights. They don’t look at the (political) party — they look at the candidate and their record.”

Another priority, she said, is to expand education offerings for Realtors to obtain professional designations at the national level.