THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 17, 1995 TAG: 9506150347
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY KATHLEEN BUTLER, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
LENGTH: Long : 181 lines
When Joan Gifford and then partner Dorys Duncan formed the real estate firm of Duncan & Gifford in Norfolk 40 years ago, clients assumed the two were men.
``People always asked for Mr. Gifford or Mr. Duncan,'' Gifford says. ``It was unheard of at that time for a business to be owned by two women.''
Times - and attitudes - have changed, and Gifford has been there every step of the way, devoted to the real estate industry and her community. Last week, at a party with more than 300 friends, business associates and former clients, she celebrated the 40th anniversary of her company.
``The whole thing is that I was really a pioneer in the business, and I opened doors for a lot of women, and I opened a lot of doors for myself,'' Gifford says.
Gifford buzzes around the office, a petite bundle of energy who, in her retirement, still finds time to act as chairman of the board, serve on a half-dozen civic boards, participate in a variety of other community activities, and even scuba dive.
A photo of her and husband Charles from one of their recent underwater adventures - they've traveled around the world twice - hangs on her office wall next to plaques earned through the years for her numerous achievements. Stacks of folders still cover her desk.
``I'm supposed to be retired, but I just can't stay away,'' she says.
She points with pride to a certificate honoring her in 1981 as the first female Realtor of the Year by the Virginia Association of Realtors.
``Did I find it difficult?'' she asks of her struggle to open the industry to women, ``No, I really didn't, and I think it all is a matter of attitude.''
Dorcas Helfant, president of Coldwell Banker Helfant Realty and former president of the National Association of Realtors, says Gifford is a woman of great character who has asked people to judge her for her performance.
``Joan is a woman of unmeasurable energy, enthusiasm, motivation and commitment,'' Helfant says. ``She believes in the business and in her community.''
Born in Devonshire, England, Gifford married Californian Charles Gifford in 1948 and moved with him to Norfolk. The housing market was in a slump, so after a long search for the perfect home, the couple decided to build their own.
``We literally built the house ourselves,'' she says, her voice still lilting with a slight British accent.
That was the beginning. The experience sparked Gifford's interest, and a few years later, while her husband was at sea with the Navy, she got her real estate license.
``He came back home, and his life was never the same again,'' she says with a grin.
For Gifford, whose children were 3, 7 and 9 when she began working, balancing family, work and religion quickly became a way of life.
``It's been a real trick to balance family and business, but I tell women it can be done,'' she says. ``You need to be organized, have high energy and be extremely motivated.
Soon after she began working for a local real estate firm, her boss died. Gifford immediately stepped in to take over many of his responsibilities, and in 1955, she and partner Duncan formed their own company.
``Basically it was never my intention to go into business for myself,'' she says. ``It's only because my boss died that I did.''
Sixteen years later, Gifford and Duncan had ``a parting of the ways,'' and the partnership dissolved. But Duncan continued to run the firm under the new name of Gifford Realty out of the same location on Little Creek Road. About three years ago, in response to increased competition from large real estate chains, the company became a franchisee of Coldwell Banker.
What started out as a small real estate firm with just two employees - Duncan and Gifford - has grown to a company with more than 35 employees currently listing about 350 to 385 properties each year throughout Hampton Roads. The company has one of Tidewater's largest residential property management divisions, Gifford says.
And Gifford's agents are now selling homes to third-generation clients.
``We started with mothers and fathers and then we had their children and now we have their grandchildren,'' Gifford says.
Throughout the years, Gifford's career has become a family affair. Her son is now president of Coldwell Banker Gifford Realty and runs the property management division, and her eldest daughter runs Gifford Insurance next door.
For Gifford, though, real estate has been more than just a business.
``We've helped so many people who didn't think they could buy and who now have the privilege of home ownership,'' she says.
Gifford's dedication to the principles of home ownership and the real estate industry have led her to serve on numerous committees at the local and state levels and to climb to the top of the national ladder, where she served on the board of directors of the National Association of Realtors from 1985 to 1986
Throughout the years, Gifford says she has helped open people's minds to the notion of women in business and to new ideas and technology. She has been a professional instructor and a mentor.
In the mid-1950s, she says, real estate was still a very proprietary business; few agents wanted to share their listings with others. But Gifford believed properties could be sold more efficiently if agents cooperated. So she and seven other Realtors put their financial support behind creating the Multiple Listing Service, which provides information about member Realtors' listings to other members and thereby marketing individual properties on a much broader scale.
From 1958 to 1970, Gifford served as a director of Metro MLS, and in 1974 she served as president. She was instrumental in encouraging Realtors to use the service and in adapting the service to better assist agents.
Since it began, Metro MLS has gone from using stacks of index cards with information about individual properties to using telephone directory-sized books listing all regional properties for sale, to the technology of the '90s, which lists all properties on a computer database accessible to MLS members.
``I love new things, and I don't resist change,'' she says, adding that she is often the first person on the block to try anything from new technology to a new variety of cookies in the grocery store. Last winter, she and her husband enrolled in a computer class so they could keep up with the changing times.
But Gifford has also been instrumental in trying to change attitudes. As president of the Norfolk/Chesapeake Board of Realtors in 1980, she established a liaison committee - the Navy Housing Task Force - linking the military and real estate community in an attempt to broaden communication and institute policies to educate and protect military families as they buy and sell homes in Hampton Roads.
The offshoot of that committee was the Navy Welcome Center, which today counsels more than 2,000 sailors a month about their rights and responsibilities as home owners or renters.
In the late 1970s, Gifford became involved with the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, and soon after was elected the first female president of the Norfolk division.
In 1982, she was named Woman of the Year by the Women's Council of Realtors, and in 1984 she was named Woman of the Year by Professional Women of Tidewater.
Because she has had so many ``firsts,'' Gifford says she has tried to serve as a role model and mentor to them.
``Women have always been of great interest to me,'' she says. ``I love men, but I am a great champion of women.''
In reflecting on her career, Gifford credits her husband of more than 50 years, her family and her God for her success.
``First comes the good Lord, then the family and then the business,'' she says.
She also credits her attitude.
``It's all a matter of attitude and having a very positive attitude and philosophy,'' she says. ``If you have a good attitude, you can accomplish anything.''
Attitude and faith are what helped pull Gifford through several years ago when her younger daughter died of leukemia at 39. A photo of her daughter, who had worked for the company, is carried ``close to my heart,'' Gifford says, in a notebook filled with notes and mementos.
Initially, Gifford says the loss of her daughter caused her to withdraw from her work. But it didn't keep her from her civic devotions. She became active in the oncology support group Lee's Friends, the American Cancer Society, Volunteer Connection and Norfolk Sentara General Hospital.
Today Gifford continues to take a leadership role in her community. She is director of the development board at Old Dominion University, chairman of the chamber of commerce's Chamber Select Health Care task force and was recently named to the governor's advisory commission on welfare reform.
``I still love it,'' she says of her activities and committees. ``I still enjoy the involvement in the community. I think that's really what keeps you young. The biggest thing to keep young is to keep your mind working.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
[Color Photo]
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff
OPENING DOORS
Joan Gifford was one of the first women in Hampton Roads to own a
real estate agency.
Staff photo by Christopher Reddick
Joan Gifford says when she started in 1952, ``It was unheard of . .
. for a business to be owned by two women.'' She now has 35
employees and 350 listings per year.
KUDOS
Among the many accomplishments of Joan Gifford:
Helped establish the realty firm Duncan & Gifford 40 years ago.
President of Metro MLS, 1974.
President Norfolk/Chesapeake Board of Realtors, 1980.
Virginia Realtor of the Year, 1981.
Women's Council of Realtors Woman of the Year, 1982.
Professional Women of Tidewater Woman of the Year, 1984.
Board of Directors, National Association of Realtors, 1985-86.
Involved in establishing the Navy Welcome Center.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE by CNB