Lisa Lannon is proof positive that nice folks don’t finish last. If anything, they finish first.

Last year’s top-producing agent for Great Lakes Real Estate with $10.7 million in sales, Lisa joined the brokerage in 2019 after a lengthy career with organizations working to provide quality healthcare and services for children and seniors. 

“I'm a nurturer by nature. I always take care of people so I feel that relates well to taking care of clients.”

She says she’s always had an interest in real estate and seriously thought about it as a career 20 years ago. 

“But to be a good agent, you've got to be responsive,” she says. And with two small children and other factors working against that responsiveness, she knew then wasn’t the right time and continued in her career path working for the common good.

As it turned out, that career also doubled as on-the-job training for her future success in real estate.

“Those jobs were sales positions because you're selling your cause,” she says. “And you have to make people want to give to your cause. It transfers beautifully into real estate.”

The strong community network she built through those years has also been invaluable. “Finding sponsors for various causes and events, you get very familiar with business owners and their businesses.”

After she got her license, she says “it took a little while for people to get it in their head that ‘Oh yeah, Lisa is in real estate now.’” But once they did, everything clicked. “Because they know me, they know I have integrity, I’m kind, I'm patient.” Her first three years' sales of $16 million attest to that.

Working with buyers, sellers and investors, her patience is a key differentiator from many agents.

“I'm not pushy. I encourage my buyers to see many houses and I've actually talked clients out of listing their homes because it wasn’t right for them personally. I encourage folks to interview other agents,” she says. “I put people ahead of the sale.”

Her emphasis on educating clients is another thing that sets her apart. That education starts with detailed buyer and seller packets she leaves at her first meeting with clients to serve as a resource for any questions or concerns they have along the way.

“It’s a process that can be overwhelming,” she says of real estate transactions. “And I like to let them know I'm there for the whole process and beyond.” Part of that beyond includes referrals to home and professional services for just about anything new owners might need.

“You can't rubber-stamp a transaction,” she says. “Every client's different, every property is different, every situation is different, every transaction is different. So you've really got to be fluid and flexible.”

Helping her maintain that fluidity, she says, is the cooperative camaraderie of the people she works with at Great Lakes, saving her highest praise for broker Bruce Andrews.

“He’s always available, always there for us,” Lisa says. In addition to creating the company's atmosphere of collaboration and cooperation, unlike many brokers, he’s also given agents the flexibility to negotiate details.

Her favorite role in life is outside the office where she gets to be nurturer-in-chief for her two daughters, Taylor, 22, and Alyssa, 19. Her favorite time in life is when the girls are home from college, joining her and her “sweet companion,” Moxie, a Sheepadoodle she adopted about a year ago.

“I enjoy taking care of the girls, friends, people in general,” she says. “I love meeting new people and have been told I’d talk to a wrong number for a half hour. And I could.”

Getting together with friends and meeting new people are two of the reasons she joins the weekly Tips and Sips get-togethers each golf season at Niagara Falls Country Club.

“I use to despise golf, but this makes it fun,” she says of Tips and Sips, which begins with cocktails and ends with dinner, “with a little golf lesson in between.” She’s also hoping to get back to sports she loved and enjoyed BC (before children)–skiing and sailing.

Lisa is a board member of the Upward Niagara Chamber of Commerce and a member of Zonta, an international organization working for women’s rights and equality, especially important to her raising two daughters. 

Prior to joining Great Lakes, she had served as executive director of HART (Home Assistance Referral Team), Inc., a non-profit working to help residents maintain quality of life in their own homes. 

“I love where I’m at,” she says regarding what lies ahead. “I love the support, the flexibility and I just want to keep growing. But then I’m one of those people who says ‘When opportunity knocks, answer.’”

Before getting her license, she remembers how competitive and cutthroat she heard real estate could be. And while she enjoys the competition, it’s just not in her nature to be overly aggressive and cutthroat to win at any cost.

“If don't make a cent this year, I'd rather build up my clientele and do it with honesty and integrity. I believe in karma.”