Prudential Office Leader Is 2011 Realtor Of The Year

By Nancy K. Crevier

Lisa Hintzen, Newtown office leader and manager for Prudential Connecticut Realty and 2011 president of the Newtown Board of Realtors, received the 2011 Realtor of the Year Award, Thursday, November 17, at a luncheon held at the Rock Ridge Country Club in Newtown. Ms Hintzen was nominated and selected from 96 peer members of the Newtown Board of Realtors.

“I find it humbling to have received the award,” said Ms Hintzen. “This Newtown group is one of the best groups of agents around. They are kind, they are generous, and they are wonderful people. No one understands what it is to be a real estate agent until they get there. That’s why I wanted to go the extra mile for them [as president of the board] this past year,” she said.

Her desire to put the agents’ needs first is most likely what won her the nomination, Ms Hintzen believes, emphasizing again how many agents were also deserving of the honor.

Ms Hintzen dedicates herself to the practice of real estate and to understanding the needs of the agents in the office she manages, and the needs of the real estate agents who make up the Newtown Board of Realtors.

“I wanted to make 2011 all about the members, and about the executive board doing what it could to give back to the membership. These are really hard times for real estate agents,” said Ms Hintzen, “who are really mostly running their own businesses.”

She made it a point this past year, she said, to schedule meetings that were pertinent to the agents’ needs and of value to their businesses, rather than the traditional monthly breakfast meeting with a speaker that may or may not have applied to the current needs of agents in this economy. By finding sponsors to host the meetings, the executive board was able to absorb the cost of coffee and breakfast items, for instance, said Ms Hintzen, rather than charging agents to attend the meetings. The executive board also subsidized the cost of continuing education for members of the Newtown Board of Realtors. 

“We wanted members to know that it’s not all about the executive members of the board,” she stressed. “My hope was to clarify to the members what the executive board does; to let them know that we try to make decisions to help our businesses; to schedule pertinent speakers for programs.”

Even though Ms Hintzen is what is called a noncompeting manager for Prudential, meaning she does not take on listings herself, she remains very aware of the business of buying and selling homes.

“Part of my job is to preview homes, to give my opinion of a home’s value when real estate agents, especially new ones, ask; to assist and support our agents; and to recruit agents for Prudential,” she said. It gives her an overview of what is going on in the community, and how she can best assist agents in her own office and in the community.

“Leadership trickles down,” said Ms Hintzen, and she is honored to have been recognized for her efforts.