Posted 4:46 pm Sunday, December 27, 2009
Corbett Settles In Tyler
Laura L. Corbett in her childhood grew accustomed to moving, and moving also dominated her early professional life.
But when she got to Tyler, that was that. No more moving.
For the past decade, Ms. Corbett has been a Tyler Realtor. She also serves on the Greater Tyler Association of Realtors board and handles public relations for the association.
Ms. Corbett recently was named Realtor of the Year during an association banquet.
Born in Houston, Ms. Corbett lived in 17 different cities during her childhood due to her father, who worked for Ford-Lincoln-Mercury, being transferred.
She has also called Houston, Dallas, New Orleans and Michigan home.
Laura L. Corbett
"And then I went into the hotel business, so I moved a lot," Ms. Corbett added.
She graduated from high school in Michigan and attended Stephen F. Austin State University.
"My brother went to Stephen F. Austin," she said. "I had visited with my parents on Parents Day, and I just fell in love with the campus and East Texas."
Ms. Corbett graduated in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in sociology with a minor in management.
"I found it fascinating," she said of sociology. "It's the study of people. What could be more fascinating?"
After college graduation, she went to work as front-office manager for a hotel in a not-so-affluent part of Dallas. By then, her parents had moved back to Dallas.
Ms. Corbett remembers learning a lot about people during her work there, having to throw more than a few unsavory characters out of the hotel.
"It was interesting," she said.
From there, she signed on as restaurant manager for an Austin hotel and went on to become that company's youngest general manager. That role resulted in plenty of traveling, which led her to Tyler in 1993.
From there, she signed on as restaurant manager for an Austin hotel and went on to become that company's youngest general manager. That role resulted in plenty of traveling, which led her to Tyler in 1993.
During her hotel years, Ms. Corbett witnessed the tragic and the bizarre.
"I could write a book," she said. "There was the chef who threw a knife at a waitress. There were people standing naked in front of their windows in their rooms. I had to call them up and tell them to close their drapes or I would kick them out. That happened in Tyler.
"People behave differently in a hotel than they would at their home sometimes."
Twice, she had to oversee the removal of people who had died in their rooms.
Ms. Corbett drew the line at moving a decade ago.
"In the hotel business you have to move a lot, and I didn't want to move," she said. "In 2000 I went into real estate because I didn't want to move and I love Tyler. I wanted to stay put."
She called real estate her "second love."
"One of my friend's mom said, 'You should really go into real estate,'" she recalled. "It's very rewarding, and it's a job where I wouldn't have to move again."
"One of my friend's mom said, 'You should really go into real estate,'" she recalled. "It's very rewarding, and it's a job where I wouldn't have to move again."
Ms. Corbett is active in the community and has a list of accomplishments that include chairing Festival on the Square, serving as 2004 Heart of Tyler president, Tyler Convention and Visitors Bureau chairwoman and 2007 University of Texas at Tyler Patriots president.
She also earned the 1997 Sam Walton Business Leader Award and was named 1997 Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce Volunteer of the Year.
Ms. Corbett has been on the Realtors association board member since 2004, serving so far in positions as secretary, treasurer and vice president.
Finding the right home for a buyer presents the most rewarding aspect of her work. This past week, a young couple put in a contract on a home that turned out to be a poor fit, but they were able to get out of it and find a better home.
"To see their faces yesterday, it was a joy," she said.
Houses that won't sell are the most challenging part of the business, she said.
"There are times when I think it should sell immediately and it takes awhile," Ms. Corbett said. "It's frustrating because you can't make someone buy a house."
And, as in the hotel industry, the bizarre sometimes pops up.
"A lot times you have to negotiate more than the price of the house," she said. "Sometimes it's furniture or a washer or dryer.
"One seller did not want to keep a rooster, and the buyer didn't want the rooster, and neither one of the agents wanted the rooster. So it was touch-and-go there for a while, but the seller did resolve. I think he gave it away. I don't remember."
Ms. Corbett, 50, who is "single and looking," spends her free time hanging out with friends or visiting her mother in Dallas.
"I'm a huge music buff, everything from the Carpenters to ZZ Top," said Ms. Corbett, who has a cat named Socks. "I like jazz, country, pop and rock 'n' roll. I don't like heavy metal, and most rap I don't like."
Subjects for this column come from business cards randomly pulled from a briefcase. Send cards to Business Editor Brian Pearson at P.O. Box 2030, Tyler, Texas, 75710
