10-13-2024 W2W - Flipbook - Page 20
Tiffany Harris
41, Vice President, Greater Baltimore Board of
Realtors
PHOTO BY KIM HAIRSTON
Low housing inventory, high mortgage rates and
a U.S. Supreme Court decision that changes how
commissions for real estate sales are set and paid.
Tiffany Harris picked quite the tumultuous time to
help lead the group that represents just under 5,000
area Realtors.
The Walbrook Junction native, who will become the
board’s president-elect in November, became interested in the industry when she herself entered the
market and wanted to better understand the contract
she would be signing. Ten years and six properties later,
she now wants to give back and be “the voice for my
colleagues” during this challenging time.
“They need to be able to articulate the value that they
want to be compensated for,” Harris said. And consumers, now more than ever, need an agent that they can
trust. “Do your research. Interview a few agents. Interview a few lenders,” Harris advised. And above all, try
to tune out all the dire reports of affordability and high
interest rates, and find a way to become a homeowner.
“Real estate is fluid,” she said. “The best time to buy
a house is when you are ready to buy a house.”
— Jean Marbella
Jordan Howard
42, Associate and Northeast Region Roadway Group Leader,
A. Morton Thomas and Associates
Jordan Howard has worked on everything from highways to busy intersections during her 18 years in transportation engineering, but pedestrian
improvements like sidewalks and bicycle lanes speak to her the most.
Those projects allow Howard, an associate with AMT Engineering, to use
her problem-solving skills to “fulfill community needs and bring communities together,” she said.
Howard is working on a study for Baltimore County’s first “complete
streets” project, which aims to make the Old Court Road corridor safer for
users of all transportation modes. She is also leading a pedestrian improvement project for South Marlyn Avenue as part of the county’s “Essex
Reimagined” initiative.
The premise — filling gaps in an existing transportation network — is
easier said than done.
“If it was easy, somebody would have already done it,” said Howard said.
Howard gets fulfillment from putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
Even more fulfilling — getting to see a project finished. That can take
years, but even quick turnaround projects, like a roughly yearlong striping
operation near the Vienna Metro station to install a bike facility, are “fun to
see,” she said.
“I think that sometimes the projects that seem ‘small’ actually have the
most impact on our local communities in terms of increasing connectivity
and quality of life,” she said
— Dan Belson
20 | 2024 | WOMEN TO WATCH
PHOTO BY KIM HAIRSTON
