Della Lively, RIP

Dallas has lost another real estate icon: Della Lively.

I first met Della in 1980. We were brand new to Texas. We could not afford a pot to you-know-what in, and in fact, my husband did not even want us to buy a $65,000 starter home because of graduate school debt. But we had always been drawn to land, loving the countryside, and having come from the urban jungle of New York City we flocked to every spacious Dallas neighborhood and hugged the trees as well as the homes.

The pinnacle, of course, was Strait Lane. Corner of Strait and Harrys Lane.

There we were, two looky-loos with dirt dust in our eyes attending open houses at one-acre spreads. The ’50s era long-legged ranch homes reminded me of where I grew up in suburban Chicago, and my husband loved the mini-farm concept. My Lord, can you really have horses here, in the city limits?

“You sure can honey,” said this woman with a deep, rich voice (not a Texas accent, however). “If you have an acre of dirt it’s grandfathered in.”

Grandfathered? Dirt?

The woman was Della Lively, a tall, striking Dallas Realtor dressed to the nines, wearing a Fedora, demi-heeled pumps, in command of her open house, greeting potential buyers and treating everyone as if they were oil barons, including a poor young resident and his bride.

We would stay in touch. We looked at homes with Della over the years. When it came to Preston Hollow, Della Lively owned it — she sold more of it than any agent alive. (Her daughter would tease Della that she was responsible for the turn-over of one story Preston Hollow ranches to McMansions — Della would shrug it off as “it’s the dirt!”) I will venture she sold every acreage in the estate area at least once, especially that quadrant south of Royal to Walnut Hill, from Midway east to the Dallas North Tollway.

She is the woman who taught me the value of dirt, that it was more important than the house. That fancy house depreciates the minute you sign on the dotted line, honey. She’d say: the dirt is always where the value is.

Della Lively was born in Nebraska and raised in Bismarck, North Dakota, the sixth of six siblings. She went to work and became the very first executive secretary the Atlantic Richfield Company ever transferred. Della requested a transfer to Dallas so she could find and marry a Texan. That she did: Earl Lively was a writer, handsome Air National Guard pilot, and a commercial Real Estate broker. They married and had one child, Anna, who Della raised at home until the lass was 13.

That’s about the time Earl decided to open a residential component to his commercial brokerage. Hey Della, he asked, do you want to sell houses?

Della had never sold a house. But she got in the car, drove to Lenox Lane, knocked on the door, and asked the owners if they wanted to sell their home.

Just so happened, they did! The estate area was literally Della’s for the asking!

For almost 35 years, the Lively’s office was in Preston Center on Sherry Lane in the one-story strip near Blackwell Chiropractic. The office door was always open. Della loved nothing more than someone dropping in for coffee or to do a deal. It was Della and Earl, independent agents (at one point 35), and their trusty Gal Friday, Sonja.

Lively Realty was one of the last boutique Real Estate agencies in Dallas.

Della, like Earl, was all about old-school work ethic — wearing out shoe leather, door knocking, cold calls, hard work — stick with me, kid, she told agents, you won’t be a show pony but you will be a super-qualified workhorse!

And she never wanted to stop working. The beauty of real estate is that it is a field where older brains thrive and rise above the young, albeit quicker ones, because they know the history of the homes they have sold four, five, or six times. They know where the bodies are buried.

Knowledge is extreme power in real estate, and Della Lively had an abundance.

Della worked until she was 84.

“Work like a man and conduct yourself like a lady.”

I’m not sure if this was first said by Ebby Halliday, but Della often repeated it or some form thereof. Work is what she lived for.

Della was the agent to many Texas oil barons, especially during the oil boom, when many would call her and buy a house, just for fun. She brokered deals for high-ticket local and national celebrities, such as actress Dorothy Malone, and major sports figures including the local owner of a certain basketball team.

She is survived by her husband, Earl Lively, and her daughter, Anna Lively, a singer, actress, and voice-over talent who resides both in New York City and Dallas.

Services will be held July 16 at Restland’s Wildwood Chapel, at 2 p.m. where Della bought a Restland plot for $500 in 1969.

Wouldn’t you know it, today that same plot of dirt is worth $28,000.

Everyone in town has a Della Lively story. We invite you to tell it right here in the comments or send it to [email protected]