When I say “Queen of Real Estate”, it’s not hyperbole. Mary Courtney Cane lives and breathes the Mobile and Eastern Shore real estate market, and she comes by it naturally. 

Mary is one of the most positive and outgoing people that I know. She is a bright light to all who encounter her, and that’s an enormously long list of family, friends, associates, and newcomers to our Scenic 98 Coastal area. She also has more energy than anyone I’ve ever met. There is nothing she’s not up for; a party, football game, travel with friends and family… Mary is an on-the-go kind of gal, and I love this about her.

Both sides of Mary’s family, the Courtneys, and the Vickers have had family homes in Point Clear forever. The Vickers have resided since the 1890s and the Courtneys since the 1940s.  Mary grew up in Mobile but spent her summers at the Courtney bay house, moving “over the bay” as soon as the school year ended in early June and then headed back after Labor Day. “I just took my school uniform off Memorial Day, hung it up in the closet, and then put it back on when school started back again in September.”

After college, she and three friends rented a place on the boardwalk down from the Grand Hotel and lived in the area for about ten years. “I always knew I was coming back to Point Clear,” she says. She got her real estate license and went to work with a local Fairhope firm, Yeager and Masterson. “There was nothing like working with Dot Yeager. She taught me so much about how to sell real estate.” She adds, “Dot didn’t use technology, didn’t even own a watch, but told us  that coming to the office and listening to other agents was the  best way to learn what’s going on.”

About that time, Dauphin Realty launched and soon bought Yeager and Masterson’s brokerage firm, and Mary stayed with them a while.  When her daughter Katherine entered kindergarten, Mary and her brother, Joe Courtney, a real estate appraiser, decided to ramp up their dormant brokerage business in Mobile and the Eastern Shore. She says, “We were happy to be small, but we kept being approached by agents that wanted to join the firm.

Today, Courtney &  Morris Real Estate has two offices in Mobile and two on the Eastern Shore, including Daphne and Point Clear. Mary and her fellow agents’ signs can be seen all over both sides of the Bay. Selling real estate is a natural career for Mary. “I love it! Growing up here, I knew all the people and all the houses.” She’s seen it evolve in the last ten years, “People realized it’s a great place to raise a family and work remotely. You can walk, ride a bike or take a golf cart pretty much anywhere you want to go. We get a lot of walk-ins. People that are visiting the area and checking things out.”

Mary believes the leadership on both sides of the Bay is doing a great job with the challenge of managing growth while supporting business. “Everyone is aware of the pressure being placed on the infrastructure and is working on the problems, things like schools, churches, healthcare, traffic, utilities, and shopping. The mayors’ doors are always open.” 

Twenty-five years ago, Mary participated in a Leadership Mobile program. One segment was on the redevelopment of downtown Mobile. The message from the presenter was that people had to move back to downtown, but they need restaurants, bars, grocery stores, apartments on the Mobile River, and warehouses to be converted into lofts, retail, and offices to attract them. “It’s happened!” Mary says. “ Mobile’s leadership is as good as it’s ever been, and downtown Mobile is on the move.” She said the market is good throughout all of  Mobile.

Regarding the real estate market in general, Mary thinks all areas are doing well from Gulf Shores and Orange Beach to Mobile and everywhere in between. “Fairhope and Point Clear never really slow down,” she says. “So many young families are trying to take advantage of all this area has to offer.” She believes we have about two years to catch up with demand with limited inventory. “Real estate runs in cycles, and interest rates do have some effect, but everyone finds a way.”

 Mary has high hopes for the future of the area. She wants planning and zoning commissions to be good stewards of the land and practice thoughtful planning. “See what perks people want, like village development concepts. With growth so strong, it’s a lot for everyone to take in. “Our coastal area is like no other. We need to manage it well, and I think we will.”

Thanks, Mary, we agree!