Derek A. Lee, B.R.I.
Managing Broker
Phone: (242) 357-6856
Email: dereklee@oii.net
Derek Lee is a founder, principal and Managing Broker of Abaco Cays Realty, Ltd.
Abaco Cays Realty covers all of the Bahamas and specializes in Abaco. The Abaco territory includes the mainland of Great Abaco and Little Abaco Islands, and all of the outlying cays. The area is approximately 650 square miles, including fourteen towns, villages and settlements plus copious small islands.
Derek joined the real estate industry in 1996 and was a member of one of the first licensing courses for realtors in the Bahamas. In 2000, he became a Broker. In early 2002, with two other area realtors, he was instrumental in establishing the Abaco Chapter of the Bahamas Real Estate Association. He
was honored to be elected the Chapter's first Chairman and thus also represented Abaco on the national BREA Board of Directors. Derek spent almost
eleven years as Abaco District Managing Broker for H.G. Christie, Ltd., the oldest and one of the largest real estate services in the Bahamas. In
partnership with his former Assistant Manager, Chris Plummer, he started Abaco Cays Realty, Ltd. in late 2006.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and educated in Greenwich, Connecticut and Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, Derek has been in and around
Abaco since 1958. During high school and college, he spent his summers working in William H. Albury's Boatyard in Man-O-War Cay.
In 1986, he and his family moved to Abaco permanently, and he was employed in sales and management positions by several local companies for ten
years before becoming a realtor.
In his previous life, prior to his move to Abaco, Derek was vice-president of sales, marketing and operations for Lee/Jofa Inc, a fine decorative textile firm and family business, of which he was fourth generation. He was always very much involved with community service, having received an award from the American Red Cross in 1985 after twenty-five years of service. Derek also spent thirteen years as a volunteer Special Officer and Emergency
Medical Technician with the Greenwich Police Department in Connecticut, retiring with the rank of Administrative Sergeant.
In addition to his current professional affiliations, Derek is, still very much involved with community service. In February of 2005, he was elected Co-President of the Abaco Chamber of Commerce. He has served, in volunteer positions; as Special Assistant to the Senior Abaco Island
Administrator, Chief District Councillors and Town Committee Chairmen in Abaco. He served as Secretary to the Man-O-War Board of Works and
Town Committee for thirteen years.
Derek is married to estate agent Margot Lee, R.N., B.S.N., who is currently on sabbitcal in Virginia, working in the medical field conducting stroke
research. They celebrate their thirty-ninth wedding anniversary in May 2007.
In Abaco, the Lees reside in Man-O-War Cay on property that has been in their family since 1946. This family is generally considered to be the first of
Abaco's foreign property owners and seasonal residents.
The Lees have three grown children: a daughter, Caren, who is married, earned an MBA degree from Mary Washington College in 2002 and is working with Geico Insurance; a son, Davis, who is married, earned an MS degree from Johns Hopkins University in 2002 and a PHD in Nuclear Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2003, and is working as a nuclear physicist in Boston, Massachusetts.; and a son Tim,
who is single, earned a BA degree from Mary Washington College in 2000 and is working with Merrill Lynch in Washington, D.C.
Derek's personal interests include: Sailing, exploring the Sea of Abaco, computer graphics and cartography, woodworking and skeet and target
shooting.
With a total of over thirty-five years of experience in the sales, marketing and other people oriented fields, customer service and satisfaction has always
been the most critical piece of his business philosophy.
He was not only the first broker in Abaco to offer complete "full service brokerage" but also the first to develop collegial relationships with other
brokers while the multiple-listing concept gets established in the Bahamas.
He was the first broker in Abaco to establish a 24-7 agency. Derek has presented property at mid-night and at five o'clock in the morning, whatever a
customer requires.
He is the first broker in Abaco, possibly the entire Bahamas, to take an in-depth, scientific interest in the research and development of property presentations, making optimal use of the latest technology. Derek's presentation sheets, books, brochures and other marketing materials are legendary
as the finest in the Bahamas and will stand close to the top internationally.
