We are not Kansas anymore! Or better yet maybe it is back to the future. Two weeks ago, just over 20,000 Realtors met in San Diego at the 2009 National Convention. It had all of the elements of a regular convention: a trade show, governance meetings, entertainment, and recognitions. It is the event for the orderly transfer of leadership. The 2009 President, Charles McMillan to 2010 President, Vicki Cox Golder. Among the highlights of the meeting was the General Session: It is the main event. All of the State Realtors of the Year, including Rhode Island’s Alice Kleczek, were honored. Additionally, five Realtors who do great charity work receive awards. Every year, their stories bring tears to my eyes.
This meeting was unique as it marked a new beginning. Real Estate is changing in a revolutionary way, and November 2009 is the turning point. It is not just a change of date, of time or a place. It is a change of understanding and essence. In many ways it was a commencement. The implosion of real estate over the past several years was a catalyst for the change. As an industry, we have been forced to look at ourselves objectively and critically. That self analysis led to major changes in the real estate business and our association. You can see the industry changes: More reliance on the web, less reliance on print media; consolation and streamlining; additionally, strategic alliances and surrender.
The Realtor Association responded in bold ways. We rolled out the ‘right tools right now’ program to provide our members with ‘tools’ to make them more productive and profitable. We delivered over 11 million dollars of product to our members at limited or no cost. We worked legislatively to get the first time home buyer credit expanded and extended. We worked to get banks out or real estate permanently. We were able to get the higher loan limits extended for another year, ending December 2010.
But where the real revolution is occurring is in the web/technology area. We rolled out www.houselogic.com. It is a consumer resource website. It will not be selling the consumer; rather it will be informing and educating the consumer. Topics include everything from home improvement values, to neighborhood crime watches, to property right issues. It is just starting, but the content is amazing. We are building an online community for these country’s 75 million home owning families.
The second major announcement was RPR: Realtor Property Resource. The Association is setting us an online data base for all 147 million parcels of real estate in the United States. Access will be limited to Realtors, but it will be revolutionary tool that will enable Realtors to provide phenomenal information to their customers and clients. It will have property histories as well as price trends. Its information will include zoning, utilities, title, ownership, mapping, legal disputes, etc. It will ultimately have psycho graphics, the new marketing term for the behavior profiles of the residents. In short, it will be an amazing tool. Incidentally it will have privacy policies.
These are part of the revolution occurring in the Real Estate Industry. Their impact will be similar to that of the founding of Multiple Listing Services 100 years ago. MLS’s purpose, to provide for the cooperation and compensation among brokers, was a radical, revolutionary concept. One hundred years later, we are opening our second century, with equally important news. Your Realtor has brought great value to you in the past; you will be amazed what they will be able to do for you in the immediate future.
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