Aug. 29, 2006 - Build it and They Will Come

Aug. 27, 2006 - Up Here on the Mountain

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to have been selected as a part of an AE Advisory Group which meets periodically with the NAR CEO and functions as an informational and idea exchange .  This month it was my privilege to be one of a dozen invitees who spent a day with Dale Stinton.  We were high up in the Rockies, in a resort at Beaver Creek, Colorado--where the sun was bright, the air was thin and pure, and the height was literally and figuratively dizzying.

I'd say there were a dozen of us, Association and MLS Executives of local Realtor organizations...and Dale and NAR VP Janet Branton. It was a mixed group--large associations and smaller ones, 'seasoned' staff and newer ones, and a real geographical mix.  Dale explained early on that NAR staff was there to listen, and we guests were there to share and challenge. And so we did.

Here are some of the themes emerging from the discussion:

1. Membership bloat.  Almost all associations are reporting too many members.  This condition is the root cause of the following conditions:
   1. Lack of training in rudiments
   2. Lack of economic stability for members (the Kingdom of Orlando reported that 34% of its members had no transactions in the past year, and 86% of its members have been in the Orlando Association for 10 years or less.
2. A concern about the quality of management of brokers.  The articulated trend seemed to be that:
   1. Brokers of offices do not train salespeople in reanl estate basics and professionalism
   2. That the cooperative business model is no longer a value item, and members don't seem to understand the concepts at the basis of the MLS (cooperation and/or compensation)
      
   3. Brokers have abandoned their volunteer leadership roles in organized real estate. (Various new local organization models are being used to combat this – all broker boards of directors, for instance).
3. Failure of the ethics enforcement program of NAR.  Local associations reported either dramatic drops in numbers of complaints filed or dramatic increases, often because the system is being misused to obstruct competitors or because members view it as cumbersome and ineffectual. (Recommendation from AEs: NAR reintroduce the use of an ombudsman and/or member complaint mediation programs)
4. Market:  most areas report a downward tend in sales, but little drop off in average selling price.  Many local associations report an over-supply of listings and concerns with housing affordability.
5. Membership drop:  many associations report significant membership drops as economy weakens.  Several AEs commented on the fact that some of those who are leaving are long-term contributing members, leaving a leadership void.
6. MLS: clearly the MLS is undergoing many changes, and the underlying theme was clear – the MLS may not survive.  REALTORS® don’t understand that it is a business service, not an advertising database, and members are also increasingly frustrated by the geographical boundaries the MLS. In addition, Google and like technologies are encouraging public information accessibility, making IDX and aggregation sites like Realtor.com superfluous and ineffectual for the consumer.
   

Not a pretty picture, is it?  Sure doesn't compliment the sunshine and blue skies of an August day in
Vail. But as I looked out the window of the conference room in the Hyatt Conference Center, I could see not only the exotic beauty of the mountains, but also -- far below -- the bright yellow shapes of earth moving equipment moving back and forth on the highway.  Down there in the valley a new roadway is being built, wider and more straight and flat than the torturous two-lane we travelled to get here.  I take that as a sign.

Aug. 13, 2006 - TAAR has a visitor

The association staff  loves to show off, and  last Monday's audience was a visitor from NAR--the first one ever!  Julie Ann is a long time national association staffer, and  a good friend.  It was especially delightful to have her select our association as a one-day destination on her outreach assignment.

The outreach program is new at NAR this year. and long overdue.  It's occurred to NAR that maybe its staff needs to know first hand how things function out in Reality Realtor Association.  Of course it's grand to visit the Picture Perfect Board of Realtors, and I imagine there will be a fair share of folks who will want to see how it's done in the Kingdom of Orlando, or Huston, or Northern Virginia. But we were real proud to show Julie Ann our little northwoods enclave.  Here are some of the moments she experienced:

    Staff Meeting.  Well, sort of.  Two staffers were vacationing, and Lars the Geek was working on a crisis for another client, but we managed to get through the weekly schedule of committee meetings, computer training sessions, scheduled interviews with new members, and staff days off. Our staff also discussed the state of the association--annual dues collection is weak, members are uncertain about the economy, and the general mood of the members is restless and grouchy.  We need an 'upbeat' moment. 

    Marketing to Members.  This is a huge issue for us.  Our members are over 100 miles from the TAAR office--a function of the internet expanding the world.  Our challenge as an association is how to deliver services and build community when a member is only an email or a voice on the phone.  We showed JA our website, our newsletter, our many online services for our real estate community.

    Wait! Just who is our community?  That is an important question for our association. Building a professional association in a small town does, by necessity, become fairly inclusive--we don't specialize in property managment or commercial real estate, because we're just to small a market to support exclusivity.  We tend to open our arms to all business associates--appraisers, lenders, attorneys, builders, government officials.  Julie Ann is amazed at how many of them wander through the door in the course of a day...to get a map, sign up for a class, or pick up some purchase agreements which we print in-house.

    "Well," I tell her, "We don't much have committees anymore.  People are too far away.  They don't want to drive to meetings. We need other ways to get feedback from members." And how, she asks me, do you find new leaders?  I answer that I don't have a real good formula for that--TAAR does make running for the Board of Directors as easy as possible, and we invite everyone who is interested to the Annual Retreat.  We have a budget item for leadership training--for conferences, speakers and education. But I wish there were other ways to find the voices and the ideas to make our association what our members need. It occurs to me that we can't force  new trends into the old  shapes--committees and membership meetings, and social gatherings just don't seem to work any more....

    Julie Ann gets to see some other things, too--we show her how an online MLS listing inquiry works, and how we put together our weekly newsletter.  She participates with staff when our president-elect drops by to find out which pair of eyeglasses look best on her. Julie Ann takes me to lunch, and later I take her to the pub where I play Irish music on Monday nights. We meet even more TAAR members, and word gets around: The National Association has come to visit! 

   We say good-bye until New Orleans...and Julie Ann leaves to head for another local association.  TAAR staff tells me the next day how much they enjoyed the visit--we are all proud of what we do, and we DO like an audience.  And that's an "aha" moment--guess it's about time to schedule staff visits to our member offices.....

Aug. 12, 2006 - Email from Bill

It's a beautiful Saturday in Northern Michigan--sunny, still, mid-70's.  It's what we wait for here through the 9 months of winter. Perfect!  As I drove into town to the farmers market, the water was blue and the salmon fishermen were enjoying the August run, their boats still and lazy in the early morning haze.

And the first thing I did when I returned home with my bag of fresh peaches and a loaf of newly made bread was to check my e-mail.  There it was: the email from Bill. "How's the health care issue coming?" he asked. "We need help NOW".

"Well, hell, Bill," I thought. "This is SATURDAY! I have shopping to do, and sunshine to enjoy." 

And of course, I didn't.  Because there's Bill, in the back of my mind.  A single guy, does reasonably well in real estate, pretty laid back about his life style, smart...and, I envisioned,  maybe just discovered that he has a major illness.  Or maybe he took a bad spill from his bicycle during the races yesterday.  Why else would he be thinking about health insurance at 9 AM on a Saturday morning?  Why else would he fire off an email to his association manager before the sun is fully up?

Why indeed?  Because we are an organization of independent contractors, that's why.  To quote NAR, currently, over half of the 46 million Americans who lack health insurance are self-employed or owners and employees of small firms and their dependents. Today, 28 percent of Realtors^® --more than one in four of the nation’s 1.2 million Realtors^® -- do not have health insurance coverage. The reason most widely given for not having any insurance is that it is unaffordable. (And of course, in a national economy which encourages the use of independent contractors in all segments of business, this problem will only worsen thoughout  the US.)

Well, we all know these things: as organized real estate, we've launched a valiant campaign this year, and failed in Congress.  But what also interests me is the issue of perspective--I think health care is the single most important item for membership care that our association can provide.  The SINGLE MOST!  Beside it the hotly contested association controversies pale--'can consumers view property addresses', 'can appraisers see active listings', 'should we have two meetings a year, or three', 'what should be taught in an orientation class'. 

Where the rubber meets the road for a professional association like ours is with Bill's early morning email, "What's with health care?"  Bill's the member--he's got a face, a voice, a daily job selling real estate.  And more than that, he's an email on a Saturday morning from a human being with a need that transcends a weekend and a sunny day. 

I don't know how to respond to Bill.  I could just wait until Monday, of course--it's the WEEKEND, after all.  I could suggest we form an investigative committee, and spend a few weeks surveying the options and making reccomendations. I could suggest we write letters to Senators Levin and Stabenow who voted against the Realtor initiative this spring.  But I am not going to have any better answer on Monday.  And in the meantime, Bill has written me this email on a brilliant Saturday morning in August, asking for help.