Of the many conventions and meetings I attend each year, I especially enjoy the National Association of REALTORS® Midyear gathering in Washington DC each May. It is smaller than their annual meeting and the focus on leadership, policy and legislative issues adds a degree of political brio lacking at most professional convocations.
It is for me a reunion. Working with REALTOR® associations across the nation, the Midyear Conference brings me into contact with friends and clients I haven’t seen for awhile. It is an undeniable truth that real estate professionals are among the most gregarious and hospitable folks you’ll ever meet and these sessions are productive, informative and fun.
An amazing unpredictable quirk of fate brought me into the multi-dimensioned REALTOR® world… a chance event, totally beyond my knowledge or control 22 years ago truly changed my life. I had started a few years before a consulting business as a supplement to my life as a professor of sociology at a small liberal arts college. I was getting my practice on the ground. Operating in a state capitol my initial clients were mostly state agencies, boards and commissions.
I could have never predicted that Marilyn Watson, the wife of the director of the Washington State Energy office would be lunching with her close friend, the political affairs directors of the Washington Association of REALTOR®. She mentioned to Marilyn an organizational problem vexing WAR and Marilyn, to her never-ending credit and my enduring appreciation, uttered twelve momentous words: “You should talk to the guy who is working with my husband.” Later that day, just as we were leaving to attend our son’s graduation from middle school, WAR’s EO Steve Hyer called. And nothing has been the same since,
As much as I've pondered this fortuitous shift in fate, I've puzzled even more over the great compatibility I share with my REALTOR® friends. I feel it viscerally. I can walk into a room of complete strangers and, if they’re REALTORS®, feel instantly at home. Did I in some prior life sell houses or cut deals for office buildings? I don’t know, but I do know that of the dozens of professionals I've worked with from engineers and museum curators to foresters and legislators there is none better, for me, than REALTORS® (okay, maybe appraisers).
In my years of work with them I've come to find many possess admirable traits worthy of some praise. They are obsessive about their code of ethics and exhibit at every level, commercial and residential practitioners alike, a marked dedication to self improvement and professionalism.
I recognize I have been exposed to a sample of elite REALTORS®, those who become involved in leadership roles through the local, state and national associations. But if they are the visible spokespeople for their industry, they do a great job projecting and exemplifying honesty, hard-work and ingenuity.
Two things really strike me about REALTORS®. The first is their willingness to take on community leadership roles. They recognize their centrality in the culture and commerce of their communities and it’s a sure bet that a REALTOR® active in her or his local board will be found as a volunteer on a half-dozen other local associations and committees. Of course, such activity and visibility is good for business, but I've known enough folks like Mike Flynn in Tacoma or Sylvia Miller in Lakeland or Randy Scheidt in Indianapolis to comprehend how much they care about their neighbors. They are leaders of the highest order.
The other trait is optimism. Maybe too many dead weekends in the office or sparsely attended open-houses generate a way of finding the silver lining, but even in the worst of times, like, well, now maybe, they exhibit a healthy attitude about the future. Maybe that’s why they are so good at strategic planning and readily take to my approach. They truly believe that through their efforts they can make the world a better place.
I was reminded of the power of this positive thinking when I ran into a friend I hadn't seen for nearly a year, yesterday, Lee Odems, a broker in northern Virginia (Buyer's Advantage Real Estate in Woodbridge, VA). After sharing quick updates on our common interest in politics and national affairs, I asked the salient question these days, “how’s business?”
His reply is worth quoting verbatim: “You know, Duke, I realized something a few months ago. There are two economies. There’s the national economy and there’s nothing I can do about that. And then there’s my economy, Lee’s economy, and I can do a lot about that. And, I’ll tell you, since I started working on my economy things have been going much better.”
I find that kind of thinking very motivating. All my belief in planning is based on the wisdom in Lee’s statement, be it the economy or education or environment, the most effective mechanism for change is a single person with a desire to do something, anything, to make things better. Get a bunch of those people in a room and you've just come upon a committee of REALTORS®
This is, I guess, a belated Valentine to REALTORS®. Thanks for being such good friends. I can’t wait to catch up again at the Omni Shoreham in May, 2010!
-30-
It is for me a reunion. Working with REALTOR® associations across the nation, the Midyear Conference brings me into contact with friends and clients I haven’t seen for awhile. It is an undeniable truth that real estate professionals are among the most gregarious and hospitable folks you’ll ever meet and these sessions are productive, informative and fun.
An amazing unpredictable quirk of fate brought me into the multi-dimensioned REALTOR® world… a chance event, totally beyond my knowledge or control 22 years ago truly changed my life. I had started a few years before a consulting business as a supplement to my life as a professor of sociology at a small liberal arts college. I was getting my practice on the ground. Operating in a state capitol my initial clients were mostly state agencies, boards and commissions.
I could have never predicted that Marilyn Watson, the wife of the director of the Washington State Energy office would be lunching with her close friend, the political affairs directors of the Washington Association of REALTOR®. She mentioned to Marilyn an organizational problem vexing WAR and Marilyn, to her never-ending credit and my enduring appreciation, uttered twelve momentous words: “You should talk to the guy who is working with my husband.” Later that day, just as we were leaving to attend our son’s graduation from middle school, WAR’s EO Steve Hyer called. And nothing has been the same since,
As much as I've pondered this fortuitous shift in fate, I've puzzled even more over the great compatibility I share with my REALTOR® friends. I feel it viscerally. I can walk into a room of complete strangers and, if they’re REALTORS®, feel instantly at home. Did I in some prior life sell houses or cut deals for office buildings? I don’t know, but I do know that of the dozens of professionals I've worked with from engineers and museum curators to foresters and legislators there is none better, for me, than REALTORS® (okay, maybe appraisers).
In my years of work with them I've come to find many possess admirable traits worthy of some praise. They are obsessive about their code of ethics and exhibit at every level, commercial and residential practitioners alike, a marked dedication to self improvement and professionalism.
I recognize I have been exposed to a sample of elite REALTORS®, those who become involved in leadership roles through the local, state and national associations. But if they are the visible spokespeople for their industry, they do a great job projecting and exemplifying honesty, hard-work and ingenuity.
Two things really strike me about REALTORS®. The first is their willingness to take on community leadership roles. They recognize their centrality in the culture and commerce of their communities and it’s a sure bet that a REALTOR® active in her or his local board will be found as a volunteer on a half-dozen other local associations and committees. Of course, such activity and visibility is good for business, but I've known enough folks like Mike Flynn in Tacoma or Sylvia Miller in Lakeland or Randy Scheidt in Indianapolis to comprehend how much they care about their neighbors. They are leaders of the highest order.
The other trait is optimism. Maybe too many dead weekends in the office or sparsely attended open-houses generate a way of finding the silver lining, but even in the worst of times, like, well, now maybe, they exhibit a healthy attitude about the future. Maybe that’s why they are so good at strategic planning and readily take to my approach. They truly believe that through their efforts they can make the world a better place.
I was reminded of the power of this positive thinking when I ran into a friend I hadn't seen for nearly a year, yesterday, Lee Odems, a broker in northern Virginia (Buyer's Advantage Real Estate in Woodbridge, VA). After sharing quick updates on our common interest in politics and national affairs, I asked the salient question these days, “how’s business?”
His reply is worth quoting verbatim: “You know, Duke, I realized something a few months ago. There are two economies. There’s the national economy and there’s nothing I can do about that. And then there’s my economy, Lee’s economy, and I can do a lot about that. And, I’ll tell you, since I started working on my economy things have been going much better.”
I find that kind of thinking very motivating. All my belief in planning is based on the wisdom in Lee’s statement, be it the economy or education or environment, the most effective mechanism for change is a single person with a desire to do something, anything, to make things better. Get a bunch of those people in a room and you've just come upon a committee of REALTORS®
This is, I guess, a belated Valentine to REALTORS®. Thanks for being such good friends. I can’t wait to catch up again at the Omni Shoreham in May, 2010!
-30-
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