Recently it was my privilege to participate in our local Realtor® association's strategic planning session. The event was not unique to this area. Around the country, especially during the months of December and January, local Realtor® associations and boards conduct retreats and/or planning sessions in preparation for the coming year. Newly elected and appointed directors and, often, committee chairs receive orientation to the associations' overall operations. Both successes and failures of the past year are reviewed. Goals for the coming year are set, and strategies for achieving those goals are adopted.
It's fair to say that this is an aspect of the association that most members never see and of which most are not aware. If they could experience what goes on in these sessions, they would likely have a significantly heightened appreciation of the trade organization to which they belong.
In many cases, as was true of the session in which I participated, the directors' thoughts are influenced by such things as membership surveys, the results of focus groups, and other member input and feedback received throughout the year. While this information is important and taken seriously, it occasionally ranges from amusing to distressing to learn from such surveys the extent to which members may be mistaken or unaware of what the association does and/or how much it costs (in dues) to do it.
Thus, members may complain of or refer to "ever increasing fees" in an organization where the dues have remained unchanged for years. Moreover, numerous Realtor® surveys at all levels -- local, state, and national -- routinely reveal that few even know what the actual costs of membership dues really are.
Joining a Realtor® organization is a voluntary act. One may certainly pursue a career in real estate without doing so. Nonetheless, it is relevant to point out that many who join don't do so, as it were, "directly" on the basis of perceived individual benefits. Rather, they may join because the company with whom they choose to affiliate requires that they become members. The company understands the benefits, even though the individual may not, or, at least, not initially.
Realtor® organizations are trade organizations whose essential purpose is to protect and enhance their members' ability to conduct business. Now, for many members that simply means the provision of MLS (multiple listing services). In fact though, in many cases the Realtor® association is not the actual provider of those services. The provider may be a separate entity, though the Realtor® association may be an owner or stockholder of the MLS entity. Also, the Realtor® association may provide the gateway to the MLS through various models of billing and service provisions.
Regardless of the MLS arrangement, Realtor® organizations fulfill a number of other roles that are of great significance to the business lives of their members. The provision of educational offerings is one of the most significant functions. Just in this last year, associations all around the country have heard requests for education on foreclosures, short sales, and related topics that haven't been in vogue for years. Developments in technology and never-ending changes in the law are other areas that call for educational offerings.
Typically, a local Realtor® association will not have the staff resources to provide teachers of such courses. Rather, its role will be to seek out educational providers, coordinate offerings, and provide a venue for their presentation. It is an understatement to say that this requires extensive planning time.
Realtor® associations also have an important member-benefit function to fulfill in the political/legislative arena. Again, this is something of which many members seem to be only dimly aware, yet what goes on legislatively at the local, state, and national levels vitally affects their business interests. From the adoption of local sign ordinances to regulations affecting the home financing system, Realtors® need a place at the table when decisions are being made. It is through their associations that their voice is heard and their interests represented.
Finally, Realtor® associations have a vital role to play in promoting and enforcing a Code of Ethics that is meant to insure the conduct of business with integrity and professionalism. This is no small or easy task. Nor is it ever 100 percent successful, just as the legislative "wish list" is never 100 percent achieved. In this regard, people should look at the part of the glass that is full. We may have problems now; but you can't even imagine how bad it would be if we weren't trying to solve them at all.
Achieving the goals that Realtor® organizations have set for themselves requires a lot of planning and a lot of work. Around the country, volunteer directors and participants will give up significant amounts of time this year in pursuit of those goals. Association members should appreciate them.