There are many ways your association can recognize Fair Housing Month. Click here for more information. Click here to download the 2017 Fair Housing poster.
Author Archives: James Tucholski
2015-16 Community Outreach Awards
These awards recognized six local REALTOR® Associations that have worked to make their communities a better place to live and do business.
How to Get Involved in the REALTOR® Party
Being a member of the National Association of REALTORS® is a distinguished honor. As NAR members, you are automatically a member of the REALTOR® Party—the only advocacy group in America that fights exclusively for homeownership, real estate investment, strong communities and the free enterprise system. The REALTOR® Party speaks with one voice to advance candidates and public policies that uphold private property rights, real property ownership, strong communities and a vibrant business environment.
Since the REALTOR® Party was launched in 2012, REALTOR® Party Resources have been put to work more than 13, 000 times by more than 1,000 REALTOR® Associations. In recent years, local level activities have increased; REALTORS® have gained political clout through legislative victories in every corner of the country; and state and local REALTOR® Associations have expanded their community and political presence…all because of the actions of the REALTOR® Party.
While the thought of political advocacy and community engagement on a large scale maybe daunting, here are five easy ways to get started.
Register to Vote
With all the local, state and federal legislative efforts, ballot initiatives and major elections, REALTORS® around the country need to get involved. Today, approximately 82% of REALTORS® are registered to vote and our goal is to have as many of our members registered and at their polling place on Election Day as possible. Register today, especially if you’ve recently relocated, by visiting www.realtoractioncenter.com/registertovote.
Respond to Calls for Action and Sign up for the REALTOR® Party Mobile Alerts
REALTORS® are busy people, and the REALTOR® Party Mobile Alerts—NAR’s official texting platform—are the simple, easy way for REALTORS® to stay connected from their cell phone or tablet outside of their email inboxes. It is also the way we make sure our voice is heard from Capitol Hill to the state capitol and in city hall when a call for action is launched. Calls for action send messages from you to your national, state and local legislatures about issues that are important to our business. When a legislative call for action is launched, REALTOR® Party Mobile Alert subscribers get a short text message with ways to take action.
Sign up today by simply texting the word REALTOR to 30644. In addition to receiving text messages to participate in calls for action, you’ll receive a link to help you locate your polling location and election and primary voting day reminders to make sure we get out the vote.
Visit the REALTOR® Action Center at www.realtoractioncenter.com
Looking for ways to vote, act and invest in the REALTOR® Party? Want to see how REALTORS® and REALTOR® Associations are successfully using REALTOR® Party programs, grants and tools? The REALTOR® Action Center is a one-stop shop for your REALTOR® Party needs, whether you want to apply for grants, learn more about RPAC or participate in a national call for action. The website offers valuable resources and tools to strengthen their advocacy and community outreach programs, building political clout at every level of government and strong communities nationwide.
Follow the REALTOR® Party and Share Your REALTOR® Party Stories Online
Follow the REALTOR® Party on Facebook (REALTOR® Action Center) and Twitter (@REALTORAction) for the latest information on issues that matter to you. Join the conversation by tagging us in your posts and use the hashtags #REALTORParty AND your two-letter state abbreviation (i.e., #REALTORParty #IL for Illinois) when posting your stories, photos and videos online.
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Each photo, video, post and tweet tells a story—a story of improving and building strong communities, advancing and promoting public policies and candidates that benefit real estate and championing a vibrant business environment. We want to hear from you and acknowledge your success by sharing your photos and videos with the REALTOR® Family and in our publications.
Read the REALTOR® Party News
The REALTOR® Party News is a monthly newsletter emailed to every member of the National Association of REALTORS® on the second Thursday of the month. This newsletter provides important advocacy updates and resources, opportunities for REALTORS® to get involved in the REALTOR® Party and highlights the success of REALTORS® and REALTOR® Associations working across America.
You are the REALTOR® Party. Your advocacy efforts—Voting, Acting and Investing in the REALTORS® Political Action Committee (RPAC)—not only make the REALTOR® Party, but our cities, communities and our country stronger and more effective.
How to Get Involved in the REALTOR® Party
Being a member of the National Association of REALTORS® is a distinguished honor. As NAR members, you are automatically a member of the REALTOR® Party—the only advocacy group in America that fights exclusively for homeownership, real estate investment, strong communities and the free enterprise system. The REALTOR® Party speaks with one voice to advance candidates and public policies that uphold private property rights, real property ownership, strong communities and a vibrant business environment.
Since the REALTOR® Party was launched in 2012, REALTOR® Party Resources have been put to work more than 13, 000 times by more than 1,000 REALTOR® Associations. In recent years, local level activities have increased; REALTORS® have gained political clout through legislative victories in every corner of the country; and state and local REALTOR® Associations have expanded their community and political presence…all because of the actions of the REALTOR® Party.
While the thought of political advocacy and community engagement on a large scale maybe daunting, here are five easy ways to get started.
Register to Vote
With all the local, state and federal legislative efforts, ballot initiatives and major elections, REALTORS® around the country need to get involved. Today, approximately 82% of REALTORS® are registered to vote and our goal is to have as many of our members registered and at their polling place on Election Day as possible. Register today, especially if you’ve recently relocated, by visiting www.realtoractioncenter.com/registertovote.
Respond to Calls for Action and Sign up for the REALTOR® Party Mobile Alerts
REALTORS® are busy people, and the REALTOR® Party Mobile Alerts—NAR’s official texting platform—are the simple, easy way for REALTORS® to stay connected from their cell phone or tablet outside of their email inboxes. It is also the way we make sure our voice is heard from Capitol Hill to the state capitol and in city hall when a call for action is launched. Calls for action send messages from you to your national, state and local legislatures about issues that are important to our business. When a legislative call for action is launched, REALTOR® Party Mobile Alert subscribers get a short text message with ways to take action.
Sign up today by simply texting the word REALTOR to 30644. In addition to receiving text messages to participate in calls for action, you’ll receive a link to help you locate your polling location and election and primary voting day reminders to make sure we get out the vote.
Visit the REALTOR® Action Center at www.realtoractioncenter.com
Looking for ways to vote, act and invest in the REALTOR® Party? Want to see how REALTORS® and REALTOR® Associations are successfully using REALTOR® Party programs, grants and tools? The REALTOR® Action Center is a one-stop shop for your REALTOR® Party needs, whether you want to apply for grants, learn more about RPAC or participate in a national call for action. The website offers valuable resources and tools to strengthen their advocacy and community outreach programs, building political clout at every level of government and strong communities nationwide.
Follow the REALTOR® Party and Share Your REALTOR® Party Stories Online
Follow the REALTOR® Party on Facebook (REALTOR® Action Center) and Twitter (@REALTORAction) for the latest information on issues that matter to you. Join the conversation by tagging us in your posts and use the hashtags #REALTORParty AND your two-letter state abbreviation (i.e., #REALTORParty #IL for Illinois) when posting your stories, photos and videos online.
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Each photo, video, post and tweet tells a story—a story of improving and building strong communities, advancing and promoting public policies and candidates that benefit real estate and championing a vibrant business environment. We want to hear from you and acknowledge your success by sharing your photos and videos with the REALTOR® Family and in our publications.
Read the REALTOR® Party News
The REALTOR® Party News is a monthly newsletter emailed to every member of the National Association of REALTORS® on the second Thursday of the month. This newsletter provides important advocacy updates and resources, opportunities for REALTORS® to get involved in the REALTOR® Party and highlights the success of REALTORS® and REALTOR® Associations working across America.
You are the REALTOR® Party. Your advocacy efforts—Voting, Acting and Investing in the REALTORS® Political Action Committee (RPAC)—not only make the REALTOR® Party, but our cities, communities and our country stronger and more effective.
REALTORS® Promote Affordable Housing for the Los Angeles Workforce
A recent report from the California Housing Development Office indicates that while the state population is growing significantly, its production of affordable housing units in the last decade has fallen way short of the demand. The statistics didn’t surprise Mel Wilson, a seasoned Los Angeles broker who’s been concerned about the shortage of housing for middle class workers for years.
“I've been doing this a long time, and the increasingly steep competition for medium-range properties is a reality we just can’t ignore: our agents are making offers on behalf of middle-income clients on four, five, six different houses, to no avail.” Not only is it a frustrating experience for would-be homeowners, he notes, but many of them are having to live well over an hour away from their place of work, which puts a great strain on the health and well-being of workers, their families and the environment. The issue snowballs, he adds, when businesses move out of state because they can’t find the workers they need where they are located.
At an NAR conference a few years ago, Wilson, who also serves as Government Affairs Director of the 9,500-member Southland Regional Association of REALTORS® (SRAR), voiced his concerns about middle class housing access to Holly Moskerintz, NAR’s Community Programs Outreach Manager. She told him about two REALTOR® Party programs designed to help his local association explore solutions to the problems the region was experiencing; through these, SRAR was able to offer an Employer-Assisted Housing course, and sponsor a Workforce Housing Forum called "Housing Our Workers," in early February 2017.
The back-to-back events were part of an overall plan to educate REALTORS® and the public, and to motivate them toward a plan of action, says Wilson. The four-hour Employer Assisted Housing course attracted nearly 50 REALTORS®, who learned out how to form a team and contact employers to discuss how they can offer home buying guidance and financial assistance to their employees. The Housing Our Workers Forum, held the following day, was funded in part by a Housing Opportunity Grant, and was co-sponsored by the Valley Economic Alliance and BizFed Institute.
This day-long event was free and open to the public, drawing more than 200 participants from the community. Its packed program included hardship testimonials from workers who travel great distances from home to work in Los Angeles; remarks by Scott Syphax of Nehemiah Corporation of America, a California-based social enterprise and real estate development firm; and a keynote speech by Ben Metcalf, Director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development. The heavy lifting took place in six breakout groups focused on Labor Partners, Social Benefits, Government Partners, Neighborhood Advocates, Public-Private Partnerships and Traditional & Creative Financing. Each of the forty panelists in these sessions was asked to respond to three questions: How did we get here? How can my agency contribute to an increase in housing options? and How can I be personally responsible for helping the cause? The results of each breakout group were tabulated and presented to the whole assembly via PowerPoint following the morning and afternoon sessions.
The Housing Our Workers forum garnered significant press coverage in the massive southern California market, raising awareness of the workforce housing shortage—and the REALTORS®' efforts to address it. The principal goal of the forum was met, as well, reports Wilson: “We brought representatives of all stakeholder groups to the table, to hear each other’s side and engage in civil discourse regarding the need for more middle class housing in Los Angeles.” Now that they’ve identified commonalities, he says, they can build on them. Looking ahead, as they work to overcome differences, learn to compromise, and continue to listen to each other and share ideas, SRAR will be there, meeting the affordable housing challenges in its region.
To learn more about how REALTORS® are working to create more housing for the Los Angeles workforce, contact Mel Wilson, Government Affairs Director the Southland Regional Association of REALTORS®, at (818) 534-2400 ext. 2424.
Washington REALTORS® Help Revitalize Downtown Bellingham
In 2015, a neighborhood in the city of Bellingham, Washington, received a few fairly modest, highly creative additions intended to improve the quality of life and build community. They included a painted concrete ‘soapbox’ for anyone to preach from, and a hanging garden adding vibrant greenery to the side of a multi-storey car-park: signs of life that signaled the slow but steady revival of the city’s downtown district, the vitality of which had been drained by the arrival of shopping malls in outlying areas several decades ago.
The 534-member Whatcom County Association of REALTORS® (WCAR) had supported the placemaking competition that brought these colorful improvements to the city streets. The following year, in 2016, a Level 3 Smart Growth Action Grant kicked its involvement up a notch: as a major sponsor of a placemaking event that drew 24 competitors and more than 500 community members, resulting in five new projects and paving the way for even more. WCAR positioned itself as a distinctly positive force in Bellingham’s urban renewal.
WCAR Executive Officer Perry Eskridge credits Past President Cerise Noah as being the one with the vision to engage the REALTORS® in revitalizing the city center. “She was at a Downtown Bellingham Plan meeting when the placemaking concept was pitched, and recognized it as a good project for the REALTORS®,” says Eskridge. “She also realized that if we succeeded in getting a REALTOR® Party grant, we’d need a community partner to help implement the program, so she forged a partnership with Sustainable Connections, a highly effective local organization that got the job done, and made it great fun for the community.”
Rose Lathrop, Sustainable Connections’ Green Building & Smart Growth Manager, organized a colorful competition that attracted dozens of proposals to add life to Bellingham’s North State Street corridor, a high-profile downtown location suffering from outdated infrastructure and lack of public funding. The event was called “KAPOW!” and the super-hero theme packed a punch of creative energy. Eight projects, chosen for their creativity, innovation, potential to be realized and social impact, were presented to an enthusiastic crowd at the Mount Baker Theater in a rapid-fire pecha kucha format, which allows each competitor just under seven minutes and twenty PowerPoint slides to convey a concept.
WCAR 2016 President MaryKay Robinson, who served on the committee that chose the finalists, notes how fun it was to watch the parade of dynamic, well-organized proposals, of which three were granted the Mayor’s Choice Award, the juried Superhero Award and the People’s Choice Award. “We had funding budgeted for those three awards,” she explains, “but the great thing was that two audience members felt compelled to fund two others that had appealed most to them. So we actually had five winners!” Among them are a coin-operated all-weather dance space; a giant sidewalk hopscotch game; and a bicycle maintenance, map and repair station. WCAR opted to finance the State Street light installation, part of a solar system scale model that will bring a more human, pedestrian element down the length of the North State Street corridor, says Eskridge.
Lathrop agrees that the event was a tremendous success, and reports that the process has also inspired the city of Bellingham to make additional investments on State Street, including re-striping for reduced lane widths and traffic calming measures. Based on the strength of the 2016 event, she is now planning a KAPOW! placemaking event for this year focused on Birchwood, a neighborhood separated from the rest of the city by both economic barriers and physical divides, notably a ravine and an airport.
Beyond the enlivening benefits for the city, says Eskridge, the placemaking events and projects shine a positive light on the REALTORS® as they invest back in to the community. “It’s good to be a part of the good things happening here in Bellingham, and we’re very grateful to the REALTOR® Party for its support of our efforts.”
To learn more about how the REALTORS® of Whatcom County are helping to revitalize areas of downtown Bellingham, Washington, contact Perry Eskridge, Executive Officer of the Whatcom County Association of REALTORS®, at 360-671-5477, or WCAR 2016 President MaryKay Robinson at 360-734-7500.
Wyoming REALTORS® Derails Tax on Services Threat with Timely Advocacy
The Wyoming Association of REALTORS® (WAR) is careful to use Calls For Action (CFA) sparingly, sending a few out each year to keep members in practice, but “never so many that they feel like we’re asking for help every time they turn around,” says Government Affairs Director Laurie Urbigkit. “Our members know that if they get a CFA from me,” she says, “it means the world is coming to an end!”
Early in 2017, just such an extreme situation developed in the Wyoming statehouse, and when Urbigkit put out the call, the REALTORS® responded accordingly. The end of the world, in this case, was the threat of a tax on all services that had suddenly appeared on the agenda of the House Revenue Committee, without debate or public testimony. The bill bore the benign title, ‘HB 243 School Finance-Capital Construction Funding,’ but would have imposed a comprehensive sales tax on services provided by all professionals, from barbers to babysitters. For the real estate industry, it would not only have added to an agent’s commission, but to the appraisal, title insurance, closing fee, loan fees, inspections, repairs, surveys and legal fees. WAR was keenly aware that, in addition to burdening the operation of real estate brokerages as small businesses, these added costs would effectively block many first-time home buyers from the market.
The association had actually been keeping an eye out for such threats to the industry. In recent years, as Wyoming’s mineral-based economy has been driven down by low oil and gas prices, explains Urbigkit, the state’s general revenue has been substantially reduced, putting pressure on the Revenue Committee to find sources elsewhere. In fact, this bill had died in committee just last September for lack of a motion, “because no one would touch it,” she says. But the committee had experienced a turnover in seven-out-of-nine seats since November’s election, and the chairman decided to revisit the proposal.
Urbigkit leapt to action, alerting all WAR members who are constituents of Revenue Committee members that it was time to make their voices heard. “The REALTOR® Party Hub email communications system is great,” she says. “I can target our members by committee, or by district, and engage them very easily in our advocacy efforts.” Just as Urbigkit is careful not to ‘cry wolf’ with too many Calls for Action to her members, she also guards the Wyoming legislators from undue bombardment. In order to protect the value of their messages, her members are only asked to contact representatives of their own districts. “Our legislators know that when the REALTORS® are concerned, they’re getting messages from their own constituents, and that carries much more weight than flooding their in-boxes indiscriminately.”
In response to the urgent CFA regarding the tax on services, a concentrated blast of emails to the House Revenue Committee ensued, complementing WAR’s in-person lobbying efforts. The bill was defeated in a 0-9 vote. “We’re very fortunate to have tools like this at our disposal!” says Urbigkit, adding, “The technology is so precise and effective, and our members are right there with it.”
To learn more about how Wyoming REALTORS® are protecting the real estate industry and keeping homeownership accessible for first-time buyers, contact Laurie Urbigkit, Government Affairs Director of the Wyoming Association of REALTORS®, at 307-851-1191.