Friday, October 30, 2009

Speaking about Voting Yes for MAPS...

This December 8, each and every OKC citizen has the opportunity to shape the future of generations to come. We can ensure jobs and a quality of life that will keep our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren here in our wonderful state. Voting YES for MAPS is essential to the economic and housing growth in OKC. But you must do more than just voting Yes for MAPS; this is the first time MAPS has faced any substantial opposition. You need to be talking to your neighbors, friends and clients about how essential this legislation is to not just increasing their property values but protecting them.

When the jobs left Detroit, Michigan inner city homes were dropping to $4000 market value (I actually couldn't believe this was really true so I asked the Michigan MLS staff and they confirmed) and when I attended a conference in April the Michigan people told me it was spreading to the bedroom communities surrounding the city and values were plummeting to well below the $100,000 mark, homes that were averaging $250,000 sales price two years earlier. The viability of a commercial market is the foundation of a healthy residential market. We have a responsibility to ourselves and every homeowner in the city and beyond to protect our homes' value.

As REALTORS and members of an organized association, we have strength in numbers and marketing reach that is unparalleled. We Can Make A Difference- Vote Yes for Maps!

For more information visit our legislative affairs page on our website http://okcrealtors.com/maps-3 or http://www.yesformaps.com.



Resurgence of the Mealmoth

We are still fighting the mealmoth! I am heartbroken over the idea of losing my piano. The county extension agent indicated that they may actually be eating the felt. We have the piano outside because a good frost should exterminate them but it doesn't seem to be getting cold enough and the weather report indicates next week will be sunny and warm.

Oklahoma has undoubtedly the best weather in the USA! Four full distinct seasons but the majority of the year is sunny, warm & dry. I attended several YESforMAPS events yesterday and I cannot think of city more well-suited for its proposed park system. The park can easily be used year-round. Yesterday we heard about a proposed ice rink for the winter months and I had seen an earlier presentation where a rock wall was proposed for our older kids. Rock climbing is a great fall/spring sport.

When MAPS passes, OKC will easily be one of the top cities to relocate. Hopefully most of the readership has heard the great news that came out last month- OKC the top city in the USA to start a business and now yesterday, OKC Number #1 city in the entire US for employment rates. We have the lowest unemployment in the nation! These two factors combined with MAPS3 will keep everyone busy selling homes for years to come.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

New OKCMAR Website

I just spent some time searching the new OKCMAR website over the lunch hour, and every time I go to it, I am amazed at the useful information that we, as Realtors, have at the click of our mouse, available to us. It is easy and fun to use.

I spent most of my time searching the Affiliate Pages to see just who is aiding us in our efforts in the Housing Industry. We now have an easy to find list of folks who want to help us in our efforts. Want a good Home Inspector, Termite Inspector, or Mortgage Company? How about a great list to direct your client to and help support our vendors.

Please check out the OKCMAR site. It is there for you.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Oklahoma City Metro Home Searching Made Simple


OKCMAR & MLSOK have launched their billboard campaign promoting the new public-sided website: http://www.centraloklahomaproperties.com/ This new site is rich with information the consumer may use when looking for a home in the Oklahoma City Metro area. OKCMAR is very proud to offer this exceptional tool for people looking to buy a home in the Oklahoma City area.

There is something in it for the agents too! On the home page, at the very bottom is a members only link. Clicking on that link will give the agent and the broker in depth reporting on the number of hits a particular property (which they have listed) has received. This ia a great method to keep in contact with your sellers! Send them the report every week via email.

Brokers, while your at it, take advantage of MLSOK's free website syndication to the major search engines by registering with ListHub. Go to wwww.listhub.com and click create account. Fill out the fields- make sure you choose Oklahoma City as the MLS/Association you are affiliated with and then choose all or pick and choose the search engines you want utilized.

MLS is on your side- working for you!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Indianmeal Moth: Who Knew?


Well you all have a lot of bugs here in Oklahoma! But at least your mosquitos aren't the size of hummingbirds like they are in Wisconsin (I am exaggerating a little). Any way we kept having these little caterpillar like creatures coming out of our piano. They also seemed to appear on the molding above the stove where we keep flour and spices.

My husband, the avid Northwoods hunter, would spend hours at night waiting for them to crawl out of the piano so he could dispose of them but he knew he was rapidly losing the fight. Yesterday he trapped several and took them to Oklahoma County Extension office by OSU. The entomologist took one look and said "Indianmeal Moth" better known as the pantry moth. He instructed us how to eliminate them and in less than 24 hours we have only had one sighting.

I think we often forget about all the great resources right around us that are free to us as OKC residents. Their site is also a great resource to give to new homeowners as they have an entire family and consumer sciences department. To access the extension click here to access the family and home sciences section click here.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Brokers, Brags, Bravado & Bruce

The Brokers' Quarterly Dinner last night was so enjoyable! We had over 100 members in attendance and several special guests. I appreciated being able to speak with so many of our brokers in such a relaxed setting. Dinner at the Marriott was surprisingly good (typically hotel dinners are not my favorite). I want to extend a special thank you to the Norman AE, Shirley Holland and Norman Director, Tom McAuliffe for making the drive to North OKC to participate. This type of support and camaraderie is what makes me love being in the REALTOR association business! Don and Susanna Lorg treated us to a beautiful rendition of The Lord's Prayer and it started out the evening in a wonderful spirit. The night had more than just brokers... it had brags!

The OKCMAR Board of Directors and several other committee members surprised Lanny Gardner with a presentation to celebrate his 50 year anniversary as a REALTOR! The presentation was filled with bragging rights to have this wonderful person and professional as a member of OKCMAR. Lanny received not only a proclamation from the board he received a citation from the Oklahoma State Senate listing all of his service activity to the state of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City. Just when we thought the program couldn't get any better... we saw the bravado of Oklahoma City.

Brokers were asked to become engaged in one of the city's biggest projects by Councilwoman, Meg Sylar. The project that is visionary and far-reaching, which shows the confidence and bravery of our citizens: MAPS3. MAPS3 is critical to the continuation of our robust residential and commercial real estate market, go to yesformaps.com for detailed information. To see what MAPS has accomplished so far check out this great video: OKC - A Great Place to Live!

Our evening ended with Bruce Aydt, one of the nation's recognized leading experts in professional standards and arbitration. An attorney and real estate broker out of Kansas, Bruce and OKCMAR have forged a long standing relationship geared towards raising the professionalism of our industry and assisting in educating our REALTORS. OKCMAR REALTORS are offered wonderful educational opportunities that are not typical in the industry.

Although this sounds like a long program we ended at 7:35pm just 5 minutes over the two hours promised and enjoyed a great meal in between! The leadership encourages every member to participate in OKCMAR events- there is always something new to learn and a take-away to increase your productivity as a real estate professional! Thanks all to everyone who attended!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

N.A.R. Call to Action

Many of you should have received an email from the 2009 NAR President Charles McMillan that had his podcast about the Legislative activities of NAR with regards to the extension and expansion of the Home Buyer Credit and NAR's position on the Health Care debate before Congress.

The Real Estate Industry is playing major roles in the outcome of these two important issues before us. While listening to the Podcast, it really hit home to me about the importance that we, as individual Realtors, play by our participation by being proactive with over 400,000 messages being sent to Congress, from Realtors, like you and me, about these issues. If you never knew why before, I want you to know that this is the kind of stuff that your RPAC donation goes towards. So that $25 that you are asked to give, may just help you sell that one extra house, as a result on NAR's efforts.

We need to stay proactive!

Generation Gap?

Recently, I sat in on a meeting where the "grown-ups" complained about the current generation of young adults- mainly the apathy and the sense of entitlement. I remembered thinking of how those same things were said about my generation. I am a teenager of the 70's who did not quite have the political and cultural influence of the 60's youth.

Then the other day I sat in on a meeting with a great group of business women and learned that we were all within a few years of age of each other. Yes, I was the old lady of the group but we won't go there. As I sat in that meeting, I thought these are 4 incredibly hard-working but family focused women. This group is a group of achievers, working relentlessly to make a difference in the communities in which we live and the members of whom we serve. This is not the generation that was tagged as apathetic all those years ago.

Tonight my graduation classmate from high school posted a great video on my Facebook site (by the way we found each other and several other grads through Facebook). She posted it as a love letter to her teenage daughters. It was somewhat an affirmation that the newest generation of young adults were not apathetic or entitled but shared the same values as their parents. Take a moment to watch the video and hopefully be inspired.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Who is the fairest of them all? Do you like what you see when you look at your professional associations: OKCMAR, OAR & NAR? The associations, are only a reflection of their members desires, needs and participation. Yesterday, a member expressed to me displeasure with the state and national assessments in the dues billing. Inherent in the letter was the sentiment that somehow OKCMAR had some level of control over the state and national billing. OKCMAR does not BUT he does as do you!

Dues and any assessments as well as investments and expenses are not driven or decided by the respective association staff. Each year the Boards of Directors create, review and approve budgets and dues. To affect change one must become actively involved in the associations- become a part of the governance process by serving on committees and ultimately by holding a seat on the Board of Directors. The reflection in the mirror that you see is the reflection of the memberships' participation in the association. To change the reflection involvement in the associations is a necessary step.

For more information about the NAR assessment click here

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Oh What a Night!

Well it wasn't late December back in '63 but it was a fabulous night in October of '09. The Affiliate Table Top and Expo was an incredibly fun evening. The affiliate sponsors really pulled out all the stops and we were able to give away great prizes about every 15 minutes! The winner of the 2010 Association Dues and MLS Fees was Ronda Hall. We were very excited to have the MAPS3 booth- we need to get this legislation passed! We had 25 booths and 27 sponsors. We had several new booths this year and the Marriott was just a great facility- lots of room, great food and beverage!

Congrats to my staff for pulling off this expanded and upgraded event. OVER 200 members were in attendance! Kelli McNeal, your Marketing & Communications Director, said she would do a dance if we hit over 200. I think I missed the dance but the entire staff was smiling from ear to ear to be able to offer a benefit to our REALTOR and Affiliate members that was so well received. We also raised awareness and money for RPAC and one of our signature charities, Heartline/211. We hope next year to increase by 10 more booths and at least 100 more members.

Thank you to all the participants- you brought so much value to the event!

I realize I have far over-used the exclamation point in this posting but I can't help but exclaim about this event. Thank you to the OKCMAR Board of DIrectors & RCA executive board for your fabulous attendance rate. It was wonderful to have such a strong leadership presence there.

We will be sending out an online evaluation form in the next day or so to those who participated. Please take a minute to fill it out so that we can have an even better event next year.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Back to the Real World

I, too, participated in the OKCMAR strategic planning retreat and echo our President-Elect's sentiments. I was in some ways suprised at a few of the outcomes, but nonetheless incredibly proud of this group. As I left for the weekend in a state of euphoria about all the amazing things we will accomplish, my mind could not help but think of the real world in which we live and how much work it will take to accomplish what was set before us.

So as I sit in my office on this gloomy Monday I say to myself, "Wow, where will you start?" I was given qreat book, Now, Discover Your Strengths! written by Buckingham and Clifton in which I learned my primary trait was that of achiever. I encourage all broker-managers to read the book if they can- This is a link to the book summary. The book pokes gentle fun of people like me. Achievers live their life through a self-imposed point system. For example, I give myself a point for sending my daughter off to school with a hot breakfast, another point for being on time, points for finishing projects and bonus points if one of the members writes me to say we are doing a good job. I live my life to rack up as many points as I can in a day. Pathetic, I know, but it gives me so much pleasure! I also deduct points for things undone.

It is this very point system that leaves me a little ovewhelmed by the 2010 strategic plan but then I remember that I am not in this alone. I have a huge membership, a strong board and a great staff to help me! This year I will be making weekly brokerage visits to discuss the plan once it has been officially approved at this month's board meeting. If you are interested in an office visit or would just like to meet with me to review the plan I would greatly look forward to the opportunity. Please email me at dkennedy@okcmar.org to arrange a time.

Remember- You get the most out of your membership and dues investment if you are involved in the association's mission. Are you a member or are you just paying dues? That is a question only each of us can answer.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

2010 Director's Strategic Plan Retreat

Last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday the OKCMAR Board & the MLSOK Board had its' 2010 Planning Retreat. I must say that I was so extremely impressed with the dedicated effort and enthusiasm of all the attendees. This coming year we have a broad spectrum of experience and knowledge. Additionally, we are extremely fortunate to have the OKCMAR staff that we have who embrace the very same enthusiasm and dedicated effort that the Realtor Board Members demonstrated. Every step of the T.E.A.M. effort was discussed -- Technology, Education, Advocacy, and Marketing.

You will see a very busy agenda this coming year to enhance the positive image of OKCMAR in the marketplace through active community involvement and to work with political officials who believe in and have a track record with the REALTOR Party.

The members of the Board cannot do this without the active involvement of the individual Board Member. I can't say it enough that this is the Member's Board, and each of us has an equal share in the prosperity and longevity of our organization. Without Involvement, there is no Existence. I will repeat that, because it is important and I will be saying it quite a few times -- Without Involvement, there is no Existence.

The first thing I would emphasize is our upcoming Affiliate Table Top show at the Marriott on October 15th from 4:30 to 7:00pm. This is a show where our Affiliate Members, who pay dues, like you and I, display their services, and show you how they can assist you in your success. I cannot urge you enough to meet with all these businesses to learn about their services. The Affiliates have proven that they believe in OKCMAR and many of them have time and time again volunteered their services, time and additional dollars in support of OKCMAR. We need and must support our Affiliate members. They are part of our T.E.A.M.

Please make sure you attend the Table Top. All the 2010 Directors and Staff will be there. Come share your ideas!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

2010 Board of Directors Planning

This week the 2010 Board of Directors will be planning for next years plans and goals. This is the planning for our 2010 Strategic Plan for the REALTOR and Affiliate membership. I am extremely interested in any ideas that come from the membership and any ideas that you feel the Board should entertain and develop for the coming year.

We have all received the "Calls for Action" from NAR, but we must also remember that all Real Estate is local. That is why good ideas will always be needed and well received to make sure that OKCMAR will always work to better our member base and to maintain a strong and viable market.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Your REALTOR Ways

As I was driving back to the office from Edmond today I happened to think about why I always take the 63rd St. exit. The late great Jean Thornton taught me all about what her husband referred to as "Your REALTOR ways". He was referring to all the navigational short cuts Jean had learned over a life time working in the OKC real estate industry. I smiled when I heard Jean's voice in my head. I miss her as I am certain the entire real estate community does.

But that phrase continued like a mantra in my head and I realized it is part of what draws me to and keeps me in this wonderful industry we call real estate. REALTOR ways means much more than side street shortcuts throughout the city it is how REALTORS quickly become the hubs of their communities, experts in the neighborhood. As the REALTOR becomes the expert in the community they serve, they also become its heart.

REALTOR ways means going the extra mile, having tact and discretion, a true desire to help families, a quick and adaptive mind and flexibility. This is why REALTORS have quickly become a large segment of the social media community. WIthin the next week OKCMAR will be launching its broker support program and a key component will be a social media university. I am saving the details for the launch of our exciting new and interactive website. This is what I believe they call a tickler....check this blog often for the latest breaking news at OKCMAR.