Please post your blog comments on the blog

I have been getting great feedback about the blog BUT ALAS not on the blog. So far the feedback has been verbal, to my email or on our facebook account. I LOVE that you are all reading the blog and commenting on it but it would really help if you posted right on the blog. This way everyone gets to see your comments not just me and they tend to disappear quickly on Facebook with all our Facebook activity. To post a comment just hit the comment link below.

Will you be a part of the solution?

My Dad had a saying he lived by and drilled into our heads growing up "You have no right to complain unless you are willing to be a part of the solution" and also variations like "you have no right to complain if you don't vote,"or "don't ever go to your employer with a problem unless you also have a solution" can you tell my Dad was the eldest child? So am I!

As we head towards the OKCMAR election luncheon and the special meeting called for amending the bylaws following the luncheon, my Dad's voice echoes in my head. I wonder how many of my REALTORS will vote at either event? It is much easier to just complain about how things are run/done than it is to get involved. Voting is a very easy and simple means to shape your association that requires very minimal time commitment.

This year we will have electronic voting for directors thanks to the people who worked very hard on the bylaws committee last year and got this initiative passed. Watch your eblasts for directions on how to vote online. The online voting period begins next week. HOWEVER, the proposed modification to the bylaws last year allowing members to vote electronically for bylaws amendments failed. This means to vote on the bylaws you must either physically attend or assign your vote to a proxy. There is a proxy form on the home page of the website under featured information or you can access it here.

I think members forget that OKCMAR is your association, led by REALTORS, run by REALTORS, funded by REALTORS. The staff only follows the bylaws and policies of the board of directors. OKCMAR is your association. If you don't like how something is done find out why the board made the decision, policy, rule or bylaw. You may change your mind on the subject. If you are adamant something needs to be changed, sign up for a committee. Committee sign up forms will be available on the board home page tomorrow. ALL Policies start at the committee level.

You have the means to directly impact the association through committee involvement and through your vote.

What will they come up with next?

Has anyone else heard of the new TrackStick? It is a GPS tracker that memorizes your route. It uses Google Maps to track where you are and certain geographic factors. To view a short demo
http://www.minigpstracker.net

I could see where this might be helpful for logging time spent showing homes or for a potential expense record. Its pricey but new technology always is.

Do Warm Bodies in the Seat Constitute Participation?

CEO Viewpoint:

Dear Members- I am interested in starting a dialogue about participation. I recently was made aware of an ASAE (American Society of Assn Executives) report regarding the impetus to join an association. Apparently this was a two year study. I have ordered it and am awaiting its arrival. The abstract stated two things-

1) Associations exist to serve membership and therefore member participation must be a performance metric for all associations

2) Board of Directors may be out of touch with the participatory venues and needs of the rank and file membership.

One of the items I have been questioning is the value of some of our programming- I figure that is my job to constantly and consistently reassess our programming for its value proposition. A discussion at a recent board meeting centered around an event that had tremendous attendance. The board was very pleased at all the warm bodies in the seats.

I wonder if we are measuring participation in the most valuable manner? Are warm bodies the only measure? Our online auction really hit the point home in my mind. We ran it for 5 days but it really started cooking the third day. Many members participated and really seemed to enjoy the online, e-bay style event and it received a great deal of positive comment. Even though these members did not leave their offices/homes they actively participated in a board event. I look at our Facebook site where participating members seem to just double every month and I assert are they not participating in the social fabric of our association- is this not networking? I have had several members express their pleasure with the blogs. So if these members are reading and in a sense attending a group conference with the CEO, MLS techs & Pres-Elect are they not participating in shaping and leading the membership?

I know that for the first time in our society there are 4 generational groups in the marketplace. This means four generational groups in our association. I completely get that the Civics and the Baby Boomers like to attend things. They value physical attendance. I think I am one of those weird people because I am on the cusp of two generations- depending on which study you read I am either a baby boomer or a Gen-Xer. I am an equal split as far as demographic traits go. And no, I am not going to reveal my age, I am a girl after all, but I will reveal that my photo was retouched to make me look younger- the photog's idea not mine. I think that is why I feel comfortable with social media and with traditional gatherings.

I also have been seriously educated from recent conferences that Gen X and Gen Y do not value physical attendance nearly as much. If they do physically attend they are much more likely to attend a political rally or a Habitat Build .They do not necessarily like or need face to face but actually prefer texting, blogging, facebooking, twittering etc. For these members the participation is Facebook and Blogging.

In summation, I am asking you, the membership, to help me define the membership participation to be used as a performance metric. I would be VERY interested in your thoughts and comments on this subject.

PS I am raising a Millenial (she's 15) and I struggle to relate to her every day- so more change is yet to come and we need to be ready to adapt!

YOUR REALTOR CREDIT UNION IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS

At the leadership summit we learned that the credit union is now open for business. The credit union is run by REALTORS for REALTORS. Watch the next quarterly newsmagazine for an in-depth article on the credit union, BUT DON'T WAIT to take advantage of the opportunity and join as a credit union member today simply click here.

In order to save substantial operating costs and therefore pay higher rates and charge lower loan rates the new credit union is completely online. Opening a new account is easy- simply click here.

Heartline Does it Right!

Last night I attended a fundraising event for OKC Heartline. I was very impressed with their organization and the sheer volume and level of gifts they received for their live and silent auctions. Most of the bidding seemed to start around $300 dollars. I saw many items that had bids at about 5-10 times their value. I understood that Heartline had done a fabulous job in educating its constituency about why they need to give and to give generously.

I thought about our own fundraising efforts for RPAC. I cannot understand why this year we haven't significantly increased our giving- in fact it has declined. When times are tight it is exactly not the time to stop advocating for our industry. Do members realize that is their RPAC donations that led to the first time home buyers tax credit?

We have seen the third straight month of increased home sales as a direct result of the credit. The public needs our legislative might now more than ever! NAR Chief Lobbyist, Jerry G, indicated that the home mortgage interest deduction is currently being reviewed again (for cuts or elimination) and that congress is looking at potentially extending the home buyers tax credit. We need to assist those legislators who can see the future and understand that the housing market is the cornerstone of the US economy.

Folks, the associations and brokers can't do it on their own. WE NEED YOUR HELP! I checked the RPAC stats yesterday and approximately 384 of our 2800 members have given to RPAC. A mere 10% of our members are supporting the industry and supporting the incomes of the other 2400. In which camp are you?

There are two easy ways to give. One is a lot of fun! Join us September 9th at the Skirvin Hotel for our annual RPAC aution- get caught up and the bidding and maybe land a steal of a deal. To register for the luncheon go to the board website- www.okcrealtors.com and choose the pay/register online tab or email Blair Bradley to reserve your spot bbradley@okcmar.org.

The second way is to contribute online. To donate click here.

Please invest in the industry that gives back to you in so many ways.

I don't get the OKMAR eblasts

As soon as I posted the last posting I realized I would get the above title comment. If you are not receiving the eblast it is because you have "unsubscribed". The federal CAN-SPAM act prohibits us from sending the blast from our software if you have unsubscribed. The CAN-SPAM act prohibits us from subscribing you. If you are not receiving the eblasts contact Kelli McNeal by email kmcneal@okcmar.org. She will send you an email newsletter via email. You will need to go to the bottom of this newsletter and click on the "Subscribe" link. This will take you to a short form to submit electronically and then VOILA! you are back on the email newsletter list.

The Most Valuable 5 Minutes of Your Week

Recently, we received many complaints from suspended members indicating they received no notice that their services were going to be suspended for non-payment of dues. My senior accounting staff member kindly asked if a member who was at the OKCMAR Accounting office if she read the weekly e-newsletter we send (aware that we have had had the cut off reminder as a lead item for about 6 weeks in addition to several postal mailed notices). The response was "No, reading the newsletter is a waste of my time."

I wonder if physically driving down to the board office to pay and being unable to service one's clients until one does is an effective use of time? Have you read an e-blast newsletter lately? I urge you all to do so. Revamping the eblasts was one of the first items on my to do list when I arrived at OKCMAR.

Our promise to you? It won't take more than 5 minutes to read, it will only have pertinent information, we will only send it once a week, the day of the week will always be Wednesday, the sender will always display as OKCMAR. If we do have in-depth information to share we link to it so that if you are not interested in the item you don't have to read it. We make sure that all the news items start with a benefit statement- a "What's in it for you?" short description.

The newsblasts will tell you when payments are due, cut-off periods, updates from MLS, upcoming classes and networking opportunities, special programming, meetings, legislative updates, OAR and NAR updates and links to reports and always a featured R-Store item usually at a discounted price or with a coupon.

If each member invested 5 minutes per week reading the newsblasts they will always be informed and should gain significant time in efficiencies as they will be aware of any changes or opportunities before they happen. I realize that we are repetitive - studies state that a member must read something 6 times before it becomes knowledge or there is awareness. This is part of why the items are bolded & underlined so you can skim past items of no interest to you or that you are already aware of.

The OKCMAR editorial staff is always interested in continued improvement so any suggestions that you would like to see implemented in the blasts should be emailed to Kelli McNeal at kmcneal@okcmar.org.

Happy Reading everyone!

NAR Leadership Summit

As the President Elect of OKCMAR, I had the privilege of attending the NAR Leadership Conference in Chicago from August 23-25.

I was amazed at how much work is done behind the scenes for our efforts as REALTORS. The agenda is very busy for 2010, and the slogan that you will be seeing a lot of is, “On The Rise”.

I was especially impressed with the Tuesday meetings where we received economic, legislative, and technology updates. All three made me feel very proud that our Association and MLS are one of the leading examples of technology and forward thinking on into the future.

Many items Dawn Kennedy has mentioned but items like the new REALTOR Credit Union will be a great benefit that many of you will want to take advantage of in the future.

I, like you, as a REALTOR, always questioned where my dues and fees were going and how the money was being used. The one item that smacked me right in the face was the importance of RPAC. Legislative activities like HVCC, Health Plans, and Home Buyers Tax Credits, including maintaining the interest deduction on your personal taxes for your current home, are key issues this year and into next year.

With so many organizations attempting to get a bigger “share of the pie”, we need to insure that NAR remains a very viable entity in today’s market.

Rest assured that OKCMAR is working very diligently to insure a strong Oklahoma market. After speaking with many Realtors from across the county, you really should be glad you are in Oklahoma.

I plan to utilize this Blog throughout next year to strive to get the information out to each and every one of you. Only through technology, and education will the communication remain strong to you, as REALTORS, and to our customers, the public.

Calling All Innovators!

Wow! NAR announced at the summit the best grant program I have seen in my real estate career! NAR believes that we must shift the paradigm of "What is a REALTOR?" and is looking for innovative ideas from their local associations. If your idea is chosen (this can be a product, service or a governance change) not only will NAR completely fund the project they will have at your disposal 6 of the industry leaders available to mentor and consult through the project. These mentors are the owners of RISmedia, Clareity Security and so many others I have seen present at NAR functions over the years. The catch, the product, service or change will belong to NAR to be distributed to all associations nationwide.

If there is always something that you didn't understand why the associations did it this way and thought there was a logical fix- OKCMAR needs you! NAR is reaching out (and recognizing) the amazing talent out there in the field. Will you help OKCMAR become known as the leading innovator? Contact OKCMAR at dkennedy@okcmar.org