The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors has over 7,000 members but only about 200 are at most of the general meetings. Do you attend the general meetings? And why?
“I do attend the NEFAR general meetings. I strongly believe in supporting our professional organizations. I love the networking opportunities these meetings provide with new members and especially long time friends!”
- Linda McMorrow, The Legends of Real Estate
“I stopped attending when it was moved from Ramada in Mandarin. I made it to a few meetings after that but since it was moving each time I had trouble putting in my schedule. I have considered trying to show up again but have not been receiving email notices as to when and where.”
- David Wakefield, CTX Mortgage Company
“I have recently started attending the Beaches NEFAR meetings. This are the only group holding weekly meetings that I am aware of. This group is also very involved with community volunteer work. In addition to being supportive of one another during these meetings, it should be an opportunity for vendors (potential referral sources) to have a couple of minutes as a speaker to talk about their business such as home improvement, mortgage, temporary housing, inspection, etc. It’s free coffee and fruit provided by the vendor for the Realtors. Why not give vendors a chance to want to send you referrals and visa versa? We should all have a list of people to do business with not just one friend we like. The opportunity of receiving would increase tremendously. You get what you give. I am not a Realtor. However, Leasing Jacksonville does have a Realtor that only handles new homes and lots. NEFAR meetings help me build a relationship with the Realtors we want to refer clients to that are looking for existing homes. I think it would be great if the various NEFAR offices held regular meetings more often. I think it would benefit NEFAR to break down the areas of town that can host a meeting making them more manageable. In addition, I’m sure it would be a great support system for Realtors to get together more often when the market is not as busy as it has been in years past.”
- Michelle Bielmyer, Leasing Jacksonville
“Attending the Beaches NEFAR meeting every week is an appointment I look forward to! There is the opportunity to trade up-to-the-minute market information with others who are out in the field. In our Beaches group we have the invaluable experienced perspective from Realtors like R.D. DeCarle and Peter Sapia. We have newly licensed Realtors with fresh ideas and the affiliates in marketing and finance can answer questions face-to-face. There are always new to the market listings to preview. It recharges me to go out and give my best after breakfast with these fine people.”
- Dena Atkins, L&N Realty, LLC
Did You Know?
• Most homes sold in 2006 were purchased at – or slightly less than – the listing price. The median sales price was 98 percent of the listing price nationwide. For a comparison, in 2005 the median sales price was 99 percent of listing price. The decrease is likely a reflection of the slowing housing market in 2006. A typical home was on the market for six weeks – a two-week longer duration than was cited in the 2005 profile and perhaps proof of the shift from a seller’s to a buyer’s market. Even so, more than 30 percent of homes sold in one to two weeks.
(2006 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers)
“No, I do not attend these meetings. I only attend Women’s Council of Realtors and the Northeast Florida Builders Association’s Sales and Marketing Council meetings. I think if they emailed us we might be more inclined to attend.”
- Jacqueline Parrillo, Peoples First Community Bank
“I have attended the lunch meetings when possible and they are always good. However, it is hard to get away in the middle of the day. I wonder if a breakfast meeting would draw more agents. A good example is the SMC breakfast morning meetings. They are packed.”
- Naomi Lumley, Palencia Realty, LLC
“It’s the 80/20 rule. Of the 20 percent in the business, 400 attend the meetings, 400 are attending a closing and 400 are attending a home inspection. The rest are busy finding properties for their buyers. There are a lot of agents who have given back to the association and the community and if more agents accepted their responsibility for the success of their association, we’d have a larger number in attendance. It’s easier to throw bricks at the house than it is to build one. I’m sure everybody has their own reason for not attending, and the main reason would probably be that they don’t get anything from the meeting. Most agents are already attending too many sales meetings so they aren’t interested in attending another. They have attended the meetings in the past and have walked away feeling like they just wasted a couple of hours because they left empty-handed. They left empty-handed only because they came into the meeting empty-handed. We are in a very demanding marketplace and the relationships created or renewed at the NEFAR meetings can only help to make a bad situation better.”
- Gary L. Harlow, Realty Executives of Jacksonville
“I generally do not attend. The association does a good job of providing the core information through the newsletter and e-mail blasts. When I have attended, I find myself longing for when there were only a few hundred members in total and we really needed to interact on a more personal level. With advances in user technology I can find the information myself and do not need the services of the other agents. I order to save the association some dollars, let’s look into Web casts instead of a catered meeting hall!”
- Jeff Kern, Embassy Mortgage and Real Estate
“I find that one of the most valuable ‘fringe benefits’ to being a member of NEFAR is the networking opportunities that my membership provides. The general meetings and educational sessions are great events for networking and getting to know my colleagues in other companies. Many people that I met at past meetings soon become friends. A transaction with someone you know will most often be a smoother transaction because of the relationship that has been built at a meeting or get-together at the association. At general meetings you hear about upcoming events at NEFAR, the Florida Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors that are very often events that will expand your knowledge of our market and trends to watch for on the state or national levels. I cannot recommend more strongly that members get involved in the association. It will add to your professionalism and will expand your enjoyment of your real estate career.”
- Selby Kaiser, The Legends of Real Estate
“This is the same situation that government deals with - apathy and lack of participation by the voting public. I think that most Realtors feel detached from the board. Unfortunately, their primary dealings, and sometimes only dealings, are at the joining stage and continuing education programs they may attend and dealing with invoices for dues. For the most part, they do not understand the role of the board. It would probably be a huge boom in attendance at functions and participation in programs if the board were to do a more effective job of promoting their role and the services they offer. Possible ideas would be to go out into the Realtor community, attend sales meetings for exposure, offer presentations on events and services and survey Realtors to find out how they feel and what they would like to see from their board. This would give them a real sense of involvement, ownership and interest in the doings of NEFAR. I had previously been involved on a committee and lost interest because of a perceived lack of meaningful results. Just recently, at the insistence and pursuance of several active board and committee members, I decided to again get involved, and I believe that I will stay involved because I finally understand that this is our board. Get that message out there and they will come.”
- Paul Andry, Coldwell Banker Walter Williams Realty, Inc.
“Yes, I enjoy participating in the general meetings as well as other NEFAR activities. I meet some incredible people. It keeps me current on our profession. And it gives me ways to give back to our community.”
- Paul Gruenther, Vanguard Realty
“I try to attend the NEFAR general meetings. It’s a good way to network and to see people that you hadn’t seen in a while (maybe since the last general meeting). You learn the latest news from other parts of town besides your own. The best way to get folks to attend is to have dynamic speakers.”
- Carolyn Minor, Homes and Land of Northeast Florida