The drop in the number of agents has meant that real estate and building associations have had to adjust.
“NEFAR/NEFMLS still has roughly 6,500 members since we haven’t experienced a substantial drop in membership,” said MLS director Ron Stephan. “We continue to offer all of the products, services and education as we did prior to the market adjustment. In addition, we have added a few classes to adjust to the changing market and/or new or emerging market trends, such as classes for Short Sales plus Green Building and EcoBroker classes.”
NEFAR and NEFMLS forms have also been revised to accommodate short sales.
NEFAR also just held its annual Home Buyers Expo where seminars were added on Short Sales and Staging Your Home to Sell.
“Realtors themselves have had to acquire more specialized knowledge about short sales and foreclosures with which to better serve consumers,” said Stephan. “The MLS system will be enhanced shortly to provide members with additional tools necessary to more proactively service their customers and clients.”
As far as educating its members, NEFAR’s Glenn East said they are still carrying a full load to educate the members during this time and even adding classes specific to the market.
“We want our members to be the most professional and educated people in the business,” said East. “Hopefully, that will make them more successful. We haven’t cut any services at all. We are adding courses that we haven’t had in the past that are specialized such as short sales that are relevant to the current market.”
Amanda Randolph, the Northeast Florida Builders Association’s Sales and Marketing Council director, said her association’s numbers are down a little from last year.
“But we are being more proactive about inviting people to the meetings,” she said. “So the numbers are staying steady.”
In order to attract new members, they are explaining the benefits of membership to everyone that they come in contact with at their meetings.
“We encourage our board members to get two new members a year,” said Randolph. “We encourage our members to do business with members.”
Though they haven’t increased their educational opportunities, she said they are the only homebuilders association that offers classes that would bring in more members.
“We have offered the same number of educational classes that we have in the past, we are the only homebuilders association that offers all MIRM courses and required Master Certified Site Professional courses,” said Randolph. “We have had more networking/membership mixers this year than in the past. We have asked that the builders step up and offer mixers at their design centers and they have gone over really well.”
The St. Augustine Women’s Council of Realtors is holding strong in its membership and meetings are well attended.
“The WCR is a wonderful resource for both networking and education,” said Diane Vespucci, of Re/Max 100 Realty and incoming president of the St. Augustine WCR. “Our monthly meeting offers a great educational opportunity, with a variety of speakers who help our members stay current and informed.
“This programming alone attracts a lot of Realtors and affiliates to WCR, but we recently increased programming by offering additional education through our Performance Management Network training.
“The current real estate market offers interesting opportunities for Realtors and the WCR is making every effort to help our members use these opportunities to their advantage.”
— Michele Newbern Gillis