“I would strive to build community in our industry. ‘We are all on the same team.’ Encourage and further grow contribution in our geographic communities.”
- Rosie Hetman, The Hetman Home Team of Watson Realty Corp.
“I would educate the market including media and the public on why Northeast Florida is the best place to live. We are living longer and there are lots of babies being born. All of us need housing. The baby boomers are retiring and moving south. Rates and unemployment are low! Our weather is the best. We have seasons and lots of activities from sports to the arts. We also have the Mayo Clinic. We live in the best county in the world! I didn’t hear any bombs falling this morning. I am a free woman who has lots of choices. I choose to find the pony in the pile of poop.”
- Naomi Lumley, Palencia Realty, LLC Hines
“I would be very proactive by meeting with the association membership one on one and visiting different office weekly meetings in order to give them information on all the things available to the members and actively show them the advantage of their membership and why it is so valuable to the member. I would also launch a public awareness campaign helping the general public understand the value of working with a member of our association and the benefits it brings to their individual transaction today and in the future. I would want to educate the public on more of a wide scale as to how the entire Realtor/real estate process works. The general public thinks when a Realtor says that they are in the ‘Million Dollar Club’ that they are millionaires. The general public does not understand that we have a ‘real job’ and that the ‘job’ we do involves many, many things to do that job. We as a group must educate the public better as to how it really works in the real estate industry. This way the public understands our value to them as professional practitioners.”
- Lori Stephens, Watson Realty Corp.
“I would want to make everyone realize their importance in the association. The past several years our business has been operating at higher than normal levels as so many newcomers in the business got caught up in the business without realizing either what the association provided for them or their industry. The agents were pulled from one transaction to another and paying their dues was only considered a cost of doing business. Many of these agents can provide valuable insight into the direction of the industry if they knew how but, unfortunately, some will get lost through the cracks of our profession and pulled into another.
“I understand the word has been put out for volunteers and the seasoned agents have stepped up to the plate. But it is the newer members who haven’t understood that their responsibilities go beyond the annual payment of dues.
“Now is an excellent time for our leaders to be able to regain control of their organizations by taking the time to put their message out to its members. They should look to the broker/owners who have an investment in the industry for help in getting the word out to their agents in the office, and they should get it without delay.
“It seems like it is the same companies who are providing the candidates for the leadership positions in the committees and officer positions, and that’s not going to help this association to reach its full potential. We need people who think differently and are not afraid to challenge a good idea to help shape it into a great idea. Many bad ideas are introduced and most are quickly dismissed because the group felt like ‘been there, done that and we don’t want to repeat that mistake again’, but occasionally someone in the group has the courage to say, ‘what if’ or ‘I have an idea’, and a serious discussion follows which creates a good idea.
“We need good ideas right now, and we need everyone’s involvement to create them.”
- Gary L. Harlow, Realty Executives of Jacksonville
“I would try to change attitudes to that of positive as opposed to negative. There is no harm in looking at something in a positive slant and sometimes it even changes things to a positive reality. There is no reason to look at things in a negative way because it can also have the converse affect.”
- Judy Shuster, Ameris Bank
“I would market Northeast Florida much more aggressively as a separate destination in Florida. The Keys, Central Florida, which is Disney-driven, and South Florida, which is Miami-driven, all have internationally recognized identities. Northeast Florida does not. It needs to be seen as more worthy of interest to those coming from elsewhere in the U.S. or abroad. Unifying our efforts with those of existing tourism and economic development agencies would help to project the region, but perhaps we need to be the catalyst for a much more ambitious and sustained marketing campaign?”
- Kim Smith, Prudential Network Realty
“For Northeast the Florida Association of Realtors, we should establish relevance in this market, value for fees, responsiveness to market conditions, less politics and more tangible action.”
- Jeff Kern, Embassy Realty Services
“I would take this time to help my members focus on personal growth and development. Hoping that by them bettering themselves with knowledge, confidence and desire to achieve more will make them not only better people to themselves but for their customers as well.”
- Andrew Bell, Rels Title