Cindy Foley is the Education Director at the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors. She started in May and replaced Joy Huber.
Getting the job?
Foley said it was pure luck she found the job at NEFAR. She retired from a federal government job after 30 years and took a year off. She decided she wanted to go back to work, so she went to work for Kelly Services for temporary part-time jobs. After a few jobs at Blue Cross Blue Shield, Kelly Services called her and asked if she was interested in full-time work with NEFAR.
Why NEFAR?
“It sounded like an interesting position, so I said I’d go check it out. When I walked in the door and met the staff, it was like we were old friends. It took me a while to learn about designations and what is required for licenses and membership. It took a while to get everything straight, but it’s coming.”
Previous experience
Foley worked for the Army Corps of Engineers for 30 years. “I was an executive assistant to the commander of the Buffalo district and then I moved to Jacksonville and was a Public Affairs specialist.”
How does it help today?
“The commander of the Corps of Engineers changes every two years, so I had to get all of the division chiefs together to have a transition meeting for the change of leadership. I also helped the commander manage the day-to-day operation of the Corps and get all of the leadership together for staff meetings. So, a lot of what I did was to organize events like I do the education events for NEFAR.”
She also has a lot of experience with public speaking, had considerable leadership training in the government over the years and has planned many major events.
Her job
She plans the calendar for the year, hire the instructors, make sure they get paid and licenses all of the facilities. Foley also helps write courses.
“If an instructor sees the need for another course and they want to write one, I will help them write it, critique it and tell them what we need to put in it. Then we send it into the state to get it approved for continuing education credit.”
What she wants to accomplish
“NEFAR has a strong education program and they want to keep it strong. I’m trying to bring more courses in. Florida Realtors came up with Internet based courses, so once a month they are hosting a course and that will allow me to get more classes out to the area NEFAR service centers.”
Teaching on the internet
“The instructor is live, but in Orlando. We connect to him through the computer and project him up onto the screen. He can see us via a camera and we can see him. If anyone wants to ask a question or speak directly to the instructor, we can put the camera on them. He does 40 minutes of instruction, 10 minutes of questions and then we take a break. More questions can be asked after break and then the course continues. We had the first one in January and it went real well. It was a Short Sale Essentials course. We had 13 people attend and held it in the conference room. My goal is to get those classes out into the NEFAR Service Centers. I can have the internet courses at all four of our locations at the same time because Florida Realtors can tie into as many as 50 associations at once.”
The importance of education
Realtors have to take 14 hours continuing education, plus Core Law every two years. Every four years they have to take an Ethics Course. “In addition to that, whatever is hot on the market is where we gear the education. Right now we are focusing on property management, insurance sales and short sales.” If the market turns around and the Realtors need something out else, Foley will gear the classes to new topics.
How is it going?
“Good. I didn’t know anything about real estate. I didn’t know what it took to be a Realtor and I appreciate all the hard work they go through. Joy Huber was the former Education Director and we had a good six weeks of overlap before she left, so it all just kind of fell into place.”
Family
Foley is widowed and has two children and one grandchild.
– by Michele Gillis