毎年恒例の HAR Advisory Group の昼食会が 11月30日にメディカル センターの Wolfgang Puck レストランで開催されました。 HAR.com には、ヒューストンの不動産メンバーで構成される多数のグループがあります。彼らは自ら時間を割いて定期的に集まり、業界の問題について話し合い、会員、協会、消費者に利益をもたらす解決策や新しいプログラムを提案します。委員会は、YPN (若手専門家ネットワーク)、グローバル (スーザンは元委員長)、MLS、リスク軽減、政治問題、リスク管理などの特定の専門分野に焦点を当てています。1 年間のボランティア活動を記念して、HAR は全員が参加する年次昼食会を開催します。 Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) には現在 50,000 人を超える会員がおり、これらの諮問グループは組織をより良くするために常に取り組んでいます。
The annual HAR Advisory Group holiday luncheon took place on Nov 30 at Wolfgang Puck restaurant in the Medical Center. HAR.com has many advisory groups comprised of Houston realtor members. They volunteer their time to meet regularly to discuss problems in the industry and also ro suggest solutions and new programs that will help benefit the members, association, and consumers. Committees focus on particular specialties such as YPN (Young Professionals Network), Global (Susan is past chairman), MLS, Risk Reduction, Political Affairs, Risk Management, etc. To commemorate a year’s worth of volunteering, HAR holds an annual luncheon where all advisory group members come together. The Houston Assocation of Realtors (HAR) has over 50,000 members now and these advisory groups constantly work to make it better and better.
The real estate industry is currently facing a multi-front assault from consumers and regulators across the U.S. And while it remains to be seen what will ultimately happen, the industry is increasingly bracing for major disruption.
Sitzer | Burnett Sitzer | Burnett has been the highest profile case lately because it went to trial in October in Missouri and the verdict was recently reached. A jury ultimately ruled in favor of the homeseller-plaintiffs in the case, agreeing that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and various large franchisors conspired to keep commissions high. At issue was NAR’s cooperative compensation rule, also known as the Participation Rule, which requires listing brokers to make an offer of compensation to buyer brokers in order to submit a listing to a Realtor-affiliated MLS. The jury awarded $1,785,310,872 in damages, which, under the law, will be automatically trebled to $5.356 billion.
In the days following the verdict, several ‘copy cat’ lawsuits have come out, including a suit against Texas Realtors, HAR, MetroTex, ABOR, and many other real estate companies and even individual agents. Although NAR just lost the Sitzer Burnett case, it is not named in this suit. The target is only state and local associations saying they are guilty for overseeing compliance with the NAR MLS rules. Potentially, this lawsuit could seek class action status and represent home sellers in Texas from Nov 13, 2019 to present, who used a local association’s listing broker and paid a buyer’s agent commission. NAR defended the current system of cooperative compensation, stating it benefits both sellers and buyers by allowing homes to be sold for more, providing more choices for buyers, and facilitating transparent and efficient marketplaces. NAR emphasizes the value Realtors bring to clients during the complex homebuying process.
This is my opinion only, but if we change the current system where sellers pay their listing agent and their listing agent splits their commission with the cooperating buyer’s agent, then what system will we go to? Will we follow New York, where sellers are committed to paying their listing agent and will now pay the buyer’s agent directly? Will we change to a Colorado system where the seller often pays their listing agent and the listing agent is in the middle, representing the seller and just helps the the buyer (with no buyer’s agent)? Will we change to a Japanese system where the seller pays the listing agent and the buyer pays his own agent? There are many options of what the system could become after these lawsuits are worked out.
Every year, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) holds their national conference. It is a time for realtors across the United States to come together and hold meetings, take classes, and network! This year, the conference was held in Anaheim, CA and took place from Monday Nov 13 until Friday Nov 17. As NAR is becoming more and more international, its global council, CIPS, and global ambassador program is very active. In attendance were over 700 international realtor members from all over the world including Japan, Spain, Mexico, Norway, Costa Rica, and beyond! Susan attended the CIPS Advisory Board meeting as well as the CIPS pinning ceremony, where she was able to pin several of her students from Houston and Mexico. There was also a very nice international welcome reception as well as a very elegant International Night Out gala, where Houston’s Richard Miranda was honored with an award. The Houston Association of Realtors executive board was in attendance to receive the award, making it a very special night indeed. It was so nice spending time with our Houston delegation as well as meeting new and old friends from California (Ryan and Meli) and New Jersey (Chris and Jerry), the executives of the Norway realtor association (Randi and Carl), and all of us dancing like teenagers with AMPI at Angel Stadium under a sky of fireworks. Unforgettable memories for sure. Thank you, NAR!
The Houston Association of Realtors has many great programs and awards aimed at its younger realtors and future leaders. One way for young realtors to get involved is to serve on the YPN Committee. YPN stands for Young Professional Network and this year, Annoura Realty agent Mariko Fujita served one year on this committee. In addition, our state association, Texas Realtors, has a leadershp program called the Texas Realtors Leadership Program. This program trains potential leaders to grow in their leadership journey, bringing in speakers on various topics and even offering spokesperson training. The course is one year and again, Annoura Realty’s Mariko Fujita made us proud! Not only was she selected for the program, she made it through the one year course, and last week graduated with 33 other colleagues! We are so proud of her accomplishments!
As the Global Chair of Texas Realtors this year, one of Susan’s goals was to bring a big group of Texas Realtors to an international real estate conference. The 2023 AMPI Congreso took place in Mazatlan Mexico Oct 11-13, and it was the perfect opportunity to invite everyone! 25+ realtors, mostly CIPS designees from Houston, attended the Congreso this year, quite possibly the largest group ever from Texas. AMPI is like the Mexican Association of Realtors and they have an excellent relationship with Texas. Just last month, the national president and eight of his global leadership team came to Texas for our annual conference. It was so meaninguful to be able to bring a delegation to their conference, and to make connections with Mexican realtors who had come from every city to attend this national conference in Mazatlan. There were many parties, events, speeches, classes, and activities going on and our group attended them all! In addition, we squeezed in our own sightseeing to the famous lighthouse (El Faro Lighthouse), to the top of the Observatory for a Cacao ceremony with a shaman, to Mr. Lionso (a seafood restaurant right on the beach), and to a boat ride into the Pacific Ocean (I think that’s where we went, ha!). Everyone had a great time and was excited to make some good connections with potential business referral partners. But best of all, our group got to know one another and the friendships made within our group, to me was the most meaningful of all.
