It Started Last Year
In February 2008, I had the honor of chairing the Short Sale Working Group appointed by President Dick Gaylord. A group of REALTORS from all over the country, representing a number of standing committees met to address the issues created by the mounting number of short sales.
I just got an email from one of the Work Group Members, J.T. Tsighis, who wrote the following;
Remember this thank you we received from our esteemed chairman on the important work we performed last year on that chilly day in Chicago February 20, 2008?
Well now, just a little over one year later, with our informative Short Sale Work Flow Process document in circulation for months and copies of our report to Risk Management, Professional Standards, MLS, Conventional & Finance committees long past gone…we owe one big thank you our NAR leadership team (past and present) for taking the time to consider and take definitive action on our suggestions…here’s an abstract from the weekly update sent to all FPC’s last week…I know how good it made me feel and wanted to make sure you knew about it just in case you missed seeing it…
“Many of you have expressed concern over the short sales process and wondered what NAR could do to help try to correct it. Since then, NAR developed the Short Sales Working Group in 2008 which came up with a number of recommendations toward a solution. NAR reviewed the recommendations and has now released a response. To have a look at the working group’s suggestions and the NAR response, please visit REALTOR.org:
https://www.realtor.org/wps/wcm/connect/8c4828804d6ed92ea5e2ef76015fd4f4/short+sales+flyer+3.19.09.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=8c4828804d6ed92ea5e2ef76015fd4f4 . “Just another great example of REALTOR® volunteerism at work with great support from responsive NAR leadership…thanks to all…and proud to be a part of it!
“J.T.”
James J. Tsighis GRI,CRS,CRB,ABR,e-PRO
I sort of feel like I’m cheating here since the work assembling the short sale flyer was done at NAR, the material contributed by the entire Working Group, the additional actions taken by our leadership at NAR, and the letter written by JT. But the job itself was incredibly satisfying in the journey as well as in the destination.
The Journey was Great
It started when the issue was identified in the Risk Management committee. It was brought to President Dick Gaylord’s attention by then Chairperson Diane Disbrow, who immediately formed the Short Sale Working Group. We all met in Chicago for a long and arduous meeting, and then spent considerable time memorializing the findings of the working group. Those findings were presented to leadership and the various committees for them to take action. And as you can see the impact of that work is still being felt and moved forward by President Macmillan today. I am proud to have been one of the volunteers that helped this move forward.
It Takes Two to Communicate
As I read this over, before hitting the “publish” button, I feel a little embarrassed. I don’t want to seem too formal or pompous or bang the drum too hard, but the fact that my actions and the actions of this working group impacted hundreds of thousands of real estate practitioners, their clients and customers amazes me. And that occurred because the REALTOR leadership that is so often questioned and maligned was being responsive to their members. So the next time you think that NAR is some monolith that doesn’t respond to its members, think about what you did to open that communication – and what it might mean to you and the industry if you did open it successfully.
Image by dannyfowler via Flickr
