PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Our Future Is Now
ORRA has been recognized by
the National Association of
REALTORS® and the REALTOR®
Party with a 2017 Local Triple
Crown award. ORRA is one of 400
local associations nationwide
that received the honor for
meeting or exceeding fundraising
goals; participation criteria; and
calls-to-action response rate
goals.
Our 2017 RPAC (expertly chaired
by Christian Bohyn) made goal
of $254,144 by July 31, 2017,
and at the end of the year had
surpassed goal by bringing in
$281,156. Congrats!
Ten years ago, a new gizmo called
the iPhone was introduced to the
world. Five years ago, nobody
really thought there would ever
be self-driving cars. In five or ten years from
now, what will be the role of the REALTOR®?
REALTORS® used to be considered the
keepers of data about real estate, similar to
how travel agents used to be considered the
keepers of data about travel. We all know
that there is a lot of real estate data out
there, some of it better than others. REALTORS
® need to be the ones who take data
and convert it into useful information that
adds value for the customer.
Understanding a real estate market on a
block-by-block level is something that algorithms
can never do, but it is something at
which REALTORS® can excel. Somebody once
told me to “know more and more about less
and less.” If you think you are going to be
the expert in aff ordable housing and luxury
housing in the UCF area, Winter Garden,
Longwood, and Southwest Orlando, you
should pretty much consider yourself the
expert in nothing. You can’t know everything
about every neighborhood in our market. It’s
localized knowledge, plus personal service,
that diff erentiates you as a REALTOR®
Along that same line, it’s crucial that we
continue to push the services that we off er
to our customers to the next level. As new
business models that threaten REALTORS®
emerge, we simply cannot do a mediocre
job on behalf of our customers. We must
look on the new models as reminders that
buying and selling a home is one of the
biggest financial transactions our customers
will ever go through, and as opportunities
for REALTORS® to provide essential counsel
and value to the transaction.
One of my most important functions as
ORRA’s president — in addition to providing
the membership with words of encouragement
such as above — is advocating on
behalf of homeownership. There are many
interests that are slowly but surely trying
to eliminate the financial incentives that promote
homeownership, and I want to personally
thank the ORRA members who travelled
with me to Tallahassee for Great American
REALTOR® Days in an eff ort to stop them.
We pushed our legislators hard for full
funding of the Sadowski Trust Fund to address
our challenges with aff ordable housing.
We have a serious shortage of the starter
homes that serve the initial impetus not
only for homeownership but for the Orlando
housing market and economy. Whether it’s
in Tallahassee or at a neighborhood event,
when you see a legislator, please remind
them that our government needs to do more
to help aff ordable housing. It is important
that we stay engaged in this issue on the
local, state, and national levels.
Finally, I’d like to share my relief that
while the recent tax reform act does have impact
on real estate, it could have been a lot
worse. It’s hard to make the case that when
nothing happens, that is OK, but the truth is
we need to be grateful that lawmakers didn’t
eliminate the deduction for real estate taxes
and didn’t substantially cut the mortgage
interest deduction.
Those are two very big dollar items in the
federal budget, but legislators illustrated
that they know how important related tax
relief is to homeowners and how important
homeownership is to our country. They
know this because NAR has a staff in Washington
that reminds them of it every day.
Your contributions to RPAC help that eff ort!
I’d like to extend my personal appreciation
to each and every one of you who contributes
RPAC. If you haven’t made an investment
in RPAC yet, please visit nar.realtor/
rpac and consider becoming an investor
today. It’s insurance on our livelihood.
Realtor
®
Party
4 Orlando REALTOR® March / April 2018