By John K. Rutledge, CRE

NICAR President

I am looking at the calendar in disbelief.  Can it be that my term as NICAR president is quickly coming to an end?

We have had a good year.  Last fall, your officers met to plan for the coming year.  We established priorities, set goals, proposed a budget, and most importantly identified those members we felt could be most effective in leading various efforts.  We have not been disappointed.

Membership

We asked Linda Hamer to lead our Membership Committee.  Linda has done a great job of following up with those expressing interest in membership.  She also organized a team to contact those who did not promptly renew their membership and worked to ensure that the Designated REALTOR® dues formula was observed.  Just since January 1, we approved 74 new members.

Once again this fall, on November 8 at Maggiano’s in Oak Brook, we will hold our Member Appreciation lunch, free to those who bring a prospective new member.  Last year, 73 people attended and several guests joined NICAR as a result.

Affiliate Membership

We have struggled with the concept of sponsorship for years.  Three or four years ago, Pam Bennett laid the groundwork with an outstanding plan, but the rest of us (me included) didn’t have the organizational energy to execute.  We asked Karen Kramford to take the lead this past year, and she did just that.  Wil Battles provided able assistance and Terry Stevenson offered essential insights and technical support.

We realized that we already had a roster of sponsors that we were not serving very well.  They are our Affiliate members.  Karen set about finding a way to show them the value they get from their membership and to develop other ways of serving them so that they would continue to support NICAR with their membership and, with new sources of value for them, we expected that some would choose to increase the level of their membership.  With the new Business Directory on our website, we offer visibility to these valued supporters of our programs.

While we still welcome sponsors of individual events, we deeply appreciate our Affiliate members for their continuing support.  I strongly encourage you to regularly visit the website and to patronize our Affiliate members.

Government Affairs

Dan Wagner is a real political junkie and was a natural to serve as chair of Government Affairs.  He has kept us well-informed about policy initiatives that would profoundly affect the way we do business and the income we generate doing it.  Some of the more serious measures he helped bring to our attention were the Gross Receipts Tax and the Property Transfer Tax.

The Gross Receipts Tax was soundly defeated, largely due to a major effort by the Illinois Association of REALTORS® and other business groups that could see the harm this tax would inflict.  The Property Transfer Tax has been stalled, but still has legs.  It would slightly reduce (at least for the near term) the tax on sales of real estate for under $500,000 but would increase the transfer tax on larger properties by almost ten times.

Dan has led our effort to improve our dialogue with the IAR Government Relations Department through one-on-one meetings with IAR staff, through active participation at the state meeting on government affairs in Bloomington last winter, and by inviting IAR staff to speak to us at a membership lunch meeting.

Chuck Wiercinski, former chair of this committee, has counted 227 different measures being monitored, supported, or fought by IAR – right now!  While it would be nice to have our own PAC to weigh in, it is very important that we are part of the 60,000 plus REALTOR® family here in Illinois.  We have observed that most of the positions that IAR takes directly favor commercial real estate practitioners and investors. 

Property rights are fundamental to our economy and to our way of life.  Whether for practical or idealistic reasons, I urge your significant support of RPAC where our funds are pooled to fight for our interests.

NICAR is being recognized by IAR leadership as a REALTOR® force in government relations.  I was invited to participate in a get-acquainted session with Congressman Peter Roskam last winter and subsequently was asked to assist with developing an ongoing dialogue with Rep. Roskam.

Dan has done a great job on Government Affairs.

Education

David McGowan, a consummate educator, led our Education Committee this past year.  It was a challenging year as more licensees are looking for online courses.  Dave has responded by developing such courses for NICAR.  He also taught our first Broker Management course, required of all brokers before they renew their licenses next April 30.

Your leadership team under Dave’s guidance has been developing and finding new educational resources intended for the commercial practitioner. And we have been assured by Ron Hardgrove, Real Estate Director of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, that he intends to see educational offerings for the commercial practitioner expanded even as he trims other course offerings.

MLSNI

We had not been active at MLSNI until Liana Mirea offered to get involved and be our eyes and ears there.  We do not have a board membership at MLSNI, but have a seat at the table as a result of our contract with them.  It has been helpful to hear from Liana following her attendance at meetings.

IAR Relations

In the past, we have felt disconnected from other REALTOR® organizations.  We are working to rectify that. Through attendance and involvement at the state level, we can now point to Jonathan Stein as chair and Tammy Dertz as vice chair of the Commercial/Industrial/Investment Committee. For 2008, Tammy will move up to chair this committee, and I have been asked to be vice chair.

I have also been asked to serve on the Nominating Committee and the Public Policy and Governmental Affairs Member Involvement Group.

Last spring, I was asked to join a small group of REALTORs®, primarily IAR officers and past presidents, to meet with the Deputy Governor and Budget Director John Filan to discuss the Gross Receipts Tax.  Again, my presence was acknowledgment of the increasing role NICAR is playing at the state level.

We get a voice by showing up and getting involved.  There is too much at stake to sit back and do nothing.

Golf Outing

It can’t be all work and no play.  Once again, Bill Grabinksi and Ray Oczak organized a wonderful day at Midlothian Country Club.  Imagine a golf course and this is what you imagine.  It is a beautiful course and clubhouse.  Bill and Ray arranged the tournament complete with golf and raffle prizes, great food, hole sponsors, and all the other details.  At great personal risk, I as president assumed responsibility for the weather. The result was a delightful day enjoyed by 67 members and guests.