As I write this report, we have just finished the busiest thirty day period of our year. The month of April ended with the OAR Spring legislative meetings and Elected official reception and dinner. The OAR meetings were well attended and we were able to hear from various speakers on a wide range of regulatory issues that affect the Ohio real estate industry. The AE meeting centered on the proposed changes to NAR requirements for “CORE STANDARDS” local and state associations will be required to meet by June 30th, 2015 to renew their charters.
Legislative events kicked off with a luncheon featuring Auditor of State, David Yost. He told of measures that he has instituted in his office to insure that tax dollars are protected and spent wisely. He demonstrated a new phone app that allows the public to report alleged violations and fraud issues.
The AE discussions were centered on the Presidential Advisory Group report on NAR core standards. The PAG had Gavin Blair CEO of the Dayton Board of Realtors as a key member and he went into the details of the thoughts of the group on raising professional standards in our industry. Many of the required policies we have already implemented. The two areas that we will need to address are a program of mediation, sanctions, or an ombudsman program, and our By-Laws will need to be revised.
The Tuesday meetings started with the Local Government Form that focused on land use trends. The speaker was attorney Brian Blaesser. His focus of practice is with local governments in regards to vacant property issues and the effect these have on the overall real estate market and values. Next we were addressed by Tom Stewert EVP of the Ohio Oil and Gas Assn. on Ohio’s shale production, fracking, and the long term effect this will have on our state in the south eastern regions. The effect of this activity has no direct effect on our markets other than suppliers of goods and services to the region.
Ann Petit Superintendent of the Ohio Division of Real Estate spoke next on the work that the special task force had accomplished on revisions to Ohio License law. This is the task force that Dale Coffman was a member of. The next step is for the Legislature to write a bill and then run it through the House and Senate, then if it passes it moves on to the Governor for his signature.
The afternoon session started with an overview of the General Assembly with the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate. They told of the work that they had done this year on budget items and the focus for the end of the year. Tax Department Director Testa, and Budget and Management Director Keen spoke on issues that are in their departments.
The general election preview was the closing event for the day and featured the chairmen of the Democrat and Republican Ohio political parties. Representative Chris Redfern and Matt Boggs were the speakers. They both spoke of the platforms of their respective parties. This will be a busy election year in Ohio because of the Governor’s race.
OAR sponsored a meet and greet for the members of the Ohio Legislature. Because of the date of our meeting coming one week before the primary election, many of our local elected officials were unable to attend. We invited all six of our local officials to join our Board for dinner at Tony’s Restaurant that evening. Senator Randy Gardner and Representative Chris Redfern were able to join us at the event. We had an energetic discussion of our issues and the current economic conditions of our local area.
On Wednesday the OAR directors meeting started with a vote to reorganize into 5 districts from 9. This moved our Board from the Cleveland area into the Toledo area. This opened a District Vice-President office that we had 2 candidates running for the position. Scott Biechele and Len Partin were the candidates, with Len Partin winning the office.
Upon my return from Columbus I spent the next week both preparing for our RPAC event and making our final arrangements for our Washington DC trip. The RPAC event was a success as we were able to collect over $10,000 before the event. We still need to raise an additional $5000.00 to qualify for the NAR grant.
The NAR Realtor Party meeting was held from May 12th thru 17th in Washington DC with President Phillip Bolte, Vice-president Frank Corder, Len and Glenda Partin, and me attending. Our lobbying meetings were spaced out over a three day period and made for a long week of meetings. We attended the Federal Legislative & Political form briefing on Tuesday morning. The next meeting was a review of the FHA Regulatory Issues. Our afternoon started when we traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with the chief of staff for Congressman Jim Jordan on Tuesday and went over the NAR issues with him. Congressman Jordan covers part of Huron County, all of Sandusky and Seneca counties.
Rapattoni invited our group to dinner with other customers who have purchased an IWS site and we had a good discussion with boards from across the United States. Most of the issues we have faced the other boards also have faced. I felt this was a good dinner just to reinforce that we are not alone in the challenges we have faced with this site. Everyone has had delays in dates and this information was helpful the next day with our private meeting with Rapattoni.
Wednesday opened at 7:00 am with the Federal Priority Issues Briefing. This is the meeting that goes over the main points that we need to reinforce with our members of congress. I met with our NAR legislative contact, Lindsay Shuba to go over any last minute details of our meetings. I report to her on our political activity and this is then reviewed to ensure that follow-up items are taken care of.
We again headed to the Capitol to meet with the chief of staff of Congressman Bob Gibbs. His district covers Huron County below the top 5 townships. This includes the cities of Willard, New London, and Greenwich. This meeting also included the Ashland Board EO and President Tiffany Meyer.
The next meeting was back at the headquarters hotel with Rapattoni to discuss our Website progress. We went over many issues that we have had and I feel that we made good progress. Our public live date is set for May 28th. We still have some work to do to finish this part of the project and we also discussed the roll out of our member center and some of the accounting issues that we need to address before we go live on that portion of the site.
I spent Thursday on Capitol Hill along with the Toledo Board meeting with Congressman Bob Latta’s chief of staff. We again went over our issues and they have been a great supporter of our issues. Part of Ottawa County and Wood County is where we have members in his district. We then met up with Akron-Cleveland Board to meet with Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur’s staff. Her district includes Port Clinton, Eire County to Mason Road, and along the lake to Cleveland.
On Friday I attended the AE and MLS roundtable meetings at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. These meetings were scheduled for overlapping times and I spent the bulk of my time at the MLS meeting. This was moderated by Attorney Brian Larson, who was the author of our Broker Reciprocity policy for the Minnesota Association. I was able to talk with him about our issue with Trends Graphics and he offered an idea that I shared with D J on a three way agreement to include the Brokers in the data protection.
Monday the 19th was spent in my office catching up with my normal duties and preparing for our Board Meeting. Tuesday I was in Tiffin in the morning to get the CE class off and running. I then met with Treasurer Sara Riesen to discuss our financial position. We went over many items to make sure we are on a firm plan. I returned to the class to deliver lunch and check-in and then returned to my office.
Wednesday we facilitated a mediation case between a member of the public and two of our broker members. This was mediated by Jeff Berquist for our board. Our Board had sent Jeff to Chicago to take NAR’s training on mediation in 2011 to obtain the certification. Mediation is now part of NAR’s core standards. I received positive comments from the member of the public in regards to Jeff’s handling of this case. He worked with D J on this matter and I am happy to report that the matter was settled. Both D J and Jeff did a great job with this case. I want to thank them for their hard work & professionalism.
Respectively submitted,
David W Freitag CEO