Goals/Priorities as your President
My first and primary goal is to show you value for your membership with Hall County Board of Realtors. Thank you for taking time to read this. I will share more about me later. Feel free to share with me (anytime) what we can do to make YOUR board more relevant and of value. Thank you to all of you who have agreed to serve as Committee Chairs and Committee members. This is not MY year - This is OUR year and together, I hope we can accomplish much.
So many things to update you on - Most pressing, our upcoming GAR Inaugural Conference, our annual Awards Banquet, Circle of Excellence (formerly known as Million Dollar Club), Continuing Ed opportunities, REALTOR Days at the Dome AND our next meeting. Until at least April, we will meet virtually and reassess at some point later to determine risk of in person meetings, following guidance of our local hospital administrators.
February Membership Meeting
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| Lake Lanier (courtesy of Lake Lanier CVB) |
Our February Membership meeting will be conducted via Zoom, Feb 18 at 1 pm. Stacey Dickson, President of Lake Lanier Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) will present our program. Stacey will update us on current visitation numbers for the lake's parks and also, how they help us in real estate, letting us know about economic impact, filming opportunities around Lake Lanier and promoting vacation rentals. This is one you don't want to miss! Katie will send a reminder the day prior.
Topic: Hall County Board of Realtors Meeting- Guest Speaker Stacey Dickson
Time: Feb 18, 2021 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 842 3369 8372
Passcode: 662043
GAR Inaugural Conference is Mar 22-25
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| Jekyll Island Conference Center |
I hope you will ALL consider joining in the fun, camaraderie and learning at the upcoming GAR Inaugural Conference at Jekyll Island - Participate in person or virtually. Hotel information is here. We have the whole Jekyll Island Convention Center, to allow for proper social distancing. Lots of continuing education and networking opportunities. If you're interested in the agenda, click here. There's a First Time Attendees Orientation for those of you who haven't yet attended one. I hope to see you there! Also, if you have not checked out the Georgia Association of Realtors (GAR) website, I encourage you to do so. So much valuable info! Thank you, Laura Smith, for agreeing to chair 'On to Conference' committee. If you have any questions about conference, either I or Laura Smith can help.
Circle of Excellence/Awards
Circle of Excellence applications (formerly known as Million Dollar Club) for production recognition and Awards nominee forms were emailed. If you have any questions about the forms, please contact our Administrative Executive, Katie South. They are due by February 28. Speaking of Awards, our Annual Awards Banquet, chaired by Robin Gravitt, recognizing our Realtor of the Year, Circle of Excellence award winners and Phoenix award winners, typically held in the spring, will be delayed until later in the year, hoping that we can all come together safely later in the year.
Continuing Education/Designations
One of the main requests I hear of Realtor members is wanting opportunities for Continuing Education (CE). If you haven't pursued yet a Graduate, Realtor Institute (GRI) designation, I hope that this might be the year you start that journey. Katie and our Education Committee Chair, Linda Thompson have done a great job at compiling opportunities for CE. Here's a detailed list of CE and here's more from GAR, offerings around the state - in case you want to take advantage of CE opportunities while you're working from home. If you would consider volunteering as a Certified GAR Facilitator, please click here for more info. It's easy to get certified and it would be a great help in seeing that our members get valuable CE. I will be serving as a facilitator, and I hope you will consider it as well.
REALTOR Days at the Dome
GAR's REALTOR Days at the Dome will be hosted virtually this year March 3-4. We will have more information for you as it comes available. Beverly Williams, our Government Affairs Chair will provide membership with an update after the event.
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| Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta GA - photo credit GAR |
RPAC is still important
Investing in our Realtor Political Action Committee (RPAC) is investing in our business. We all have a vested interest in ensuring that the individuals who pass the laws that affect our livelihood believe in private property rights and the free enterprise system. I hope that you will consider supporting RPAC at a level even better than we did last year. Your voluntary RPAC investment is used to support candidates for the Georgia General Assembly, for statewide office and for local county and city elected office across the state. Additionally, a portion (only 30%) of the state's RPAC funds is forwarded to The National Association of REALTORS© (NAR) Political Action Committee to be used for Congressional candidates. We, as a board, were successful in exceeding our goal last year under the leadership of President-Elect Chris Simmons. But we must remain ready to assist candidates at all levels who support our point of view. It is imperative we continue to build on the momentum we have created. Please consider sending at least $1000 in this year in which real estate sales are absolutely booming. You can invest here. We had 51% of our board's members contribute in 2020. I hope we can get an RPAC investment from every single Realtor this year. Congratulations and Thank you, President Elect Chris Simmons. RPAC Chair Kim Yarrington will carry on with even more success this year, I am sure.
Help Wanted
We are still lacking a committee for Technology. Dylan Duke, an employee of one of our member firms, has been very gracious in keeping our website up to date. We need a member or members who have technology savvy to work with Dylan so that he is not the only person tasked with this job. If that is you, please consider contacting me or Katie. If you have an interest in volunteering on any committee - Community Outreach, Networking and Public Image, Awards, just to name a few...please contact me or Katie. Our board is only as good as those willing to work to make it a great board. And I, as your board President, appreciate all of you who have already stepped up to help. THANK YOU!
And I promised a little about me...Licensed in 1988, I became a REALTOR in 1994. This business has been my life and my livelihood. I am married to David Stovall, also a REALTOR and secondary member of our board. We live just north of Gainesville, on Lake Lanier, and have two dogs - a Havanese, Maxx, and a yellow lab puppy, Mae, and a crazy calico cat, Minni.
I hope to see your face on the Zoom call next week. You don't want to miss Stacey Dickson's presentation. Subscribe to this blog or visit here anytime HallRealtorNewsletter.com to make sure you never miss an update
Thank you for being a part of our Hall County Board of REALTORS!
2021 President
Hall County Board of Realtors
770.540.3788
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Association Executive 615 Oak St. Gainesville GA 770.534.1564 |
