P R E S I D E N T ’ S
M E S S A G E
BY LOU BALDWIN PRESIDENT
Recapping Scenes from a Busy Arena THE MARCH GOES ON AS OUR ASSOCIATION LIVES OUT THIS YEAR’S THEME, “REALTORS® IN THE ARENA.” BEING IN THE ARENA MEANS BEING INVOLVED AND STRIVING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR OUR MEMBERS, OUR CUSTOMERS AND CLIENTS, OUR COMMUNITIES AND OUR STATE AND NATION. In the previous issue of Insight, I wrote about the our Legislative Meetings in Raleigh and the NAR MidYear Meetings in Washington, D.C., including the REALTOR® Rally, where an estimated 13,500 REALTORS® gathered at the Washington Monument to rally for private property rights and housing affordability. On July 31, the arena came home to Grandover Resort in Greensboro, where we hosted the firstever Real Estate Summit. This was a hugely successful event featuring a lineup of wellknown state and national experts on real estate, the economy and politics. We give special thanks to the major sponsors who joined with us to make this event possible: BB&T, Piedmont Natural Gas and Time Warner Cable Media. Witnessed by more than 200 business leaders, a strong case was made during the daylong event for the important role that real estate plays in the ongoing economic recovery. Charlotte joined the arena on Sept. 5 as the Democratic National Convention came to North Carolina. In fulfilling an ini tiative in our 2012 Strategic Plan, we maintained a strong presence during this onceinalifetime event and successfully shared the REALTOR® message with elected officials and others of significant influence. We cohosted, with the Charlotte Regional REALTOR® Association, a breakfast that was attended by Congressman Mel Watt, local elected officials, convention delegates in our industry, and others. We also were honored to have a large delegation of NAR leaders join us for the breakfast, which featured NAR First Vice President Steve Brown as the keynote speaker. Additionally, in August and September we’re display ing 10 electronic billboards in the Charlotte Metro area with REALTOR® advocacy messages. This effort is collaboration with a group of local associations and was funded by both NAR and NCAR Issues Mobilization. (For more details, see Page 20.) Next the arena moved to historic Savannah for the joint NCSC REALTORS® Conference & Expo. In addition to great speakers, education and networking, we recognized some of our great members with special awards and announced the results of our elections. NCAR committees and the Board of Directors also met during the conference and accomplished signif icant work in moving our Association forward. I greatly appreciate all of the “REALTORS® in the Arena” who helped plan and who participated in these events. I also offer special thanks to our great staff members for their work in making each of these events a success. The arena is fast paced and takes us to a lot of places as we work to fulfill our mission to enhance the success of our members and improve the quality of life in North Carolina.
Sincerely,
Lou Baldwin
2
I N S I G H T Se p temb e r 2 0 1 2