Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great Holiday Season and are gearing up for a great 2019! Things at Wyoming REALTORS ® are kicking up, so I wanted to keep you all informed about what is happening so far!
Wyoming REALTORS ® kicked off 2019 by getting the Executive Committee and all the committee chairs together for a strategic planning session. It had been over 3 years since the last plan and we felt like there had been lots of things accomplished and many changes that needed to be addressed. This group of people worked diligently and gave honest and open opinions on what they thought needed to be changed for the betterment of the membership. Stronger and more frequent communication with members and the separation of Pro Standards and Professional Development are two of the key pieces that we will be working on in 2019. Overall, I am very pleased with the direction we are headed and the changes that are planned.
Forms – Devon Viehman and Max Minnick will chair the forms committee and they are selecting a committee that will work on the forms with the plan to have changes made to all forms by the end of the year. Devon has sought and found members from residential, commercial, agricultural and property management who are willing to serve on this committee. This project has been going on for over a year and we now feel that we can begin to put the finishing touches to all the forms this year. This has been a huge project and gathering data has been time consuming and somewhat tedious.
Legislative Session – The session kicked off last week and it appears that bills will be coming hot and heavy during the session with 200+ already on the table. Laurie Urbigkit and Dave Coleman (Public Policy Chair) are carefully watching what is happening and will be alerting us through Calls for Actions when we need your voice. Responsible Brokers please please make sure that all your agents have the mobile text alert number on their cell phones! This is the fastest and easiest way to get our voices heard and we will need to hear from all of you in the coming weeks! Also, please read Laurie’s weekly update on the Legislature. It is also great to have one of our own Shelly Duncan in the legislature. Good luck Shelly in the new session.
On the national level – The government shutdown is affecting everyone, but NAR has been working hard to ensure that there is minimal impact on the real estate industry. Funding for Fannie Mae and VA loans continues to be available and NAR was instrumental in getting the National Flood Insurance program extended prior to the shutdown. NAR has also been following and making our voices heard with regards to health insurance for us. While there are plenty of obstacles that are present NAR is working to try and get health insurance for the Realtors. Annual Convention will be held in San Francisco, CA in November so go to the Website and mark your calendars. Also, NAR rolled out the C2EX program that makes us all better agents and the best part it is free. I signed up and have started and it is a great program. Just go to NAR and search for C2EX to get started.
Okay enough for now. Have a great 1st quarter and if you have questions regarding Wyoming REALTORS ® feel free to reach out to me or any board member. We are committed to serving our membership.
