Housing supply and affordability rose to the top of the list of priorities for state and local REALTOR® association staff on an issues survey conducted by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) late last year. Another takeaway? It will take action at all levels – federal, state, and local – to close the widening gap of five million missing housing units throughout the country.
Independent Expenditures
The State and Local Independent Expenditures (IE) Program is an exciting program to assist state and local associations that want to get involved in local and state elections. The program provides each state with funds that can be used to support candidates for political office who support REALTORS® and the real estate industry. PRE-APPLICATION INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE BUDGET REQUEST STATE & LOCAL CANDIDATE POLLING REQUEST FORM INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE APPLICATION INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE POLICIES & PROCEDURES ADD BANK INFORMATION/PAYEE TO YOUR APPLICATIONS Application Process If you are interested in running an independent expenditure campaign, please review the following steps and then contact Mitchell Norton. Choose...
Leading with Diversity Workshop
This three-hour planning workshop takes state association leaders and senior staff through a step-by-step process to develop key initiatives, specific for your association, that will lead to greater inclusion of diversity in your association’s leadership. At the conclusion of the workshop you will be able to: Explain benefits to your association of a leadership that reflects the market you serve. Use a simple analysis to determine an appropriate focus for your inclusion activities. Develop strategies to involve under-represented members or communities. Identify how to find new leaders and ways to foster their inclusion. Use NAR’s Tools to create one or...
Major Investor Event Planning Checklist
6-8 Weeks Prior to Event Request your event by visiting www.realtorparty.realtor and click on “Major Investor Event Fundraising” under Programs & Grants. Read and understand all guidelines before submitting your application. Try to have more than 1 date in mind for speaker coordination. Receive application approval before you book a venue. If your date is not available NAR cannot fund the event. Notify your MIC Member (Major Investor Council Member) of the proposed event date(s), time and location. Set a fundraising goal for your event. How much do you want to raise? (How many new dollars per attendee?) How many new Major Investors do...
Ada County (ID) REALTORS® Bring Housing Opportunities to Life in Idaho
The 3,000-member Ada County Association of REALTORS® (ACAR) first used an NAR Ira Gribin Grant to develop a three-pronged housing assistance program it called Welcome Home Idaho -- providing down payment assistance for working families; zero-percent loans to help with fees and interest; and Employer Assisted Housing materials and training for the community’s REALTORS®, elected officials, and business leaders. Then, it moved on to use NAR Housing Opportunity Grants to put on a housing summit; a Fair Housing campaign; a housing trust fund for lower-income homebuyers; and more.
Orlando Association Gets On Board With Commuter Train Travel
December 2012
While the 9,000-member Orlando Regional REALTORS® Association (ORRA) has been energetically supporting SunRail, central Florida’s first commuter rail project, association leaders felt some first-hand exposure for their members and local decision makers would kick it up a notch. Using a $1,500 Smart Growth Grant from NAR, ORRA was able to arrange for and promote a train ride for nearly 170 REALTORS®, leasing agents, elected officials, Chamber of Commerce members and others. The ride included presentations about the new depots and transit-oriented development projects planned along the route. The grant helped to provide substantial collateral materials for all...
Denver Metro Association Grows Employer-Assisted Housing Idea from Grant to Class to Program
The 4,500-member Denver Metro Association of REALTORS® (DMAR) realized that Employer-Assisted Housing was a topic that would serve both the membership and the community, so they applied for and received a $5,000 grant from NAR to fund a course in October 2010. Then, they took it to the next step by establishing the Greater Brighton Employer-Assisted Housing program. Today, the program serves this tightknit community northeast of Denver by showing employers who might not have ready cash to offer down-payment assistance that benefits like a day-off for moving, or the loan of a truck, are creative low- or no-cost ways...
Nashville REALTORS® Gather Coalition for Ground-Breaking Housing Summit
Where there are homes in safe areas with access to good education, good transit and other services, that’s where the jobs go. It was this kind of big thinking that led the 2,800-member Greater Nashville Association of REALTORS® (GNAR) to gather a coalition of regional partners in the housing industry last summer, to co-sponsor The Greater Nashville Housing Summit. The July 3 event at GNAR headquarters was the first of its kind, drawing housing experts and policy makers from around the state for a forward-looking “state of the housing market” program. Media relations, both before and after the Summit, were...