100 years strong!

100 years strong!  What began as a meeting of real estate brokers from Evansville, who met at noon every Friday in 1914, has become the Southwest Indiana Association of Realtors.  We are an association of nearly 800 Realtors from 10 counties in Southwest Indiana.  SIAR serves Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Knox, Martin, Perry, Pike, Posey, Vanderburgh and Warrick Counties.

    

As your president for 2014, one of the first questions I asked was how our leadership could communicate best with our membership.  If you wish to contact me, email GeriTerry@GeriTerry.com.  Answers included a newsletter, Facebook, Twitter, blog and email.   This blog is my best attempt to get information to you in a centralized location, and we may use other ways to direct you here for new information.  If you are reading this and have another idea, please let us know!  Email KenHaynie@fcte.com who is the Membership Committee chairperson, or the SIAR staff person mkaluza@evansvillerealtors.com at the board office.  If you haven’t already done so, join the SIAR Facebook group.  It is a closed group for Realtors only.  In case you can’t find or didn’t get an invitation, email kseibert@evansvillerealtors.com for a link to join.

During the past week, I have spoken with Evansville Courier and Evansville Business journalists, who had questions about our real estate market and issues the SIAR are currently facing.  Each were sent a copy of the 2013 Annual Summary of Residential Sales Data, compiled and provided by Bob Reid from Appraisal Consultants, Inc.  Bob discussed the summary at our last Realtor/Lender/Appraiser/Title committee meeting.  The RLAT meeting is one of the most interesting committees I have ever attended, and encourage you to join in.  Meetings are always held on a Thursday morning at 7:30 am, at the Old National Bank main office in the Blue and Gold room next to the cafe.  Click http://goo.gl/maps/dJ9mk for map.  The next meeting is February 20^th at 7:30.  Grab some coffee on the way in!

Next week the SIAR leadership team will attend the IAR Winter Conference in Indianapolis.  During the conference we will visit the Indiana Statehouse and meet with our state senators and representatives to discuss issues which affect real estate buyers and sellers.  Click the link below to view the schedule for the conference.  http://www.indianarealtors.com/Advocacy/Legislative-Conference.aspx  At this conference, SIAR’s own Kevin Eastridge will be installed as 2014 President of the Indiana Association of Realtors. 

 

SIAR has just approved the formation of our own YPN, NAR’s Young Professional’s Network.  The kick-off meeting was held last month at RiRa’s, was well attended, and it's obvious this is going to be a dynamic new way for our membership to network and learn.  Contact Andrea Murphy to learn more about YPN, email andrea.murphy@era.com

 

Evansville’s WCR wcrevansville.org, Women’s Council of Realtors, hosted a very informative meeting last Thursday.  A panel of lenders updated us about the new rules for the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.  This information was discussed at the meeting http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201309_cfpb_ability-to-repay-rule_what-it-means-for-consumers.pdf  Every member of SIAR could have benefitted from this luncheon, as some of these laws will affect sellers and buyers today.  The WCR is having a membership drive and offering half price dues for 2014.  In addition, if you are new to WCR and wish to attend a luncheon, your lunch will be provided for your first visit.  Email Pam Martin PamMartin@fcte.com to make a reservation for the next meeting on February 13^th at 11:30 at the Evansville Country Club.