West Hawaii Association of Realtor's President's Message – IMUA

For those of you unable to attend the West Hawaii Association of Realtor’s Annual Membership Meeting last Friday at the King Kamehameha Hotel, below is a copy of the “President’s Message” found in the program. (I hope you will all be inspired to join a WHAR committee or task force in 2012!)

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IMUA! (Definition: first; front; ahead; forward; number one)

“Aloha everyone. Thank you so much for coming out and supporting us today.

I’m not inclined to tell you all what’s going on in “the market” – You already know what’s going on in your market. (It’s been quite an interesting year, to say the least). And I always thought it was absurd to calculate median numbers in a real estate market where we sell $5,000 lots to $50M properties. How can a median or average have any relevance?

I want to talk with you about Imua…Imua comes from the ancient Hawaiian war cry meaning, “to go forward.” That’s what your association has been focused on and doing these past few years, whether you realize it or not.

We picked up the war cry when we were running a serious deficit due to decreased membership dues and no reduction in expenses. If it weren’t for Charlie Parry and Gretchen Lambeth leading the way, we would be out of business today.

Then, Bob Myers joined the board and simply hounded some people until they paid their dues. He called them relentlessly. He was always nice about it, but he didn’t hesitate to call on a Sunday, on a holiday, catch someone at Disneyland with their family…Imua!

We started some new initiatives for you this year—we have membership cards, we are working on a new website, we are talking with all the other associations in the state about both statewide MLS and data sharing, and we have an engaged, excited Board of Directors.

We are preparing to move forward with purpose into next year. We need active, thriving committees that are trained in efficiency, can meet via teleconference, and are excited about serving their community. Our tech committee will be deciding the fate of electronic lock boxes, our education committee will be bringing new classes (such as CIPS and CRB) to West Hawaii, and our fundraising committee is planning an event that will blow your socks off!

As WHAR’s president—I am not your leader in what you do everyday—my role is to help the association’s strategic plan move forward. And that’s what we are doing together—moving forward with purpose and intention.

Mahalo nui loa for the opportunity to serve you and the greater REALTOR community.”