Dear HAR Members,

I am honored to serve as your HAR Chairman of the Board for 2013 and my goal is to maximize the value you receive for your dues dollar. I am pleased to say that the Board of Directors has voted to maintain the current dues level for the 10th year in a row. In fact, when combining HAR dues and MLS subscriber fees, the total amount paid is actually lower than what was paid in 1997. Not many associations can say that.

This was not by accident. The Association has cut expenses and developed additional revenue sources to help maintain our financial strength, while also allowing us to continue to roll out new products and tools to help you become more efficient and effective in your business. This is the essence of maximizing value for our members.

Our initial soft rollout of the HAR-ETS transaction management platform has proceeded nicely, and there are many more firms being added to the program every day. This is what consumers want, and I’m proud of HAR for leading the way to get all of us on board. Whether you just want to reduce the amount of paper you have to retain or you want to have a full-service electronic transaction program for your clients, HAR-ETS is a great member benefit. Just HAR-ETS alone is worth your full HAR dues. This is just another example of maximizing value for members.

HARConnect.com continues to be the go-to place for all HAR and real estate news that is important to you. On a monthly basis, about 18,000 unique visitors go to the site, which represents about 75 percent of our membership. Our award winning website, HAR.com, continues to be the number one real estate website not only in Houston, but in all of Texas. In fact, our mobile apps for the iPad, iPhone and Android devices have been so well received that our mobile website traffic frequently exceeds our PC based traffic, with all of those leads going back to you-the REALTOR®. And remember that is free for just being a member. No paying for leads or needing to buy zip codes.

Only with the strength and support of all of our 25,000 residential and commercial members can we remain a successful REALTOR® community, so I personally thank each of you for your membership in what really is your Association. This Association only exists because of your participation so know that HAR is here to support you in 2013 and for many years to come.

Danny Frank
2013 Chairman, Board of Directors
Houston Association of REALTORS®