As you can tell from the cover of the magazine, Commercial Gateway’s quarterly market research report is welcome news to our commercial members who have definitely had a better start to 2012 than some previous years. You may read all about the commercial real estate market in the greater Houston area here.  You may also read some of the insightful comments about the market from some of the leaders in the industry.

Ted Jones has two appearances in this month’s magazine; one being his profile as a former chairman of HAR and the other with his outlook as part of the biannual real estate and economic forecast presented by the University of Houston Hobby Center for Public Policy’s Institute for Regional Forecasting. You may read his past chairman’s profile here and his forecast summary here.

If you attended the NAR Midyear meetings in Washington, D.C. last month, then I don’t need to tell you how incredible it was to be on the grounds in front of the Washington Monument with thousands of other REALTORS® who were all showing support for homeownership in the U.S. In addition to the NAR Meetings and Rally, HAR has breakfasts with our local members of Congress each year at this time. It is a great opportunity for our greater Houston area delegation to hear from our members about issues like affordable financing, reform of the secondary mortgage market, improved liquidity in residential and commercial lending and preservation of the tax benefits associated with homeownership. You may read more about the NAR Midyear goings on and  here.

With more regional diversity in the population, many members are expanding their areas of expertise to include international real estate. HAR’s International program sent out a survey to the membership, with more than 1,300 responses. You may read some of the interesting results here. Maybe you should consider international real estate as well.

This is my last call for people to become more engaged with your association by running for the HAR Board of Directors. This is where the rubber meets the road, and you can be in the driver’s seat—at least one of them. HAR is truly a leader in the country, so the decisions that are made here have ramifications across the nation and throughout the industry. You may read more about the duties and responsibilities of being an HAR Board member here. Remember that the deadline to declare your candidacy is Monday, June 11 at 5 p.m.

Until next month,

Wayne A. Stroman
HAR Chairman of the Board