Hello Houston! As chairman of the HAR International Advisory Group (IAG) for 2020, I am honored and excited to follow in the footsteps of some amazing HAR IAG leaders. Traveling and representing HAR and our NAR Diamond Award winning International Advisory Group has been nothing but amazing as I attended multiple Texas REALTORS® and National Association of REALTORS®‘ Conferences, as well as a couple of trips south of the border for events with our good friends of AMPI (Asociacion Mexicana de Profesionales Inmobiliarios) in Mexico.
My global real estate adventures, along with other HAR members, including our trade mission to Belize in 2019, has put our IAG group in the middle of some nice global opportunities around the world. The real estate relationships started these past couple of years are now becoming friendships that will continue to grow into some incredible real estate opportunities for HAR members and our clients inside and outside of the United States this year.
Let’s talk about a few goals as chairman that I hope to accomplish this year with the help of our IAG vice chair Theresa Hill. Education for our IAG and our membership at HAR would be on top of my list of things to accomplish in 2020. Houston is recognized as one of the most attractive cities for international buyers to purchase real estate and providing education so that we can better serve our clients and community is very important as we grow our real estate opportunities at HAR.
I look forward to working with our IAG to enhance the opportunity for our Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) designation class that not only will excite our membership at HAR to come and earn their designation, but will draw in REALTORS® from around the globe. I will also look to continue and improve our “Around the World in 60 Minutes” and “International Day” events with various speakers that can share new ideas with our members on how to improve their global real estate practice along with adding new global events that add value to the experience for all members of HAR.
The second goal would be to make sure that our IAG earns NAR’s Diamond Award once again. We will do this with efforts from our IAG to be a bigger part of international opportunities in Houston. With the success we had in 2019 with our AMPI guests during the Houston Rodeo, I plan to take advantage of our international relationships to create more opportunities to create and sign more MOU’s (Memoranda of Understanding) with the help of Texas REALTORS®. Our IAG group is already in the process to possibly sign several MOU’s with multiple chapters of AMPI early in 2020 during the Texas REALTOR® International cruise when it stops in Mexico – see you there!
The third goal would be to continue to grow IAG relationships with NAHREP chapters (National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals) and AAREA (Asian American Real Estate Association) along with other local groups. I would like to see new events created where we together host an international event for HAR members. Improving participation in each other’s events will benefit everyone with knowledge that will allow our members to provide the very best real estate experiences for our international clients moving to Houston.
With my participation on other global committees: Metrotex in Dallas, ABoR in Austin, the state of Texas and NAR, my last goal is to connect members and introduce everyone and their expertise within these committees. I will work to make this happen by sharing all the opportunities that each committee / group offers to make it easy for everyone to network with other global REALTORS®. With help from our group of REALTORS® that led the mission trip to Belize last year, we are already working on our first of a few trips for 2020 that will include a trip to the Maya Riviera that will include visiting Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum; most likely at the end of March.
Grab your passport and let’s take your real estate business GLOBAL!
By: Ed Eakin, 2020 Chairman of HAR International
