Every year, the HAR Board of Directors approves Bylaws changes that must also be voted on by the membership. This year the special meeting to review and vote on these proposed amendments to the HAR Bylaws will be held on Monday, March 25 at 1 p.m. in the HAR Boardroom. If you are unable to attend, you may fill out your proxy form on page 11, which grants the right to vote on your behalf to the chairman of the board. We need at least one percent of the membership to either be at the meeting to vote in person or to submit their proxies to have the required quorum to be able to vote on the amendments. Thank you for your help in advance to make sure we reach that goal.

If you attended the TAR Winter Meetings in Austin recently, you would know that HAR received the Education Program of the Year recognition for the third year in a row. HAR REALTOR® and instructor Katrina Barnes was also honored as Educator of the Year for Texas. There are so many great courses being offered in the near future, so please visit here to read more about the classes that you could be taking to help elevate your career.

As you can see from the cover of this month’s magazine, we are full speed ahead with plans for legislative visits to our congressional delegation in Washington, D.C. These visits will be coordinated with the May NAR Mid-Year Meetings on May 15 and 16. We have great relationships with all of our elected officials and look forward to speaking with them about the Mortgage Interest Deduction, FHA Reform, the Qualified Residential Mortgage and other issues vital to REALTORS® and homeowners alike. You may read more about these meetings here.

While we are planning for the congressional visits, we have the state legislative visits coming up even sooner. On Tuesday, April 9, six buses will roll from around the greater Houston area to the Capitol in Austin so that we may share our point of view with our friends in the Texas House and Senate. We need as many members as possible to join us so please read here to find out how to register to be part of this important day.

Lastly, have you ever wished that you had a way to survey consumers to find out what they want most from their REALTOR® or what they think about the home buying or selling process? In 2011, HAR developed the HAR Consumer Research Panel to serve this very function. Since its launch, we have conducted a wide range of surveys on a variety of topics. Six more surveys are scheduled to be completed this year as well. This valuable information is being collected for your use. You may read more about the Panel here and may find the reports from the surveys on the HAR Members Only page under Tools > My Tools.  It is the second link from the top of the page, listed as “Consumer Research Panel.”