What an exciting year 2010 has been! I remember talking about the many challenges that we would probably face, and the multitude of opportunities that our Association and our members would find. It has been an amazing privilege to represent our 25,000+ members both here in Houston and throughout the country and even Canada this year! Thank you for allowing me this opportunity!

Each year, the Association holds its annual membership meeting, which is when HAR Bylaw changes are voted on by the membership. This year, there are several updates:  who is eligible for Life Member status, modifying a couple of the board of director seats to “at large” positions, and there is a new requirement for anyone who files to run for the board. These are important items that I hope you will read about and even attend the membership meeting.

One of  the highlights of this year’s NAR Conference and Expo was HAR’s NextGen REALTOR® Group (NRG) being named the Young Professional Network (YPN) Chapter of the Year, out of the more than 120 chapters across the country. I was so proud to be present when NAR announced the award for our group of younger members.

What is the most frequently visited page on HAR.com by members? The Members Only Portal—and we have a new page design being launched in December. The new design will be cleaner, and the links will hopefully be better organized so you can more easily find what you are looking for.

Don’t miss out on the REALTOR® Celebration on December 14 at the Houston Country Club. This cocktail reception event will serve as the installation ceremony for 2011 Chairman Carlos P. Bujosa, the Board of Directors and Executive Officers, as well as the awards ceremony for Ed Wolff as REALTOR® of the Year and Ann Woodroof as the John E. Wolf Citizenship Cup Award recipient. A good time should be had by all.

Are you a commercial broker who wants to further your real estate education? You may now search for commercial courses on the new Commercial Course Finder on the Commercial Gateway website at www.commgate.com.

Two great new products are also scheduled to be launched by the MLS Department this month. The first is FIND, which uses natural language search technology to allow members to more easily find properties that match their criteria. The second new offering is the MLS Data Co-op, which is similar to FIND and will allow members to search MLS listings and tax information from one single, map-based platform.

Finally, I want to thank each and every one of you for allowing me the honor to serve as your 2010 Chair of the Board! I also want to thank Bob Hale and the entire staff at HAR for the guidance, assistance and support they have shown to me. It truly has been an amazing year! I have no doubt Carlos and his team will lead us all into a successful 2011.

Margie Dorrance
HAR Chair