VARbuzz » Scott Brunner, CEO of VAR

Collaborators driven to compete, and the Realtors® who want to love them

Scott Brunner, CEO of VAR — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:57:34 +0000

My 16-year-old is learning to drive, but not from me. That’s because I — at least according to my nauseatingly law-abiding wife — am something of a highway menace.

And I can live with that (the not-teaching-to-drive part, not the menace part) because frankly, I’m also the nervous type, at least where 16-year-olds steering heavy, expensive, rolling assets are involved, and no amount of auto insurance is enough to relieve me of those particular jitters.

It’s not that the 16-year-old in question, my daughter Claire, is proving to be a bad driver. To the contrary, in fact. But when it comes to driving proficiency, I adhere to George Carlin’s (unfailingly subjective) code, to which only the most intrepid of drivers measure up.

It goes something — and rather circuitously — like this:

1. I’m the role model for other drivers.

2. Those who drive more slowly than I do are (to put it kindly) simple-minded nitwits. Those who drive faster: Maniacs.

3. Those who daily commit a range of petty vehicular etiquette faux pas, from failing to signal a turn, to misunderstanding the concept of a four-way stop, to being overly permissive in giving pedestrians the right-of-way (I find they seem to move faster when you rev the gas), to doing any little thing that impedes my progress toward my destination: Idiots, all of them.

4. On the other hand, I am the apotheosis of behind-the-wheel temperance, efficiency, and safety. I am gridlock’s solution, not its cause.

5. Ergo … I’m the role model for other drivers.

I wonder sometimes if that same sort of circular, if-you’re-not-me you’re- a-moron mindset doesn’t at times characterize the relations between the sister tiers of the Realtor® organization — the local, state and national associations.

Each level works so hard to deliver value to you and wants so badly to be valued by you that it’s easy sometimes for us to view your affections (as it were) as a zero sum game. If you really treasure your local association, that diminishes your appreciation for VAR or NAR, right? And vice-versa? “You should like us,” each level seems to say, “We’re better than those other bozos up or down the chain.”

It’s sort of third-grade when you think about it. And yet your local, state, and national associations can risk duplicating services or bickering or just generally competing for what we misperceive as your limited, when what we should be doing is collaborating, delivering services to you that fit each level’s strategic role and geographic footprint — and realizing at the end of the day, we sink or swim together.

In truth, you thrive as a member based in part on the collective, collaborative efforts of all three sisters, not just one or the other.

Claire’s mother has handled the bulk of her driver’s education thus far, and as Claire improves, my comfort level in riding along with her grows. “You and Mom are in lock-step on that,” she sighs when I offer her a bit of unwelcomed navigational criticism. Which is fine. We role models need to stick together.

VAR CEO Scott Brunner calls himself an assertive driver… whatever that means. Reach him at scott@varealtor.com

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VAR’s Noon is off to Oklahoma

Scott Brunner, CEO of VAR — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 20:46:26 +0000

VAR VP of Outreach Lisa Noon has been named CEO of the 9,000-member Oklahoma Association of REALTORS®. She leaves VAR next week, and later this month will be relocating with her family to “where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.” Congrats and best wishes, Lisa! --------------------------------------------------------------------- “Go Beyond” with zipLogix, creators of zipForm® real [...]

Not an RPAC fan? Cool. Read this:

Scott Brunner, CEO of VAR — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 15:52:43 +0000

REALTORS® know what it’s like trying to urge a reluctant client to make a real estate decision that’s clearly in that client’s best interest. They’re often not persuaded by the well-reasoned counsel of their REALTOR® adviser – maybe because they perceive that you have skin in the game. Who knows? Often, though, all it takes someone else – a third party they trust: parent, friend, partner – pointing out the merits of what you’ve been saying all along, and suddenly the fog clears, bells ring, birds sing, and your client does the right thing.

Ironically, an awful lot of REALTORS seem to be that way themselves when it comes to RPAC, conjuring up all manner of reasons – from the sad state of the economy to the distastefulness of politics in general to philosophical differences about the candidates RPAC supports – for not making a measly $20 Fair Share annual investment.

So here, for that crowd, is a third-party perspective on RPAC’s effectiveness – its very real impact on your business. I’m hoping it pushes a few of you over the edge. (I mean that in the best way.)

It’s a January 21 article from Politico, the online publication about politics for political types.

We link to the full piece below, but the gist is that REALTORS®’ political efforts nationwide in last November’s Congressional elections were not only effective in electing pro-real estate candidates; those efforts are also a harbinger of what post-partisan politics will look like in coming elections: campaign support driven not by party affiliation, but by how well a candidate represents the interests of a particular profession – REALTORS and property owners, say.

Here are some salient excerpts:

A year ago this week, the Supreme Court freed corporate America to fully engage in campaigns, prompting dire predictions that Big Oil, Wal-Mart or even foreign firms would suddenly flood the political marketplace.

That didn’t happen. But at least one industry sector quietly and without controversy became a major player in the 2010 midterms – in a way that some campaign-finance experts believe could be the wave of the future for 2012 and beyond.

The model: the “Realtors’ Party,” the moniker the National Association of Realtors gave to its $6.5 million election effort, which backed a bipartisan slate of 103 pro-Realtor candidates and saw election of 66 of them.

And:

Much of what the Realtors did in 2010 could have been done before the landmark Citizens United ruling – pooling contributions from individual Realtors and targeting pro-Realtor politicians for assistance.

But by 2012, some experts envision a day when industry groups will not only hit up their individual members, but their corporate accounts for campaign cash as well – and then target their spending in ways that have less to do with Democrat or Republican, and more to do with who is pro or con on their big issues.

And this one:

In a post-election boast on its website, the association said: “Because of these ongoing efforts, the next Congress will contain many old friends and new friends who understand real estate issues.”

Those aren’t just feel good messages. The real estate industry had real stakes in the election. It is still in a precarious recovery and will be looking to Washington for continued help with foreclosures, lending and other issues. Most of the candidates it supported sit on the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees the housing industry.

The Realtors’ campaign differed from that of such large trade and business groups as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in that it was built around one industry and targeted at a subset of candidates with clear records of advocating on housing issues while serving in Congress, a state legislature or on the job.

Now, as an insider, I find those compelling reasons to see RPAC in a new light. It’s sort of what we’ve been saying all along: We’re not about party affiliation we’re not about social issues, we’re about real estate and property ownership, and – at least as last November’s elections go – the proof of our effectiveness in protecting those interests – protecting YOU and your business – is in Politico…er, the pudding.

Maybe you don’t hear bells (or birds), but do the right thing anyway. Invest your fair share. It really does matter.

Here’s link to full story in Politico: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47969.html

3 really good, really short, really timely blog posts worth reading

Scott Brunner, CEO of VAR — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 18:34:39 +0000

Came across these three blog posts in the past week, each of which resonates with me for different reasons. Maybe they will with you, too:

On why ideas spread:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/10/ideas-spread-when.html

On recent research about dealing with and overcoming objections:
http://www.spring.org.uk/2010/10/dont-take-no-for-an-answer.php

On the role of associations in transforming rather than merely informing:

http://blogs.asaecenter.org/Acronym/2010/10/transformation_providers.html

What Matters Now

Scott Brunner, CEO of VAR — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:52:04 +0000

This, from Seth Godin, is worth a read, regardless of your business or model. Seventy big thinkers, each sharing an idea for you to think about while the year is still young. Enjoy…. --------------------------------------------------------------------- “Go Beyond” with zipLogix, creators of zipForm® real estate forms software. Also part of the zipLogix software suite is zipForm Mobile, [...]

VAR Board member’s “other” company featured in WSJ

Scott Brunner, CEO of VAR — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:14:19 +0000

Way to go, Mr. Odio:

AppMakr was originally a side service offered by PointAbout, a technology consulting company based out of Washington, D.C. In its beta form, AppMakr listed a $2,000 starting price for aspiring app makers to sign up, in addition to the price to build the actual app.

But the company recently separated AppMakr into its own brand and lowered the price for build templates to $199 and $499, depending on whether app makers wanted to allow AppMakr to retain publishing rights, or claim its own branding and copyright.

PointAbout’s co-founder and chief operating officer Daniel R. Odio says AppMakr has since published 3,100 apps in the iTunes App Store, which lists over 100,000 apps and is expected to reach 300,000 of apps by the end of this year, according to a report from IDC.

Full story here.

Oh, and another (same day!) here.

On the ethics of “strategic default”…

Scott Brunner, CEO of VAR — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:55:41 +0000

Strategic default: When homeowners make a “business decision” to walk away from their underwater mortgage (and home), not because they can’t afford it, but because it’s no longer in their financial interest to keep paying on it.

At least two recent media pieces have focused on that practice, and are worth a read/listen.

The first is from the NYT (January 23). An excerpt:

…millions of American homeowners are “underwater,” meaning that they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. In Nevada, nearly two-thirds of homeowners are in this category. Yet most of them are dutifully continuing to pay their mortgages, despite substantial financial incentives for walking away from them.

A family that financed the entire purchase of a $600,000 home in 2006 could now find itself still owing most of that mortgage, even though the home is now worth only $300,000. The family could rent a similar home for much less than its monthly mortgage payment, saving thousands of dollars a year and hundreds of thousands over a decade.

Some homeowners may keep paying because they think it’s immoral to default….

But does this really come down to a question of morality?

A provocative paper by Brent White, a law professor at the University of Arizona, makes the case that borrowers are actually suffering from a “norm asymmetry.” In other words, they think they are obligated to repay their loans even if it is not in their financial interest to do so, while their lenders are free to do whatever maximizes profits. It’s as if borrowers are playing in a poker game in which they are the only ones who think bluffing is unethical.

The second is the January 29 edition of NPR’s Planet Money podcast. The attorney interviewed in that podcast asserts that defaulting is not against the law; that violating a contract is not illegal; that courts have never allowed punitive damages for breaking a contract.

And yet…I’m having trouble squaring the notion of “strategic default,” of breaking a contract simply because it’s no longer in one’s financial interest, with the fact that the person gave his word that he’d repay the loan. Do his financial interests trump his word? Does the fact that it’s a business deal give him an out?

As one of my Mississippi REALTOR® friends suggested to me the other day, “Our whole civilization is built on agreements. If we stop keeping agreements, we stop being civilized.” And she added, “It’s bad to be without assets, but it’s worse to be without self respect.”

What do you think?

The 2010 Plan: Six goals focused on YOU

Scott Brunner, CEO of VAR — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:03:43 +0000

You have your New Year’s resolutions, here at VAR we have ours. They’re simple: For 2010 we’re focusing on six core projects we think will benefit our members most. They’re not all new, but they’re all important.

Each project has a leader — a member of VAR’s management team assigned to see it through to completion. A VAR officer partner is also assigned to each goal. Read on to learn more about what we’re doing, and why it should matter to you.

The details after this jump:

Project: Advance and protect Virginia Realtors®’ business interests in the 2010 Legislative Session

Leader: John Broadway, Vice President for Law & Policy

Officer Liaison: John Dickinson, President-Elect

The chief priority for Law & Policy in 2010 is to develop, promote, and ensure the success of VAR’s Legislative Agenda. And make no mistake — it’s one of the most aggressive we have ever introduced. And yes, we’re on the lookout for bills that would negatively affect your business, too. Rest assured we’ll do everything in our power to keep those bills from becoming law.

You can also count on VAR to keep you informed about the legislative process. Every week during the General Assembly session, VAR brings you Capitol Connections: a comprehensive and concise summary of the previous week’s legislative actions affecting Realtors®, property owners, and prospective buyers.

Through RPAC, we’ve helped elect legislators and executive branch officials who understand real estate and property ownership issues, and we’ll be making use of that influence during the current General Assembly session. We’ll also be mobilizing our members, particularly at VAR’s annual Realtor® Day on the Hill, February 17.

If you can’t attend Day on the Hill, the next best thing is to respond to VAR calls to action. We only send them when your participation is crucial to ensuring the legislative outcomes we seek, so when you get one, please take a moment to respond. It literally takes less than a minute.

When the General Assembly adjourns, we’ll start planning our 2011 legislative agenda by working with the Public Policy Committee and local associations to develop strategies for addressing new issues affecting our members, their clients, and property rights in general.

Project: Inform and engage Virginia property owners through the Virginia Homeowners Alliance

Leader: Ben Martin, Vice President, Marketing & Communications

Officer Liaison: Trish Szego, Vice-President

In 2010, the Virginia Homeowners Alliance, a VAR-directed grassroots advocacy program for Virginia property owners, will focus on informing more than 700,000 Virginia homeowners about issues that impact their piece of Virginia.

Through a series of e-mail newsletters covering public policy issues that affect property values and rights in communities all over the Commonwealth, we will establish the Virginia Homeowners Alliance as a trusted source of information. We’ll create a bridge between Virginia property owners and Realtors® so they can join forces when bad legislation or regulation threatens our common interests.

At least three Virginia Homeowners Alliance newsletters will be sent during the General Assembly session, plus one in June (just before most new laws go into effect) and one prior to the 2011 General Assembly session. Of course, we’ll continue to encourage homeowners to sign up for the Alliance, but our focus will be providing information and building its reputation.

Project: Reinvent VAR’s Convention & Expo to build a high-profile business meeting you’d be crazy to miss

Leader: Tracey Floridia, Vice President of Career Development

Officer Liaison: John Powell, Immediate Past President

Hopefully you’ve heard that we’ve essentially rebuilt our annual Convention & Expo from the ground up this year. (We’ve partnered with the Hampton Roads REALTORS® Association, too.) Our goal is to make it a must-attend event for real estate professionals up and down the east coast.

First off, we renamed it the REal Show. And no more moving around: For at least the next three years, it will be held in early fall at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. (That makes planning a bit easier, doesn’t it?) And because the VBCC is so large, we can offer more education and expand the show. It doesn’t hurt that it’s a certified green facility, either, so we’ll be doing our part for the environment.

Virginia Beach is a great destination, too: Lots of hotels to choose from, and beautiful early-fall weather so you can enjoy the boardwalk, the oceanfront, boating, fishing, golf, and more.

Speaking of more, that’s our mantra when it comes to education. More sessions, more options, and more high-quality speakers. (We’ve even asked the membership to help choose our keynoters.) And there’ll be more real estate, less reporting about what VAR is doing; we’ve separated our governance meetings from the education sessions.

Like we said: You’d be crazy to miss it.

Project: Educate members about the ethical considerations in short sales and foreclosures through The Code is Good Business campaign

Leader: Lisa Noon, Vice President, Member Outreach

Officer Liaison: Cindy Stackhouse, President

Thanks to short sales, foreclosures, REO, and auctions, Virginia real estate practice has a host of new ethical dilemmas for Realtors® that make doing business more difficult than ever before.

Protecting our members from legal and ethical pitfalls is one of our most important jobs, and there are a lot more of those pitfalls these days. So in 2010 we’re upgrading and updating our Code is Good Business campaign to make sure all Virginia’s Realtors® know the Code of Ethics inside and out, especially as it applies to lender mediated transactions, such as short sales and foreclosures.

From case studies to videos to authoritative content from VAR’s attorneys, we’ll be providing more information and tools to help Realtors® keep their ethical duties to their clients and their fellow real estate professionals. And in the long run, Realtors® who take advantage of the expanded campaign will make more money by bolstering their reputation as competent and ethical agents in their hometowns.

Project: Leveraging your expertise for the good of the profession and enhancing your value proposition

Leader: Scott Brunner, Chief Executive Officer

At its core, VAR is its members. And while most of our 30,000 members didn’t join VAR just to be a volunteer, the services we deliver are only as good as the member expertise Realtor® leaders provide in their state and local associations. We simply wouldn’t be effective without our volunteers — hundreds of committee members, directors, liaisons, officers, and others just like you.

That’s why in 2010, we’ll be doing more to identify members with critical expertise in key subject areas on which VAR is working, and engage those members in the effort. The result, we believe is better policy proposals, better programs and services and better overall member value.

At the same time, it’s true that not every Virginia Realtor® has time to volunteer with the association. But every member should feel engaged in and served by VAR. In the year ahead, we’ll be looking to enhance your connection to VAR by creating a variety of tools and touchpoints that reinforce the value you receive for that dues check you stroke once a year.

Project: Provide better, more reliable housing market economic data to the media, policy makers and our members

Leader: Rick Lugg, Vice President, Finance & Administration

Officer Liaison: John Daly, Treasurer

As stakeholders in virtually every MLS in the Commonwealth, your local association of Realtors® – and VAR, too – are increasingly called upon by the news media and policy makers to provide authoritative information about home sales in Virginia markets. Recently, Housing Virginia, a non-profit organization promoting housing affordability in Virginia, asked VAR and its local associations to help it develop a statewide housing affordability index based on MLS data.

In response, VAR is partnering with local MLSs to develop a platform for providing real-time data from every MLS operating in Virginia. This project will enhance VAR’s understanding of the Virginia housing markets through the use of an expanded data set aggregated from MLSs across the Commonwealth. VAR and the local Realtor® associations will be able to provide the most up-to-date data whenever governments, the press, or other organizations have a need for it. The Realtor® association family will also have improved access to home sales data for use in press releases, Web sites, and other publications.

Ultimately, Virginia Realtors® will benefit from this project as VAR and its local associations develop deeper understanding about market trends in the Commonwealth. We’ll be able to pass along market analyses to help you learn more about what the numbers say is happening in your area, and to position Realtors® as the authoritative source of market data.

No doubt about it, 2010 is a full-steam-ahead year for VAR. Even though we’re focused in on these six core goals, we’ll continue to provide all of the other great services you’ve come to expect from us like GRI, Commonwealth magazine, member outreach services, programs for real estate specialties like property managers, and all the rest. Watch for more information about each of these programs throughout 2010, and please contact VAR if you have any questions.

WP: In the eye of the appraiser

Scott Brunner, CEO of VAR — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:35:44 +0000

Good article from today’s Washington Post on the heightened impact of appraisals on real estate transactions in this difficult housing economy. It includes some well articulated comments from VAR members. Here’s an excerpt:

The housing market has shown signs of improvement, but home sales can still be challenging to complete. Deals can turn on whether the home receives a sufficient appraisal. The lender financing the deal hires an appraiser to estimate the market value of the property, examining the condition of the home and comparing it with similar properties in the neighborhood, known as comps. An appraisal, a professional estimate of the market value of a home, is supposed to protect buyers from paying too much — and protect lenders from extending too much credit.

But coming up with an estimate has become more complicated in the middle of a housing crisis. A high concentration of foreclosed homes in a neighborhood can distort the appraisal, real estate agents say. Foreclosures often sell at a discount and may be damaged after the homeowner leaves. Banks have also become more cautious about ensuring that the sales price reflects the market value, agents say.

The appraisal process is “much more difficult,” said Laura Fall, principal broker at Fall Properties in Arlington. “They have gone to the extreme of conservatism, and we are now in an emerging market with brisker sales,” she said. “It will likely iron out and balance out, but there is pain in the process of a market correction.”

From Housing Wire: Lenders, Realtors Divided on Arizona Foreclosure Law

Scott Brunner, CEO of VAR — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:39:19 +0000

Realtors and bankers are gearing up for a battle over Arizona legislation that would allow lenders to sue homeowners for losses incurred from a foreclosure.

The change to the state’s so-called “deficiency judgment” law requires a borrower to live in the home for six months to be eligible for protection from lender-initiated lawsuits to recoup the full outstanding principal of a mortgage.

Proponents of the law, including bankers that lobbied for the change, believe it will discourage investors from walking away from properties when they can’t make a profit.

Read it here.