Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 1, 2010
Women's Council of Realtors meeting of super standards held at the DoubleTree
Erica Tuggle
President, Kaye Ivey, received her plaque of recognition for the award of Silver Excellence in Service for the Women’s Council of Realtors. Former President Cheree Dumas, who presented Ivey with her award, received the Gold Excellence in Service award from the WCR.
- Erica Tuggle
A new and exciting superhero was introduced at the September Women’s Council of Realtors Luncheon, and super individuals were appointed to officer status for the upcoming year.
Jennifer Grayson took the mic to announce that the nominating committee had made their selections for the slate of officers who would be subsequently approved to their positions by the votes of the WCR members in attendance. Next year’s president is Kaye Ivey, president-elect is Ann Martin, vice-president of membership is Martha Miller, secretary is Nina Boss and treasurer is Brenda Pargeon.
The October Fashion Show only had three tickets left at the conclusion of the meeting. This means that once all the tickets are sold, 184 seats will be filled for this event. Treasurer Karen Flores also announced that the new fundraising effort, “The Men of Real Estate Calendar,” will be out in October at $10 a piece.
After a filling and savory lunch, it was time for Steve Champion to speak on affordable and fair housing and to introduce the world’s newest superhero. Champion is the managing broker at Remax Renaissance Realtors and a long time Realtor, volunteer and instructor. He also wanted the crowd to be sure to tell his wife, Vickie, that he said she was beautiful.
Champion began by ac-knowledging that he was in a room full of experts on the subject he was to speak about, but said the topic was worthy to visit and re-visit, because “even though the business has come a long way on discrimination in our land, we still have a long way to go,” he said.
He told the story of a listing appointment on Lookout Mountain that he desperately needed at the time.
“I was ready to stick a sign in any yard, even my own, if I didn’t get a listing soon,” he said.
After getting to know this sweet couple with an immaculately maintained home, Champ-ion said something ugly reared its head in that living room as the woman said to him, “Now don’t get me wrong, we are not prejudiced but…”
Champion said in this sticky situation he was sweating it out, his social skills were taxed to the max on what to say to this lady, but all of a sudden a savior arrived in the form of our beloved superhero Realtor Man. He swooped in and saved Champion from offending the sweet, little old lady by saying to her “Ma’m, Steve cannot answer any questions about anyone’s race, color, religion, handicap, familial status or natural origin. It would be illegal, a violation of his code of ethics and it would be wrong.”
Champion smiled as he explained the appearance of Realtor Man.
“It was the guy inside of me that had been trained what to do in these kind of circumstances. I could have soft pedaled it and gone out of my way not to hurt her feelings, but I could have miss-stepped and given her the impression that it’s OK to decide who gets to live where. Realtor Man showed up and overcame my timid, shy, don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings [attitude] and said what needed to be said.”
Champion said the point of this tale is that there is a Realtor Man (or Realtor Woman) within all of us, and he wants us to find them, embrace them and make sure they show up at these critical moments.
On a similar note, he said, we all have our good days and bad days. He told of one such good day, while he was on floor duty, that he was able to greet a walk-in couple and get them set up to see houses right away.
Yet, on a bad day on floor duty,he met a walk-in that he felt too busy and stressed to possibly take on any more responsibility and therefore referred her to a lender before the house showing would begin. Not having anything against this woman, he still gave different treatment between the two and caused himself to be opened to accusations of discrimination.
He said, “Being busy or having good days or bad days is no excuse for a professional. By staying professional, not only are we ensuring that people are getting equal access to the great homes in the marketplace, but we are giving a level of higher service and those people get the service, they absolutely deserve, which is also the service the government says we must give and it is the responsibility we take when we make that Realtor pledge.”
This relates to affordable housing, he said, because now as more and more people are having trouble with financing and foreclosures, Realtors are the link that can change someone’s world. Home ownership is the best way for low-income families and individuals to build wealth in our country, he said.
“I don’t look at this [business] as a battlefield, but more as a mission,” Champion said. “I am not going to change the world, but I am going to change someone’s world. I want to build my house at the intersection of my God given abilities, and the abilities that He presents to me.”
Champion says this statement sums up how he delved into real estate and about the kind of community he wants to live in.
After Champion’s present-
ation, Cheree Dumas, who re-ceived the Gold 2010 Excellence in Service award, presented Kaye Ivey with the Silver 2010 Excellence in Service award.
The WCR state president, Joyce Smith, was present at the meeting and was asked to speak on the upcoming state orientation for new officers that will be held in Murfreesboro on Oct. 17 at Embassy Suites.
The next WCR General Luncheon will be held at the DoubleTree Downtown Oct. 6 at 11:30 a.m. The Oct. 27 WCR board meeting will be held at the Chattanooga Association of Realtors in the Magnolia room.
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