BY BETH CRAFTS , 4 SEASONS REALTY LLC
A bus load of Royal Palm Coast Realtor ® Association members , as well as other Realtors ® from around the state , rocked Tallahassee this past March when they met with state lawmakers and discussed pending legislation important to Realtors ® as well as their customers . Known as the Great American Realtor ® Days ( GARD ), the two-day event proved to be an exciting and worthwhile trip for the 33 association members that attended , including the Public Policy Committee Members , RPAC Major Investors , Association Leadership at the Board levels , and RPAC ( Realtor ® Political Action Committee ) Members . “ For me this trip just reinforced the importance of RPAC and Realtor ® involvement ,” said RPAC Chair Blaine Elmer of Jones & Co . Realty .
This year ’ s Great American Realtor ® Days kicked off with an evening open house reception held at the Florida Realtors ® Office of Public Policy for all registrants where staff and Realtors ® from around the state networked . The event continued the next morning with columnist & Political Analyst , Charlie Cook of The Cook Political Report , reflecting on polls and outcomes of this past election . This was followed by lunch and a legislative briefing on several key issues that Florida Realtors ® thought should be focused on with local legislators .
The key issues that the Florida Realtors ® urged members to discuss with their senators and representatives included : reducing the business rent sales tax ; capping the fees charged by community
8 RPCRA . ORG | MAY / JUN 2017 association management companies for estoppel certificates ; increasing the funding of the housing trust funds ; supporting a permanent property tax cap on second homes and businesses ; and reforming assignment of benefits to keep property insurance rates affordable . “ The issues are always about protecting the consumer , such as keeping taxes down and making sure regulations are not overrestrictive ,” said association President Bill Steinke . “ So , we hammer these issues again and again to show our ‘ stick-to-itness ’.”
After a short tour of the House of Representatives where our association ’ s attendees got to sit in Representatives ’ chairs and participate in a mock vote , Major RPAC Investors attended a special reception followed by a block party , hosted by Florida Realtors ® and supported by various local associations around the state . This gave attendees a great opportunity to network with Realtors ® from around the state and reconnect with old friends . On the final day , Realtors ® met with their local Representatives and Senators to discuss the issues and find out where they currently are in the legislative process . Key Contacts from the association introduced their legislators and impressed upon them the local importance to the key issues discussed . The local legislators who met with Royal Palm Coast attendees were Majority Whip Dane Eagle ; Senator Lizbeth Benacquisto ; Representative Heather Fitzenhagen ; and Majority Leader Ray Rodrigues .
“ This trip is very important to our advocacy efforts as a local association ,” said Chris Lopez , Director of Public Policy , explaining that meeting officials faceto-face leaves a far more lasting effect on them than emails , letters , or phone calls . “ When our Realtors ® take the time out of their lives to travel to Tallahassee and meet , even briefly , face-to-face with elected officials , it leaves an impression that we care enough to do this and our causes are more important than a day in the office ,” he said . Lopez added that in the three years that he ’ s been organizing the trip , this group had been the largest . Kathyrn Lawson-Fritsch of RE / MAX Realty Partners has been coming up to GARD for a number of years . “ Every time we come up here , I see our association get more organized and united ,” she said . “ We ’ re making it a priority to fight all the issues .” President Steinke expressed his enthusiasm for the trip remarking on the number of first-time attendees who made the trip . “ We have here a strong constituency from our association . It ’ s nice to see so many new Realtors ® who have gotten involved and are very passionate about some of the issues .”
Holly Marth of Royal Shell Real Estate concurs . “ We are a dedicated group of Realtors ® who are simply committed to making our industry and communities better by speaking up for matters that count to us as Realtors ®, neighbors , homeowners , and business people .”