PERSPECTIVES
BY PARKE PETTEGREW, AAMD PRESIDENT
Thank You For Navigating The Year With Me!
I
can’ t believe it has already been a year since I wrote my first incoming President’ s article for Trends and delivered my installation speech at June Awards. I recently heard this statement from a good friend who said that whatever age you are in life translates to“ the speed” at which your life goes by. I find this so true especially as I get older and thinking how fast the last 12 months went.
We achieved some important milestones this year – growing our membership to over 2,300 communities and 336,000 units! Our retention rate was an impressive 95.6 %, we had record event attendance, and are exceeding our financial goals. We can be so proud of these metrics!
If you also remember we started the year off with the theme“ Navigating Turbulence and Cruising Towards Friendlier Skies”. I challenged everyone at June Awards, our leadership team and all of you to reach out and introduce yourselves to your State Senators and Representatives, offering to be a resource to educate them on the housing industry and why it’ s so vital to the state economy. Through this effort, we had the opportunity to make connections and gain support with moderates at the Capitol, allowing our government affairs team and lobbyists the opportunity to gain some ground on the ridiculous attacks on our industry.
One of the highlights of the year for me was watching at our Housing Summit the faces on our invited legislators( from both sides of the aisle) after Drew Hamrick’ s five slides that showed the number of bills that had been passed in the last 4 years that negatively affected our businesses. It was overwhelming as you all know to say the least, and the Speaker of the House who attended, later apologized to me at dinner and said we should meet and talk more
about this. We did indeed have a meeting that I thought was productive and gained some commitment that things would hopefully be better for us moving forward.
Ultimately, this year’ s session was just as aggressive as prior years. Our government affairs team and those who testified on behalf of the industry did however an admirable job fighting these bills in committee and proposing amendments that removed the harshed elements and softened the impacts of the bill. Thankfully some of those bills were also defeated, but we still have our work cut out for us. Many owners are not as bullish on Colorado as they once were, and our own Colorado PERA retirement fund will not even invest in its own state due to this legislative climate and its effects which should raise major flags. We will be starting 2026 budgets without most of our“ other income” categories which will simply be gone, and the fight continues.
I do have full faith in the incoming President Taylor Mueller and her Executive Team, Board of Directors and Committee Leadership that they will not back down.
You can all also celebrate what you contribute to the multifamily industry- hard-working, dedicated, resident-focused teams who wear many, many hats every day. I would like to thank my Board of Directors, committee leadership, AAMD staff and all of the volunteers who help to make a difference. Be proud, be loud and be proactive to fight to protect our livelihoods and our industry!
On a personal note, it is bittersweet that I have announced my retirement from an industry and career that has given me so much over the last 26 years. The friendships and relationships that have been built will stay with me for the rest of my life. Remember to always lead with your heart, with gratitude and you will be successful. Take the time to smell the roses, appreciate a great day, a beautiful sunset and celebrate each of the wins and each other as much as possible. You never know what tomorrow brings but as Ryan Leak our Trade Show speaker shared with us, make sure you are always thankful for what you have and count your blessings in your life. Don’ t take any day or anyone for granted. It has been a privilege and an honor to be your President. God bless and best of luck to all of you!!
Parke Pettegrew is Regional Manager at Cushman & Wakefield
4 | TRENDS JUNE 2025 www. aamdhq. org