Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1099909
4 WHO'S WHO IN REAL ESTATE FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2019 SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL THE REAL VALUE A REALTOR ® PROVIDES A s 2019 President of the Santa Cruz County Association of REALTORS ® (SCCAR), I am proud to serve among over 1,300 REALTOR and Affiliate professionals that are active members of SCCAR and our community. I myself have been a member since the inception of my career in 2003, and throughout my sixteen years I've had the good fortune to work with many of the professionals you will see in this Who's Who in Santa Cruz Real Estate. At the start of my career, I was like most new REALTORS ® in that I had no idea why membership in the association is so essential. And our REALTOR ® association most definitely is essential – for the real estate practitioner, and for the consumer as well. I became a member because my broker was a member. And all I knew about REALTORS ® was what I learned from a mostly-forgotten TV commercial from my youth – that REALTORS ® were not just different from real estate agents, they were better. REALTORS are different – and better. But how? The National Association of REALTORS ® (NAR) is the America's largest trade association, with over 1.3 million members. Each and every member is trained in and is bound by our strictly-enforced Code of Ethics, first adopted in 1913. While ethical business practice goes to the core of what our association is about, the training we offer our members is second to none. Our members are synergistically connected with education, expertise, resources, tools, and an unrivaled network of professionals that stretches from coast to coast, and around the world. However, the value that Santa Cruz REALTORS ® bring to our clients – and to the public - transcends anything taught in a class. While our training is central to our members' ability to deftly manage a real estate transaction, it is our commitment to our communities and our dedication to our client's best interests is where the best of us truly shine. When it comes to real estate, many buyers or sellers will ask themselves if the sale or purchase is something they could on their own, without the services of a REALTOR ® . But the numbers speak for themselves; nationally, over 92% of residential resale transactions are handled by a real estate broker or agent. It's no mystery why: whether it's helping with preparing your home for sale, researching, staging, marketing, showing property, negotiating, administering a sale and shepherding it to the closing table, your REALTOR ® is there. We're here to stop problems before they arise, and if they do, we get them fixed so your deal gets closed. Recently, we at the Santa Cruz County Association of REALTORS ® adopted a new mission statement: Fostering a collaborative community that enhances professionalism and integrity while advocating for home ownership, housing and private property rights. Our mission statement was updated to explicitly include the word housing. That's because Santa Cruz REALTORS ® don't just help people buy and sell houses, we are in the housing business. We make housing happen, and we make housing better – for homeowners, future homeowners, and for everyone in our community. We joined the fight against rent control in Santa Cruz because we know it doesn't make housing better; it makes it more expensive and at the same time under-invested. We supported the 2018 Santa Cruz Affordable Housing Bond initiative because we recognize that lack of affordable housing in our community is a crisis of epidemic proportions. We need more of all kinds of housing, especially the affordable variety – but we need to be judicious in how we accomplish that. On behalf of all Santa Cruz REALTORS ® , I wish to thank you for allowing us the opportunity to serve you and our community. To learn more about the Santa Cruz County Association of REALTORS or to find REALTOR or Affiliate member, please visit us online at www.mysccar.org or follow us on facebook, facebook.com/mysccar. By Sebastian Frey, 2019 SCCAR President broker@realtyvirtuoso.com