S.E.C. Real Estate Observer

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The year was 1961 — John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States. A country called the Soviet Union rivaled the United States for world supremacy and space exploration, putting the first human in space in April. In May the U.S. answers with Alan Shepard’s flight and the President vows to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Construction of the Berlin Wall begins, the Beatles perform for the first time at the Cavern Club, Roger Maris hits 61 home runs for the Yankees and the Vietnam War officially begins in December with the arrival of helicopters and 400 U.S. troops in Saigon.

And a small group of 19 Realtors met in Southern California with the idea that real estate was more than bricks, mortar and numbers. They suggested that focusing entirely on the “bricks and mortar” of real estate left out the ownership and their specific needs and circumstances. From this beginning two basic axioms evolved:

1. Working with people is more important than working with property. The people are the ones who have needs and desires that drive the transaction.
2. The relationship between the client and the broker is the key to being able to resolve a situation or find a solution. The underlying premise is that the client’s best interests are paramount.

As the Society begins the countdown to our 50th anniversary, we still adhere to these basic axioms in the conduct of our meetings and our education offerings. To this end, the S.E.C. has always stressed counseling clients and endeavoring to uncover their goals and objectives as well as finding out what the client is willing to do to reach those objectives.

One of the strengths of the Society is the tremendous amount of creativity and experience within the group and the members’ willingness to share their ideas and thoughts. This is truly the only way we can set ourselves apart from other real estate organizations and solve problems for our clients in the process. When we enter into one of our marketing meetings there is over 1500 years of real estate experience there to draw upon and members who have experienced almost any problem that is exposed to the group. There has never been a meeting I attended, that I did not come away with several ideas of how to get transactions completed back home. ALSO, many of our members partner with other S.E.C. members or guests, so a high level of trust within the organization is paramount to the existence of the Society.

Another attribute of the Society is the fact that we are geographically diversified with representation from every region of the U.S. as well as Canada. Everyone’s market does not respond the same to the economic conditions such as we see today. By being such a geographically diverse organization we can often help our clients achieve their objectives through the assistance of individuals outside of the client’s normal marketing area. There may be takers from another region that are looking for properties when it seems your area is devoid of buyers.

As we navigate through this recession, I believe the Society’s attributes place us in a unique position to help solve issues and predicaments, for our clients and ourselves through the counseling and creativity others do not offer. Our group is a problem-solving group whose forte´ is solving situations and helping clients and members achieve their goals and objectives.

As our founder Richard Reno said, there are no bad properties, just inappropriate ownership. There are always one or more solutions to every problem and the Society of Exchange Counselors is uniquely positioned to try to seek those out through the counseling and creative marketing techniques we incorporate into our meetings.

I look forward to serving this awesome organization this year and wish you all a prosperous 2010.