President’s Message – Mar/Apr 2022
On February 10th, NYSAR concluded its Mid-winter meetings at the Desmond Hotel. After the long Covid-induced hiatus, REALTORS® were happy to get back to live, in-person meetings and events. GCAR’s own Jennifer Vucetic was installed as NYSAR’S 2022 President at the inaugural dinner Monday night. Jennifer brings boundless enthusiasm and energy to the office and is working on goals that will benefit members and improve the profession in New York State.
An important topic at the meetings this February was diversity, equity, and inclusion, and how our profession can do a better job of recognizing and dealing with subconscious bias and discriminatory behavior. There was an excellent panel discussion and active participation from members. One REALTOR® pointed out that she, in going about her daily business, is routinely subjected to discriminatory comments and behavior. April is Fair Housing Month, and as the Newsday exposé showed there needs to be a lot of improvement. Fair housing education requirements have been increased for all New York State REALTORS®.
Mike Kelly, NYSAR’s Director of Government Affairs, underscored the importance of contributing to RPAC with a successful example of helping a pro-real estate incumbent achieve re-election. In Albany, where GCAR teamed up with NYSAR, we were not successful in preventing the passage of Mayor Sheehan’s (not so) “Good Cause Eviction” legislation. This legislation is spreading like a virus to other cities in the state and is harmful to investment or improvement in housing stock and will lead to a decrease in affordable housing. NYSAR will continue the fight against this harmful legislation.
Other highlights of the meetings were Anthony Gatto’s Legal Update, the Professional Standards Meeting, which included an interactive member participation session, and the popular General Session. There were also numerous opportunities for professional development at sessions such as the Marketing and Technology Forum.
As members of GCAR, we have the advantage of being able to attend these meetings right in our own backyard. This fall, the business meetings will be held (again, fortunately for us) at the Saratoga Hilton from September 30th to October 3rd. I would encourage you to plan on attending sessions that you are most interested in. They are free.
GCAR’s committees have all had their first meetings and the members are getting started working on their charges and meeting their goals. We are fortunate to have many talented and dedicated volunteers in our association. Many members do not know of the important work that is being done “behind the scenes,” to improve GCAR’s member services, education and training, and professional development. We look forward to a more collegial working environment with in-person meetings returning as the norm.
The seller’s market continues unabated with low inventory and demand exceeding supply in most housing markets. However, with the current high inflation, the Fed is expected to raise short-term rates from 1.00% to 1.75% by year-end. As there is currently only a 40 basis point spread between the two-year and the ten-year Treasury rate, we may have an inverted yield curve within six months.
