WOW . . . it has been a year since I came to GAR, well on July 10^th to be exact.  I have met many of you but still have so many more of you that I can’t wait to meet.

It has been a busy year, not just for me but the Board of Directors and Committees.  We have a new mission statement, along with now having put our vision into words.  You can find them in this issue with the strategic plan.  The plan states the goals we want to achieve, enhancing GAR as an association for you.

Having two of your three staff quit in your first two weeks is not ideal, but boy am I happy with how it allowed me to restructure positions, bringing on highly talented and knowledgeable people to the GAR team.  As you may know, Ben left for grad school at Dartmouth. Alli Pace started at the beginning of June and is doing a stellar job as Communications & Events Director.  Coming to work at a REALTOR® association is like drinking from a fire hose and I couldn’t be prouder of them all.

As any good CEO starts at an association, some of the key things they do is review all the governing documents of the association.  As you may remember we revised the Board of Directors section of the bylaws with a vote of membership in January.  Well, now the deep dive has been completed and we have more revisions needing your approval.

Some of them are changes as NAR requires five of the sections of the bylaws be verbatim what they provide in model bylaws to all local associations.  Then there are operational changes, bringing us up to date with industry standards for associations.  At the end language was added as required for our wholly owning Big Sky MLS.

View the redlined bylaws with the proposed revisions.

If you have any questions about anything you see, please don’t hesitate to email or call me.

I am so stoked for our Summer Social the YPN Advisory Committee has planned for you all.  It is going to be a blast, not to mention a great way for all of you attending the FREE Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR®) course to decompress after the first day of class.

Speaking of the ABR course, this is a big topic to be trained on right now and then as a follow-up on skills to take to the next level is negotiation.  We are holding the Real Estate Negotiation Expert (RENE) certification course on September 19^th & 20^th.  Both courses have amazing instructors that you will love learning from.  Not to mention, if you take the ABR course and want to get the designation, you have to turn in paperwork on 5 transactions where you worked on the buyer’s behalf (you have a 3 year window to accomplish this) and must take another course that qualifies and “Elective” course and guess what?  The RENE course is that course and once you complete that two-day course, all you do is apply and pay a one-time application fee to get it.

Be sure to read Charitable Foundation article about all they are doing and planning for you, including a Gift Card Pull at the August GMM, so be ready to donate and see what fun you get to have with the card you get.

If you are a Broker in Charge, let me know if you would like me to attend a sales meeting.  I am happy to come to your office or do so via Zoom.  Not only is keeping everyone informed on things a priority, but so is getting to meet and connect with you all.

Enjoy your summer,

Cindi Siggs, RCE, e-PRO®