If the Northwest Georgia Council of Realtors has a message for 2012, it’s, “We’re here, and we want to help.” The Northwest Georgia Council of Realtors is a council of the Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors. The group exists to serve real estate professionals doing business in Walker, Dade, Catoosa, Chattooga and Whitfield counties in Georgia. Melissa Harrison, managing broker of Crye-Leike in Fort Oglethorpe, is the Council’s president for 2012.
She says the Council will be serving its Realtor members this year through three breakfast meetings she compares to lunch-and-learns. The first meeting, taking place February 23 at a location that had not yet been determined as this article went to press, will feature a presentation about smartphone applications for Realtors. It will also include a session on self-directed IRAs that allow account owners to invest in real estate.
“I have money in stocks, and I don’t like looking at my statement when it comes. However, real estate is something tangible, and we’re in a buyer’s market right now, so this is a good time to look at this topic,” Harrison says.
The Council will also be doing more to reach out to the communities in its region this year. In 2011, its members joined forces with the Walker County Chamber of Commerce to host a festival that raised several thousand dollars for Family Crisis Center. Harrison says the Council will host another festival this year, although, as with the breakfast meetings, the time, date and location are to be determined.
Harrison says the Council is also planning to host a Northwest Georgia Idol. “We’ve done a few things that were just for Realtors, but this year, we’re going to open it up to the public.”
The Council is also striving to be a political resource for residents in its region. In addition to several of its members serving on the State and Local Governmental Affairs committee of the Georgia Council of Realtors, a committee that works to protect homeowner rights in the state, the Council has assembled a task force that will be heading up the effort to keep people informed about what’s taking place in the Northwest Georgia region. For example, through a newly launched Facebook page, locals can find out when and where they can vote in an election.
“We want to be the voice of our community this year. We’ve been on the sidelines, but that’s over. People are going to know who we are,” Harrison says.
Realtors who want to become a member of the Council should first become a member of the Georgia Council of Realtors. Interested parties can do that at GCAR. Becoming a GAR member makes a real estate professional eligible for a number of perks, such as access to a free 24-hour computer support hotline. “I’ve used it six times in the last 90 days,” Harrison says.
For more information on the Northwest Georgia Council of Realtors, its events and becoming a member, contact Harrison at melissa.harrison@crye-leike.com.