state association meetings

I have other posts perking along, but the annual Sacramento meetings intervened. The drive gets longer every year. Made it in 4:30, but I think some of brain cells didn't arrive till evening. Heavy traffic, but fast. The trip home took 5:15 and included traffic jams (2) and the aftermath of 3 wrecks, accented by more flashing CHP lights than I usually see in a year. Glad to be home!

The state association has a number of new educational offerings (as usual--it is a business), including a mentoring program--apparently aimed at replacing brokers and managers from bringing newer agents along in their careers. Maybe there will be a time when brokers aren't needed at all. Just a statewide broker and some online tools. How efficient and what a nice cash flow that would be for the state association--further standardization is just what the industry needs at this critical time.

Speaking of which, there was a live appearance of the home heads Weds PM--OMG! How much did they spend on this bizarre campaign? There was little support from any demographic group and we learned later that the campaign had been scrapped--I was not the only member who did a OMG!! The money's spent and the organizational process didn't work that well--for the same reason it seldom does--and I'll say more about why a little later. Consequences? Hey, this is the state association. When leadership and or staff screws up there are no consequences. It's fantasy land!

Thursday's crush of meetings further revealed that the new organizational system is an accident waiting to happen. If everything goes smoothly and the leadership of the committee is focused and prepared it's possible to cover the details and stay within the time allotted. That doesn't always happen. Things get squished, truncated, ignored, etc and not always in reverse order of importance.

I had a brief opportunity to talk about vacation rentals to Land Use. Perhaps a push to gather material to populate a statewide data base is near. I also got some fine ideas about politics and policy from local government forum. There is a reason I still attend these meetings--they are a catalyst, regardless of the frustration levels.

Friday AM I did my cultural escape and spent time at the Crocker Art Museum--including the new building. I could have spent all day there and later wished I had.

The director's session demonstrated yet again that institutional memory is absent. Committee work on the floor is never pretty, irritates all involved and wastes an amazing amount of time. In this case a task force had been grappling with some short sale issues for many months and came up with some action items to address a few of them. The task force spent considerable time in  research and discussion, but that didn't deter the executive committee from proposing alternative wording in an amended action item. Then a director proposed a substitute motion from the floor. There were now three versions, producing discussion that took the better part of an hour and revealed much about the organization and the real estate community in general.

Real estate is not a business that respects intellectual acuity. It's about repetition and persistence in performing tasks that have changed little in 50 years. Technology offers new ways to accomplish the tasks, but those are all hung on the same template that was in place when I started in 1985. It's a simple business model producing the misplaced belief among agents and brokers that simple works well in all settings. As a result, the real estate community is not the slightest bit reticent in proposing plans for GSE restructuring, QRM standards, mark to market accounting and just about anything else. The fact that the finest minds in the nation can't agree on a plan is of no concern to most brokers who fondly remember the 2000-2006 boom and try to figure a way to have more of the same please!

A rough analogy would be if a salesperson who worked at a dealership specializing in Ferraris was asked to assume the chief engineering role in a team tasked with creating the next Ferrari production model. Hilarious concept? That's what happens at the state association meetings--anything to do with houses is assumed to fall within the expertise of the directors, most of whom are focused on their next commission more than the fate of the worlds economic future.

Because of the odd timing this year, the national association met this week in D.C. Of course the California delegations has many of the shakers and movers in the national organization. The delegates will consider many of the same issues from the same perspectives. No surprises anticipated. The condition of the market will be sugarcoated with just enough uncertainty dribbled in to support the agenda for change in national policy.