
It’s been a great year!
This Thursday I will hand over the gavel of CAAR leadership to Anita Dunbar. I know I’m feeling a little less pressure than Anita is right now but equally confident she will reflect comfortably as I am right now, next year. CAAR President is a great job. It’s a job that garners respect in the community, respect from peers and respect within the state and national scene at NAR and VAR meetings and conventions. It’s a job where one gets to represent an organization that is 1000 strong and already known for a high bar of professionalism, a great body of good works in the community and a full stable of volunteers filling out the board of the directors, the working groups and teams with talent and enthusiasm. It’s a job where a remarkable Association Executive and her staff wait with pricked ears for anything they can improve upon.
And it teaches you a lot about real estate, what’s hot and what’s not from the who’s who in the industry, mastering data reports for the press, knowing that you know much more than you did last year.
Mostly it teaches you a lot about leadership, about listening, about asking for help and getting a grasp on the bigger picture, about working with people, giving credit and thanks when warranted, about standing firm when necessary.

Back in the saddle.
It’s been a year of learning for me, a year that I will always take pride in and a year I am happy to put behind me as I join my esteemed colleagues in the past Presidents Circle. I pass the gavel to Anita Dunbar knowing she is ready, willing and able and CAAR is healthy, wealthy and wise. My secret?? Just show up!