Proposed Realtor organization merger finds more opposition
By JEN LEBRON KUHNEY, The Daily Transcript
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Bigger isn't always better for some San Diego County Realtors.
A member vote on June 30 will decide the fate of the proposed merger between two of the largest Realtor organizations in the county.
Board members of San Diego Association of Realtors (SDAR) and the North San Diego County Association of Realtors (NSDCAR) have hailed the organizations' merger as something that would "enhance both Associations' member's (sic) ability to succeed in our industry."
The merger would bring costs savings to members, increased member benefits and greater political input on local state and national levels, according to a joint e-mail statement from NSDCAR Chairman of the Board Jim Aldredge and SDAR President Mark Marquez.
According to SDAR's public relations firm, Bailey Gardner, Aldredge and Marquez would not make statements unless questions were e-mailed and sent back after being reviewed by the associations' legal team.
But not all the Realtor members are on board with the idea that a merger would be beneficial.
Kevin Forrester, a real estate attorney and former two-time NSDCAR president, launched SaveNSDCAR.org upon hearing about the merger.
The Save NSDCAR Facebook fan page had 331 members as of 5 p.m. May 27.
"In my view, it's a pure power grab at SDAR. They have 10,000 members. We have 5,000. If they can become 15,000 they'll swallow us up," he said.
Forrester said having a countywide Realtor association would "not be conducive to serving local needs" of members.
Currently, each Realtor organization is given a set number of representatives at the state and national level depending on how many members there are in each association.
Should SDAR and NSDCAR become one, Forrester said the local needs of North County Realtors would not be adequately represented.
"Smaller organizations have a voice right now; but if we merge, we'll only have San Diego's voice at the California and national levels," he said.
Marquez and Aldredge said in their statement that there would be equal representation for NSDCAR members on the new board of directors should the votes pass.
The two other Realtor organizations in the county stated they are against the merger.
Both the Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors (PSAR) and the East San Diego County Association of Realtors (ESDCAR) have open letters on the SaveNSDCAR.org site listing their reasons why they are against the merger.
One of the major reasons cited for members to vote "yes" for the merger are decreased costs.
However, at 5 p.m. Thursday, the official website promoting the merger, AssociationMerger.com, said the local dues for NSDCAR members is $25 for 2011 and 2012, but would be $65 in 2013.
Despite the information on the website, the Marquez and Aldredge statement said: "The local REALTOR dues for the Unified Association members, assuming the vote of each Association's members is to merge, will be dramatically lower than those currently charged by each of NSDCAR and SDAR. Any information to the contrary is absolutely false, misleading and incorrect."
An email from SDAR Director of Communications Molly Kirkland said NSDCAR dues are $95. No explanation was given about the discrepancy on the Web site.
A request through Bailey Gardner to clarify this information was not returned in time for publication.
Should the two associations merge, it would create one of the largest Realtor organizations in the country.
SDAR merged with the Coronado Association of Realtors in August 2009.
In 1994, NSDCAR was created through the merging of seven north county Realtor organizations.
Send your comments to Jennifer.Lebron@sddt.com
Source Code: 20100527czg
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