A crystal ball watcher for our real estate industry is Stefan Swanepoel and his super-intuitive group over at T3 Sixty. Every year he drops a few major publications of what he has seen in his crystal ball as he makes some projections in his annual Trends Report. I have personally watched the Trends Report for years (even before becoming an association executive over a decade ago).

If you have sat through one of my leadership orientation training courses, you know I often reference The Danger Report from 2014 because so much of that is still relevant today. There have been a lot of updates to it, along with new trends reports each year. Then every year, Swanepoel releases a Top 200 List through his real estate almanac. As stated on their website, the almanac and Top 200 list is described as: “The Real Estate Almanac is an annual analysis of the residential real estate brokerage industry to create most comprehensive compendium of leaders, executives, brokerages, franchises, technology providers, networks, Realtor associations, MLSs and more. It includes the SP 200, Mega 1000, and much more.”

I am no stranger to big projects, buttoning up policies, holding leaders accountable, and building dynamic teams, but let’s bullet point out some highlights of the last decade of my association executive career that may be a reason for the next moves to be worth watching, just in case you don’t know me and might be truly questioning how I made this list.

• 20+ years in this industry as a real estate broker, real estate investments, local association executive of both small and large boards, general manager for a large regional MLS, and for over half a decade, the state association executive for a medium-sized organization.

• Regionalized an MLS by pulling together seven local associations.

• Completed a total building remodel for a local board in 2015 and, in 2022, took on a complete raze and rebuild of a state headquarters building.

• Implemented a shared service model for a large local to offer association management services for a smaller board. Yes, I was the AE for a large local board and a small local board at the same time. Each with its own board of directors.

• Led an association through a pandemic ensuring that real estate was listed as an essential service with the state government within 72 hours of the worldwide shutdown and quarantine.

• Guided a large board of directors through a removal process of a state association president for cause.

• Built a highly skilled and successful staff team to carry out the association’s mission while staying significantly under budget for seven years and obtaining the prestigious RPAC President’s Cup consistently each year.

To sum it up in one word, leadership. That’s what I did to make the list.

So what’s next?

And while we are at it, let’s document what is progress and coming 2023 and beyond:

• Complete new building project that includes the razing of our current structure, moving temporarily, and then facilitating the complete new construction of a 14,000+ square foot, two-story building with a rooftop for the state association of REALTORS®.

• Implementation of the new state search portal, oklahoma.realestate.

Only time will tell what’s really next. Either way, I am honored to be on the watch list. 😉