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2024 Committee Descriptions & Responsibilities

Advocacy/Governmental Affairs/TREPAC

Being a member of the Heartland Association of REALTORS® makes you part of one of the most powerful and influential advocacy groups in the country. REALTORS® lead the way in advocacy, by fighting for private property rights, promoting homeownership, and helping to build strong communities. REALTORS® are not focused on the right or left, but focused solely on the issues that matter for homeowners and real estate industry practitioners. We are the purple party.

The Governmental Affairs and Advocacy Department is committed to keeping you abreast of policy changes and issues that impact your business every day. HR Staff and Volunteer leadership work closely with local, state and federal lawmakers, governmental entities, and affiliated industry organizations to protect both you and your client’s best interests.

Members of this committee will try to attend their local government's meetings such as city councils, school boards, county commissioners, EDC, MDD, etc. 

The goal is to identify any potential areas of legislation that will impact real property owners in a positive or negative way so we can have early intervention in support or opposition of those proposals or activities. 

Members of this committee also help conduct candidate interviews at the local, state, and federal level as needed. These interviews serve to understand the policy positions potential leaders have and to support those that support real property rights, homeownership for all, and our industry as a whole. 

This committee ensures our association meets the Core Standard of Advocacy by completing the following:

Plan and execute 6 activities that meet the Vote – Act – Invest requirements (2ea)

• VOTE
  • Create a campaign with our REALTORS to provide voter registration cards to your clients when they move to the area 
  • Promote any local, state, or federal elections that are upcoming and include dates and polling locations
  • Go and vote personally in any local, state, or federal elections
• ACT 
  • Communicate with others about any NAR or TR calls for actions
    • with this year being a non legislative year there is little potential for CFAs. Luckily participating in one usually only involves a quick read and a couple of mouse clicks
  • conducting outreach programs/efforts to recruit new participants
  • encouraging brokers to sign up in the broker involvement program at membership meetings
  • sending recruitment emails to members
  • any activity in which the association educates or engages REALTORS® on legislative priorities important to the association. 
• For purposes of the Core Standards, qualifying activities could include specifically asking your REALTOR® members to take action to educate lawmakers on your association’s positions regarding legislation or real estate issues

• INVEST 
  • Educate members on the value of investing with TREPAC and explain the different levels
  • TREPAC fundraising events will be done with YPN ~ the following are in the works
  • Kentucky Derby Event – participation by anyone making a set contribution
  • A Major Investment Event – designed to encourage members to level up – hopefully to create new major investors and retain the ones we already have
  • A sporting event such as a hunting or archery tournament
    • McAllen does a sport fishing tournament that has grown into a hugely successful TREPAC event for them. We would like to create the equivalent for hunters here and cross promote with McAllen

Bylaws & Governance

Creating, maintaining, and updating the bylaws that govern our association to meet the current membership needs is essential to a healthy association that sees growth and remains sustainable. This committee will review current bylaws every 2^nd year and recommend updates to the Board of Directors. They will also review the policies and procedures to ensure they are covering the bases in a fluid and flexible way that allows changes and revisions to occur in a timely manner when needed. 

This committee meets the Core Standard of Unification and Support of the REALTOR® organization.

Community Investment/Involvement

Establishing a presence for the Association within our communities is key to meeting our goals of being:

The Voice for Real Estate

• An active and engaged community partner
• A resource for information on all parts of buying and selling real property
• Educating the public on:
• legislative priorities that affect homeownership and real property rights
• the property tax and appraisal process
• fair housing 

We do this by participating in our communities as a group under the Heartland REALTOR® brand.

Some of our previous activities include:

• support of local charities and organizations through supply drives or fundraising
• participation in Business Expos or other community events to tell people what we do
• Working with the media to promote the value of using a REALTOR®
• Sharing resources from NAR and TR on WhoWeR, what the brand stands for, and the importance of the MLS to our clients and customers. 

This committee meets the Core Standard of Consumer Outreach

Education

This committee helps formulate a plan for providing the most relevant education opportunities in a variety of ways to the members. We want to provide takeaways that the attendees can implement immediately and successfully in their business and in their lives. The committee must also provide at least one REALTOR® Safety activity each year. 

This committee meets the Core Standard of Unification & Support of the REALTOR® organization by  planning and executing those educational events.  

Finance

Planning for the future growth and sustainability of our Association can only be done if we have a clear financial picture of where we are at any given time. This committee helps set the budget for the following year based on the strategic plan and the core standards. It is important that our budget follow the needs of the members and the requirements of NAR so that we are being good stewards of the money our members pay. In 2023 this committee will also be responsible for discussing ways to solidify our financial standing and grow it in the future in ways that can protect our organization regardless of temporary changes in the real estate market. 

 This committee meets the Core Standard of Financial Solvency

MLS

MLS committee members are responsible for submitting requests for updates or changes to the MLS, reviewing MLS policy and procedures periodically to ensure compliance with NTREIS Rules & Regulations, submitting suggestions for modifications or updates to said policy and procedures to address any issues that come up, and the Chair is responsible for attending User Group and Board of Director meetings. 

This committee meets the Core Standard of Technology

YPN

YPN committee members help young real estate professionals excel in their careers by giving them the tools and encouragement to become involved in four core areas:

• REALTOR® associations: Attend REALTOR® conferences and pursue leadership roles with their local, state, and national associations.
• Real estate industry: Take an active role in policy discussions and advocacy issues; be informed about the latest industry news and trends.
• Peers: Network and learn from one another by attending events, participating in online communication, and seeking out mentoring opportunities.
• Community: Become exceptional members of their community by setting a high level of REALTOR® professionalism and volunteering for causes they feel passionate about.

This committee has also taken over the responsibilities of the Member Experience Committee:

Providing engaging and fun experiences for our members to encourage participation and service in our association is key to our sustainability. The Member Experience committee does this through planning meeting events with outside leadership, local leaders, and for the membership as a whole. The two key events they will plan and execute are the TR360 Regional Meetings and the Christmas Party and Officer Installation. This committee will also occasionally work with YPN and the education committee if needed on their events. 

This committee meets the Core Standard of Unification & Support of the REALTOR® Organization