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"There is something vitally stimulating about a convention"

thismonth0911-2.jpg NOVEMBER 2009 -- "There is something stimulating about a convention," the National Real Estate Journal reported in November, 1939. "It is enjoyable, for one thing, to greet old friends, to make new ones, to swap stories and experiences in the general companionship of a Realtors' convention."

That year 1600 REALTORS® and guests gathered at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. They came from 37 different states and the Territory of Hawaii to discuss issues vital to real estate. Accourding to the Journal, those included "the reclamation of blighted areas of our cities; brokerage problems involved in business shifts; building houses for low-income groups; and the ever-present bugaboo of taxation."

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The REALTORS® Land Institute -- 65 years old (and then some)

thismonth0910.jpg OCTOBER 2009 -- In October 1944, George Domm, a Michigan farm broker, became the first president of the REALTORS® Land Institute. Originally known as the Agricultural Institute, the new group was an affiliate of the National Association, created to represent the interests of real estate professionals specializing in farmland and rural properties. Over the next three years, Domm organized the Institute’s Board of Directors, created chapters in sixteen states, and nearly tripled the Institute’s original membership of 178.

But RLI's story begins much earlier than 1944. By 1920 farm brokers were forming their own organizations in several different states. That year REALTOR® Wilbur Mansfield sent 7,000 invitations to other farm brokers around the country, asking them to attend the NAR convention that summer in his home town of Kansas City.

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Staging Advice from Emily Post

THISMONTH0909.jpg SEPTEMBER 2009 -- “The requirement of a house of charm is that it shall be completely satisfying to live in.” So wrote American etiquette expert Emily Post in September, 1943, for the National Real Estate Journal. “Comfort …means perfect adjustment to whatever it may please you to have or to do…it means the adaptability of the surroundings that are yours, to your family and to you.”

“Beautiful objects contribute to a beautiful house,” Post wrote, “and yet, cost as a standard of beauty could not be a less accurate test. Many simple little houses that have scarcely an object of value are utterly friendly, convenient and delightful. Many great houses are so austerely unwelcoming and so obviously uncomfortable, it is a wonder that their owners can bear to live in them.”

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"The backbone of a real estate board"

thismonth0908.jpg AUGUST 2009 -- Today they are called Association Executives, but in 1914 they were called Secretaries. Then as now they were the backbones of their local REALTOR® associations.

The National Association of REALTORS® was only six years old when Milwaukee REALTOR® R. Bruce Douglas gave a speech that was hailed as a classic, “The Backbone of a Real Estate Board.” It was published in the National Real Estate Journal in August 1914.

“A board composed of men of character, standing before a public which has been compelled to acknowledge their superior qualities is in position to demand recognition and to compel respect,” Douglas said. “But while the favorable public opinion is a valuable asset it is not the thing that makes the machine go.

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About This Blog

This Month in Real Estate History is a monthly feature from the Archives of the National Association of REALTORS®, highlighting events in the history of the real estate industry in the United States.
For more information about NAR and its role in the development of the real estate industry, contact the Archives at fheller(at)realtors.org.


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