Navigating the Realtor Board Merger and MLS Consolidation Trends

[00:00:00] Corey Harris: In the real estate industry, with some of the things happening with the National Association of Realtors, I think boards and other associations are looking at ways to protect themselves. Yes. We saw that a big entity like NAR is not impervious to a huge lawsuit. And the residuals from that, we started seeing copycat lawsuits from state boards, as well as local boards.

The Texas Association of Realtors was named in a lawsuit the Austin Board, Houston Association Metro Tech, they were all named right now. It didn't go anywhere, but the point is these bigger boards found themselves in a situation where they may have to be in a courtroom. To defend some of their members, their strength in numbers, right?

And there's also strength in diminishing the number of targets you have. So instead of having a hundred boards, you might be safer having only. 45. 

[00:00:55] Mike MIlls: Yeah, 

[00:00:56] Corey Harris: fewer targets and stronger membership bases.

[00:01:07] Mike MIlls: Well, what is up with all you real estate renegades out there? So with the real estate landscape shifting faster than the North Texas residential property foundation, these days, realtor boards and associations across the country are making some big moves to try to keep up. But what do mergers like the one that's happening right now between the Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors and the Arlington Board of Realtors really mean for you as a realtor yourself?

How will this impact your MLS access, your membership benefits and all the resources that you rely on? And could these local changes signal a bigger trend that might have might affect and redefine realtor boards nationwide, especially with all MLS access lately? So we're going to dive into all of that today.

You stumbled upon the Texas real estate and finance podcast, and I'm your real estate inquisitor, Mike Mills, a North Texas mortgage banker, which Geneva financial. And today we're going to dive into a local North Texas story, a North Texas story that's impacting thousands of agents across the Dallas Fort Worth area.

But if you're not in DFW, then why should you care? Well, this proposed merger between these two associations is just one example of changes that are coming to our industry all around Texas and all over the country. It is a sign of the times shifting strategies, new rules, and a consolidating market that could soon be coming to your backyard.

So whether you're a broker agent or affiliate member. Anywhere in the country, this conversation is going to give you the insights that you need to stay ahead of the game and navigate the changes that are reshaping our industry. So today we're going to let you know what's happening, why it's happening and what it could mean for our entire industry as a whole.

So now, before we jump into today's episode, I got a quick favor to ask. If you find even just a little bit of tiny, little bit of useful information today, do this old follicly challenge guys solid and hit the subscribe button, or better yet, share this episode with a colleague who could use a little market insight in their life.

You guys are the steam engine that keeps this train moving and every new listener brings us one step closer to crushing our new Download records and right now we're sitting at about over a thousand downloads a month and it keeps climbing every single month So and it's all thanks to you guys So I appreciate it very much And hey, by the way If you need a hand with a buyer looking for a smooth and simple loan process then give me a shout My team and I are always here to make you look like a rock star to your clients So that you can close one deal and line up 10 more.

So let's connect and we can make it happen All right As we get started today, we're going to bring on Mr. Corey Harris. So Corey is the president elect for the Arlington board of realtors, and he is heavily involved in this new merger that's coming on. So let's bring them on. We're going to chat with a little bit about Corey.

Welcome to the show, buddy. 

[00:03:38] Corey Harris: It's an absolute pleasure to be here, Mike. Thank you so much for inviting me to come in and talk about some of the great shifting things that we're experiencing in our market, what it might mean potentially. to agents, affiliates like yourself. And I'm really just happy to open up the conversation, have dialogue about it.

[00:03:54] Mike MIlls: You're currently the president elect of the Arlington board of realtors. And you also hold an elected position with three pack currently. Is that correct? 

[00:04:02] Corey Harris: Yes. That's similar. It's sort of correct. It's an appointed position. Okay. So I serve as the tree pack trustee for region three, which is responsible for the Johnson County association of realtors board and the Arlington board.

Okay. So those are my responsibilities. that position is appointed by Texas Realtors. Gotcha. 

[00:04:20] Mike MIlls: Okay. And you're also on the Arlington real estate advisory council in the center citizens, environmental committee. Is that correct? 

[00:04:27] Corey Harris: That is well, sort of correct. I am on mayor Jim Ross's real estate advisory council.

I was on the citizens environmental committee until the committee was disbanded and absorbed by the parks and recreation board, which I also serve on. So. I still technically serve on it, but the citizens environmental committee no longer exists because it's become the responsibility of the parks and rec board, which I serve on that board as well.

[00:04:51] Mike MIlls: So to, to say that you're slightly involved in what's happening in the real estate community in Texas would be a bit of an understatement, I guess, is my point, right? 

[00:04:59] Corey Harris: You know what? Not as big of an understatement as some, some people are much more involved than that, but I do try to keep up with what's going on.

Additionally, I do still serve on the downtown tours board, which is the tax tax initiative re in reinvestment. So anything that's being developed in the downtown area of Arlington usually has to be approved by the tourist board. 

[00:05:20] Mike MIlls: I don't know how you find all the time, but you're elbow deep in this stuff.

So it's it's great to have you talk about this a little bit, but I want to bring up. This is happening, not just here in north Texas, but we're seeing it all over the country. So like right now. MLS pin, which is in the northeast and they're looking at a possible merger with bright MLS, which is one of the largest in the nation.

There's several boards and MLS is in the Midwest, including Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. In fact, the Northern Great Lake Realtors and Greater Lansing Association that they just merged. And right now, NETRIS, which is the, North Texas MLS up here, they've been expanding and adding some of the smaller MLS and other boards to their board.

umbrella. So with all that going on, I want you to talk a little bit about what's happening with the Greater Fort Worth Association and the Arlington Association or the Board of Realtors and why this merger is, it's not happening yet. It's being voted on in October, but what the, where this kind of all came about.

[00:06:12] Corey Harris: Yeah, I'd be happy to. And just to clarify, this is not a foregone conclusion by any stretch. There's still a conversation to be had. The membership still has to vote. And I'd like to be very clear on this. The vote that's happening in October is not a vote to merge. It is a vote to pursue the next stage of exploration.

[00:06:32] Mike MIlls: Okay. 

[00:06:32] Corey Harris: This stage of exploration is where we'll really get into the nitty gritty. That's when we'll finally get to see each other's true finances. Because up to this point, we haven't shown them ours. They haven't shown us theirs. We have shown each other's to a consultant. The consultant has seen them and reported back to us.

And just. The consultant told us, Hey, we saw their finances. They look good. Don't see any major red flags and vice versa. 

[00:06:59] Mike MIlls: We 

[00:06:59] Corey Harris: have not actually laid our eyes on their financials and combed through them ourselves and nor have they hours. Okay. 

[00:07:04] Mike MIlls: So 

[00:07:05] Corey Harris: this next level of exploration will allow for that.

Secondly, the next level of exploration will iron out a lot of the things that people keep asking, and they seem to be a little upset when we don't have an answer for it. Like. What's the name of the entity going to be? How many board of directors are there going to be? Who's going to be the CEO? Where's going to be the headquarters?

We haven't gotten to that stage yet, right? There's our president, Larry Hurley, has been equivocating this merger possibility to the home buying process, right? Right now, we are simply deciding whether or not we want to submit an offer and exercise an option period. If we vote to approve this in October, we would essentially be submitting an offer with an option period.

That's option period is when we would hire out all these details. Now, once we have all that ironed out our board and their board, we would package it up in a way we can agree on it. And then we'd present that to the member. That is the final vote. Gotcha. So the members still have an opportunity kind of like when you're playing Texas, hold them.

Right. And you want to see that last card. 

[00:08:09] Mike MIlls: Yeah. 

[00:08:10] Corey Harris: Right. Everybody's checking around the table. It doesn't cost anything to see the last card, 

[00:08:14] Mike MIlls: right? 

[00:08:15] Corey Harris: So why not turn it over? 

[00:08:16] Mike MIlls: Right. 

[00:08:17] Corey Harris: So I really don't understand why this has gotten to be so contentious as to whether or not the vote in October is gonna, you know, destroy the board of realtors.

It's not a vote to merge. It's merely a vote to see the next step of the process. If the members don't like what the exploration of the next step brings, then they can vote it down and nothing happens. And it's the same in Fort Worth. So there's two votes that have to happen. We have to approve it in October.

Fort Worth has to approve it in October. Then our board and their board has to come together and put together a new package. And then our board has to approve that. And then their board has to approve that. So there's a lot of checkpoints. Yeah. Still remaining in this process. It is far from a foregone conclusion.

[00:09:00] Mike MIlls: Yeah. Well, I think you probably have a situation where, if this was a corporate merger you know, cause this kind of stuff happens more frequently when you're dealing with boards of directors and you're talking about a nondisclosure agreements and getting all that stuff prepared before you actually, put everything on the dotted line and put the whole thing together.

It's a very typical process that you go through to do that. When you're talking about a board of realtors, you're not talking about someone, a bunch of members that have been sitting on board of directors for fortune 500 companies that have gone through this before, right?

These are local agents that, don't deal with this stuff on a regular basis. So I would imagine there's just a little bit of confusion as to what exactly the next steps are. And, hopefully, this will help clarify some of that. So that way they can understand what you're actually voting on in October.

And then it's just a matter of, Hey, we're just trying to take another step in that direction. Whether or not you continue beyond that is completely again up to the board. And it's just about gathering information at that point. Right. 

[00:09:51] Corey Harris: I think that's an entirely accurate assessment. 

[00:09:54] Mike MIlls: Yeah. So I'm curious, how did this all, what was the impetus of this?

How did this all get started? Where, did who reached out to who or what was the idea behind why this would be a good move? Whether it happens or doesn't, what was the reason behind the initial conversations? 

[00:10:09] Corey Harris: And that's a pretty common question too. I'm going to be careful.

I don't want to name anybody's names or anything like that. So we'll just say we were having an event at Arbor and a member, a long time and respected member of greater Fort Worth asked our CEO. Hey, when's the last time we had a conversation about our boards merging to which Taylor said, I don't know, not since I've been here.

And the answer to that question is about 10 years ago. 

[00:10:36] Mike MIlls: The 

[00:10:36] Corey Harris: last time we had, this is not the first time it's come up and it didn't go anywhere 10 years ago. Okay. So Taylor said, well, not since I've been here, I couldn't tell you. And this person said, well, maybe we should have that conversation again.

And so as is our prerogative, Taylor brought it up to the executive committee and said, Hey, I was. An interesting thing was said to me by another member. And what do y'all think? And the consensus of the executive committee was, well, none of us are immediately for it, but none of us are immediately against it.

I mean, I'd be interested in having a conversation. My first question was like a lot of people's first question is what's in it for us? Why would we do that? 

[00:11:14] Mike MIlls: Yeah. 

[00:11:15] Corey Harris: Right. And so a couple of us, our executive committee and their executive committee kind of had an informal meeting and talked about, Hey, could we even see this happening?

Could it even be possible? And from that we decided, Hey, this might be something we want to pursue. So we brought it to our respective boards of directors. Formally, we brought it to ours. They brought it to theirs and our board of directors unanimously agreed. Yeah, this is something that we'd like to explore.

So we voted to interview and hire a consultant and share the expense with Fort Worth and they voted the same way. So we did. Some of our people and some of their people interviewed several consultants that specialize in these association mergers. We hired one and then we allowed them to do their job.

Once all that was done, the consultants brought their findings. We had a large meeting with our entire board of directors and their entire board of directors, and the consultant made a presentation as to their findings. We all met and asked questions and we talked about it and then we broke off their board voted whether or not they wanted to bring it to their membership and our board voted as to whether or not they wanted to bring it to their membership both unanimously passed that's where we that's how we find ourselves here today it's just that simple and that's exactly how a board of directors operates and is governed 

[00:12:36] Mike MIlls: right 

[00:12:37] Corey Harris: there was there's been accusations that we are doing things behind the scenes Overdoing things around the membership.

No, the board of directors is conducting business as the board of directors is charged to do. 

[00:12:51] Mike MIlls: A lot of people 

[00:12:51] Corey Harris: don't realize that is that in an organization, the members don't drive the ship. The board of directors do. Now we answer to the membership, but we're the ones driving the ship. And so we thought this was worth exploring, chose the path.

And now is the time in our process where we bring it to our membership for approval. And they can approve it or not approve it and that'll just be the will and pleasure of the people. Yeah. 

[00:13:17] Mike MIlls: Well, it's again, it's very much a same situation. I, so I actually the previous mortgage company I was with, I had a minority share ownership in it.

It was like two and a half percent, small amount. And I was a quote owner in the company, right? But I was not involved in the day to day decisions on how the company was run. Okay. Because we had a CEO and we had a CFO and we had a COO and their job was to manage the company. So even though I was an owner in the company, I mean, I had money into it and it was, I had ownership in it.

I didn't get to decide the day to day operations. Now, as you said, what would occur is if we were ever to discuss, bringing on another bank or, some sort of significant. Of impact to the company that would affect maybe my share price, right? Then we would have a owner's meeting and we would all discuss that on a very very high level But when it came down to the details of what was happening We had trust in our management team to handle that and then bring to us What the decision was because we had to do our jobs every day.

We didn't have time to sit in on 800 meetings as to what was going on. That was their job, right? Our job was to do the loans and deal with the clients. Their job was to run the company. So it's a very similar thing. It's just, I think like with a lot of things there, there is lack of understanding as to exactly what's going on.

And if you've never been in an environment before, because even in that circumstance, we even had a few of our quote, owners. that felt like that they should have been more included in some decisions. But it was because they'd never been in a circumstance to which, this is, it's a very corporate type situation where you have a board.

And like you said, your job is to act in the best interest. And then once the decisions have been lined out where the options are available, then you bring those options. everybody to say, Here's our choices. And t in a six hour membership best and highest use of e so it's, but you know, I everybody.

[00:15:19] Corey Harris: And as far as board of directors is not innovations. If they're n to benefit the members, p And what are they doing? doing? The board should a thinking. They should be down where are we years? Where are we going What's the temperature of our industry going to be at that time and always be looking to head those problems off or setbacks at the past.

And so we saw this as a potential opportunity to maybe bring a value to our members and to a value of the realtors of Fort Worth and create a stronger entity. Now, whether this pans out, that's for the members to decide, but. I'm not going to apologize, nor is any other member of the board directors going to apologize for pursuing something that may be a benefit to the members.

[00:16:08] Mike MIlls: Yeah. So when you do something like this, whether it be here in north texas was what's happening with you guys. Or anyway, really, what are some of the roadblocks, the challenges that you're going to deal with in putting two large organizations like this together that maybe people don't think about or, just some of the technical, when you're looking at merging two entities of any size, there's always going to be who gets what jobs, who does what, where, who holds the budget, how much, all that stuff comes into play.

So what are some of the challenges that you guys have run in specifically when you're looking at doing something like this? So 

[00:16:40] Corey Harris: the first things you're going to want to make sure is when you're talking about a unification or a merger By all rights and purposes. This is a marriage. 

[00:16:47] Mike MIlls: These are 

[00:16:48] Corey Harris: two independent things that are looking to join together Legally and binding right?

So just in a proposal in a marriage, you want to know whether or not you are compatible, right? So Financially, what does each of you bring into the relationship? Right. If one person is coming into the relationship, very heavy in cash and assets, and the other one's coming in grossly in debt, that might not be a good fit, 

[00:17:13] Mike MIlls: right?

[00:17:13] Corey Harris: If one is coming in barely able to pay their bills or provide for their members and the other ones are thriving, that might not be a good fit. The real estate holdings, right? This is a somebody owe a lot on their building is they're building in a lot of disrepair. And the other one Is very up to date in the market.

That might not be a good fit geographic area. Where are you serving? Would it make sense if a Arlington board were to unify with a Denton board? Does that make sense? And that's stretched out pretty far apart from each other. So you have to look at all of these different things. What we have found is in our case, you have two entities, the Arlington border realtors and the greater Fort Worth area realtors.

We are 11 and a half miles apart from each other. That's as a drive as a crow flies, probably six miles apart from each other. We're very comparable in size. They have 4, 200 members. We have 3, 200 members. We both own our own buildings outright. We both have very comparable investment structures. We both have a comparable income streams.

So the question is what makes more sense to entities, very close to each other. Who are nearly the same size, who have nearly the same finances, who serve the same geographic area, in the same industry, doing those duties separately, or does it make sense to create one entity that's twice as strong, twice as funded, twice the reach, twice the membership, serving the same geographic area, and serving the same industry?

Which one of those two scenarios makes sense? 

[00:18:50] Mike MIlls: Right. 

[00:18:51] Corey Harris: And I think anybody who's looking at this from a business standpoint, which I can't understand why you would look at it any other way. Unification has to be at least worth exploring. 

[00:19:03] Mike MIlls: Sure. 

[00:19:04] Corey Harris: And I can't guarantee what's going to happen once we pull back the curtain and really see what's happening behind the scenes.

But the information that we know Like what we're told about the finances. We know they own their building outright. We know what their membership size are. We know the geographic area that they serve, and we know the industry we serve, the only variable is exactly how close are we financially, right. We think is very close.

That's the only variable. The rest of it is lock and step. So it makes sense. It helps our affiliates. Many of our affiliates are also members of that board. Now we can bring them all together. We can increase the number of affiliates that we offer to our agents. And now the affiliates don't have to pay two different sets of dues.

To talk to the same people. 

[00:19:47] Mike MIlls: I'm all for that . 

[00:19:49] Corey Harris: Sure, you should be. 

[00:19:50] Mike MIlls: Yeah. 

[00:19:51] Corey Harris: But also there's been a lot of, we'll just call it misinformation. Somebody else might call it lies about what's going on here. You know, the idea that we're closing our doors, our we're selling off our building. We're bailing out Fort Worth because they're in financial trouble.

There's zero evidence of. Any of those things Yeah. Being 

[00:20:09] Mike MIlls: accurate. Yeah. 

[00:20:10] Corey Harris: Our building is paid for outright and is a source of income because we've turned it into an event center. Mm-Hmm. , why would we sell that? That makes no sense, right? 

[00:20:19] Mike MIlls: Yeah. Well, I think there's a with anything, anytime something's contentious, there's always gonna be people that want it and there's always gonna, people that don't.

And, sometimes, you hear things or, the rumor mill gets going. And, it's like the what is it? The sewing circle, everybody's got got thoughts on what happens. But, If you look at it again from a corporate point of view, right, when you're looking at a business side of it, companies merge all the time to do lots of things.

They create economies of scale, they reduce costs, they make their products better they make the experience for the customer better. Whether it's by, streamlining how they get to market, if it's, if it's buying up a distribution factory or buying up retail or whatever the case may be the benefits to the consumer in many ways can be great.

Now I do think personally that sometimes when things get too big, it becomes an issue but also, when you look at it as, especially with the regulatory environment that they were in right now with real estate and what's been happening with the lawsuits and all the stuff that's been coming down, Having a bigger group tends to give you a little bit more strength, whether it be in the state legislation or even on a national level, if you can have a bigger voice, as opposed to two, two groups that aren't quite saying the same thing, maybe similar things, but not exactly the same versus one big voice, which can go down to Austin and really, petition for what they want.

I think that makes a big difference. So. From your point of view, if you were to see this merger, if it were to go through what do you think some of the potential benefits would be to the members to the, just the Texas real estate market as a whole. What do you think that would look like?

[00:21:54] Corey Harris: Well, speaking strictly on Arbor side the Arbor dues would go down immediately because our dues are already more than Fort Worth. So they're not going to raise theirs to match ours. We're going to lower ours to match theirs. So if you're an arbor member your dues are going to be Now, how much I can't say, cause that's part of the next level of exploration, but they would naturally have to go down.

Cause like I said, they wouldn't we wouldn't raise ours to match theirs. They would lower or vice versa. Yeah. Yeah. We're more expensive than they are. 

[00:22:28] Mike MIlls: Right. 

[00:22:28] Corey Harris: So we would lower ours to match theirs. That was just, that's just going to happen. Yeah. They don't want to raise 

[00:22:33] Mike MIlls: their dues because then there's really going to make everybody angry and then it doesn't make sense to have everybody paying separate.

So yeah. 

[00:22:39] Corey Harris: Exactly. Another issue of people asked about was the super arbor does their super boxes a very unique way where we actually rent them to our members for a very nominal fee. All the other associations. Charge their members. You have to buy them full worth, loves this model. So there's no reason to think it would go away.

They're very excited to learn that that's the way we do it. Their members were excited to learn if that's the way we do it. So that'll continue to explain the benefit on that. 

[00:23:05] Mike MIlls: Cause I think I under, I think I know why that would be better. I mean, I'm sure it has to do with the technology and the upgrading of the equipment, but explain why that renting is better than buying for those things.

[00:23:15] Corey Harris: Well, and just real quick just to take another step back, the Supra box for anybody that doesn't know, it's the yellow, it's the the blue keyless box that we have on the doors that's only accessible by people who have allowed to have super access. Realtors, appraisers, inspectors, and then it's accessed remotely through your phone.

You can get the key. It's a secure system. Now it's a benefit to rent because now we don't have to own them. Those box are, I don't even know how much they cost. I haven't bought one in forever, but I mean, they're a 

[00:23:44] Mike MIlls: couple hundred bucks. Yeah, 

[00:23:45] Corey Harris: They're quite expensive. So not only do you have to buy them, but you know, you may not always have five listings, 10 listings or whatever.

Maybe you're having a great month. You've got to go out and buy another one. I can swing by Arbor at any time and say, Hey, all of my boxes are on doors. I need another box. 

[00:24:00] Mike MIlls: Yeah, 

[00:24:01] Corey Harris: they'll charge me 10 bucks. And guess what? When I bring the box back, I get my 10 bucks back. 

[00:24:06] Mike MIlls: Oh, so it's just a deposit.

[00:24:08] Corey Harris: It's just a deposit. So really it's free then benefits. So long as you bring your box back and it's in good condition. 

[00:24:14] Mike MIlls: Yeah. 

[00:24:16] Corey Harris: So it's a tremendous benefit that we get to have. And there's no reason to believe that we wouldn't continue it because one, we know what a benefit it is, but Fort Worth didn't even know that you could do that, at least as far as I know.

And they were very excited when they found out that you could. So I think that's something when, if we do go to that next level, that's one of those things that will fold and it'll become a benefit to Fort Worth as well. One of the other benefits, and you even mentioned it was in the voice and advocacy.

So Fort Worth has a tree pack. We have a tree pack. We both raise money separately. Now we can raise money together. Our events can be bigger. We can raise more money and we can put more money in the races that we need to be involved in. Not every race is as important as the next. So now we can pull our resources together and say, Hey, there is a very contentious council race house seat, a Senate seat that we need to get involved in.

We've got more resources that we can get involved in that race to make sure that our property rights. And our home ownership rights are being protected, make sure our industry's being protected. So many realtors don't understand just how this last couple years has made them appreciate a little bit.

But our industry is constantly under fire. Yeah. Every two years in that pink building in Austin, they're coming after commission. They're coming after your property taxes. They're coming after the fact that they want Texas to be a disclosure state, not a non-disclosure state. For those who don't know what that means.

It means that when you have a sale of a property, you are not required to disclose the sales price to the county appraisal. That is private information. And Texas is one of the few states that remains a nondisclosure state because what happens between two private citizens is their business. 

[00:25:56] Mike MIlls: Yes. And then your property taxes, because if they get that information, your taxes go up because the county, we 

[00:26:02] Corey Harris: tell the county, Hey, you know what?

Take your best guess. I'm not going to tell you what I paid for it. You take your best guess. Yes. So it's important. And the money that we raised for the pack directly goes to those causes. It's the reason why when the COVID shut down the world in 2020, there's a reason why Texas continued to keep going because governor Abbott called Texas realtors and said, what do you need from us?

And Texas realtors said we need to be essential. 

[00:26:29] Mike MIlls: Yeah. 

[00:26:29] Corey Harris: And that was it. Realtors were deemed essential. And because realtors could work, that means mortgage people could work. Title people could work. Inspectors could work. Groopers could work. We employ a lot of people just by writing a real estate contract.

And the Texas economy flourished during 2020 because of that simple act. It's meaningful. Advocacy means something. So we can increase through tree pack. We can at the texas realtor leve voices speaking louder. W more benefits on a state just some of the abstract naturally come with being feel 

[00:27:09] Mike MIlls: Do you feel li be with this kind of that there would be much you know, who they commun situation.

When you're dealing, when if you have that many members, you still need, it's not like you can shrink the staff dramatically either, right? Because you're still serving that many people that you needed to serve before. Maybe there's some redundancies, but I would imagine it would be Few and far between.

Plus I would also imagine that, just with the I'm actually, I serve on the education board at Arbor I'm involved there and, we do four events a year related to helping agents become more informed about whether it be how to market their business, how did we're doing a a safety one this month that you helped set up.

You know, there's a lot of extra. events or extra classes or whatever that you can offer to when you have that many more members and you can reach that many more people. 

[00:28:02] Corey Harris: Absolutely true. And I don't think we're going to have redundancy in staff at all. I think we'll be able to streamline a lot of things.

There's no reason to believe that we'd be losing staff because obviously we still have to maintain our office in our Arlington. They still have to maintain their office in Fort Worth. So the staff there, now they may fall under some different roles. We may fold in some positions to broaden their scope, but there's no reason to think we're going to lose anybody.

We'll probably need to add some people, but we should be able to streamline a lot of the processes because they have their membership processes. We have our membership processes. And we can bring them together, streamline them, whether you're dealing in Fort Worth or you're dealing in Arlington. The thing I like about that process is that I'm all over the Metroplex, as I know a lot of people are.

What a benefit it would be for me if I'm over on the Fort Worth side and go, man, you know, I really need to get a lock box because I've got a property in North Fort Worth. You mean I've got to go all the way back to Arbor just so I can head back to North Fort Worth. There's an office right here and it's just like going home.

I can stop in there and say, Hey Corey, how's it going? Great. I need a lock box. Cool. Sign here. See you later. 

[00:29:12] Mike MIlls: Yeah. 

[00:29:13] Corey Harris: How is that not a member benefit? Yeah, that's like saying I like the fact that my bank only has one location in the whole world. 

[00:29:20] Mike MIlls: Yeah, nobody nobody wants that. Yeah, 

[00:29:23] Corey Harris: I guess that's cool If you don't ever plan on going too far away from that bank, but it's right It's kind of nice that when you go somewhere else you go.

Hey, look, there's one of my bank branches I can stop in there and get all the access to my things just like that Because I'm a member here. And it's the same in Fort Worth. We have a satellite office already in Watsahatchee and had one for years. So it's a great way to open those member services. To just more than one location.

[00:29:47] Mike MIlls: Yeah. Well, it sounds like to me, as not having a dog in this hunt because, doesn't as a lender that works in the area, it doesn't really make a big difference to me. What happens, but just from where you're explaining it, the way I see it is this vote that's coming up in October is simply a vote to take the next step.

And that's it. And the next step is just deeper exploration into what would actually happen. What kind of, what the merger would look like if you decided to move forward with it, the finances, the structure, the name, all the pieces. And then once those have been hashed out, then both members get to vote.

If they want to take the final step was to, which is to actually do the merger 

[00:30:24] Corey Harris: and not only is that accurate, but I'll add one to it, a two thirds majority. Can't approve it. So this isn't just a simple, six out of 10, 

[00:30:34] Mike MIlls: right? It 

[00:30:34] Corey Harris: has to be the majority, a two thirds majority. So there is plenty of check stops here to make sure that we're not doing anything hastily, that we're not doing anything, haphazardly.

So there's plenty of checkpoints in place to make sure that everybody's being protected, that everybody has a chance to observe and be heard. I don't understand a lot of the we'll call them accusations of things being done too swiftly or things being done behind closed doors. I really don't know how much more transparent we could have been about the whole thing once it was appropriate.

[00:31:09] Mike MIlls: Yeah, 

[00:31:09] Corey Harris: to bring it to the membership. Right? I mean, the board of directors has to be able to conduct business under confidentiality. Yeah. Yeah. Well, behind closed 

[00:31:16] Mike MIlls: doors is just a me, I mean, , that's just a meeting. Of course, you're, of course you're operating behind closed doors. Like that's what having a meeting is the, 

[00:31:24] Corey Harris: the funny thing is that a lot of the same people that are making these accusations.

Are people that have served on that board for many years have served at the highest level of that board and know full well what confidentiality means they know full well what the role of the board of directors are and to make these kind of claims, not from ignorance because they know better that this is how a board operates and we have to be able to reserve some form of confidentiality.

Otherwise, anything we discuss in there is just free game and it's. That's just not the way you conduct business. So, 

[00:32:00] Mike MIlls: yeah, well, I'm sure a lot of that'll be, I'll be hashed out, and brought to light so everybody can see exactly what's going on. I think you guys, it sounds like you've been pretty transparent once you've made some decisions on what needs to happen and then you can bring it to him.

Just like if the vote does go through to take the next, which is all just to take another step, if that does happen. Then there will also be I'm sure additional meetings that will say, Hey, here's what we're thinking of what we want to do. Let me hear, what do you think? Well, yes, no, you like this.

You don't like this. Okay. We'll go back to behind closed doors again and we'll hash out some more details so we can get it a little bit more buttoned up to what everybody agrees to. And then you can present, the final draft at the end. I think you guys are, it sounds like at least obviously it's from your side of the story, but it does sound like y'all are going about it the right way.

And I think that anybody that would be upset about it, usually those voices are few, not more, you just hear them, they're just sometimes louder and and everybody's got their own motivation. I think you guys will have it worked out. 

[00:32:54] Corey Harris: But I can, I'll say this. I truly came into the situation with an open mind.

When I, when we first started talking about merger, my mind was initially just biased towards no, because I love Arbor. I love everything Arlington. I moved to this town when I was 13 years old and this has just become my home. 

I've chosen to raise my family here and start my business here.

Be involved in this, be involved in a very civic way in this town for a very long time. I love this town. 

[00:33:21] Mike MIlls: Yeah. 

[00:33:22] Corey Harris: So right off the bat, I was kind of, Hey, anything that's going to take Arlington away, I'm not down with, but if you allow yourself to just look at something objectively, look at how it can be a benefit financially and professionally, then things start to make sense.

Sure. I'm going to tell you, I'm not a, I'm not fully sold. I want to go to the next step. 

[00:33:44] Mike MIlls: I want to 

[00:33:44] Corey Harris: have the conversations with Fort Worth. I want to talk about what do we think the board's going to look like? Who's going to be the CEO? What's the name going to do? What's the headquarters going to be? I want to have those conversations.

And frankly, if I don't like the way those conversations go, if I don't think Arlington is going to be fairly represented in the new structure, I won't be in support of it, but in a simple, I don't have an agenda here. My agenda is I want to explore possibilities for our members and for the growth of Arbor.

If that means that Arbor has to come in with somebody to grow and continue to be successful for the next generation, then that's what needs to be. But if it doesn't look like it's going to go that way, then I'm okay with that too. 

[00:34:24] Mike MIlls: Sure. Sure. You, like I said, everything just just comes from information.

So if you have more than you can make more informed decisions and that's all you need. All right. I want to Turn the, turn it over a little bit to talk about this on more of a industry wide scale versus so we're going to take off our president elect of Arbor hat, and we're going to talk to Corey Harris, realtor real estate advocate.

Why do you think on the whole, we're seeing more of this occur? This is obviously what's happening here in North Texas, but this is occurring all over the country between MLSs and other boards all over the place. So what do you think, how impactful was this in our piece?

Is it because the market is slowing down and transactions are less and, we're, cause right now, I mean, I'll speak from the mortgage side, banks are consolidating, right. Where they're putting their Their assets together to try to figure out how to survive in a market. That's, I mean, we have the lowest level of real estate transactions we've had in 35 years on the country.

It's that low. So it's, we've gone through this period of time. It looks like it's starting to turn around a little bit. Rates are getting a little better. The market's probably maybe not this winter, but probably into the spring, we're going to start to see a little bit more movement. Affordable housing though, is a real issue still.

I mean, You know, the average median home price right now is sitting around 400 and some odd thousand dollars. So, it's not exactly the first time home buyer for one 30. So why do you think looking at it from not from a board member, from a realtor board member, but just from somebody that's involved in the industry, why do you think this stuff is occurring on a broader scale?

I 

[00:35:52] Corey Harris: think what we're seeing in industries across business is, People are wanting to circle the wagons a little bit, take away some of that extension. So in the banking, I think it makes more sense for banks, especially with everything being online, not having to have as many physical locations, physical locations equals risk.

Okay. It always does because now that's an asset that you're responsible for, even though real estate appreciates, you know, in theory, it's still a risk, right? You still have to carry insurance on it. You run the risk of. Being robbed of somebody getting hurt. I mean, there's all kinds of risks involved with owning property and being extended, 

[00:36:33] Mike MIlls: right?

So 

[00:36:33] Corey Harris: I think with Covid showed us a lot of things. One, it showed us that there's some fragility in the economy that we all knew about, but we didn't know what it could mean on, on a global level like that. But it also showed us that a lot of the things we always thought we needed, we just don't. 

[00:36:51] Mike MIlls: , I 

[00:36:51] Corey Harris: mean, look at us.

We're sitting here having a perfectly normal conversation. I'm sitting in my home living room and you're in your office, your studio or whatever. COVID made this a normal reality. How many zoom meetings do you do every week? 

[00:37:05] Mike MIlls: I 

[00:37:07] Corey Harris: do at least four or five, at least. And it's been a tremendous asset commercial real estate for office space, right.

You know, for a commercial lease office space. It's the lowest in all the real estate industry because nobody needs it, but it wants it. It's an expense that's just not necessary. What we're finding is I think across industries, people are finding ways to say, Hey, how can we bring resources together under one roof, minimize our risk, maximize our assets and profits.

And I think workers are happier for it. Most of the people I've talked to, we're glad they only have to go to the office twice a You know, two weeks outta the month. 

[00:37:43] Mike MIlls: Mm-Hmm. . 

[00:37:43] Corey Harris: They're there a week. They're home a week, they're there a week. They're home a week. They like working remotely. It gives them a chance to be more involved in their family.

Gives 'em a chance to be more involved in things in their lives. 'cause they don't have to make the commute all the time. So that could be one particular example in the real estate industry. I think with some of the things happening with the National Association of Realtors I think boards and other associations are looking at ways to protect themselves.

Yes. We saw that. A big entity like NAR is not impervious to huge lawsuit. 

[00:38:16] Mike MIlls: Yes. 

[00:38:18] Corey Harris: And the residuals from that, we started seeing copycat lawsuits from state boards, as well as local boards. The Texas association of realtors was named in a lawsuit. The Austin board, Houston association Metro techs, they were all named right now, it didn't go anywhere.

But the point is these bigger boards. Found themselves in a situation where they may have to be in a courtroom to defend some of their members. There's strength in numbers, right. And there's also strength in diminishing the number of targets you have. 

[00:38:51] Mike MIlls: Yeah. 

[00:38:51] Corey Harris: Yeah. So instead of having a hundred boards, you might be safer having only 45.

[00:38:58] Mike MIlls: Yeah. 

[00:38:58] Corey Harris: Right. Fewer targets and stronger membership bases. 

[00:39:02] Mike MIlls: Well, I've seen, this is my opinion to some extent, but but I've talked to many in, in, in the industry about this too. And it looks like more and more because all these lawsuits originally when you look at that, maybe the average person looks at it and says, oh, well, this is some plaintiff that was upset and, went to an attorney and, got them on board and then they.

Yeah. Got all these other people on board and that's how this stuff happens. And does that occur? Sure. That happens. I don't think that this happened in this situation because real estate, when you look at it on a national scale and you look at corporate influence on much of what the country does, you look and see that real estate is one of those things that big interests have always tried to get into Zillow for the longest time for 20 years has trying to been trying to figure out how to take You know, whether they integrate agents and they integrate mortgage people, but ultimately they want to get directly to the consumer and they want to get in on one of the biggest, contributions to GDP in the country, which is homeownership.

Like everybody wants to be involved in that or really maybe not even homeownership as much as just your bottom line in your household, which is your living expense, whether it be your rent or your mortgage is the biggest line item in most people's budget. Right? So if you're a entity that is based off profit.

Then it would be really nice to have access to that, right? So when you look at this industry as a whole, and it's always been local, real estate has always been local. It's very difficult to not make it local because local decisions are made about where you live, the communities that you're in, the schools that you go to, and you can't have a corporate entity that sits out of one city in California and tells you, where the best place to live is.

So that's why you go to a local agent, you go to a local lender because they are looking out for your local interest. But now. With these lawsuits and the ability to turn realtors into essentially the bad guys because y'all have been making so much money Damn you, and in making it to where this what I would call a payment forward system That's been in play for a hundred years where my very first house that I bought I did not have to pay my realtor commissions.

The seller did. And so that allowed me to have less money out of pocket. It might be much more accessible to purchase a home. And therefore when I sold my home, I did the same thing. And that's been a cycle that's been there for a long time. So then you look at these lawsuits start popping up and then you look at a company like homes.

com who all of a sudden is trying to MLS. And then you go, all right, these things are very much the timing on this stuff is amazing. Right? And then you go, okay, so if you're the small guy, if you're the local MLS or you're the local board, you have to know that the big cookie monster or gobble monster is coming and you have to be able to get your troops together to be able to fight these guys because They want that money.

They want every nickel of it. Just like we rent. We don't own our media anymore. We don't own our cell phones really anymore because you paid 1200 bucks over a month and they're out date. Most people don't own their cars anymore. I mean all this stuff, we're all renting everything and that's where they want it to go.

So 

[00:42:06] Corey Harris: the issue with the money is that it wasn't in their pocket. Exactly. The only, it's the only problem they have with it. And they come in as the heroes. to protect the consumer from the shiesty realtor. And it's just completely unfounded and it's unfair. You know what? I'll be honest with you.

It hurts a little bit when you hear some of these things, when you dedicate, I mean, I've been in real estate since I've graduated college in 2011 and I've learned this business as a kid, you know, I was in my early twenties, learning this business and making mistakes and all this kind of stuff.

You know, as you grow up in the business, you learn things just like in any other industry and you apply these things moving forward. So when people say, Oh, anybody can sell a house. I mean, yeah, that is technically true. I mean, anybody can go and work on a transmission, but some people are really good at working on transmissions and some people aren't.

And I'll tell you, Mike, I'm pretty good at being a realtor. 

[00:42:59] Mike MIlls: You 

[00:43:00] Corey Harris: know, it's just one of those things. I do it well, I represent my clients. My clients make more money. When they work with me, I protect them, not just, not just protective financing, but I protect their home. 

[00:43:14] Mike MIlls: Yeah. 

[00:43:14] Corey Harris: I love working with for sale by owners because usually when I'll meet with them, I'll call the sign and ask if I can come visit the house.

Cause I'm always looking for off market properties, which is what I consider a for sale by owners and off market property. So I give them the tour and I'll ask them, I'll say, okay so let me ask you this, how does this process work? Who do I need to talk to you for an offer? And they say, that'd be us.

I said, okay, let's just say her name is Jennifer. I said, Jennifer, is that your number out there on the sign? When I called earlier, didn't you answer? She goes, yes. Is that your cell phone number? She goes, it is. I said, you're okay with having your cell phone number on the side of a busy street. Do you know how much information can be ascertained from somebody's cell phone number a lot?

I said, let me ask you this. When I called and asked you if I can come by this afternoon, you said, no problem. You didn't ask me any other questions. If no idea who I am, I'm just some guy on a phone who asked if I can come into your home and you let me right in, I said, yeah, what if you wouldn't have been available today?

What if you just said, Hey, actually I can't show you until this evening because I work all day. What'd you just tell a total stranger? You're not home all day. That's good information for somebody who might be looking to do nefarious deeds. You know, consumers just don't realize. That we do more to just open doors and just drink coffee and wear a little earpiece and drive bmws Okay, the systems and the process we have in place are to protect the seller protect the assets protect the buyers You know, nobody's going to call my phone without going through a Google number where I can figure out who they are.

I'm not opening the door for anybody until I know who they are. We have systems in place where I can see who I'm dealing with. Are you a felon of a violent crime? I want to know that before I go walk a vacant property or let you into my seller's home. Do you have a history of burglary? Maybe I want to know that before I just show you a, you know, this person's home that they're still living in.

So we protect consumers. We really do. And we understand how a real estate process works and we leverage that knowledge to make a living Like anybody else does 

[00:45:17] Mike MIlls: a 

[00:45:17] Corey Harris: plumber has an intimate knowledge of a plumbing system And he leverages or she leverages that knowledge to earn a living A surgeon has a unique knowledge of the human body and leverages that knowledge to earn a living It doesn't make us bad people Because we have dedicated time effort energy and money to a profession to learn how it works And then we take all that And leverage it into making a living.

[00:45:42] Mike MIlls: Yeah. 

[00:45:42] Corey Harris: How commerce works. 

[00:45:44] Mike MIlls: Yeah. Yeah. I, and I think I just when you have big money and big corporations that are coming after your industry, cause that's essentially what's happening. Then these smaller mergers in these smaller boards, they have to get together to protect themselves because ultimately, especially with the, and I think that's, you know, the grand scheme of things that I think a lot of agents don't realize is that they're not necessarily coming after agents specifically, it seems like that, but what they're really doing is they're coming after the MLS is because what the industry itself is built kind of on.

To some extent, access to information, right? You as a listing agent in a particular area of the country have access to homes and properties that the standard, the other, another person that isn't licensed, that doesn't go through CE every year that doesn't, you know, renewed to pay their dues and pay their go through their trainings and all that kind of stuff.

You have access to that information so that you can properly help your clients and that access, which is through the MLS. is ultimately what's under attack here. And that's where you start to see, big, whether it's Zillow, Redfin, homes. com, whoever come in and say, Oh wait, we want this information because we want to get to the consumer and tell them what we want them to do.

We want to control the transaction and we want to get in on this massive amount of money that gets changed hands every single day. 

[00:47:04] Corey Harris: It's not just about that. It's also about data mining. Yeah. 

[00:47:07] Mike MIlls: Oh yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. 

[00:47:08] Corey Harris: The data, yes, they want the data. Yes. They don't care about you or your home. They want the data.

They want your information. They wanna see how you search 

[00:47:16] Mike MIlls: for homes, what you look for, what you stay on, because then they can sell you more. Well, 

[00:47:20] Corey Harris: all of that information becomes valuable. Yeah. So the more that they have, the more that they can sell. Yes. And I've always been a huge critic of Zillow. 

[00:47:27] Mike MIlls: Yeah.

And 

[00:47:28] Corey Harris: I tell people all the time, do not use Zillow. Do not use Zillow. Their only purpose. Is to harvest your data and to try to sell it to people like me. That's all they want to do. They have no interest, yeah, they got Zillow agents and all this other kind of stuff. And that is not what they're there.

The Zillow is a data company. They always have been one of the biggest mistakes and they are ever made was allowing those rules in our hen house. And they allowed them to have access to our MLS. It was. It was not a good thing. Yeah. And we allowed it to happen. It was a mistake then. And it's proven every year to be a bigger mistake.

And there's the horses are out of the barn. There's no closing the door now. 

[00:48:10] Mike MIlls: And realtors are the ones funding them. 

[00:48:11] Corey Harris: And that's the same thing. And I have dear friends and they're like, Oh, but I do so much business. I'm like, what a cost, man. You could still be doing that business, but you're feeding the machine.

That's literally trying to Yeah. 

[00:48:26] Mike MIlls: I mean, if 

[00:48:27] Corey Harris: Zillow could tomorrow, they would eliminate all of us. 

[00:48:31] Mike MIlls: Well, it goes back to the initial point that you kind of had to some extent, which is a lot of people think about, right? How is, what do I need? What do I need to make sure that I can continue operating within this board or operating in my business or whatever the case may be?

And when someone comes along and says, Hey, we actually need a bigger, you got to think on a little bit bigger scale because we have bigger threats that may not affect you right now. But in five years, it could, you could be out of a job. And that's why we're here as entities to help look forward and go, Hey, this is a threat that's coming.

It's not affecting you right this minute. Right. But it's going to affect you. So I want you to talk a little bit before we get off. I want you to talk a little bit about tree pack because that kind of bleeds into what, ultimately their main purposes and what they do for realtors and why they play such a role, especially in Texas for advocating for, age boards and realtors and MLSs and what they do.

[00:49:27] Corey Harris: Well, I appreciate that opportunity. You know, I love tree pack. I love the opportunity to talk about any chance I get when I speak to the new members every month, a new member orientation. I always kind of give them the same spiel about why they should get their money to TREPAC. And, you know, my belief system is that TREPAC is the closest thing that our industry has to a union.

It's the closest thing that we have to protecting ourselves. Not only is nobody helping us, most legislators are actively trying to hinder us. Got money 

[00:49:59] Mike MIlls: on the outside coming at 'em saying, Hey, we need you to do this stuff for us . 

[00:50:03] Corey Harris: Absolutely. Yeah. And the only way to combat that is with cold hard cash.

[00:50:07] Mike MIlls: Yep. 

[00:50:07] Corey Harris: Facts. Yep. Political action is fueled by money, and we have the most well funded PAC in the state, even better than the teachers and is back. Is the envy of the rest of the country. When I attend political action committee meetings across the nation, we have our big PAC meeting in DC every year.

Texas means something. We raise more money, we are more influential. Our members show up more than the rest of the nation every two years when they're in session. The realtors converge on the capital in Austin, and it is an amazing site when you see all of these Texas realtors packing out the halls. Of of the Texas Capitol, and they are there to talk to their legislators.

They're there to let them know that, hey, we are here, we're watching, we vote, and we donate money, and what we say matters how we feel matters. And you need to take it seriously. And they do take it seriously. Yeah. That's why every two years when they want to tax our commissions at the closing table, not gonna happen.

I mean, that, that came up just just one session ago. They wanted to put realtors as service providers, like an electrician or a plumber. Imagine that. You don't think TREPAC matters? You are about to lose thousands of dollars right at the closing table every year. Just like that. TREPAC stops that. Why?

Because we fund those lobbyists and we have some of the best in the nation. That are on those legislators doorsteps in their email box on their phone every day, letting them know where we are, what we want, why we want it. And we have a great reputation for our industry. So the PAC money matters. We've got all kinds of fun little slogans, right?

You know, if you're not at the table, you're on the menu, right? That kind of thing. But if you don't take an active approach to be involved, then you will be a victim. 

[00:52:07] Mike MIlls: Yeah. Okay. 

[00:52:08] Corey Harris: Decisions are being 

[00:52:08] Mike MIlls: made. It's just a matter of whether or not you wanna be involved in the decisions or you wanna made for you.

That's really what boil to. 

[00:52:14] Corey Harris: Yeah. One of my other favorites is you might not take an interest in politics, but politics will take an interest in you 

[00:52:19] Mike MIlls: at some level, some point, 

[00:52:21] Corey Harris: whether you want it or not. Yes, 

[00:52:22] Mike MIlls: they are 

[00:52:22] Corey Harris: coming for you. You might as well be prepared and you might as well be knowledgeable.

Yeah. Now I understand a lot of people want to go out there and be political and do all that stuff. You don't have to. We've created a great mechanism through the pack. All you have to do is give 35 bucks a year, 35 a year. If every Texas realtor gave 35 a year, we'd never have to worry about anything.

We'd have all the money we ever needed for any problem that ever came up. 

So that's the goal. You know, some people give a lot more, but it's 35 bucks and I truly encourage everybody. You'll never be able to convince me that you can't afford 35 bucks a year. I won't buy it. I won't buy it. 

[00:53:04] Mike MIlls: Well, before we wrap up, I just want you to kind of, you know, if, if you were talking to, a local agent that was like, Hey, look, I want to be involved in this movement or I want to help, I want to get more informed.

I want to be I want to have a voice in all of this, what do you suggest that they do? And not just North Texas, but anywhere in across Texas, like what should an agent do on a regular basis to make sure that they're informed as to what's going on? Because, Just when you just said the thing about the taxes coming out of my wife's a realtor, by the way.

So just when you were talking about taxes coming out of the check at the closing table, I've never heard that before. You know, and again I'm kind of dialed in and a lot of stuff. I've never heard that being brought up because those are the things that occur again, behind closed doors that get discussed, that people don't realize because we all live our lives, right?

Like. I've got, my son has a football game tonight. My daughter's got a volleyball game tomorrow night. We've got a tournament this weekend. I've got practice after, I mean, everybody's got a life to live and you can't be involved in every single thing that happens all over the world. So what are the little things that people can do that agents can do to make sure that they're at least at minimum understand what's happening and how they can be impacted?

[00:54:10] Corey Harris: I would absolutely start locally. You know, one of my favorite expressions is the further down the ballot, the closer it is to home. Look at your city, know who your council members are, have a relationship with them, call them, email them, attend your council meetings as frequently as your schedule allows.

Look at the agenda. It's posted on the city website. If there's something of interest, go be seen, be somebody that the city officials know who you are. Be that professional of your industry. That way, when your council members have a question about real estate, they call you and they'll say, Hey, Corey. What do you think about this?

We've got a developer who's wanting to do this. What are your thoughts about that area? Be that person that they think about when they want to make real estate decisions. Start locally. Because it matters to you, it matters to your family, and it matters to your clients. You want to know what's happening in your city.

I'm sure everybody tuned in to watch the presidential debate the other day. I can probably tell you everything that happened about it, but who knows what happened at the council meeting last week. Because let me tell you what happens in the White House by the time it trickles down to you. It means that much.

The gavel can drop in the Arlington City Council on Tuesday and your life would be directly different on Wednesday. That's how fast local changes happen. That's how fast schools change. All that stuff, be local, know who your local leaders are, be involved in their campaigns. If you support them, be involved in campaigns of others.

If you oppose them, but be involved, it's not difficult. It just takes that first step to make a decision. I'm going to know what's going on in my community. I'm going to know who the people are that make those decisions. And I'm either going to vote for them and support them, or I'm going to find somebody who I think will do a better job and be that advocate for your clients, be that advocate for your family, for yourself, for your profession.

And it all starts right here in your backyard. 

[00:56:08] Mike MIlls: All right. So let everybody know when the vote is all the agents here locally when it is, when they can come out and have their voice heard and then it'll be located. 

[00:56:16] Corey Harris: So we're going to have, put me on the spot here. There's, here's what I'm just going to tell people.

I believe the vote is October the 9th. 

[00:56:25] Mike MIlls: Okay. 

[00:56:25] Corey Harris: Let me, I believe that. So let me just pull up this calendar. Now, 

[00:56:29] Mike MIlls: When you when you guys do this vote is it in person? Is it online? Is it, 

[00:56:34] Corey Harris: that's. There is going to be some early voting allowed. I don't remember the exact timeframes cause this is all staff stuff.

[00:56:42] Mike MIlls: Is this going to be posted on the Arbor site? I would assume 

[00:56:44] Corey Harris: there's going to be emails ad nauseum. 

[00:56:46] Mike MIlls: Okay. 

[00:56:47] Corey Harris: Guys, ladies, professionals pay attention to your emails right now. There is so much going on. Pay attention. I know we all get a million emails. If you see Arbor in your box, at least just take a minute.

skim the email. There's information in there about a lot of things going on. So be informed, come out and vote. Another thing that's happening with the vote is you don't know is that we do have the slate of officers that have been interviewed and recommended by our nominating committee that had been ratified by the board of directors.

Because of this merger, there is a group of people that are contesting those candidates. And so you want to be informed about those things. Two of which are our past presidents of the association that are seeking a president elect and secretary treasurer position. So you're, you want to be aware of those kinds of things.

So pay attention to your emails right now know what's happening know what the timelines are and just be involved 

[00:57:42] Mike MIlls: Well, cory, I really appreciate your time, man. This was great I encourage anybody under all circumstances like get out there Go if you have an opinion on it, you're passionate about then just get information go find out what you can so at least You can vote based on information I mean, I think the presidential election was or the presidential debate was a great analogy simply because You know, you see people get on television and talk about stuff and they have big, you know, big things that they'll say about, you know, make this policy or that policy or this thing or that thing.

But then when you dive into actually what they plan to do or what they have done or what they have said, it's just lip service. And sometimes you really need to get the information for yourself to make sure that you can make a decision, not just based on what someone else is telling you or what you're reading on the internet.

So 

[00:58:26] Corey Harris: I'll just simply say, I personally am in favor of moving this to the next level of diligence. I'm not telling anybody how to vote, but I will implore you get information. Don't make decisions on rumors. If you want to know, call me or somebody else that's been involved in this process since the very beginning.

And I don't have an agenda because I'm the president elect. I'm going to be the president of this board in a couple of months. 

[00:58:51] Mike MIlls: You 

[00:58:51] Corey Harris: know, I mean, I don't have an agenda here. My agenda is knowledge. My agenda is to, you know, further the Arlington board of realtors. So. Find out before you freak out.

[00:59:01] Mike MIlls: Yes. Well, thanks for everybody that stuck around. I'll be back on Tuesday with another market update rates. Keep coming down. So it's good. It's just, we're not just seeing the transaction pile up like we would hope they would, but I think that's all going to turn around come spring. So everybody have a great rest of your weekend and we will see you next time.

Thanks Corey. 

[00:59:18] Corey Harris: Thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it. You got it.