Howard County Association of REALTORS^®
October President's Report
by Blaine Milner
October 2000

Also available in Adobe Acrobat!

Hello, Howard County Association of REALTORS^®!

We are off and running on the 2000-2001 new year. Thank you to all of you who got up early and attended the Annual Election and Installation of Officers and Directors on October 6. Many thanks to Ramon Estrada for arranging a great installation. In case you weren't there, here is your new Board of Directors:

President-Blaine Milner
President-Elect-Anne Cooke
Treasurer-Rick LaRocca
Past President-Barb Seely
Director-Melvina Brown (2 year term)
Director-Janet Gregory (2 year term)
Director-Shirley Matlock (2 year term)
Director-Sue Pakulla (2 year term)
Continuing Directors:
Patty Smallwood (1 year term)
Michael Ball (1 year term)

A much deserved thank you to departing board members Alex Karavasilis and Ilene Kessler. Their contributions over the years have been enormous! Happily they are both still involved in our committees.

These are the new committee chairpersons:

Education-Vivian Feen and Fran McColgan
Bylaws-Barb Seely
Fair Housing-Sue Pakulla
Grievance-Jim Kinnear
Legislative-Al Cooke
Professional Standards-Lois Epp
RPAC-Anne Cooke and Rick LaRocca
Social-Patty Smallwood and Sara Lenes
Strategic Planning-Alex Karavasilis

Many of our association members have signed up for these committees, however, if you have not and are interested, please contact the chair of the committee or me ASAP. You will be happy that you did, and so will we! We very much appreciate those who served last year.

Congratulations to:

Anne Cooke-HCAR REALTOR^® of the Year
Debbie Rivero-HCAR Community Service Award
Shirley Matlock-CRS President, state of Maryland
Sue Pakulla and Shirley Matlock-chosen for MAR's

Ilene Kessler-MAR Legislative Committee Chair
Barb Seely-MAR Bylaws Committee Chair

These are all caring, talented and involved people who give much of themselves to others.

Thank you's to The Master's Club and Ilene Kessler for becoming life members of RPAC for the second year in a row and to the HCAR members who made it possible for the association to exceed its RPAC goal for the third year in a row (and for understanding the importance of their contribution to the legislation that affects their business).

A special thank you to all of the volunteers, sponsors and attendees who made the First Annual HCAR Fall Festival and Golf Classic such a success! Especially volunteers Tom and Nancy Pirritano, Bruce MacDonald, Patty Smallwood, Ilene Kessler, Novera King and Ramon Estrada (GCAAR), Kathy Manwiller (Pirritano and Associates), Suzie Padgett, Ann Domerchie, and Anne Cooke.

The following were our faithful sponsors who made it all possible:
Patuxent Publishing, Homebuyers Journal, Norma Judd, Bagel Bin, Pirritano and Associates, Community Home Mortgage, Wilhide's, Alan Jefferson-First Union Bank, Columbia Hilton, Rocky Brown, American Title and Escrow, Franklin Covey, Vintage Liquors, Title Rite Services, Lakeview Title, Century 21-H.T. Brown, Money Mortgage, Eye of the Needle Embroidery, Kessler Professional Vision Centers, Cendant Mortgage, and Keighly Capital Mortgage Bankers.

Hole Sponsors:
Century 21-H.T. Brown, Capital Mortgage Finance Corp., American Title and Escrow, Putting on the Ritz Catering, Eye of the Needle Embroidery, Pirritano and Associates, Colonial Title Services, Cornerstone Homes, Monshower, Miller and Magrogan, LLP, Sentinel Title, Lighthouse Insurance Services, Small Business Services, Re/Max Advantage, Greg and Chris Sittig, MMI, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Corp., Vintage Cellars at River Hill, Alan Jefferson-First Union, Community Home Mortgage, U.S. Inspect-Home Inspections, Mortgage Associates, Inc., Keighly Jewelers-Kings Contrivance Village Center, Georgetown Seafood Grill, MDAppraiser.com and all of those who sponsored players, were players and/or attended our event. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Funds were raised for the association (to help keep our dues low), RPAC and The American Heart Association in memory of Courtney Baker Slosman.

Please note the R.E.N.O. 2000 flyer in this mailing! Back by popular demand…Al Monshower will be discussing cases and You Be the Judge. This is your chance to get 3 hours of Maryland CE credits, visit booth sponsors, network with your colleagues, eat food, win prizes and have fun! Thursday, November 2, 2000-8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Ten Oaks Ballroom and Conference Center. Fee is $30.00 and this includes a continental breakfast, lunch and a special dessert.

Mark your calendars! We are planning to have a legislative breakfast with our local state legislators and council members on Thursday, December 7, at 8 a.m. at Oakland Manor. We will send you details soon.

Please read the article from our counsel Al Monshower regarding the Lead Poisoning Prevention Program which became effective on October 1.

HCAR dues can be renewed on line at www.hcar.org (HCAR is the only REALTOR^® organization in Maryland that offers this opportunity!). Your board of directors has decided to keep the local dues amount the same as it has been for the past three years. Thank you for continuing to support HCAR!

I promise not to make many of the newsletters this long. We all have enough to read already. I welcome comments and questions. Your opinions may even be published in the next newsletter. Please remember that this is your association and we aim to serve you well!