When you look in a mirror, there’s a split second when uncertainty and anticipation meet. Sometimes you like what you see, sometimes you don’t — but you always see something worthwhile. 

As an organization, we poll our members for the same reason we as individuals look into a mirror — to see how we look at this moment in time. And so that’s what we did in February.

To begin, I’d like to give a very heartfelt thank you to the 1,367 of you who completed the online WRA member survey. We know time is your most valuable commodity, so we truly appreciate you sharing some of it with us. That sample size is large enough and random enough to be representative of the membership as a whole. 

So, what did we see in the mirror? We saw a membership that is deeply involved in, and committed to, its community; that sees a real estate marketplace continuing to improve; that identifies clear challenges to that marketplace; that also identifies public policy priorities for the coming year; and that values and appreciates its state association.

REALTORS^® have always seen their success inextricably linked to their communities. They are both “joiners” by nature, but they also know quality of life is as important as the quality of a property. So when we asked REALTORS^® if they were involved in community and/or charitable activities, 42 percent said they were involved in local business-related organizations like chambers of commerce or economic development organizations. Another 34 percent said they volunteered for school-related activities. Thirty percent said they were active in civic groups like the YMCA, Scouts, Rotary or Elks. Twenty-eight percent said they participated in housing-related local issues and organizations like Habitat for Humanity or homeless shelters, and another 23 percent said they helped local groups that were helping children in need of shelter, health care or personal safety. Giving back and moving communities forward has always been a strong REALTOR^® hallmark and remains so today.

Many of you said your local real estate markets continue to improve, with nearly 60 percent saying your market is much stronger (8 percent) or somewhat stronger (51 percent) than it was a year ago. Another 30 percent said you expect the market to be about the same as last year, and only 6 percent said it will be somewhat weaker.

What are the greatest challenges in your real estate business in the next year? You reported:

• Shrinking inventories is the greatest challenge (28 percent).
• Consumer difficulty getting financing (21 percent).
• Inaccurate information on the Internet (11 percent).
• Incompetent REALTORS^® (9 percent).

Given all the talk about the need to lower Wisconsin’s chronically high property taxes, we asked members several questions about alternatives to accomplish this goal. Sixty-eight percent of you said you’d support a constitutional amendment to limit annual property tax increases; 16 percent said you’d oppose that approach. Over 70 percent of members would support requiring voter approval any time local governments, including schools, want to raise the property tax. Eighteen percent would oppose that. Seven out of 10 REALTORS^® think property taxes can best be lowered by reducing local government spending. 

Only 34 percent of you said you’d support increasing the sales tax to offset a permanent reduction in the property tax, and 41 percent said you oppose that idea. And here’s why: nearly three-fourths of you (74.7 percent) have little or no confidence that the state legislature would deliver on such a promise. Only 17 percent are very or somewhat confident lawmakers would follow through on lowering one tax by raising another.

Perhaps most gratifying to me is that you also told us you were satisfied with the services you receive from the WRA:

• 78 percent said you were very (45 percent) or somewhat (33 percent) satisfied with the WRA. 
• When asked if you felt the WRA helps you in your real estate business, nearly eight out of 10 of you (79 percent) said yes. Just 8.4 percent said no, and 10.3 percent weren’t sure.
• Among the products and services receiving the highest ratings were zipForm, staff support for members, providing legal guidance, continuing education courses, producing online publications, supplying economic and market information, and impacting legislation and regulations affecting REALTORS^®. 
• 63 percent also said they thought the services they received from the WRA were a good value for what they paid, with 10 percent saying they were an excellent value, 27 percent very good and 26 percent good. Twenty-two percent said they were a fair value, and 10.6 percent said they were not very good or a poor value.

All in all, our early 2015 look in the mirror showed very engaged members who understand their communities, their markets, their challenges, their issues and their state organization. In the weeks ahead, we will dive deeper into the survey responses and present the leaders of the organization with results, analyses and recommendations on how to improve what we do in the months and years ahead. The goal is to make the Wisconsin REALTORS^® Association the best organization we can possibly be for you. 

But the conversation should not stop with a single survey. I invite each of you to take the time to assess the value of your WRA membership and let us know how you feel we can improve. My email address is mtheo@wra.org, and I’d love to hear from you any time you have thoughts on how the WRA can serve you better. Improving what we do and how we do it starts with taking a long look in the mirror.