President's Message

2022 President

During the past year, I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel around the state visiting our local associations and industry partners and meeting with so many of you – our dear members selling residential and commercial property. I want to take this time to thank all of you for inviting me, spending time with me and serving as great hosts.

I cannot thank you enough for your support of my presidency this past year. I have enjoyed meeting you, learning about your needs and discussing the many benefits and programs offered to you by our Illinois REALTORS®. I feel like we have strengthened our already strong bonds and going forward can work even more collaboratively on programs to increase homeownership, to address lingering vestiges of housing discrimination, and to help develop, cultivate, and advance our future industry leaders.

My kudos to you for your investment in RPAC this past year. It has been greater than ever and came at a time when we needed it most. For the past year, “public interest” groups and a few elected officials have tried, indirectly and directly, to convince Illinoisans to abandon the dream of homeownership through rent control measures and other legislation. They have also tried to impose burdensome regulations and increase property taxes. But thanks to your investment in RPAC and your participation in our Let’s Talk Real Estate events, we have thwarted those attacks. Moreover, we have progressed quite well in our own proactive advocacy agenda – at all levels of government.

Yes, we have won battles, but the fight continues. In the coming year, we will need your continued investment in RPAC. We will need you to keep responding immediately to our Calls for Action and continued participation in our meetings with elected officials at all levels of government.

The partnership between the Illinois REALTORS® governmental affairs directors and local associations to improve our communities also must continue. (You can read about some of those efforts in this edition of the magazine).

I have handed over the reins of the Illinois REALTORS® presidency to my esteemed colleague, Michael Gobber, with a profound sense of accomplishment based on the strides in our advocacy efforts, diversifying our industry, and unveiling the American Dream initiative. It will help Illinoisans own a home or commercial property regardless of their historical socio-economic background, where they live, their gender or their ethnicity.

As I said during my inaugural address last October, I am living the American Dream and I want others to do so as well.

Our Illinois REALTORS® CEO Jeff Baker says it so well: We are unique in that there are not many other industries or callings in America where you can say you are responsible for making the American Dream happen. We do. We hold the key to the American Dream of property ownership.

So, in the coming year, let us continue working to emphasize the importance of a REALTOR® in ensuring that every Illinoisian can achieve the American Dream of property ownership. We can! We must! We will!

Afterall, that is who we are!