Greetings from the Idyllwild Association of Realtors! On behalf of IAOR, celebrating our 40th year as an association, and a thank you to the Idyllwild Town Crier, it is my honor and pleasure to introduce to you our new monthly column, “Realtor Talk.”
The main reason for this column is to relay to you any pertinent information in the real-estate industry that can have an impact on the people of our community — whether it be on the federal, state or county level.
Being part of the National Association of Realtors and the California Association of Realtors, we receive news every day — from federal housing bills to local Riverside County ordinances. We feel it is our duty as your local Realtor association to keep you, the public, aware of these current affairs.
Another reason for this column is to keep answering the most popular and ongoing question that we, as real-estate professionals, get asked the most: “How is the real estate market doing?”
In this column, we will be presenting up-to-date stats, facts, graphs and analysis about our local real-estate market in Idyllwild and the surrounding areas. (In my opinion, nothing says it better than the numbers.)
Lastly, we want to let you know what we’ve been up to as an association on the community level. To me, serving on the IAOR board goes hand in hand with serving our local mountain community. Here are just a few examples of what we do:
• Help Center donations: collected weekly at our membership meetings. Occasionally, we partner up with the Idyllwild Fire Department to “fill the boot,” collecting several hundreds of dollars for those in need.
• Town Clean Up: Our members gather the morning after a major event (usually Fourth of July or Halloween) to pick up garbage left behind in town.
• Local government: meeting with our county officials to voice our opinions on certain issues and proposed ordinances. For example, IAOR had an impact on county ordinances regulating setbacks for new construction of garages, as well as occupancy limits and parking rules for vacation rentals.
• Annual Open House Tour: IAOR organizes a tour of homes currently on the market for the community and all to see! The next one is from 1 to 5 p.m. this Saturday, July 21.
• Idyllwild Community Garden: Did you see that big green house that just got erected? That was us! We applied for grants through our national association to obtain funds for these kinds of community projects. And much more coming from all of us at IAOR!
On a personal note, to me there is nothing more beautiful than to witness and experience what can happen when minds come together, tackle a situation, unify as one voice and have a positive impact on the outcome. I am very proud and honored to be serving on this board, as I am proud and honored to be serving the community I love. See you next month on “Realtor Talk.”
Johnny Wilson
IAOR President-Elect