THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 11, 1995 TAG: 9502090315
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLYREAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: About the Outer Banks
SOURCE: Chris Kidder
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Old names die hard.
Take Route 158 from Kitty Hawk through Nags Head. The road lost its highway designation as a bypass over six years ago, 10 years or more after commercial development turned it into the main thoroughfare.
But locals and long-time visitors still call the Route 158 ``the bypass.'' Newcomers, who are at a loss to find any road at the beach that bypasses anything, are understandably confused.
Local Realtors will be fighting habit for awhile, too, getting accustomed to the sound of their new name: the Outer Banks Association of Realtors.
Fortunately for the Realtors, it was the old name - Dare County Board of Realtors - that was confusing. ``The name didn't describe us anymore,'' says John Myers, newly-installed president of the 450-member group organized in 1962.
In the minds of area real estate agents and consumers, the entire Outer Banks, from the Virginia line south to Ocracoke, is one marketplace, says Cheryl Kilgore, executive officer of the Outer Banks association.
Encouraged by Currituck County agents who were required by North Carolina Association of Realtors rules to join the Elizabeth City board before joining Dare County, Kilgore says Dare County began seeking jurisdiction changes in 1993.
Dare County, a member of the NCAR and the National Association of Realtors, was given jurisdiction for Currituck County in January 1994 by the state group. The name change was approved by the NAR in November.
Members of the NAR - and members only - can be properly called Realtors, a copyrighted, registered trademark coined in 1916. Non-members have to settle for being real estate agents.
Like other businesses whose trade names have stuck in the public vocabulary, the National Association of Realtors was probably tickled pink when their clever name first caught on.
It wasn't until the consequences of common use became widely realized in the 1960s, when Xerox, Kleenex and other tradenames were threatened with becoming unprotectable generic terms, that the NAR began wishing habits weren't so hard to break.
The national association, established in 1908, has 730,000 members, down from 800,000 in 1992. Even so, it claims to be the nation's largest trade association and one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington.
From the beginning, the driving force behind the NAR was image control. At the turn of the century, real estate agents weren't licensed and the public perception of the profession was tarnished.
The NAR, initially called the National Association of Real Estate Boards, developed the model real estate license law eventually enacted by most states. It adopted a code of ethics for its members in 1913, a considerable step at a time when only one other national group had such rules.
These days, although the code of ethics generally exceeds state licensing laws, policing members is left to government-established licensing commissions.
Compliance with NAR standards is voluntary. Any enforcement of the NAR's code of ethics, usually at the local level, is considered educational, not punitive.
More than 17,500 of the NAR's members represent real estate interests in North Carolina. The NCAR is the state's oldest and largest trade association.
In addition to building a credible and ethical image for its members, the NCAR works closely with the North Carolina Real Estate Commission on continuing education, standardization of real estate practice and other issues of mutual concern.
And, no group with such clout is going to overlook its ability to influence legislation. The NCAR has just added a full-time lobbyist to its staff.
Last year, the group earmarked eight pieces of legislation for special attention. None of the four bills the NCAR opposed were passed. Only one bill that they supported died.
Some provisions of the dead bill - increased rates for real estate licenses, increased education requirements for licensees, and a terminology change from salesman to salesperson in all real estate laws and regulations - are almost certain to make another appearance.
Along with its new name, the Outer Banks Association of Realtors is getting some clout of its own in the state organization. Past association president Tim Cafferty is now an NCAR regional vice president and serves on the state professional standards committee.
Myers, Kilgore, Janice Farr, Barbara Connery, Katherine Hopkins, Dave Huffman, Sid Jordan, Rosemarie Doshier, Artie Ange and John Stubbings serve on various other NCAR committees.
Of the state's 72 boards and local associations, the Outer Banks ranks in the top 10, says Myers. ``We're becoming more vocal. We finally feel like we have the state's attention and ear.'' MEMO: Send comments and questions to Chris Kidder at P.O. Box 10, Nags Head,
N.C. 27959. by CNB