Dear OC Realtist members and community partners,
Thank you for your support of the Orange County Realtist Association. I would like you to know that I truly appreciate your support and that I serve the Office of the Presidency with a great deal of respect and honor for you, as well as the organization. I have from time to time joked with my peers and close friends that I want to be rescued from presidency, however, deep in my heart I know that there is no place I would rather be. I take great pride in serving this office and working with Realtist to help our community achieve the American dream of homeownership. I have served as President since our Charter on August 04, 2010. I am very proud to be the President of the Orange County Realtist, Director of the California Association of Real Estate Brokers, and a member of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, the oldest minority real estate trade association in the United States.

We want all of our members to promote our Realtist designation. Please put it on your business card, add it to your websites and to declare it equally along with your other designations as a real estate professional. We are Realtist, and our slogan and mission, “Democracy in Housing” is as important today as it was in 1947 when the organization began.

The first quarter is coming to an end and I’m very proud of what we have accomplished so far. First, we have formed a strategic alliance with our longtime partner and affiliate, the Orange County NAACP. Donald Craig, President, has served on our honorary board since the inception of our chapter and this year we have been working very closely together to cross-promote each other and to support our mutual events. The NAACP co-sponsored our Black History luncheon and celebration. Hari Jones, world-renowned historian and Assistant Director of the Civil War Museum in Washington, D.C., was our keynote speaker. His presentation was outstanding. The OC NAACP has likewise participated in our real estate seminars and we are planning in the planning stage for a joint bus trip to celebrate Juneteenth in Allenworth, in June. I serve as Chairman of the Membership Committee for the Orange County NAACP and I’m very proud to be working with the President Donald Craig and the NAACP board of directors NAACP in a more significant way this year. It can only get better from here, and I’m excited about our future partnership. Please visit www.naacp.org and join the Orange County Branch. Our branch number is 1052.

The OC Realtist Church initiative to promote homeownership with churches is off to a great start. So far, we have had over 100 people participate in two first-time homebuyer seminar during the first quarter. I would like to express my gratitude to Pastor Anthony Sagel of the New Covenant Church in Santa Ana and Elder Delaney and Larry Harper of Word of Faith Pentecostal Church in Santa Ana for opening their doors to the OC Realtist. I appreciate all of you for allowing our members to come in and to educate their members on the importance of homeownership. We are very excited about the future of this program. I am collaborating with the pastor of the Orange County Pastoral Alliance and our goal is to have a homebuyer’s workshop in every African American church in Orange County this year. Our challenge lies in our need for more members to handle all requests from the attendees of the workshops. It is my hope that our membership will grow exponentially over the next few months so that we may get the help we need. Pray for this great work. The homeownership rate for African Americans is the lowest it has been in decades, at 41.9%. Financial literacy is the solution to this problem and our mission is to solve it through programs like our homebuyer workshop that combines real estate and financial literacy education. The latter is quickly filling up with classes. Please check the website for the upcoming workshops and I continue to encourage you to become a Realtist and assist us.

The OC Realtist forum speakers delivered an online marketing session which has been a game changer for our chapter. Our first forum speakers included the national president Donnell Spivey who spoke about the mid-winter conference and about the value proposition of being a realtist. Mr. Spivey is always on point when he speaks as our leader. He is the pacesetter and flag bearer, the most passionate about NAREB’s history and its continued contributions to Democracy in Housing.

The online real estate marketing session was absolutely wonderful and educational. We had 10 realtists from all over the country pitching property for sale and it was exciting, informative and inspirational. It was refreshing listening to realtists successfully selling real estate and pitching the great deals they have for sale on the market and off-market. I want to encourage you to join us every 2nd and 4th Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Listen and participate in selling any listings you have as a listing agent or share the need you may have as a buyer’s agent on this national online marketing session. You can register at www.anymeeting.com/realtist.

The second quarter is going to be exciting and packed with great events. Please go the website and renew your membership today, if you haven’t done so. Please do not hesitate to participate! Get involved and become a member today.

Be Great because He Is Great and can do anything but fail.
Sincerely,
Eric Lawrence Frazier MBA
President