In addition to an excellent lineup of articles addressing substantive industry issues and regional economic conditions, this issue of RE+VIEW highlights the important advocacy work that NVAR accomplishes on our behalf.

Each year, our NVAR Sr. Vice President of Public & Government Affairs, Mary Beth Coya, travels south on I-95 to work from Richmond lobbying on behalf of Northern Virginia Realtors® and homeowners. Joined by industry and Realtor® association representatives from throughout the Commonwealth, Coya and NVAR’s Government Affairs Director, Josh Veverka, work to ensure that our voice is heard in the General Assembly. Thanks to these collective efforts, a licensing requirement for home inspectors will take effect on July 1, 2017. 

Our NVAR staff members also go to bat for Realtors® in other arenas. For instance, this past March, NVAR Vice President of Education Brenda Heffernan presented a recommendation to the Virginia Real Estate Board Education sub-committee to expand the carry-over of CE credits to those earned in the latter part of a new licensee’s first licensing period. The VREB adopted the NVAR recommendation in its entirety. 

And speaking of going to bat for our industry, take advantage of an exciting opportunity to hit a home run for the Northern Virginia Realtors® Political Action Committee (NV/RPAC). Please join me and our CEO, Ryan T. Conrad, on Friday, June 10, for our Night at Nationals Park. Your $50 ticket (100 percent of which is an investment in NV/RPAC) includes a pre-game tailgate party at NVAR and round-trip motor coach transportation. No extra charge for the fun!

I’m happy to announce that our CEO’s inaugural RE+VIEW column appears in this issue. Please turn the page to read about some of his ideas for how NVAR can “Take Us Further!”