NAR DSA WINNER CHRIS McELROY Colorado Industry Leader Finds WorkLife Balance, Gives Sales Wisdom From 40-Year Career At the National Association of REALTORS®(NAR) mid-year meetings earlier this month, real estate leader and gamechanger Chris McElroy received NAR’s 2022 Distinguished Service Award (DSA). McElroy was CAR Chair in 1994, REALTOR® of the Year in 2000, has served on many CAR committees, and several years ago, he founded the popular Strategic Thinking Committee. Chris saw a need for industry thought leaders and experts to come together to make predictions and hurdle over obstacles in the business. His start was decidedly not in the real estate business. Few people know that when Chris moved to Fort Collins from Nebraska in 1974, and before he became a REALTOR®, he wanted to be a vet. The plan was to receive a degree from the Colorado State University’s renowned veterinary medicine program. And then life took a turn: “We ended up buying a pawnshop… good training to be a REALTOR®!” he joked. As a pawnshop owner, Chris was a proponent of meeting people where they stood. One woman brought in a radio for $5. “It was her prize possession. She paid the interest on that the whole time,” he said. Another woman brought in a 10-karat diamond ring, because “she thought the employees at the retirement home she was living in would steal it. She paid us to keep it in our safe.” Finally, Chris’ REALTOR® said he should get into the real estate business. Bob Nolin, the Fort Collins Board of REALTORS® (FCBR) association executive at the time, was his mentor. “He helped me get involved early in my career in volunteer leadership roles,” he said. One of these roles was as the FCBR Chair in 2000. Chris continues to serve because the industry is ever-changing. “Involvement helps me keep a keen eye on those changes. But the best part of involvement is the friendships created
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with REALTORS® all over the state and country. Truly, the REALTOR® family.” Some of his favorite mentors (along with Nolin), are people like his long-time friend Ken Libby, a Vermont REALTOR® whom he met and became close with because of their similar involvement in state association leadership roles. “We went through some tough times together,” said Chris. And there’s more: “With an award, the moment one starts mentioning names outside of one’s family, then there are so many more people a person can mention,” Chris said. He also credits Tyrone Adams, Suzan Koren, John Wendt, Kevin Cook, Connie Salazar, and George Harvey as examples of “long-lasting friendships that occur through leadership.” One of McElroy’s proudest moments of distinguished service is that he is a founder of CAR’s Strategic Thinking Committee, which gave members “a platform for percolating ideas important to our future as REALTORS®,” he said.
Chris McElroy’s best sales advice from 40 years of real estate: • Keep in touch and be transparent with your clients. It is not how much you make but how helpful you are with what’s going on in their lives. • Have your trusted lending team in place for quick turnaround closings or showing the value of adjustable-rate mortgages. They have fallen out of favor, but now could be a good time to take another look. • Meet appraisers with a package of information for their use on every contract. • Make sure to constantly thank all those involved in your business. Written thank you notes are the best medicine.
