COVER STORY
YEARS OF IMPACT A Century of Service RASM’s Centennial Celebration
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century of service. It’s a significant milestone in so many ways. Countless homes bought and sold, enabling families to experience the American dream of home ownership and home appreciation - untold number of careers launched, relationships forged, and lives enriched. In 100 years, a myriad of commercial industries, retail centers, schools, and medical centers have been established to enhance our community, our quality of life, and provide much needed, convenient services. One hundred years of dedicated commitment and support to its Realtors®, to the community, and to the real estate industry. As we celebrate the legacy of the Association and celebrate this centennial year, let’s look at how it all began, how we’ve grown, and what’s to come in the next 100 years.
A RICH HISTORY It all began in 1922, as the “Bradentown” Florida Real Estate Board of Directors chartered the Bradentown Realtors® Association with 6 members, growing to 257 members in its first year of operation. At that time, Executive Secretary J.L. Wallace of the Florida Real Estate Association reported that it was “useless for a person to endeavor to go into the real estate business in Bradentown, if he is not a member of the board, because he would receive little recognition.” The board’s initiation fee was $200, certainly a hefty amount for 1922, but the respect for the newly formed association was evident from the start. The 6 | ELEVATE [ AUGUST 2022 ]
National Real Estate Journal (NREJ) reported that “the organization has the unqualified (without reservation) support of the businessmen in Bradentown, who feel that the Realty Board has proved one of the greatest factors in the development of their community; brokering under the multiple listing system.”1 In June of 1923, the National Association of Real Estate Board’s (known as the National Association of REALTORS® today), Board of Directors elected the Sarasota Realty Board to membership, with 21 active members. With the birth of both boards, the business of real estate in our two-county area was redefined, now under the umbrella of the NAR. Realtors® were now regulated by the NAR Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice, adopted in 1913, which was one of the first codifications of ethical duties adopted by any business group. The Code ensures that consumers are served by requiring Realtor® to cooperate with each other in furthering clients’ best interests. The Code has been revised many times to ensure that there is no room in our industry for hate speech, discriminatory speech or conduct of any kind.2 Through the years, both Associations experienced minor name changes, and by 1998, they were known as the familiar Sarasota Association of REALTORS® (SAR), and the Manatee Association of REALTORS® (MAR). On January 1, 2015, the two boards officially merged to form the REALTOR® Association of Sarasota and Manatee (RASM), with a combined 5,000 members.
