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Realtors acknowledged the challenges of the current market but emphasized the accomplishments made in 2009 and potential for success in 2010 during the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association annual meeting earlier this week.

“We have made a big impact and it is all because we decided that we have somewhere to go,” said speaker Sandra O’Connor, president of the N.C. Association of Realtors and manager of Allen Tate Realtors’ Green Valley office.

O’Connor was referring to local members’ accomplishments at the state level and the state group’s efforts to educate Realtors about foreclosures, short sales and green designations, as well as initiatives to prevent transfer fees in real estate transactions and re-examine disaster-insurance issues that essentially affect properties statewide.

GRRA officers for 2010 also were announced during the meeting Tuesday.

• Kathleen Sullivan of Re/Max 1st Choice was voted president-elect 2010 during recent elections. She’ll follow Bill Guill of Allen Tate Realtors, who will become president in 2010 when Betty Smith’s current term expires.

Sullivan said her goals include keeping communication open with members, city officials and area residents. “It’s all about community, creating those neighborhood links,
creating good customer service among our neighbors for buyers and sellers,” she said.

• Burton Kennedy of Keller Williams Realty was announced 2010 assistant treasurer.

• Kelly Marks of Re/Max of Greensboro was elected 2010 Realtor Commercial Alliance board representative.

• And elected to the 2010 board of directors were Michelle Porter and Delaine Mehder, both of Yost & Little Realty, and Nancy Radtke with Allen Tate.

During her presentation, Smith ticked off a number of the local group’s accomplishments, which included successful grant applications to boost state and local homeownership programs, fundraising efforts for area charities and the group’s own political action committee, Realtor education measures, and progress on shaping legal issues like the Jordan Lake water quality regulations.

She also issued a challenge to the local group’s 1,723 members, asking them to not look back to past years’ success as a gauge for the future. “All of us need to accept the fact, and recognize the fact, that we are part of an emerging economy. … The whole world is changing. It’s not just us, and it’s not just real estate,” Smith said.

“We’ve got to reinvent ourselves. We’ve got to re-energize ourselves. And we’ve got to look forward to this new economy and this new world.”