Small is Beautiful

Though there is unity in the arbitration/ethical arena, there are, as with MLS membership, nuances that differentiate the associations’ respective approaches to the matter, and in the case of OPAAR, Keating says the association is distinguished by its relative smallness – a quality that, in her mind, is OPAAR’s biggest advantage to its members.

Keating has been in her position for more than 18 years, and was the recipient of Chicago Agent’s 2012 Agents’ Choice award for Association VIP. Wryly referring to her “two-and-a-half” person staff for OPAAR, which includes herself, her assistant and one part-time employee, Keating says the association conducts its business through the prism of a smaller, community-themed association, a distinction that grants it numerous benefits over its larger brethren, particularly in her relationship with the membership.

“I have a very good rapport with our members, which is a huge perk to having a smaller association, because you know all of them,” Keating explains. “When somebody walks in, I know their mother-in-law had hip surgery, or that they have a brand new grandson. And for some people, that’s extremely important – it’s like a family atmosphere, which you can’t have when you have a huge association. It’s not possible.”

The theme of “family” is one that Keating references often, particularly when OPAAR members visit the association’s headquarters in Oak Park. Family even plays a role in the association’s aforementioned approach to arbitration and complaints; because the association is small, Keating says, and because 96 percent of its members are based in either Oak Park, River Forest or Forest Park, chances are the brokers know one another well, and are able to settle any disputes without involving the association. Though they do still encounter multi-board disputes, Keating says she’s seen only four inner-board disputes arise in all of 2012.

The “small is beautiful,” kindred philosophy that Keating preaches also influences the way she manages the association and its members. She conducts business in a direct, efficient way by personally contacting members and reminding them of licensing requirements, continuing education courses and any other industry necessities that require their immediate attention. That way, Keating says she can ensure that her members are up-to-date on all their needs, and she does point to some notable stats supporting the success of her approach. The transition licensing requirements for Illinois real estate professionals, which took effect April 30, resulted in a 22.3 percent decrease in overall licensees for Illinois, according to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation; yet for OPAAR, an association with 450 members, only two members failed to make the transition, and one of those was because the member failed to mail the necessary paperwork after he had completed it.

Also, Keating says because she exerts such direct control over the finances and programing of the association, OPAAR’s president, who is elected to one two-year term (rather than the one-year terms served by most other association presidents), serves in more of a “figurehead” capacity, as she described it, a public face for the association in its relationship with the real estate community and homebuying public. So while Keating, for instance, is scrutinizing budget details and contacting members for continuing education requirements, the association’s president, who is currently Andy Gagliardo, the managing broker of Gagliardo Realty Associates in River Forest, will take part in interviews with the press and other more public activities.

That approach to the CEO/president relationship is different from how MORe operates, where the relationship between Corder and Krieter works in a more fluid manner. Though on the whole, Corder concerns herself more with the membership and Krieter with raw financial matters of the association, she says those responsibilities are not mutually exclusive, so while she partakes in MORe’s budgeting process in August and September, Krieter is quite engaged with the services offered by MORe, particularly in notifying its broad membership of the many programs MORe offers them.