association mergers: Hat Trick: Orange Association Approves Merger with Westchester and Rockland
- 11/02/11 03:10 PM
This morning in New Windsor, New York, I had the privilege of witnessing the Orange County Association of Realtors overwhelming vote in favor of merging their association with WPAR (Westchester-Putnam) and ROCBOR (Rockland) to form the new Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors. This was the third and final "yea" vote between the three boards, and paves the way for an offical merger commencing January 1, 2012. OCAR's leadership did an outstanding job of educating the membership on the merits of the merger proposal, from a well done YouTube video by president Ron Garafalo to office meetings, informational mailings and even social media. No … (13 comments)
association mergers: Rockland Membership Approves Merger with WPAR and Orange
- 10/26/11 03:33 PM
This afternoon at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Suffern, the membership of the Rockland County Board of Realtors voted overwhelmingly to merge their organization with the Westchester-Putnam and Orange Associations. This was the second thumbs up in three days, as Westchester-Putnam had a similar yes-vote on Monday. Orange will vote on Tuesday. You might ask why this is significant to the public. What do consumers care about all this inside baseball stuff? They still have to pay their X% when the house sells no matter who licks the stamps on the stationary. Perhaps. But then again, the public really does not … (3 comments)
association mergers: WPAR Membership Approves Merger with Rockland and Orange
- 10/24/11 04:39 PM
Today was the annual meeting of the Westchester-Putnam Association of Realtors (WPAR), and it was not your typical annual meeting. Elections were held for both the Association and the Empire Access MLS, and Yours Truly was confirmed for a 3rd term as MLS Vice President. Among my duties in the past few months was to be on the committee to discuss the proposed merger of the WPAR, Rockland County Board, and Orange County Association (OCAR) to form the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors (HGAR). Today, by an overwhelming margin, our membership approved the merger. There was a tiny burp of skepticism … (8 comments)
association mergers: On WPAR Merger Talks
- 09/30/11 04:50 PM
The September edition of Real Estate In Depth, the official publication of the Westchester Putnam Association of Realtors, has an announcement that WPAR is in discussions with neighboring organizations on the possibility of a merger. The other associations are the Rockland County Board of Realtors and the Orange County Association of Realtors, and the idea also includes the WPAR-owned Empire Access MLS and the OCAR-owned Greater Hudson Valley MLS. A work group of the five entities has met a number of times to discuss how the possible merger might be achieved, what the advantages would be, and what potential issues might … (3 comments)
association mergers: Large Associations and Large MLS Systems
- 08/26/10 01:31 AM
Inman had news yesterday of REALTOR association mergers, and posed the question of the value of such moves. Given my involvement in a large territory spanning half a dozen MLS systems and many more boards, I feel that I should weigh in on the matter. I am a big fan of large MLS systems, but not terribly jazzed about big boards. Ths state of Connecticut aparently agrees with me- aside from Fairfield County, they have a statewide MLS but have retained local boards, often on a town level. More on that later. Big MLSes are good, but so are smaller boards. … (39 comments)
Phil Faranda is broker and owner of J. Philip Real Estate LLC in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Since founding the firm as a sole practitioner in late 2005, the team has grown to over 80 agents & closed 1000+ transactions valued at over $1 billion. He was 2014 President of the HGMLS and a 2017 Inman Influencer. This blog commentary is geared toward consumers and industry colleagues alike. You can reach him at (914) 723-8900. Warning: *Sarcasm and irony advisory at all times.*
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This morning in New Windsor, New York, I had the privilege of witnessing the Orange County Association of Realtors overwhelming vote in favor of merging their association with WPAR (Westchester-Putnam) and ROCBOR (Rockland) to form the new Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors. This was the third and final "yea" vote between the three boards, and paves the way for an offical merger commencing January 1, 2012. 
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