RLM Recap & A Fond Farewell

In this special episode of Keys to the Emerald Coast, Association Executive Melissa Skoniecki joins Maria to recap their experience at the National Association of REALTORS®' Leadership Meeting (RLM) in Washington, D.C. They share key takeaways, leadership insights, and the conversations shaping the future of the real estate industry and REALTOR® associations.

But this episode is about more than leadership, it's also about gratitude.

We take time to celebrate and say a heartfelt farewell to our incredible host and Marketing & Communications Director, Chad Nelson, as he begins an exciting new chapter in his career. Chad's leadership, vision, and unwavering commitment have left a lasting mark on ECAR, our members, and our staff. His passion for serving others helped shape this podcast and strengthened our association in countless ways. While we'll certainly miss him, we're grateful for the legacy he leaves behind and wish him nothing but success in the journey ahead.

As Chad passes the microphone, Melissa Skoniecki steps in as interim host, continuing the conversations that keep our members informed, connected, and inspired.

Join us as we reflect on leadership, celebrate new opportunities, and honor someone who has truly made a lasting impact on the Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS®.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Keys to the Emerald Coast, the official podcast of the Emerald Coast Association of World Tours. Each episode, we unlock market insights, advocacy updates, and member stories to help you thrive one key at a time.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome back, Ecar. Thanks for joining us for another episode of Keys to the Emerald Coast. I am Chad Nelson, Marketing and Communications Director with Ecar. I am joined by my co-host and the always amazing Maria Howell.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Thank you, Chad. Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Good.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

I sensed a sadness in your voice. Yeah. Yeah. Are are you sad?

SPEAKER_01 0:37

I'm sad.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

There's no reason to be sad. No, no.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

We'll talk about it later. Okay, we'll talk about it. We're gonna talk about it later.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

I got you.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

All right.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

We're also joined in studio. We haven't had her around for a little while, so we're we're I know.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

We have her back. Hi, you guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Our illustrious AE Melissa Skonecki is in the building.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Hey Chad.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

How are you?

SPEAKER_02 1:02

I'm good. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Good to have you.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

It's great to be here. I hate that Maria is so sad. That is a very woman answer. We'll talk about it later.

unknown 1:10

I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

We'll talk about it later. Beside eye, I know.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

It's okay. But I am happy and grateful that I got to spend last week with Melissa. Yeah, that was a good time in Washington, D.C.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Got some great pictures of everybody.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah, we were all, what was it? Um, divide and conquer, as Melissa says.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

We divided and conquered. We flew in on Saturday afternoon, late afternoon. Uh went to bed early that night and hit the ground running on Sunday morning. Now putting a suit on at 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning in DC. And it was hot. And it was hot. Yeah. But they had the big uh UFC fight paleo going on. We were there.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

We were in the family staying at the hotel that had their like UFC t-shirts on, the kids, and yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

I didn't even put two and two together. We didn't either.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

We were like, oh, when is that?

SPEAKER_00 2:08

I turned that on too. I didn't put two and two together. That's so funny.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

I I had to laugh because I think at one point you put in the group chat, I think everyone was going to dinner, and you're like, no, I'm staying in and I'm eating leftovers. I was like, okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

I was saving money, actually. That was me being frugal. Yeah. It is expensive in DC, but boy, what a great foodie town, though, or foodie city, I should say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

I've never been. I you have to go. I've never really been up to the East Coast at all. You know, it's a great city uh of our podcast. I I think you know, a subtitle might be Chad's Never Been. Awesome. There's a lot. I think a lot of times we say, you know, I've never been there.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

I've never I guess we need to text Shelby and Hey, for your next anniversary.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

There we go.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Take Chad to DC. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Need to live a little, especially in DC. And right now, uh, this particular administration has spent a lot of money cleaning up DC. And I went on a quick tour. I had an afternoon off, and I thought, I want to go see some monuments on a bicycle. So uh went on a bicycle tour and went to all my favorite places: the Lincoln Memorial, the Roosevelt Memorial, Vietnam, all of that good stuff. And, you know, he told the stories behind it. But the city right now is so clean and easy to get around. And in the past, it hasn't necessarily been like that. So um it's very walkable. It's yeah, yeah. And and it you, you know, you go back in time a little bit with the foundation of our country and whatever your political beliefs, you have to respect and honor, you know, how our great nation was developed, you know, from the very beginning. It's super cool.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Well said. Well, I I guess for our members who may not be familiar with it or, you know, realtor, what is realtors, legislative meetings? Why is it important to, you know, eCAR members, um, and and why the presence in Washington, D.C.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Well, Maria, am I gonna take this or would you like to? I'll take it. It gives the uh associations across the country an opportunity to come together for local, federal, and state issues and advocacy issues. So we always bring our GAD or RAD GAD and Melissa Garza, government affairs director, and our NAR directors, and that's why Maria was there because she is a voting NAR director and a few members of our executive team. And we have the opportunity to really learn what bills and what legislation is shaping the real estate industry and even our profession. Uh, and we have an opportunity during that time to go to the Hill, Capitol Hill, and speak with staff and our elected officials and legislatures on uh topics and issues that are important to uh property owners and realtors in the real estate industry, and that's what we did.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Did I see you get like 1.5 million real term members were there?

SPEAKER_01 5:28

No, that's that's how many we have nationwide. So there were 8,000 realtor members there from all over. I mean, I I met the state of Alaska's president at one of the meetings I was in. But yeah, it's it's all over. And with our region, region five, we have representatives from Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, um Georgia. Yeah, nope. Is Georgia? No, Georgia, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi, Alabama, Alabama. There's another few of those islands, St. Thomas, right? And yeah, very, very diverse The Virgin Islands, yeah. Yeah, very diverse region that we have. Yeah. Yeah. And Florida is of course the largest.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

Yeah, Florida comes in strong. It it is uh it's an honor to stand up when they say, Hey, Florida, it's Florida in the house. And you you hear us loud and proud, that's for sure. Yeah. That's awesome. Definitely.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Well, what were I guess most of maybe most the most important issues discussed, I guess, with the the lawmakers this year, um, and maybe which one of those or maybe a couple were um maybe going to have the most impact with our realtor members?

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Uh well, we had the opportunity to speak to the staff of um representative or congressman uh Jimmy Petronas. Uh, they were on recess when we were there. They were coming in the day after we left, but um we made it very clear to his staff that we were in support of the 21st century Road to Housing Act, and that actually passed the Senate and the House this week. It's kind of stalled at the president's desk uh for all kinds of reasons. But this was an opportunity really to see e-car advocacy in action uh as negotiating negotiations were happening at a federal level. Our local association was on hand um to encourage that continued collaboration. So we were really proud of that. Uh More Homes on the Market Act. That was another one. Uh that's they like to call it the um uh home equity penalty, but I think we all know it as capital gains taxes. So that hasn't been updated since 1997. Uh so we want to update that capital gains to um what is it now? 250.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

250 for single and 500 for a married couple.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

So, what that means is if you're a married couple and you sell your house and your proceeds are more than $500,000, you're going to get taxed pretty heavily on that. And now with the increases of these home values, I think we're up 275% of home values when this was first enacted in 1997. So just think about an older couple who may have bought their home in Fort Walton Beach on the water in the 70s for $70,000, right? They paid that bad boy off a long time ago. And now they can put it on the market and they can sell it for maybe over $2 million. So they have a lot of equity in their home, but they're going to be taxed heavily based on the current laws in place. And so that money comes out of their funds for a downsize or retirement living or assisted living. So right now we're just simply asking, hey, let's move with the values of these homes and let's increase those limits so that tax burden isn't so great. The feedback from the legislature is pretty positive. So uh we started talking about this last year. Maria and I were in uh Mr. Patronus's office and it came up, and then we are still talking about it this year. So I think it has grown enough to have some legs now.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Yeah, and I mean they the discussion was, you know, they can't sell their homes because it's heavily taxed. So then what's what's happening is then you don't have that inventory for, you know, a young family who's looking to move up. They can't move up into one of these homes because they can't sell because of the tax burden. So it's yeah, so it's kind of creating a domino effect. And that's the reason we need help.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Yeah. When they when they put this together in 1997, uh within the 30 days after that um passing, uh almost half a million homes came onto the market that weren't on the market before. And they attribute that to across the country, by the way, half a million across the country. They attribute that to that that new capital gains rule that they put in place. So uh more homes on the market is what it's called. It'll kind of open up inventory a little bit and it'll give us a more of a housing supply.

unknown 10:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Yeah. And there was a panel that we sat in on, and the gentleman, I can't remember his name, he he kind of is the liaison into the Senate side of the business. Um, you know, works for NAR, um, an attorney for us, but he said that it's actually, yeah, very well received over on the Senate side where it hadn't been before. So that's good news. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Maria, you kind of you kind of mentioned it a little bit just about, you know, young families maybe moving up into their, you know, maybe being able to move into a a larger home. I I guess housing affordability you know remains a national concern. What solutions were possibly addressed at RLM? Um, what progress did you guys hear about during those meetings?

SPEAKER_01 10:59

So I think the main thing was, you know, with with that legislation that was passed is, you know, how can we have governments make it easier for permitting process for the builders and you know, maybe give the builders some incentives to where they could build affordable homes, you know, for for our first-time buyers or for these young families and and kind of um remove the barriers for that and help them with cost of um you know, construction would, you know, the supplies to build these homes, if they can help them with the cost of that, then maybe they can build homes for a little bit less price and they and they can price it properly for our first-time home buyers and uh yeah, and move up families.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

I think you you had mentioned talking about renters.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Oh, the nugget, the biggest nugget, it kind of makes you like mouth drop. Uh 76% of renters believe that they will never be able to afford their own home.

unknown 12:00

Scary.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

It is scary, and we have so many opportunities for those folks. And you know, outside of the federal stuff, Florida is really ahead of its time. I always discover that when I go to uh NAR events. Um when we sit around these round tables and you have other association leadership talking about what problems they're having in their states and in their local communities. Um, and we've dealt with those problems, you know, the insurance issues that Florida was having seven, eight years ago. Uh, we're starting to see some ease on that here in the last year. Uh, personally, myself, I have, you know, was surprised when I got my renewal notice that it was much lower instead of much higher. And that's happening across our state. Other states are kind of feeling that that hurdle right now. Uh, hometown Heroes that was just passed in the budget, you know, they re-upped our hometown heroes money to help those first-time homebuyers and ship and sale has been fully funded. So in the state of Florida, we've got some really great opportunities. I would always encourage realtors um to speak with their lenders or, you know, at this time it's a quick search on the internet, you know, what opportunities do first-time homebuyers have in the state of Florida? Because we have a lot to offer here.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Yeah, ask those questions for sure. I got I guess beyond the the policy discussion, um, what what other you know, ideas, trends, practices, what else kind of came out of some of those those discussions that eCAR members can take back locally?

SPEAKER_01 13:44

AI. Yeah, a lot of AI. And I'm gonna speak for brokers because I attended the small broker committee. I also attended the broker engagement committee, and the main thing they discussed was that we as brokers should have an AI policy for our agents. And so NAR has drafted a template for our brokers to use for an AI policy for their office. So they're welcome to use it. Um, we it's on the website smallbroker. Yeah, smallbroker. Is the site and they have a template in there for us to use. So that's, you know, just to protect the the brokers because you don't know what your agents are doing, you know, with the AI and make sure you're not uploading uh confidential, you know, documents. And if you're putting in contracts or things that you want, you know, some questions with to redact the names and just to be, you know, aware of fair housing um violations, thing, you know, and misrepresentation. So yeah, there was a lot of those discussions.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

I attended an AI. What the top five things you need to know in an AI right now, um, treasurer Sherry Salais sat in this particular class with me, and they had a couple of developers of software, three or four different types of software. So the interesting thing now is they have software where they're saying, hey, if you're gonna use AI in your business, you know, you funnel it through the software, and that software protects you against um crossing those confidentiality lines, you know, when you use it. So there is policy in place now. The broker templates are amazing, the NAR put up. There's there's more and more information. You can really tell the leadership there is working very hard to provide uh realtors with the resources. But, you know, I think you're gonna start to see a lot of uh realtor software come out that's gonna help um keep you in those boundaries and and keep those guardrails up for you.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Oh, that's good. As a creative myself, I think over the last uh five or six months, just seeing the inundation of AI generated flyers or open house. And not that it wasn't there before, but I think it has been so much more prevalent and seeing logos and stuff that I know is against NAR regulations and and you're just like, oh man, somebody's going to get in trouble. And they're yes, it's AI is amazing and it can make things happen.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Man, you have got to be gotta double check it, and you have to make sure it's compliant.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

And and guess what? If not, the broker's liable.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Yeah. Yeah, we've got to be paying attention.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Coming from a broker. Coming from a broker. So please be aware.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

That's very well said.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Um also we had such I really enjoyed the session. We had um a historian as one of the um the opening session, right? Our general session that our CEO, Nikia Wright, um, spoke with oh my gosh, what Doris Kearns. Goodwin. Goodwin Kearns. Oh, what an amazing woman. I am stories. Oh, yeah. We were all just like, it was yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

So good. For this session, when I saw that she was gonna be the keynote, I was so excited. And so I was talking to all of the girls. Uh, we it was a it was a trip of women on this. We didn't have any of the guys with us uh about what an incredible author she was. She's a presidential historian, and her husband is Richard Goodwin, who was the speech writer for Lyndon B. Johnson. His main speech. And um, she goes, and she's she's gotta be in her 90s, honestly. And the storytelling that she gave us, it was just incredible. And she told us stories, you know, all the way back to Abraham Lincoln because she uh biographied him and researched him. Um, but that was a real treat. And that was really a a good kickoff that NAR provided, and all the feedback there was you got to put this online and make this available to everybody.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Everyone has to see that.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

It was it was so interesting and inspiring, and um, and we all left with a smile. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Yeah, just sharing like some of the intimate um conversations, you know, and thoughts of like Abraham Lincoln and what he went through in his presidency and Lyndon Johnson and Roosevelt. And Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy and even Eleanor Roosevelt. It gives me chills, but yes, it's it was so good.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

That is that is the best book she wrote. The FDR book is the best book that she wrote. I read it in a weekend when I had the flu, and it was so good. So I know it sounds boring, but her books are amazing. Doris Kern's Goodwin is her name. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Good reads.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Yeah, amazing.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

Well, I guess, well, after spending the week in Washington, uh, what's your biggest takeaway? Uh or what should I guess eCar members be be paying attention to over the next year?

SPEAKER_01 19:10

You know what I what what was interesting to me when Shannon McGann, who's our um head of the our advocacy team, she said that they have had 50 meetings in the White House this year so far. That's pretty amazing for a national association as large as we are to have that much time in the White House. I agree. And that shows how important our issues are. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

I would say stay close to the issue, get involved. You know, Maria and I do this new member orientation every month. We got we average what 35 to 50 new members and we're talking to them about what the association has um and our benefits and tools and resources, but we also remind them that they may not like it, but being in real estate means that you're in politics in a way. Um, so um I I would just encourage, get involved. You know, you you don't have to get involved with the issues. Uh the issues are what's important, you know. We are the realtor party, we don't sway one way or another. Um, we fight for property owners, their rights, and and for our industry and our profession.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Uh so if um if you see something um that's bothersome to you, say something or stumble into the association and talk to us about it.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Um, because I mean that that was the other conversation they were talking about is getting uh meetings with the um Department of Labor because they're always looking at us as independent contractors and wanting to change our status to an employment status. So that is gonna be something we need to really pay attention to in the future is our status, because I think we all enjoy being independent contractors, you know? So that could be a big change if we don't fight it.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

You know, the the more I go especially on the executive level with the association and not the the realtor member level anymore, I I leave these conventions and things realizing that we are uh ahead. We're ahead of our time in the association world, and we offer so much to our members. Uh, and I want to continue to get that word out of all of the benefits that we offer and continue to add to that list because other associations are are struggling in so many areas. Yes. And in so many, in those same areas, you know, we were able when we have these workshops and round tables. Um eCar has the ideas at the table, it's pretty amazing, and it makes me feel so um happy and satisfied and grateful to be a part of. This team that works so hard to put this this type of thing together for our members.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Yeah. And then we want to end it with Florida is going to be very prominent and in the House next year at the little NAR level. So let's say who is who's representing us.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

Christine Hansen will be our president in 2027. Patty Fitzgerald was elected treasurer of 2027. Fernando Aaron Fiba, he is on our uh executive team, the leadership team at Florida Realtors. He'll be the commercial and industry specialties liaison. Margie Grant is the association executives or association leadership liaison. And our Region 5 uh vice president is past president Gia Arvin. So uh Florida, Florida's definitely in the house. Yes, next time.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

You're presenting strong on the national level, which is great. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

It's good. Good teams all around.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Yeah. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Awesome. Well, I guess speaking of good teams. I've got to rip off a band aid and say that as a good team, I unfortunately have to retire from a really good team and and bid farewell to this podcast and to this lovely association. I unfortunately am not unfortunately, but un unfortunately as well, am taking another position with another organization. And I I I loved my time with this amazing group of people and love everybody, love the association. I want to thank obviously Maria and and my amazing AE for trusting me with this podcast and with everything that they've entrusted me with and um for graciously letting me leave without shooting firing arrows and all that kind of fun stuff. But um yeah, I I want to pass the torch, obviously, to the the two lovely ladies and and leave you all in their gracious hands. Um Melissa Skineki will be interim taking over for me. That as well taking over the the reins of this show for a little while as we kind of transition and figure out what this looks like, but you'll be hearing these two lovely ladies' voices for the unforeseen future. And uh yeah, that's why we're a little sad in the yes in the studio today.

SPEAKER_02 24:41

But can I pop in here? Yeah, I just want to say uh congratulations, Chad, on your new opportunity. I know it's something that you were looking forward to and that you wanted, and I'm really proud of you, and I'm glad it has come your way and you're walking through that door. So good for you. Secondly, I want to just say thank you because when I came into this role at the association, uh, we had a lot of missing pieces. And um and it it was great to have you by my side to help uh just kind of balance morale, uh, lift morale, and uh very quickly we all became very close. And you have seen every side of emotion that I produce, and I apologize to you on occasion to include this morning for saying a bad word in your office. Um, but I uh I just want to say thank you so much. It's been a real pleasure getting to know you, and we are better for having you in that seat, sir. Yes, thank you for being the best, best co-host ever.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

The gentle giant. I know. And go visit these places.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Yes, yeah, I need to get out. I need to get out more.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

And we're gonna see you around because Shelby is still with you.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Yep. I will I will still be around uh happily just now as a piece of arm candy.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

Yeah, I'll take that.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

We'll still put you to work though.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

Uh happily. I will I will still l you know uh the thing uh about e cars, I think I got used more as uh lift, yeah, find the high places and dust. And well, you grab this off the top shelf more than most things. But yeah, it was fun. But I I appreciate my time and yeah, thanks everybody for for listening to this crazy voice for the past 41 episodes of our podcast.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

41 episodes. But thank you, Chad. And now it's gonna be your turn to say until until next time.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

Next time, farewell. Goodbye, bye, everybody.