Greetings WMBA Friends and Colleagues,
Springtime is upon us! With it brings the anticipation of another homebuying season and the collective hope of an inventory bounce. And while we’re facing headwinds of raising (rising) rates, inflation, global unrest, and continued affordability concerns, we’ve been through worse (here’s looking at you 2008!). As industry leaders, we’ll need to roll up our sleeves, go back to the basics, and get involved. In this volatile market, staying informed and engaged is key to our personal and professional success. Here at the WMBA, our dedicated volunteers continue to work tirelessly to ensure our collective interests as an industry are met through Legislative efforts, PAC contributions, and our regular Program events aimed at promoting valuable, relevant content to our members.
Speaking of events, we’re excited to announce a “return to in-person’ events. This week, we will host our Realtor Panel at the Lunchbox Laboratory in Bellevue! This awesome event features leading real estate experts ready to share their unique perspectives on the market and industry. On May 5th, we are thrilled to be hosting our first IP Lunch, Today and Tomorrow… Seattle and Bellevue Charting Their Own Courses, at Perkins Coie Conference Center. For registration and more information, please click here.
Shifting into other WMBA efforts, this past January marked our busy Legislative Session. Our lobbyist, Jessica Fortescue, yet again, proved her value by keeping us not only informed, but petitioning for items important to the industry. Areas such as Data Privacy, Commercial Solicitation, and taxes (surcharges) aimed at financial institutions. All of these items – while they may not sound glamorous – can and will impact us in some way, especially if we don’t have representation. To learn more or to get involved, feel free to reach out to our WMBA Executive Office and sign up for our legislative updates: admin@wa-mba.org.
Along the same lines, our PAC Committee has done an amazing job of continuing to help fund these legislative efforts. We encourage everyone to contribute and – as they say – to help us put our money where our mouth is! https://wa-mba.org/wmba-pac/
Looking ahead, we have our exciting WMBA Auction this May and as always, Golf Tournament in July! Registration is open for the Auction and keep an eye out for golf. Both of these are sell-out events and critical to our association’s success. We appreciate your support and please consider donating or getting involved today!
Lastly, I’d like to send a shout-out to all of those who volunteer and show up for the WMBA. We have busy schedules and other priorities, but this storied association holds a special place in the mortgage community, and it goes in our business, “it takes a village.” Special note to our Program’s Committee Chair, Tonja, for stepping up this year in this new role and helping to bring us our awesome events!
We’ve had a challenging two years of being in a virtual environment, but as move back towards “normalcy”, we’ll need to rely on volunteers to continue our important efforts. Starting next year, in September, we plan on bringing back all of our regular, in-person events including our Past Presidents night. For ways to get involved, please feel free to reach out to me directly, or any Board Member, and we’d love to learn more about your interest and share what the WMBA means to us and why its success is important.
Wishing everyone a healthy Spring and look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events!
Jim
