Mid-Fairfield County Association of Realtors considers its place at home and within its industry

The leadership of the Mid-Fairfield County Association of Realtors (MFCAR) is eager to share what they have learned from both the recent annual conference held by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in San Diego and what they have seen while working throughout the pandemic and all of the attendant challenges it brought.

Carol Heins, Nadine Tanen and Ken D’Arinzo have more than 50 years of real estate experience between them in MFCAR’s coverage areas of Norwalk, Weston, Westport, Ridgefield and Wilton, and their organization represents more than 1,200 real estate agents who serve this region’s more than 140,000 residents. Heins is the current associate executive of the organization, while Tanen is serving as the president of the MFCAR board until Jan. 1, when she will be replaced by D’Arinzo.

D’Arinzo and Tanen both attended the National Association of Realtors Conference in San Diego from Nov. 12-15 in person while Heins joined virtually.

“One of the things they emphasized,” D’Arinzo said, “is transparency to the clients and it’s transparency to each other. One of the things that they’re doing is that when a listing goes out to third-party internet sites or if other real estate companies put your listing out there, it’s going to be a requirement that the listing agent’s information is going to be included with that.”

Communication, all three agreed, was a main highlight of the conference. Realtors are also contending with improving clarity not only between clients and realtors and between realtors from different firms, but within the same agency.

“So many realtors now are with teams within their offices,” Heins added. “There are certain areas when you’re posting signs on the property that you have to put the name of the company on there, not only your names personally. It’s a big issue that they’re still working through.”

Discussions are ongoing for what forms this change will ultimately involve, but it is certain that in the near future teams of realtors within brokerages will have to register together with the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection both as individuals and as a group, possibly as a subsidiary of their brokerage.

“I think it goes back to what you said about transparency, because if you work for a team, your name doesn’t necessarily come up anywhere,” Tanen added.

Another issue that the MFCAR delegation highlighted was to support an overhaul of how NAR weighs internal votes in order to better represent the interests of small and medium-sized local organizations. D’Arinzo explained that as the incoming MFCAR president he was the designated voting delegate, representing MFCAR’s 12,00 members.

“But then there’s a board such as Miami or Houston who has 10,000 votes,” he observed. “One of the things we were voted on is working out a formula to give small or medium-sized brokerages additional votes with their delegates so that it’s not overpowering.

“If Houston or Miami got together with a few other larger boards, they could control whatever they wanted to do within the National Association of Realtors,” he added. “So, that was a good thing.”

Those attending the conference in person were subject to strict Covid controls, and the pandemic’s impact was much discussed. On the home front, the leadership of MFCAR felt confident about the real estate market’s ability to move past the pandemic, although they cautioned there may be some longer lasting effects, particularly among younger professionals who may not be tied to an office.

“I would say that people are not necessarily moving to commute,” Tanen said. “New Britain may be just as good as Norwalk for a person depending on what their position is, but our Fairfield County values are still very high.”

“Buyers seem to be looking for convenience,” D’Arinzo agreed. “In New Cannan the homes that are close to the main street, close to the center of town, are selling much quicker than the homes on the outskirts.”

Millennials want to be near the train station, D’Arinzo continued, pointing out that the younger demographic is considering condominiums that make getting into the city easier and have nearby amenities over larger, but more isolated living spaces. As their needs change after forming families, he said, younger buyers may once again reevaluate their priorities.

But Heins cautioned that there are potential shifts even closer at hand.

“I think with the summer, like last summer, everybody will be looking to be near the beach,” he predicted. “Everybody was home schooling and weren’t sending their children to school. They wanted to have better access for their children.”

All three took the continued pace of development in Fairfield County cities as a positive sign. New condominium units are selling and new rentals are filling up reliably despite pandemic-related increases in building materials.

However, other aspects of a post-pandemic recovery may depend on factors closer to home. One of the amenities those younger homebuyers and renters want access to are shops and stores, but commercial business districts across Fairfield County are marked by empty retail locations seeking tenants. Tanen cited a new wave in pop-up retailing as an encouraging reversal of the trend, pointing to Bridgewater Chocolates which opened a location in Westport for the holiday season as a prelude to a permanent location.

“Once landlords start letting the little things happen then it’ll get better,” she stated. “But I think for a while they weren’t letting anyone in if they didn’t come to their price and nobody had the ability to do that because of the pandemic.”