Three months ago, in light of the recession”™s blow to the real estate sector, an idea was born to consider merging the Westchester Putnam Association of Realtors (WPAR) with its neighbors to the west, the Orange County Association of Realtors and the Rockland County Board of Realtors.
The move is aimed at combining the groups”™ declining membership bases into an all-encompassing 9,500-member organization, prospectively named the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors Inc. And if discussion on details ”“ governing structure, workable budget, the association”™s name ”“ continue to be met with such smooth agreement by all parties, the merge could be “at a break-neck pace” in full-effect by Jan. 1, according to P. Gilbert Mercurio, CEO of WPAR/EAMLS (Empire Access Multiple Listing Service) Inc.
“Not surprising to anyone, real estate practitioners are experiencing stress as other markets do when they lose members,” said Mercurio, of the trend in a shrinking nationwide membership base in Realtor associations. WPAR experienced a 6 percent membership loss since Jan. 1. “It”™s a smart, preventative measure to do things together and evolve into one organization and achieve economies of scale.”
The three neighboring associations have historically benefited from a good working relationship and so far, Mercurio said, “We haven”™t encountered any drawbacks and discussions have been very fruitful.” Plus, the volume of business across the Hudson River is steadily increasing, many “common customers” tend to move between these counties already, and the ability to maintain large databases on the Internet makes the merge, and the sharing of information, easier than ever.
Bill Thorne, president of the Rockland County Board of Realtors declined to comment on potential success until the deal is officially struck.
A big talking point centers on the fact that WPAR operates its subsidiary Empire Access Multiple Listing Service, while the Orange County Realtors association maintains the Greater Hudson Valley Multiple Listing Service Inc. The question then becomes, would the listing services combine or would a new product, operated by a new vendor, better serve the joint association?
A resolution on the matter won”™t happen for one to two years if the merge does goes through and the two separately operated MLSs work side-by-side during that period, said Gary Leogrande, president of EAMLS.
He does think the opportunity for networking and sharing content makes sense as “there”™s a certain level of camaraderie, plus the markets are similar.” He said the software between Westchester and Orange”™s MLS”™ “could be compatible, but it will take a lot more logistics. We (at EAMLS) don”™t track the sizes of rooms for example, so there are certain nuances to address so no one feels that they”™re losing something.”
There are no final figures on the potential joint membership base, but Leogrande said it would become the second largest Realtors group in New York state.
Fully recognizing membership losses at WPAR, Mercurio said, “The main benefit is a base which will let us maintain the level of services,” maybe even improve those services. Mercurio expects more organizations to consolidate and notes the 2009 Westchester-Putnam merge as a successful example.
