Journalists Ralph Bivins, Robin Martin and Richard Paoli with Houston Mayor Bill White and

Bob Hale, president of the Houston Association of Realtors. White and Hale were speakers

at NAREE's 2004 Conference.

Why Go to a NAREE Anyway?
By Ralph Bivins, RealtyNewsReport.com and
NAREE04 Conference Co-Chair, '96 president

     NAREE Spring Conferences are designed to cover the beat from outside the box, and ahead of the curve.  Whether we hop a ski lift around a new resort, race golf carts through a real estate mogul's private course, or sail by an evolving shoreline. 
     The visit to the top of the Olympic ski jump in Park City, Utah and the the trek to Re/Max founder Dave Liniger's Colorado mountain are two examples.  And this year, we climb aboard "Celebrity" to see what's going down the Anacostia River much the same way we sailed the Caribbean blue waters of Lake Las Vegas during NAREE's '97 confab.
     Our Spring Conferences also present opportunities to meet and listen to important newsmakers: President Bill Clinton in '95, Donald Trump in '02 and former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros on several occasions. Stay tuned for some keynote surprises for '05.
     NAREE has ventured outside of the United States on one at least one occasion. In 2003, we went past Tijuana into rural Mexico and toured a fascinating affordable home project there ($30,000  for single family homes made of CBS). Conferees also got to talk to Mexican home buyers as well as the developers they expected to see during the San Diego Spring Conference.
     Getting it first, and lining up all of the players are always priorities on the NAREE agenda. The main architect, and developer took us on the tour of Disney's innovative Celebration project in 1996 -- before the big story came out in the trades, so our members could write it first.  And last year in Houston, we had a barbeque at some edgy metal-skinned lofts units in a fringe area. And world-renowned developer Gerald Hines flew in from London to talk to us about what he started in Houston and continued around the globe.
     A somber moment in the NAREE Spring Conference history was the viewing of Ground Zero in '02.  It was just months after the 9/11 tragedy.   We also got a feeling for what fellow reporters went through at an end-of conference symposium with the New Yorkers press as they recalled their personal and professional experiences on that day. A few NAREE veterans still recall that the NAREE Conference toured the World Trade Center in 1980 when the towers were symbols of the city's impressive skyline, and when NAREE the unveiling of  the scale model even before that.
     You could say NAREE has been everywhere.  NAREE moments range from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and the Apollo Theater in Harlem to Chicago's Westside and New Orlean's loft coversions to the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake.
     Whether by bus, boat, limo, subway, golf cart or ski gondola, the Spring Conference is constructed so members will get a new perspective as they ENJOY THE RIDE.
     The NAREE Spring Conferences are an annual tradition that began 39 years ago. This year's return to Washington promises to be another great chapter in the history of NAREE's Spring Conferences. Be there to bring home the cutting edge  and make some memories in the process.