Marking PAR’s 100th Anniversary: Past President Jerry Speer

Editor’s note: The Pennsylvania Association of Realtors® is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. As part of our Member Profile feature, we’ll be highlighting some of the Realtors® who have served as president of the organization.

Name: Jerry Speer
Company: Equity Real Estate Services, Inc.
Years in real estate: 49 years
Local association: Realtors® Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh
Year served: 2000 president

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self?
I thought about my year as president and I really think I would do things pretty much the same as I did. I was very happy with it. I traveled across the state, far and near, to various associations’ installations, got to know many areas of the state and I think it worked out very well. It was a great experience.

Why should agents get involved in their local, state and national associations?
I do advise Realtors® to become involved in their local, state and national associations. It’s the basis for education, support for industry and for their individual successes, whether they’re running an office, they are a sales associate or an associate broker. The educational opportunities are endless. The information is the basic source of positive understanding and knowledge that a Realtor® can obtain.

What advice would you give someone who was thinking of moving up through the offices in PAR?
Those who are interested in moving into offices at PAR should be involved, become involved and stay involved. They should choose some area of interest to them and really get involved with it on an active basis. You’ve got to participate.

What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in the real estate market since you started?
Well certainly the biggest change in the real estate market over the years I’ve been involved has been in technology. It’s been a great help to us. There are some areas where we don’t always appreciate it, but I think overall, it’s made our jobs and our lives a whole lot easier. We can get a whole lot more accomplished in a very short period of time. The internet is a source of information that’s endless, as compared to what we had when I started, when flyers were sent to us on a daily, weekly basis that included new listings that came out. Now, listings are updated every approximately 20 minutes throughout the whole United States. Certainly, technology has been an unbelievable benefit for us to operate our businesses that way.

Do you think the environment or technology will have a bigger impact on real estate in the next 100 years?
Well, I tell most people about that the future of real estate with regards to technology versus environment, that I’m really the last guy who wants to save the whales. I really think technology is the major issue and we have to kind of hold back on some of these environmental things that really don’t affect us. They could be of some significance, but they’ll be taken care of. Again, it’s the improvements in technology. We’ve got to keep ourselves involved on a personal basis because sales – successful sales and careers in sales – are more driven by our personal contacts than they are by technology. But there’s going to be a push for more and more technology, and we should be able to make sure that we keep ourselves in the heart of the transaction.