Marking PAR’s 100th Anniversary: Past President Jim Helsel

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: James L. Helsel Jr.
Company: Helsel, Inc., Realtors® and Turn Key Realty Group, Camp Hill
Years in real estate: 46 years
Local association: Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors®
Year served: 1994 president

James L. Helsel Jr. is a third generation Realtor®, and his family has a legacy of serving as leaders in Realtor® organizations as well. Helsel served as PAR president in 1994. His father, James L. Helsel Sr. was PAR president in 1965 and his grandfather, Ben Helsel served in 1954. Helsel attributes his leadership service to his family, saying he probably wouldn’t be involved if it hadn’t been for his father and grandfather. Both James Jr. and Sr. also served as treasurer of the National Association of Realtors®. And Helsel’s son, Michael, is also a Realtor®. This year Helsel serves as president of the Real Estate Business Institute and as regional vice president of the Institute of Real Estate Management.

As NAR treasurer, Helsel served during the recession in 2008-2010. He said NAR had unique challenges with a drop in membership, but the association also had to ensure that Realtors® were able to do business, despite the economic conditions so NAR created some programs to help members during that time. Helsel chaired NAR’s Real Property Operations Committee during the development and construction of NAR’s Washington, D.C. headquarters.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self?
Listen more, argue less. I would say those are two things I probably have learned to do better than anything I’ve ever learned. Other than that, in the Realtor® associations, I’ve learned I need to listen a lot more, I pick my battles better than I used to. I think those are things if I would have known back when I first became president, or as I was ascending, it would have helped me a lot.

Why should agents get involved in their local, state and national associations?
Realtors® should get involved in local, state and national associations for a myriad of reasons, but the main one is the time you invest in your association helps not just you, but the membership in general. It makes our profession better. Pick a segment of your association you like and help make it better. What you do will help all of our members in the long term.

I was fortunate enough to have served as treasurer for the National Association of Realtors®. I will tell you that it’s an experience I’ll never forget. I traveled around the world representing NAR. I traveled to Istanbul, St. Petersburg, Prague, Vienna, Moscow – those are places I would have never been had it not been for my position with NAR. It was a wonderful experience and I would encourage anyone to get involved at NAR because you won’t regret it.

What advice would you give someone who was thinking of moving up through the offices in PAR?
If I found somebody who wanted to become involved at PAR or their local associations, if I thought they had an interest, I would want them to pick something that was important to them. I would also want them to find a mentor. Be yourself and work on the part of the industry that interests you and show people you have the ability, not just to work on that part of the industry, but to think through for the members overall.

What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in the real estate market since you started?
The biggest change I’ve seen in real estate is probably technology, but it doesn’t let you get away from still being involved. You still need to have people involved.

Do you think the environment or technology will have a bigger impact on real estate in the next 100 years?
I think a lot about environment and the technologies that we deal with in the real estate industry. I think technology will move even more quickly than it has in the past. I think we’re learning things every single day that make our technology better, that make our partners and our members be better able to deal with the world around them. But, I think the environment, the world we live in – forget global warming just for a second – just think about all the changes that the local, township and municipal ordinances are creating, that allow us to work in different ways. I think they have an equal impact. I’m not sure I could say which one has more or less of an impact, but I will tell you we will be dealing with both of those for a long time in the future.