Michelle Bailey was inducted into the RPAC Hall of Fame after investing an aggregate lifetime amount of at least $25,000 in RPAC which is truly a tremendous achievement. Thank you, Michelle, for your longtime commitment to RPAC, the REALTOR® Party, and the real estate industry.
Watch BRR Director of Government Affairs Cameron Kinzer interview Michelle regarding her participation in RPAC over the years and recent induction. Find the full transcript below.
Transcript
Cameron: Hello and welcome BRR members. My name is Cameron Kinzer, I’m Director of Government Affairs for the Boise Regional REALTORS® and despite the unpredictability of 2020, we did hit some really awesome milestones for RPAC this year and we have two RPAC Hall of Fame inductees — one was our 2019 President Phil Mount and the other is our current President Michelle Bailey. Michelle joins us now. Thanks for taking the time, Michelle.
Michelle: Absolutely thanks for chatting with me.
Cameron: Of course. So just to set the table, RPAC Hall of Fame induction mean that Michelle has invested over $25,000 into RPAC over her REALTOR® career and a fun fact about Michelle is she was also our first platinum RPAC investor so that means that she invested $10,000 in a single investment year which is a huge commitment and a lot of money, you know we just saw Michelle’s reaction right there.
Michelle: A lot of shoes!
Cameron: Yeah, she had to give up some shoes to invest that much but we’re thankful that she did it. First, I want to say congratulations Michelle. What does this honor mean to you?
Michelle: Well thank you I appreciate it. You know really it’s an honor to join a group of professionals that support our industry at such a high level I mean just knowing that I’m a part of that group, is, it’s an honor.
Cameron: Yeah, we have about six, maybe five or six of their RPAC Hall of Fame inductees in our membership and that number continues to grow because of our members like Michelle and Phil but I want to go back to the beginning to when you became a REALTOR®. Why did you become a REALTOR® and what was the catalyst for you to become an RPAC major investor because most REALTORS® don’t just start their business and become an RPAC major investor there’s usually an event that leads to them investing so what did that look like for you?
Michelle: Yeah, so boy you have to really go back in time, so I became a REALTOR®, I kind of just fell into it. I was hired to manage a real estate office and I asked if I could go to real estate school and so they sent me to real estate school. And shortly after finishing school and passing my test that office never opened. They knew that the market was coming to an end as we know it as the Great Recession, I did not know that, however. It was at a point as a single parent where I had to make a living so with my license I took things into my own hands and I got into action and started selling real estate. And so I think over that time period initially I always gave what we call my fair share, the $30 dollar minimum investment. It wasn’t really until I got into the Board of Directors for Boise Regional REALTORS® that I started to kind of understand what RPAC meant and decided to start giving at a higher level.
Cameron: And you mentioned fair share — that’s an important point, fair share is what is on every REALTOR®’s dues billing at the end of the year for the following year so that’s an optional investment but we encourage all members to at least give their fair share and then we have about 50 – 55 members that are in the major investor category and that’s at least a thousand dollars towards RPAC over the course of an investment year but it’s easy, I would say it’s easy to give a thousand dollars, but you can give that one time thousand dollars and then lapse over the next couple years so how did you maintain that and what was the reasoning you used in terms of what successes did you see that kept you investing in RPAC?
Michelle: I think I’m committed to RPAC because I see the difference that it makes in our industry and for our clients and in delivering the dream of home ownership and I think what’s really important is I don’t have to understand every aspect of RPAC in order to understand how significant it is I can leave that to the people that are in that every day, like you for example. You are in this industry advocating on behalf of REALTORS® every single day, Monday through Friday and so I can put trust in you and our organization to know that they’re fighting for our rights without me having to understand all the ins and outs of that.
Cameron: Thanks for saying that. Monday through Friday and sometimes weekends as well so yeah I appreciate you saying that. What would you say to REALTORS® who don’t know a lot about RPAC, are thinking about investing but aren’t sure exactly where to start?
Michelle: Well I think what’s important about that is, again you don’t necessarily have to understand every aspect of RPAC. I think a lot of people don’t understand RPAC and when I was chair [of the RPAC committee], one of the things I came up with was the idea of stepping stones, right, so you first give or invest actually with your fair share and then maybe as you start to get a little bit more involved or you attend a class or you go to a major investor dinner or you’re invited to something, where you start to get just a little bit more of an inkling of something. Or your business is taking off and you can afford to invest just a little bit more then you just, I think over time, you start to have a different understanding of RPAC and the impact that it has on our business.
Cameron: Yeah, definitely we’ve seen RPAC work this year securing important measures of relief at the national level in the coronavirus spending packages, we’ve seen it come into play in Idaho specifically at the state level where real estate and related services were deemed essential business so REALTORS® can continue to help their clients buy and sell properties during the pandemic. Those are just a couple examples of big wins that we’ve had this year, but we’ve had a lot of wins over the years. What are the wins that stick out in your mind that you think that REALTORS® should know about?
Michelle: You know that’s a really good question. There are a lot of wins and I guess there’s not just one huge win that comes to mind but I do remember a few years ago when there was a change in FHA guidelines for condos, and I specifically remember that because I was working with a single mom in Boise and all she could afford was what she could afford. And unfortunately, condos were her only option and she was able to get into it because of the changes in FHA guidelines for condos.
Cameron: That’s a great example of how our organization at the local level works with the state organization and national association so for those REALTORS® who are tuning in that don’t know how our advocacy programs work, we have a three-tiered advocacy system. Our national association handles all the legislative efforts at federal level, our state association handles all the legislative efforts and relationships at the state level, and then here at Boise Regional REALTORS® we handle all of the ordinances and any changes on the county and city level and we cross over between Ada, Gem, and Elmore County. So we all work together and these wins from the national and state level feed down and help REALTORS® and their members at the local level as well. I want to close with one final question. What advice do you have to REALTORS® who want to get more involved in advocacy or want to invest in RPAC but aren’t exactly sure where to start in terms of their budget? Would you encourage them to make that a priority when they are setting their budget for the year and investing in RPAC?
Michelle: Absolutely. I mean I think I would ask REALTORS® to consider and maybe ask themselves why so many top producers invest in RPAC and what value they see in it. I think there’s a lot of assumptions about RPAC and someone’s ability to give. I think there’s a misunderstanding about our bipartisanship and assumptions about who you align with as far as Republican or Democrat, and we don’t necessarily get in the middle of that, right, it’s about who’s looking out for REALTOR® best interests about private property rights and again I said it earlier but at the end of the day you don’t have to know all the ins and outs of all of it you just have to know enough that it is a pretty big deal and we do a lot for the benefit of our industry and for our clients. And I think it is important to make it a budget item and sometimes it can be a little bit overwhelming I mean, I often joke about the shoes that I get to miss because I decided to invest in RPAC at such a high level and I do like shoes so it is a little bit of a joke but at the end of the day I’m investing in something that is helping to protect my industry is making sure that I have a legacy to leave for my children and my grandchildren, if I ever get to have them, so it is a big deal it is important to make it a line item so that you can make it a priority to support your business in your industry.
Cameron: And you brought up another important point we get involved in elections at the national state and local level each organization handles those endorsements differently, but we do have one core tenant at the center of those interviews that we do especially for when we’re going to give RPAC money to candidates that believe in and that’s that we support the REALTOR® party and REALTOR® party interest. So we don’t look at Republican or Democrat I know some people will get upset with the endorsement choices that we make sometimes on a one-off basis but I would encourage REALTORS® to look at the entirety of the advocacy have a holistic view of not just our endorsements but also what we do in the background, behind the scenes because it’s all crucial for REALTORS® to have that advocacy leveraged at city halls and in county commissioner’s offices and the state house and Congress so REALTORS® can continue to buy and sell without the red tape and also homeowners are protected in their private property rights and home ownership. So I will close with that, Michelle I want to thank you again for joining us and also congratulations again on your RPAC Hall of Fame induction.
Michelle: Awesome well thank you I appreciate it.
Cameron: Yeah thank you BRR members and have a good rest your day.
