No Place Like Home

The Greater Tampa Association of Realtors started as the Tampa Real Estate Board back in 1911, when William Howard Taft was in the White House and World War I was still three years away.

The Florida land boom was under way, and Tampa in particular was attracting hordes of northern relocators lured by promises of a temperate climate, adjacency to the water and unlimited opportunity.

"Tampa is a city of contented people and handsome homes," boasted a brochure produced that year by the city's Board of Trade. "Here you'll find health, wealth and happiness."

But the real estate industry was unreined and unregulated, and horror stories abounded of unwitting out-of-state buyers visiting their property only to find it under water.

That handful of pioneering Tampa businesspeople, led by a man named Thomas Hammond, wanted to create order from chaos, and to ensure that the rights of buyers and sellers were protected. The Bay area organization was the first of its kind in the state, but the idea caught on quickly.

Five years later, real estate brokers from 16 Florida communities gathered in Jacksonville for the first convention of what would become the Florida Association of Realtors.

By 1921, the state association had successfully pushed for a state law requiring that real estate brokers be licensed. The term "realtor" was already being pushed by the National Association of Real Estate Boards, now the National Association of Realtors.

And the Tampa Real Estate Board was the first in Florida to be licensed by the national organization to use the term realtor, which is a copyrighted professional designation that must be earned-not a generic term for anyone who sells real estate.

Today, people are still flocking to the Bay area. And thanks to Hammond's vision and commitment, many of them are assisted by trained, licensed professionals who are members of GTAR, as the Tampa organization is commonly known.

With 8,500 members, GTAR is one of the largest real estate trade associations in the state. Hammond, who chartered the association with just eight members, would probably be surprised-and certainly proud-of how the organization and the profession have evolved over the decades.

In 1939 the Tampa Real Estate Board changed its name to the Tampa Board of Realtors. The current name was adopted in 1988 in recognition of the fact that members are from throughout the region as well as throughout the state.

In addition to helping buyers and sellers of homes, GTAR gives back to the community through an array of charitable activities, including building a Habitat for Humanity home each year and setting up programs to help low-income residents find affordable housing.

"A lot of folks think a realtor is just someone dropped in the middle [of a real estate transaction], but they're so much more," says GTAR communication chairman Bryan Spaulding.

Realtors will typically have in-depth market information and an insider's insight on various neighborhoods. They'll also understand financing and can point buyers and sellers to solid information about the tax implications of their transactions.

But just as important, you'll find realtors promoting home ownership among low-income residents for whom finding decent housing at an affordable price has become increasingly difficult.

For example, GTAR's affordable housing committee acts as clearinghouse for the alphabet soup of housing-assistance programs available.

"The city and state all have a lot of different programs that come and go, so unless you're involved it's hard to stay on top of it," says Spaulding. "So the committee finds out where all the programs are and which are currently available. Then we inform our agents about options so when they're working with low-income people, they'll know what's available."

GTAR is also involved in civic activities. Each year, the organization's president is allowed to choose a charitable organization to support-so the groups helped have been every bit as diverse as the leadership.

In 2005, for example, president George Bodmer of Bayside Realty Group picked ECHO, the Emergency Care Help Organization. Based in Brandon, ECHO operates a food kitchen and provides help with clothing and furnishings for people in temporary need.

Other groups assisted by GTAR include the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, Metropolitan Ministries and Habitat for Humanity. In addition, GTAR executive vice president Carol Austin serves on the board of directors for Rebuilding Together Tampa Bay, an organization whose purpose is to refurbish homes owned by low-income families.

And GTAR's annual Christmas luncheon at the MacDonald Training Center at James Ranch, which provides employment coaching, health training and transportation for developmentally disabled clients, "is one of our most heartwarming community activities," according to Austin.

Recently GTAR's Communication Committee spearheaded a drive to collect old cell phones from members and donate them to Tampa" target="_blank">Hillsborough County's victim assistance program. The phones provide people coming out of abusive relationships or other dangerous situations with a means of quickly reaching a 911 operator and summoning help.

GTAR also reaches beyond the local community, helping a sister association in Guatemala, for example.

"They don't have a formation as we have so we helped provide the tools," says Spaulding. "We visited them, donated to their library and, in general, helped improve their understanding of a real estate association."

GTAR likewise mentored an association in El Salvador and donated computers plus daily living essentials to both associations following volcano and hurricane disasters. The Association also donated $10,000 to the Realtors Tsunami Relief Project to aid tsunami recovery efforts.

Closer to home, when devastating hurricanes struck the United States in 2004 and 2005, GTAR contributed more than $25,000 to the Florida Association of Realtors Disaster Recovery Fund.

Austin has been actively involved in GTAR for over 30 years, first as assistant executive vice president and, since 1994, as executive vice president.

"I enjoy what I do and I am proud to be a part of this wonderful organization," she says. "I value the contributions of our many volunteer members. Not only are they involved in their own profession, they're also very much involved in their own community."