April Chapter Spotlight: Washington State Chapter-in-Formation

It’s been an interesting ride from being Washington State Chapter to closing the chapter, to now coming back as the Washington State Chapter-in-Formation.

The Washington State Chapter was active for many years, providing education opportunities for the state. With the advent of NARPM^® National handling all of that for the local chapters, it was found that it was no longer a viable option to keep a state chapter open, so the decision was made to close it several years ago.

With the regional conferences also going away a few years ago, the conversation returned as to why having a state chapter was, a good idea. Conferences and legislation were the two reasons for reinstatement that kept coming up again and again. In late 2015, the decision was made to start the Washington State Chapter up again.

I was lucky enough to be the President the first year, and as such, got to see firsthand the work and commitment it takes to start a state chapter, and to put into place some processes that would ensure its longevity and success.

Our first year as a chapter has been busy. We have been forming the actual chapters, soliciting members, and then putting into motion our first order of business — creating a state conference where we would come together as not only a state, but as the Northwest Region to learn from our peers, network, and become better professional property managers.

We are proud to be able to announce that the first (well, first again. So refirst?) Washington State Conference will be held May 19 in Tukwila, Washington (for those of you who think Seattle is the only city in Washington, just think of it as south of Seattle). We have vendors booking like crazy, and our trade show is bound to sell out within the next few weeks. The response and excitement is palpable!

We would like to invite all of you to join us for a day of education, networking, and friendship forming! Since it will be May, perhaps Mother Nature will take pity on us and it won’t rain…maybe…no guarantees though.

Another thing that has been ever-present at the state level is legislation. Washington landlords are heavily outweighed by the tenant advocacy groups. As such, our laws are extremely tenant friendly. To give you an example, federally, there are seven protected classes that we all know about. Washington State, however, has eight, and the City of Seattle has 18. Needless to say, in this glorious Emerald State, we property managers need to be at the forefront of our legislation so we can always protect our clients and the landlords we represent.

There have been many talks about how to best present our presence in Olympia (yes, that is the capital of Washington, not Seattle). There has been discussion about creating our own PAC or to backing our own lobbyist to creating relationships with existing landlord advocacy groups. These discussions are still being held, with lots of interest being shown in taking on this process in an effort to best serve our community.

All in all, the first year of the Washington State Chapter-in-Formation has been one of relearning what we are supposed to be doing and then taking the steps to do it effectively. I encourage all of you in states without chapters to think seriously about forming your own and the benefits it would have for your members as a whole.

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Residential Resources: April 2018 Issue | Volume 29 | Number 4