Teresa Turner

East comes to West via the MLS by Teresa L. Turner The Fukuya Komuten Company, a real estate group from Osaka, Japan, wanted to study and exchange real estate businesses' opinions between two countries. Real estate in Osaka is much different than here as one can imagine. Properties are passed down to family members, so now the dynamics of transferring ownership in Japan are catching up to the Western world. Mr. Yukio Yamaoka of Kasumi Realty in Rancho Palos Verdes attended one of my Matrix Multiple Listing Service (MLS) classes that I teach at the South Bay Association of Realtors (SBAOR). He dropped by the Tarasoft booth for the Realtor Fair back in May of this year and mentioned that some colleagues from Japan were flying in. He asked if I would do an MLS demonstration for them. Well, of course, I said yes. We all gathered at the board on June 17 for the demo so that Mr. Yamaoka could serve as the interpreter. Five members from the Fukuya Komuten Company arrived from Osaka, and one of their stops was the MLS demonstration at the SBAOR. The staff included the CEO, Takumi Biro, Executive Vice President, Shigeki Mori, General Manager, Motoyuki Matuura, Manager System Division, Yasunori Saiki, and Assistant Manager System Division, Mitsuyo Hashimoto. I had called Mr. Steve Goddard of the 2005 Equal Opportunity & Cultural Diversity Committee of our board a few days before instructing me on the protocol of hosting this meeting. He mentioned that they would be bringing a gift of appreciation; he explained how to exchange business cards and present themselves in the order of importance. Well, all of that happened just as Steve said. They brought a big box of cookies; we exchanged business cards and greeted each other. Of course, I was nervous since I’ve never worked with an interpreter before. To my pleasant surprise, the demo went well, and I answered their questions. They also briefly demonstrated their website which, was in Japanese, but I got the gist of it. They did not understand why each of our listings did not include floor plan drawings, as their MLS website did. Can you imagine the task of providing those drawings on our MLS? We broke for lunch, which included salad and lasagna. Our guest, who selected the lasagna, used chopsticks that we provided. It looked challenging. Mr. John Churchill, the Association Executive Officer, joined us for lunch and answered questions for them too. Mr. Yamaoka mentioned that he has translated the Code of Ethics into Japanese and needed our assistance to get this to the NAR. A few days later, John Churchill, Mickey Knickerbocker, Tashia Henchliffe, Gloria Godet, and Yukio Yamaoka paid a visit to the Japanese Consul and met the Vice Consul for about an hour. The purpose was to let our visitors know the existence of CIPS, GSBRA, and our services. They discussed the services and the real estate market situations both here and in Japan. Upon visiting, the group concluded that they should approach Japanese associations in and around neighboring cities more aggressively. In October 2003, the U.S.-Japan Real Estate Industry Conference met for the first time and exchanged various industry topics. I would recommend that you go to this NAR web page to view the highlights of the event. http://www.realtor.org/cipshome.nsf/pages/varjapan.   Last year, as a reward, 30 top sales executives from the Daikyo Real Estate of Tokyo, Japan, came out to examine and discuss real estate businesses' opinions between the two countries. They met at RE/MAX Beach Cities Realty, with Steve Goddard. Steve explained U.S. Real Estate business, in general, the activities of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), California Association of Realtors (CAR), and the SBAOR. Also discussed were the international real estate businesses and present real estate business concerns, such as affordability problems. Among such activities, as an example, CAR has established the Housing Affordability Fund (HAF) that has already provided financing for more than a dozen projects. The group was particularly impressed with how realtors operating under a strict ethical standard have earned consumers' respect and trust. They were also astonished at how those realtors are contributing their time and effort to serve the communities by participating in charitable activities such as the Chamber of Commerce, Salvation Army, and Children's Miracle Network, etc. Utilizing their specialized knowledge, these realtors often provide free community meetings of refinancing information, tax rules, and other real estate-related subjects. We look forward to their next visit out here, and next time I'll make arrangements to serve food that is easy to use with chopsticks. Thank you, Japan. We look forward to your next visit. @copyright 2005 – Teresa Turner