This week (Sept. 16-23) I’m down in Destin, Florida attending the annual Tennessee Association of Realtor’s convention.

The host hotel is the Sandestin Hilton located in the beautiful Sandestin complex.

It’s sort of off season in Destin now but the weather is still very warm as is the beautiful, emerald green & blue Gulf of Mexico.

tar convention gulf of mexico

I made this photo Monday; the location is up by the jetty at the East Pass.

I love coming to Destin, it’s sort of like a homecoming. You see I was stationed here in the mid 60s when I was a member of the US Air Force. BIG changes in the area since then; lots of new condos, houses, restaurants, shopping, etc., but one thing that hasn’t changed is the beautiful beaches and lovely Gulf of Mexico waters.

Instead of staying at the convention hotel we rented a beautiful beach house and invited a friend of ours to come along. My wife and our friend entertain themselves at the beach and shopping while I’m at the convention. We also have a secluded private pool out back when they’re too tired to stroll down to the beach.

charlotte & denise

My lovely bride Charlotte is on the right with our friend from Nashville, Denise. They’re heading for another tough day at the beach. ;-)

Great convention so far. We have had beautiful weather but there are reports of a tropical depression coming in this Saturday so we’ll probably spend that day packing and doing some last minute shopping.

tar convention

The convention committee did a superb job decorating; this is the entrance to one of the many classes offered. This one is by a long time real estate trainer named Howard Brinton.

tar convention

We also found time to do some business. This is from the TAR Board of Directors meeting Thursday. The nice lady at the podium is our outgoing President, Jewell McKinney who will  be replaced Friday night by Mike Gaughan.

It’s been a great year in real estate for TAR. I’m on our Government Affairs Committee and we’ve been busy this year keeping track of over 200 pieces of legislation affecting real estate.

Some of the legislation we’ve tackled this year includes:

Real estate transfer taxes. Some helpful legislators in the Tennessee House Local Government Subcommittee helped defeat a local option transfer tax in Sevier County.

Adequate Facilities Tax on new construction homes. TAR opposes this narrowly applied tax in favor of more broad based taxes which are shared by all instead of only burdening new constuction home. Both TAR and the Homebuilders Association of Tennessee opposed an increase in Rutherford County which was defeated.

One other bill I’m delighted to say we were opposed to and was defeated, would have made Tennessee Realtors responsible for determining immigration status for everyone we sold or rented a house to.

Tonight is the convention finale. If you’re a Tennessee Realtor and have never been to a state convention you truly don’t know what you’ve been missing.

Next year we’re holding the convention in Chattanooga so make plans to attend.