For those of you who don’t know, we have had a very exciting year here at Bell-Anderson. First of all, our broker (and my aunt) Vickie kicked breast cancer to the curb, all while running Bell-Anderson and leading the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM from here on out) as the 2010 National President. NARPM is an organization of over 3,400 residential property managers nationwide, so this is quite the accomplishment for Vickie. This year, our annual convention happened to be in our own backyard: at the Sheraton in downtown Seattle. Carrie Fjeld, residential property manager, co-chaired the entire event with over 500 attendees. Needless to say, we have been busy, but it was a blast!
Our week started off with the Leadership Seminar given by Dr. Joseph Michelli. He has written several books studying successful organizations: two from our hometown. We learned how the Pike Place Fish Market went from last in sales to first by deciding to treat their customer’s like rockstars, and how Starbucks has created the “third place,” a café that is more than just a coffee shop. What struck me was one of the mottos of the Ritz-Carlton, namely “Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentleman.” This type of attitude creates a culture of mutual respect, something everyone could use more of. We rounded off Tuesday evening with a beautiful cruise around the Puget Sound for the President’s Tour.
On Wednesday Morning, 22 golf teams headed out to China Creek at Newcastle for the first annual Past President’s Charity Golf Tournament. Bell-Anderson had four players in the tournament sporting pink polos and matching socks, and we also sponsored the 6th hole. While the majority of the players who men who maybe weren’t big Twilight fans, they were all good sports about our Forks-themed hole run by Debi and Maria. Overall, the tournament raised over $30,000 for Creative Living Services and was a great success and a lot of fun
Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday were a series of workshops and business meetings. My favorites were an economic forecast from local researcher Jim Hebert, and a hilariously entertaining presentation from Bill Stainton (Almost Live) about the best decisions the Beatles made that led to their success. On a more embarrassing note, four audience members including myself were called onstage for a live performance, black bowl wigs and all. (I played George Harrison).
The most exciting part of the convention came Friday at lunch during the award ceremonies. First of all, Vickie passed the baton to the next National President, Tony Drost. I know that Vickie thoroughly enjoyed her time working with NARPM, but we are all excited to get to see her around the office more. Also, all three residential managers in our department earned professional designations this year. Carrie was awarded her Master Property Manager (MPM) designation, and Dawn and I (Kasey) earned our Residential Management Professional (RMP) designations. Also, Bell-Anderson as a whole was awarded our Certified Residential Management Company (CRMC) designation. Yes, this is a lot of letters! What this means is that we have been working hard to educate ourselves so our clients can rest assured that they are getting property management professionals who value education and are very active in the industry as a whole. Finally, I was humbled to receive the Rocky Maxwell award for volunteerism in a new member of NARPM.The convention closed with a gala and “NARPM’s Got Talent” show hosted by Vickie in her tiara where the membership showed off their skills. Stefanie Octave, Condo AR Bookkeeper played the bassoon, and she was AWESOME!
The entire Bell-Anderson crew was on hand for the dinner gala and then spent the night in the hotel for our annual retreat.
In an effort to not hog the keyboard, here is what a few of the other gals said about the convention:
“I think that it's important to share the fact that we were one of four companies in the state of Washington to receive our Certified Residential Management Company (CRMC) designation. Along with our AMO (Accredited Management Organization) from the Institute of Real Estate Management that makes us, to my knowledge, the only company in the entire US with both designations, signifying our dedication to professionalism and integrity. Also at the awards celebration Carrie Fjeld received her Master Property Manager (MPM) designation and Kasey Medina along with Dawn Hardley were awarded their Residential Management Professional (RMP) designation. This just demonstrates how the Bell-Anderson crew is dedicated to real estate management education as well as maintaining integrity at all times.” ~ Vickie Gaskill
” I always come back to work with a head full of great ideas and a bucket load of new contacts and friends around the country, both property managers and vendors! I am doing my best to treat all of my contacts like "rockstars" (from Dr. Michellis's Leadership course) if even for just a moment, and it has paid great dividends so far, I have picked up 3 news houses in just two weeks!!!” ~Dawn Hardley
“This year was a really special year at convention for me, with my mom, Vickie being the national president this year of NARPM. It was such a joy to watch my mom shine and shine she did at one point even wearing a tiara for our last night. We had a great year and it finally paid off when 3 people in our office, one of which included me, received professional designations. Our office also received the only company designation offered by NARPM that only 5 companies in the King County hold. The designation that I received is the highest professional designation that you can get and that is a MPM, Master Property Manager and the one that Bell-Anderson received is CRMC, Certified Residential Management Company. I am very proud of both of those accomplishments and also my co-workers, Kasey and Dawn who received their RMP, Residential Management Professional designations. The national convention in Seattle was one of the best I have been to and I have been to 6 of them all together. I am not even being biased it was truly a great year. I met some great people and got to catch up with friends that I haven’t seen in a while. Every time we get together it’s like a big extended family reunion along with great education to help us become better property managers. Our business is forever evolving with new laws and new ways of managing property more effectively and efficiently so it is nice to have these conferences so we can catch up. I am looking forward to Dallas in 2011 already.” ~ Carrie Fjeld
“Awesome experience! You should attend if you are a new member!” ~ Maria Garcia
Overall, the convention was fabulous! The hotel was beautiful, the turnout and the network opportunities were amazing. The speakers and classes were helpful and relevant to our business. I can tell that Carrie and the rest of the convention crew put a lot of work into it. Congrats again to everyone who made the week a success!
