KEITH W. BRADLEY
‘Important opportunity’

While Boston is preparing for the Democratic National Convention in the summer of 2004, Cape Cod will be hosting its own convention around the same time. But instead of politicians, real estate professionals from around the world who specialize in marketing properties in well-known resort communities will converge on the Cape.

Beating out places like Hilton Head, S.C., and other popular vacation destinations, Cape Cod was recently selected to host the second International Resort Symposium from June 9 to 11 at the Cape Codder Resort & Spa in Hyannis. The symposium is expected to draw up to 300 commercial and residential real estate agents from around the world.

“It’s an important opportunity to show off the Cape,” said Keith W. Bradley, president of the Cape Cod & Islands Association of Realtors and a member of the National Association of Realtors’ Resort Real Estate Committee.

In addition to showing off all the natural beauty of the Cape and Islands and all they have to offer, Bradley said the symposium will give Realtors in the region an opportunity to explore critical issues that confront resort communities, such as pollution, smart growth and affordable workforce housing with resort specialists from all parts of the world.

“I feel it is important to cull from the best minds their resolutions to some of the problems that the Cape faces in terms of its continued value as a resort of choice,” said Bradley, noting that resort communities throughout the world face similar challenges.

‘A Mature Area’

The Cape Cod & Islands Association of Realtors will be working with NAR to organize an agenda, activities and speakers for the symposium. Henry J. DiGiacomo, chief executive officer of the Cape Cod association, said association leaders will team up with NAR and a San Francisco-based firm called Destination Properties to sponsor a reception promoting next year’s symposium at the annual NAR convention in November.

DiGiacomo, Bradley and other local Realtors lobbied to have the Cape selected to host the second symposium. The first symposium took place in February in Los Cabos, Mexico, and drew 140 attendees from 33 states and four countries.

NAR is planning to hold international resort symposiums every 18 months and alternate them between East Coast and West Coast locations, according to Jan Hope, manager of business specialties for NAR.

Hope, who toured various Cape towns and Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard in the summer, said the symposiums are a way to introduce resort specialists to new areas and offer good networking and contacts for clients who may be interested in exploring different resort communities.

DiGiacomo said Hope was taken to visit hotel and conference sites like Ocean Edge in Brewster, Chatham Bars Inn and Red Jacket Beach Resort in South Yarmouth.

The point of the visits was to show Hope that there are plenty of resort communities in the region within an easy commute that attendees can visit before and after the symposium, said DiGiacomo.

Hope said that was one of the reasons the Cape was selected. She also said that the Cape was a desirable location for the symposium because it’s an established resort community.

“Some of our resort specialists deal with new resorts. I think there are some good things to learn from a resort area that’s been established for a long time,” said Hope, who also noted that the Cape has a “very strong” Realtor association.

“A phenomenal amount of business is generated from resort specialists,” said DiGiacomo. “It’s important for resort specialists to have knowledge of many resort markets around the world.”

Recognizing the significance of resort communities, NAR established the Resort Real Estate Committee earlier this year. Bradley, the Cape association president, was one of 40 Realtors from across the country appointed to serve on the committee.

The committee is reviewing, monitoring and analyzing issues and trends affecting resort and vacation markets. The committee also will recommend policies to NAR and will work on increasing awareness of national and international resort real estate sales, even possibly developing an education program and Realtor designation for resort specialists. (Currently, there are special designations for Realtors who participate in training and education programs to specialize in helping a variety of clients – including buyers and senior citizens.) In fact, Bradley is part of a team that is trying to set up a curriculum for a course in resort sales, the first ever to be offered, at the NAR convention in November.

Unlike other resort destinations that are still developing, Cape Cod is more of a “mature resort market area,” said DiGiacomo. “We plan to encourage Jan to provide training on how people can go about marketing properties in a mature area that’s primarily built-out,” he said.

Investors are also likely to attend the symposium, and even though the Cape doesn’t have large condominium resorts in the works, “there are some opportunities to invest” on Cape Cod, explained Bradley.

“The importance of this meeting is to primarily gain the expertise from these people who face the same kind of things that we do,” he said.

Aglaia Pikounis may be reached at apikounis@thewarrengroup.com.