The Cape Cod & Islands Association of Realtors has begun exploring creative ways of combining required continuing education courses with other issues of interest to Realtors after a successful coastal workshop held earlier this year.
In addition to opening up a wealth of possibilities for education on the Cape, administrators say a similar formula could be used by Realtor associations in other parts of Massachusetts also looking at revamping the way they present education courses.
In February, the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in East Falmouth hosted a workshop for real estate professionals in collaboration with CCIAR as part of its Coastal Decision Maker Workshops 2000 series.
Waquoit Bay is one of about 25 national estuary research reserves and is co-funded and managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management.
The idea to combine environmental and Realtor issues was hatched in late 1999.
“We had offered a groundwater course as part of our adult education,” said Joan Muller, Waquoit Bay’s education coordinator. “Two real estate agents attended and were really excited about it and said everyone should go.”
After contacting 1999 CCIAR President Doug Payson and working with CCIAR Education Director Pat Pisch, a joint program was scheduled.
“The reason why we were interested in reaching out to Realtors is because we know they have a lot of power,” Muller said. “They’re the first point of contact with people moving to the Cape, and they can influence how people perceive different issues on the Cape.”
Muller said in order to make the offering appeal to Realtors who already have a busy schedule, the organizers wanted to make sure continuing education credit was involved.
“They needed to get credit out of this, but there were a limited number of topics we could choose from,” Muller said. “We chose those most related to environmental issues.”
In addition to talking about Title V septic system requirements and how they affect real estate property sales and development, Realtors received credit for attending a course on Chapter 91, which focuses on waterways, docks and piers.
Between the continuing education presentations, Muller offered presentations on issues such as the advantages of ecological landscaping, and Realtors also viewed many of the environmental exhibits in the Waquoit Bay Visitor Center.
Pisch termed the workshop a success. “It was great,” she said. “About 30 of us went down there for the entire day. We went on a walking tour and saw various plantings, which tied in with ecological landscaping and did other activities. It truly was an informative day.
“They were able to get information to pass onto their customers, and it met continuing education requirements,” she said.
Information about Chapter 91 requirements was presented by John Higgins and Greg Carrafiello from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. “The DEP was more than gracious in coming down,” Pisch said. “We’ve had great cooperation from the state on this.”
Pisch also said that despite curriculum that ventured outside of Realtor requirements, there was no problem getting approval for the educational workshop. “The Board of Registration says we can have workshops like these and have experts present as long as they follow the specific guidelines for the continuing education portion of the workshop.” Realtors were given their certificates for completing the education immediately following the workshop, she added.
More Workshops Planned
Because of the success of the February event and feedback from the Realtors attending, Waquoit Bay and CCIAR are already planning on continuing with the working relationship between the organizations.
“When we had the Realtors evaluate the day, they said they wanted more information about a lot of things, and many of them signed up on Waquoit Bay’s mailing list,” Pisch said. “They’d like to teach as many of these as they can, and we’re hoping it was just the first of many opportunities for them.”
Muller said the Realtors were most interested in discussions about native vegetation and promoting ecological landscaping, as well as coastal changes.
“It was interesting because a lot of agents said they wanted to find out more, and they didn’t mind if they didn’t get credit for it,” Muller said. “It was great for us to hear that we could take one kernel of credit and build a whole workshop around it.”
Pisch plans on holding future workshops with Waquoit, but none has been immediately scheduled. “I think we’ll let them catch their breath from the last one,” she said.
For future meetings, Pisch said CCIAR would most likely explore holding similar workshops on the Middle or Lower Cape. “The people from the Upper Cape loved the workshop; of course, they live right there,” Pisch said.
She said she would also like to pursue holding workshops on Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket. “We trying to put a special emphasis on the islands this year,” Pisch said. “They’re an important part of our membership.”
Both Pisch and Muller said a similar format workshop could easily be replicated in other areas of Massachusetts, though coastal topics such as piers, docks and waterways would most likely not apply in every region.
“The regions have all their own specific needs,” Pisch said. “Realtors can identify what topics they need to know about, and the education coordinator can put the pieces together.”
“Another organization could easily partner with an association in another part of the state,” Muller said.
Holding continuing education workshops in settings outside of a typical conference room was also beneficial to the Realtors by piquing their interest in the subject matter by offering hands-on access, such as viewing natural vegetation while talking about coastal landscaping issues.
“Just by the nature of the job, real estate agents are so busy,” Pisch said. “It was so good to hear all of them say ‘What a way to spend a day.’
“Generally it’s tough to sit through all those hours of courses when you’re stuck in a classroom,” she said.
