G. Michael Brown starts job at Columbia Board of Realtors | A CBT Conversation
After more than a year working for two political campaigns and racking up more than 25,000 miles on his Jeep, G. Michael Brown took Nov. 3 as his first day off.
The next morning, Brown was on a plane headed to the National Association of Realtors annual conference in New Orleans, his first task as the Columbia Board of Realtors new chief executive officer.
Brown, 29, moved to Columbia from Lubbock, Texas, in 2003 to go to law school at University of Missouri. He graduated in 2007 and moved to Washington, D.C., to practice law. He spent the last several months of the George W. Bush administration working as a press secretary for the International Trade Administration. That job ended when Barack Obama won the White House, so Brown headed back to Columbia to finish a master’s degree in public affairs.
In October of 2009, he started working on the Amendment 3 campaign, which passed overwhelmingly on Nov. 2. He also spent most of this year working as a campaign manager for Republican Brian Munzlinger, who beat incumbent Wes Shoemyer for the 18th District state Senate seat in northeast Missouri.
What are your priorities for the organization, and what are the biggest challenges it faces?
At all times, the Columbia Board of Realtors is focused on protecting the interests of property owners. The biggest challenge is making certain people understand that home ownership matters. Owning a home has long-standing government support in this country because home ownership benefits individuals and families, strengthens our communities and is integral to our nation’s economy.
The last quarter was a tough one for existing home sales, and through September, this year is worse than the first nine months of 2009. Do you think we have hit the bottom, and what pace of growth do you foresee? What price ranges are doing well, and which do you think will continue to struggle?
In comparison with many real estate markets throughout the country, Columbia is still doing well. I think we will see sales begin to ramp up in the spring months. Home ownership is important to a healthy economy, and for qualified buyers who can afford it, now is one of the best times to purchase a home.
Membership in the Columbia Board of Realtors has dropped from its height during the hot market years earlier this decade. The organization once had more than 600 Realtors, and now only 488 are members. Is this a more normalized number of Realtors for the size of our market and its activity, or do you see membership eventually returning to pre-recession levels?
Columbia has a great deal of real estate activity, but I do think the recession affected membership in associations across most, if not all, careers. The Columbia Board of Realtors will gain membership again because of our commitment to member education, ethics and our listing service.
You worked on the campaign to pass Amendment 3, which amended the Missouri Constitution to prohibit any sort of real estate transfer taxes — preemptively quashing any future proposals by public officials to pass such taxes. What does this do for the real estate industry in the state, and how do we stack up now against neighbors in our region?
Missouri homeowners already pay property tax, so a real estate transfer tax would have been double taxation. Many families have owned their homes for decades, and they have already paid thousands of dollars in property taxes and other fees. Adding double taxation through a real estate transfer tax was simply bad public policy. It would have denied fairness, and it defied common sense. By prohibiting transfer taxes, we Missourians protected the rights of property owners.
Currently, 37 states and the District of Columbia impose transfer taxes or their equivalents, and Missouri is among 13 states that do not impose such taxes. All of Missouri’s neighboring states impose some tax on real estate transactions. By prohibiting these taxes, I think Missouri will benefit a great deal in the upcoming years.
Looking at your career, it seems you have moved from the national level to the state level and now to the local level. Is there something in particular that attracted you to an organization focused on local real estate issues and advocacy?
The Columbia Board of Realtors is a great organization in a city I have come to know and love. I am excited to be a part of this group. At the local level, the issues we face affect our friends and neighbors. It really raises the stakes knowing that the work we do at CBOR protects the interests of our community.
In April, Columbia voters will decide who will fill two vacant seats on the City Council, which will shape the body’s decisions on land use, construction costs and business in general. Considering the City Council’s impact on the real estate industry, the recent entrance of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce into local politics and your own political advocacy background, can we expect the Columbia Board of Realtors to get involved in Council candidate recruitment and endorsements?
The Columbia Board of Realtors is very interested in local elections. During the City Council and mayoral elections, we interviewed many of the candidates and broadcast their interviews online. I anticipate doing the same thing for future elections because it helped the candidates define their ideas and let our membership ask questions that were important to protecting the interests of property owners.
Is there anything else you would like to let CBT readers know?
I’m honored to be a part of the Columbia Board of Realtors. Columbia is a vibrant city with a great future ahead of it, and I think it is important that groups such as ours have a hand in shaping that future. Ultimately, home ownership matters to all of us in Columbia because it is an investment in our future. Home ownership strengthens communities. Homeowners are more likely to be involved and engaged in local issues and move less frequently than renters. This helps prevent crime, improve childhood education and support neighborhood upkeep.