ESP Joins Forces with NAREB in Effort to Level Playing Field

(Sunday, February 16, 2008. San Antonio, Texas)

NAREB Mid-Winter Conference Keynote Speaker George Fraser displays his best-seller "Success Runs In Our Race" from the podium

Darryl L. Malloy, President, Houston Real Estate Association, and fellow NAREB members at gala event closing out NAREB's Mid-Winter Conference

ESP President Everett Glenn joined NAREB President Maria Kong and National Association of Realtors 2008 president-elect Charles McMillan in announcing that ESP and NAREB have joined forces in the effort to level the playing field in the delivery of real estate services to professional athletes and entertainers of color. As the oldest minority trade association in America, consisting of over 80 chapters across the United States, NAREB is comprised of Black professionals in the real estate industry including residential and commercial real estate sales agents and brokers, loan officers and mortgage brokers, title companies, appraisers, insurance agents, developers and more. NAREB members are called “Realtists” a term which incorporates the many disciplines they represent.

“The relationship between ESP and NAREB has historical implications,” said Charles McMillan, who will become the first Black to head NAR, the largest trade association in America with over 1.3 members involved in all aspects of the commercial and residential real estate industries. While our community produces the workforce largely responsible for the generation of over $225 billion per year in revenue, which includes $25.6 billion per year in sporting goods sales; $10.5 billion per year on the sale of licensed goods; and $15.25 billion in professional services, including $6.75 billion in facility and event management, $5.8 billion in legal, financial and insurance services, $2.3 billion million in marketing, endorsement and consulting service revenue, and $385 million in athlete representation fees, Black professionals and firms have not participated in the sports business industry in a meaningful way.

The goal of our partnership is to network with the NAREB membership to identify and connect with current and prospective professional athletes of color, and we look forward to working with NAREB to make a profit and a difference says Glenn. My mission and vision in leading NAREB is to move the organization to higher ground, and the opportunity to work with a segment of the market to which our members have historically had only limited access is cause for great excitement,” says Ms. Kong who installed as the 25th president of the organization during the recent celebration of NAREB’s 60th anniversary in New York City. Ultimately, we hope to see as many professional athletes and entertainers of color as possible utilize the services of a Realtist when it comes to meeting their many and varied real estate needs.

For more shots of the event, please click here

Photos by Jeff Lewis Photography