Why is membership in AMPI so vital to realtors regarding property seekers on the Yucatan Peninsula?The most important thing that a buyer needs when searching for property is confidence in the people and the process. To become a member of AMPI, members don't simply pay dues and join, they are voted on by the current AMPI membership. So if anyone has a tainted past that has been made public, they are not allowed to join. The Honor and Justice committee oversees the actions of the members.
As you know there is currently no requirement of any kind of agents in Mexico. But you will see that the people that are really interested in maintaining a level of professionalism and best representing their clients, have taken courses and become Federally Certified without being required to. Those courses and exams are provided by AMPI in conjunction with local universities and the majority of our members have taken the Real Estate Course and have become Federally Certified by completing the two day exam. How is AMPI coalescing Realtors in Quintana Roo?
Each year AMPI membership grows stronger as agents who sell in the area become aware of AMPI and as buyers start to ask if those agents are AMPI members. And there are people who will tell you they are AMPI members when they are not and there are people who have AMPI logos in their windows or on their websites when they are not members. We are trying to control that problem, and I guess the best thing about it is that "imitation is the greatest form of flattery".
If you are unsure if an agent is a member of AMPI, you can go to our national website www.ampinacional.org or to the website for the local section.
Since I took over the presidency of AMPI Riviera Maya, we have had two mini-seminars for agents with classes on legal issues and with speakers from different areas of the government. As long as the members of AMPI Riviera Maya and agents in the area see that AMPI is one way for them to improve their knowledge through courses and speakers, we should continue to see increased membership.
This past year, AMPI signed an agreement with the National Association of Realtors to form a more united force and work together much more closely in the future. This added recognition by NAR is very important. AMPI is the only organization with which NAR has signed this type of agreement, that, based on the high ethical standards of it's members. If there were ever any doubters about the mission and vision of AMPI, they should be convinced now that NAR has validated over 50 years of efforts by AMPI members here in Mexico.
Ballpark what would you say the % is of realtors in Q.R. who belong?
That number is hard to define because of the amount of people who sell "informally". Without an office, without legal papers to operate, and worst of all, without anyone to oversee their actions. I do know that this year we will see a substantial increase in membership - this based on the number of people that have been contacting me about joining.
It is important not just to AMPI but for the protection of the consumer that all who sell real estate be brought under some type of control Just two weeks ago, I presented an initiative to the Municipal President called PRO Bienes Raices (Profesionalismo, Regularizacion, y Ordenamiento) or in English, professionalism, Regulation, and Order of Real Estate.
While heartily viewed by the Presidente, it still has to go a governmental process to be accepted and implemented.
The Initiative intends to improve and control three areas:
Agents - requiring educational courses, ethics course, and registration of activity and legal status
Agencies - requiring educational courses for the owners and registration of the agency as well as ethics courses
Image - control of signage and all signs requiring a PRO Bienes Raices seal, showing that person is registered with the appropriate taxing authorities.
While this initiative is important to control the increase of agents in the area who have no training in the laws of Mexico, the primary goal of the initiative is to instill consumer confidence and to protect the consumer.
Why do you think Q.R. is so far ahead of Yucatan in leadership for the promotion of standards, ethics, MLS, licensure, and the like?
I truly don't know if we are ahead of other sections since I am not aware of what other sections are doing. In the past we have worked closely with AMPI Cancun and AMPI Cozumel. Because of the distance we have not had much contact with AMPI Merida but that will soon change. I have proposed a special commission comprised of the four sections to work on a state law - or actually 2 state laws, since Merida is in our neighboring state of Yucatan and the other three sections are in Quintana Roo. But I believe we can share efforts and resources for laws in both states. The AMPI Merida president took office less than a week ago and I have already been in contact with him and the presidents of the other sections. I am hoping that this week we will be able to name members of the commission and get started shortly What I do know about all the presidents of our neighbor sections is that all the President's are eager to move forward and that all of them are motivated and enthused about what lies ahead for AMPI.The national president was in town this past week and the President of AMPI Cozumel, Rita Sheese and I met with him to discuss his plans at a national level and to see what concerns and issues we have in this area. All I can say is that AMPI is going to be moving fast and furious to bring the Real Estate profession in Mexico to new levels - there's no stopping us now
As published by www.ampirivieramaya.com