March 31, 2022
Dear Members:
March was another productive month for us across many fronts!
One of my key priorities is to cultivate new leaders within our Association, with special attention to diversity, equity and inclusion. As we marked International Women’s Day on March 8th, it made me proud to see that more than half of our 2022 Board of Directors is made up of women! Diversity is our strength. We have come a long way but there is always more we can do to welcome Realtors® from communities and backgrounds not already represented to volunteer and become active in our Association. Thanks to so many of you who serve on our Board of Directors and as Committee Chairs and Vice Chairs. Let’s continue to encourage all of our Realtor® colleagues to join us!
March was also a busy month for our Government Affairs team. We worked with the California Association of Realtors® to defeat AB 854, which would have rewritten state law to prohibit property owners from using the Ellis Act to withdraw their rental units from the market. We also organized 100 SFAR members to attend our Virtual State Legislative Day, speaking directly to Assemblymember Phil Ting and State Senator Scott Wiener about bills that would prevent mega-corporate investors from buying single-family homes in bulk, undercutting the ability for everyday homebuyers from competing in the market.
Now is the time to keep the pressure on Sacramento to support homeownership, so I encourage you to join us at the California Association of Realtors® In-Person Legislative Day on Wednesday, April 27th! In addition to great speakers lined up by CAR, our Association has arranged meetings with State Legislators and organized a working lunch at Vallejos' Taqueria and Cantina. In-person advocacy makes a difference! Come and share your voice on the issues affecting real estate. Please watch for an email to come from our Association this week regarding how to sign up, and contact Mary Jung, SFAR's Director of Government Relations, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any questions.
One more note from our Government Affairs team: If you or your clients are registered voters and live in the eastern half of San Francisco, you have a special election coming up on April 19th. You should have already received your ballot in the mail, so please be sure to vote! Special elections often have low voter engagement, so every vote counts.
On the MLS and Technology side, March brought more positive developments. Our new member benefit, RentSpree, is fully integrated into the MLS and provides the ability for you to get a completed rental application, credit report, background check, and eviction history in just one step. Additionally, SFAR staff Andrew Dena and Patrick Anderson launched a bi-monthly MLS training series on “Listing & Organizing” and “Searching and Prospecting”. More than 250 members registered for these terrific webinars. If you missed them, a recording of the “Searching and Prospecting” course is available on the Association’s YouTube channel here. And keep an eye on our Events page: both classes will run again in April.
Our Association is focused on giving you the resources you need to do your business efficiently and effectively. In addition to webinars and videos, our MLS team has been building out a library of support articles to help you troubleshoot common challenges. You can find this resource at http://sfarsupportcenter.com or via ‘SFARMLS Help’ widget on the MLS Dashboard. More than 30 articles are already live on topics including the how-to’s of broker tour reports and removing photos from the MLS.
As we look ahead to April, I’d like to encourage you to join me at SFAR’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee’s first in-person event ever: Libations, Light Bites, and a Film Screening of “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” at the beautiful Bay View Opera House Ruth Williams Memorial Theater on Thursday, April 7th from 5 - 9 p.m. This event is FREE for members and just $20 for non-members! We will enjoy delicious tacos from Tato of the Bayview and desserts by Yvonne’s Southern Sweets, plus drinks provided by the Bay View Opera House. Then, we will watch this powerful movie together and pause halfway through to engage in a brief conversation about racial equity and gentrification in San Francisco, led by SFAR Board Member and DEI Committee Member Vanessa Gamp. Today is the last day to register, so please consider doing so! (Click HERE to register.)
Thank you for your membership and engagement this month and I look forward to seeing you at one (or hopefully many!) of our upcoming events.
Warm regards,
Jeannie Gant
March was another productive month for us across many fronts!
One of my key priorities is to cultivate new leaders within our Association, with special attention to diversity, equity and inclusion. As we marked International Women’s Day on March 8th, it made me proud to see that more than half of our 2022 Board of Directors is made up of women! Diversity is our strength. We have come a long way but there is always more we can do to welcome Realtors® from communities and backgrounds not already represented to volunteer and become active in our Association. Thanks to so many of you who serve on our Board of Directors and as Committee Chairs and Vice Chairs. Let’s continue to encourage all of our Realtor® colleagues to join us!
March was also a busy month for our Government Affairs team. We worked with the California Association of Realtors® to defeat AB 854, which would have rewritten state law to prohibit property owners from using the Ellis Act to withdraw their rental units from the market. We also organized 100 SFAR members to attend our Virtual State Legislative Day, speaking directly to Assemblymember Phil Ting and State Senator Scott Wiener about bills that would prevent mega-corporate investors from buying single-family homes in bulk, undercutting the ability for everyday homebuyers from competing in the market.
Now is the time to keep the pressure on Sacramento to support homeownership, so I encourage you to join us at the California Association of Realtors® In-Person Legislative Day on Wednesday, April 27th! In addition to great speakers lined up by CAR, our Association has arranged meetings with State Legislators and organized a working lunch at Vallejos' Taqueria and Cantina. In-person advocacy makes a difference! Come and share your voice on the issues affecting real estate. Please watch for an email to come from our Association this week regarding how to sign up, and contact Mary Jung, SFAR's Director of Government Relations, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any questions.
One more note from our Government Affairs team: If you or your clients are registered voters and live in the eastern half of San Francisco, you have a special election coming up on April 19th. You should have already received your ballot in the mail, so please be sure to vote! Special elections often have low voter engagement, so every vote counts.
On the MLS and Technology side, March brought more positive developments. Our new member benefit, RentSpree, is fully integrated into the MLS and provides the ability for you to get a completed rental application, credit report, background check, and eviction history in just one step. Additionally, SFAR staff Andrew Dena and Patrick Anderson launched a bi-monthly MLS training series on “Listing & Organizing” and “Searching and Prospecting”. More than 250 members registered for these terrific webinars. If you missed them, a recording of the “Searching and Prospecting” course is available on the Association’s YouTube channel here. And keep an eye on our Events page: both classes will run again in April.
Our Association is focused on giving you the resources you need to do your business efficiently and effectively. In addition to webinars and videos, our MLS team has been building out a library of support articles to help you troubleshoot common challenges. You can find this resource at http://sfarsupportcenter.com or via ‘SFARMLS Help’ widget on the MLS Dashboard. More than 30 articles are already live on topics including the how-to’s of broker tour reports and removing photos from the MLS.
As we look ahead to April, I’d like to encourage you to join me at SFAR’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee’s first in-person event ever: Libations, Light Bites, and a Film Screening of “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” at the beautiful Bay View Opera House Ruth Williams Memorial Theater on Thursday, April 7th from 5 - 9 p.m. This event is FREE for members and just $20 for non-members! We will enjoy delicious tacos from Tato of the Bayview and desserts by Yvonne’s Southern Sweets, plus drinks provided by the Bay View Opera House. Then, we will watch this powerful movie together and pause halfway through to engage in a brief conversation about racial equity and gentrification in San Francisco, led by SFAR Board Member and DEI Committee Member Vanessa Gamp. Today is the last day to register, so please consider doing so! (Click HERE to register.)
Thank you for your membership and engagement this month and I look forward to seeing you at one (or hopefully many!) of our upcoming events.
Warm regards,
Jeannie Gant
2022 President, San Francisco Association of Realtors®
