Perspectives on the Real Estate Industry

By John K. Glaab, CIPS

            More than four hundred Realtors® attended the recent Forum, "Perspectives on the Real Estate Industry."

            The 19th Real Estate FORUM was presented by the Guadalajara Section of the Mexican Association of Real Estate Professionals (AMPI)

            Following the national anthem and parading of the flag by the drum and bugle corps and honour guard from the local fire department, the event was inaugurated by Juan Sanchez Aldana. He is the Mayor of nearby Zapopan, one of Mexico's wealthiest and fastest growing cities.  The city was a major sponsor for the event.

            In addition to a panel, "Crisis in the Past and Formulas for the Future", there were several keynote speakers, during the day. These included Dr. Abraham Vela Dib, Manager, Communication, Bank of Mexico, Cesar Ulises Trevino President,  Mexico Green Building Council, Eugene Towle,  Director General of Softec and Jorge Cantero, a Miami realtor® and educator.

            Dr. Vela Dib spoke on the evolution and perspectives for the Mexico economy. Where the country has been and its opportunities for future development. César Trevino explained LEED Rating Systems.  This is a third party certification program and nationally accepted benchmark for the design and construction of high performance green buildings.  He cited numerous examples around the world, including the 32 story HSBC bank building on the Reforma in Mexico City.

            In real estate circles, Eugene Towle is known as Mr. Statistics.  He is an expert in data that relates to Mexico's current economic condition and on occasions makes projections as to the future. On this occasion, he made predictions about requirements for new businesses. He spoke about the future and what will be needed to cope. Jorge Cantero has a long string of initials and certifications, behind his name. One that intrigues me is "Master of Science in International Real Estate." He is the only person I know who holds that distinction. He has also been a course instructor for the National Association of Realtors® and has been named the Instructor of the Year, for his teaching of the NAR Certified International Property Specialist. (CIPS) course.  Jorge's topic was "Opening Horizons."  He outlined the need for real estate practitioners to think globally when looking for buyers and developers. He mentioned the pool of wealth available in overseas market. (With this, he reminded me of another CIPS instructor the late Nathan Booth. In a class, Nathan said, "If you are going to practice international real estate, you need a big butterfly net. Currency flows one way and then flows in another direction.")   One statement Jorge made was memorable" All Muslims are not Arabs and not all Muslims are Arabs."

            At the end of the day, Pedro Trueba de Torres, National President of AMPI, made the closing statement.

About the author: John Glaab has been a member of NAR's International Section for over a decade. He has earned the Certified International Property Specialist designation (CIPS) and is a founding member of AMPI Los Cabos. John writes real estate articles for publications in three countries and for several web sites.. For further information, contact John at: john.glaab@settlement-co.com  

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