Myrtle Beach, SC Golf and Fun in the Sun

On Tuesday March 27th Monika and I jumped in our motor home and headed to Myrtle Beach, SC for a little R & R.

Monika taught an agency class for the North Country Board of REALTORS in the morning so we headed out of Hampstead at 3:20 PM. The drive south was pretty much uneventful. A traffic jam in Hartford set us back about a half hour. Once we hit the New Jersey Turnpike we just kept going until 10:20 PM when we decided to pull over and rest at a service area. Nestled in between a couple of 18 wheelers with their diesels running all night and trucks entering and exiting the service area we caught a few hours of sleep.

We rolled out at 5:25 AM and got jammed up in Baltimore and Washington DC traffic. We were hoping to be able to get thru there with little traffic but not to happen this trip. We finally crossed the Virginia border at 9:30 AM and kept rolling until we needed fuel at Exit 106 in North Carolina. We wend just about 800 miles and filled up with 75 gallons of diesel at 2.559 we averaged about 10.1 miles per gallon not towing. That was a good feeling as I kept the cruise control on 62 MPH.

I had a little hiccup when I cancelled cruise control and started it again. The warning light came on and I was able to pull in a rest area and while slowing to stop the light went out. I called our friends Bill and Nada Marth who were waiting for us at Myrtle Beach to see if he might know why it happened. He mentioned the transmision got confused and warned me. No problem he said. OK, that was a half hour delay. Off to Myrtle Beach we go. That was at 1:00 PM.

We reached exit 81 on route 95 hoping we were a couple of hours away but no it would be a lot longer than anticipated. One mistake we made was when we got to Myrtle Beach we were on route 17 and we were supposed to hook up with route 544. We were told to bypass business 17 and stay on 17. Oh well, we screwed up and crawled into South Myrtle Beach at 6:30 PM. I was exhausted after driving 13 hours.

We set up camp and Bill and Nada had cooked dinner for us and after a few drinks we were well rested.

Affiliates�Are You Taking Advantage of Them??

We have a very active group of Affiliate members and it got me wondering how your local boards and state associations handle their Affiliate members.

In New Hampshire we have Affiliate members who belong both to the local and state associations. They seem to be everywhere, doing all sorts of things and they are always there when you really need them.

They volunteer and most importantly donate a LOT of TIME and Money to the REALTORS�.

Do we as REALTORS� really utilize the SERVICES they offer or do you notice some members or boards just taking advantage of them without giving anything back. What do they get out of what they give? Sponsorships are costly�RESPA is always a concern. I know they hope to get referrals and that is the name of the game.

I know we have a bunch of dedicated affiliate members and are their services under utilized or are we just taking them for granted?

Take Advantage of the knowledge and skills the Affiliate can offer your customers and clients �you might be surprised how valuable that service is.