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Not every real estate licensee is a member of the San Diego Association of Realtors® (SDAR). The organization changed its name in 2013 to The Greater San Diego Association of Realtors. Those who are members of the association are required to follow the Code of Ethics for Realtors in their business conduct. They are subject to disciplinary actions if they violate the Code of Ethics, which includes representing the best interest of the buyers when they represent buyers, and representing the best interest of sellers when they represent sellers. According to the latest statistics, a little over half of the real estate licensees in San Diego are members of SDAR. That percentage has improved in last couple of years.
Elena Yu, Ph.D. is a member of the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors®. She also serves on several committees at the Association–The Education Committee (2009-2011), the Housing Opportunities Committee (2011-date), and the Global Real Estate Council (2013-date). She helped out in the Home Clinic in 2011 with the Housing Opportunities Collaborative (a non-profit organization) to help distressed homeowners facing financial hardships and foreclosures. She also wrote a grant for SDAR to the National Association of Realtors to fund a First-Time Home Buyers Class in 2012. The workshop was so well received that plans are afoot to have similar workshops in the future for targeted groups.
SDAR is San Diego’s largest trade association. Besides preserving private property rights and protecting the business interest of realtors, the association also helps to develop the community through charitable contributions, such as: Housing Works, Father Joe’s Villages, Rebuilding Together San Diego, Habitat for Humanity San Diego and Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate. In addition, SDAR aids Police Officers in buying homes through the SDAR Ambassadors Foundation. Elena Yu is one of only about 50 REALTORS® who participate in the SDAR Ambassadors-certified Buyers Program. For those who are interested in learning more about the history of SDAR, the following is a brief account abstracted from the website of SDAR.
The association traced its history to 1878 when the first real estate board of San Diego was organized. In 1905 a new realty board was formed and on May 27, 1905, the newly formed board joined the California Real Estate Association (CREA). It just had 26 members. By 1906, the membership had grown to 100.
On November 4, 1911, the San Diego Board took out incorporation papers. From 1916 through 1920, the Board was inactive because of World War I. Early in 1920, the Board was reactivated. The population of San Diego was only 74,683 then. In 1921 the San Diego Realty Board affiliated itself with the National Association of Real Estate Boards, which had been organized in 1908. The designation “REALTOR” had been adopted in 1916.
Through the efforts of the San Diego Realty Board, California was the first state to enact real estate and examination licensing law. Others soon followed and today all 50 states have such laws.
SDAR’s membership was 3,251 in 1985 (the earliest date of existing computer records). The Board changed its name to the San Diego Association of REALTORS® (SDAR) in 1990 and moved to its current offices in Kearny Mesa in May 1997. Membership to the Association was bound to jurisdictional boundaries until 1994, when the associations in the area adopted “Board of Choice” rules. During 2008, SDAR’s membership has increased by about 100 members each month. By the end of the year, SDAR’s membership stood at 10,000 REALTORS® and Affiliates.
