Realtor of the Year Nomination Letter:

Joan E. White, White Realty Co., Union, New Jersey

Few people embody the Realtor® Spirit better than Joan White of White Realty Co., Union, New Jersey. Nothing says this more clearly than the sighs of relief by both sides of a professional standards arbitration case when she is appointed to the panel, for her absolute integrity and sense of fairness are hallmarks of her long and distinguished career. She brings insight, justice, humor and great common sense to every situation, and her reputation is among the highest in the business. She holds herself and her colleagues to the most rigorous ethical standards, and is totally committed to continuing education and the pursuit of excellence in her field, and in her life as well.

Joan puts service above all other considerations, developing extraordinary relationships with clients to provide not only real estate expertise, but also wise counsel, and her friends and family count on her intensely kind spirit and sense of compassion to enrich their lives. She gives generously of herself to others in all walks of her life.

Joan is an outstanding example of what all Realtors® should be, and an inspiration to all of us fortunate enough to know her.

Local Board Activity

For the past sixteen years, Joan White has served her local boards well on the Professional Standards committees, and has been a Chairperson for the past eight years. She was first named to the Professional Standards Committee of Greater Eastern Union County Board of Realtors® in 1984 and was its Chairperson from 1992-1997. In 1997, she was named Co-Chairperson of the Greater Union County Association of Realtors® Professional Standards Committee, a position she still holds today. She conducts both Ethics and Arbitration hearings at the local board office in Westfield. As Co-Chairperson, she also donates much time answering questions on an on-going basis from Realtor® members regarding Professional Standards issues, the Code of Ethics, and professional real estate practice.

For three years Joan served as a Board of Directors member of the Greater Eastern Union County Board of Realtors (1990-93). She continues to attend local board seminars and meetings for the Professional Standards and Ethics and Arbitrations committees, as well as the Annual Awards Ceremony. She participates in various charitable drives organized by the local board, including "Toys for Tots" and food drives.

State Association Activity

Through the respect earned during her tenures on local board Professional Standards Committees, Joan was named to the NJAR Professional Standards Committee in 1997, a position she still holds today. She conducts many Ethics and Arbitration hearings throughout New Jersey, often as Chairperson, for local boards and NJAR representatives.

Joan is also instrumental in the preparation and coordination of bi-annual state seminars in Professional Standards, which serve to inform and educate Realtors® to highest levels in this most important of Realtor® topics. She keeps current in the field with regular attendance of Professional Standard meetings at NJAR headquarters. Joan also attends NJAR State Realtor® conventions in Atlantic City, NJ.

National Association Activity

An extraordinary believer in advanced continuing education, Joan was quick to earn the significant designations offered by the National Association of Realtors® shortly after each became available. She has been a GRI for nearly 20 years, as well as holding CRB and CRS designations, and is a member of the Residential Sales Council.

Ever avid for more learning, in July 2000 Joan was among the first 500 Realtors® in the nation to receive the new e-PRO designation from NAR, and thus has been given the prestigious e-PRO 500 certification -only these initial 500 Realtors® will ever be allowed to use this logo. In order to earn the e-PRO 500, Joan participated in the inaugural launch of the program for NAR, completing the intensive on-line course in only six weeks, and in so doing, also provided ongoing feedback to NAR to aid in future operations of the e-PRO course. She not only earned her designation, at the same time she helped NAR make the Internet program a better one for other Realtors®.

Joan is licensed in real estate by two states, New Jersey and Florida; both licenses remain current.

Business Accomplishments

As Broker of the family-owned White Realty Co, Joan has successfully guided the company to its 50th year anniversary celebrations this year in 2000. She has masterfully integrated today's high-technology practices with the old traditions of high-quality service established by her father, James F. White, a previous Realtor® of the Year winner who in 1950 founded the company with her mother, Ermalinda Russo White. The reputation of her business remains among the highest in the state.

Her company's website at WhiteRealtyCo.com launched in 1997 as one of the first in New Jersey, and it was immediately given highest ranking by the International Real Estate Digest, and named a model website for beta-testing their real estate database by Worrall Publications, which publishes many of the local area newspapers. WhiteRealtyCo.com remains a vibrant and large site today, built and updated in-office. Joan has just been asked to sit on the Real Estate Sites Advisory Review Board of ValidSites.com, an Internet directory that ranks and gives seals of approval to websites of all kinds.

Technology is not the only area in which Joan is an innovator; she conducted the first major real estate auction in the Township of Union, at Liberty Hall townhouse development.

Joan is listed in Who's Who in Executives and Professionals.

Community & Humanitarian

Joan is a lifelong devoted resident of the Township of Union and has unselfishly donated much time and service over the years in a vast number of capacities to the community in general, and to people in particular. A great humanitarian with a Bachelor of Social Work from Kean College, she quietly gives a large percentage of her time and her heart in ongoing, constant donation of life problem counseling and notary public services to many people, especially senior citizens, widows and widowers. In those instances she has often gone to bedsides to aid the aged, the infirm and the dying.

Long involved in the betterment of the Township of Union, she served as Director of the Township of Union Chamber of Commerce (1989-1991), brainstorming to develop and implement programs to promote the Township. She also was Director of the Union Center Special Improvement District (SID, 1994-95) to study and recommend allocation of state funding to various local groups, and served during that time as member of the Township of Union Community Development to develop special projects and seasonal events for the SID. Joan also served for three years as an Advisory Committee Member for the town's Board of Education. Her business has been one of only four sponsors of Township of Union Annual Calendar since its inception in 1976. From 1987-96 Joan also served on the Board of Directors of a local Union bank, Lehigh Savings, and was the Board's Corporate Secretary.

A former American Red Cross Lifeguard and Water Safety Instructor, Joan taught many Township of Union children how to swim at the Union Boys' and Girls' Club, and remains a staunch supporter of youth activities and education; she sponsored a team (the "Jayhawks") in the Township of Union Rebels Softball League (1999), as well as a Billboard Sponsorship for the Union Little League Baseball League. She is a sponsor of the town's Connecticut Farms School PTA, and, in 1999 when the school could not afford to send 60 children to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Joan paid for the school bus herself. She did the same to enable 30 children to visit the Liberty Science Center. She also initiated a Computer Fund Drive for Connecticut Farms School, enabling many classrooms to be outfitted with computer equipment. She has sponsored a child through the local chapter of the Salvation Army via the Township of Union Post Office fund-raiser, providing Christmas gifts and school supplies (1998-2000).

Joan is a charter Member of Union's Liberty Hall Historical Society, and was sought out in 1995 by the New York Times as a voluntary advisor to that paper on Union's history and its modern-day statistics and profile.

Ever mindful of others in need, Joan has even enrolled her golden retriever to become trained as a certified Therapy Dog to bring joy during visits to people in hospitals, through the Delta Dog Society (2000).

Additional Comments:

In light of all of the wonderful things Joan White has done for others over so many years both in her business life and in humanitarian ways, for the high standards of excellence she maintains, and for the generous rare spirit that she is, she is hereby nominated whole-heartedly as Realtor® of the Year. It is an honor long overdue, and altogether fitting that she receive it this 50th anniversary year of her family's business.