Getting involved pays off
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 5 months AGO
Moses Lake Realtor Kevin Burgess stands in the Windermere Real Estate office in downtown Moses Lake Monday. Burgess was named Washington Realtor of the Year last week at the Washington Realtors Spring Conference.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Moses Lake Realtor Kevin Burgess shows his Realtor of the Year award at the Washington Realtors Spring Conference on April 20.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | April 29, 2022 1:20 AM
MOSES LAKE — No matter how you look at it, real estate is serious business. When you’re dealing with land, one of the most basic things a person can own, and the hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs, you have to place a lot of trust in the person who’s putting the deal together for you. That’s why Realtors go to great lengths to make sure their profession is viewed with trust.
That word “Realtor” is capitalized for a reason. Not everybody who buys and sells land can call themselves that. In the United States, the word is trademarked by the National Association of Realtors, and that organization defines it as a “a real estate professional who is member of the National Association of Realtors and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.” That Code of Ethics is eight pages long and details a Realtor’s obligations to their clients, the general public and other Realtors. These folks take their reputation seriously.
Which is why it was such an honor for Moses Lake Realtor Kevin Burgess, of Windermere Real Estate in Moses Lake, to be named Realtor of the Year at the Washington REALTORS Spring Conference in Yakima last week. The award, according to Washington Realtors, recognizes outstanding service to the local, state and national Realtors’ associations, as well as community involvement.
“(Burgess) lives by the code of ethics in every way and is an exceptional servant leader. He is honest, honorable, and seeks to bring out the best in everyone he encounters. (Burgess) goes out of his way to make others feel appreciated, while being an unsung hero in helping many others in need with dedication of his own time, resources, and money. Much of what he has done goes unseen, and most are never aware because he doesn’t tell anyone about his good deeds. He is very active in the community, brings great ideas to improve the association, and is always available to discuss issues for the betterment of the community,” an announcement from the Washington REALTORS said.
Burgess is a lifelong resident of Moses Lake, he said, and has been selling real estate in the Basin since 1996. He’s a big proponent of involvement in Realtors organizations, he said, ever since he got his license in 1996, on the advice of the previous owners of a real estate agency he owned in Ephrata.
“They pretty much told me, the only way you're going to do any good in this business is to get involved with a local association, the state association and be involved on committees. And so that's what I did. And all the agents that work for me, that's part of the deal; go to our local meetings and get involved at the state level. So I've just always been a proponent of being involved, just because of what Washington Realtors actually do for not just the Realtors, but the public.”
Washington Realtors has a PAC, or political action committee, Burgess said, that fights for real estate professionals, and by extension other small business people as well. One example he gave was an attempt to reclassify independent contractors as employees for tax purposes. Senate Bill 5326 would have reclassified a number of workers, including real estate agents, hair stylists and others, as employees of the company whose roof they do business under. And coincidentally, Burgess said, increased tax revenue to the state.
“They always want to increase our (business and occupation) tax,” Burgess said. “They go after us almost every year for that, and we've always been able to fight them off.” The bill was eventually pulled.
Washington Realtors has also been active in fighting property tax increases, Burgess added, which benefits not only real estate agents but all property owners.
Winning Washington Realtor of the Year entitles Burgess to walk across the stage at the National Association of Realtors conference in November, according to Washington Realtors President Cheri Daniels.
“It was a really prestigious award, and he was really deserving of it,” Daniels said. “And we’re very proud of him.”
Joel Martin can be reached via email at [email protected].
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Endless battle
Noxious Weed Control Board works to keep invasive plants under control
MOSES LAKE — Some of the nastiest plants in Grant County were the topic of a class led by Jay Johnson, a consultant with the Grant County Noxious Weed Control Board, Tuesday. The Noxious Weed Control Board, as its name would suggest, is tasked with keeping weeds under control in Grant County. That’s not a small job; the board’s website lists 129 species of noxious weeds that are found around Grant County. A noxious weed is defined as an invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat, according to the Noxious Weed Control Board. Washington state law requires that these weeds be identified and their spread kept to a minimum, if not completely eradicated. “We’re one of those agencies a lot of people don’t really understand,” Johnson said. “We’re a county office and … our funding is tax-based assessment. When you get your tax bill and you look down at all the expenses that you pay for, there we are.”
BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
Moses Lake author encourages women to look beyond church culture norms
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake author’s book, “A Christian Woman Striving to Live Her Faith in a Man-Controlled World,” takes aim at the role to which many churches relegate the female half of their congregations. “It’s to encourage women in the faith,” Linda Curran said. “A lot of churches say, ‘Teach Sunday school, do this, do that, but don’t (evangelize.)’" In her book, Curran recounts a time when she moved to a new community and joined a church there. She was surprised to learn that, as a new female member, she had been automatically assigned church cleaning duties. When she questioned it, she wrote, she was met with condescension and her objections were brushed aside. In other churches, she said, women who were capable of teaching were relegated to “women’s ministry.”