I have been a member since late December and have followed the ongoing discussion regarding ACRE's present and future with great interest. I applaud all of you who are trying to reform the real estate industry and are willing to put forth time and resources toward that end as it certainly is an industry in need of changes. One thing that I am interested in knowing and can't find on the web site is how ACRE is structured. Is it a

• for profit corporation

• not for profit corporation

• partnership among the council members

• a sole proprietorship

• something else ?

The reason I ask is not because I have a problem with any of these set ups, but because I think if you want people to buy into a concept of transparency in their real estate practice that should be reflected in the way this organization is set up. I recognize that it takes considerable time and resources to run both an organization and a web site and I have zero problem with the people who do that being fairly compensated, but I do think the members should be able to understand how things are set up.

The related question I would then ask is where do you see ACRE headed structurally (and I recognize that is subject to change) ? It seems to me that if ACRE hopes to have a real seat at the table when it comes to how real estate is bought and sold, it will eventually need to be a member driven non profit organization with a President, board, etc. of elected members who are in charge and day to day operations handled by a professional support staff – sort of like NAR purports to be, but with members who belong because they believe in the organization rather than they have to belong in order to access MLS, and a leadership that actually cares what the membership really wants rather than relying on the fact that most members don't pay much attention to what their leaders are doing unless it costs them money. In my opinion, any sort of designation will not really mean much until you get to that point. The current structure seems to try to be sort of a benevolent dictatorship and that may be the way it needs to be to get things going, but seems unsustainable to me in the long term, given what I perceive to be the goals here.