TUCSON, Arizona – The Tucson Association of REALTORS® (TAR) honored its top-performing 2016 members this week at ceremonies led by National Association of REALTORS® 2017 First Vice President John Smaby.

About 250 people attended the TAR Annual Installation and Awards Ceremony at the Hilton El Conquistador Hotel on November 18. Tom Heath of Nova Home Loans served as emcee.

The association’s 2016 award winners follow:

REALTOR® of the Year: Sue Cartun, Keller Williams of Southern Arizona was awarded Realtor of the Year. This award recognizes an individual member who contributes to TAR and the overall real estate industry as a strong leader and is a valuable asset to the general community.

Sue Cartun is currently an owner partner and Operations Manager of Keller Williams Southern Arizona. Until March 2016, she served as the company’s Designated Broker, personally responsible for more than 3000 closed transactions per year since KWSA’s inception. Prior to her management career in real estate, Sue was a successful agent, achieving top awards consistently, and named as one of “500 Most Powerful Women in Real Estate” by RISmedia. Sue has been a featured speaker at National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), National Women’s Council of REALTORS®, CR, and Arizona Association of REALTORS® (AAR) conventions. Cartun has written, been featured and quoted in numerous real estate articles in local, state and national publications. In 2016, Sue was named a member of NAR’s REALTORS® Political Action Committee Hall of Fame. At the AAR state level in 2016, besides fulfilling her AAR Director role, Sue has been diligent in serving on the subgroup and full work group for the revision of the AAR state residential resale contract, which will be introduced in February 2017. At the Tucson Association of REALTORS® level Cartun has served as President, on the Board of Directors, and various committees as well as Vice Chair of the recently formed Advisory Board for the newly Regionalized Multiple Listing Service of Southern Arizona (MLSSAZ). As an active member with Women’s Council of REALTORS® and has served in many leadership roles in past years. Cartun has also served as past president of Comstock Children’s Foundation.

• Affiliate of the Year: Bekki Booth, NationalHome Warranty

Affiliates are key non-REAL TOR® members and supporters of TAR and are honored for serving with leadership and distinction.

• Rookie of the Year: Glenn Nowacki, Cobb Realty
• Roy P. Drachman Community Achievement Award:

Rosey Koberlein, CEO Long Realty Company
This honor recognizes a REALTOR® for community service and involvement who advances the profession.  It honors Roy Drachman, a well-known Tucson REALTOR®, and innovative commercial developer and generous philanthropist.

• Florence Johnoff Community Achievement Award: VIP Mortgage

This award recognized an Affiliate company and the collective efforts of its employees in community service and involvement in TAR. Johnoff was the association’s first woman president in 1977 and a leader in civic service.

• Outstanding Service Award:

Lisa Suarez, EMS Realty, Inc.
Max Fisher of RE/MAX Trends
This award recognizes individuals who serve TAR and the broader industry with distinction. The recipients also demonstrate exceptional commitment to serving our community.

• Corporate Community Achievement Award:

Long Realty Company
Tierra Antigua Realty
This honor recognizes a company that demonstrated exceptional commitment to making our community better. It is one of the more competitive categories because so many companies do many good things during the year.

• Honorary Life Members: Walter and Rose Giorgianni, Tierra Antigua Realty

To be considered for this honor, an individual must have been an active TAR member for at least 30 years. During that time they must accumulate at least 15 total years of volunteer service to our association. This achievement is in tribute to their professionalism, expertise and dedicated willingness to serve their peers and industry.

• Committee of the Year:

REALTORS® Of Arizona Political Action Committee
Government Affairs Committee
As TAR’s top-performing committees, these volunteer groups, were honored for advancing the goals of the association.

Long Realty is pleased to recognize CEO Rosey Koberlein as a member of the First Swanepoel Power 200 Most Powerful People in Real Estate. The Swanepoel Power 200 (SP200) list is comprised of the most powerful and influential CEOs, Thought Leaders and Senior Executives in the residential real estate brokerage industry. The SP200 also ranks the “Power Players” into nine different categories: franchise executives, real estate brokers, educators, economists, technologists, media executives and association executives.

Koberlein oversees strategic planning and leadership for all of Long Companies, including Brokerage, Mortgage, Title and Insurance, and 1,400 licensed real estate associates.

Residential real estate is an enormous industry with some $55 billion being earned just in real estate commissions every year. We therefore focused on those individuals/companies who generate most of their business or income, in one form or another, from the residential real estate industry.

The rankings of the SP200 are “based on multiple criteria that take into account the individual’s personal influence, his/her tenure in the industry, the office he or she holds, the decision-making power of said office, the financial resources of the company or organization, the company or organization’s significance and contribution to the industry, the company’s geographic reach, and his or her recent activities, growth, and potential,” according to Rob Hahn, co-editor of the Swanepoel Power 200.

There was some heated debate on whether the list should include company individuals in finance and government. Obviously, major mortgage banks like Bank of America and Wells Fargo have incalculable impact on residential real estate, and they do generate significant revenue from the financing of residential properties. They, however, also have significant other revenue.  A similar situation arises with powerful regulators and legislators. Our solution was to acknowledge these types of powerful individuals under the “Outsiders” category without including them in the overall SP200 ranking.

“We acknowledge the huge contribution to our industry by the SP200 Power Players and thank them for their role in improving the home buying transaction,” Swanepoel said.

For a full list of rankings, visit SP200.