Newton Board of Realtors holds final meeting

The Newton Board of Realtors held its final meeting Thursday at the AmericInn in Newton. Members enjoyed a Christmas luncheon, sharing memories and mementos from the past.

Recently, the Iowa Association of Realtors decided to consolidate small boards into regional groups. The Newton board members had the choice to join the Des Moines board or form a board with Poweshiek County, Marshalltown and Benton County boards. A majority of the members will be joining with Des Moines and a few will head east to form the new board.

“If you’re looking at it from the sellers aspect of a house, we have our listings in the Des Moines MLS (Multiple Listing Services) there’s going to be a lot more exposure. If you’re listing is exposed up there, you’ve got a lot more agents working for you,” said Dan Birkenholz of Birkenholz Realty.

Having larger, regional boards will provide better service, more opportunities for community service projects and a greater number of Realtors working together. Overall, it is a benefit to the seller, Birkenholz said, having more people working to help them sell their property.

The Newton Board of Realtors was founded in 1960 and received its official charter on Nov. 15, 1960 from the National Association of Real Estate Boards and the Iowa Association of Realtors. Its first meeting was held at the Hotel Maytag with six firms attending including Shepherd Realty, Birkenholz Realty, Harness, Wilson, O’Brien, Hill and Janeway Realty.

“(The board formed) as a cooperative effort to promote real estate in Newton,” Birkenholz said.

His father, Henry Birkenholz was a founding member of the board and was in attendance at the first meeting. The first elected board included J.D. Shepherd as president, L.J. Janeway as Vice President, Mrs. Harness serving as both secretary and treasurer and Merle J. O’Brien as director.

Over the years, the board won several awards for their work in the community. For planting more than 2,000 trees in Newton, the group won the Beautification Award in the 1960s. In a National Public Relations Contest, the board took second place for its remodeling projects.

In 1991 and 1994, the Newton Board was recognized for the highest percentage of attendance at the Iowa Association of Realtors Convention. The board has twice won the Iowa Association of Realtors’ Fair Housing Award, once in 2003 for a poster calender and again in 2008 for the bird house project.

Additional service projects the group took park in was distributing flags at the Fourth of July parade, donating the “Welcome to Newton” sculpture that is near Interstate 80 and annual contributions to the Jasper County Courthouse Lighting, Dollars for Scholars, the Newton and Baxter school districts and the Salvation Army.

Two Newton board members went on to serve as president of the Iowa Association of Realtors. Gail Flagel served 1999 and Jo Jenkins held the office in 2006.