The Oklahoma Association of REALTORS® connects real estate professionals across the state by providing comprehensive professional resources, maintaining the highest ethical standards and giving REALTORS® a unified voice in shaping Oklahoma real estate property laws and regulations.
1st GRI Class (1960)
Although officially named the Oklahoma Association of REALTORS® in 1969, OAR traces its roots to 1921, when the National Association of Real Estate Boards first recognized Oklahoma’s official, statewide REALTOR® association. Those first five decades saw the Oklahoma association grow, first as a governing body, then as an educational source for Oklahoma’s real estate professionals.
The Oklahoma Association of Real Estate Boards receives its official charter from the National Association of Real Estate Boards.
Oklahoma holds its first statewide meeting of the association.
The association passes a resolution calling for the development and enactment of a “license law” to govern real estate professionals.
The association begins the decade with 74 members, hires its first full-time staff member and debuts its membership newsletter, “The Oklahoma Realtor®.”
The association recognizes its first REALTOR® of the Year – Bob Dwyer.
The association hosts the inaugural REALTOR® Institute (GRI) Course.
The association officially becomes the “Oklahoma Association of REALTORS®.”
The association celebrates the nation’s bicentennial with a coordinated effort to plant more than 1.5 million black walnut trees across Oklahoma in order to replenish the national tree supply. The initiative received first prize in the National Association of REALTORS® “Make America Better” competition.
Tulsa, Okla., REALTOR® Tom Grant, Jr. becomes president of the National Association of REALTORS®.
Association membership reaches 12,800 before regressing due to the oil bust.
Jamie O’Neill becomes Oklahoma’s first recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of REALTORS®.
The association begins the decade with just over 7,100 members, creates the REALTORS® Active in Politics program and hires its first full-time lobbyist.
OklahomaRealtors.com debuts.
The association’s membership once again nears 10,000.
OAR membership numbers 8,451. On Nov. 1, a new Broker Relationships Act goes into effect that provides a single definition of a broker – replacing the multi-category definitions – in which each licensee has the same duties and responsibilities regardless of the transaction.
OAR hits all advocacy and RPAC fundraising targets to win the prestigious NAR President’s Cup for the first time in state history. The President’s Cup is only awarded to states that are able to achieve a variety of goals at very high levels.
By the oil boom years of the late 1970s and early 1980s, OAR listed a membership of nearly 13,000. Despite the challenges of the oil bust years, OAR emerged in the 1990s as a significant political, educational and ethical voice for real estate practitioners in the state.
As Oklahoma continues to become a sought-after locale for corporate relocation and growth, OAR continues to meet the needs of the real estate professionals who put both corporations and families into new homes every day in Oklahoma. In 2015, OAR reached membership levels above 9,000 for the first time since 2009.
