The Contoocook Valley Board of Realtors marked its 50th anniversary during a celebration at the VFW Hall in Jaffrey on Wednesday, including realtors reminiscing on the past and looking to the future of their work.
Realtor Marc Tieger recalled when the Contoocook Valley Board of Realtors was founded in 1975 as a break-away from the Monadnock Board of Realtors. Unrolling a comically long list of notes, Tieger recalled some of the early days of the organization.
“Geographically we were different, and, respectfully, philosophically we were different over this way, also,” Tieger said.
The group was founded with Lawrence Duggan as its first president, with 35 charter members across 19 offices. In its time, the board has put together an annual scholarship fund, which is still active, upheld a standard for professionalism and continuing education for its members, and encouraged members to be active in their communities through volunteer boards.
It was a different time, said Tieger: In 1975, a gallon of milk was $1.55, a gallon of gas was 44 cents, a stamp was a dime, and the average house was about $39,300. Realtor Ken Moller recalled his office popping a bottle of champagne the first time they sold a house above the $100,000 mark, since it seemed so momentous.
Realtor Heather Peterson pulled out a box showing some of the materials real estate agents would have been working with in the late 1970s and early 1980s, working with fax machines, hard-wired telephones, electric typewriters, carbon paper and “lots of Whiteout.” Mortgage and title companies didn’t exist yet, and agents always worked for the seller.
Peterson held up examples of property listings, often photocopied with grainy black-and-white images. If you were looking for an upgrade, you could paste a color photo on top of the paper. She spoke of putting listings in magazines, often with months of lead time, and the property still being on the market when the magazine went to print — a different reality from the fast-moving sales of today.
Realtor Denise Whitney spoke about some of the tools that are up-and-coming in the field, including artificial intelligence.
“In another 50 years, where are we going to be? Who knows,” said Whitney. “I think that probably in 1975, you all didn’t think that we’d be signing documents on our computers and getting electronic signatures, right? Or that money was going to be wire transferred. Where we’re going to be, I don’t know. I do know that us, as CBVR, as a community, is special, and no matter what kind of technology we have, we’re always going to be humans and we’re always going to be working together.”
Whitney said there will be aspects of real estate that will always need a human touch, but there are things that she uses AI for currently, including writing property descriptions. Another example, she said, was using AI to put together a property tour for a couple who were coming from out of state to see 12 houses over two days. The AI program set out a route, the timing, and detailed sites of interest in the town to include in the tour. It’s a task that Whitney said might have taken the agent doing the tour several days to put together.
“AI is coming in. Are they taking over? No. I think they’re enhancing, and helping us actually be with our people. I always say to my agents, I would rather have you out with your clients or in your community, than sitting behind a computer or putting in data.”
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.