Just a few months prior, several leading real estate agents were attending a meeting together and had the opportunity to discuss their mutual interests to work together towards a more professional real estate industry for the Eastern Seaboard.

It was about six months later that we approached Khun Paisan Bundityanond (Rabbit Resort) and asked if he would assist the Eastern Seaboard’s agencies in forming a local real estate group for the betterment of the profession.

Khun Paisan Bundityanond, currently REBA Eastern Seaboard’s Honorary Chairperson (and mentor) has had extensive real estate experience in the United States and was the original founder of the Thailand Real Estate Brokers Association in Bangkok.

As it was obvious to all from the beginning, joining Thailand’s Real Estate Brokers Association was what they all believed was best for the real estate professionals throughout the area. They next decided to contact some of the more established agencies to join one another for a brainstorming session to see what might be of mutual interest to the areas real estate professionals.

REBA Eastern Seaboard’s first meeting was attended by ten (10) of the top local real estate companies and to everyone’s great surprise…..all were more than eager to do their part in supporting each other as a local real estate service organization. All were excited about the possibility of actually working together to make their Eastern Seaboard real estate industry more safe and professional and eight (8) of those original companies went on to form, as Charter Members’ the Real Estate Broker Association Eastern Seaboard.

It was next decided that in order to facilitate proper and organized real estate practices, the Real Estate Brokers Association Eastern Seaboard would need to elevate real estate agents and brokers with proper education and testing, which the group began pursuing through their 'Education and Qualifications Sub-Committee'. The group’s goal was to begin to elevate and identify....reputable real estate agencies and persons through scheduled seminars, training courses and examinations.

The next step in the process of organizing was to allow the Real Estate Brokers Association Eastern Seaboard the ability to avoid disputes and unacceptable real estate practices through the establishing of a dispute resolution process that is efficient and effective. The group next organized a ‘Professional Standards Sub-Committee' with it’s own Dispute Resolution Board, which would allow local members to successfully circumvent most all disputes and to resolve the ones that do enter our business community.

Having accomplished an incredible amount of work already, the group decided that it was time to approach Thailand’s Real Estate Brokers Association to discuss the Eastern Seaboard group’s interests to support REBA Thailand’s goals and policies.

Khun Paisan Bundityanond then contacted the Real Estate Brokers Association President (Dr. Somsak) and organized a meeting in which REBA invited three local area Thai real estate professionals and three local area foreign real estate professionals to attend this meeting.

The results of this meeting were beyond the local groups expectations. On behalf of REBA, Dr. Somsak and his board offered the Eastern Seaboard group all that they had hoped for. When the meeting was over, the Eastern Seaboard contingent had been offered the following Real Estate Brokers Association duties for the Eastern Seaboard of Thailand:

1. The initial screening of Eastern Seaboard applicants for REBA membership approval.

2. The monitoring and controlling of REBA’s members in the Eastern Seaboard area.

3. The conciliation of conflicts that arise between REBA’s members in the Eastern Seaboard area.

4. To receive complaints from customers, staff, developers and agents.

5. To investigate and examine any members abuse of REBA’s rules and regulations or Code of Ethics and to report these abuses directly to REBA’s board of directors for further examination and action.

All they had hoped for! The Eastern Seaboard Real Estate Brokers Association group was now on their way to establishing the very first real estate organization on the Eastern Seaboard….and just in time to handle a real estate industry that had grown over ten fold……in less than three years!

That was Wednesday May 10, 2006 when the REBA Eastern Seaboard group had their very first meeting. Three REBA ES sub-committees were been formed and countless hours of work have brought forth a very cohesive and mutually supportive group of real estate professionals with Real Estate Brokers Association examinations, training and seminars having already begun in our area.

Yes, the local group of real estate agents took the basic real estate training course covering land, structure and condominium title transfer issues and the rules and regulations of proper real estate brokering in early November 2006 and another seventeen (17) local real estate agents took the real estate brokers examination the last week of November 2006 to become Associate Members of REBA from our Eastern Seaboard area.

The REBA Eastern Seaboard group now has all of the necessary documentation to formally invite new real estate agency members into its fold and additional Real Estate Brokers Association examinations and training have already been scheduled for our area in the very near future.

Within less than six months, the Real Estate Brokers Association Eastern Seaboard has three active sub-committees........ten agency members and their approximately 30+ agents and the REBA ES members are predicting that once they open the doors to new members their group will definitely begin growing in size as they now feel strongly that they do have the proper foundation to introduce and share the benefits of the Real Estate Brokers Association to the Eastern Seaboard real estate community.

Having trained and dedicated real estate professionals is sure to be of great benefit to the many property owners, buyers and renters throughout the greater Eastern Seaboard area.

REBA ES has two ‘types’ of membership, namely Ordinary ‘Juristic’ Members (Agency/Brokerage), and Associate Members (Agents/Brokers).