ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — It’s been a year since the BP oil spill and although the recovery process is picking up steam and the area is gearing up for a a busy tourist season, Baldwin County realtors are still battling for their fair share of the claims money due them.

This issue was discussed at the Thursday morning membership meeting of the Baldwin County Association of Realtors with Kathy Stastka, BCAR local director for the central region, updating the members on the latest development.

“Originally, real estate agents were supposed to get $5,000 compensation from BP and many have received that but I just found out from the Mobile office yesterday that if you filed a Schedule C for the last three years on your income tax that you qualify as a business and should be entitled to $25,000. However, the Baldwin county office said they haven’t heard that so there is some conflicting information out there,” Stastka said.

The best advice Stastka gave to members was to investigate on their own and if they had already received the $5,000 and cashed it, go to the Mobile office and see if they may be able to fix it. If you haven’t received it or cashed the check yet, have your 2008-2010 schedule C’s in hand that was filed on the original paper and you may be able to get the $25,000.

Spence Monroe, BCAR vice president, assured the members the BP situation is still fluid and association members are still working hard to get the compensation BC realtors need.

And although the BP situation is less than ideal, there is some positive aspects of it that Sheila Hodges, CEO and owner of SH Enterprises, umbrella company for Century 21 Meyer Real Estate in Gulf Shores, brought to the forefront as she was the featured speaker at the meeting.

“Because of the BP oil spill, our beaches became well-known and recognized all over the United States. As a result of that recognition, we have had people and businesses from all 50 states buy tickets to the Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores next month and they will be flying into our area and spending money here to to support our efforts to rebuild and recoup from this spill. They would have never known about us if it hadn’t been for BP so there is something good coming from this problem,” Hodges said.

In addition to her years as a real estate agent in Baldwin County, Hodges has been on the Alabama Real Estate Commission for 10 years as a commissioner and at present the chairman. Her term expires in September and she reflected on her time there and shared some things she has learned.

“I began doing real estate in 1977-78 and my first year I was in awe of those who had been in it for a while like Lee Masterson and Starke Irvine and dreamed of being as successful as they were one day. I realize now that I have been doing it for this many years how much I learned from watching them do what they do and how I am in the same boat, as the young agents are watching me now,” Hodges explained.

Among the many experiences Hodges has had on the commission, there are three that stand out in her memory. The first one being ex-cons deserve a second chance.

“There are so many examples of people that have made mistakes in their youth that landed them a felony conviction and some of the time, it was just a matter of guilt by association but others it was just a stupid mistake like not returning a movie that was rented form a store or being with a group of people involved in illegal activity. It doesn’t mean they are bad people now but that conviction follows them throughout their life. Just some food for thought next time you go to hire someone,” Hodges commented.

Unconscious incompetence is the second and Hodges explains some people in this business just don’t know what to do or how to do it. She gives the example of how an agent took money out of her company escrow account to buy a real estate franchise and explained when her license was taken away for two years that she was going to put the money back eventually.

“When a license is taken away, they can reapply after two years and when she reapplied , she gave the same answer of ‘I was going to put it back’. Needless to say, we didn’t reinstate her license because she had obviously not learned from her mistake and some people never do,” Hodges said.

The third is diplomacy and Hodges said she learned about that from people on the commission. “I have never had too much diplomacy and did what needed to be done and told people how to do it. I didn’t have a problem with that but as I listened to different people and how they handled different situations, I learned that you can get a lot more accomplished with diplomacy than you can by being hotheaded and gained a lot of wisdom from them.”

Hodges also gave an update on some regional activities with the Coastal Alabama Leadership Council Regional Tourism committee. She and Mike Dow are chairing this committee and explained some of the plans in the works.

“Tourism is vital to our area and to real estate and if people like an area they will come back. The only problem is we have no regional branding and we are all too separated. We need to promote what we have in our region like our waterways. We have so many different waterways but people are not aware of them because they aren’t publicized correctly. We have five million people in a two hour radius and lots of diversity in that five million. We need to have a big regional message,” Hodges said.

Other committees with the council include Events, Attractions, Accommodations, Convention and Visitors Bureau, Sports and State Parks and Hodges said if they can connect regionally, it will reap large dividends.

Another aspect to Hodges career is being the owner of Star Textile Services, a commercial laundry and textile retail business with facilities in Foley and New Orleans. Started last year, this $8 million industry is the only female owned laundry business in the area and clients from Florida to Louisiana and customers include the Hyatt in New Orleans and the Wind Creek casino in Atmore.

“Our machines can churn out 250 lbs. of laundry every three minutes and we have a hot pink star as our logo,” Hodges said.

In other association business, Starke Irvine gave an update for the governmental affairs committee and began by reminding the members that “politics is our business” and encouraged them to contact their state representatives and express their feelings on the different bills out there and it is the realtor’s job to protect the interest of the consumer at all costs.

“This right of redemption bill is really going to hurt us as they are wanting to reduce the amount of time allowed to redeem your property from one year to 90 days. There is no opposition to this and our personal right is being taken away and given to the banks and we need to defeat it , Also some municipalities will be able to start charging an occupational tax if you work and live in a different city (like work in Mobile and live in Baldwin county). This could be detrimental to us and we need to fight it,” Irvine said. Right now, Mobile county is pushing for it but Baldwin isn’t.

BCAR also recognized Judy Niemeyer of Ashurst and Niemeyer, LLC , Montrose, was named “Member of the Year” for CRS (Council of Residential Services).