Erica Christoffer

By Erica Christoffer

So far in 2021, 617 real estate professionals have joined the Young Professionals Network nationwide, making YPN 30,737 members strong. That’s a growth increase from the 443 who became involved last year.

The number of YPN groups is also on the rise. REALTORS® created nine new networks this year, bringing the total number of YPN networks up to 305. States YPNs are making strides across the country. Two new state YPNs are underway—South Carolina and South Dakota—which were noted during the YPN Advisory Board meeting at the 2021 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in San Diego Thursday.

Members of 2021 YPN Advisory Board during the REALTORS® Conference & Expo in San Diego. (Photo courtesy of Harrison Beacher)

Also during the meeting, Tommy Choi, the 2019 chair of the YPN Advisory Board who’s highly involved at the local, state, and national level, received the Elevate YPN Award for his advocacy and support of YPN over the last several years.

“This is such a full-circle moment,” Choi said. “Where I am today in my career, had I removed the YPN from my timeline, I’d probably get to 10 years from now. There’s so much momentum coming from this group.”

Choi also shared words of advice for his fellow YPNers: “The direction you travel in is much more important than the speed. Make sure you’re following your north star.”

Members of the Real Estate Confederation of Latin America (CILA), an institution representing real estate associations in 20 countries, also spoke during the YPN Advisory Board Meeting about CILA Young—a network for young real estate professionals modeled after YPN. Most of the CILA associations are bilateral partners of the National Association of REALTORS®.

Real estate pros from Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil talked about the growth of the network, which started as an idea in 2017 and came to be in 2019 when the Argentinean Young Professionals Commission, NAR, and CILA signed a Memorandum of Understanding to encourage the communication, exchange of information, and best practices amongst YPN groups across the U.S. and Latin America. They grew from six total delegates to 13 delegates from each of the 20 active countries in one year. Members are connected all over the world, building national and international business connections and cross-border trade.

Erica Christoffer is a contributing editor for REALTOR® Magazine and manager of the YPN Lounge. Connect with her at echristoffer@nar.realtor.