Leading To Serve

DMAAR 2023 President makes service a priority.

Des Moines Area Association of REALTORS® (DMAAR) President Kim Bakey didn’t set out to lead real estate professionals. She didn’t even set out to be a real estate professional. But when you make a career out of stepping up when called on, your path takes some interesting turns.

“My background is actually in accounting,” Bakey says. “I started out as a CPA, and in the late ’80s I was doing some work with Iowa Realty. That led to a full-time position at Iowa Realty, and over the years, I worked in many different areas of the company.”

Eventually Bakey got her real estate license in 2001 and her broker’s license in 2011. Today she serves as CEO of HomeServices of Iowa, the parent company of Iowa Realty, Iowa Title Company, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, First Realty, and others.

“I’ve been a member of DMAAR for years, and served as part of the executive leadership track of the board for the past three years,” she says.

As she’s moved up the leadership ladder, Bakey has been involved in DMAAR efforts related to personal safety and legal protection. She’s looking forward to continued progress in those areas during her tenure as president.

“One of outgoing president Jen [Stanbrough]’s big projects was a refresh of the safety initiative, and we’re working on some final implementations to that,” Bakey says. “That remains a really important issue as the industry evolves to make sure our members are protected so they can safely serve their clients.”

In addition to ensuring members’ physical safety, Bakey plans to continue efforts in the areas of copyright protection, ongoing national litigation, and Multiple Listing Service (MLS) changes to protect the privacy and financial security of members. “We are monitoring changes in the industry, both nationally and statewide, so we can keep our members informed and we can determine how those items will impact our members locally and whether those changes are best for our members,” she says.

With the support of one of the largest national associations of any industry, the National Association of REALTORS®, and an active and vocal REALTOR® Political Action Committee, DMAAR’s 2,600 members benefit from national expertise as well as the opportunity to interact with and learn from local REALTORS® through DMAAR programs.

“It’s challenging to unite over 2,600 individual entrepreneurs, each functioning as an independent business, but that’s our goal. At the end of the day, everyone benefits when the industry benefits,” Bakey explains. “Serving the industry means we’re serving every individual member in our organization.”

Having worked her way up in the real estate field along a circuitous path, Bakey approaches her role as DMAAR president with clear goals in mind. When her tenure ends in December, she hopes to have completed several tasks.

“We want to have a good plan for our MLS moving forward so that it provides all the resources our members need, and our safety initiatives should be clearly defined and finalized,” Bakey says. “We’re also working on additional ways to protect both homeowners and REALTORS® with updated agreements that more clearly define everyone’s responsibilities.”

Each of these goals has stemmed from local member concerns or cases elsewhere in the country. The safety initiative, for example, arose after a local tragedy. The homeowner agreement changes are the result of an early trend Bakey says is happening nationally, while a recent case before the Iowa Supreme Court heightened awareness around REALTOR® liability during property showings. “That case made it clear that our documentation really needs to define who’s responsible for what so all parties involved are protected,” she says.

“Monitoring changes in the industry and ongoing litigation both remain key DMAAR leadership goals. Understanding what’s happening elsewhere in the industry is so important to knowing how best to serve our local members,” she adds.

And those local members are Bakey’s greatest priority. “Among the many ways the board works, we can’t overlook the main reason we’re here—to serve each member, which is at the core of all we do,” she says.

When her tenure is up, Bakey is hopeful that the board will have provided even better tools and resources for members and would like to see greater member participation. She says, “The board is in the process of establishing a DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion) committee and expanding several others in order to further our community outreach and increase opportunities for participation.”

Each of those efforts is an indication of the leadership team’s commitment to serving DMAAR members. “We look at everything through that lens—whether it’s best for our local members—because that’s who we represent, the Des Moines area REALTORS®,” Bakey explains. “I always tell our members that serving our industry means serving you. The camaraderie that comes from getting involved with DMAAR, the opportunities to learn from fellow members—those are the reasons I got involved.”

And Bakey says those are also the reasons she’s confident members will benefit when they get actively involved with DMAAR.

Bakey has led by example, stepping up when called, and she plans to continue that approach during her year as DMAAR President.