Mary Martin was officially sworn in as the 2010 president of the Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors (WRAR) at the annual banquet held at the Wrightsville Beach Holiday Inn Resort.

Martin has been the broker-in-charge at Network Real Estate for five years. Previously, she was the training manager at Century 21 Sweyer & Associates and the former Coldwell Banker Baker Properties. Originally from Michigan, Martin has lived in Wilmington for over twenty years and has been in the real estate industry for 19 of them.

“The market has struggled in the previous year and a half,” she said. But, new tools such as the free, public multiple listing service (MLS) has helped connect consumers with listing agents. One future goal for WRAR is to develop TV spots to promote the value of a realtor, what consumers need to know about working with one and new regulations arising in the real estate industry, she said.

Serving alongside her this year on the leadership board are Karen Parkin (MLS president), Ashley Garner (vice president), April McDavid (past president) and John Hinrichs (Realtor Commercial Alliance of Southeastern North Carolina president.)  The 2010 board of directors are RJ “Alex” Alexoudis, Carlos Braxton, Sharon Laney, Buddy Blake, Louise Voelker, Jody Wainio, Faye Brock, Tom Gale and Mary Jo Miller.

At this year’s banquet Susan Lacy of Intracoastal Realty was awarded the 2009 Realtor of the Year for her involvement at the national and state levels.

Don Harris of Century 21 Brock & Associates was awarded the 2009 Salesperson of the Year based on his productivity in closed transactions and dollar volume.