Today IREM has a vibrant, robust international program. We have members in 43 countries, and more than 40 percent of new CPMs now come from outside the United States. Among those who helped advance IREM’s move onto the international stage was Norman David “Norm” Flynn, who passed away earlier this month at his home in Wisconsin.
A major driver of IREM’s international expansion were the dramatic events that occurred in 1989-1990: the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. With the demise of the Eastern Bloc, real estate markets were unstructured and undeveloped, and real estate practitioners lacked skills and knowledge about the real estate business and its technical specialties, including real estate management. This was the state of affairs that caused the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in 1992 to establish the Eastern European Real Property Foundation (EERPF). Its aim was to help transition the real estate markets in Central and Eastern Europe from centrally planned authoritarian rule, to market-driven economies.
It was through EERPF that IREM became involved in the former Soviet bloc and took a big step toward embracing an international strategy. In large part this was due to the influence of Norm Flynn, one of EERPF’s founders and its long-time president. Flynn served as NAR’s president in 1990, when the Soviet Union was crumbling, causing revolutionary change in the world. Flynn understood both the potential market opportunities presented by Central and Eastern European countries, and the expertise that would be required for them to successfully transition out of decades of state ownership.
Flynn recognized early on that, as formerly state-owned housing was being privatized, property management was becoming a priority throughout the former Soviet Union; therefore, it became a priority for EERPF as well. He immediately turned to NAR’s affiliate for property management – the Institute of Real Estate Management – and thus began IREM’s involvement in Central and Eastern Europe. Through EERPF, IREM would send a cadre of CPMs to dialogue with real estate practitioners, conduct market assessments, and present seminars throughout the former Soviet bloc. With Flynn’s backing and EERPF funding, by the mid-1990s, IREM had protocol agreements with the Russian Guild of Realtors (RGR), the Polish Real Estate Federation (PREF), and the Hungarian Association of Real Estate Management (HAREM). Soon, CPM courses were being taught in Russia, Hungary, and Poland; IREM was pinning the CPM key on its first members there; and IREM chapters were being formed in Russia and Poland, its first outside of North America.
Flynn’s influence in positioning IREM as the leading organization for professional real estate management is well recognized. This was seen in a posting on Facebook by Miklos Nemeth of Budapest, former secretary general of HAREM, after learning of Flynn’s death. He remembered Flynn and EERPF as being instrumental in launching the CPM program in Hungary from 1995 to 1998. Nemeth, whose father was one of the original CPMs from Hungary, wrote on his post: “I had the opportunity to negotiate with him [Flynn] several times in the USA and Brussels as well. He was a prepared philanthropist, mentor, and patron.”
For more than 30 years Flynn’s travels took him to all corners of the world as he helped establish free market real estate in emerging markets through education, development of real estate standards and practices, and building of professional associations. Along the way, whenever the subject of property management entered the conversation, he turned to IREM as the leading resource. As times changed, EERPF expanded its mission beyond Eastern Europe and was renamed the International Real Property Foundation (IRPF – which has since merged into IHC Global). Under its new name, and with Flynn’s support, IREM continued to benefit whenever the market was seeking expertise in property management. Two examples of this were property management education programs IREM presented for IRPF in Kenya in 2011, and in Uganda in 2016.
As a real estate practitioner, Flynn was involved in the development, marketing, and management of investment properties from 1970 through the present. Before going into real estate, he had been a high school teacher, and although he left the classroom, teaching, mentoring, and supporting others were always important to him. One of Flynn’s proteges was Fred Prassas, CPM®, IREM president in 2006, and a fellow Wisconsinite. “Norm gave me my first significant break in the property management business,” said Prassas. “He acquired an investment-grade asset in my market and invited me to manage it. He said he chose my firm because I was a CPM, which he told his investors was a class act and would not be disappointed.”
Prassas, in his role as IREM’s president and an instructor, has experienced first-hand the extent to which Flynn helped open new markets and position IREM for expansion throughout the world. “Norm pioneered organized real estate in the newly opened economies of Eastern Europe and beyond,” said Prassas. “The doors he opened made it possible for IREM and other affiliates to train new professionals and establish chapters worldwide. In the early years, he would bring back stories of how capitalist words like profit, interest, and cash flow didn’t even exist in many of the countries' languages.”
Sylvia Luchini, former managing director at IRPF and now senior director for practice at IHC Global, had the pleasure of working with and learning from Flynn for some 15 years. She shared this: “Norm was interested in the outcomes of things rather than his proper viewpoint. He was a good listener and created conditions for individuals to engage and contribute which resulted in consensus. With this strategy he was able to accomplish great results. His legacy at the International Real Property Foundation speaks for itself; in 2017 there were more than 78 local and regional real estate associations formed worldwide serving over 200,000 real estate professionals.”
She went on to say that, “Besides his passion for international real estate work, he believed deeply in giving back to the community and the real estate industry. He donated his time to leadership roles on diverse executive boards and financially supported multiple charitable organizations.” This was reinforced by Fred Prassas, who said, “Norm encouraged me to give back to the industry, even in bad times, and I would realize the benefits many times over.”
Being on the receiving end of Norm Flynn’s patronage and support, IREM could say the same thing: We also realized the benefits of his largesse many times over, and our international program is stronger for it.