Transforming Neighborhoods Update

The Counselors of Real Estate® Advisory Group

The Heartland REALTOR® Association was the recipient of the Transforming Neighborhoods Program and, in partnership with NAR and the Counselors of Real Estate®, brought a consulting group to Bangs, Tx to interview stakeholders, research the market, & check out the available resources and pain points. The team comes from a variety of locations and backgrounds and have comprehensive knowledge and experience in areas such as market analysis, public/private partnerships, property analysis and development, economic incentives, and public service initiatives. 

A highlight of this program is the level of communication and input between the Counselors of Real Estate®, the local association leaders, and the City leaders in advance of the on site visit, as well as the collaboration that takes place while the team is on location.

The teams are carefully selected to meet the needs of the community and the outlined goals for the consultation. Often in a small community, bringing in outsiders can lead to a sense of defensiveness on the part of some citizens and leadership, but our team did an amazing job of sharing their personal bond with small towns. 

The city was already taking some small steps to be more progressive and we are already seeing an increase in that as well as enthusiasm by local citizens to participate in the process and to even begin their own businesses in town. The EDC has created a billboard inviting people to "Invest in Small Town Living" (see attachment) . Our association president's husband grew up in that small town and they currently reside there. This group and the knowledge they shared led to them taking the leap to follow through on their dream of starting a new restaurant in the community and gave them insight on best practices. Our EDC is going to host a Meet & Greet and information session with all local business owners in late Q1 early Q2 of 2024 to share resources and get input on how best to support them and communicate with them. The knowledge and skills the team brought was invaluable and I am hopeful that a comprehensive strategic plan can be developed and will be fully executed based on the final recommendations from the team.  

You can read our press release here. We will have more press releases as we continue to see the development of Bangs into a thriving and sustainable community.