GLVAR announces new president

When he was officially installed as president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, Dave Tina told hundreds of his peers that his year leading Southern Nevada's largest professional organization will be driven by 3 D's.

"My theme for 2013 is diversity, destination and determination," he said.

He said he aims to weave these concepts through all GLVAR programs and initiatives in 2013.

For instance, the former New York police officer and firefighter said he intends to promote and celebrate diversity throughout the association and the community.

"I want all 11,000 GLVAR members to know that this is their association," he said. "I'm committed to representing the increasingly diverse needs, interests and backgrounds of all our members. And I know the GLVAR staff and our board of directors are committed to doing this in the most open and cost-effective way possible.

"If we all work together," he added, "we can inspire more confidence in our housing market, in our community and in our association."

He said he plans to start by building on the association's strengths.

For example, he said Southern Nevada's increasingly diverse population and worldwide popularity as a tourist destination - it's on pace to attract a record of more than 40 million visitors this year - brings people from around the world to buy property here.

Tina cited statistics from the National Association of Realtors that show Las Vegas is now among the 10 most popular U.S. destinations for foreign homebuyers and the second most-searched U.S. destination by international visitors to Realtor.com.

He said he will foster GLVAR's growing Global Business Committee. This committee is already inviting Realtors and others from around the world to a two-day Destination Vegas networking and educational symposium, which is scheduled to be held at GLVAR offices April 18 and 19.

Tina said he's also determined to reinforce the code of ethics that all Realtors vow to uphold, especially as this code celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2013.

Tina said GLVAR members have proved to be resilient in working through some of the most trying times in local housing market history. As market conditions improve in 2013, he wants to demonstrate to the public "how Realtors are relevant and bring value to consumers in any real estate transaction."

Like many previous GLVAR presidents, Tina will have help running his own real estate business while he devotes countless hours to association duties.

After five years of serving as corporate broker for Realty One Group in Las Vegas, Tina recently opened Urban Nest Realty, where his corporate broker and biggest supporter is his son, David J. Tina.

"Being one of two Dave Tinas who are both in real estate, who are both brokers who have always worked for the same companies and who are both handsome and bald Italians, confusion sometimes takes place," his son said. "I get phone calls daily from someone who jumps right into full conversation thinking that they're speaking to my father."

Once he tells callers they've called the younger Dave Tina, he said, "The conversation is almost always the same. They say how much they love my father, how good of a man he is. There is always a story about how he helped them when they needed it the most, and they always mention how lucky I am to have a father like him. I usually laugh and smile to myself and assure them that I am fully aware of how lucky I am."

At GLVAR's November installation event, David J. Tina said his father was "a little entrepreneur" growing up in Flushing Queens, N.Y.

"As a child," the son recalled, "he would sell golfers back the golf balls they had just hit over the fence at the public course near his house for 10 cents apiece."

While attending Queens College in the 1970s, Tina joined the New York Police Department and worked as a city housing police officer. After about two years, he followed in the footsteps of his brother and father and joined the Fire Department of New York, which he said was a "family tradition."

During his 18 years as an FDNY firefighter, Tina tried two other businesses, earning his real estate license in 1977 and opening a successful restaurant in Long Island 10 years later.

He retired from the fire department in 1993. He turned over the operation of the restaurant to his partners and managers when he followed his son to Las Vegas in 1997.

"When he finally gave all his attention to one thing, he thrived in real estate and quickly became the top producer in our Long Island town of Medford and became the corporate broker of the local Coldwell Banker office," his son said. "In his first full year of doing real estate in Las Vegas, he surpassed his best year in New York. His second year, he doubled that. And in the third year, he tripled it."

Now, less than a year after opening his Urban Nest Realty office in Summerlin, Tina said he manages more than 50 agents and that his family business is "growing like gangbusters."

In concluding his remarks at the recent GLVAR event, the younger Tina said his father has always believed in "leaving things better than he found them."