Realtor profile: Eye on politics

After a long day at the office, Ronnie Vause, a self-proclaimed "political junkie" and Realtor who joined Dyson & Dyson Real Estate Associates last year, likes to tune into C-SPAN while relaxing in his easy chair. Vause's interest in current events will come to good use as he begins a two-year term as chairman of the Nevada Association of Realtors' Legislative Committee.

A focus of the 16-member group, which will meet about a half-dozen times this year and weekly during the 2005 legislative session, is private property rights.

"Our state organization is the voice for real estate for the entire state. Our number one challenge in the legislature is fighting bad legislation, i.e. fighting for individual property rights. The biggest fight is retaining control," said Vause, who previously worked for Keller Williams Realty and, before that, for Americana and Prudential.

"We are focused on private property for two reasons: one, because we are real estate agents, and two, we are private citizens. We do our best to help the public, and we keep doing it whether they realize it or not. The legislative part is very difficult. Most people in the real estate business don't want to fight proposed regulations, but they start to pay attention after regulations have been passed and affect them."

Vause is up to the challenge, according to Lee Barrett, a Legislative Committee member and a director with the state association.

"Ronnie is straightforward, committed, ethical. He will always provide an open forum for discussion of current issues that affect the real estate community. He won't make a decision until he has all of the facts," said Barrett, who is also president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

"The decisions that he makes in what we follow in the Legislature will affect the whole real estate community. He knows that and he will make certain that the decisions are good for the entire membership."

This is not the first time that Vause has taken a leadership role within the state association; he has served on its board of directors, as well as on various committees over the years. He has also been an active member of the local association for more than 30 years, serving as president in 1994 and being named Realtor of the Year in 2002.

Vause began his interest in real estate in 1972, upon returning to Las Vegas after a stint in the Navy. At the time, he was working in his family's market in downtown Las Vegas. Vause credits his brother for helping him get started in the business.

"My brother, Gary Vause, was my first mentor," he said, adding that his other mentors were Mark Miscevic, Jack Matthews and Herman Vander Velt. "Being successful in this business is a matter of learning. Everyone who comes into the field has an opportunity to be trained by somebody. Most people who come in the business make the decision as to whether to listen to the person who is training them, and I decided to listen.

"I had to learn how to do a lot of unpleasant things like calling for-sale-by-owners and holding open houses on Sunday. In your first years in the business, you work a lot of nights and a lot of weekends, and it's difficult to take one day off. The first few years are hard, but you have to learn the business the hard way. But then, after you establish a client base, you can learn to time manage and take a day off."

In addition to handling residential and land transactions, Vause has started to focus on recreational properties in Southern Utah, where he and his wife, Kathy, also an agent at Dyson & Dyson, have a cabin.

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