U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly meets with members of the Illinois Association of REALTORS® on May 16, 2013 in Washington, D.C. Kelly was one of many congressional representatives IAR members met with during the annual Midyear meetings held by the National Association of REALTORS®. Photo by Sharon Gorrell.

Over the past three days IAR members showed Illinois congressional representatives that there was power in the association’s membership.

That’s because in just about every meeting, Federal Political Coordinators and their teams packed offices on Capitol Hill to advocate for private property rights. In many cases, there was standing room only for attendees there were so many people at the meetings. In several cases, staffers had to bring in additional seating from other offices.

The strength in numbers got noticed. As one congressman put it: “Are there any REALTORS® back home selling since all of you are here?”

IAR’s advocates trekked from one end of the massive Capitol office complex to the other. They learned to navigate the interminable corridors, the maze of tunnels linking buildings, and mastered the illogical office numbering system. They also can debate the merits of the food at the cafeterias in the basement of the office complexes. (Editor’s note: Cannon House Office Building has good sushi.)

At the end of the day, there were aching feet but a definite sense that REALTORS® had accomplished making their case in their days on the Hill.