Under Hale, local membership has grown from 10,000 agents in 1988 to 26,000 today, solidifying its position as the largest trade association in Houston. Hale spoke with the Chronicle's Katherine Feser recently.

Q: HAR.com was recently named among the best Realtor Association Web sites in the nation for the third time. Why is it so popular?

A: The National Association of Realtors selects the top Web sites on an annual basis. HAR.com was selected as Outstanding Public and Member Association Web site for three years. Members can pay their dues online, they can change their information online, and they can check their leads online. They get to the MLS every day through HAR.com.

We're also unique in that we're the source of information for the Houston consumer as well. The consumer can search over 57,000 Realtor listings that are updated every 15 minutes. We provide a multilingual home search so consumers can search HAR.com listings in English, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese and Spanish. When we consider that 37 percent of the Houston population is Hispanic, we realized it was very important that people be able to search in languages other than simply English.

We also have the ability for consumers to find Realtors that speak other languages. So right now, almost 3,200 Realtors speak 83 different languages.

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