He comes from a large family, which may be one reason Al Mansell's so at home as the 2005 president of the National Association of Realtors®. But whether he heads a family of eight children and 22 grandchildren, or a Salt Lake City NRT brokerage, or a million members of the world's largest trade organization, Mansell believes family, by whatever definition, is the foundation of our society.

Mansell's behind a project that he hopes will be a tremendous success for Realtors - FamilyTime®, a 27-minute DVD that shows "families doing things together and talking about what's important in life." The DVD, co-produced with the NAR by the insurance executives of the Million Dollar Roundtable, offers activities and ideas for family enrichment via three areas - individual nurturing, teamwork and family unity, and community service. The NAR has made the DVDs available on Realtor.org for purchase by Realtors for $5 to give to prospects and clients.

Says Mansell, "I personally believe the more time you spend with family, the more likely you are to have a family that stays together permanently. This has meaning for me because I have a large family, and I have seen over the years dealing with folks in the business and counseling them, that it's so important to keep things good at home."

The lesson isn't lost on Realtors, who work long hours and forego weekends and holidays with family in order to serve clients. Family life is often sacrificed, but necessarily for the greater good.

"If you have to make a decision between work and family, if you pick the home, your chances of getting the other done are much better," suggests Mansell.

"But that doesn't mean not going to work and staying home all day!" he adds, laughing.

Created originally as a pamphlet by the Million Dollar Roundtable, "FamilyTime" was distributed to insurers more than 750,000 families, which makes it a best-seller in anyone's book. The Roundtable approached a friend of Mansell's, who pitched the idea of partnering with the NAR, and Mansell was hooked. He dreamed of a DVD that could reach as many as five million families in five years or less.

All it would take is a million-strong army. If every NAR member purchased five DVDs and gave them to five clients, that goal could be met in as little as a year.

Some possible uses for the DVD are:

• First-time homebuyers - create a homebuying preparation kit and include the DVD

• Listing presentation gifts - leave a DVD along with a CMA and your business card

• Closing gifts - include a DVD along with a coupon for dinner out

• Fundraiser donations - offer the DVDs to schools and houses of worship fundraisers as donations for auctions

• Morning meeting prizes - offer the DVDs to agents as prizes for production

• New agent orientation - include a DVD with the office orientation package

• Business-to-business gifts - give to title companies, insurers and other strategic partners to give to their clients

The low $5 price covers the NAR's production and marketing costs. Any profit from the DVD sales will go to the Realtor Relief Fund which provides cash for food and supplies for residents and Realtors who are wiped out in disasters such as 9/11 and the Florida and Alabama hurricanes.

Sensitive to the changing demographics within families, the NAR was careful to portray nontraditional families as well as nuclear families in the DVD. Grandparents raising grandchildren, single mothers and single fathers are represented along with "in-tact" families. In fact, according to the NAR's own research, "in-tact" families where both parents are present for the children make up about 25 percent of homebuyers, with singles, empty-nesters, nontraditional couples, and other family units making up the remainder.

"A family is whatever you define it to be," Mansell says, "Regardless of how you define family, everyone wants to be close to someone, and there are ways to do it, with a group of activities designed around spending time together. The theme is it's all about time. What we are talking about is time being spent in the best ways we can. We know you work, but you have to have balance.

"There is no better success than the one you have in the home," he adds. "If you can hold your home together, chances are good your work life will be better."

To order the FamilyTime® DVD, call 1-800-917-7035; go to www.FamilyTimeOrders.com; or e-mail familytime@fdskcreative.com.

Realty Times will also feature a segment on "FamilyTime" in December when the national broadcast of "Realty Times' Showcase of Homes" begins Saturday and Sunday mornings on DirecTV and The Dish Network.

Published: November 22, 2004

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.