ABOUT KENTUCKY CCIM CHAPTER

In 1965 Frank F. Weisberg took his first national commercial real estate course in Denver Colorado. The designation he was trying to earn was the highly sought after CPE (Certified Property Exchanger) Designation. The CPE was the predecessor to the CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) designation.

There were two courses a candidate needed to pass to get the CPE designation. These courses dealt with analyzing investment properties and tax-deferred exchanges (section #1031 of the Internal Revenue Code). During his second course, in Atlanta, Georgia, his instructor, Jay Levine, asked Frank if he would consider becoming part of the national teaching cadre of instructors and teach the required commercial/investment courses to Realtors wanting to receive the CPE designation. Frank accepted and for the next 23 years taught CCIM courses across the nation in 30 states.

Frank remembers the national meeting when there was a vote to change the name of the CPE Designation. “I remember there was a very close vote on the new name. The name that almost made it was the CIM (Commercial Investment Member) Designation- – the name that won was the CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) Designation.

To earn the new CCIM Designation a candidate was required to take and pass two courses. Each course was 5 ½ days in duration. Frank recalls, “classes started at 8:30 AM and went until 5:00 PM. After a dinner break, there was a long homework session which began at 7:00 PM and many evenings went past midnight. The reason for the lengthy homework session was because in those days there were no hand-held calculators. All addition, subtraction, multiplication and division was done by hand! Long and complex case studies would often be answered incorrectly because of a simple math error. Calculating everything by hand made the classes grueling and very frustrating. As instructors of these rigorous classes that lasted all day and into the night, we were instructed to warn prospective students with heart conditions to think twice before signing up for the class.”

In 1970 Frank earned his designation and became the first CCIM in the state of Kentucky and was the 329th CCIM in the nation. He tried to convince other commercial Realtors to take the courses and earn the designation but it took a long time. Frank was involved with the national CCIM program and state chapters were forming all over the country. Frank desperately wanted to form a Kentucky CCIM chapter but the rules said there had to be a base of five CCIM designees to obtain a charter. Frank convinced his good friend Don Kessler and he became the second CCIM and his number was #672. He was followed by Walter Wagner #680, then Bill Carpenter #800 and then in 1979 Joe Schiff #929 became our fifth designee. Frank promptly applied to National for a charter for The Kentucky CCIM Chapter.

Frank F. Weisberg, CCIM was its founder and first president. He was elected for a second term in 1980. He was followed by Glen Swindler, CCIM, Joe Schiff, CCIM, John D. Klein, CCIM (for two terms), Bud Abramson, CCIM and Larry Baumgardner, CCIM.

The Kentucky CCIM Chapter has come a very long way since its beginning in 1979. CCIM has earned a prestigious reputation for being the most sought after designation in the commercial/investment real estate industry.