MIRM-Aid Helps You Get Your Sea Legs

If there’s one thing MIRM (Member, Institute of Residential Marketing) candidates dread, it’s the long process of writing a case study. The case study is the final step a candidate must complete before obtaining the MIRM designation. The process involves working from a detailed outline to create a finished study along with a professional profile. This means research, and in some cases, additional stress.

Because this final hurdle in completing the MIRM designation can frustrate even the most motivated candidate, Gaye Burwell, MIRM, of Coldwell Banker Neighborhood Builder Services, created MIRM-Aid. “MIRM-Aid is an eight-week mentoring program for those trying to complete their designation,” says Raleigh, N.C.-based Burwell, who is also the 2006 Chair of the National Sales and Marketing Council. “I created it for my local association here in Raleigh, and because of its success, MIRM-Aid is now offered nationally. In fact, since we’ve been hosting the calls, we’ve had more people inducted at the IRM Commencement Breakfast (held annually at the International Builders' Show) than in previous years.”

MIRM-Aid is designed to work like a study group in conference call form. The program examines the entire process of writing a case study — from collecting data to submitting the study for review. In order to better help manage the material, each conference call session is broken down into more defined, workable segments.

Calls are structured into an eight-week program that covers outlining case studies, filling out the candidate’s professional profile, focusing on the participant’s subject community, and gathering/researching information.

The teleconference is also a place where the host can answer a candidate’s general questions or concerns. More importantly, candidates learn the most common reasons case studies are turned down, enabling them to prepare theirs accordingly. 

Rita Ralhan, marketing director for DR Horton’s Continental Series in Denver, credits her MIRM designation as the main reason she was hired at her current position. “The MIRM-Aid program really gave me the structure I needed to get through the whole case study process from start to finish,” exclaimed Ralhan. “Having the weekly calls and knowing what needed to be done each week really kept me from feeling overwhelmed and from getting off track. I’d recommend MIRM-Aid to all designation candidates. I can’t imagine that I would have been able to get my MIRM designation without it.”

Jonathan Pink, of K. Hovnanian Companies and who earned his MIRM designation last year, says that MIRM-Aid was crucial in achieving his designation. “MIRM-AID provides a source of support and encouragement from an emotional perspective in that you are among a group of applicants with the same needs and concerns as yourself,” said Pink. “MIRM-AID also provides invaluable assistance in the form of expertise and functional advice from the group leader — who was only a phone call away.”

The MIRM-Aid program has contributed overwhelming success by providing moral support from peers that are also working on their case studies across the nation. It offers the ability to discuss with others any difficult sections of the case study outline and how they were able to overcome it, helps individuals to find the research they need, and most importantly, establishes a timeline and milestones to have various sections of the case study completed to ensure that it will be ready to submit by the deadline.

For more information about MIRM-Aid or the MIRM designation process, please contact the MIRM Program Coordinator at 800-368-5242 x8154 or via e-mail at MIRMinfo@nahb.com.

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