John Blue Realty

City is a 'diamond in the rough'

Realtor group has new director
Saturday, September 06, 2008
By GinaHannah
Gonzales: City is a 'diamond in the rough'

As he settles into his new job as director of the Huntsville Area Association of Realtors, Oscar Gonzales wants to turn the organization into a center for information in the community. "I think a lot of people just look at the surface, the number of homes being sold," he said. "But there's a second layer of data that people don't see, where you look at individual neighborhoods and what's going on demographically."

Gonzales, 46, is founder of the Gonzales Group, a Houston-based business consulting firm focusing on multicultural marketing and business strategies for housing and related industries. That's a role he plans to keep.

He replaces Doris Nurenberg, who became the Huntsville group's director last October and recently retired to travel with her husband full time.

The association has more than 2,000 members and serves Realtors in Madison County.

Gonzales has more than 15 years' experience working with Realtor associations in executive staff positions.

His comments about the housing market have been published in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and other national publications. Realtor magazine called him one of the 25 most influential people in real estate nationally, and Broker Agent magazine dubbed him an "industry icon."

Gonzales has a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, an MBA in international business from the University of Phoenix and a doctorate in business administration from Washington University. His professional experience includes work as a senior tax and audit manager in public accounting firms.

His wife, Betty, is completing a doctorate program in Texas. The Gonzaleses have a daughter in college and a son in middle school in Texas.

Gonzales said after living for many years in the nation's fourth-largest city, he was ready for a change of scenery and liked what he saw here.

"Huntsville is probably one of the bright spots in the country," he said. "I think it's a diamond in the rough."