REALTOR® WEEKLY UPDATE
Weekly Update on PGPCNPREALTORS.com
July 30th, 2009
To view archive editions, please click HERE.
Breaking News!
Calling all Golfers –Save the Date September 12th, Kingsway Country club. The Association’s 3rd Annual Golf Tournament to support our High School Scholarship Program. This is a great opportunity to hit the links for a good cause and enjoy a day on one of Southwest Florida’s most beautiful courses. We are looking for teams to play and Business Partners to sponsor, please email David-Logan@comcast.net for more details. Download the flyer to sign up your team HERE.
Interested in GRI, how does HALF PRICE SOUND? FAR is offering for a SHORT TIME only, the GRI 1 on-line for half price ($150 rather than $300). The Online format means that you have 90 days to complete the course, work at your own pace, attend from home, office, boat, poolside or anywhere you can get an internet connection. Course also counts for 11 Hours of CE Specialty Credit (everything except core law) OR 45 Sales Post-License credit. This is an amazing opportunity that should not be passed up! Also, our Association will be providing the opportunity for all on-line participants to engage in an on-line user group which will meet to discuss questions that you may have and hear from special guest speakers who will help combine the on-line content with real-world experience. Email David-Logan@comcast.net for details.
FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK!!
Karen Rolland, President
My Fellow REALTORS®/Members,
So are we having fun yet? Sales are up and our area was the ONLY area in the state that had an increase in average median home sales price for the month of June. According to the recent reports in the Wall Street Journal and other sources, we have officially reached the bottom of the market and we will begin to see a slow but steady rise over the next several years.
That great news is clouded by some of the scams that have been taking place in real estate though. For those who receive the FAR Daily Early Bird, you may recall seeing a brief mention of a new scam involving Craig’s List. In that particular article, it was known to have occurred only in Hernando County but it has since spread across the state to Miami Dade and as of last Friday to our area. Although we do not have all of the facts in every case, it appears as though someone is lifting information from an IDX feed of legitimate listings and placing rental ads in Craig’s List for the properties. The rent is usually very inexpensive for the property and requires an advance payment of the rent and deposit. The person claims they are from out of the country and that they are trying to rent their home in the states. After an exchange of emails with the potential renter that gather income and contact information, the scammer requests payment to cover the first month’s rent and additional deposit. Once the money is received (usually a wire) the scammer disappears. In another case, it had been reported that the renter does actually receives keys and moves in! The intent of the scammer could be identity theft or it could just be robbery but whatever it is, it isn’t good. Our recommendation is that you check each of your listings on http://fortmeyers.craigslist.org and http://sarasota.craigslist.org . Click on Apartments/Housing and look at the properties in our marketplace to be sure none of them are yours. If you find one and you didn’t place it there, contact your broker so that the appropriate steps can be taken to contact the authorities. The only way we happened to find out about this one is that the potential renter drove by the house, saw the For Sale sign, and called the listing agent. I am sure THAT was not part of the plan! It appears as though the target in these scams is the unsuspecting renter but it never hurts to err on the side of caution.
On a lighter note, I hope you will all be out in force to celebrate the revitalization of Punta Gorda on August 15th. If you have customers in town, be sure to bring them on down to Laishley Park for all of the festivities. If that doesn’t sell them on our area, nothing will!
Happy selling and stay safe!
Education Corner
***NEW CLASSES*** Email David-Logan@comcast.net with any questions or to reserve your space. All courses below are FREE to Education Passport members! Non- Passport Members – see details for cost.
Aug 26th/27th – 14 Hour Series need your Core Law or 14 hours for license renewal? Click HERE for details.
Sept 3rd – How to Run a Consumer Friendly Website 1pm-4pm 3 Hours CE Credit. Click HERE for details.
Sept 17th – Red Flags on the Waterfront 9am-11am w/Attorney & Waterfront Expert David Levin-FREE. Click HERE for details.
FREE Hands-On MLS Training! Courses include “Design Web Page & Capture Leads”, “iMapp: interactive tax and mailing labels”, “Tools: MongoFax, RatePlug, ShowingTime and MLX Wireless”, “Creating a Professional CMA”, and “MLXChange Advanced” and more. Classes are HANDS ON with laptops provided. Click HERE for class schedule, additional details and to reserve a seat, space is limited!
Looking to Improve your Public Speaking or Leadership Skills? - Come join us for our next meeting of Toastmasters International on Wednesday from 7:30am – 8:45am, there is no cost to attend the meeting and you are not obligated to join, come see what this is all about. The club is open to REALTORS® and Non-REALTORS®, so invite your friends, neighbors, or co-workers. You will have the opportunity to see what a meeting is like and discover how Toastmasters can help improve your communication and leadership skills and network with other professionals. Remember, good communication skills are the keys to success in business and real estate! For more details or to RSVP for the meeting, please email David-Logan@comcast.net you can read more about Toastmasters on the web at www.toastmasters.org
REALTOR® Safety – Did you miss our REALTOR® Safety Class in the spring? Safety expert Andrew Wooten will be teaching his 3 hour CE class at the Englewood Area Board of REALTORS® on August 10th from 1pm – 4pm only $15. Call 941-474-6664 or email dianemcintosh@verizon.net for more information or to sign up for this exciting opportunity.
Where in the World Is…..
The following agents can now be found at…
Cynthia O’Hara - Sun Realty
Market Watch
Avoid Facebook & Twitter Disasters - Ignoring Facebook's & Twitter’s privacy options--some of them fairly new and not well known--can trip up the social-networking site's users in a number of ways. Here are some that everyone who has a Facebook or Twitter account should be aware of. For the full story, click HERE.
Florida Investigating 81 “Mortgage Rescue” Firms - State regulators are pressing their case against four South Florida foreclosure rescue companies this week, as federal regulators crack down on an industry that they say is taking millions from desperate homeowners but doing little or nothing for them. A Palm Beach Circuit Court judge granted the Florida Attorney General’s Office an emergency ruling Friday, requiring four mortgage modification operations to cease doing business: FHA All Day.Com, Safety Financial Services, Housing Assistance Law Center and Housing Assistance Now. Click HERE for more details.
Relationships can be Key to Survival - How far should you go to keep a client in this economy? Would you give up your child’s birthday party to take a loyal client to the airport? How about cutting your vacation short to intervene in a customer dispute? With the recession making it tough to stay afloat, small businesses are going to new extremes to coddle clients and keep customers. As owners are rediscovering in this recession, survival is much more about relationships than just business. “Focusing on customer service is critical,” says Althea Harris, spokeswoman for the Small Business Administration’s South Florida office. “Very few small businesses are the only game in town. You might cut salaries or staff, but you have to focus on how not to cut customer service.” For the full story, click HERE.
New Truth In Lending Rules Effective June 30th - Revised TILA (Truth in Lending Audit) disclosure requirements take effect this month. Under the new rules, lenders will be subject to new disclosure requirements for mortgage loans under the Federal Reserve Board Truth in Lending Regulation (Reg Z). The new requirements apply to loan applications filed on or after July 30, 2009. For lenders, the new rules are complex and make compliance difficult, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). While Realtors do not have to understand the full law, NAR says, they should understand the basics so they can advise clients of potential delays under the new procedures.
MLS TIP OF THE WEEK
My Florida Regional MLS is proud to announce another new member service by providing integration between Transaction Desk and your MFR account. This new functionality expands our ever growing arsenal of member based productivity tools. Instanet -- maker of Transaction Desk, a premier transaction management solution -- offers many time-saving features to improve your productivity. Included in your FAR membership at no additional cost, you probably know it by other names such as "Doc Box," or "Forms Online Gold." Now, with a simple click, you can add a new transaction directly from MLXchange. For more information or to see an online training schedule, click HERE.
Real Estate Trivia
This Week’s Question
Question: With the help of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Information Central team, we scoured the history books to craft a quiz that challenges your knowledge of the association's 100-year history. After all, if you’re a REALTOR®, you should know your roots and all of the accomplishments that helped NAR rise to become the national voice for real estate.
Answer: Take NAR’s REALTOR® History Quiz HERE
Last Week’s Question
Question: Need another addicting internet game to pass the time? How much virtual money can you make playing Real Estate Tycoon?
Answer: Check out Real Estate Tycoon HERE