REALTOR® WEEKLY UPDATE
Weekly Update on PGPCNPREALTORS.com
October 15th, 2009
To view archive editions, please click HERE.
Breaking News!
NORTH PORT MAPS 75% OFF – The REALTOR® Store at the Association office has discounted our 2006 North Port Maps from $1.20 to the clearance price of only $.30. If you would like to take advantage of this price, stop by the Association and pick up a bundle and save money!
October General Membership Meeting – We have another fantastic general membership meeting this month on October 30th at 11:15am (please note the earlier time). We will be hearing from author and financing expert Jason Kotar on the topic Home Buyers and Mortgages as well as getting information about the new One Smart Mover program. Free lunch provided by Kevin Graham of Integrity Risk Management and drinks provided by After A Disaster. You do not want to miss this opportunity. Please RSVP by emailing Linda Pizarro (l.pizarro@comcast.net)...RSVP is required.
Microsoft Office 2007 Classes – You asked for them and now they are available! Our very own Microsoft Certified Trainer Mary Tombs will be presenting classes on Microsoft Office 2007 on the following dates (each class will be held from 9am-12pm) Excel – Oct 20th; Publisher – Oct 23rd; Word – Oct 29th . All classes, including Outlook and PowerPoint, are also being offered in November. Each of these classes is FREE for Education Passport Members and $15 for Non-Passport holders. Space is limited, so sign up today to reserve your seat. Email David-Logan@comcast.net to RSVP or with additional questions. **Please note that attendees must bring their own laptop with Office 2007 as the Association’s computer lab has Office 2003** If you do not have a laptop with Office 2007, but would still like to attend, please email David Logan to see if something can be arranged.
New Professional Development Opportunities – email David-Logan@comcast.net for questions or to sign up. All Courses are FREE to Education Passport Members. Do not miss these opportunities to obtain the knowledge and learn the skills which will increase your business and earn more money!
Oct 15th 1pm Free Mortgage/Finance Seminar: Local lending experts discuss new regulations which have serious consequences for your clients, learn the facts directly from the source.
Oct 22nd 9am Market to the World on a Shoestring Budget: Learn to use web 2.0, Facebook, Blogs, Postlets, Google, and other resources to increase your marketing for little or no extra money.
Oct 30th 1pm Homebuyers & Mortgages (4 Hours CE Credit):Information that every homebuyer needs to know about issues regarding financing a home in today’s market!
Nov 3rd 1pm Free e-PRO Workshop: Learn about the NAR designation that sets you apart as knowledgeable and ready to use technology to increase your business, sign up HERE.
Nov 10th 12pm FREE Short Sales, Foreclosure & Bankruptcy Seminar: Hear from attorney Mark Martella about how to navigate the process and know the right terminology. FREE LUNCH!
Dec 3rd 1pm How to Increase Repeat and Referral Business: Hear Nationally Recognized Real Estate Educator Richard Flint and learn how to keep the clients coming back & increase referrals!
Last week’s drawing – After a disaster, inc
Maura Riou has won a $25 Gas Card, compliments of After A Disaster.
Got Odor? Does one of your listings not smell quite like you’d want it to? Call us for a free consultation on what can be done to get your listing smelling great! Disaster Mitigation and Cleanup is our specialty: Water, Mold, Fire and Biohazard. Please call Kevin Koch or Robin Lindecamp at 866-509-4561 with any questions, or visit our website at www.aadisaster.com
FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK!!
Karen Rolland, President
My fellow REALTORS® and Members,
Have you noticed that traffic is starting to pick up? Now all we need are some cooler temps and about 10 more hours in the day but I’m not complaining. I think we are all relieved to be within weeks of the end of hurricane season and glad to be busy working with closings and inspections again!
A lot is on the horizon for us in the coming months. My Florida has been busily working to get the new Waterfront fields in place so I hope you have updated your searches, prospecting searches, grids and custom reports to reflect the new fields. Failure to do so will result in inaccurate search results so it is important that you do that as soon as possible. MFR has already taken care of updating your listings, where possible, but it would be a great idea to check them anyway particularly if you tried in the past to ‘trick the system’.
Soon Blue Dasher will be rolled out on a 30 day complimentary trial basis for our Association and the Englewood Association and at the next General Membership Meeting on October 30th we will have One Smart Mover available to introduce a new free product being offered to our Brokers and Members.
If you are using combination lock boxes on any of your listings, you are highly encouraged to place an electronic lock box on those listings for purposes of showing the listings. If it is necessary to have a combination box because of the status of the property (Foreclosure or Short Sale), change the combination, add the electronic lock box and do not give out the combination to anyone who is going to be showing the listing. This will protect you and provide you a log of who has shown the property and will also make showings much easier for the selling agent. There have been instances reported of stolen keys, combination boxes being left open, houses being left open, etc. Please protect yourself as the listing agent to be sure you know who entered the house and when as it relates to the sale of the property. The use of the electronic boxes is provided to you free as part of your membership benefits so the only cost to you is taking the steps to pick it up and install it.
A few years ago, we faced a severe shortage of lock boxes due to the dramatic increase in listings and your Association purchased additional boxes with funds from our Reserve Account. We, along with almost every other association, are facing an overstock of boxes and would like to offer 500 of them for sale to our members at more than 50% off of the price paid for them. The price will be $50 per box plus shipping and handling, if applicable, (original price was $110). They will be sold ‘as is’ on a first come, first serve basis. Once you purchase the box, you will be totally responsible for it and the Association will no longer be the service agent or provide tracking of box locations. All funds collected will go to replenish the Reserve Account.
That’s it for now. Have a great week and thank you for the opportunity to be your President this year!
Education Corner
FREE E-PRO SEMINAR: Tuesday, November 3rd 1pm – 2:30pm. The rules of business are changing, especially in the real estate industry. NAR’s e-PRO® Certification Program is designed to help REALTORS® thrive in the exciting and rewarding world of online real estate. The Program provides the insight needed for you to remain at the forefront of the online real estate industry. Learn: Options and requirements to Get Connected, Best practices for e-mail communication and online Marketing and How to create and maintain your Internet Marketing and Practices Plan. Don't miss this FREE e-PRO® Workshop with Certified e-PRO® Trainer Steven Seidenberg. At this workshop, he will give you a number of technology tips you can put to use right away to help differentiate yourself from the competition. Register Now! Seating is Limited! To register, simply visit http://ePROworkshop.InternetCrusade.com or call toll free 1-866-ePRONAR (1-866-377-6627). Attendees will also have the opportunity to take advantage of the $60 discount for enrolling into the online e-PRO® course. All existing e-PRO®s (and those currently enrolled in the course) who attend and bring a guest will receive an e-PRO® pin ($25 value). e-PRO® is recognized for elective credit in the designation requirements for CRS (Certified Residential Specialist), ABR (Accredited Buyer Representative), and CIPS (Certified International Property Specialist).
Market to the World on a Shoestring Budget:Come experience how you can reach out to the world on a shoestring budget with technology expert Barry Grooms. Topics include Web 2.0, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogging, Postlets, Listing Syndication, and Google for Grownups. October 22nd 9am – 12pm. Class is FREE to education passport members and $15.00 for non-passport members. RSVP to david-logan@comcast.net to register.
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
Market Watch
Are you Ready to Serve Retired and Senior Clients? Port Charlotte was just listed as the #1 place to retire, are you ready for an influx of new retirees? If not, then the good news is that the Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES) Designation is available on-line and for a limited time only, at a 25% Discount! Adults aged 50+ represent more than 20% of the U.S. population. For most senior adults, the homes that they live in are their largest asset and account for most of their net worth. Completion of the Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES®) Designation Course is an essential step for REALTORS® in understanding the distinct real estate goals, concerns, and needs of seniors today. This course looks at key differences in housing options, from age-restricted communities to age-in-place design to assisted living; applications of the Housing for Older Persons Act (HOPA); the ins and outs of reverse mortgages; the use of pensions, 401k accounts, and IRAs in real estate transactions; and developing a team of senior specialists, including estate planners, reverse mortgage lenders, clutter and staging specialists, and more. Click HERE for more information and registration.
Property Flippers Back – but that’s Good - Bolstered by swelling foreclosures and bottomed-out prices, investors are returning to the South Florida real estate market, snapping up distressed homes with cash payments for either a quick turnaround or a short-term rent-then-sell investment. Unlike the speculative flippers during the boom – scourges who unnaturally jacked up prices, spawned reality TV shows and led to the economic crumble – today’s flippers are erudite capitalists who could usher in positive change by buying dilapidated and abandoned homes, patching them up and selling them for a market-bearable price, experts say. The downside: These cash-in-hand guys are competing with regular folks looking for deals and struggling to find loans. But Realtors say this whole foreclosure flip phenomenon is not for the faint of heart. For the full article, click HERE.
Regulators Take Over Fl Insurer - State insurance regulators announced Monday that they’ve taken over a troubled Ponte Vedra Beach-based property insurer formed in 2007 to insure higher value homes and condominiums. Following a circuit court ruling issued Friday, American Keystone Insurance Co. was placed in receivership and will be liquidated following unsuccessful attempts to shore up the two-year-old company that has about 7,618 policyholders. “We worked with the company to resolve the outstanding issues,” says Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty. “However, when it became evident the issues could not be remedied, I had to take action to protect their policyholders.” For the full article, click HERE.
Gassing the Chinese Drywall Problem? - According to Sabre Technical Services, the Chlorine dioxide gas used to eliminate anthrax from government buildings also can be used to eliminate the sulfur gases and organisms in Chinese drywall. The gas can penetrate drywall, studs, insulation and other materials to oxidize sulfur compounds and deactivate them into inert sulfate. The basic chemical reaction is not new. Chlorine dioxide has been used for 50 years to deactivate sulfur compounds. The question, however, was whether the gas could penetrate deep enough to fix the problem. Sabre says it conducted tests on houses in Fort Myers, however, and by using spore strips (biological indicators), it found that the gas did indeed penetrate deep enough to fix the problem. While the gas dissipates without residue, it has bleaching effects, and residents are urged to remove their belongings from infected houses. Firms can charge between $10 and $15 per square foot for the procedure, but it takes as little as a few days compared to removing sections of drywall and replacing them. However, the gas solution is still premature for homeowners. It will not become an effective method for resolving the Chinese drywall problem unless government officials approve its effectiveness and insurance companies are convinced that it’s viable. Source: Builder (10/09) Burney, Teresa © Copyright 2009 INFORMATION, INC. Bethesda, MD (301) 215-4688
Real estate trivia
This Week’s Question
Question: What amazing talents do your fellow REALTORS® possess? An Illinois Real Estate Agent was just crowned World Champion of a major international contest!
Answer: Click HERE to see what award was just presented to REALTOR® Maureen Barrett.
Last Week’s Question
Question: What 2.7 Billion Dollar Real Estate Transaction was just announced this week, which includes two of Florida’s most famous landmarks?
Answer: Click HERE to find out.