Weekly Notices

Friday, June 5, 2015

Multiple Counter-offers

NEW!

Washington REALTORS'® Legal Hotline lawyer Annie Fitzsimmons is back this week with another installment of her valuable video series on strategies for a competitive marketplace.

In her latest video, Annie talks us through a scenario in which you are faced with multiple counter-offers.

Do you have a seller who wants to send out multiple counter offers? Please take a look at this video first.

See the five-minute video online here:

Strategies for a competitive marketplace part 8:
Multiple Counter-Offers

Pending Home Sales Highest since 2006

Pending home sales rose in April for the fourth straight month and reached their highest level in nine years, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Led by the Northeast and Midwest, all four major regions saw increases in April.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, has now increased year-over-year for eight consecutive months and is at its highest level since May 2006.

Read the NAR news release - and view a video commentary on the news by NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun - online here.

Go directly to the video here:

Pending Home Sales Climb in April
to Highest Level since May 2006

Real Estate Radio

How should consumers look at real estate indicators - all of those market numbers that say the market is up, the market is down, the market is all around - and what are the real estate indicators for Spokane?

Spokane Talks Online photo

SAR Executive Vice President Rob Higgins is a guest on Real Estate Radio with host Ken Sax (photo above) talk about this on a program recorded last week for Spokane Talks Online.

Listen to a podcast of the program online here:

The Voice for Real Estate

NEW!

Be alert to an email scam in which a hacker breaks into the email account of real estate practitioners or closing professionals and learns key transaction information like account numbers and then bilks the transaction of money. That's one of the featured segments in The Voice for Real Estate for the week of May 25, 2015.

In other segments, NAR seeks an enforcement grace period for upcoming changes to the closing process and April 2015 home sales ease for the month but stay strong for the year.

Also, NAR wants the Rural Housing Service to allow direct-endorsement loans to speed mortgage application processing.

Featured segments

NAR seeks HUD-1 enforcement grace period
April home sales ease but stay strong for year
Sophisticated email scams hit home sales

See the six-minute video online here:

The Voice for Real Estate 23: Scams, HUD-1 Changes

"Sensitive" to Good-faith Effort

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced this week that it would be "sensitive" to companies that make a good-faith effort to comply with the new Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure (TRID) regulation that goes into effect on August 1, 2015.

This is a welcome development that can be compared to the effective CFPB implementation of the Qualified Mortgage (QM) regulation in 2014.

Bottom Line: The announcement by CFPB is a net win but less than what some Members of Congress requested, which was a hard deadline five-month testing or "grace" period.

Visit NAR's Field Guide to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) for more information, online here.

Lunch & Learn - Auctions & Real Estate

NEXT WEEK!

Learn the good, the bad and the ugly in real estate sales by auction at your SAR:

Monday, June 8th
Noon to 1:30 p.m.
at your SAR

See the event flyer, pictured above, online here.

Lunch & Learn - RESPA-TILA

You have probably heard of the changes that are coming to mortgage loan disclosures as a result of the Dodd-Frank RESPA (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act - TILA (Truth in Lending Act) Integrated Disclosure rule.

These changes go into effect on August 1, 2015.

The SAR has set up two Lunch & Learn events - one on Monday, June 29th, the other on Monday, July 27th - with Greg Britton from HomeStreet Bank to help you get ready for the changes.

Click on the dates below to see the event flyer for that days event.

Monday, June 29th
Noon to 1:30 p.m.
at your SAR

Monday, July 27th
Noon to 1:30 p.m.
at your SAR

Lunch & Learn - Safety

Learn how to reduce opportunities that make you a target - from a retired deputy sheriff - at this valuable, new Lunch & Learn at your SAR:

Monday, June 15th
Noon to 1:30 p.m.
at your SAR

See the event flyer, pictured above, online here.

2015 REALTOR® Education

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Quality of Education

through SAR/WR Education Instructors

Here is the latest class listing of your SAR - offering the best live and local continuing real estate education classes for 2015.

Click on each class title, underlined in blue, to bring up a flyer for that class - suitable for posting in your office.

Register for these classes online here:

Please be in touch with Debbie at the SAR if you have any questions about these classes or your license education requirements, by phone at 326-9222 or by email.

How to Work with Difficult People
and Conflict Resolution

CHANGE THE DATE!

Thursday, June 12 - How to Work with Difficult People and Conflict Resolution - with Linda Miller.

Registration: 8:15 a.m.
Class: 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
at the SAR

3.- clock hours

Fair Housing: R.E. Licensee Accountability

CHANGE THE DATE!

Thursday, June 12 - Fair Housing: R.E. Licensee Accountability - with Linda Miller.

The SAR highly recommends this class.

Registration: 12:30 p.m.
Class: 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
at the SAR

3.5 clock hours

Friday, June 5 - Land and Acreage 200: Rural Property - with Jim Palmer, Jr.

BIGGER! BETTER! This is a new 7.5 hour Land and Acreage class. You may take it whether or not you've already taken the original 4.0 clock hour class. Lots of good information in this new class.

"At some point, every broker will have the opportunity to represent a client in a transaction that involves a well, septic system or acreage," Joe Garst, SAR immediate past president.

Registration: 8:15 a.m.
Class: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
at the SAR

7.5 clock hours

Purchase & Sale Agreement

Thursday, June 11 - Statewide Purchase & Sale Agreement - with Sabrina Jones-Schroeder.

This class is full. Please see below for a second offering.

Registration: 8:15 a.m.
Class: 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
at the SAR

7.5 clock hours

Purchase & Sale Agreement

Thursday, July 2 - Statewide Purchase & Sale Agreement- with Sabrina Jones Schroeder.

Registration: 8:15 a.m.
Class: 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
at the SAR

7.5 clock hours

SAR CALENDAR

Click on the image below to see the current SAR calendar

showing dates and times of classes, committees and events.

MLS Fees Due

3rd Quarter MLS fees have been posted to the SAR member portal. They are due by June 30th.

If you are set up for recurring payments they will be processed between the 8th and the 10th of June and you will receive an email when the payment has been processed.

Please email Brenda at the SAR if you have a question about your fees or contact her by phone at 326-9222.

Thank you!

DANGER Report

NAR has commissioned the D.A.N.G.E.R. Report ("Definitive Analysis of Negative Game Changers Emerging in Real Estate") to better understand a host of market realities that will require real estate professionals to become more adaptable and agile in the coming years in order to remain relevant and competitive.

The report was released, last month, at the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings and Trade Expo in Washington, D.C.

Visit NAR's DANGER Report website, which offers a copy of the complete report, online here.

See a three minute video on the DANGER Report online here:

DANGER Report

Spokane-area Job Numbers Rebounding

Journal of Business

The number of jobs in Spokane County likely will reach prerecession levels this summer, at least a year earlier than projected last year, says Doug Tweedy, Spokane-based regional labor economist with the Washington state Employment Security Department.

The mix of jobs, though, is changing, as some sectors, including construction and retail, are still lagging in the recovery, Tweedy says.

Read more in the current edition of the Journal of Business, online here.

Sullivan Road Construction WebCam

City of Spokane Valley photo

Need to make a trip across the Sullivan Road bridge and want to know what the traffic is like during construction before you go?

Check out the new project webcam, now online at the City of Spokane Valley (image capture above).

You can get up close to the action by changing camera views, zooming in on sections of each image, or panning from left to right or up and down - even watching a time-lapse video of the all the photo images of construction to date.

The bridge was built in 1950 and declared "structurally deficient" in 2009.

The bridge, the westernmost of the two that cross the river at that location, is part of a key transportation corridor in Spokane Valley, carrying about 26,000 vehicles a day.

See the live webcam online here.

Thank You Spokane

The City of Spokane will thank voters, Saturday, for approving a $64 million bond to renovate Riverfront Park with free rides, live music, $1 hot dogs and a beer garden.

The "Thank You Spokane" event opens at 10:30 a.m. and concludes at 6:00 p.m. Visitors are asked to check in at the park's Rotary Fountain, near the carrousel.

Park renovations are set to begin sometime after Labor Day.

See the day's schedule (pictured above), online here.

Manito Plant Sale

Have a client in a new house that needs a few plants?

Invite them to the popular Friends of Manito Park Spring Plant Sale this Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

All proceeds will benefit Spokane's celebrated Manito Park.

This year's Silver Jubilee event will feature almost 500 plants for sale, kids activities, live music from the Barking Kats, and complimentary pieces of cake.

Visit the Friends of Manito website for more information, online here.

2015 SAR Golf Tournament

Registration is now open for the 2015 SAR Golf Tournament!

Space is limited so register now if you'd like to participate in this popular annual event.

Registration deadline is Tuesday, July 7th.

Event is Thursday, July 16th, at Downriver Golf Course.

See the event flyer (pictured above), online here.

ListHub Report for April

See the April ListHub report, online here.

Market Activity Report - May

NEW!

The SAR Market Activity Report for May is now online.

See the latest report - and archived reports - online here.

See the May 2015 summary report (pictured above) online here.

See the 2015 year-to-date summary report (pictured above) online here.

You Be The Judge - June

NEW!

Here is You Be The Judge for June:

Case #1-5: Promotion of Client's Interests.

Read the case and submit your judgement online here.

Those who decide correctly will be entered in a drawing for a Starbucks coffee card!

Winner to be announced next month.

Congratulations Graham Lang, Kestell Company, our May Starbucks card winner!

MAY ANSWER

The Hearing Panel concluded that REALTOR® B was in violation of Article 1; that he had been unfaithful in his obligations in not advising his client of his conclusion that the property was overpriced, based on the response to his initial sales efforts; and in withholding his best efforts to bring about a sale of the property in the interests of his client.

From case #16-7: REALTOR®'s Refusal to Disclose Nature and Current Status of Listing to Another REALTOR®.

See the full text of last month's case, online here.

Member Roster Update

NEW!

Click here to view the latest Roster Update - listing new and resigned members and companies.

Click here to view the latest list of MLS Subscription Waivers approved by the SAR Board of Directors.

Send a message to Angie at the SAR with any changes.

Suggestion Box