Weekly Notices

Friday, November 13, 2015

Transaction Desk / Quarterly Membership

NEXT WEEK!

Join us next week for your association's first TransactionDesk clock-hour classes and quarterly membership meeting with luncheon - at which your 2016 SAR leadership will be announced - plus special guest luncheon speaker Stacey Moncrieff from NAR!

All events will take place this coming Thursday, November 19th, at CenterPlace in Spokane Valley (pictured above).

Here's our schedule for the day:

8:30 a.m. - 11:30 - TransactionDesk Basic

- 3.0 clock hours - THIS CLASS IS FULL.

Noon - 1:00 p.m. - Lunch and Quarterly Membership Meeting at which your 2016 SAR Leadership will be announced. Special guest speaker will be Stacey Moncrieff (pictured at left), vice president of business-to-business communications for the National Association of REALTORSŽ, overseeing the association's flagship website, REALTOR.org, REALTORŽ Magazine, and a variety of e-communications.

1:00 p.m. - 4 p.m. - TransactionDesk Advanced

- 3.0 clock hours - JUST A FEW SEATS LEFT.

This is a bring your own device (laptop or tablet) training.

Click here to register for this special event.

Also . . .

Friday, November 20th, the SAR has a new schedule of instructor led Basic (THIS CLASS IS FULL) and Advanced classes (JUST A FEW SEATS LEFT), plus Super User training to set your office up to be paperless (or closer to it)!

Find these classes and register for them here.

Watch the Weekly Notices, Education Bulletin, and Paragon for more information about TransactionDesk support, manuals, and webinars.

2016 SAR Leadership Vote

VOTING CLOSES NEXT WEEK!

Voting closes Wednesday, November 18th, for your 2016 SAR leadership. Here is the final slate of candidates:

PRESIDENT-ELECT

Ken Sax, Keller Williams Spokane - Main

Jennifer Valerien, RE/MAX Inland Empire

TREASURER

Chris Bornhoft, Windermere Manito
Doug Hagood, Hagood Real Estate and Mortgage

SECRETARY

Tom LaLone, John L. Scott Spokane, Inc.

DIRECTORS

Michael Baker,

Century 21 Beutler & Associates Spokane

Bart Cloninger, Windermere Manito

Eric Etzel, Choice Realty

Ken Garceau, Windermere Manito

Steve Hagen, Keller Williams Spokane - Main

Wendy Kennedy, Windermere North

Linda Knaggs, RE/MAX Inland Empire
Karene Garlich-Loman, Keller Williams Spokane

Ron McIntire, Choice Realty

Gina Mosey, John L. Scott Spokane, Inc.

You received email invitations to vote on Monday, November 2nd and Wednesday, November 11th. When you click on the link for the ballot, it will take you to the SAR Member Portal. You will need to sign in with your user name and password (included in your emails) and then it will take you to the ballot where you can either vote electronically or request a printable ballot on which to vote.

Click here to:

If this link does not work on your computer, copy and paste this web address into your browser bar to vote:

https://www.spokanerealtor.com/vote-2016

Deadline to fill out ballots will be Wednesday, November 18th, at 4:30 p.m.

Our new leaders will be announced at our Annual Membership Meeting on Thursday, November 19th at CenterPlace.

See a printable list of our 2016 candidates (pictured above) online here.

2016 SAR Leadership Voter Guide

Your SAR has prepared a Voter Guide so that you may come to better know the candidates who are standing for your vote.

In it, you will find a photo and short statement from each candidate.

Download your copy (pictured above), online here.

Stop in at the SAR if you wish a hard copy printed for you.

2016 SAR Committees

Your association runs on the time and effort of many members who step up to serve on a committee.

There are both general and event-specific committees with varying degrees of commitment - something sure to fit in your busy schedule.

2016 SAR President Susie Luby (pictured at left) offers a Become Involved flyer (pictured above), which details the committees available under her administration and provides a vehicle through which you can sign up.

Download the flyer here - and thank you for supporting your association!

2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers

The newly-released National Association of REALTORSŽ 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers provides insight and detailed information about the experiences of buyers and sellers across the country in the past year.

Links to read a summary of the report, and to purchase the complete 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers document in the REALTORŽ store, are online here.

Autumn 2015 RE Market Statistics

The Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Washington offers its Autumn 2015 Real Estate Market Statistics in a collection of easy to understand graphics, like this one:

See the full report online here.

Drones for RE Professionals

Washington REALTORSŽ Legal Hotline attorney Annie Fitzsimmons reminds us that real estate professionals must have, or hire someone who has, an FAA Section 333 Waiver to fly a drone for commercial purposes and get those gorgeous aerial listing shots.

There is plenty of controversy regarding the FAA's authority to require this, but we wanted to make sure you know the regulations and the potential penalties of operating a drone for commercial purposes without a license.

Before you invest in the equipment, review this three-minute video:

Drones for Real Estate Professionals

Avoid Copyright Infringement

Earning a commission from the sale of a listing does little good if the listing broker then encounters liability for copyright violations or misrepresentation.

The revised forms offer protection against both claims, but a listing broker must understand the issues to be fully protected. Similarly, the recent forms revisions offer protections to seller to prevent an unqualified buyer from tying up the property for a long time, but those provisions are meaningless if not used by seller.

Listing brokers need to understand all of these issues to fully protect themselves, their firm and their seller.

Read more from your Washington REALTORSŽ Legal Hotline attorney, Annie Fitzsimmons (pictured at left), online here.

Remember, you can ask Annie a general real estate legal question any time by phone or email as shown above.

The Voice for Real Estate

NAR Director of Broadcasting Stephen Gasque returns this week with a new edition of his bi-weekly video update, The Voice for Real Estate.

Featured segments:

Upstream data initiative gets underway
How crowdfunding rule could boost real estate
Who are today's buyers?
NAR conference goes to San Diego

See the seven-minute video online here:

The Voice for Real Estate

Conference Live 2015

Conference Live is a great way to participate in real estate's largest event of the year, this weekend in San Diego, even if you can't be there in person!

Click on the image above to learn more.

2015 REALTORŽ 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.

Code of Ethics - Standards for Success

Thursday, December 3 - Code of Ethics - Standards for Success - with Linda Miller Sheets.

You are required by NAR to complete a Code of Ethics class once in every four-year cycle. The current cycle began January 1, 2013, and ends December 31, 2016. If you have not taken an ethics class since January 1, 2013, you need to take this class to stay current!

Registration: 8:15 a.m.

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

7.5 clock hours

Statewide Purchase and Sale Agreement

CLASS IS FULL!

Friday, December 4 - Statewide Purchase and 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.

Transaction Desk - Training, Help and More

The SAR is working to provide as many opportunities as possible for training on our new TransactionDesk product. Our current block of in-person trainings is maxing out fast and we will be adding more throughout December, but there are several other ways to get information about this great new tool.

Webinars are being offered now for Introduction to TransactionDesk and Overview of Advanced Features. You can register for these webinars by clicking here or going to the SAR Education link from the MLS Dashboard. We will be making the recorded sessions available at a later time.

User Guides are available on our website by clicking here. These are step-by-step instructions to working with transactions and electronic signatures.

Within TransactionDesk itself, there are a number of ways to get help or training.

View videos for any screen that has this icon:

Support (phone and online options) and the full video library are available by clicking the help link on the left side menu. Look for this icon:

Watch for more training opportunities in the Education Bulletin, Weekly Notices, and home page of Paragon!

G-Fee Call for Action - Update

Last week, the House of Representatives voted, 354 to 72, to amend the highway bill and remove GSE Loan Guarantee Fees to pay for transportation.

Without a doubt, we've made this progress because your fellow REALTORSŽ have sent more than 170,000 emails to Congress urging them not to take money from homeowners.

BUT OUR WORK IS NOT DONE.

The bill will now go to a House-Senate Conference, which means WE REALLY NEED YOU TO TAKE ACTION!

Bottom Line: Passing a new highway bill is important and NAR supports many of the provisions in the legislation, but NAR will not support funding the highway bill through the use of G-Fee revenue. It is essential the House Bill stays in place through the Conference Committee process.

Thank you for taking action. When REALTORSŽ act, Congress listens.

Open Enrollment Open Now

Open Enrollment, as its called, started November 1st, 2015, and runs through January 31st, 2016, during which time you can start or change your health insurance plan.

REALTORSŽ enjoy a private Members Health Insurance Exchange.

Just for NAR members, the Exchange provides access to ACA (Obamacare) compliant individual major medical plans from nationally recognized and top-rated insurance carriers including Aetna, Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Coventry, Health Net, Kaiser Permanente, UnitedHealthCare, and more.

All plans offered are guaranteed acceptance.

Learn more online here.

Inland Northwest Ski Areas

Photo courtesy Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park

If a client asks you, "Are there any ski areas around here?" You can answer, "Yes! There are eighteen ski areas in the Inland Northwest."

GoogleMaps offers an interactive online map with pinpoints where each of these are, including venue details, website links and driving directions.

See the map (pictured above) on your computer screen here.

SAR Christmas Party

TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW!

Save the date and plan to join your colleagues for the Spokane Association of REALTORSŽ Annual Christmas Party!

This year, the event will be held on Wednesday, December 9th, at the Red Lion Hotel at the Park.

Register at:

http://2015sarchristmasparty.eventbrite.com

or the SAR website, or in person at the SAR.

See the event flyer (pictured above), suitable for posting in your office and sharing with your colleagues, online here.

Member 2 Member

Summit Funding invites all fellow SAR members to its Celebrate 2015 Open House, Thursday, December 3rd.

See the event flyer (pictured above), with more details and registration information, online here.

Member 2 Member is a member benefit of the SAR. It is intended to announce a new product, service, location or affiliate event. If you are a member who wishes to share a message with your fellow members, please email it to Debbie at the SAR:

debbie@spokanerealtor.com

ListHub Report for October

See the October ListHub report, online here.

Market Activity Report - October

The SAR Market Activity Report for October is now online.

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

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

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

You Be The Judge - November

Here is You Be The Judge for November:

Case #2-8: Misrepresentation

Read the case and submit your judgement online here.

Winner to be announced next month.

Congratulations, Beverly Lee, Top Gold Realty, our September/October Starbucks card winner!

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ANSWER:

The Hearing Panel concluded that REALTORŽ B's conduct had violated Article 1 of the Code of Ethics, which requires REALTORSŽ to protect and promote their clients' interests. The panel also found that since REALTORŽ B honestly felt the original listing price of $156,900 was the fair market value at the time he listed it, REALTORŽ B had not violated the Code of Ethics by suggesting that the price be lowered. However, since REALTORŽ B later concluded the property was overpriced, he should have immediately notified Client A of his conclusion and not waited for Client A to call him six weeks later.

Case #1-10: Obligations Under Exclusive Listing

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

Member Roster Update