REALTOR® News

This is HUGE!
Starting January 1, 2006 the listing number for MLSNI will NOT start with the year I.e. 06. Therefore from 1-1-06 on you will no longer be able to tell the year of the listing by just looking at the listing number.

Supra and the $5,000 file!
NAR has now approve authorization for us to issue a fine of $5,000 for those who allow the Supra key out of the control, letting other agents use the key, letting the public use the key and if the pin if found with the key. Your Errors and Omissions insurance will probably be cancelled also.

New Year, New Laws
On Jan. 1, 2006, many new laws approved by the General Assembly in the 2005 spring session will take effect. In the November Illinois REALTOR magazine, IAR lobbyists highlight 22 new laws, including:
- a predatory lending database for select Cook County neighborhoods;
- a new requirement that when any mortgage lender pays the property tax from an escrow account, the lender must give the borrower written notice within 45 business days after the payment;
- revisions to the Limited Liability Company Act to specify how a LLC can change the address of its registered office or registered agent;
a ban on the use of any device designed to interfere with police radar with a minimum $50 fine imposed on the first offense;
- new requirements in stairwell enclosures in buildings greater than four stories; and
- amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act that adds sexual orientation to the listing of protected classes.

December Events
Set aside this date for TWO programs! NSBAR has adopted a new project

New Leases on Life
Who Benefits: Victims who have lost (either temporarily or permanently) livelihoods and rented or owned homes as a result of the hurricane and flooding disasters, and long term similar victims of crisis, disasters, or devastating life events that require support and assistance to regain a semblance of normalcy for long term successful transition back from crisis.

Overall Mission: To secure 6-12 months of rental housing and life-rebuilding services in the Chicago North suburban region for working families who have lost homes, jobs and belongings through the Katrina/Rita hurricane and flood. REALTORS® and REALTOR® boards, local churches, and area social service agencies have created this program to work together to provide the necessary network for rebuilding lives. The program is a part of an existing program run by PADS of Lake County called “New Beginnings for Families” which supports families coming out of crisis who need assistance mainstreaming back from losing their home. This gives us a wonderful opportunity to continue on with local community service after the immediate need of hurricane victims has passed. We also have the conduit of PADS to ensure that the “bundle of services” required by victims of homelessness will be appropriately administered. Money goes to PADS. The party is from 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. and tickets are just $25 per person. There will be cocktails & hors d’oeuvres, a themed tree display & silent auction. Attire is casual/work. This will be held at the Palladian Manse on The Lake, Highland Park, IL. Valet Service to Home from Parking Lot. Link here for more information on the New Leases on Life http://newleasesonlife.nsbar.org/index.asp

THEN end the day from 6 to 9 for the Bah Humbug Holiday cocktail party at Flatlanders in Lincolnshire - $15 per person.

Bah Humbug!
Welcome to NSBAR's first annual Bah Humbug! Holiday Party. No music, no raffles, no baskets, no gifts - just Appetizers and you pay for your drinks - $15 per person. Wednesday, December 14, 2005 at Flatlanders Restaurant and Brewery (200 Village Green in Lincolnshire). Located at the corner of Route 45 (Old Half Day Road) and Route 21 ( Milwaukee Avenue ) this intersection is North of Route 22 (Half Day Road). Go here for directions: http://www.flatlanders.com/main.php. 6:00 PM -9:00 PM. R.S.V.P. by Wednesday December 7th. Cancellations received after December 7 th will not be refunded. link here for the Bah Humbug Cocktail Party http://www.nsbar.org/bahhumbug.asp

Rumor of the month
NSBAR has a rule that you cannot serve alcohol at an open house. WRONG. NSBAR does not have such a rule and in fact would be prohibited from having such a rule. HOWEVER, you should check with your insurance company, your office policy (your office DOES have to right to prohibit alcohol serving) and the homeowners insurance since you DO assume liability in serving alcohol.

Real Estate Marketing: The Sign Of The Cross
REALTORS® who use Christian and other religious symbols in their marketing may have the best of intentions, but little insight into why Fair Housing laws frown on mixing business with beliefs.
Full Story: http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20051111_religion.htm

Three Professional Standards Changes
Standard of Practice 1-13 was amended to say, when REALTORS® are working with buyers or tenants, they should tell their clients that "sellers or sellers' representatives may not treat the existence, terms, or conditions of offers as confidential unless confidentiality is required by law, regulation, or agreement between the parties."
Standard of Practice 1-15 was amended to say, in response to inquiries from buyers or cooperating brokers, REALTORS® shall, with the sellers' approval, disclose the existence of other offers and also whether the offers came from the listing licensee, another licensee in that company, or a cooperating broker.
Standards of Practice under Article 10 were clarified to prohibit REALTORS® in a residential transaction from volunteering demographic information involving race, ethnicity, or religious composition of a neighborhood, while permitting them to volunteer other demographic information and to permit REALTORS® in a commercial transaction to volunteer all demographic information.

New NAR Guide to Foreclosed Properties
How does the foreclosure process work? How can homeowners avoid it? Find answers to these and many other foreclosure questions along with resources, tips, links, and advice in this new NAR library guide http://listmanager.illinoisrealtor.org:81/t/316802/2033117/1061/0/

Use of the term MLS in a domain name
The following is from NAR: A company has set up a domain name which includes the acronym "MLS" because they believe the domain will attract visitors or because they have a name which either includes or forms the acronym "MLS." The other situation is that a company uses the acronym in their name.

Generally, the first thing I have to clear up is that "MLS" is not a trademark of the National Association. In fact, if you take a look at Section 1.1 of the MLS Handbook you will see that it suggests the first uses of "multiple listing" predate the existence of the National Association.

The National Association's position with regard to the status of the terms "MLS" and "multiple listing service" is that, as used in the real estate brokerage business, they are the common name of a type of service available to real estate professionals to assist them in the process of marketing properties offered for sale. The MLS serves as a facility through which real estate brokers may exchange offers to cooperate with one another in the sale of a property and arrange for the fee to be paid to the broker who is successful in procuring the buyer of a property listed for sale by another broker.

This needs to be cleared up because it is for this reason that the National Association does not have a system of rules governing the use of this name in the same way it does for the term REALTOR, which is a registered collective membership mark. As a common term the National Association lacks the right to regulate its use in the same way it does REALTOR either in or in connection with the name of a firm or in a domain name.

This does not, however, conclude all of the issues raised by the use of MLS.

Article 12 of the Code of Ethics requires all members to assure a true picture in their representations to the public and certainly both domain names and firm names are representations seen by the public. If they are not accurate or are such that the public is likely to be deceived or mislead by them then such conduct may violate the standards established by the association for its members. The terms "MLS" and "multiple listing service" are both well understood by the real estate consuming public to be a powerful tool facilitating the marketing of properties and if a member of the public were to be led to believe they were dealing with the MLS in the market, then there could be a violation of that rule.

Ultimately the decision as to whether any conduct is inconsistent with the Code of Ethics is vested in the association's Professional Standards Committee, but it should be clear that individual brokers are not and can not fulfill the role of a multiple listing service. This is the kind of conflict which should be explained to the members involved so that they understand why their name might be viewed as failing to present a true picture to the public. If despite that information they elect not to change their name then the association could do nothing unless and until a complaint was brought and then all it could do is administer the complaint in a manner consistent with its rule.

There is one additional point I make when dealing with the use of "mls" as a part of a domain name. I make it because of a case that was brought by a local association when an outside vendor adopted the use of a domain name similar to the name by which the local association's multiple listing service was known and then began marketing real estate services. The case is Staten Island Board of REALTORS v. Smith and you can read about it on Realtor.org. Hopefully the following link will take you to the case summary.

http://www.realtor.org/LetterLw.nsf/pages/0302statenisland?OpenDocument

Mike Thiel
Associate Counsel
National Association nof REALTORS

November 28, 2005

The Best Government Resources For Housing, Economic Data
by Blanche Evans , editor of Realty Times/Realty Times TV

With the advent of the Internet, getting one's hands on current and meaningful economic numbers is easier than ever. But just like trying to compare mattresses between retailers, you'll never really get all the information at one place.

That said, it's challenging to know whether you are really comparing "firm" with "extra firm" and "pillowtop" numbers. Complicating the data further is the fact that gathering economic information is expensive and time-consuming, and many sources may have fresh data, but it isn't easily accessible because they don't update their websites frequently enough.

To be sure you're getting the latest information from an economic source, double-check the site's FAQs and online reports against press releases in the "newsroom." If fresher data is available, it will be there. If the site isn't updated, notify the public relations person on the latest press release to let them know the information hasn't been updated to the site.

The best sites for government-sponsored data on housing and economics related to housing are:

* Whitehouse.gov <http://www.whitehouse.gov/> : The White House Briefing room online offers snapshots of crucial economic data, particularly jobs, households, money and output. The data comes primarily from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census, Federal Reserve Board, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

* BLS.gov <http://www.bls.gov/> : The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a treasure trove of all data related to employment, occupational outlooks, payroll data, and a key economic indicator for housing -- the consumer price index (CPI.) The CPI is defined as the "monthly data on changes in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of goods and services." You can sign up to receive free press releases about a variety of topics included mass layoffs, metropolitan area employment and unemployment, and the consumer price index, all of which would be interesting for any bubbleista to mull over.

* BEA.gov <http://www.bea.gov/> : The Bureau of Economic Analysis is operated by the U.S. Department of Commerce, and includes data regarding gross domestic product, defined as "the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States," gross state product, and FIRE, composed of finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing. FIRE contributed more than any other industry group to real GDP growth -- about 25 percent in 2004. FIRE industries comprised a larger share of current-dollar GDP (20.7 percent) than goods-producing industries (19.6 percent) in 2004, says the BEA.

* Census.gov <http://www.census.gov/> : The U.S. Census Bureau does more than count heads every ten years, it gives a running U.S. occupancy count on the splash page of its website, and covers all statistics with regard to housing.

While some of its information is woefully out of date, the Bureau is attempting to find statistical means to extrapolate useful information. For example, The American Housing Survey (AHS) produces estimates of homeownership rates for the United States, four census regions, and metropolitan areas in odd-numbered years. Estimates for 41 metropolitan areas from the metropolitan area sample are updated every 6 years, with the residents of 13 or 14 metropolitan areas interviewed in even-numbered years. Estimates for 6 metropolitan areas whose residents are interviewed with the national sample are updated every 4 years in odd-numbered years along with national and regional estimates, says the site.