Green Village Docs offer NOT from NSBAR
Recently, NSBAR members were sent an email from Green Village Docs. NSBAR wants to be very clear that it NEVER authorized this email message. Green Village Docs obtained the member email list through a hole in the member-search function of the NSBAR website. This function has been suspended to prevent further instances like this.
NSBAR does not (and will never) endorse Green Village Docs. The email was made to appear that NSBAR sold our members email list. NSBAR policy stands that our email list will never be distributed to outside companies, as a means to protect member’s privacy. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our members.
Attention: BROKERS!
Time is running out to complete your continuing education requirements and renew your license. The deadline is April 30th. And remember – the Grandfather Clause was repealed, so everyone needs to complete their CE. NSBAR has several in-class and homestudy options. For more info, go to www.nsbar.org/education/renewal.asp, or go to www.nsbar.org/homestudy.asp. Contact the Education Department at 847-480-7177 if you have any questions. DO NOT DELAY! Take your CE now!
How to Market to the Very Wealthy
The ultra-wealthy in the U.S. own two homes, with their principle residence worth $2.7 million, and spend about $50,000 a year on home improvements, according to study released by market researcher Harrison Group and Worth magazine in which the average responding family had $28 million in liquid assets. For salespeople wanting to market to this group, it’s crucial to know how long these affluent clients have been wealthy, says Jim Taylor, Ph.D., vice chair of Harrison Group. In the early days of wealth, the wealthy spend with caution and fear of losing their wealth; in the later stages of the 15-year maturation period, they have a desire and search for real value.
To learn more, go to http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2006020603?OpenDocument
Changes for 2006
New from NAR Professional Standards Committee:
1. That Standard of Practice 1-15 be amended as follows (underscoring indicates additions, strikeouts indicate deletions):
REALTORS®, in response to inquiries from buyers or cooperating brokers shall, with the sellers’ approval divulge disclose the existence of offers on the property. Where disclosure is authorized, REALTORS® shall also disclose whether offers were obtained by the listing licensee, another licensee in the listing firm or by a cooperating broker.
12/14/05 Amendment to Standard of Practice 1-15. SOP 1-15 says that REALTORS, with the approval of their seller clients, must disclose the existence of other offers to buyers or cooperating brokers who ask if there are any other offers. (Note that this is subject to the seller client’s direction/agreement.) The new amendment goes on to say that REALTORS, with the approval of their seller clients, would also have to disclose whether those offers “were obtained by the listing licensee, another licensee in the listing firm or by a cooperating broker.”
2. There have been rules for Multiple officers for several years http://www.nsbar.org/library/offers.asp
Now there is information written to the public to help explain multiple offers. It would be a great idea to hand this out to every clients, customer and suspect you work with -- maybe give this out the same time you give out the agency notice.
3. That Standard of Practice 1-13 be amended as follows (underscoring indicates additions, strikeouts indicate deletions):
When entering into buyer/tenant agreements, REALTORS® must advise potential clients of:
a) The REALTOR®’s company policies regarding cooperation;
b) The amount of compensation to be paid by the client;
c) The potential for additional or offsetting compensation from other brokers, from the seller or landlord, or from other parties; and
d) Any potential for the buyer/tenant representative to act as a disclosed dual agent, e.g. listing broker, subagent, landlord’s agent, etc., and
e) The possibility 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 by any confidentiality agreement between the parties.
12/14/05 Amendment to Standard of Practice 1-13. Standard of Practice (SOP) 1-13 sets forth certain things that a REALTOR must tell potential clients before representing them as buyers. A new requirement has been added that says the REALTOR must inform the prospective buyer client that the seller or the seller’s agent may not treat the existence of or the terms of buyer’s offer as confidential unless it is required by law. Note: Under the Illinois Real Estate License Act of 2000, while the seller’s agent would be required to protect his seller client’s confidential information, generally speaking, he would not be obligated to protect the buyer’s confidential information (unless he also represented the buyer as a disclosed dual agent).
4. That Standard of Practice 10-1 be amended as follows (underscoring indicates additions, strikeouts indicate deletions):
When involved in the sale or lease of a residence, except as provided in Standard of Practice 10-3, REALTORS® shall not volunteer information regarding the racial, ethnic, or religious composition of any neighborhood nor shall they engage in any activity which may result in panic selling, however, REALTORS® may provide other demographic information.
Possible Recommendation #2:
That existing Standard of Practice 10-2 be renumbered as Standard of Practice 10-3, and that existing Standard of Practice 10-3 be renumbered as Standard of Practice 10-2.
MLS:
That Multiple Listing Policy Statement 7.31, Section 6, Lock Box Security Requirements, be amended as follows (underscoring indicates additions):
5. Lock boxes may not be placed on a property without written authority from the seller. This authority may be established in the listing contract or in a separate document created specifically for the purpose. Inclusion in MLS compilations cannot be required as a condition of placing lock boxes on listed property.
Action / Recommendation of the Committee: Possible Recommendation
That the Statement of Multiple Listing Policy addressing ownership of listings and listing content adopted at the 2005 Midyear meeting be amended as follows: The listing broker is the owner of the listing and its content. Use of listings and listing information by MLSs for purposes other than the defined purposes of MLS requires Participants’ consent. Such consent cannot be required as a condition of obtaining or maintaining MLS participatory rights. MLSs may presume such consent provided that listing brokers are given adequate prior notice of any intended use unrelated to the defined purpose of MLS, and given the opportunity to affirmatively withhold consent for that use. nor can Participants cannot be required to transfer any rights (including intellectual property rights) in their listings to MLS to obtain or maintain participatory rights. Except that MLSs may require Participants to consent to storage, reproduction, compiling, and distribution of listings and listing information to the extent necessary to fulfill the defined purposes of MLS. MLSs may also require participants to warrant that they have the rights in submitted information necessary to grant these rights to MLS. The maximum permissible fines increased to $5,000 as from $1,000. NSBAR has adopted this new fine of $5,000
Lake Barrington Woods Senior Lifestyle Community
We are pleased to announce that Lake Barrington Woods, a Senior Lifestyle Community, in Lake Barrington, Illinois has donated their meeting space for NSBAR CE classes. REALTORS® are welcome to take a brief tour and see first hand the comfort and elegance of rental retirement living. For more information about the Independent Living, Licensed Assisted Living and Short Term Stays for seniors, please contact Kathy Mategrano or Pam Labuda, Marketing at 847-842-8900 or visit www.seniorlifestyle.com.
Agents and Their Corporation
The following is from PROFESSIONS AND OCCUPATIONS
(225 ILCS 454/) Real Estate License Act of 2000.
(225 ILCS 454/10-20)
(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2010)
Sec. 10-20. Sponsoring broker; employment agreement.
(e) Notwithstanding the fact that a sponsoring broker has an employment agreement with a licensee, a sponsoring broker may pay compensation directly to a corporation solely owned by that licensee that has been formed for the purpose of receiving compensation earned by the licensee. A corporation formed for the purpose herein stated in this subsection (e) shall not be required to be licensed under this Act so long as the person who is the sole shareholder of the corporation is licensed.
(Source: P.A. 91-245, eff. 12-31-99.)
Nearly 100 Languages Spoken in Skokie Homes
Statistics for the 2005-06 school year identify 98 languages spoken in the homes of Skokie students. By comparison, data from the 1999-2000 school year showed 65 such languages. The Village has tracked this data, through Skokie schools, for the past seven years. For the current school year, Spanish is the top language spoken by Skokie students in their homes, followed by Urdu and then Assyrian. Pilipino and Korean comprise the fourth and fifth-most spoken languages. Only 7.6% of students who spoke a language other than English at home were classified as having limited English proficiency. Urdu was the fastest-growing language spoken by students at home, and new languages added to the list were from regions of India and Pakistan impacted by recent earthquakes.
Fees from Settlement Providers
If the settlement company gives you something that would have cost you money to get/receive then you can't accept it from a settlement company. This is an easy equation to remember.
Collecting the Commission
If the cooperating broker performs on the terms and conditions established by the listing broker, the fact that the listing broker finds it difficult to be paid or, alternatively, waives the right to be paid, has no bearing on whether the matter can be arbitrated but may have a direct impact on the outcome. Many cooperative relationships are established through MLS and the definition of the MLS provides, in part: (Revised 11/97). While offers of compensation made by listing brokers to cooperating brokers through MLS are unconditional,* a listing broker’s obligation to compensate a cooperating broker who was the procuring cause of sale (or lease) may be excused if it is determined through arbitration that, through no fault of the listing broker and in the exercise of good faith and reasonable care, it was impossible or financially unfeasible for the listing broker to collect a commission pursuant to the listing agreement. In such instances, entitlement to cooperative compensation offered through MLS would be a question to be determined by an arbitration Hearing Panel based on all relevant facts and circumstances including, but not limited to, why it was impossible or financially unfeasible for the listing broker to collect some or all of the commission established in the listing agreement; at what point in the transaction did the listing broker know (or should have known) that some or all of the commission established in the listing agreement might not be paid; and how promptly had the listing broker communicated to cooperating brokers that the commission established in the listing agreement might not be paid. (Amended 11/98).
(*Compensation is unconditional except where local MLS rules permit listing brokers to reserve the right to reduce compensation offers to cooperating brokers in the event that the commission established in a listing contract is reduced by court action or by actions of a lender. Refer to Part One, G. Commission/Cooperative Compensation Offers, Section 1, Information Specifying the Compensation on Each Listing Filed with a Multiple Listing Service of a Board of REALTORS®, Handbook on Multiple Listing Policy. (Adopted 11/98))
From National Association of REALTORS® Code of Ethics and Arbitration Manual
Did you get these messages?
Do you receive email messages like this one: "Our company has an exclusive service that is unmatched in the market. We can put your website(s) in the top position of every major search engine TODAY! This includes Yahoo! AND Google. Better yet, we can show you proof. Right now we are expanding our market to mid and small sized businesses and will give special pricing to anyone who responds to this email." If yes, then run the other way! When the search engines find out that you have used this type of company they take you off the top of the list and put you at the bottom forever. It is just a con game.
Government Affairs
Reminder: The Capitol Conference will be February 22nd. If you would like to attend this event in Springfield or have any questions, email Michelle Young at myoung@nsbar.org or call 847-480-7177 by February 10th.
