elpasorealtor.com • el paso realtor magazine | june 2011 ... · - al jurado committee chairman -...

1 • elpasorealtor.com El Paso Realtor Magazine | JUNE 2011 JUNE 2011 | El Paso Realtor Magazine elpasorealtor.com • 1

2 • elpasorealtor.com El Paso Realtor Magazine | JUNE 2011 3 • elpasorealtor.com El Paso Realtor Magazine | JUNE 2011

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

ASSOCIATION OFFICERS- Linda Bastraw [ President ]- Jennifer Stroh [ President- Elect]- Kenny Gross [Secretary/ Treasurer ]- Doug Hamilton [ Immediate Past President ]- Sharron K. Ramirez [ Chief Executive Officer] ASSOCIATION DIRECTORS- Caroline Camfield - Susan Craig - Mackie Sue Gilchrist - Andrew Haggerty - Douglas Van Nortwick

ASSOCIATION DIRECTORS 2011-2012- Timothy Cantrell- Socorro Cochran- Jim Howard- Mickey Molina- Patti Olivas

MLS BOARD OF DIRECTORS- Rick Snow [ President ]- Angel Ochoa [ Vice President ]- Jesus Barraza [ Secretary/ Treasurer ]- David Curiel - Art Moreno- Jim Howard- Robert Lozano- Frances Moran- William R. Stanton

TAR Nominating Committee - Sonja Van Nortwick

NAR DIRECTOR- Michael Bray

TAR DIRECTORS- Linda Bastraw- Doug Hamilton

TAR REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT- R. Scott Kesner

TAR TREPAC TRUSTEE- Elizabeth Leal

POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT COMMITTEE- Al Jurado

COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN- Kenny Gross [ Budget & Finance ]- Steve Carvalho [ Education ]- Alma Miller [ Fair Housing/ Equal Opportunity ]- Al Jurado [ Governmental Affairs ]- Socorro Cochran [ TREPAC ]- Angela Ochoa [ REALTOR®/ Builder ]

6400 GATEWAY EAST BLVDEL PASO, TX, 79905

(915) 779-3521

GEPAR QUARTERLY BILLING SCHEDULE

3RD QUARTER BILLING 07/05/2011 •Suspensionand$50.00reconnectfee08/01/2011 •Suspensionofofficeifmembersarepastduew/active license.09/01/2011 •Terminationofofficeifmembersarepastduew/active license.

4TH QUARTER BILLING8/15/2011 •Invoicesposted–emailtoagentsinvoicesreadyto view&payonline8/31/2011 •4thquarterpaymentsdue10/03/2011 •Suspensionand$50.00reconnectfee11/01/2011 •Suspensionofofficeifmembersarepastdue w/activelicense.12/01/2011 •Terminationofofficeifmembersarepastdue w/activelicense.

2012 YEARLY DUES WILL BE BILLED THE 1ST WEEK OF NOVEMBER, 2011 AND ARE DUE DECEMBER 31, 2011

E L PA S O R E A LT O R . C O M

DON’T FORGET

PAGE 4 & 5

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> EXPERT ADVISORS

GoingonatGEPARS

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OurAssociationhasbeenquiteahubofactivitylatelydrawing

manymembersattendingprogramsputonforourmembership

atlittleornocost.AttheMayCIBAmeeting,theybroughtin

homeinspectorRonFuttrellwhogaveatalkonhomeinspec-

tions,followedbyaquestionandanswersession.Also,inMay,

theEducationCommitteegaveapresentationoncontractsthat

alsoincludedaquestionandanswerperiod.Thatwasfollowed

byaBankofAmericaseminaronshortsales,foreclosuresandthe

FHA203Kprogramthefollowingweek.Allthreeeventspacked

theauditoriumroomatGEPARtocapacity,showinghowmany

memberstakeourprofessionseriouslyandwanttokeepinformed

onissueswhicharerelevant.

FOLLOW UP TO CONTRACT PRESENTATION

Aspreviouslymentioned,theEducationCommitteeprovideda

classoncontractsandtherewereacoupleofissuesIwantedto

followupwith.OnesuchquestionaddressedThirdPartyFinanc-

ingAddendumForCreditApprovalAddendum.Toreiterate,the

purposeofthisaddendumwasnottorequirethebuyerobtain

financingwithinthenumberofdaysinsertedinthefirstparagraph

butrathertogivethebuyeran“opt-out”periodwhenthatbuyer

doesnotbelievehecanobtainthatapproval.Ifthebuyerdoesnot

believetheycanobtaintheirfinancingapprovalbeforethetime

constraintexpires,theywouldutilizetheTRECpromulgated

formNoticeofBuyer’sTerminationofContract.Oneofthe

issuesdiscussedregardingtheThirdPartyFinancingAddendum

waswhathappensifthebuyerisapprovedfortheloanbutthe

property’sappraisaldoesnotmeetthesalesprice.Thelender’sap-

provaloftheproperty,basedontheirunderwritingrequirements

whichcouldincludetheappraisal,anylenderrequiredrepairsand

more,isaseparateissuefromthebuyer’sabilitytoqualify,sothe

contractwouldterminate.Itisimportanttokeepthetwoissues,

buyer’sabilitytoqualifyfortheloanversusloanunderwriting

requirements,separate.Averygoodquestionthatwasaskedwas

“Ifthesellercomesbacktothebuyerandstatestheywillsellfor

theappraisedvalue,doesthebuyerthenhavetoclose?”

Theanswerisno.Basedontheloanappraisalnotmeetingthe

salespriceisbasisforthebuyerterminatingthecontractandit

becomesthebuyer’schoicewhethertheywanttoproceedwiththe

closingwhenthesellerstatestheywillsellfortheappraisedvalue.

Thissituationcameupwithasaleinvolvingmyofficeacoupleof

yearsago,andTREC’slegalcounselverifiedtomethatevenifthe

sellerofferstosellattheappraisedvalue,thebuyerdoesnothave

toproceedwiththecontractandwouldbeentitledtotherefund

oftheirearnestmoney.TheThirdPartyFinancingAddendumis

oneofonlytwoinstanceswhere“timeisoftheessence”applies

tothecontract.TheotherinstanceinvolvestheOptionPeriod

Paragraph.

OPTION PERIOD

Thisparagraphgivesthebuyertheunrestrictedrighttoterminate

thecontractwithinatimeperiodthatbuyerandselleragreeupon.

Nowhereintheparagraphistheword“repairs”mentionedbut

thisparagraphwasdesigned,inpart,forthebuyerandsellerto

negotiateanyrepairissues.Duringourcontractclass,thequestion

wasaskedifthebuyercouldaskforrepairstobedoneafterthe

terminationoftheoptionperiod.Thecorrectanswerisyes,they

canaskforanythingtheywish,however,thebuyerisunderno

obligationcontractuallytoconsenttoanythingatthispoint.The

expirationoftheoptionperiodnullifiesthebuyer’sunrestricted

righttoterminatethecontract.Also,fortheoptionperiodtobe

effective,theoptionfeemustbetenderedtotheseller(toinclude

theseller’sagentand/orbroker)withintwodaysaftertheeffective

dateofthecontract.Thefollowingexcusesdonotmitigatefailure

todeposittheoptionfee:“ButitisChristmastime”(noholiday

isexempt),“Gee,noonehasenforcedthiswithmebefore”,“My

grandmotherdied”,“Mydogatethecheck”.Bynottenderingthe

optionfeetothesellerortheiragentwithinthetwodayperiod,

yourbuyerhasjustsurrenderedtheirrighttoterminatethecon-

tract.Besuretobediligentabouttheoptionfeeandremember,

TRECstartstheclockonalltimelinesthedayaftertheeffective

dateonthecontract.

Iwelcomeyourcommentsandquestionsto

[email protected].

G E PA R N E W M E M B E R

E T H I C S I N S T R U C T O R

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Why are we switching to new lockboxes?

Our current system has been in place since 2005 but many of the existing

lockboxes require extensive maintenance from GEPAR staff. In addition, our

contract with SentriLock has expired and there is no warranty or support

services without a new contract being executed. The lockbox task force

felt the new Sentrilock product had greater durability and would serve our

membership for a longer period of time than the current lockboxes.

Are the batteries from the old lockboxes compatible with the new lockboxes?

No they are not, but the new batteries which are CR123 Lithium batteries

have an estimated life expectancy of five years. With the new lockboxes in

place, you will not have to worry about trying to access an old lockbox with a

dead battery. We heard from several members that this was becoming more

a regular occurrence when showing properties.

How difficult will it be to learn the new system?

The system is not new, but is an upgrade of the system we currently utilize.

The training classes are simply offered at the time of the lockbox conversion

to showcase the many new features of the system. Our members will receive

new Sentricards, and if your photo was in GEPAR’s system, it will be placed

on the new Sentricard.

Will our lockbox fees go up on the new system?

No. Any user fee increases are set each year by our Association when the

budget for the coming year is established. The upgraded system will not see

any type of increases for our membership. The Task Force worked diligently

to ensure that fees would not increase at the current time for our member-

ship.

Did the Task Force look at any other systems other than Sentrilock?

Yes, the Task Force also looked at the other industry provider, Supra. We met

with representatives from both providers and were shown the choices for

products. Supra, while having a series of great products, would have been

substantially more expensive and would have required more initial cash

output as well as raising user fees.

Was the inconvenience to the members during the week of the conversion considered?

It certainly was, and while there was no perfect scenario for the conversion,

the convenience factor to our members will increase at least tenfold. Under

the old system, our members would have to go out and read lockboxes indi-

vidually, go back to their office, and download the data, and then return to

read the next lockbox. This procedure could involve more than a day’s work

as well as driving throughout the city expending time and gasoline. The

new system will require the Sentricard to be updated once a week, which

means that a listing agent will be able to gather data on their lockboxes

once a week without having to go out and read the lockboxes individually.

What is really impressive is that Sentrilock will send notifications, via email,

to the agent letting the agent know who has shown their property. This

feature alone means a huge time and money savings for the listing agents

throughout the entire year.

If I have 10 lockboxes, will I receive 10 lockboxes at the conversion?

In order to establish a better system for tracking the lockboxes, the amount

of lockboxes given will match the number of listings the agent has, as long

as the old lockboxes are exchanged. An agent can acquire more lockboxes

after the conversion, if desired.

If I am given a lesser number of lockboxes than I turn in, what is my incentive for turning old lock-boxes in?

One of the points of negotiations to receive new lockboxes without raising

user fees was that we guaranteed that we would return a significant number

of the old lockboxes. The entire cost to receive new, improved product for

our members was predicated on the old lockboxes being returned.

Can I still use my old lockbox card after I have been given the new one?

No, once you receive your new card, the old card is disabled.

What do I do if I am out of town during the lockbox conversion? Could someone else pick up my lock-boxes and new keycard for me, including my bro-ker?

Knowing there would never be a day where everyone could attend, the Task

Force recommended that if proof of being out of town, such as an airline

ticket, travel voucher, hotel bill, etc., was provided, the late fee would be

waived. No one can pick up lockboxes or a keycard other than the agent the

keycard and lockboxes are assigned to.

Will new card readers be required after the conversion?

No, existing card readers will be compatible with the new system. Additional

card readers will be available for sale after the conversion process in the

Membership Department at GEPAR.


By now many of you have heard about the REALTOR® Party Political Survival Initiative. No? How about the $40 dues increase for NAR? Yeah, THAT rings a bell!

I have to admit it, when I first started hearing about this it seemed to be all about a possible dues increase. As expect-ed, the reaction was swift, it was loud, and it was negative. A number of third party “surveys” were taken and reported in the blogospheres. Overwhelmingly it was reported that membership felt that NAR Leadership was out of touch with the members. Not surprising considering the way the survey questions tended to be phrased.

Developing an unbiased survey is something of an art form that I learned way back in my college days as a Marketing Major (admittedly in the era when the latest new technol-ogy out there was the MLS Book). Unfortunately, with today’s viral messaging systems (think Blogs and Tweets) an improperly interpreted marketing message can quickly take on a life of its own.

I think there is a lesson here that can be learned – NAR Boomers need to learn how to communicate with NAR YPNers (IMHO). And you YPNers need to slow down some-times and try to listen to the sage advice of those who have blazed the paths before you!

So here is my attempt to bring some understanding about how I think we have gotten to where we are and it is going to take a little more than 140 characters…..

NAR has always acknowledged its responsibility to do all it can to ensure that members have a fair and competitive

work environment and that we promote the societal value of real property ownership. NAR’s Strategic Plan states: “NAR is recognized as THE advocate for legislative, regulatory and legal policies that benefit REALTORS® and real property owners.”

NAR’s political influence and grassroots clout to achieve this NAR Strategic Plan objective weredeveloped as a result of a commitment to build relationships with public officials and regulators bycreating an understanding of the importance of real property ownership to American society.

REALTOR® involvement to influence decisions about property rights’ issues at the federal, state and local levels of government has been in place for over 40 years and our commitment to fund RPAC requests to help influence the outcome of elections at all 3 levels of government has grown substantially over that time.

In that span of time NAR has continued to refine its approach and developed programs such as Calls For Action and Legislative Contact Teams to deliver our message to legislators. In 2008 the NAR Leadership Team recognized that NAR needed to enhance its political influence and clout at the federal, state and local levels by “moving the agenda” through our Second Century Initiatives. With the leader-ship of NAR CEO Dale Stinton, a robust set of resources were identified to create a REALTOR® Party that would employ new and powerful organizational tools that would pro-vide all three levels of our Organization unrivaled political strength to more effectively help elect REALTOR® champions

6 • elpasorealtor.com El Paso Realtor Magazine | JUNE 2011


and successfully advocate REALTOR® public policy.

And All Was Good…..

In January 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling (Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission) allowed corpo-rate dollars (dues dollars) to be invested for candidate Independent Expenditure (I.E.) campaigns. Prior to this Supreme Court ruling only voluntary PAC contributions (hard dollars) could be used for federal candidate inde-pendent expenditures.

The Citizens’ ruling was a very clear game changer for NAR and RPAC since the “hard dollar” PACadvantage that the REALTOR® family worked for over 40 years to achieve (over more than 4,000 other federally registered PACS) was now likely to be swamped with soft money I.E’s being conducted at all three levels of our electoral process. However, this game changing Supreme Court decision also opened the door for NAR to consider additional, new directions for elevating our REALTOR® Party influence by using general funds (corporate funds, i.e. soft dollars) while lowering the amount of RPAC hard dollars needed to directly contrib-ute to federal candidates.

A comprehensive survey of key REALTOR® constitu-encies was commissioned. The questionnaire was administered to five separate REALTOR groups: 1) REAL-TORS® who do not contribute to RPAC; 2) Regular RPAC contributors; 3) RPAC Major Donors; 4) Members of the Young Professional Network (YPN); and 5) Executive Officers. More than 6,400 members participated in this survey.

The results reflected the fact that REALTORS® were not familiar with the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Citizens United decision. Most members have heard very little or nothing at all about the decision. After learning more about the ruling and its impact, members were split on the idea of using general funds to help elect candidates.

Over the course of the next few weeks a multitude of approaches and funding sources were looked at. A comprehensive program was developed that coordinat-ed the efforts of our Federal, State and Local initiatives. Details were shared with key staff and leadership at the State and Local levels.

At the NAR Midyear Legislative Meetings the NAR Board of Directors was presented with alternative funding sources. Throughout the course of the weeklong meet-ings I attended several forums to learn more about the program and discuss possible funding sources. And trust me, there were plenty of discussions over bever-ages into the wee hours of the night!The more I listened, the more I heard that the concerns were not in the mission, but in the way the mission was

to be funded. The best alternative seemed to be the one which had all members equally sharing the burden. After all, everyone, including non-REALTORS®, benefit from NAR’s stewardship as the Defender of Private Property Rights.

Imagine for a moment, what happens to your business if buyers had to come up with a full 20% down before they could buy a house. What percentage of your busi-ness dies?

What happens to your business if homeowners (includ-ing yourself ) could no longer deduct the mortgage interest they paid from their income taxes? And could the loss of this deduction stretch them even further to-wards possibly not being able to afford the home they are in and unable to find a buyer with 20% down? Who is going to buy those foreclosures and short sales?

If this was to happen (and there currently is a significant push to make it so) would you lose more than 10 cents a day in income?

My favorite Cup o’ Joe (that’s a Frappe Latte ‘como se llama’ to you YPNers) just went up a dime a cup. I don’t like having to pay it but I don’t see kicking the caffeine habit just yet. I’ll get used to it….

If you can find one, ask a travel agent today if they would have gladly invested a dime a day 10 years ago in their industry. Ask an appraiser if they would gladly invest a dime a day in their industry. Ask a mortgage loan originator if they would gladly invest a dime a day in their industry.

The attack on housing requires a bold, strong response. IF not NAR, who then?

I have lost a deal or two to these new and improved regulations. If I can help save just 1 transaction, my dime-a-day investment has given me a great return.

And I don’t need any surveys to tell me that!

MIC

HA

EL

BR

AY

M i c h a e l B r a y , A B R , A H W D , C S P, G R I , TA H S

2 0 1 0 Te x a s R E A LT O R ® H e r oD i r e c t o r , N a t i o n a l A s s o c i a t i o n o f R E A L -T O R S ® P r e s i d i n g O f f i c e r , Te x a s M a n u f a c t u r e d H o u s i n g B o a r dV i c e P r e s i d e n t , E l P a s o H o u s i n g F i n a n c e C o r p o r a t i o n

6 • elpasorealtor.com El Paso Realtor Magazine | JUNE 2011 JUNE 2011 | El Paso Realtor Magazine elpasorealtor.com • 7


Washington DC Hill VisitsOnMay12,2011membersoftheGovernmentalAffairsCommitteeandtheLeadershipTeamoftheGreaterElPasoAssociationofRELATORS®meetwith membersoftheFederalLegislativeDelegationattheCapitaltodiscussissuesthataffecttherealtorcommunity.

> ASSOCIATION EVENTS M AY 2 0 1 1

City Council Run Off Endorsements OnMay25,2011membersoftheGovernmentalAffairsCommitteeandtheLeadershipTeamoftheGreaterElPasoAssociationofRELATORS®meetwithcandidatesforElPasoCityCouncilRunOffelectionstodiscussissuesthataffecttherealtorcommunity.AfterlengthydiscussionthecommitteedecidedtoendorseLydaNessGarciaforDistrict#1andMayelaMejiaforDistrict#5.


+ BY THE NUMBERS J U N E 2 0 1 1 C O M PA R I S O N


+ NAR ATTACHED PROPERTY H O M E S A L E S R E P O R T

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Real Estate Trend Indicator

Board: Greater El Paso Association of REALTORS®

State: Texas

Date of Report: 06/01/2011


+ NAR SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL H O M E S A L E S R E P O R T

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Real Estate Trend Indicator

Board: Greater El Paso Association of REALTORS®

State: Texas

Date of Report: 06/01/11

12 • elpasorealtor.com El Paso Realtor Magazine | JUNE 2011

1 8:00 am - Orientation 9:00 am- WCR Board Meeting 1:00 pm- Young Professionals Network Meeting

2 8:30 am- RCA Weekly Meeting 1:30 pm- Gov. Affairs Cmte. Meeting 2:30 pm- TREPAC Committee Meeting

3 11:30 am- WCR Luncheon

6 12:30 pm - Toastmasters 3:00 pm - REALTOR/ Builder Cmtte. Meeting

7 9:00 am- Success Realty Meeting 12:00 pm- CIBA Monthly Meeting 1:30 pm- Education Cmte. Meeting 8 8:00 am- Texas United/ CMA Course

9 8:30 am- RCA Weekly Meeting

10 12:00 pm- REALTOR/ Builder University

13 12:30 pm- Toastmasters

14 1:30 pm- Education Committee Meeting 8:30 Professional Standards

15 1:30 pm- Budget & Finance Meeting 2:00 pm- Executive Committee Meeting

16 8:30 am- RCA Weekly Meeting 11:00 am- TREPAC Bowling

17 11:00 am- “Stories of Success” (Manny Soto)

20 8:00 am- TX REALTORS® Leadership Program

21 8:00 am- MCE

22 8:00 am- MCE 8:30 am- MLS Board of Directors 23 8:30 am- RCA Weekly Meeting

24 8:30 am- Board of Directors 27 Lock Box Conversion

28 Lock Box Conversion



JUNE

> MARK YOUR CALENDAR

elpasorealtor.com • el paso realtor magazine | june 2011 ... · - al jurado committee chairman -...

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