affiliate affair & mar legal update central michigan ... 2015.pdfaﬃliates for all they do...

RSVP INFORMATION

Plan on a ending? Please complete and return to Lori at CMAR Office by April 16, 2015

Central Michigan Associa on of REALTORS®

111 S. Lansing St., Mt. Pleasant ~ Fax 989‐773‐0193 ~ Email: [email protected]

Agent Name: ____________________________________________________________

Office: ___________________________________ Phone: _______________________

Permanent ID#: ______________________ Bring pocket card with permanent ID# along

with photo ID for hours to count toward Con‐Ed.

Are you planning on Bowing? Yes: ___ No: ___

111 S. LANSING ST, MT. PLEASANT MI 48858

E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] Website: www.cmiar.com

LORI RHYNARD—ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE

HOLLY BAXTER—ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

PHONE: (989) 773-2564 FAX: (989) 773-0193

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VOLUME 7, ISSUE 4

APRIL 2015

Please come show your support to our Affiliates! Put a face with a name…and thank the Affiliates for all they do throughout the year!

DATE:

APRIL 23, 2015 TIME:

12:30‐1:00: Registra on 1:00pm‐3:00pm: Greg McClelland, Legal Update (2 Con Ed credits) 3:00pm‐6:00pm: Expo Open, Networking, & 2 games of bowling

LOCATION: RIVERWOOD RESORT

1313 E. BROOMFIELD ROAD, MT. PLEASANT, MI 48858 COST:

$20.00 (CMAR MEMBERS INCLUDES LEGAL UPDATE AND 2 GAMES OF BOWLING)

Affiliate Affair & MAR Legal Update

Greg McClelland acts as a primary outside general counsel to the Michigan Associa on of REALTORS®. He au‐

thors a regular ar cle in the Michigan Realtor Magazine. He also has acted as a li ga on counsel for associa ons,

developers, general contractors, owners, and businesses for the past 30 years in bankruptcy, state and federal

courts and has tes fied as an expert witness with respect to real estate and business prac ces and li ga on.

Affiliates! Please see page 4 for more informa on.

APRIL CALENDAR

1st

Bylaws Commi ee 1:00pm

6th

Publicity & Public Rela ons Commi ee 9:00am

7th

Membership/Benefits Drive Commi ee 9:00am

8th

Educa on/Program Commi ee 1:00pm

14th

Board of Directors Mee ng 8:30am

21st

Building Commi ee Mee ng 1:00pm

23rd

Affiliate Fair 1:00‐6:00pm

MAY CALENDAR

4th

Publicity & Public Rela ons Commi ee 9:00am

5th

Membership Commi ee 9:00am

6th

Educa on/Program Commi ee 9:00am

7th

Orienta on 10:00am‐3:30pm

12th

Board of Directors Mee ng 8:30am

Find Calendar of events and mee ngs any me at:

h p://www.cmiar.com/CMAR_Calendar_2014.html

MONTH SALES COMPARISONS

March

2014

March

2015

Units Sold 61 59

Average Sale $101,841 $117,799

Total $6,212,343 $6,950,150

1ST QUARTER SALES COMPARISONS

Jan‐Mar

2014

Jar‐Mar

2015

Units Sold 173 170

Average Sale $100,094 $105,128

Total $17,316,322 $17,871,923

CMAR Mission Statement

Central Michigan Associa on Of Realtors® is dedicated to serving the community by preserving private property rights and providing educa onal, ethical, and professional services while holding the realtor® to a

high standard of accountability.

Great News for Buyer Clients Seeking Transfer Tax Refund! By Brian F. Westrin, Esq., Director of Legal Affairs

Do you have a buyer client who paid the transfer tax on a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac property? We have great news to report ‐ A refund mechanism is now available.

By way of background, a 6th Circuit Court of Appeals determined last year that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are federal agencies exempt from State and County real estate transfer taxes. This 6th Circuit ruling overturned a lower court that said Michigan coun es could collect such taxes from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

While Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have steadfastly claimed that they remain exempt from all taxes of this nature, both agencies either already u lized or elected to adopt contract addendums to indemnify themselves from any unforeseen taxes on a sale, shi ing the poten al burden to the buyer during the pendency of the above court proceedings.

For a buyer that paid the transfer tax pursuant to an agreement with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision was slightly less sa sfying. While Michigan law provides that a seller is responsible for payment of County and State transfer taxes, a seller can contractually agree to have a buyer assume that obliga on. Michigan law also provides for a refund mechanism, available to sellers having paid the tax in error or unnecessarily. The same refund mechanism had not been directly available to buyers having paid the tax – un l now.

The Michigan Department of Treasury has posted new instruc ons for affected buyers to directly apply for refunds on transfers concerning Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The instruc ons and the refund form can be accessed here: h p://www.michigan.gov/documents/2796f7_2601_7.pdf

The prompt provides:

“For property owners who purchased from Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac: If you are seeking a refund of the SRETT paid on the purchase of the home, complete this form (2796) as if you were the seller of the home. You must a ach the following documents with the completed form:

Copy of your Se lement Statement (HUD‐1)

Copy of your RECORDED DEED containing the tax stamp.”

If you have a client in this situa on, you can provide them with the above informa on and advise them to contact Treasury with any ques ons. The direct contact for State Real Estate Transfer Tax inquiries is (517) 636‐0515.

A similar exemp on is available for the County Real Estate Transfer Tax. While Coun es may have varying approaches to refunds, it is worth advising your client to contact their County Treasurer to inquire about the process.

The Michigan REALTORS® is also suppor ng House Bill 4173, introduced by Representa ve David Maturen (R‐ Indian Lake), to enshrine into state law a buyer’s right to apply for a transfer tax refund. The bill would also clarify the applica on of exemp on ”u” under the State Real Estate Transfer Tax Act to mirror the important 2008 A orney General Opinion. As many of your will recall, exemp on “u” offers poten al tax relief for sellers whose property has declined in value from the me it was originally purchased to the me it was sold. We will con nue to update you on the progress of this important legisla on.

WELCOME NEW AGENTS:

Teddi Alexander, Central Real Estate

Tony R. Schmidt, Tony R. Schmidt Realty, Inc.

Gaylon Koutz, Century 21 Lee‐Mac Realty

BEST WISHES TO AGENTS MOVING ON:

Mary Fleming, Phillip Pierce, John Houdek

WELCOME NEW AFFILIATES!!

This year, instead of wai ng for agents to visit your booth, Affiliates can mix and mingle with other members while having fun and making new business acquaintances.

Small tables will be available behind bowling alleys to display small promo onal items (brochures, business cards, etc.) Drawings for prizes (each Affiliate can bring own drawing prize) Cost for Affiliates is FREE unless you want to bowl, then $20

Please complete and return to CMAR office by April 16, 2015 Address: 111 S. Lansing St., Mt. Pleasant ~ Fax 989‐773‐0193 ~ Email: [email protected]

Company Name: _____________________________________________________________ Contact Person: ______________________________ Phone: _________________________ Names of A endees: __________________________________________________________ # bowling: ___________

Affiliate Affair Informa on for Affiliates

UPDATE FROM MARCH NGLR MLS BOARD MEETING

Syndica on Policy (Broker Survey) ‐ Discussion took

place regarding ongoing changes in lis ng syndica on and how it will affect NGLR MLS members. A posi on statement has been sent to all NGLR MLS brokers and the representa ves feel a survey should follow. Three ques ons will be developed and sent out to the brokers as a survey.

RV Condo/Site Units—Discussion took place regarding the RV condo/site units in the Single Family class without the Seller’s Disclosure Statement. If they are to remain in the SF class, then the SDS must be uploaded into the Associated Documents. If no SDS, then they can be entered into the Vacant Land class.

NGLR IT Report Conversion in Paragon to the interna onal phone

numbers and addresses went forward with li le headache. Lis ng search was down for a short period on the 19th while Black Knight fixed a few RETS issues that were created during the process, but a er that, our website and all other lis ng data uses worked fine.

A long‐standing issue within Paragon regarding the photo count occasionally not being accurate appears to be corrected, so they are adjus ng the way photos are retrieved. This will eliminate a rare issue they had where not every photo for a lis ng was retrieved for the NGLR website.

Work con nues on addi onal compliance check features for use by the administrator, including checks of recently sold lis ngs for prompt status updates.

MLS Administrator Report New procedure for compliance email: First compliance

email will be sent to agent only. 2nd compliance email with a deadline to fix the issue will be sent to agent, broker and AE. No ce of fine will also be sent to agent, broker and AE.

Guest Lis ngs are increasing The Paragon enhancement on February 18 went

smoothly. However, the auto‐save feature has been inac vated due to reports of duplicated saves of lis ngs.

MAR Legal Lines – Question of the Month

W ith the help of McClelland & Anderson, we are taking the most recently asked questions from our legal hotline and putting them in E-news.

We will be featuring a different question each issue. QUESTION: I am both a licensed appraiser and licensed real estate broker. I have a partner who is a licensed appraiser. I will be on vacation and unavailable for two weeks. May I have my partner show one of my listings during this time? ANSWER: NO. Your partner is required to have a real estate license (not just an appraiser’s license) in order to show property.

MileIQ the smart mileage tracker

MileIQ uses your phone's built‐in

GPS to automa cally log your

mileage. Once you're done driv‐

ing, you can simply swipe to clas‐

sify a trip as a business expense. A

nice touch is the amount of miles

driven and deduc ons earned

displayed at the top of the app.

Think of it as extra mo va on to

keep diligently logging those

miles! The app is free for 40

drives per month; a premium

version tracks unlimited drives for

a low monthly or annual fee.

CMAR Board of Directors Ac ons: March 2015

Mo on to make the Loons Game as part of our

Summer Event for 2015, Game to a end is August 21, 2015. Support, PASS Mo on to combine the Nomina on Commi ee

and Elec on Commi ee. Support, PASS. Mo on to extend the part me posi on an addi onal 5 hours a week thru May 29, 2015. Support, PASS Mo on to accept the revised Financial Policy and

Procedure as submi ed. Support, amended that policies take effect immediately with the

understanding the audit sec on amended to reflect the Core Standards. Support, PASS Mo on for Leslie Walton to move to the vacant

posi on of Treasurer un l next regular elec on, and Sue Welling will be appointed to Past

President and fulfill the rest of the year. Support, PASS Mo on to move the mid year commi ee chair

mee ng to the month of April for 2015. Support, PASS

See website for full monthly BOD minutes: h p:///cmiar.com/members/bodagendas.htm

About Good Neighbor AwardsREALTOR® Magazine's Good Neighbor Awards recognize REALTORS® who have made an extraordinary impact on their com-munity, or on the national or world stage, through volunteer work. Five winners are announced each fall in REALTOR® Magazine. Winners are recog-nized annually at the REALTORS® Confer-ence & Expo, and receive $10,000 grants for their charities. Winners also receive travel ex-penses to the conference and national and local media exposure for their community cause. In addition to the winners, five honora-ble mentions each receive a $2,500 grant. REALTOR® Magazine's Good Neighbor Awards was launched in 2000 and has since recognized more than 150 REALTORS® for their service to their communities. Through Good Neighbor Award grants and associated programs, Good Neighbor charities have re-ceived more than $1,000,000 in donations. In addition, each winner receives national and local publicity, which generates additional do-nations and inspires new volunteers to get involved. Many REALTORS® are also recog-nized for their community service through state and local real estate associations. This year's Good Neighbor Award deadline is May 15, 2015. Nominations are received from REALTORS® around the country, as well as through local and state Good Neighbor Award programs that serve as feeders to the national program. Applicants must be members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.

For more information, go to www.REALTOR.org/gna

CMAR Vision Statement:

CMAR, a premier REALTORS® Association, provides focused educational opportunities, enriched

membership services, community involvement, and expansion of technology for its members and the public.

http://realtormag.realtor.org/good-neighbor-awards/nominate�