REMINDER: ALL FLYERS ARE INCLUDED IN THE WEEKLY BROKER FAX

Holiday Closing
The association office will be closed on Monday, May 28, in observance of Memorial Day. The association office will reopen on Tuesday, May 29. Have a happy and safe holiday weekend!

Memorial Day Volunteers Needed
Volunteers needed for Monday, May 28, for the Ocean Pines Veterans Memorial. We will be meeting at the memorial site to set up at 7 a.m., and will be breaking down around approximately 12:30 p.m. To volunteer, please contact Terry Testani at tltestani@mchsi.com or (443) 523-2966.

Attention Brokers and Office Managers
Third quarter ARIS bills have been sent out to all offices. Please contact the association office if you have not received a bill.

MAR Annual Conference & Tradeshow
September 10-12 in Ocean City. Register now for education classes & Fun Day Events. This year, online conference registration allows you to: Make any class changes online, purchase additional tickets, and receive an improved Registration Confirmation. COST: 3-day Registration—$225 now through August  15; $50 discount for Rookie REALTORS®. Once you have successfully entered your NRDS#, please review your contact information, and scroll down to “REGISTRATION TYPE” to choose the registration type that applies to you. Then continue registering. Register now!

Home Inspector Licensing in Maryland
Effective January 1, 2008, all home inspectors working in Maryland must be licensed. Though the law requiring home inspector licensing is many years old, the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) did not have enough money to implement the law until this year. Now that DLLR has funded the licensing program, home inspectors in Maryland will have the next 8 months to apply for the license. The two-year license costs $400, plus an initial fee of $50. For more information call Mark Feinroth or Bill Castelli at MAR at 800-638-6425.

Vacation Property Sales Increase
According to the NAR, more than one million people bought vacation homes in 2006. Industry experts say the NAR data is good news for those considering purchasing a vacation home. Full story>>>

CAR Quarterly Newsletter Deadline
DEADLINE FOR AD RESERVATION & ARTICLE SUBMISSION: FRIDAY, JULY 6
It’s time to reserve your spot in the CAR printed quarterly newsletter, CURRENTS. The Summer 2007 issue will arrive in member mailboxes in late July.

• Advertise to more than 1,300 REALTORS® in the tri-county area. Rates are detailed in the advertising packet.
• Want to annouce a promotion, new agents, retirements, special achievements, births, or more? Make a submission to the Member Spotlight section.Send all questions, feedback, article ideas or annoucements to
  editor@coastalrealtors.org.
  

SPECIAL REPORT: NAR Midyear Legislative Meetings Wrap-Up
This is a special report from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Board of Directors meeting, which took place May 19, 2007, in Washington, DC:


At their meeting, NAR directors voted to fund the association’s “Second Century Initiative” with a $16 per member national dues increase, the first such increase since 1994. Dues will be $80 a year beginning in 2008. Among the programs that are part of the initiative:

• A major consumer outreach effort that will allow NAR to leverage the natural alliances that exist between REALTORS® and real property owners;
• Planning for a national property data “gateway,” a repository containing detailed current and historical information on all real property in the United States;
• A credit union for NAR members;
• Creation of an investment company that would fund technology initiatives that would benefit REALTORS®.

For more information on the Second Century Initiative, click here.

Directors also voted to:

• Extend the 10-year-old public awareness campaign for three years and increase the special assessment to $35 in 2009 and 2010. The assessment will remain at $30 for 2008.
• Allocate $250,000 to sponsor an exhibition at the National Building Museum on the central place of homeownership in the United States called House and Home: 400 Years of the American Dream.
  

2008 Officers
Directors elected Dick Gaylord of Long Beach, Calif., president; Charles McMillan of Irving, Texas, president-elect; Vicki Cox Golder of Tucson, Ariz., first vice president; and James Helsel Jr., treasurer of NAR for 2008. McMillan, who ran against Chris McElroy of Fort Collins, Colo., for the president-elect spot, will be the first African-American president of NAR.

National Policy Issues
The directors positioned NAR as an advocate for:

• Competitive, “net neutral” telecommunications legislation before Congress;
• More open and transparent patent application processes to help ensure that patents are issued only for truly unique ideas;
• Tax incentives that encourage owners to make properties more energy efficient or satisfy other environmental goals and mitigate potential damage from natural disasters;
• Enhancements to federal housing programs that encourage financing of manufactured, modular, and other systematically built housing.

The Board also took a position opposing a “blind draw” selection system for choosing property appraisers in federal housing programs, but supported stronger penalties for those who improperly influence the appraisal process.

Legal Support
Directors approved $559,000 to fund 10 legal cases. Among the cases is one involving alleged patent infringement by an online mapping technology and one testing the constitutionality of a municipal requirement for a property inspection at the point of sale. The funds will also be used to help defray costs incurred by local associations involved in federal antitrust action against them or against NAR.

Association Policy
Directors stiffened qualification criteria that boards may consider for membership. New language was added enabling boards to consider certain criminal convictions in assessing a membership applicant. The policy applies equally to principals in a real estate company and non-principal licensees.

A new Standard of Practice was added to Article 12 of the Code of Ethics to clarify that the obligation to present “a true picture in advertising, marketing, and representations” includes the proper use and display of certificates, designations, and other REALTOR® credentials.

Directors called for more transparency in the arbitration process. They required that grievance committees, when dismissing arbitration requests, explain the basis for dismissals and enable complainants to initiate meaningful appeals.

An amendment to MLS policy establishes the requirement that listing brokers report status changes (including sales) to the MLS, even when direct negotiations are conducted—with the listing broker’s consent—between the seller and the cooperating broker. The amendment addresses concerns that MLS status changes weren’t always being made in a timely manner where cooperating brokers weren’t authorized to change listing broker–loaded listings.

The directors approved a plan by the Association Executives Committee Mediation Work Group to implement a three-tiered dispute resolution process. The process will replace existing Standards of Conduct for REALTOR® Associations, Unacceptable Business Practices, and related mandatory mediation procedures.

Other Reports
The directors heard reports from the REALTORS® Political Action Committee, the treasurer, and representatives of Move.com and REALTOR.com.

RPAC is poised to surpass its $6.1 million fair-share goal for 2007. As of April 30, RPAC had reached $4.4 million in donations, and committee chair Carol Frick of Michigan said she expects to reach $7 million by the end of the year. Sixteen states and territories have already met their RPAC goal for the year.

Treasurer Bruce Wolf gave an upbeat report, noting that NAR is approaching $340 million in assets. Membership for 2007 is 1.321 million members, a small retreat from 2006, when membership reached 1.357 million members, an all-time high, he said.

Under REALTOR.com President Errol Samuelson, NAR’s property listing Web site is unveiling a number of innovations, including new mapping and satellite imaging capabilities; an increase in the maximum number of photos per enhanced listing to 25 from six; and the addition of videos. The site will also have detailed neighborhood information and will provide a blog platform free to all REALTORS®. Samuelson also demonstrated how consumers can now download to their computer desktops a window into REALTOR.com that will allow consumers to continually monitor the latest listings that meet their criteria.

Awards
The 2007 Distinguished Service Award recipients are Henry Ray of Birmingham, Ala., and George Peek of Reno, Nev. The DSA recipients will accept their awards at the 2007 Annual Conference in Las Vegas in November. Benny McMahan, president and CEO of the Texas Association of REALTORS®, was named the 2007 winner of the William R. Magel Award of Excellence in association management. His award will also be officially presented in Las Vegas.