New AE/GAD Orientation
New AE/GAD Orientation March 2017
Monthly Archives: February 2017
2017 RPAC President’s Circle Conference
The 2017 RPAC President’s Circle Conference will be held March 5-8, 2017 at the premier Grand Wailea Resort on Maui.
The program for the RPAC President’s Circle Conference is intended to provide President’s Circle investors with the opportunity to learn & discuss policy concerns affecting the REALTOR® community. Additionally, this conference translates into valuable networking opportunities and enables strategic partnerships for our members.
All 2016 RPAC President’s Circle Investors & Platinum R Investors are invited to attend.
2017 AE Institute
2017 AE Institute
Real estate agents targeted in phishing scam
Email scams and wire fraud schemes have targeted all types of Internet users for years. Recent reports about one particular scam indicate that multiple Pennsylvania Realtors® have been targeted. Recently, Realtors® and their clients have been on the receiving end of large-scale plots to disrupt a successful real estate transaction. One Realtor® from Dubuque, Iowa knows this all too well.
Sue Dietz, a real estate sales associate, who also served as president of the East Central Iowa Association of Realtors® in 2016, says scammers continue to use her identity to create fake email addresses in her name and then send fraudulent emails offering referrals to other real estate agents. The emails contained fake contact information for Dietz. Once a recipient replies to the fake email, they are sent a Google Drive link that is supposed to contain details about the referral. Instead, when unsuspecting email users click on the link, a computer virus is installed that allow scammers to scrape passwords and other personal information.
The initial fraudulent email typically reads:
“Hi,
My name is Sue Dietz a realtor with RE/MAX ADVANTAGE REALTY in Dubuque IA, I have a client who is interested in buying a property in your area of expert, Please let me know if you’re available to help them out and I will send their contact details and the listings they are interested in.
Best
Sue”
If you have received this – or any – email scam, you are encouraged to report it as spam. The hope is that if enough people take such action, the IP address of the sender will be blocked.
Since February 2016, when the scam apparently started, nearly 4,000 practitioners nationwide – from all 50 states and Canada – who received the emails have contacted Dietz to either confirm the referral or warn her of the scam. “I’ve gotten calls at the office, on my cell phone, texts, and emails at all hours of the day and night,” she says.
If you receive an unsolicited email from another real estate agent and do not personally know them, open a new tab in your web browser and conduct a simple Google search. Look for contact information for the email sender and verify that the two match. If the email you received has different information, report it as spam and contact the agent in a new email stating you received the false email.
In addition to the National Association of Realtors®’ Field Guide to Reducing Spam Email, Jessica Edgerton, associate counsel for the National Association of Realtors®, offers the following tips to make your email more secure:
- Check your sent mail, junk mail, and email account settings regularly for anomalies. Hackers often break into an email account and modify the “email forwarding” settings to forward emails to their own account.
- Regularly purge your email of unneeded or outdated information. Save any important emails securely.
- Avoid email as a method for sending sensitive or confidential information. Instead, consider using a secure document sharing or transaction management platform.
- Use strong passwords that incorporate a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.
- Use two-factor (or multi-factor) authentication.
- Avoid using unsecured or public Wi-Fi.
Affording a down payment in Philadelphia takes an average of 3.8 years, study reports
Affording a down payment is a struggle for some potential homebuyers, and SmartAsset recently analyzed how long it would take residents in the 15 biggest cities in the country to save for a down payment.
Philadelphia was included in the study, and researchers found that it takes an average of 3.8 years for someone to save for a down payment in the city. Thanks to the lowest average income on the list, at $38,253, as well as the ninth-highest home prices at an average of $145,300, saving for a down payment may take a while. Philadelphia landed in eighth out of the 15 cities studied.
“How much house a person can afford depends on many factors including location, income, credit score, and savings, among others. In our study, it was surprising to see that even in places like San Francisco where the median income is relatively high, it would be nearly impossible for the average household to afford the ensuing mortgage payments on the median-priced home,” said AJ Smith, SmartAsset’s personal finance expert and VP of content.
The analysis took into consideration the median home prices and income, and calculated how long it would take residents to save 20 percent for a down payment if they saved 20 percent of their income. Not surprisingly, California claimed four out of the top five spots for length of time it would take to afford a down payment, thanks to San Francisco (9.84 years), Los Angeles (9.38 years), San Jose (7.2 years) and San Diego (7.01 years). New York City claimed third place, as it would take residents an average of 99.27 years to afford a 20 percent down payment.
“While it would take 3.8 years to afford a down payment in Philadelphia, given the parameters we explored, that’s a relatively short amount of time compared to other big cities where saving up for a down payment can take almost a decade,” added Smith.
Arizona REALTORS® Reach More Members through Broker Involvement Program
With a goal of 100% participation in the REALTOR® Party’s Broker Involvement Program (BIP), the Arizona Association of REALTORS® (Arizona REALTORS®) is not messing around. The numbers are ambitious, but with energetic volunteer leadership, a dedicated staff member, and the support of a new grant program from the National Association of REALTORS®, Arizona REALTORS® is approaching that goal, one broker-member at a time.
The Broker Involvement Program is a turnkey operation allowing broker-owners and managers to take a leadership role in rallying their agents to advocate for REALTOR® Party issues. Brokers enrolled in the program can automatically send their agents company-branded calls for action from NAR and state associations, communications whose directness and brand-familiarity increase participation rates. Ashley Slechta, the association’s REALTOR® Party Director, says the BIP is an increasingly important facet of the culture of advocacy that the association has been building in recent years. She credits Liz Harris, her volunteer counterpart who represents Arizona REALTORS® on NAR’s Broker Involvement Council, with the steady growth of the state BIP: “We rely heavily on Liz’s direction,” says Slechta, “her drive and determination and leadership have enabled us to succeed.”
Initially, the association focused on attracting the state’s very largest brokerages to the program. Last summer, it took its efforts to the next level with one of the REALTOR® Party’s new Broker Involvement Grants, created to promote activities that recruit, retain and educate brokers and their agents in the BIP. The $5,000 grant funded “Like A Boss,” an engaging interactive event targeting brokers from around Arizona with more than 30 REALTORS®. Held at a Phoenix hotel in early September, the 90-minute program fell conveniently within a two-day span of association activities and featured two dynamic speakers: Arizona Department of Real Estate Commissioner Judy Lowe and 2012 Arizona REALTORS® President Holly Mabery.
Participants ate, drank, won gift cards and networked at the reception that opened the event. Then they settled in to learn about becoming involved in NAR’s advocacy efforts at the grassroots level by providing legislative and regulatory information to their agents. “The key to the program was educating brokers about what the state and national associations are doing on our behalf, so that we can run our businesses,” says Harris, adding, “it came as a shock to a number of the participants who hadn't been focused on how these issues had been playing out beyond the local level. They were excited to take the information back to their offices.” She notes that there is an important correlation between the goals of the Broker Involvement Program and the goals of RPAC and the various local REALTOR® PACs. “Separating out the initiatives and calls for action provides real clarification of what the PAC funds are doing to help the industry and property owners.”
One-hundred percent of those who attended the “Like A Boss” event joined the BIP. In fact, ten broker-members who were unable to come, joined as well, thanks to Harris’ thorough follow-up. “Liz was amazing,” says Slechta. “She tracked the responses and took the initiative to call her fellow brokers who’d declined the event invitation to say, ‘Hey, let us do this for you!’ She made it easy for them to send in their company logos, and start sending their agents branded advocacy messages from NAR and our state association.”
To date, about 20,000 REALTORS® are in the BIP by virtue of their brokers’ involvement, which is nearly half of the association’s membership. Looking ahead, Slechta says the recruitment events will continue, with the next level of focus being offices with ten or more agents. In the meantime, advocacy in Arizona is going strong: early in January, on the second day of the new legislative session, more than 65 state senators and representatives and their staff met with almost 400 REALTORS® at the annual “Arizona REALTORS® at the Capitol” event. When legislators need information or assistance with a property rights issue, they’ll know where to turn!
To learn more about how Arizona REALTORS® is mobilizing members by engaging brokers, contact the association’s REALTOR® Party Director, Ashley Slechta, at 602-248-7787; or Liz Harris, the association’s representative to NAR’s Broker Involvement Council.
Pa. ranks as one of the best states to retire
While many people associate retiring with moving south, that isn’t necessarily the trend anymore.
Florida is still at the top of the list of the best places to retire, but some of the other most beneficial placesfor retirees may surprise you. In fact, Pennsylvania was recently named the 11th best state to retire, according to WalletHub.
The study analyzed 31 “key indicators of retirement-friendliness,” including affordability, health-related factors and overall quality of life. Some factors included the adjusted cost of living, the annual cost of in-home services, WalletHub’s taxpayer rating, the percentage of the workforce that is aged 65 and older, most museums per capita, most theaters per capita, percentage of overall population aged 65 and older, life expectancy and property crime rate.
Overall, the commonwealth landed in fourth for quality of life, 20th for affordability rate and 32nd for health care, scoring overall 63.23 out of a possible score of 100. Pennsylvania also landed in the top five for most theaters per capita, as well as tying with Vermont for having the fourth-highest percentage of residents 65 and older, according to WalletHub.
WalletHub noted that many retirees cannot rely on their social security or pension to support their cost of living, so the more affordable a state, the better it is for retirement, making Pennsylvania a top choice.
Florida, scoring 69.22, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa and Colorado were labeled the top five best states for retirees, while Hawaii, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Alaska and Rhode Island scoring a 43.84, were labeled the worst five states for retirement.
Oklahoma City REALTORS® Improve Public Schools & Prevent Urban Flight
Public schools in Oklahoma were struggling. Nationally, the state ranked 49th in per capita spending for education, and in Oklahoma City, the public school district received a grade of “F” from the state. As any Oklahoma City REALTOR® could tell you, the resulting flight from the public schools was already having a detrimental impact on local communities, and would eventually threaten the economic viability of the city itself. But things are looking up: in the November election, citizens voted in favor of a $180 million bond to pay for school building maintenance, technology, and transportation. Aided by an Issues Mobilization Grant from the REALTOR® Party, the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Association of REALTORS® (OKCMAR) led the coalition that supported passage of the bond.
Gary Jones, OKCMAR’s Government Affairs Director, explains that cuts to the school budget were a result of Oklahoma's economic downturn caused by the decline in oil prices. “Our school year begins August 1, and our schools were struggling without functioning air conditioning, let alone a dependable fleet of buses or any new technology in the classrooms,” he says. “The need was huge, but so was the challenge of tacking a bond measure on to a presidential election ballot, when voters tend to dismiss such expenditures with a ‘no’ at the polls.”
Raising awareness among the voting public was going to be key. Although the proposed school bond would not affect property taxes or millage, and initial polling was encouraging, the coalition formed by the Chamber of Commerce to improve the state of the school system didn’t have much time to get the word out. Maintain OKC Schools, as the group is called, planned an energetic campaign to approve the bond, and OKCMAR took the lead by tapping in to the REALTOR® Party’s Issues Mobilization Grant program.
The grant process, says Jones, was not only user-friendly, but helpful: “The level of detail required by the application caused the coalition to re-think its campaign strategy as it determined the best way forward,” he says. NAR’s Campaign Services team provided valuable feedback on the proposal created by the local firm retained by OKCMAR to design the campaign. “We were very grateful for the funding and for that expertise!” says Jones.
The grant from the REALTOR® Party was used for a highly targeted direct mail program, focusing on voters who had supported school bonds in the past, and reminding them about the current measure on the ballot. “We got lucky in that the measure was placed on a separate ballot, which happened to be printed on yellow paper,” notes Jones, explaining that the ‘YES the Yellow Ballot’ slogan with an image of a school bus made for powerful campaign branding. OKCMAR engaged its members in a compelling get-out-the-vote campaign, and many brokers posted bright yellow signs outside their offices.
The bond measure was issued as three separate ballot initiatives: school building maintenance, technological enhancements and transportation equipment. Although all three passed, the votes were close enough to show Maintain OKC Schools that its efforts were essential to the victory. “We're now working to create change on the School Board,” says Jones. “With the bond resolution in place, we’re optimistic that the right leadership can bring about the transformation we need for Oklahoma City’s schools.”
To learn more about how Oklahoma City REALTORS® are helping to improve their region’s school system with the help of the REALTOR® Party, contact Gary Jones, OKCMAR’s Government Affairs Director, at 405-641-1921.
Americans are ‘cautiously optimistic’ about housing market in 2017
In the new year, Americans are remaining “cautiously optimistic” about the housing market, according to the ValueInsured Modern Homebuyer Survey.
Sixty-nine percent of respondents reported that they think the housing market will be better in 2017 than it was in 2016. Fifty-eight percent of Americans, including 62 percent of millennials, said that they think the housing market will be better for them personally this year. Nearly three-quarters of homeowners believe it will be easier for them this year to upgrade to a new home.
Millennials who are not currently homeowners are the most optimistic about the housing market this year. Forty-one percent believe that 2017 will be an easier time for them to buy, while 44 percent said they are ‘confident’ they can afford a down payment, an increase of 6 percent from September, and 14 percent from March.
“I recommend Americans, especially first-time buyers, absolutely pursue their dream of owning a home,” said Joe Melendez, CEO of ValueInsured. “But it’s up to us as an industry to help make them feel more confident in doing so, and that starts with us giving them greater certainty by protecting their down payments.”
Yet, homeowners are less confident now than they were in September that their homes are worth what they bought them for, and they are also less sure that home prices in their area will keep rising. However, 53 percent believe if they purchase a home this year, it will increase in value by 2018.
But 78 percent of Americans think purchasing is a better option than renting. And owning a home is still a pivotal part of the American Dream, according to 79 percent.