The FY 2017 year is coming to an end which means that the 2018 Installation is on the horizon. If you have not marked your calendars, please reserve November 30 at 4 pm to welcome a new slate of Officers and Directors. President-elect Chris Lind has chosen SCAOR has the location for the festivities. Come out and support the 2018 SCAOR President!
Other important news includes transitioning to Bright MLS on December 11. Every Thursday we post Bright MLS information and within this SCAOR card you will see there are several MLS training dates already scheduled. Stay ahead of the training curve by attending a training workshop early on.
By now the 2017 Lockbox Exchange should be complete. If you still have questions or issues, please contact Andrew Mason at SCAOR. With Ben Kunde departing for Bright MLS, Andrew will take over as Sentrilock Customer Service Manager.
Lastly, SCAOR dues will be invoiced the first week of October. The dues will remain at $260 annually (January 1 through December 31, 2018).
Thank you for allowing me to serve you, and if you ever need anything please contact me at merritt@scaor.com.
If you were at the General Membership meeting, then you know that we covered a *lot* of valuable information for the coming months. Feel free to review any of the presentations:
SCAOR Staff Update – The SCAOR Staff each gave updates on their respective areas. Click here to view the slide deck from that presentation.
Bright MLS – We were honored to have Robert Andress share the upcoming Bright MLS changes. As well as announce the training dates to the membership.
As the fall season approaches, we have many exciting educational opportunities headed your way. Broker’s classes, New Licensee modules, and a free Mod 6 or 7 sponsored by Baywood are all coming up!
Here’s what’s happening with Government Affairs: We’re keeping on top of the comp plan & related workshops. Click the update to find out all the details!
This month, we begin a new section that talks about everything you get as a national and local REALTOR® member. Today, here’s 50 items you might not have considered! –
Welcome to SCAORvalue! As NAR moves into 2018 with a new CEO, Bob Goldberg, who is interested in re-starting the conversation about value, we are also interested in sharing your local member benefits. A new section of the website will be developed to list all SCAOR REALTOR benefits aptly titled SCAORvalue. Second, we will publish those benefits within the monthly SCAORcard for all members to review. Third, we will conduct a membership survey later in the year to inquire what benefits you consider valuable. Lastly, we will work hard to take that information and improve it as we head into 2018 when the SCAOR Strategic Plan will be reviewed and approved.
Let us be clear, we are here to serve the membership and make your experience as a REALTOR the best it can be. We want to provide cutting edge technology, exemplary customer support, innovative education and grass roots advocacy.
Feel free to communicate to us what is on your mind.
– SCAOR Staff
How is your NAR membership valuable? Let us out the ways. 50 to be exact.*
Advocacy
Representing you and your clients before Congress and federal agencies:
Protecting tax incentives for homeownership and real estate investment, including the mortgage interest deduction, commercial depreciation and 1031 exchanges
Guarding private property rights and advancing sound and reasonable lending standards and access to credit
Lobbying for reasonable regulations
Providing financial and technical assistance at every level of government
Supporting candidates who protect real property ownership
Providing grants and guidance for community economic development and improvement
Brand Advantage
Offering you an identifiable, marketable brand identity:
Protecting the REALTOR® trademark and the high standards the word represents
Promoting the trademark and REALTORS®’ adherence to a Code of Ethics as points of difference among practitioners through national advertising
Creating and managing the .REALTOR top-level domain
Creating and partnering with companies to give you cutting-edge technologies:
Providing extensive commercial and residential property data and listing information through Realtors Property Resource® (RPR)
Bringing business-building tools to market, including Sentrilock’s Bluetooth® REALTOR® lockbox through the REALTOR Benefits® Program, and dozens of technology applications through Second Century Ventures, the REach™ technology accelerator program, and the Center for REALTOR® Technology
Linking you to consumers through far-reaching media properties:
Realtor.com®, NAR’s official website, contains the most accurate national listing data available. It also includes international listings from more than 40 countries. CommercialSearch.com is NAR’s national commercial property listing platform
HouseLogic, NAR’s resource for home owners, providing trusted information on protecting, improving, and maintaining the value of the home
Real Estate Today, NAR’s weekly two-hour radio show, now in 200 markets
Research Intelligence
Producing market research unavailable elsewhere:
Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, and Profile of Buyers’ Home Feature Preferences
Commercial Real Estate Lending Survey Report, Local Market Assessment Case Studies, and State by State International Business Reports
Member Profile, Commercial Member Profile, and Firm Profile
Advancing your industry through authoritative, closely tracked economic indicators:
Monthly existing-home sales data and Monthly pending home sales index
Quarterly metropolitan median home prices
Quarterly commercial real estate outlook and market survey reports
Professionalism and Cooperation
Advancing your industry through standards of professionalism:
Maintaining the REALTORS® Code of Ethics, the cornerstone of the REALTOR® organization and the distinguishing characteristic of your membership
Setting forth policies and procedures to ensure vigorous, fair, and impartial enforcement of the Code by local and state associations
Using dispute resolution, mediation, and arbitration tools and procedures to provide efficient and economical resolution of contractual disputes between members
Providing world class mediation and advanced professional standards training
Facilitating cooperation between REALTORS®, contemplated as the norm in the Code, through the MLS
Ensuring that REALTOR® membership and MLS participatory rights are available on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms
Using IDX and VOW policies to ensure the ability of MLS participants to conduct brokerage activities online, including advertising other participants’ listings
Education
Helping you increase your professionalism through degree-, designation-, and certification-granting programs and through continuing education credit:
Master of Real Estate (MRE) degree through REALTOR® University
CE credit, designations, and certifications, including newer ones such as Military Relocation Professional (MRP), Short Sale and Foreclosure Resource (SFR), and Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES)
NAR’s institutes, societies, and councils, which offer designations, networking opportunities, and coursework that includes business concentrations such as commercial real estate, international, land, and appraisal
E-books from NAR’s Virtual Library that are available for borrowing via computer or tablet
Classes, booklets, and other resource material aimed at keeping you aware of, and operating in accordance with, federal Fair Housing laws prohibiting discrimination in the marketplace
REALTOR Benefits®
Offering special pricing and value-added products and services from major providers:
Technology: Dell, Lenovo, Placester, SentriLock, Sprint, Xerox, Xceligent, Inc.
Travel & Automotive: FCA US LLC (formerly Chrysler Group), Avis®, Budget®, Hertz®
Office Supplies & Services: FedEx, OfficeMax®
Financial Services & Risk Management: Intuit®, REALTOR® Credit Card, REALTORS® Federal Credit Union, a division of Northwest Federal Credit Union, American Home Shield, Victor O. Schinnerer & Company.
Liberty Mutual (auto, home, renters), REALTORS® Insurance Marketplace (includes health exchange access to major medical and medicare plans, plus short-term medical, supplemental plans, telehealth, dental insurance, vision insurance, discount drug card)
Transaction Management: DocuSign and zipLogix™
Gifting & Marketing Resources: FedEx Office, REALTOR Team Store®
Networking
Creating opportunities for you to extend your referral partners nationally and internationally:
REALTORS® Conference & Expo every November
REALTORS® Legislative Meetings every May in Washington, D.C.
Young Professionals Network, Certified International Property Specialist Network (for CIPS designees), and commercial networking events
REALTORS® Political Action Committee (RPAC), which in addition to its critical role in association advocacy, offers opportunities to network with some of the real estate industry’s most involved practitioners
Broker summits and events where you can network with peers in your business area of expertise
Legal Assistance
Supporting you, your brokerage, and your association on legal matters:
Financial and technical help on industry-important legal cases through Legal Action Program
Legal help through friend-of-the-court briefs and other actions to help inform court analyses of cases
Summaries of real estate—related state and national court decisions
Safety
Urgently getting resources to you to help you operate your business safely:
Regularly occurring safety webinars and articles for managers and agents in NAR’s publications and on its websites
Pre-packaged presentations for managers available through REALTOR® Magazine Online
Safety checklists and other handouts for agents and their customers
We know how busy our members are and we are just as excited about the current market trends. To help make your jobs easier we have compiled some of our favorite apps to help with your business.
Homesnap’s customized news feed is generated from your browsing history and preferred zip codes. That means you’ll never miss new listings, price changes or any other relevant market activity. Plus, you can set alerts to be notified of price changes for your favorite homes. As a member you currently have access to the agent side for the entire Bright MLS footprint.
With “Charlie,” you’ll enter every meeting with the who, what, when and where background of everyone in the room. The app researches your contacts, in particular, those with whom you’re about to interact with, and sends you information about their company, professional background, personal interests, and any news about them.
OneNote allows you to take notes, clip images from the web, and scribble notes by hand. It’s free, and best of all, if you already have a Microsoft Office subscription, your notes will sync across all your devices and Microsoft apps. OneNote comes with an easy to use import module that transfers your notes from Evernote right into the app
Impress your clients with your tech savviness. SentriSmart, the app offered by SentriLock, integrates data from Homesnap, HomeSpotter, RPR. In just a few clicks, you’ll have all of the property’s information at your fingertips.
From receipt scanning to reimbursement, Expensify automates every step of the expense reporting process. With just a picture of the receipt, SmartScan automatically extracts all the necessary data and adds it to a report. Expenses are always on time and accurate.
Realtor on the go? There’s an app for that. Built exclusively for Realtors, RPR’s app offers on-the-go access to a nationwide, parcel-centric database of both residential and commercial properties. Easily search properties, create and send branded reports, and view local market activity … anytime, anyplace. Use your phone’s location to view nearby sales activity; or take a deeper dive into any property and view tax, mortgage, historical and distressed data, flood zones, dynamic mapping, and more.
Welcome to the another edition of the monthly SCAOR Card. As CEO, I have a few exciting announcements:
First, the 2017 Lockbox Exchange is complete. I would like to thank the brokers and members for your patience and support. Specifically, I would like to thank the entire SCAOR team for their dedication to the project. I would also like to thank Affiliate Always Moving for dropping off and collecting lockboxes. SCAOR is now one of a handful of associations across the country with 100% wireless lockboxes. For more information on your new lockboxes, visit the Sentrilock website.
Second, we have transitioned our daily communication on Thursday from lockboxes to the upcoming Bright MLS conversion. SCAOR will convert in early December, 2017. Be on the look out for important MLS information every Thursday from September through the end of the year.
Regarding association finances, the FY 2018 (FY18) Budget was reviewed by the Finance Committee in mid-August. The recommended FY18 Budget will go before the BOD for approval this fall.
Lastly, membership has exceeded 1,800. A robust real estate market usually corresponds with an increase in members. This means that there is an influx of new members throughout Sussex County who are learning what it takes to become a REALTOR®.
Once again, I would like to thank Angela, Andrew, Ben, Patricia and Mary for their hard work and long hours during the 2017 Lockbox Exchange. See you all at the General Membership meeting on Monday, October 2, 2017 at 11 am.
Sincerely,
Merritt Burke IV Chief Executive Officer Sussex County Association of REALTORS® www.scaor.com | 302-855-2300
