The time to register is now (not later) – so you can make your voice heard when critical issues arise! Register here, and find our more about the Sussex County Department of Elections here. (Also – To vote in municipal elections you must go to Town Hall to register to vote. )
Greetings from Georgetown, Delaware, your association headquarters, where education, ethics and advocacy, the pillars of your organization, are provided to you daily. Your team here at SCAOR has been working hard on several projects including improving the customer service experience, renovating the building and grounds, adding new forms and information to the website, participating in local advoacy issues (think Sussex County Comp. Plan, FY 2018 State of Delaware Budget Reset meetings) and publishing information on all social media.
We are constantly looking at innovative ways to add value and relevance to the membership experience. For example, your volunteer leadership working in concert with staff has coordinated a special trip to Puerto Rico in October providing classes to achieve the RSPS (Second-Home Property Specialist) designation. Additionally, the Affiliates have been busy scheduling a spring mixer and fall picnic where agents can network with dozens of local, real estate service companies. Lastly, Emily Williams has agreed to chair the Young Professionals Network (YPN), a group of aspiring leaders within the industry. Stay tuned for the YPN 2017 schedule of events.
As always, if you have a question or comment, please email me directly at merritt@scaor.com or call me at (302) 855-2300. With staff, we are here to serve you and provide an exceptional customer experience as you perform the daily duties as a professional REALTOR®.
Things are progression well with the transition into the new MLS system. Our very own Frank Serio, who was elected to serve on the Bright MLS board, has been invited to attend the T3 conference with a select few. He will represent Bright MLS and bring back valuable information for both the Association and Bright MLS to assist with the advancement of the industry.
We also know that you have questions and our goal is to keep you as up to date as possible along the way. This month we are including the top 3 questions that Bright has been receiving. If you have any questions about Bright MLS, please let us know at info@scaor.com.
What’s happening now? Next?
Support teams from MRIS and Trend are combining. In early April 2017, you can dial a new toll free phone number for them, and when you do, you’ll hear “Welcome to Bright MLS! How may I assist you?”
Development teams are busy mapping MLS listing data from nine different MLSs into one format; they are collecting the required public records for 150 jurisdictions, and building the new Bright MLS system – a broad ecosystem of robust property information and analytics to power your real estate business.
When will I be able to search the new Bright footprint?
Not quite yet. 2017 is a year of transition. As you read this, we are preparing the new system for data entry. Later this year we will begin converting all participating organizations to that system. We anticipate you will be using the new Bright system by 2018.
How much will the new system cost me?
This consolidation has afforded us the opportunity to freeze licensee fees through 2017, so you won’t see an increase in that fee this year. By 2019, fees for subscribers of Bright who are members of a participating REALTOR® Association will transition to $35. Subscribers who are not members of participating REALTOR® Associations will pay a higher fee, $53 per month, after a similar gradual transition. This higher fee reflects and honors the risk and investment that participating Associations took to make Bright a reality.
As always, we are here to support our members as much as possible during the transitional period. Please let us know how we can help.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” -Arthur C. Clarke
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Thank You,
Benjamin Kunde
Network Administrator
Sussex County Association of REALTORS www.scaor.com
Bright Leadership Update: March 2, 2017
The Leadership Update is a regular summary of Bright business events, designed specifically for Association leadership. It will provide decisions made by the Board of Directors, updates that affect subscribers, reflections on industry events and information on Bright as a company
Planning and Work Continues to Align Information for the Bright Market
Members of the Bright Team have been working in the Central Pennsylvania market to better understand the needs related to MLS information and property classes in this market. The team met with representatives from Keystone, RAYAC, and Greater Harrisburg and discussed how to best align this information. These meetings and work are important to understanding the market needs and planning for the upcoming conversions to the new Bright System.
Additional Officers Elected to Our Board of Directors
The officers who will join Jon Coile in the leadership roles of the Bright Board of Directors have been selected. They include:
Joan Docktor, BHHS Fox & Roach – Vice Chairman
Jack Fry, RE/MAX of Reading – Secretary
Cindy Ariosa, Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. – Treasurer
Bright 2017 Government Affairs Program
Bright is implementing a grant program to support stakeholder association government affairs programming. The program will assist with the costs associated with developing, maintaining, or expanding the local government affairs efforts.
Details of the program are being finalized and will be available soon.
Each month, we have great people join SCAOR, and February is no different. Here’s a list of our new members joining us this month.
Lisa Louth
Beverly Smith
Michael Kennedy
Janet Romm
Jennifer Thompson
Kimberly Ridge
Craig Nelson
Liza Orlando
Terry Slade Young
Zach Rempfer
Steven Gilbert
Shawn McDonnell
Thomas Burdett
Beth Gilbert
Luke Riale
Michael Powers
Mary Niles
Mirla Aleman
To our current members: If you change your email, please call us – MLS billing is going out May 15th. It’s a great time to let us know if you’ve changed your email – that way we’re not sending info to the wrong address.
One of SCAOR’s strategic plan objectives is to get as much broker participation as possible throguh NAR. We’ve noticed that some of you aren’t involved, so please click here and follow the steps to get plugged in!
SCAOR is made up of some of the finest people in Sussex County. Here’s who’s joined in February! – BONUS – Check out our revamped Membership Flowchart for navigating new membership choices.
All DAR members are entitled to free online forms via zipforms or dotloop. Any current REALTOR® who is not a DAR member can either purchase a one-year forms subscription for $129, or they can join DAR.
Need a vacation? Why not pair your CE classes with a trip to Puerto Rico? Check out all the awesome details on our education adventure coming in October!
Click here to register for an incredible mixer at The Brick in Georgetown on March 16th. Curious which Affiliates have joined so far in 2017? Find out here!
Know about the Affiliates’ new Facebook page? Now’s your chance to follow along online.
Since DAR is the exclusive provider of all real estate forms in the state of Delaware, we’ve recently created a setup video for accessing them through your Dotloop account (an included membership benefit for all DAR members). If you’ve not set yours up yet, check out the video below!
More classes will become available as this year’s schedule becomes finalized. Click here to see the list as it gets updated.
Question: How do I find my NRDS ID? Answer: You can look up your NRDS ID number by clicking here.
SCAOR® would like our Diamond & Platinum Affiliate Members for Sponsoring AAG:
Welcome to Bright MLS! The Sussex County Association of REALTORS Board of Directors voted in November, 2016, to join one of the largest MLSs in the nation. Bright MLS will cover six states and the District of Columbia with over 80,000 subscribers. The new company was formed on January 1, 2017, with SCAOR officially connecting in late 2017 with a start date no later than January 1, 2018. SCAOR staff will be updating members every month with the SCAORcard and posting press releases on the SCAOR website.
