Northwest Area Realty Association

Transcription

®
FEATURES
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In Contract is the
Official Publication of
the Columbus Board
of REALTORS®
CBR OFFICERS
Greg Hrabcak, President
Gary Parsons, President-Elect
Sue Lusk-Gleich, Treasurer
Rick Benjamin, Secretary
Larry L. Metzger, CAE, CEO
DIRECTORS
Terry Bryan
Gloria Cannon
Gary Francis
Milt Lustnauer
Lari Madosky Shaw
Bob McCarthy
Stacy McVey
Bonnie Nyikes
Chip Parrish
Chris Pedon
Sara Walsh
Linda Whiting
Brad Bennett, Immediate Past President
Jay Zollars, C/I Section Chair
David Dikeman, Affiliate Representative
IN CONTRACT Magazine
Marqué L. Bressler, Editor
Lynn Hackworth, Copy Editor
Rebecca Ryan, Layout and Design, EnCompass
Publishing Group
CBR Mission Statement
The Columbus Board of REALTORS® provides leadership
for the REALTOR® community by protecting the interests of
its members, promoting their value to the real estate consumer, setting high standards for professional practice, and
advocating private property rights.
IN CONTRACT is a publication of the Columbus Board of
REALTORS®, devoted to news of real estate interest published 10 times a year (monthly except May/June and
July/August). Editorial and advertising office is located at
2700 Airport Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43219, (614) 475-4000.
Subscriptions are $5.00 per year and are accepted from
members only. Periodical Class Postage paid at Columbus,
Ohio. Publication (USPS #:317-870).
POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to CBR, 2700
Airport Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43219.
DISCLAIMER: The statements and opinions expressed
herein are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Columbus Board of
REALTORS®, its staff, board of directors, In
Contract or its editor. Likewise, the appearance
of advertisers, or their identification as members
of CBR does not constitute an endorsement of
the products or featured services.
REALTOR® Care Day
On a bright and sunny Summer day (June 5), over
500 REALTORS®, Affiliates, family and friends
showed up at 24 different areas around central Ohio
to help landscape, mulch, plant, clean, paint, and
much more — making our fourth annual REALTOR®
Care Day a huge success! Almost $23,000 in financial contributions, over $24,000 in in-kind donations
of labor and materials, and extensive manual labor
by members and local vendors provided the necessary resources for 24 different community service
projects located all over central Ohio.
Half over but half full
It’s hard to believe that 2008 is half over. The good news for
the industry and the central Ohio community as we head into
the next six months is that homes sales have continued to
increase each month in 2008!
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All politics are local
Now that the National Primaries are behind us we must turn
our sights on those races that could have significant impact on
our business and political future for years.
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NAR’s 2008 Member Profile Released
More than 1.2 million REALTORS® – about 60 percent of the
nearly 2 million active real estate licensees across the country
— responded to NAR’s 2008 Member Profile Survey. The
results of the survey show an increased level of professionalism and a versatility and breadth of expertise from our members that’s needed in a changing marketplace.
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Celebrating 100 Years . . . with Bill McMenamy
Bill McMenamy served as president in 1989 – an historic year
both Nationally and at the CBR. At the Board, we instituted the
first two-day leadership training session, saw booming home
sales, as well as, building permits and vacation homes
became a larger part of the market for residential specialists.
INSIDE
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Blogs for Real Estate Professionals — Joni Orders
2008 Education Committee Report – Connie Salts &
Michael Sliemers
COCIE – Office Building Classifications revisited –
Catherine Erney
NAR and DOJ reach settlement
Member Perspective – Advice on qualifying for a mortgage
The Nuts & Bolts of Fixtures – Jamie Zitesman
CBR Events
Announcements
Member News
New Members & Mentoring Sessions
MLS News
Ethics Q&A – Bruce Aydt
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2008 Affiliate Liaison Committee Report — Mike
Troutman
2008 CI Education Committee Report – John Chess
Statistics – May 2008
Member Discounts/Services — Sugardaddy’s &
Rite Rug
Affordable Housing – FHA Risk-Based Premiums
OAR State & NAR National conventions
Highlights – CORPAC Auction and Bricks, Brats
& Beers
Spotlight on Community Service – 2nd quarter
recipients
Calendar & Ad Index
www.ColumbusRealtors.com • IN CONTRACT Magazine • July/August 2008 •
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President’s Perspective
Half over but half full
By Greg Hrabcak
President
Can you believe that 2008 is half over?
Although my position with CBR keeps
me busy (a bit of an understatement), I
don’t think it’s just that. It seems that
everything is moving faster these days.
From what I’m hearing and seeing,
everyone is working twice as hard for
the same amount of business as in recent
years.
But there’s light at the end of this tunnel.
Although housing sales statistics still
trail last year, sales have increased each
month in 2008. And current inventory
(about 17,922) is less than the same time
last year (18,911) supporting the market
correction we need. We hold that “The
Grass is Greener Here”. Want proof?
Check out the chart on page 48 which
compares central Ohio to the rest of the
state and nation.
Speaking of “The Grass is Greener
Here”, where are we?
As of June 24, we’ve had almost 7,800
visitors at ColumbusHousingFacts.com.
Almost 46 percent is direct traffic (they
are physically typing in the web address)
which means our radio and billboard ads
are working – as well as member marketing efforts. Almost 49 percent of the traffic is coming from links on other web
sites. Hat’s off to our local builders as
about 30 percent of the referrals are
coming from links they have put on their
web sites! I also want to thank Delaware
County Auditor Todd Hanks as his web
site is the 4th highest referral site.
Although radio and billboard ads will
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cease as of July 15, CBR leadership just
approved an online continuation of the
campaign via Dispatch.com,
ColumbusRealEstate.com and
ColumbusAlive.com. Banner ads will
continue to appear on these web sites
into September.
On June 22, CBR held its first ever citywide Open House Extravaganza for listings in all price ranges. 989 members
registered their open house through CBR
Tempo™ and most of you affixed green
balloons to your signs in support of the
ad campaign. Comments from members
were all over the board – some of you
had little to no activity and some saw
increased activity. But one comment was
resounding – “Great idea! Do it again.”
During a ribbon cutting ceremony on
June 3 in honor of National
Homeownership Month (June), I joined
Mayor Coleman, HUD and Habitat in
• July/August 2008 • IN CONTRACT Magazine • www.ColumbusRealtors.com
supporting housing opportunities.
(Notice the banner in the background.)
This past April, I spoke against a proposed ordinance that sought to impose
registration and inspection for all residential rental properties (including an
annual per unit inspection fee) in the
City of Westerville. As Ohio Revised
Code Chapter 5323 already requires
rental property owners to register with
the county auditor, we opposed the
necessity of additional registration as
well as the fees. (As a practical example,
an owner of a 400 unit complex would
have had to pay over $4,000 in reinspection fees annually.) I’m pleased to
report that this issue has been removed.
Keep up the good work. Continue to
wear your pins, include campaign messages in your marketing and we will convince central Ohioans that “The Grass is
Greener Here”!
Over 500 REALTORS®,
Affiliates, family and friends
volunteered their time to
improve properties in 19 different areas around Central
Ohio for our fourth annual
REALTOR® Care Day on June
5, 2008!
Columbus City Council
Members Charleta Tavares,
Hearcel Craig and Priscilla
Tyson joined CBR's President
Greg Hrabcak, President-Elect
Gary Parsons, Secretary Rick
Benjamin, REALTOR®
Foundation Fund Chair Brad
Bennett and REALTOR® Care
Day Co-Chairs Skip Weiler and
Kim McCutchen in the morning at CBR's main project American Addition - to wel-
come and thank volunteers for
their efforts.
Almost $23,000 in financial
contributions, over $24,000 in
in-kind donations of labor and
materials, and extensive manual labor by members and
local vendors provided the
necessary resources for 24 different community service pro-
jects located in Bexley, Canal
Winchester, Centerburg,
Clintonville, Columbus,
Delaware County, Dublin,
Italian Village, Johnstown,
Madison County, New Albany,
Powell, Reynoldsburg,
Sunbury, Washington Court
House, Westerville,
Worthington, and Upper
Arlington.
CBR Main Event – American Addition
CBR and the Columbus
Housing Partnership again
joined forces to work on
one of its projects -American Addition (located at Joyce & Woodford
Avenues).
American Addition's
Community Center (Tray
Lee Center) was originally
a fire station but now
offers the "No Child Left
Behind" program and is
funded totally on donations.
Although we provided
learning supplies and interior window valences and
carpeting, the bulk of the
work occured outside with
painting, landscaping and
extensive property
cleanup, tree trimming,
landfill, mulching, etc. We
also provided a new entry,
design courtesy of The
Edge Group.
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Greg Cantwell created a
mural for the side of the
Tray Lee Center depicting
important individuals to
this community.
Almost 100 volunteers
were involved at this site.
In-kind contributions are
estimated at over $12,000.
Volunteers:
Co-Chairs Kim McCutcheon,
Valmer Land Title and Skip
Weiler, The Weiler
Company, and Janet Thiede,
Real Living HER, Project
Manager
Brad Bennett, Real Living
HER
Ralph Berger, Cam Taylor
Co., REALTORS®
Anthony Bolognone,
Solutions for Real Estate
Marqué Bressler, CBR
Talia Brown
Michelle Calo, RE/MAX
Affiliates, Inc.
Gloria Cannon, Keller
Williams Capital Partners
Greg Cantwell
Kelly Cantwell, Real
Living HER
Kimberly Cecil, Superior
Homes Realty
Tommi Clark, Real Living
HER
Ryan Clark
Heather Clingerman, CHP
Debbie Clonch, CHP
Stan Collins, CBR
Mark Cowper, Northsteppe
Realty
Angela Cradle, CHP
Allison Cummings, Keller
Regina Dawson, AmeriCorps
Melissa Dean Rife
Jessica Deubner
Nikki DiNardo
Connie Dixon, RE/MAX
Impact
Bridgett Everett, Kent Amlin
Realty
Myles Everett
Lisa Ferguson
David Foster, Advance-Tech
Inspections, LLC
Jack Gabalski, Coldwell
Banker King Thompson
Lynncheryl Gadson, CHP
Christina Garrett, Equity
Central, LLC
Chuck Gleich, Charles
Gleich Home Inspections
Alexandra Gleim
Lynn Hackworth, CBR
Paul Haggard, CHP
Daniel Harless
Mandy Harless, RE/MAX
Impact
Vernon Harless
Mary Hatem
Maude Hill, CHP
Greg Hrabcak, Real
Living/The Commercial
Partnership
Carol Huber, Coldwell
Linda Jonard
Rocky Karnes
Brian Kemp, Keller Williams
Capital Partners
Lindsay Kirk
Adrienne Klekotka, King
Capital Realty, Inc.
Morgen Kuberek,
AmeriCorps
Karen Lambert, Valmer
Land Title Agency, LLC
Amy Laws, Century 21 Joe
Walker & Associates
Kim Lewis, Superior Homes
Realty
Sue Lusk-Gleich, Keller
Betsy Lynch, Home Central
Realty
Heather Martinsen, CBR
Anthony Masci, Real Living
Business/The Commercial
Partnership
Bob McCarthy, Real Living
HER
Kim McCutcheon, Valmer
Land Title Agency, LLC
Anita McHugh, ERA Real
Estate First, REALTORS®
Anna Mitchell, The Robert
Weiler Company
Philip Moneypenny,
Coldwell Banker King
Thompson
Julie Morgan, Real Living
HER
Mike Morgan
Susan Mullenix, Real Living
HER
Jeff Murray, Murray Realty
Linda Niemann, Niemann
Real Estate
Andrew Nelson, AmeriCorps
Chris Oegen
Peggy Parsley, Superior
Homes Realty
Gary Parsons, Cam Taylor
Co., Ltd., REALTORS®
Angela Petty
Christine Pinney, Keller
William Classic Properties
Louise Potter, Prudential
Calhoon Company
Betty Potts, RE/MAX Elite
Services
Carl Ransom
Chris Reese, Metro II Realty
David Reierson, CHP
Barbara Roberts, Barbara
Roberts Appraiser, Inc.
Stephanie Savage, Real
Living HER
Todd Schiff, The Robert
Weiler Company
Lari Shaw, Coldwell Banker
King Thompson
Mary Sguerra, Real Living
HER
Herb Sollars, Real Living
HER
Todd Strayer
Hunter Thiede
Janet Thiede, Real Living
HER
Melissa Thiede
Taylor Thiede
Michael Thompson,
RE/MAX Affiliartes, Inc.
Sandy Tracy, Real Living
HER
Sheryl Trout, Art Lee Realty
John Volk, 1st Inspections
Tim Webber
Bob Weiler, Oakwood
Management Co.
Missy Weiler
Skip Weiler, The Robert
Weiler Company
Bobby Weiler
Mic Weiler
Joyce Wheeler, AmeriCorps
Don Wick
Brenda Williams, CHP
Robert Williams, CHP
Simone Williams, RE/MAX
Impact
Joyce Wilson
Jerome Witcher, Keller
Williams Greater Ohio
Melanie Wright, Real Living
HER
Sue Yenichek, Real Living
HER
Stacy York, CHP
Columbus Sign Company handling the Tray Lee
Center sign
Rockford Homes - fill
dirt leveled/graded
Giant Eagle
Donatos
Northwest Title - bottled
water
Brian Kemp - Chainsaw
rental
McLean's Hauling &
Recycling - use of bobcat,
entry excavation/prep,
trash hauling
Able Roofing - roof repair
Reitter Wall Systems stucco repair
PODS - storage unit
Special Thanks to:
Greg Cantwell - Mural
The Edge Group - front
entry design
Sherwin Williams - paint
Dasani - bottled water
BOLD = RCD Committee cochairs and Project Coordinator
Monica Kile, Carleton Realty
Mark Kraus, Coldwell
Barb Kurtz
Allan Maust, Weade REALTORS® & Auctioneers
Marlene Miller, The
Wagenbrenner Co.
Chris Pedon, Real Living
HER
Hannah Pirwitz, Foundation
Title Agency, Ltd.
David Powers, The
Wagenbrenner Co.
Carrie Ramsey
Ron Robins, RE/MAX Town
Center, LLC
Andy Shiffman
Joe Sinvany, Central Ohio
Building Inspections
Erin Terrar
Steve Wagner
Rick Weber, RE/MAX Town
Center, LLC
Janet Zettler, The
Wagenbrenner Co.
Bexley-Eastmoor-Berwick Realty Association
Project: We have over 30
members signed up to help
with cleaning up the
entrances into Bexley
The Alum Creek Main
Street Entrance and the N.
Cassady area by the
Railroad tracks
will be our focus.
Members are interested in
helping make our City
look more attractive and
improved and since we
cannot change the
entrances into Bexley our
focus is to make them
look their very best !!!!
We hold the philosophy at
the Bexley, Eastmoor,
Berwick Realty
Association:
"Don't walk ahead, I may
not follow.
Don't walk behind, I may
not lead.
Just walk beside me and
be my friend. "
Together we achieve great
things! In this case –
another great REALTOR®
Care Day!
Volunteers:
Sheila Straub, Coldwell
Banker King Thompson,
BEB President
Pam Allen
Terri Barnett, Barnett Realty
Susan Brehm, Real Living
HER
Beth Clensy, The
Wagenbrenner Co.
Rose Copp, Coldwell Banker
King Thompson
Tom Dodrill
Tom Flood, Air Technology
Paul Grimm
Jonathan Holfinger, Arrow
Title Agency, LLC
Barbara Hoyer, The
Wagenbrenner Co.
Mike Irwin, RE/MAX Town
Center, LLC
Michael Jones, Century 21
Joe Walker & Assocs.
Jeff Jonas, Keller Williams
Capital Partners
Bill Karn
BOLD = RCD Project
Coordinator and/or Area Realty
Association President
www.ColumbusRealtors.com • IN CONTRACT Magazine •
July/August 2008 •
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CCIIR
mental grass, day lillies,
black eyed Susans and
walkway pavers.
Volunteers:
Project: Improve/Landscape 52 acres surrounding the Heinzerling
Foundation Building
The mission of the
Heinzerling Foundation is
to provide a loving and
nuturing environment that
enriches the development,
education and quality of
life of individuals with
severe or profound mental
retardation.
CCIIR's mission with this
project was to beautify the
52 acres site with new
shrubs, impatiens, orna-
Chris Bell, RS Garek
Associates, CCIIR Project
Manager
Paul Bilow, Real Living
Business/The Commercial
Partnership
Catherine Erney, COCIE,
powered by Xceligent
Wayne Gaib, RS Garek
Associates
Steve Heiser, Equity
Cindy Jean, RS Garek
Associates
Sandy Lehman, Principle
Title
Fil Line, ROI Realty Services
James Mangas, Ruscilli Real
Estate Services, Inc.
Travis McIntyre, First City
Bank
Mike Metersky, First Site
Realty, LLC
George O'Donnel, Arshot
Real Estate Services, LLC
Joe Polis, Polis & Simon,
Inc.
Stephen Tucker, The Robert
Weiler Company
Jay Zollars, RZ Realty
Angie Utz, COCIE, powered
by Xceligent
Special Thanks to:
Lynn Singh, RE/MAX Town
Center, Breakfast Sponsor
Bank, Lunch Sponsor
BOLD = RCD Project
Delaware County Board of REALTORS® Association
Project: The Delaware
County Board of REALTORS Care Day project
included cleaning, mowing and beautifying the
county's bike trail. SCBR
has sponsored a section
of the trail and, once the
work was completed,
held a ribbon-cutting
ceremony.
Volunteers:
Toby Boyce, Keller
Williams The Realty Firm
Kim Althouse, Huntington
National Bank
Bill Channel, Wells Fargo
Mortgage
Lynn Cooperider, The
Delaware County Bank
Beth Fisher, Keller Williams
Capital Partners
Shane Heald, Century 21
Joe Walker & Associates
Peg Hoffman, Keller
Kim McMullen, McMullen
Realty Services
Eric Moulton, Coldwell
Tricia Nunamaker, Title
First Agency
Jay Waldron, Keller
Special
Thanks to:
City of
Delaware
($10)
Jay Waldron
of Team
Waldron ($10)
Title First ($5).
BOLD = RCD Project
Delaware-Knox-Licking-Morrow Suburban Realty Association
The group actually
worked on a fifth project
also, finishing a project
started last year for a
Centerburg family by
remodeling their kitchen.
The group decided to
end the day with a wet
t-shirt contest at Carol
Wise's pool.
Project: REALTORS® and
Affiliates from the
DKLM Area Association
worked through the Lee
Slater Foundation to
identify four area residents currently dealing
with cancer and the
stress this disease places
on the patient and their
families.
These folks needed help
doing small projects that
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often get neglected due
to treatments and doctor
appointments.
We assisted one
Centerburg home and
three homes in Sunbury
with weeding, trimming
and mulching. The final
project (for a 2-year old
cancer patient) was
staining his play set and
the gazebo roof over the
family's patio.
The Columbus Board of
REALTORS® Foundation
Fund matched DKLM's
$500 for a total of
$1,000. In addition, inkind donations were
estimated at $2,385.
Volunteers:
Carol Morrison, Coldwell
and DKLM President
Mike Anderson, Dominion
Homes
Steve Barbeau, Forman
REALTORS®
Gary Bix, Westerville
Home Inspection
Service
Karen Fichtelman,
Century 21 Joe Walker
& Associates
Nancy Garrabrant,
National City Mortgage
Mar' Hartley, Real Living
HER
Jen Merringer, Wayne
Homes
Debbie Montgomery, State
Farm Insurance
Don Mullen, Real Living
HER
Carolyn Mullen, Real
Living HER
Becky Payne, RE/MAX
Stars
Scott Noblet, RE/MAX
Impact
Norm Taylor, RE/MAX
Impact
Carol Wise, First
American Title
Special Thanks to:
Century 21 Joe Walker &
Associates/T-Shirts
Thompson/Snack &
Fruit Bars
Wayne Homes/Water &
Ice/$250 plus
Kitchen Appliances
BOLD = RCD Project
Coordinator and/or Area
Realty Association President
Fayette County Real Estate Association
Project: "The Point" in
Washington Court
House.
The Fayette County Real
Estate Association
improved a main intersection in the city of
Washington Court
House.
The intersection of
Market Street &
Columbus Ave, known
as "The Point" has been
covered with pink and
white annual flowers,
perennial grasses, plants
and mulching. The pink
colors were choosen to
compliment the downtown Master Gardners
planting theme in support of Susan G Komen,
Breast Cancer
Awareness.
"We arrived with sleeves
rolled up and armed
with planting tools in
hand, to complete our
task. Our biggest obstactle was the traffic and
exhaust fumes. But we
made it through -- with
beautiful results!" Volunteers:
Ronda Turner, Weade
REALTORS® &
Auctioneers, Fayette
County Real Estate
Association President and
RCD Project Manager
Mary Overfelt, Saxton Real
Estate
Sherrie Preston, ERA
Martin & Associates
Sarah Savoir
Debbie Weade, Weade
REALTORS® & Auctioneers
Special Thanks to:
Fayette County Master
Gardners: Don Creamer
and Brenda Caudill
BOLD = RCD Project
Teri Maust, Weade
REALTORS® & Auctioneers
Gahanna & Northeast/Westerville Area Realty Associations
Project: The Gahanna &
Northeast/Westerville
Associations joined hands
under the leadership of cochairs Randi Daily of Real
Living HER and Brady
Jones of RE/MAX North to
help a Westerville family
whose wife and mother
recently passed away leav-
ing a father
with six year
old twins
and a 16
year old
daughter.
The homeowner worked along side
the volunteers to spruce
up the exterior landscaping – trimming, weeding
and mulching. In addition, a bathroom renovation and kitchen remodel
that included new paint
and ceramic tile floor was
done.
Fund matched the combined Gahanna &
Northeast/Westerville
Associations' $1,000 for a
total of $2,000. In addition, in-kind donations
were estimated at $1,400.
Volunteers:
Randi Daily, Real Living
HER, RCD Co-chair
Brady Jones, RE/MAX
North, RCD Co-chair
Linda Beckner, Columbus
Title
Larry Buttermore, State Farm
Sheri Foster, RE/MAX
North
Frank Hance, RE/MAX
Impact
Rhonda Kelly, Talon Title
Lynda Long, Coldwell
Al Mansour, Alama-Clean
Comp
Cody Marting, National
City Mortgage
Krista McCarthy,
Countrywide Mortgage
Tom Nippert, C21 Joe
Walker & Associates
Rhonda Pettit, Diving Design
Thad Rahrig, Ohio Property
Inspection
Services
Special Thanks to:
Home Depot, Maxtown Discounted Materials & Free
Delivery and Installation of
Ceramic Tile Floors
BOLD = RCD Project
Greater Dublin Realty Association
Project: The Greater
Dublin Realty Association
spent the day working on
a large patio area and
landscaping for longtime
Dublin Residents Mr. and
Mrs. Rapp.
Due to some debilitating
health issues, the Rapps
have not been able to
maintain and enjoy their
large yard and patio area
in the past year. With the
help of our many volunteers and sponsors, we
were able to complete a
long list of projects.
Fund matched Dublin's
investment for a total of
$1,000. In addition, inkind donations were estimated at $600.
Volunteers:
Christy Grear, Real Living
HER & Greater Dublin Realty
Association, RCD Project
Chair
Tom Amicon, Real Living
HER
Tony Aspery, B.O.S.S. Realty
Don Beatty, Coldwell Banker
King Thompson
Matt (Grandson of Don Beatty)
John Beegle, Real Living
HER
Erin Bishop
Scott Bowers, Real Living
HER
Cynthia Carr
Tracy Chambers, Keller
Williams Consultants
Deb Collier, Real Living HER
Amy Conley, Real Living
HER
Jean Ann Conley, Real
Living HER
Terry Cook, Keller Williams
Consultants
Becky Cunningham, Keller
Williams Consultants & son
Jack Curtis
Ethen Francis
Kristen Francis
John Francis, Real Living
HER
Sydney Francis
Chryssa Gartner, Dominion
Homes
Adam Grear
Allison Grear
Dale Grear
Tania Gurski
Sonja Heffner, Real Living
HER
Jill Higgins, Real Living HER
Rob Hursey
Roberta Kayne, RE/MAX
Affiliates
Anthony Leahy
Joe Marmo,
National City
Bank
Angie Matessa,
Real Living HER
Stella Pseekos
Mike Schultz
Gayle Scrase,
Coldwell Banker
King Thompson
Judy Sekinger
Sharon Selby,
Real Living
HER
Lorie Strange, Real Living
HER
Mike Strange
Bill Sutkin
Josh Transue
Jeff Wills, Coldwell Banker
King Thompson
Special Thanks to:
John Beegle, Real Living
HER – Truck for hauling
Erin Bishop, Joe Marmo,
Dan Prond, and Jeff
Perkins, National City
Mortgage – Breakfast
Joy Class, Dublin Baptist
Church – Lunch
Becky Cunningham, Keller
Williams – yard bags,
azalea food and water
Chryssa Gartner, Dominion
Homes – plants
Rob Hursey, ColorPro painting – materials & labor,
painting windows/eaves &
garage
Bonnie Lustnauer, Talon
Title – Water/Drinks
Dave McKee, Priority
Mortgage – 40 yard bags
Mike Schultz, Dominion
Homes – Truck for hauling
Sherwin Williams,
Perimeter Loop – exterior
paint/stain
BOLD = RCD Project
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Greater Worthington Area Real Estate Association
Many thanks to the following people and companies who donated their
time and/or materials!
Volunteers:
Project: To help offset the
exterior landscape neglect
resulting from drastic
reductions in school funding, the Greater
Worthington Area Real
Estate Association volunteers spent the day cleaning-up and putting in
plants around Thomas
Worthington High School.
Rhonda Barton, Keller
and RCD Project Manager
Bill Alsnauer, State Farm
Insurance
Dave Arthur, Cam Taylor
Co., Ltd., REALTORS®
Bill Dickerson, Wells Fargo
Mortgage
Warren Gerhardt, self
employed plumber and
handyman
Brenda Gerschutz, Title First
Agency
Lisa Griffin, Rels Title
Cynthia MacKenzie, Keller
Tony Mangini, Commercial
& Home Inspection
Natalie Moore, National
City Mortgage
Jamie Sutton, Wells Fargo
Mortgage
Shannan Thompson, Move
"N" Design
Amy Weinsz, Keller
Dave Zambo, Park National
Bank
BOLD = RCD Project
Madison County Area Realty Association
Project: The Madison
County Domestic Violence
Shelter aka "A Friend's
House' provides safe,
undisclosed housing for
women and children who
have left an abusive relationship. They have families come through the
Shelter on a constant basis
and are always in need of
furniture and/or household
and personal items to
assist them in going out
on their own.
Madison County Realty
Association raised $700.00
and additional funds from
CBR for a total of $1200
for our project. We rented
a storage facility for one
year to help with the
overflow of storage of furniture for the Shelter's
victims. We spent the
$700.00 on
personal/household items,
which we put together as
'care baskets' for 20 families to assist in their transition from the Shelter.
We organized a furniture
drive and on June 5th we
had shifts scheduled for
volunteers to be at the
storage facility for drop
offs. Other volunteers put
together the care baskets.
Volunteers:
Michelle Anders, Real
Living, Anders &
Associates, President,
Madison County Area
Realty Association and RCD
Project Manager
Rachel Berkshire, Wells
Fargo
Karen Bowling, Real LivingAnders
Darlene Clark, Dillion Realty
Liz Finchum, RE/MAX Team
Advantage
Richard Flax, Midland Title
Kevin Flax, Midland Title
Travis Fling, Merchants
Bank
Rick Forrest, The Madison
Press
Phil Gilliam, Prudential
Calhoon
Dianna Hay, Huntington
Bank
Keli Howard, Real LivingAnders & Associates
Debbie Karns, Real LivingAnders & Associates
Alicia Pullin, Real LivingAnders & Associates
Rick Ralston, Ralston Home
Inspections
Julie Stage, Real Living Anders & Associates
Special Thanks to our
committee chairs:
Rachel Berkshire, Wells
Fargo & Karen Bowling,
Real Living-Anders –
shopping for all of the
products.
Sandy Cunningham,
Strategic
Mortgage –
correspondence for
our Project.
Dianna Hay,
Huntington
Bank – creating and
distributing poster
Julie Stage, Real LivingAnders & Associates –
research of storage
facilities and rental
arrangements as
well as hauling all of my
items there. Press
releases for the events.
Additional thank you:
Karen Bowling – tooth
brush and tooth paste for
baskets
Rick Forrest – press
coverage
Keli Howard – furniture
donation
Midland Title – $200,
which we used to
purchase 40 towels & 16
packs of diapers
Alicia Pullin – furniture
donation
Rick Ralston – gas cards
RE/MAX Team Advantage –
donation of flashlights,
batteries, light bulbs &
dishtowels
Julie Stage – donation of
various Avon products
Studio 42 – free haircut
vouchers
Target – donation of
personal products
Wall-to-Wall Storage – discounted rental of storage
unit
BOLD = RCD Project
Midtown Area Real Estate Association
ers lacking ease with
English repayed the volunteers with thankful comments in various languages and "lots of hugs"!
Project: Grafitti
removal/repainting and
cleanup in Italian Village.
Although some of the
owners of the properties
involved were absent, oth-
Volunteers:
Front Row: Tami Crum,
Jinn Lombardi, Misty
Linn, Terra Miller, Regina
Acosta Tobin
Back Row: Sharon Young,
Lucy Buzzee, Steve
Wagner, Kathy Burd, Gary
Rader, Charlotte Mason,
Tim Gossman, Barb
Waters, Betsy McCloskey.
Not Shown: Amy Long
and Todd Miller
Special Thanks to:
Misty Linn for all her work
coordinating this project
and securing all the materials involved.
BOLD = RCD Project
11
New Albany Realty Association
Project: This is the first
year that New Albany
Area has done a project
for REALTOR® Care Day
and they did two.
Heading up this first
year effort was Sherri
Resnick of Keller
Williams Capital
Partners Realty and
Elvah Donald from The
Donald Company REALTORS® and 18 volun-
12
teers that
donated their
day to helping area citizens. Our
morning
project was
for Clarabell
Harlan, a
senior in her
mid 80's. We
spent the
morning
washing windows, removing/ moving
plants and cleaning the
mold/mildew from the
home's exterior.
The afternoon was spent
helping a family of an 8
year old, Eden Adams,
who has been struggling
with a rare form of
childhood cancer for the
past four years. We
painted all the exterior
trim and painted all the
railings of a balcony
porch. Created some
new flowerbeds in the
front of the house
adding new plants. In
addition, we painted the
master bedroom and had
new bed linens provided
for Eden.
The group wants our
membership to know
that there is a website
for Eden at www.edenadams.org.
Fund matched New
Albany's $300 for a
total of $600. In addition, in-kind donations
were estimated at
$1,350.
Volunteers:
Sherri Resnick, Keller
Williams Capital Partners,
and Elvah Donald, The
Donald Company REALTORS®, RCD Project
Managers
James Allison, Merrill Lynch
Jill Beckett Hill, Realty
Executives
Alice Buckley, Westerville
Realty
Rhonda Clark, Parkvale
Mortgage
Haley Ferguson, friend
Lori Ferguson, friend
Maggie Ferguson, friend
Matt Frost, Planes Moving
& Storage
Lisa Gibbs, Real Living HER
Abe Godinez, HER Real
Living
Cary Hager,
Fireman's Insurance
(CORPAC)
Lu Klaiber, RE/MAX
Consultant Group
Frank Lodestro, Fifth
Third Bank
Kristen Nicholson,
New Albany Realty
Mike Primeau, Title
First Agency
Randy Sims, Huntington
Bank
Tony Thomas, New Albany
Realty
Becky Young, This Week
Special Thanks to:
Elvah Donald, The Donald
Company
Ron Kendle, RE/MAX
Consultant Group
Sherri Resnick, Keller
Judy Seckinger, Eloquent
Accents
Michelle Stropes Team,
Fifth Third Bank
TurfLawn - provided landscaping and labor for
both homes
BOLD = RCD Project
North Area Real Estate Association
Project: The city of
Columbus installed new
curbs and enhanced bus
stops with benches and
trees along North High St.
in Clintonville a few years
ago. Most of the local
business owners maintain
and landscape the bus
stops and bump outs near
their businesses.
However, there were 4
stops that were not maintained and had become
unsightly with overgrown
weeds and trash.
We worked along North
High Street cleaning up,
weeding and landscaping
the four bus stops and
bump outs. We also
cleaned up and weeded
around 15-20 small trees
that the city has planted
along North High Street.
We collected 4-5 bags of
trash & weeds. At the 4
bus stops that were not
being maintained, we
cleaned up, weeded, and
planted Wave Petunias
(low maintenance) and
mulched.
Volunteers:
Traci Klingler, Keller
RCD Project Manager
Molly Carlson, New Albany
Realty
Shari Carroll, RE/MAX
Capital Centre
Addie Davis, RE/MAX
Capital Centre
Sylvia Efta, Century 21 CR
O'Neil & Co.
Gary Flore, Rosemary
Hughes Real Estate
Ken Frankenberg, Dominion
Homes
Melissa Friermood,
Henderson Title
Eric Hiss, Keller Williams
Capital Partner
Eve Holland, Real Living
HER
Nora Huber, Coldwell
Alan Jones,
RE/MAX
Achievers
Paul Love,
Coldwell
Banker
King
Thompson
Judy Minister, Minister
Realty
Will Moloney, RE/MAX
Capital Centre
Kim Nice, Union Savings
Bank
Erin Ogden, Keller Williams
Capital Partners
LeAnne Ringer, Dominion
Homes
Special
Thanks to:
Melissa Friermood,
Henderson Title, provided
bottled water and snacks.
Gary Flore was instrumental in allowing us to shop
at wholesale prices at
Oakland Nursery
BOLD = RCD Project
Northeast Suburban Realty Association
Monica Holter, Key
Properties, Inc.
Project: This dymo group,
led by Jean Wright of
Guernsey Bank and
Monica Holter of Key
Properties, had 40 volunteers ready to go at 8:00
a.m. in the morning at the
Belt Field Sports Complex,
a 32-acre sports park that
is used for area youth and
adults. It is the only complex that services the
entire Johnstown area and
is run completely by volunteers and donations.
Items accomplished on the
long list of to do's included painting the men &
women's restrooms, cutting and putting up new
dug out side boards,
spreading gravel, dirt and
mulch, straightening out a
600 lb. drain, bush hogging areas that had
become overgrown,
installing gutters on all
shelter houses, sealing picnic tables and post on
shelter houses, weed
spraying around all ball
diamonds and fencing and
replacing the countertops
in the concession stand
and one team was
assigned to cooking lunch
for the entire crew.
This group rallied lots of
community support, not
only through extra volunteers on the day of the
project, but through inkind dollars from community businesses -- who
were even calling them to
find out how they could
participate! Total in kind
donations not including
CBR's match was a whopping $5,677.00. This was
their first year for participation in REALTOR® Care
Day.
Volunteers:
Bob Rowe, RE/MAX
Capital Center, NESREA
President
RCD Projects Coordinators:
Jean Wright, Guernsey
Mortgage, and
Amy Albery, Co-Owner
Ohio Title
Eric Albery, Owner, Albery
Construction Company
Jeffery Barrett, Northwest
Title Company
Shelby Bauer
Roger Bishop, Owner, Hyper
Sounds Entertainment/DJ
Phil Burgel, Key Properties,
Inc.
Linda Chambers, Key
Properties, Inc.
Barbara Chapman, RE/MAX
Town Center
Jena Cooper, Yellow Pages
Marketing Consultant
Don Corson, Sentry
Insurance
Alice Cortez, US Savings
Bank
Todd Dodderer, Key
Properties, Inc.
Cynthia Duncan, Wells
Fargo Bank
Tony Kiefer, Dwelltech, LLC
Home Inspector
Furniture Restoration
Alexandria
Adam Hammond,
Woodmasters
Bess Harper, Key Properties,
Inc.
Kevin Harper, Key
Properties, Inc.
Heidi (Nathan Gill),
American Eagle Mortgage
Karl Heins, Chase Bank
Taylor Holter, student
Jason Hoy, State Farm
Insurance
Patricia Kramer, Key
Properties, Inc.
Cindy Lennon, RE/MAX
Affiliates
Bob McCullom, President
JYAA
Bank
Alex Michael, JYAA
Volunteer Grounds
Keeper/O.S.U. Student
John Neibarger, Key
Properties, Inc.
Patrice Paider, Tradition
Title Agency, Inc.
Melinda Pribonic, Crossroad
Real Estate Services
Herb Raymond, Hardshift
Transmission & Auto
Repair
Valeria Raymond, First
Place Bank
Ann Salyer, Key Properties,
Inc.
Willard Salyer, Wood
Craftsman
Terri Schulze, Clear Water
Solutions
Sally Winn Bauer, JYAA
Volunteer
Special Thanks to:
A-1 Dumpsters/ (1)
Dumpster
Almendingers Sawmill/
Mulch
Dana and Luann Kirby/
Countertops
Ellis Brother and Supply
Company/Gravel
Family Dollar/Products
Guernsey Bank
Henson Flooring/Materials
Jet Set Toilets/Port-a-Johns
Jim Dailey, Electrician/
Donated Services
Johnstown Feed Mill/
Products
Kroger's in Johnstown/
Gatorade & Chips
Lowe's Hardware Store in
Newark/Products
Lowe's Reynoldsburg Broad
Street/Products
State Farm Insurance
Wells Fargo
Jean Wright
Reichley Landscapers/
Materials -- (5) Maple
trees will be installed in
Fall
BOLD = RCD Project
13
Northwest Area Realty Association
Project: Members of the
Northwest Area Realty
Association and friends
helped to trim, landscape,
and paint a home located
at 2745 Camden Road in
Upper Arlington.
After removing a frenzy
of invasive vines, the
stone walls were powerwashed as was its sidewalks and driveways. The
award for hardest worker
(and by far the dirtiest)
goes to Kelly
Richards of
Legacy
Builders who
not only
brought her powerwasher
but spent the entire day
changing the face of this
home with that machine.
Fund matched Northwest's
$500 for a total of $1,000.
In addition, in-kind donations were estimated at
$450.
Volunteers:
Scott Street, Street
Sotheby's International,
and NARA President
Kathie Boskovich
Chip Bruss
Martha Corbett, Coldwell
Susan Dilworth, Keller
Williams Classic Properties
Bonnie Lustnauer, Talon
Title
Milt Lustnauer, RE/MAX
Premier Choice
Annie Means, Street
Sotheby's International
Norma Miller, Brokers &
Associates
Barb Robertson, Coldwell
Chip Parrish, Keller
Williams Classic Properties
Nichole Perry (daughter of
Suzanne Perry)
Suzanne Perry
Kelly Richards. Legacy
Builders
Barbara Richardson, Real
Living HER
TJ Roberts, RE/MAX
Signature
Barb Robertson, Coldwell
Cyndy Street, Street
Scott Street, Street
Candy Tesner, Street
Southby's International
Lynn Thomas
Terri Webb, Street Sotheby's
International
Kate Wiles
Special Thanks to:
Landscaping: Tony and
Kristen Macaluso CBKT
Arlington (Macaluso
Landscaping) – Donated 2
men and equiptment
Breakfast and Lunch:
Suzanne Perry, Chris
Adams, and Kathie
Boskovich – The
Arlington Bank
Beverages: Bonnie
Lustnauer, Talon TItle –
Northwest Title (water) –
DJ
Power Washer: Kelly
Richards, Legacy Homes
BOLD = RCD Project
Southeast Area Suburban Realty Association
Project: Canal Village – a
low income/handicapped
housing community for
senior citizens.
We dug out, turned dirt,
added topsoil, built a decorative rock wall, planted
annuals/perennials and
mulched the landscaping
in front of the entrance
sign. We also put in top-
soil, planted and mulched
daylilies around a new
arbor built by the pond.
An additional bench is
being assembled and
donated as well. At the
senior center, we washed
the walls and cabinets in
the kitchen.
Volunteers:
Pam Mutchler, RE/MAX
Champions, RCD Project
Manager
Kristin Reese, Coldwell
Pam Allen
Greg Bruce
Mark Cathers, Coldwell
Drew Murphy
Kristin Sparks
Karin Stumbo, Solutions for
Real Estate
Samantha
Trotter
Marie
Waugh
Justin
Waugh
Special Thanks to:
Home Depot helped with
the cost of the topsoil.
Roman's helped with subs
for lunch. Coffman stone
helped with the stone for
the wall. Dill's Greenhouse
contributed to the plants
and mulch.
BOLD = RCD Project
Southern Delaware County Realty Association
Project: The Southern
Delaware Realty Association was proud to have
over 30 volunteers who
included members of the
"Powell Area Garden
Club" who came out and
helped coordinate our
efforts at the historical
Martin-Perry Home. We
were pleased to have three
chairpersons this year,
enabling us to have three
projects going on in and
around Powell.
Our first group stayed at
the Martin-Perry Home
where they worked on
numerous projects.
Our second project was
14
the task
of scrubbing and
cleaning
with a
special
treatment of all of the
park benches and teak
trash cans throughout
downtown Powell.
Our third project involved
weeding, mowing, and
cleaning up debris at the
Powell Cemetery to prep
for construction of a fence
that will protect the entire
area from debris and vandalism. This group was
spearheaded by Powell
resident Kent Bermingham
who has been on three
archeological digs himself.
Yeah Kent!!!!
Volunteers:
Donna Boylan, Real Living
HER, SDCRA President
and Julie Wills, Powell
Title, Project Managers
Carol Aultman, Coldwell
Kent Bermingham
Rita Brumley, Keller
Williams The Realty Firm
Larry Coolidge, Larry
Coolidge, REALTORS®
Patty Coolidge
Kevin Cull
Kate Elmquist
Karen Garvin
Sonja Heffner, Real Living
HER
Irving Hurler
Jan Jedlinsky, Metro II
Realty
Joe Marmo, National City
Bank
Ryan Mendes
Debbie McMillen, RE/MAX
Affiliates, Inc.
Penny Robinson
Karen Ramsey, RE/MAX
Affiliates
Ralph Renninger, RE/MAX
Premier Choice
Julie Riber
David Roeger
Herb Schupp, Real Living
HER
Brenda St.Clair
Angel Stuckman
Dana Waugh
Tom Weiss, Land &
Mortgage Title Agency
Special Thanks to:
Karen Gavin, Northwest
Title – Water & $25
towards work materials
Powell Area Garden Club
members who also
volunteered time and
coordination of project at
the Martin-Perry Home.
Eddi Reid – President,
Marge Bennett, Patty
Coolidge, Linda
Lakemacher
Tom Weiss, Land and
Mortgage Title Agency –
Craftsman Tractor &
Trailor
Julie Wills, Powell Title
Agency – Water & $25
towards work materials
The Following Each
Contributed $25 towards
Subway Platters to Feed
Our Crew:
Karen Ramsey, RE/MAX
Affiliates
Patty Coolidge, A.O. Wing
Insurance
Kathy Greenwell, Real
Living HER
Steve Scott, Affinity
Mortgage Group
Joe, David, Dan & Herb,
Group
Carolyn Riggle, Lawyers
Title Agency
BOLD = RCD Project
Tri-County East Area Realty Association
Project: Tri County East
Area Realty Association
REALTOR Care Day 2008
–The Graven Family
With an emotional reading, group prayer, and not
to mention a few tears,
our Tri County Realty
Association project was
off to a start! Marguerite
Graven and her family
watched with sincere
gratitude as we added to
and cleaned up their
existing landscaping,
replaced the old porch
railing system and toiled
over other labors of love.
With all of the amazing
support and donations
from our members and
local community, we were
able to complete many
household projects for
this deserving family.
And even though we may
have also donated many
buckets of sweat, all faces
were smiling and excited
to have made such a positive difference in the
Graven Family’s life!
Volunteers:
Dani Patterson, Dominion
Homes, and RCD Project
Manager
Elton Acker, Keller
Williams Greater Ohio,
Pickerington
Joy Adkins, MI Homes
Dan Baumann, Priority
Mortgage
Wendell Berry, Lifestyle
Communities
David Breneman, Accurate
Lawn & Landscape
Shaunda Brown, Real
Living HER
Kim Browning, Real Living
HER
Jack Buckley, First Federal
Savings
K. Edwards, daughter of
Shaunda Brown
Karen Edwards, Continental
Title
Danelle Ellis, Keller
Pickerington
Andy Fairbanks, The
Money Source
Peggy Fowler, Fifth Third
Mortgage
Carma Godby, Real Living
HER
Betty Granger, Chicago
Title
Jackie Harris, Coldwell
Pickerington
Kelly Harsanye, E-Choice
Solutions
Tracey Hartson, Your Home
Source
Joanne Jarvis, RE/MAX
Champions
Leigh Ann Lee, Keller
Pickerington
Michael Malmsbury,
Highland Bank
Debbie McCloud, Concord
Mortgage
Michael Metz, Dominion
Homes
Branden Meyer, Real Living
HER
Lana Mihailovich,
Dominion Homes
Charles Morris, friend
Faith Mulroy, RE/MAX
Champions
Kathleen Novak, Title First
Jessie Page, Keller
Pickerington
David Percy, Market
Mortgage Co
David Rosen, Central Ohio
Insurance
Suzi Schmitz, Keller
Pickerington
Donna J. Schneider, Sharp
Keaton and Co
Gene Shivener, Gene
Shivener and Co
Colette Smith, Telhio Credit
Union
Jay Stanley, RE/MAX
Champions
Helen Stepien, Real Living
HER
Judy Stream, Coldwell
Gahanna
Lance Strong, World
Ventures/TAG
MJ Toth, USA-1 Real Estate
Corp.
Marilyn Witherup, Real
Living HER
Sharon Worden, Fairfield
Federal
Wallisha Wupple, Fiancé of
Wendell Berry
Brenda Yerke, Emery Ed
Ron Zaniewski and coworker, Ohio Tree Care, Inc.
Special Thanks to:
Corrinne and Bill Bickel w/
Sharp Keaton and Co. –
supplies
Bob, ABC – delivered porch
railing system from Mt.
Vernon, OH
BP/Wildbean Café – ice,
cookies and coffee
David Breneman, Accurate
Lawn and Landscape –
Landscape design and
consultation and tools
Judy Brenning, Real Living
HER – supplies
Shaunda Brown, Real
Living HER – supplies
Becky Bumgartner, Keller
Pickerington – supplies
Chipotle on East Broad
Street – 30 burrito
bowls, chips
and salsa for lunch
CiCi’s Pizza – 6 pizzas
Trisha Darden, Westport
Homes – supplies
Steve Dean, Steve’s Painting
– paint prep work
Dominion Homes – 2 gas
cards towards gathering
supplies
Jack Fink, Jones Soil – 3
yards of soil
Bee Fisher, Fisher Gardens
in Reynoldsburg – plants
Peggy Fowler, Fifth Third
Mortgage – supplies
Matt Gibson of Circleville –
donated mulch
Betty Granger, Chicago
Title – supplies
Jan Hills, President of
Reynoldsburg Chamber
of Commerce brought us
to the Graven Family
Gena Jesse, Maronda
Homes – supplies
Jolly Pirate on East Main
Street, Reynoldsburg – 4
dozen donuts
Michael Malmsbury,
Highland Bank – supplies and tools
Debi McCloud, Concord
Mortgage – supplies
Michael Metz, Dominion
Homes – mulch
Branden Meyer, Real Living
HER – supplies
Ohio Mulch – mulch
discount
Kathleen Novak , Title First
– supplies
David Percy, Market
Mortgage – supplies and
tools
Marian Reitano, Real
Regina Render, New
Directions Realty –
supplies
Ron, Ohio Tree Care – tree
trimming services
Donna Schneider, Sharp
Keaton and Co. – supplies
7-Up Distribution Co. –
water and soda
Sherwin Williams on East
Main Street,
Reynoldsburg –
paint, stain, supply
donations and discounts
Straders Garden Center on
East Broad Street – plant
donations and discounts
Lance Strong, World
Ventures – supplies
MJ Toth, USA-1 Real Estate
Corp. – supplies
Value City Furniture on
East Main Street – Leather
Care Kit
Marilyn Witherup, Real
BOLD = RCD Project
West/Southwest Realty Association
Project: Home at 911
Joyful Avenue, Columbus,
43204.
The West/Sourthwest
Realty Association provided exterior cleaning,
raked and
bagged
leaves and
added
shrubs, flowers and
mulch to this
Homes on the Hill residential property.
Volunteers:
John Chandler, Century 21
Joe Walker & Associates
and RCD Project
Coordinator
Terry Allen, Real Living
HER
Ben Brace, RE/MAX Elite
Service
Kami Bower, Dominion
Homes
Pam Brown, ERA Real
Estate First
Rick Brunton, ERA Real
Estate First
Kristin Collins, Dominion
Homes
Greg Harrison, Metlife
Nicole Harrison, Land
America Title
David Heitkamp, Telhio
Credit Union
Brady Linard, RE/MAX
Affiliates
Jerry Hunt, Saxton Real
Estate
Anita McHugh, ERA Real
Estate First
Dan Olson, Wells Fargo
Home Mortgage
Sean Rauch, Dominion
Homes
Justus Sharp, Fifth Third
Bank
James Taylor, Dominion
Homes
Chris Weatherman, Union
Savings Bank
BOLD = RCD Project
15
Blogs – The Who, What, Why, When & Where for Real
Estate Professionals
Group Presentation by Joni Orders,
Stephanie Walker & Liz Davis (Article
compiled by Joni Orders)
By now most in real estate have at least
heard of a blog but in case you need a
refresher, a blog is the shortened name for
web log. What is a web log you ask? It is
an online journal where a person can write
about any topic of interest. Each entry to
the journal is called a post. The public that
reads the blog also has the option of posting comments to the blog.
Most bloggers post on a regular basis and
this is the most important characteristic of a
blog. The postings should be current and
topical. You can choose to write about
business, family, hobbies, current events, or
almost anything that comes to mind. Just
remember that your name is attached to the
blog and if the goal is to have your professionalism showcased – be careful of what
you type!
This format used to be “cutting edge” but
with hundreds of blog templates and hosting sites it is now considered mainstream.
For those who want to stay “cutting edge”
and/or of the generation who cut their teeth
with instant and text messaging there are
now microblogs or tumblelogs. As the
name implies, a microblog is a short blog –
usually only one or two lines that encourages more interaction with the reading public. The presentation did not dwell on this
but if you are interested in learning more,
check out www.twitter.com.
Your next question is probably, “Why
should I blog? I am so busy in a day just
trying to take care of business. I don’t have
time to blog….” What if I told you that
blogging is an almost free form of advertising – would you have time for it then?
Think of it as an electronic billboard available anytime, anywhere for buyers and sellers looking to connect with someone “like
them.” A blog is means of advertising
yourself and letting potential clients get to
know and like you. Now ask yourself,
might someone who knows and likes you
be more likely to work with you rather than
someone they do not know and like but
who just sent them a postcard. Can you
carve out 30 minutes in your schedule for
some free advertising?
If you already have a website and are interested in search engine optimizations (SEO),
a blog can help. To improve the ranking of
your site, link your blog to the website and
post every day. Posting to both your blog
and other blogs and selecting good tags can
improve the order in which your site is
ranked. If you are scratching your head
wondering what a tag is, simplified - these
are key words search engines use to assign
rankings. The science and techniques on
how to achieve this for more advanced
users could cover another whole presentation. If you are interested in this, there was
a terrific presentation by the Elaine Reese
of the Tech Users Committee last year
which can be viewed at:
http://www.columbusmls.net/documents/W
ebOptimizationShow.pps
Now on to the nuts and bolts of it – how to
get started blogging.
Determine the purpose and/or target audience of the blog. You can choose to have a
blog about a specific topic or a general blog
about being a real estate professional in
your chosen area / field / specialty and talk
about any related topics.
Select a Publishing Tool – There are several
sites to explore that provide easy to use
blog templates and walk users through
quick and simple steps to begin. Our committee used wordpress.com, blog.com and
blogger.com. We recommend a new blogger should start simple and build the blog
as you become more experienced.
Select a name for the blog – Some tips:
don’t over think the name, do not select a
name that is too long, the selected name
should fit purpose of the blog and make
sense and be easy to spell and remember.
Select a format for the blog – General /
Single topic / Event specific
Determine the update frequency – Do you
want to post on a specific schedule? If so,
is that daily or weekly? Or would you prefer to post as the mood hits or you have
time?
Start blogging – Make sure to keep the content fresh and interesting, join a blogging
network or read information on how to
blog and the expected etiquette of the specific site to learn more of how and what to
do. You can connect with other bloggers in
this way and use others in the blogosphere
as a resource for you professionally.
Enhance your blog – Create links / Select
good tags / Implement security measures /
Copyright
Blog Publishing Resources:
e-Pro course offered through NAR
ActiveRain.com
Technorati.com
Tools/Sites for Creating or Hosting
Blogs:
www.blog.com
www.blogger.com
www.realtown.com
www.wordpress.com
www.blogspot.com
www.blog-city.com
www.sixapart.com
Possible Blog Topics:
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Favorites
Reviews – restaurants / books / music /
blogs / websites
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ANYTHING / EVERYTHING
Now you should be ready to jump in with
both hands and start typing. Give blogging
a try – both on your own blog site and on
blogs that interest you. It is fun – and a
good investment of your time and
resources. For even more fun and helpful
information, stop by a Technology Users
Forum meeting the 4th Tuesday of each
month at 1:30 pm. Also keep an eye out
for a future article to cover the issues and
tips related to copyright that our committee
also discussed!
17
All politics are local
Primary 2008 is over. What’s next?
By Larry Metzger, CEO
Whew! What a 2008 Primary Election.
Seldom have we seen so much interest in
a Primary Election than the one we witnessed on March 4, 2008. Barack versus
Hillary. Cindy Lazarus versus John
O’Grady. Two open seats in Congress
from the central Ohio Delegation with the
retirement of Representatives Deborah
Pryce and Dave Hobson, both very influential members of Congress. And, there
are nine open seats impacting central
Ohio to be filled in the Ohio Legislature;
plus “tons” of things going on in the
counties.
Now that the Primary is over it’s time for
central Ohio REALTORS® to begin
thinking about the General Election. We
must turn our sites towards those races
that could have significant impact on our
business and political future for years. I
thought, perhaps, that I should discuss a
few of those races that will draw the
greatest interest from the electorate in
central Ohio, and especially the real
estate community.
Let’s first look at the race for the
Representative to Congress for the 12th
District, Mary Jo Kilroy versus Steve
Stivers. Kilroy, currently serving her final
year as a Franklin County Commissioner,
ran a strong race in 2006 against Rep.
Deborah Pryce. Stivers, currently serving
as an Ohio State Senator representing the
16th Senate District, was headed for senate leadership until he decided not to run
for reelection to the Ohio Senate in 2008
and to make a run for Congress. Senator
Stivers easily won his primary but has a
lot of work ahead of him to make a
strong run for the Congressional seat in
the General Election. Both the
Democratic National Committee and the
18
Republican National Committee have targeted the 12th District as a very important seat to win.
Two other important races for Congress
in central Ohio will have Rep. Pat Tiberi
(the incumbent and past REALTOR®)
against Democrat challenger David
Robinson for the 15th Congressional
District and State Senator Steve Austria
(R) against Democrat challenger Bill
Connor for the 07th Congressional
District.
Now let’s take a quick look at the open
seats from central Ohio in the Ohio
House of Representatives and the Ohio
Senate. First, with Senator Stivers running for Congress, the seat for 16th
Senate District in the General Election
will pit Representative Jim Hughes
against Danielle R. Blue. Jim is currently
serving the final year of his fourth term
in the Ohio House of Representatives
(22nd House District). Representative
Hughes has been endorsed by the
Franklin County Republican Party; Ms.
Blue has been endorsed by the Franklin
County Democratic Party.
The Ohio Senate seat for Senate District
#10 (Madison County) is also open
because Senator Steve Austria is term
limited and he is also the Republican
Candidate for the U. S. House of
Representative, 7th District (open
because of the retirement of Rep. David
Hobson). Rep. Chris Widener, Ohio
House District #84, will forgo his 4th
term in the House to run for Senate
District #10. Rep. Widener has been a
great supporter of REALTOR® issues for
the last six years in the Ohio House of
Representatives. Rep. Widener’s oppo-
nent will be Democratic challenger Roger
Tackett.
In the Ohio House of Representative’s,
all seats are up for election every two
years. The seats of primary interest are
those that will be vacated because of term
limits (An individual is limited to four
consecutive two year terms in the Ohio
House of Representatives.). Those seats
are as follows:
• House District #02 (Delaware, the seat
held for four terms by Jon Peterson):
Janice Lanier (D) vs. Kris Jordan (R)
• House District #19 (Franklin, the seat
held for four terms by Larry Flowers):
Brad Lewis (R) vs. Marian Harris (D)
held for four terms by Jim Hughes):
James Patrick Carney (D) vs. Michael
Kennan (R)
held for four terms by Larry Wolpert):
Cheryl Grossman (R) vs. Keith
Goldhardt (D)
• House District #27(Franklin, the seat
held for four terms by Joyce Beaty):
W. Carlton Weddington (D) vs. Jim
Hunter (R)
• House District #84 (Madison, the seat
vacated by Chris Widener): Robert
Hackett (R) vs. Connie Crockett (D)
• House District #90 (Knox, the seat held
for four terms by Thom Collier):
Duane Grassbaugh (D) vs. Margaret
Ann Ruhl (R).
All central Ohio REALTORS® should be
proud of the fact that the seat for House
District #24 is currently held by REALTOR® Ted Celeste. Ted is currently serving the second year of his first term in the
House and will run for reelection.
REALTORS® and voters in central Ohio will have their hands full educating themselves as to
who are the best candidates that will best represent their interests in the years ahead. The
CORPAC Governing Board will certainly be busy interviewing candidates and trying to sort the
“whole thing” out. Now add the races for President of the United States and Congress. Wow!
I’m sure that we will all have to agree; November 4, 2008 will be every bit as exciting as was
March 4, 2008.
Another REALTOR®, Representative
John Schlichter, is completing his third
term representing House District #85
(Fayette) and is also running for reelection. Rep. Thom Collier, House District
#90 (Morrow), is also a REALTOR®.
Unfortunately his House Seat is “term
limited” and he must step down.
Now let us take a quick look at some of
the local races of primary interest in
Franklin County. Two seats on the
Franklin County Board of Commissioners
are up for reelection. Commissioner
Paula Brooks is seeking reelection to her
seat. But, the seat currently held by
Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy will be
open for election to two new candidates:
John O’Grady (D) versus Jeffery Miller
(R). Of interest in this election, John
O’Grady (currently Clerk of Court of
Common Pleas) won a tough election in
the Primary against Cindy Lazarus (a past
member and president of Columbus City
Council and judge on the Franklin
County Court of Appeals). One would
wonder if the primary election wasn’t the
real battle for the seat on the Board. If
Brooks and O’Grady win their election,
the Democrats will continue to hold all
three seats on the Franklin County Board
of Commissioners. We’ll see when the
ballots are counted in the General
Election this fall.
There appears to be just as much interest
being generated in the two open seats for
the Delaware County Board of
Commissioners. Both incumbents, James
Ward and Glenn Evans, were defeated in
the Primary and will not be on the ballot
for the General Election. Tommy
Thompson and Ken O’Brien won the
Republican Primary Election and will
replace the two incumbents on the ballot.
Mr. Thompson and Mr. O’Brien will face
opposition in the General Election by the
two candidates that won the Democratic
Primary Election, Neil Niedhardt (D) and
Roger Van Sickle (D), respectively. So,
what makes this race so interesting? Kris
Jordan currently holds the third seat (term
expiring on 12/31/10) on the Board of
Commissioners. You will recall earlier in
this article that Mr. Jordan is a candidate
for the seat currently held by Rep. Jon
Peterson. If he wins the General Election,
he will vacate his seat on the Delaware
County Board of Commissioners with the
vacancy being filled by an appointment
through the remaining two years of his
term. It appears that three new commissioners will be seated on the Delaware
County Board of Commissioners.
Another old friend of Ohio REALTORS® is Rep. Jon Peterson, who you
will recall will be term limited in 2008
for Ohio House District #02. Mr.
Peterson won the Republican Primary
Election for Delaware County Treasurer.
No one filed for the Democratic Primary;
therefore, it appears that Jon will be
elected.
REALTORS® and voters in central Ohio
will have their hands full educating themselves as to who are the best candidates
that will best represent their interests in
the years ahead. The CORPAC
Governing Board will certainly be busy
interviewing candidates and trying to sort
the “whole thing” out. Now add the races
for President of the United States and
Congress. Wow!
I’m sure that we will all have to agree;
November 4, 2008 will be every bit as
exciting as was March 4, 2008.
Edward Leonard will be seeking “reelection” as the Franklin County Treasurer.
Most of you will recall that Treasurer
Leonard was appointed last year to fill
the remaining term of Richard Cordray
who won the 2006 election as the
Treasurer for the state of Ohio. Mr.
Leonard’s opponent in the General
Election is Stephanie McCloud.
19
Committee Report
Residential Education Committee Mission
To develop, organize and present educational
opportunities; and to enhance our members’
professionalism and profitability.
By Connie Salts ABR, CRB, CRS, PMN, Co-Chair
and Michael Sliemers RRS, Co-Chair
One of the most important and beneficial committees to the CBR membership
is the Residential Education Committee.
The mission statement of the committee
is to develop, organize and present educational opportunities; and to enhance
our members’ professionalism and profitability.
The Education Committee includes two
subcommittees (Review and Library)
and others as the need arises.
The Review Subcommittee reviews and
presents to the full committee course
proposals that come to the committee
from outside sources for upcoming
classes.
CRS (Certified Residential Specialist)
course in October in conjunction with
the Ohio Chapter of CRS. These are
both NAR Designations achieved by
sales volume, number of transactions
and completing the required courses.
As a committee we are constantly promoting the benefits of obtaining the
NAR Designations such as the ABR
(Accredited Buyers Representative),
CRS (Certified Residential Specialist),
CRB (Certified Residential Broker),
GRI (Graduate, REALTORS® Institute),
etc.
The Library Subcommittee’s mission
is to stimulate an interest in and promote the opportunity for life-long learning in real estate by offering a balanced,
broad collection of the printed and spoken word, visual images and exhibits
designed to reflect the needs and interest
of board members.
The committee is working to obtain the
following objectives:
• Promote CBR Tempo classes for the
MLS System.
• Continue to offer technology classes.
• Offering updates on the new FHA and
VA Guidelines.
• Offering updates on Short Sales,
Foreclosures and HUD programs.
• Continue to offer the required CE
classes (core law, ethics, civil rights).
Recently, a task force was formed to
compile the results of a Brokers survey
concerning holding the CRB (Certified
Residential Broker) class at the Board in
January 09’. We will also be holding the
We are here to serve the membership
and we strongly encourage the members
to tell us what they think. If you have an
idea for a course offering, contact any of
the following committee members: Lori
Molnar, Linda Whiting, Ron Brandler,
Shauna Brennan, Art Covan, Susan
Dworkin, LeAnna Gompf, Anita Graves,
Tristam Griffith, Pat Himes, Donna
Jackson, Jan Johnson, Joyce Logan,
Michelle McCormick, Deborah Miller,
Laura Peters, Virginia Phillips-Reagan,
Regina Render, Joe Sidon, Dennis
Swartz, Priscilla Teixeira, Dana Thorla,
Sheryl Trout and Tom Weiss. And, of
course, you can contact us as well.
This world is changing rapidly and the
people who are educated and prepared
will reap the benefits of the opportunities that present themselves. The
Residential Education Committee would
like to help you be educated and prepared!
Be sure to look each month in your In
Contract magazine for the yellow pullout section that lists upcoming classes,
schedule and descriptions. Also the
same information is available on the
website www.ColumbusRealtors.com
There are a number of ways to register
for the classes and it is easy to register
online!
21
National Association of REALTORS®
2008 Member Profile
REALTORS® are raising their level of
professionalism through training and experience to better serve consumers, and are
demonstrating their versatility and breadth
of expertise in a changing marketplace,
according to 2008 National Association of
REALTORS® Member Profile.
The survey results are representative of
more than 1.2 million REALTORS® –
about 60 percent of the nearly 2 million
active real estate licensees across the
country.
The number of members holding at least
one professional designation increased by
nearly 21,000 over the past year, reaching
a total of more than 428,000 – more than
one-third of NAR’s entire membership.
The median expense for professional
development for the typical member was
$710 in 2007.
NAR President Richard F. Gaylord, a broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists
in Long Beach, Calif., said the association
membership isn’t limited to residential
brokerage. “While three-fourths of NAR
members specialize in residential real
estate, almost all of them have secondary
specialties,” he said. “For example,
REALTORS® are in areas as diverse as
relocation, commercial brokerage, property management, land development,
appraisal, counseling and other real estate
specialties like international and auction.”
Overall membership edged down 1.5 percent from a record in 2006, and is still historically high. The survey shows the typical member is 52 years old, works 40
hours per week and specializes in residential brokerage; 60 percent are women.
The median REALTOR® income was
$42,600 in 2007, down from $47,700 in
2006. In recent years, the typical member’s income had been diluted by a large
growth in membership, and income trended down since peaking in 2002. Members
licensed as brokers earned a median of
22
$65,200 in 2007, while sales agents earned
$31,000.
Paul Bishop, NAR’s managing director of
real estate research, said the typical member is increasing his or her professionalism
over time through a variety of tools provided by NAR that help them better serve
consumers. “Our members build their
business through repeat customers and
referrals, and the longer they’re in the
business the higher their income, education and experience, meaning they are better prepared to serve consumers and handle market changes,” he said.
REALTORS® in the business for two
years or less earned a median of $10,500,
while those with three to five years of
experience earned $34,600. For six to 15
years, the median was $52,000, while
members in the business for 16 years or
more earned $69,500. The typical NAR
member has been in the business for eight
years, up from seven years in 2006.
Thirty percent of all REALTOR® business
is from referrals or repeat business from
previous clients, ranging from 2 percent
for newcomers to 47 percent for respondents with at least 16 years of experience.
One-third of NAR members report they
had clients who are foreign nationals, and
15 percent are fluent in other languages.
The modest decline in membership last
year comes almost exclusively from newcomers who weren’t able to sufficiently
develop their business, according to NAR.
Those in the business for two years or less
dropped to 18 percent of overall membership from 23 percent in 2006. “It’s challenging to start in a business where you’re
paid primarily when a transaction is completed, but this can be a good time to learn
the ropes for newcomers with patience
who also have strong people, technical
and entrepreneurial skills,” Gaylord said.
Seven out of 10 members are compensated
through a split commission arrangement,
18 percent receive all of the commission
and another 3 percent receive a commission plus a share of profits; 83 percent of
REALTORS® work as independent contractors for their firms. Seven out of 10
receive no fringe benefits from their firm,
although 23 percent are covered by errors
and omissions insurance; 93 percent must
obtain health insurance on their own.
Although 76 percent of all NAR members
specialize in residential real estate, 27 percent have a secondary specialty in relocation, 19 percent in commercial brokerage,
16 percent commercial property management, 16 percent land development, 15
percent counseling, 4 percent residential
property management, 4 percent residential appraisal, 3 percent international, 2
percent auction and 1 percent commercial
appraisal; only 4 percent had no secondary
specialty. Residential brokerage was cited
as a secondary business for 11 percent of
respondents who had other primary specialties.
In addition, some members are involved in
related business activities, such as mortgage brokerage, 5 percent; and title insurance, real estate instruction or home warranty, 3 percent each.
Professional courses and training are
important components of REALTOR®
membership. Many REALTORS® hold at
least one professional designation, with
the most popular being GRI (Graduate,
REALTOR® Institute), held by 19 percent
of respondents; ABR® (Accredited Buyer
Representative®), 14 percent; and CRS®
(Certified Residential Specialist®), 10 percent. Smaller percentages hold one of 14
other designations.
In addition, members offering specialized services belong to one or more of
NAR’s affiliated institutes, societies or
councils. Twelve percent belong to the
Council of Residential Specialists, 11
percent are members of the Real Estate
Buyer’s Agent Council, 5 percent the
“REALTORS® are raising their level of professionalism through training and experience to
better serve consumers, and are demonstrating their versatility and breadth of expertise in
a changing marketplace...”
Women’s Council of REALTORS® and
3 percent the Council of Real Estate
Brokerage Managers; smaller percentages belong to five other affiliates.
Some NAR members are involved in
ancillary services, with the most common being mortgage brokerage, mentioned by 5 percent; followed by relocation, 4 percent; and title insurance or
processing, real estate instruction, and
home warranty, each mentioned by 3
percent. Five other services were mentioned by smaller percentages.
Only 5 percent of members report real
estate is their first career, and most bring
expertise and experience from other
fields. Prior careers include management,
business or financial, 18 percent; sales or
retail, 16 percent; office or administrative support, 10 percent; education, 6
percent; and homemaker, 5 percent.
Eleven other categories were each 4 percent or less.
Only 10 percent of REALTORS® work
fewer than 20 hours per week and 30
percent work 20 to 39 hours per week,
while 15 percent work at least 60 hours
per week; 77 percent report real estate is
their only occupation.
Most REALTORS® hold a sales agent
license, 61 percent; followed by a broker’s license, 24 percent; broker associate, 16 percent; and appraiser license, 3
percent. One percent hold some other
kind of license.
tions. In 2006, the median number of
transaction sides was 10.
In 2007, the typical residential sales member sold one of his or her own listings and
five of someone else’s, while other agents
sold three of that member’s listings. The
median sales or leasing volume was $1.6
million, down from $1.9 million in 2006.
Buyer agency remains popular, with 43
percent of residential specialists offering
both buyer and seller agency with disclosed dual agency, and another 9 percent
providing exclusive buyer agency.
Six out of 10 members have a personal
Web site, which they have maintained for
a median of four years, while 89 percent
report their firm has a Web site; 73 percent
have a home office. The typical member
received four inquires over the past year
from a personal Web site, which accounted for 4 percent of their business.
Technology is increasingly important to
REALTORS®’ success. Ninety-two percent use e-mail daily or nearly every day,
88 percent use computers and 82 percent
cell phones. Other technology used daily
or almost every day include smartphones
with wireless e-mail and Internet capabilities, 34 percent; digital cameras, 27 percent; GPS devices, 19 percent; instant
messaging, 18 percent; and PDA without
phone capability; 15 percent.
Respondents have typically been with
their firm for four years. Women account
for 52 percent of brokers, and 71 percent
of full-time sales agents. Five percent of
all REALTORS® are under 30 years of
age while another 6 percent are 30 to 34
years old; 14 percent are 65 or over.
Half of all members are affiliated with an
independent, non-franchised firm; 33 percent are with an independent franchised
company, 9 percent with a franchised subsidiary of a national or regional corporation, and 5 percent with a non-franchised
subsidiary of a national or regional corporation. The median size of the firm was 25
licensees, which had two offices. Ten percent report their firm was bought by or
merged with another during the past year.
Among sales members, the median number of transaction sides handled last year
was eight, equivalent to four full transac-
There is a strong relationship between
experience and the use of personal assistants. Only 6 percent of members who
have been in the business for two years or
less have a personal assistant, while 27
percent of those with at least 16 years of
experience have at least one personal
assistant. Overall, 14 percent of REALTORS® have one personal assistant and 4
percent have two or more.
Eighty-seven percent are Caucasian, 5 percent Hispanic, 4 percent African
American, 3 percent Asian, 1 percent
Native American and 1 percent other;
respondents could choose more than one
category.
REALTORS® are well-educated, with 44
percent holding at least a bachelor’s
degree. They are active in the political
process – 95 percent are registered to vote;
91 percent voted in the last national election and 81 percent voted in the last local
election.
Many REALTORS® own other residential
properties in addition to their primary residence – 41 percent own at least one
investment home and 17 percent own at
least one vacation home. In addition, 13
percent own at least one commercial property.
Members remain optimistic about the
future, with 77 percent saying they are
confident they will remain active in the
business during the next two years, while
only 6 percent were not certain.
The 2008 National Association of REALTORS® Member Profile was based on a
survey of 161,400 members which generated 9,997 usable responses, representing
an adjusted response rate of 7.7 percent.
Income and transaction data are for 2007,
while other data are representative of
member characteristics in early 2008. The
study can be ordered by calling 800/8746500, or online at
www.realtor.org/newresearch. The cost
is $50 for NAR members and $125 for
non-members.
23
Commercial News
Office Building Classifications revisited
By Catherine Erney,
Xceligent
The Office building classifications that
we have been using were established by
a committee of commercial agents in
about 2003 – back in the days of C-Rex.
By this time, the yardsticks we were
using had become severely out-dated.
For example, one of the requirements
for a Class A building was that it should
have been constructed within the past 10
years. Strictly adhering to that guideline
would have decimated the buildings designated “Class A” in both the downtown
and suburban tracked sets. (Tracked set
properties are competitive, multi-tenant
properties used for vacancy and absorption statistics.) In addition, both suburban and downtown office buildings were
held to the exact same standard, which
is about as silly as using a set of New
York City building classifications to
qualify Columbus properties.
This situation was one of the many topics at the COCIE Board meeting in
April. All agreed that the definitions
were long overdue for an update, and
also that the standards should be determined by working agents who were
active in the field. In addition, we
decided that an odd number of members
was necessary for the crucial “tie breaker” votes and finally, that each of our
Top Five firms should be represented on
the committee. This was specifically
planned to sidestep the “My listing is
Class A; Your building is Class B” pit24
fall. As it turned out, no tie breaker
votes were necessary – the committee
came to consensus on every property in
the tracked set.
Recruiting a committee turned out to be
easier than I anticipated. (Commercial
agents will do anything for a home
cooked breakfast!) Our committee
included Randy Stephens, SIOR and
Senior Vice President representing
Colliers Turley Martin Tucker; Chris
Potts, Principal and First Vice President
with Grubb & Ellis Adena; Wayne
Harer, Executive Vice President at
Continental Realty Cushman and
Wakefield Alliance; Mike Simpson from
NAI Ohio Equities; and Todd Greiner,
SIOR, First Vice President with CB
Richard Ellis.
After a grueling morning of high energy
discussion – fueled by good food and
sweetened by pecan rolls and good coffee, the committee came to unanimous
decision on Office Building classifications.
These are the 2008 Class A & Class B
building standards:
Class A Downtown Office (21 records in
the tracked set)
GBA > 50,000 SF
Fully ADA compliant
Built or extensive mechanical
renovation since 1990
In a premium location
Commands premium rent for the area
3 + floors; multi-tenant
Fully sprinklered
Newer mechanicals
Class B Downtown office (55 records in
the tracked set)
GBA > 25,000 SF
Handicapped accessible, or partially
ADA compliant
May have had a recent cosmetic
renovation
Second tier location or an older
building
Moderate rent for the location
May be single story
Multi-tenant
May not be fully sprinklered
Class A Suburban office (61 records in
the tracked set)
GBA > 55,000 SF
Fully ADA compliant
Built or mechanically renovated since
1990
Premium location
Commands premium rent for the area
Multi-story, multi tenant
Fully sprinklered
Has high end common area finishes
Commercial News
Survey Says – They like us, they really really like us!
At the request of the COCIE Board, we
recently distributed an electronic customer
satisfaction survey to our 632 members.
Entry into a drawing for $50 Cameron
Mitchell gift card was dangled as a reward.
This may account for the better than average response rate, but we nonetheless
appreciate our clients taking time to give
us feedback.
Of the clients responding to the survey:
Class B Suburban (202 records in the
tracked set)
GBA > 20,000 SF
Handicapped accessible, or partially
ADA compliant
Second tier location, or an older
building
May have had a cosmetic renovation
Commands moderate rent for the area
May be single story
Multi-tenant
Existing tracked set buildings in the
CDX have already been re-classified
according to current standards. We offer
our thanks to the COCIE Boards as well
as the volunteer committee members
who contributed their valuable time.
Local input by the hard working COCIE
Board and agents like Randy Stephens,
Chris Potts, Mike Simpson, Wayne
Harer and Todd Greiner gives our data a
competitive and distinct Columbus edge.
82% believe that COCIE data is
complete
94% believe that COCIE data is
current
99% find the local COCIE staff to be
supportive and professional (Angie &
l will immediately go to work on that
other 1%)
76% feel that COCIE fees are a good
value
71% find the COCIE web site easy to
use
82% use COCIE more often than they
use CoStar
Our favorite comments:
“more accurate” “stronger retail
content”
“more Central Ohio oriented”
“CoStar data is 99% wrong and not
verified”
Finally, we find the answer to “where do
you share your listing data” enormously
significant:
100% of COCIE agents post their listing information on our site.
56% also put their listing information
on LoopNet.
on CoStar
on www.officespace.com.
on Realtor.com.
on CCIM.
on the CBR MLS.
In other words, COCIE is clearly the site
for the most complete commercial real
estate listing information in the Columbus
metro market. If you’re searching anywhere else for commercial property listings
– you’re missing half of the available properties in the market.
COCIE Membership
Columbus:
Nationwide:
New companies since last publication:
Buildings tracking – 13,584
SF tracking – 499,628,175
Properties for lease – 4,815
Properties for sale – 2,140++
# of users – 638
74,469
5,309,276,342
70,956
24,520
24,520
Street Sotheby’s, Cooperative Business Services,
Vannatta Brothers, Margaret “Peg” Greer Appraiser,
Jerome J Hackman, E V Bischoff, Buckeye Power.
++ Includes 275 Multi Unit Housing listings, 705 Land listings & 141 Business Opportunities.
25
NAR and DOJ reach settlement
Washington, D.C. (May 27, 2008) – The
National Association of REALTORS®
(NAR) and the Department of Justice
(DOJ) reached a favorable settlement on
May 27, 2008, concluding a two-year
DOJ investigation followed by two and
half years of litigation regarding NAR’s
multiple listing policy pertaining to the
display of listing data from the MLS on
brokers’ virtual office Web sites, or
VOWs.
The terms of the proposed final order validate REALTORS®’ position that MLS
members must be actively engaged in real
estate brokerage by actually helping people buy or sell homes. This will ensure
that MLSs are used for what they were
originally intended to do – to help real
estate professionals find buyers for people
who want to sell their homes.
Settlement Overview
Strengthened Membership Rule
The settlement permits MLSs to adopt a
more stringent criterion for brokers seeking to be participants in an MLS. Instead
of merely possessing a broker’s license,
participants must be actively engaged in
real estate brokerage by actually helping
people buy or sell homes. This will ensure
that MLSs are used for what they were
originally intended to do – to help real
estate professionals find buyers for people
who want to sell their homes.
Revised VOW policy
The final order requires that NAR adopt a
revised Virtual Office Web site policy,
and that NAR request MLSs adopt the
new policy within 90 days of the court’s
approval of the parties’ agreement,
expected by late summer. NAR has
agreed to these revisions, which continue
to protect the rights of sellers who do not
want their property or their property’s
address displayed on the Internet. The
new policy also protects sellers from having false or other unwanted information
about their listings appear on the VOW
site of members of the MLS, and allows
sellers to object to additional features near
the listing. The revised policy also
includes provisions confirming the opportunity for participants to use vendors to
operate their VOWs for them.
27
Member Perspective:
Advice on qualifying for a mortgage
Some would-be buyers in today’s market might think that mortgages just aren’t available to them in today’s tighter lending climate,
but buyers who are reasonable credit risks have more financing options than they might think.
For starters, Federal Housing Administration loans are back. According to NAR data, FHA loan originations saw nearly a 60 percent
increase in 2007, and in 2008, the program’s temporary loan limits for the Columbus area was increased to a maximum of $341,250.
In addition, tax law changes have made private mortgage insurance more attractive. PMI premiums have been deductible on federal
taxes since 2006, and last year, Congress enacted a three-year extension on PMI deductibility. This helps buyers who would otherwise be financing with piggyback loans, which are harder to get in today’s market.
So, how have your recent buyer clients financed their home purchase? Have you seen a rise in seller financing or lease-option purchases? What advice would you give to buyers who want to buy but are not sure they can qualify for a mortgage?
Vicki Owens, ABR, CRS,
GRI
Andy & Associates,
REALTORS®
When I meet with buyers,
whether first time or with a
home to sell, I explain that it is more difficult
to qualify for a mortgage today than it was a
year or so ago. With the state of the market,
most seem to understand this without further
explanation.
What I do explain to them is that I do not
want to disappoint them by showing them
homes that they could not qualify for or
would not be comfortable with a payment for.
It is important to me that they are not
“house poor” living on mac and cheese and
peanut butter sandwiches. I provide them
with a list of 3-4 loan officers that I have had
good success with. Before we look at homes,
I have them meet with a loan officer. Further, I
explain that I could take their information all
day long, but I am not the one deciding on
whether or not I will fund them for a loan.
Generally, they are cooperative in setting up
an appointment with a loan officer before
touring. Once they have that information, we
know what to look for. This makes them confident and educated in the process and going
to look knowing that they have the maximum
negotiation power when they find “the one”.
If they must move or are especially committed, I will ask them to pick house 1, 2 and 3
(sometimes 4). When they write on the first, I
always question, “If this one does not work
out, what is plan B? Will we counter offer or
move on?” This strategy also gives them the
maximum power in negotiations.
With the expense of doing business today,
this plan makes more sense for everyone conserving resources. If the buyer will not speak
with a lender, I generally do not consider
28
them a hot prospect unless they are insistent
that they can prove they would have the cash
reserves to buy without a loan. There are nice
ways to put requesting prequalification from
your prospective buyer that really makes
sense that will not come off as “I will not
waste time with you if you will not get
approved for a mortgage”.
Eric Ransom
Keller Williams Capital
Partners
In considering the purchase of
a home a Buyer should always
begin with financing. Today,
more than ever, loan programs and rates are
changing quickly and often. I have found over
the years that often a Buyer will get excited
about the home buying process but be
unwilling to take the steps necessary to
obtain a pre-approval. Sometimes this indicates a shaky financial situation, but it can
also come from a lack of information about
the process, misunderstanding about standards for qualifying or a fear of committing to
a lender out of the gate. I always tell clients
that talking with a lender and going through
the pre-approval process cannot hurt. The
worst-case scenario would be being turned
down. Even if that happens, at least the client
gets a true picture of the barriers to obtaining financing and what needs to be done to
position them to obtain financing. Had they
waited 6 months or a year to talk with a
lender they would likely be in the same situation, only that much further behind the ultimate goal of purchasing a home. A good
mortgage professional will act as an advisor
and fiduciary and is critical to a successful
home purchase experience. Just like REALTORS®, when the job is done properly people remain loyal to their lender and value
their financial guidance and input for years to
come.
Mark E. Murphy SCLS, SCSM
Vice-President
The Hadler Companies
My advice never changes no matter what the
market does. Get with a qualified reputable
lender and get pre-qualified. This not only
indicates what you can afford but also is a
“chip” when you make your offer, along with
the pre-qual letter from you lender. All else
being equal, you will get the contract. The
lender will verify your income, run your credit,
assess your debt load, and give you a mortgage product that is right for you.
Marianne Collins
Insight Bank
Borrowers should never think
that they don’t qualify until
they have applied for a preapproval. They would be surprised how many do qualify.
The so called “credit crunch” applies mostly
to conventional jumbo loans, those not purchased by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and
$0 down products which are still available in
outlying areas using the USDA Rural
Development Loan.
We have seen a large increase in rates for
jumbo programs because the pool of
investors for those mortgage back securities
has gotten much smaller.
The PMI companies have tightened up on
guidelines for conventional conforming loans,
due to losses they have suffered in the Alt-A
and subprime arena. Fannie and Freddie have
done the same. But all that means is that if a
conventional buyer doesn’t have a high credit
score or a large down payment, they are
going to pay a bit higher rate. The very low
down payment borrowers are much better off,
from a rate standpoint, turning to a FHA loan.
They will get a much better rate.
FHA lost a big market share when Fannie and
Freddie came out with their $0 down products. Those have now gone away, and FHA is
back as a big player. $0 down financing is still
available for 1st time homebuyers though the
OHFA bond program. The borrower can get
either a conventional or FHA loan with 3%
down and a grant for the 3% down payment.
The program is income and sales price limited.
does not qualify I would suggest to them that
they lease or rent and work on their credit
and SAVE as much money as possible each
month. I would stay in contact with them
helping and guiding them through this process so they never lose sight of their goal...
their first home!
Jon Sadler
Countrywide Bank
Michael Sliemers
Real Living HER
With the increase of FHA limits
and competitive interest rates,
many of my buyers are going
FHA. Seller financing has
become an option for buyers who are
encountering difficulty securing financing
along with a seller who is open to the option
(if in a strong financial position on the property and/or extremely motivated to have
property occupied). Though not all potential
buyers are able to purchase immediately,
there are a number of benefits in moving forward with the pre-approval process. First, if
they are able to move forward with purchasing a property: interest rates are still rather
low, selection is high and the equity many are
securing on their properties puts them in a
great position for future financial growth.
Second, the tax incentives are very attractive;
one is able to depreciate their property on
their taxes and PMI premiums being deducted
on their federal taxes. Lastly, in the worse
case scenario in which one is not able to
move forward purchasing a property, speaking
to a lender and reviewing their current credit
and financial position is a benefit to them in
understanding how their credit is scored, how
to increase it and most importantly putting
them in a position to purchase a home in the
future through a detailed game plan!
Shelly Cates
Partners
Yes, I have seen a rise in lease
to purchase options and it
appears that leases are easier
than finding the lending for some buyers due
to the “tightening” in the lending world. Lease
options are great for some sellers as it will
help them keep their property as an investment but move on to their next dream home.
I always suggest to my first-time homebuyers
to give several lenders a call to see what programs are available to them. I also suggest
OFHA, Ameridream or even areas with a tax
abatement to help them with creative ways to
make their payment lower, rates lower, taxes
lower or down payment assistance. I really
enjoy working with first-time homebuyers and
they just need your assistance and guidance
for this awesome house journey! If the buyer
This is a good time to buy as
rates are still quite low, and
there are many options for
clients that have good credit
and a downpayment, even as little as 5%
down. In fact, many can qualify to buy a new
home without the sale of their existing home
due to their good financial position.
As we all have read, lenders and PMI companies have tightened the rules, but an experienced lender can help clients find a program
that fits their goals. FHA loans are a wonderful option for buyers who want to put only
3% down (even if it is a gift from a relative).
And the FHA limit of $341,250 in our area
allows many people numerous home choices
with a low down payment.
Paul Rockwell
RZ Realty
The first thing I suggest is to
qualify a mortgage broker and
get them on your team first
and foremost. This will give you
all your financial options up front and will
help in negotiations as you move forward.
Secondly, There are so many flexible sellers
out there trying to sell their homes, so don’t
be afraid of suggesting lease to purchase or
other flexible purchasing options to sellers to
get the house you want. Having a team of
professionals well versed in today’s’ market,
combined with having an open, motivated
attitude, you will find your dream home and
get the financing required to make it happen.
Nancy Poss
Partners Realty
All of us on our team are pretty
emphatic with potential buyers
that they need to communicate
with a lender at the beginning of the process
so that they completely understand what is
involved. Even people who have had mortgages before are finding it more difficult to
qualify. They are also finding out how important it is to have a good credit score. We provide a list of lenders who can help them with
the process and can provide a pre-qualification letter for them.
Rick Lemmons
Thompson
The most obvious answer is
“Call or visit a lender and obtain
a pre-approval letter.” However,
if they verbalize that they are not sure if they
qualify they may truly be saying they don’t
understand the home buying process.
Rather than overwhelm the buyer with the
complete process, I find out how much they
are paying for rent. I convert the rent payment to a mortgage payment and share with
them how much house they could afford
based on the monthly payment. Then I add
on taxes and insurances and see if they are
comfortable with that payment. Then I ask if
they are comfortable increasing the size of
their monthly investment. If so, I recalculate
the amount of house they can afford based
on a monthly payment.
Now I inquire about how much they have for
a down payment. If it’s zero or less than 5%, I
will explain FHA financing and down payment
assistance programs. If they are still excited
about investing in a home I arrange a meeting
with a lender and further explain the home
buying process (qualifying, looking at homes,
contract negotiation, request to remedy, final
loan approval and closing).
Many buyers are scared or uneducated about
the buying process. Their basis for the information is the media citing national statistic,
not local numbers. To counter act the media,
we (REALTORS®) need to be our own PR firm
and educators. A Buddhist proverb says,
“When the student is ready, the teacher will
appear.” Are you ready to be the teacher/
REALTOR® when the student/Buyer appears?
Patricia Eiland
Guardian Real Estate
I would explain that the first process in purchasing a home is making sure their finances
are in order. There is no point in previewing
homes without understanding your situation.
That begins with taking time to review an
updated credit report with all three major
bureaus. Making sure information is accurate
and handling any derogatory information that
may affect them getting a loan, or even their
interest rate. Explaining their options
whether to work with a bank or mortgage
broker to provide the loan, it all depends on
their preferences and specific needs. I like to
assure buyers that there are many programs
available to first-time homebuyers even in a
changing market and the first part of the process is learning what amount they will qualify
for. Once you have that information, then
begin working with a REALTOR® to help find
a home within your budget and that will fit
your specific needs.
29
The nuts and bolts of fixtures
By James Zitesman
Attorney at Law
I received a call a few years ago from a
lady who had sold her house and moved a
few blocks away. I had met her socially
and so she called me for some free advice.
The buyer was complaining that the seller
had removed the control box for the invisible fence and wanted the seller to return it.
The seller told me that she took it because
it is an expensive item and she intended to
use it at the new home. The contract used
in the transaction was the CBR Residential
Real Estate Purchase Contract.
I asked her whether the contract had specified that the control box would be taken by
the seller and excluded from the sale. She
said no. I asked her where it was when the
buyers saw the home. Well, it was on the
wall in the garage. How did she take it off
the wall in the garage, I asked. With a
screwdriver, how else could she take the
screws out, she replied. I suggested that
she take the control box back to the buyer
and apologize for the misunderstanding.
She had removed a fixture.
Black’s Law Dictionary defines fixtures as,
“A thing is deemed to be affixed to land
when it is attached to it by roots, imbedded
in it, permanently resting upon it, or permanently attached to what is thus permanent, as by means of cement, plaster, nails,
bolts, or screws.” My general rule of
thumb is that if you need a tool to remove
it, it is a fixture.
Recently a REALTOR® called me about
whether a basketball pole and hoop were
fixtures. The pole was bolted to the concrete next to the driveway. The seller’s
agent said that the seller was going to take
the pole and hoop, but would leave the
bolts. The attorney for the seller said that
since it was outside the house, it needed to
30
be explicitly stated as included in the sale.
In my opinion, he was absolutely wrong.
The contract states in the first paragraph,
“The undersigned Buyer agrees to buy and
the undersigned Seller agrees to sell,
through the Broker referred to below, upon
the following terms, the premises located
in the State of Ohio…”
In 2003 when we were working on the big
revision of the contract we searched for the
right word to use for what was being sold.
We considered “property” and “home” and
“house” but it was the word “premises”
that really worked. Black’s Law Dictionary
defines premises as, “Lands and tenements; an estate, including land and buildings thereon; the subject matter of a conveyance.”
Combining the definitions of premises and
fixtures, there should be no question as to
what is included. Paragraph 3.1 lists many
common fixtures for convenience. It starts
out with, “The consideration shall include
any fixtures, including but not limited to:”
and then follows the list.
It is important to understand that the fixtures included are not limited by the list. It
is simply there as a way to assist buyer and
sellers in understanding what some common fixtures are.
Gas fireplace logs are not on the list. As I
understand the gas fireplace log possibilities, they may be attached to the gas line or
they may be simply resting on the grate.
Therefore, when the transaction involves a
home with gas fireplace logs, you may
want to clarify the issue.
Other common fixture issues included mirrors, attached vs. hanging. Speakers that
are attached to walls or ceilings by bolts or
screws are fixtures, not just the brackets.
Flat screen TVs are becoming another hot
issue. If you need a tool, it is a fixture. The
nature of the item is not relevant; it is how
it is attached to the premises that defines
the item. So if there is a flat screen TV
attached to a bracket by bolts or screws
and the bracket is similarly attached to the
wall or ceiling or built-in cabinet, it is a
fixture.
Another point to be aware of is the possible replacement of included items with
lesser value items prior to closing. For
example, if the sale includes the washer,
dryer, refrigerator and stove, you may want
to specify that it is the items as first viewed
by the buyers. If you are really concerned,
you may want to write out the make and
model. A front loading Bosch clothes
washer and dryer set may be more desirable to the buyer than a no-name top loading model.
Sometimes I will find references to the
MLS information. In the event that the
buyer wants to include all appliances and
fixtures listed on the MLS, you should
consider printing out a copy and attaching
it to the contract as Exhibit One.
Events
July 11
July 17
Affordable Housing Committee Habitat
for Humanity Work Day Project
Working the Investment Property
Market
In place of hosting the July 11 Affordable Housing Roundtable, the
Committee will host a Habitat for Humanity Work Day project at
the John G. McCoy Circle Development (located in the Linden
area off Weber Road) 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. All CBR members
are welcome and encouraged to participate. Participation in this
project will count toward community service points for the
Certified Affordable Housing, REALTORS® (CAHR) certification. Register online at ColumbusRealtors.com
This New Member Mentoring Session is set for Thursday, July
17, 9:00 – 10:30 am and will feature a discussion on the following topics: What makes/defines a property as a good investment;
Financing; How do you educate clients; Rehab/construction cost;
Tax implications/income; Flipping; Single family vs. multi-family properties; ROI; Determine how long to hold on to property;
Inflated values/fraud; safety while visiting vacant properties;
1031 exchange; Investment goals (retirement income, education,
stock market, build cash); and much more. There is no cost to
attend, but registration is requested. Register online at
ColumbusRealtors.com.
July 15
Land Development: Planning, Wetlands
& Surveys
This 3-hour class, taught by Jeff Miller, Robert Milligan and
Linda Menerey (EMH&T), is set for Tuesday, July 15, 9:00 a.m.
to noon at CBR and will focus on 3 areas of information needed
before getting started in the land development business: The survey - boundary, zoning, ALTA, working with the title company,
topographical surveys, staking and final work before construction;
Environmental issues - due diligence services (Phase I ESA, preliminary wetlands/stream investigation, wetland/stream permitting, archaeological survey), endangered species, typical project
pitfalls, costs and timing; Proposed Scope & Developing a plan role of landscape architect/planner, developing the plan (analysis,
site program, concept plan, final plan), rezoning process, comprehensive plans, current trends in planning (TND, conservation
design, green design). Register online at ColumbusRealtors.com.
July 16
Short Sales
This 3-hour CE course, taught by Tristam Griffith (Keller
Williams Classic Properties) is set for Wednesday, July 16, 9:00
a.m. to noon at CBR and is sure to answer many questions you
might have about short sales. Have you done a “Short Sale,” lately? If you haven’t, you’re one of the few. In today’s growing foreclosure market, it is essential to know how to navigate these sales.
They are in every market segment and every price range. Come
learn the ins and outs of short sales in the Columbus market.
Tristam Griffith, having represented both banks and private sellers
in short sales, along with numerous short sale buyers, will leave
you with locally relevant information you can apply immediately.
Some of the topics covered include: Why do short sales at all?,
representing buyers, representing sellers, looking for liens the title
company might miss, challenges involved in short sales, protecting buyers and sellers in these transactions, plus much more.
Jack Wiese (Attorney, Talon Title Agency) will be on hand to
answer legal questions that might arise from the discussion. Cost
is $30 by 7/15; $40 day of class. Register online at
32
July 22
Tech Day
Increase your tech knowledge and your business profits even more by attending the
5th annual CBR Tech Day set for
Tuesday, July 22, 2008, 10:00 am –
3:00 pm at the CBR offices.
During this event, vendor representatives will be present to answer your
questions and show you the latest in
REALTOR® process automation,
making your job easier and your
work more efficient. We’ll have the
latest in cell phones, Virtual Tour
developers, Internet showing solutions, web site consultants and
developers, the latest hardware,
Internet based fax solutions, and
more! You’ll have everything you need
to increase your efficiency and effectiveness as a REALTOR® all in one place.
Of course no Tech Day would be complete without FREE
FOOD and DOOR PRIZES!!! We’ll be serving Brats and hotdogs for lunch and each vendor will be providing a door
prize valued at $50. There will also be a 50/50 raffle with
the proceeds going to the CBR Foundation Fund. Of course
you must attend to register or participate for all of these
prizes!!!
Last year over 200 REALTORS® enjoyed the benefits of this
event. This year promises to be even bigger! Should you
have any questions, please feel free to contact Bryan Dean
(614-475-4000 x222). There is no cost to attend and registration is not required. Hope to see you there!
Events
July 24
Ethics for the Real Estate Agent
This 3-hour CE course, taught by Belinda Ohlinger
(REALTOR®, Warner and Associates) is set for
Thursday, July 24, 9:00 a.m. to noon and is
designed to cover the Ohio Canons of Ethics and
the National Association of REALTORS® Code of
Ethics and is geared more for the agent who transacts residential real estate. Case studies for the
Residential REALTOR® will be used to identify
ethical and unethical behavior and to determine
which articles of the state Canon of Ethics and the
NAR Code of Ethics are being violated. Discussion
will evolve around the grievance process and understanding how complaints are evaluated. The process
of arbitration and mediation, as well as, identifying
the possible penalties for ethics violations will be
covered. Discussion will include steps an agent
might take when faced with an ethical dilemma.
Cost is $30 if paid by 7/23; $40 on the day of class.
Register online at ColumbusRealtors.com.
August 13
CBR Night at the Movies
Support the Columbus Board of REALTORS®
Charitable Foundation Fund by simply going to see
a movie at the Arena Grande Theatre on
Wednesday, August 13th! Purchase a $25 dollar
pass that includes a ticket to any movie playing that
evening, popcorn, candy and beverage. Want to
bring your kids? Just pay the regular movie ticket
price the night of the event. For more information
and to order tickets, call Brianna George at 614475-4000 ext 247. Ticket orders must be received
by August 4th, 2008.
August 21
The Art of Negotiating, Conflict
Avoidance & Resolutions
This New Member Mentoring Session is set for
Thursday, August 21, 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. at CBR.
Talking points for this session will include the following: Treating all parties fairly, REALTOR® to
REALTOR® negotiating; timelines, signatures,
understanding & recognizing different contracts,
price not always the negotiating point; request to
remedy, negotiating the contract twice; after successful negotiating of contract – forms and timelines,
earnest money deposit; recommendation of professionals; and grievance/professional Standards. There
is no cost to attend, but registration is requested.
Register online at ColumbusRealtors.com.
September 4
CORPAC Golf Outing & Shoot Out
The CORPAC Fundraising Committee will hosts its annual CORPAC Golf
Outing on Thursday, September 4, 11:00 am to 6:00 pm at Foxfire Golf
Club. Please be sure to sign up early, particularly if you want to play the
Players Club. Registration and payment is due by August 29th Registrations
received after August 29th will incur a $20 per person late fee. Non-Golfers can also join us at 4 pm
for social hour, dinner and to watch the CORPAC
Million Dollar Shoot Out.
Cost is $125-per player on Players
Club, $100-per player on Foxfire,
$20-per person dinner only. The CORPAC Committee is looking for sponsors for this event, to allow the registration fees to benefit CORPAC.
Please contact Stan Collins or
Brianna George for more information at 475-4000.
September 10
Diversity/Columbus Real Estate: African Cultures
Seminar
Join us on an excursion to the continent of Africa on Wednesday, September 10,
9:00 a.m. to noon at CBR. This seminar is pending 3 hours CE credit. Cost is
$30 if paid in advance and $40 at the door. Don’t miss this opportunity to
broaden your knowledge of African culture and the fastest growing groups of
immigrant populations in central Ohio. Currently, there are approximately
103,000 Africans living in the Midwest of which 49% own homes. Seating is
limited so book your seat today. Register online at ColumbusRealtors.com.
September 12
Update on USDA Financing
This Affordable Housing Roundtable is set for Friday, September 12, 11:00 a.m.
to noon and will feature a discussion on USDA financing with Tim Moffitt,
National City Bank. There is no charge to attend the roundtable, but registration
is requested. Register online at ColumbusRealtors.com.
Mark Your Calendar...
OAR Convention – September 14-17, Columbus
Brokers & Managers Day – October 2, 9:00am-Noon, CBR
CBR Past President’s Dinner – October 4
Super Sunday Affordable Housing Open House – October 5, 1-4pm, citywide
Sales Associates Day – October 23, 8:30am, Aladdin Shrine Center,
Sales Award Application Deadline – November 4, 5:00pm
NAR Convention – November 5-10, Orlando
Affiliate Appreciation Lunch – November 12, 11:30a-1:30p
President’s Ball – December 13, Aladdin Shrine Center
33
Announcements
Watch for you new R-Guide
The Zone Initiative Project
Your 2008 CBR membership directory – the R-Guide – is scheduled to mail in July.
As a benefit of membership, each member of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®
receives a copy of the full CBR membership roster annually. If you haven’t received
your R-Guide by August 1, please call Lenora Moore at 614-475-4000 x 253.
By Richard C. Pfeiffer, Jr.
Columbus City Attorney
Do you give back to your community?
CBR’s Spotlight on Community Service award recognizes members quarterly who
are involved in their communities in a variety of ways. This award was not
designed for the outstanding contributor but to acknowledge the average REALTOR® who donates their time and energy to improving their community. Our second quarter 2008 awardees are spotlighted on page 59. The application is available
at ColumbusRealtors.com. Applications will be reviewed next on August 1. Please
nominate yourself or someone you know.
CBR does not share, sell or trade member email
addresses!
CBR has had numerous contacts from members concerned that we sell or give out
member email addresses. This is not true.
We have always had a policy that forbids the board from providing member email
addresses – even to members.
The ‘Find a REALTOR®’ function available at ColumbusRealtors.com provides
the public with your office address and contact information (including email and
web addresses). However, the results pages designed to provide only one contact
record at a time specifically to impede scraping of the data in bulk.
Now, this does not prevent someone from looking up members one at a time and
getting your email address (which would be very time consuming). But it’s that or
not displaying the information. And our understanding is that the purpose of a
‘Find a REALTOR®’ function is to provide the public with a way to find and contact you.
Last month, the CBR Directors approved a formal Membership Privacy and
Security Policy. If you would like to read this document, it is available at
Concerned about public nuisances in your
neighborhood? Concerned about property
not being kept up to the City’s housing,
building, zoning or safety codes? Is street
prostitution a problem in your neighborhood?
Is your neighborhood being tagged by graffiti? Is there a liquor permit holder who is not
maintaining his or her business pursuant to
the standards of a responsible permit holder?
With funding help from Columbus City
Council members President Michael Mentel,
President Pro Tem Kevin Boyce, Maryellen
O’Shaughnessy, Charleta Tavares, Priscilla
Tyson, Andrew Ginther and Hearcel Craig, I
have created a team of five attorneys who
will work on an effort we call The Zone
Initiative Project. What is it?
The Columbus Division of Police has geographically divided the City into five Police
Zones. To each Zone I have assigned an attorney whose responsibility it is to be in touch
with the police officers, code enforcement
officers, health department inspectors, fire
fighters, area commissions and civic associations in the Zone to determine how we can use
the law and the courts to address and attempt
to remedy persistent problems in the Zone.
This Project has existed for some months.
Most recently, the Project closed down an
establishment in Franklinton called Downtown
Dolls, an establishment which created significant secondary negative effects on the neighborhood, to include two homicides.
I ask you to go to the City Attorney’s website, http://www.columbuscityattorney.org/
Civil/Nuisance.aspx and click the link on our
home page that will take you to a description
of the five zones, the pictures of the attorneys
assigned to those zones and the direct phone
numbers and email addresses for the Zone
attorneys.
Please contact me or the Zone Attorney for
your area if you have a concern that needs
addressed.
Submitted May 15, 2008 by Richard C. Pfeiffer,
Jr., Columbus City Attorney, 90 West Broad Street,
Columbus, Ohio 43215; (614) 645-6904;
rcpfeiffer@columbus.gov
34
Announcements
CBR 100-Year Anniversary
Memorabilia Exhibit
During the last 100 days of the year and to wrap
up our 100-year anniversary celebration, the
Columbus Board of REALTORS® will host an
exhibit of member real estate memorabilia. If you
have any real estate items that you would like
included in the exhibit, please bring them to the
Board. Please direct questions to Marqué Bressler,
614-475-4000 ext 236 or
Mbressler@ColumbusRealtors.com.
Franklin County Board of
Elections Recruiting
Poll Workers
In anticipation of a record voter turnout for the
Presidential election, Tuesday, November 4, 2008,
the Franklin County Board of Elections is inviting
CBR Members to work the polls. The Board of
Elections will need 5,000 individuals to work the
polls that day. Poll workers earn a minimum of
$123 ($108 for Election Day service and $15 for
training).
Requirements to serve at the polls:
• Be a U.S. citizen and registered to vote in
Franklin County
• Attend a three hour training course offered during October
• Have transportation to the polls
• Work from 5:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Election
Day
• Anyone interested in participating are asked to
call the Franklin County Board of Elections at
614-462-5393 or register online at
http://vote.franklincountyohio.gov/boe by
October 6, 2008.
What’s new in the CBR library?
On your next visit to the Board, stop by the CBR Falco B. Smith Library
to see what’s new. To help you identify our newest items, we now have a
shelf labeled “New in the Library”. Currently featured on the shelf are
“Top Performance” by Zig Ziglar and “Doing the Right Thing’ by Deborah
H. Long.
We also have created a new library category entitled Client Information
(CL), which will feature loads of information on working with clients.
The Board has quite an extensive real estate library, but we are always
looking to expand our collection and you can help by becoming a solicitor
for the Library. When attending a seminar, introduce yourself as a member
of the CBR and request a book donation for the library. All gifts and contributors will be acknowledged in the In Contract magazine.
Also, if you have any suggestions of items needed in the Library or would
like to donate a gift, please call Lucy Hadley, 614-475-4000 ext. 240 or
Michelle McCormick 614-783-5555.
Google Street View
Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps and Google Earth that provides 360° panoramic street-level views and allows users to view parts of
selected cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas at ground level.
When it was launched on May 25, 2007, only five cities were included. It
has since expanded to more than 40 U.S. cities, and includes the suburbs of
many, and in some cases, other nearby cities.
Google Street View displays photos that were previously taken by a camera
mounted on an automobile, and can be navigated using either the arrow keys
on the keyboard or by using the mouse to click on arrows displayed on the
screen. Using these devices, the photos can be viewed in different sizes,
from any direction, and from a variety of angles. Lines that are displayed
along the street that is shown indicate the direction followed by that street.
You can use it to:
•
•
•
•
•
View street level photographs
Take virtual walks: pan, rotate and zoon
Explore cityscapes, landmarks, points of interest
Find shops, restaurants, parks, hotels and more
View listings (in some cases) or neighboring areas
Also, if you are planning to work the polls, you
may not be stationed in your own precinct on
Election Day, so you are urged to vote absentee
beginning September 30.
Feature of the Month
July/August
Please remember to tell us the name of the firm
you are representing so that we can recognize your
employer with a thank you ad in the Columbus
Dispatch after the election.
Brochure Boxes
10% off of Free-standing brochure boxes.
Member Service Center
CBR Headquarters, 2700 Airport Dr.
475-4000 x230
35
Member News
David Arthur, Cam Taylor
Co., Ltd., REALTORS®, Tracy
Bush, Real Living HER, Mary
Jo Fitch, Exit Trinity Realty,
Joann Rasmussen, Keller
Bush
Fetch
Arthur
Stephanie Savage,
Real Living HER,
Thomas Trigg,
Keller Williams The
Realty Firm, and
Rasmussen
Trigg
Wellmeier Cara Wellmeier,
Savage
RE/MAX
Consultant Group, have been awarded the Senior Real Estate
Specialist (SRES®) designation. This designation is awarded by
Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council of the National Association of
REALTORS® and recognize REALTORS® who specialize in the
real estate needs of maturing clients age 50+.
Donna Boylan, Real
Living HER, Larry
Bush, Carleton
Realty, LLC,
Virginia GolanGolan-Elliott Williams Elliott, Real Living
Bush
Boylan
HER and Simone
Williams, RE/MAX Impact, have been awarded the Accredited
Buyer’s Representative (ABR®) designation. This award is the
benchmark of excellence in buyer representation and is awarded to
real estate practitioners by the Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council
(REBAC) of the National Association of REALTORS® who meet
the specified educational and practical experience criteria.
Bill Clifford, RE/MAX Premier Choice, has been
awarded the Greater Powell Area Chamber of
Commerce “2008 Citizen of the Year” award for his
time and effort in reestablishing the Chamber, expanding the membership and his contributions to the
Powell Community.
Foley
Noblet
Roberts
Streeter
Dennis Foley, Scott
Noblet and Jim
Roberts, and Bill
Streeter have
recently joined the
RE/MAX Impact
sales team.
Michael Hoffman, Auctioneer, has joined Gryphon
USA to manage its subsidiary — Gryphon Realty
Advisors - Gryphon Auction Group. Hoffman will
focus on real estate and personal property auctions and
appraisals, with special attention to clients in the corporate, banking and insolvency communities. He also
will continue his efforts in real estate brokerage as a valued member of the Gryphon Realty professional staff.
Benjamin B. Fortkamp has joined Foundation Title Agency,
Ltd., Columbus office as General Counsel. His practice will
focus on providing strategic title solutions to individual and corporate clients in business, real estate, and tax-related transactions,
as well as overseeing in-house corporate matters.
36
Betsy Lynch, ABR, GRI, has transferred to Home
Central Realty. Betsy has been in real estate and a member of the Board for 12 plus years.
Janszen & Associates, RE/MAX Impact,
entered the #4 team spot among the Top 20
RE/MAX Sales Associates in the RE/MAX
Central & Northern Ohio Region for the month
of March.
Jim Roberts, RE/MAX Impact, entered the #2 spot
amount the Top 20 RE/MAX Sales Associates in the
RE/MAX Central & Northern Ohio Region for the
month of March.
Carla Williams joins Real Living’s HER’s Pickerington
office as its newest real estate sales agent. She brings
with her more than nine years of experience helping
clients buy and sell their homes.
Dominion Homes, Inc., a homebuilder serving Ohio, Indiana and
Kentucky, has merged with an investment group comprised of
Silver Point Capital, L.P. and Angelo Gordon & Co, L.P.,
Dominion’s primary lenders, and BRC Properties Inc., which is
controlled by Dominion Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Douglas G. Borror. Dominion will maintain its corporate office in
Dublin, Ohio and will continue to be led by Doug and William G.
Cornely, Chief Operating Officer.
Lifestyle Communities has moved its offices to 1230 West Street,
Suite 200, Columbus, Ohio 43215.
The following REALTOR® members have
been elected to serve
in the following leadership positions with
the Ohio Realtist
Sutton
Wright
Butler
Isabel
Association: Darryl
Isabel, Broker/Owner of Premier Select Homes and current president of the Columbus Realtist® Association, 3rd Vice President;
Monica Butler, Century 21 Joe Walker and Associates, Director (3
year term); Vanessa Sutton, Broker/Owner of Affordable Real
Estate, Inc., Treasurer; and Rubye Wright, Affordable Real Estate,
Inc., Assistant Treasurer. The Ohio Realtist® Association is the state
affiliate of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers®
(NAREB®), which is the oldest and largest African-American trade
association in America.
Attorney Richard "Dick" Utz has joined Service Title Agency to
lead in commercial and residential title insurance and closings.
Member News
In Memoriam
Judy S. Butler, a
retired REALTOR® with
Coldwell Banker King Thompson
and a long-time resident of Upper
Arlington, died Wednesday, May
7, 2008, at her home with her family by her
side. Judy attended Ohio University, had
over 40 years of service in real estate and
was involved in many organizations including the Columbus Museum of Art and VaudVillities. Judy’s true passion, however, was
her love and devotion to her children, her
grandchildren and her many dear friends.
Her surviving children include, Deborah
Casto, Darcy Casto Weber and husband
Glenn and James D. Casto Jr. and wife
Elizabeth; grandchildren, James Weber and
Lauren Weber, J.D. Casto III, Jenny Casto
and Tyler Casto; sister, Martha Rech of FL;
and a host of other relatives and friends.
Contributions in Judy’s memory may be
made to O.S.U. Pulmonary-Critical Care
Division Fund; Fund #312038, 201DHLRI,
473 W. 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210
or Zusman Community Hospice, 1151
College Avenue, Columbus, OH 43209.
Robert William Johnson, owner
of Exchange Realty, died
Thursday, May 22, 2008 at home.
Bob, who lived independently
until the age of 89, grew up in
Tallmadge, Ohio, was a graduate of Kent
State University and a World War II veteran.
He served as a pilot in the Army and a gunnery officer in the South Pacific in the Navy.
He later taught aviation at the University of
Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, IL and business classes in Columbus and Marion, Ohio.
He was a member of First Community
Church, the Northwest Optimist Club, and
Civitan. Bob was the devoted husband of his
late wife, Joyce, for 56 years. He is survived
by his sister, Dr. Dorothy Knight; sons, Bob,
Brad (former CBR EO) and Scott Johnson;
daughter, Michele Mowrey; grandsons, Ben,
Luke and Nathan Johnson; and granddaughters, Marisa Mowrey and Leda Depalma.
Donations may be given to First Community
Church or Riverside Hospice.
Tip
Keybox
Four Ways to Update Your
DisplayKEY Using a cradle
1.
Automatic eSYNC
The easiest way to update your Supra DisplayKEY is to place it on its cradle each
night. Some time between midnight and 6:00 a.m. your key will wake itself up, connect to the KIM database, exchange information, update your key and shut itself off
again.
2.
Manual eSYNC
If for any reason your DisplayKEY did not automatically eSYNC overnight, you can
still eSYNC and exchange information with KIM on any DisplayKEY cradle, at home
or in the office. *
With your DisplayKEY in your hand, not on the cradle:
1. Press ENTER to turn the key on.
2. Scroll down to MANUAL ESYNC.
3. Press ENTER again.
4. Place your DisplayKEY on the cradle.
5. The light on the cradle will turn red. Wait until the cradle light turns green
before removing the key from the cradle. Your key will say “key updated until”
and the date.
* Many offices now provide a DisplayKEY cradle for general use. Because most
offices do not have a regular (analog) phone line at the front desk, many have
installed a USB cradle, using a computer and the Internet to connect with KIM. To
order an extra cradle of either, go to supraekey.com.
1-877-699-6787
Courtesy (emergency) update methods
If you not near a cradle when you discover your DisplayKEY is not updated, you
can use one of the emergency update methods to be able to access keyboxes for
that day. These emergency update codes expire at midnight, and no information is
exchanged with KIM until you eSYNC on a DisplayKEY cradle.
3.
Call the automated KIMVoice number
1. Call 1-888-968-4032.
2. Enter your three-digit telephone area code.
3. Enter your key serial number from the back of the key, your four-digit PIN
code, and the pound sign (#.)
4. Press 1 to choose the update code option.
5. Turn on your key by pressing ENTER.
6. Scroll down to Input Update or CBS
7. Press ENTER.
8. Press 1 to choose Input Update.
9. Enter the numbers KIM reads to you.
10. Press ENTER. Your key beeps and the window says “SUCCESSFUL.”
4.
Log on to KIMweb
1. Log on to www.supraekey.com and click Log on to KIMweb.
2. Choose your Board/Association/MLS from the list..
3. Enter your key serial number from the back of the key and your 4-digit PIN code.
4. At the upper left of the screen, click on Update Code.
5. Follow the instructions on the screen.
www.supraekey.com
37
approved in May
Residential Broker Members
Richard A. Clark
Frank B. Young, Inc.
Cassandra L. Cooper
Great City Real Estate, LLC
Adetayo Rasheed Oladele
Royal Executives Realty
David M. Taylor
David Michael Real Estate
CI Broker Members
Christopher C. Deibel
Scioto Management Group
Julie K. Engle
Casto
Richard L. Gerhardt, II
U. S. Properties Group Realty, LLC
Stephen D. Holzer
Commercial One, REALTORS®
Ray Massa
Ray Massa, REALTOR®
William B. Roth
William R. Roth & Associates, LLC
Appraiser Members
Terry W. Daugherty
Daugherty Appraisers, Inc.
Affiliate Members
Jackie Chivington
Guernsey Mortgage
T. J. Mehan
Guernsey Mortgage
Joyce E. Ross
Union Savings Bank
Sustaining Member
Rhonda Pettit
Divine Designs Unlimited, LLC
38
Residential REALTORS® approved in May
Cary W. Allion
RE/MAX Achievers
Brian W. Armstrong
Resource Real Estate
Pamela S. Beres
Riddhi Cochran
Carleton Realty
Karmon M. Dorsey
Windsor International Realty
Darrin L. Ebbert
Keller Williams Classic Properties
Alex R. Enderle
Keller Williams Capital Partners
Clara E. Flack
Real Living HER
Angelina L. Fox-Smith Coldwell Banker King Thompson
Deneska R. Graves
James Hamilton
Sandra K. Hershey
USA-1 Real Estate
Lori A. Hicks
Real Living HER
Susan A. Holtsberry
Bernadine Hunter
Keller Williams Greater Ohio
Amelia J. Jeffers
J. Jay Johnson
ERA Martin & Associates
Justin N. Johnston
Baldwin Realty
Terri L. Layman
Sharp Keaton
Jessica A. McClurg
Real Living HER
Lori L. Meyer
Carleton Realty
Mary G. Miller
Century 21 Capital Gold
Jeffrey S. Moore
RE/MAX Champions
Michael A. Murdew
Matthew D. Nichols
Tony Langhals Real Estate
David A. Oiler
Carleton Realty
Diane S. Olsen
Real Living HER
Shelia Jane Patterson Carleton Realty
Lindsay A. Pinna
Lifestyle Real Estate Services
Debbi L. Popo
Carleton Realty
Regina M. Reimer
Keller Williams Consultants
Jeff M. Riegler
RE/MAX Champions
Christine S. Rooney
Ronald Rudolph
Cynthia A. Schillig
Real Living HER
Jennifer R. Schreck
Saxton Real Estate
Maren Seubert
Real Living HER
Christopher M. Smith Owl Realty, Inc.
Gail Smith
Lindsay E. Stout
Real Living HER
Beverly J. Trapp
Your Neighborhood Realty
Dawn L. Williams
Triumph Realty
Heather M. Wiseman Carleton Realty
CI REALTORS® approved in May
Stephanie P. Beaumier CASTO
Haylie M. Blue
Colliers Turley Martin Tucker
Shayla M. Collins
Rayna L. Eckel
Nicole Fisher
CASTO
Jason M. Freeman
CASTO
Zane M. Fry
Matthew S. Goodlin
Kim M. Guzzo
CASTO
Jeffrey “Scott” Harris Scioto Realty Group
LaShawn D. Hill
Prudential CRES
Patricia S. Jones
Michael G. MacKay
Grubb & Ellis Adena Realty
Joseph Mezera
Keller Williams The Realty Firm
Luke A. Streng
Real Living Business/The
Commercial
A. Fred Vogel
RJ Boll Realty
Brian J. Wade
Calgary Realty, Ltd.
Timothy Weber
Real Living Business/The
Commercial
approved in June
Residential Broker Members
Patricia Lea Snider
Snider’s Realty
Joni Orders
Walker Orders Real Estate
Christopher Stevens
Great
Results Realty, LLC
Mark T. Wise
Green Realty
Appraiser Members
C. William Fall
The William Fall Group, Inc.
Affiliates Members
Kathy L. Werkmeister
Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission
Lisa Griffin
RELS Title
Sustaining Members
Daniel Shields
Shields Home Inspections
Residential REALTORS® approved in June
Gary T. Allen
Woodford Contemporary
Patricia F. Auchter
Real Living HER
Lisha M. Blue
Keller William Greater Ohio
Denise L. Bohnert
Jessica M. Buckner
Real Living HER
Jon R. Buskirk
Bruce Michael Carter, II H. C. Bland Realty
Robert C. Chaney, Jr. Keller Williams All Star 1
Nathan Core
Carleton Realty
Barbara S. Collier
Eva Dixon
USA-1 Real Estate
Sonya Dulaney
Real Living HER
Emily L. Engle
Century 21 Joe Walker & Assoc
Clara E. Flack
Real Living HER
Kimberly A. Harris
Century 21 Joe Walker & Assoc
Barry M. Hartman
Carleton Realty
Kimberly R. High
Frank B. Young, Inc.
Andrea N. Hothem
Real Living HER
Stephanie Mila Jenkins Solutions For Real Estate
Brian P. Lee
Curtis L. Jacquet, II
Exit One Realty
Rebecca D. Jonas
Carleton Realty
Kira A. Kirk
Danetta J. Kroeker
Gayla L. McKay
RE/MAX Premier Choice
Brad M. McMahon
Connect Realty
Jeffrey W. Meyer
Josephine C. Norman Keller Williams Capital Partners
Kip L. Rooks
USA-1 Real Estate
Clint Rossman
A-List Realty
Jack M. Salyer, Jr.
Real Living HER
Robert Stephen Santilli Grubb & Ellis/Adena Realty
Randall C. Sickmeier Coldwell Banker King Thompson
Lauren A. Smith
Christy L. Street
Street Sotheby’s International
Michelle E. Swenson Home Central Realty
Daniel K. Swick
Real Living HER
Patricia Ann Tanner
Carleton Realty
Jason L. Tuttle
Teresa Marie Underwood Grubb & Ellis/Adena Realty
Carlos Gonzalez UrbietaKeller Williams Capital Partners
Bradley P. Weaver
Exit One
Leah J. Wahlin
SHE, REALTORS®
Mentoring Sessions
July 17
Working the Investment
Property Market
Time:
Location:
Mentor:
Moderator:
9-10:30 am
Columbus Board of REALTORS®
Jay Zollars, Commercial One,
REALTORS®, CPM
Sameerah Salahuddin, Premier Select
Homes
Talking Points will include:
• What makes/defines a property as a good investment
• Financing
• How do you educate clients
• Rehab/construction cost
• Taximplications/income
• Flipping
• Single family vs. multi-family properties
• ROI
• 1031 Exchanges
• Determine how long to hold on to property
• Inflated values/fraud
• Investment goals (retirement income, education, stock
market, build cash)
• Understanding the process
Safety while showing vacant properties
August 21
The Art of Negotiating, Conflict
Avoidance & Resolutions
Time:
Location:
Mentors:
Moderators:
9-10:30 am
Gloria Cannon, Keller Williams
Capital Partners
Bonnie Nyikes, RE/MAX Premier
Choice
TBD
Talking Points will include:
• A win/win situation, treating all parties fairly, remember
you are representing client/customer
• REALTOR® to REALTOR® negotiating – preparing for
the negotiation process, how to handle multiple offers
• Timelines, signatures, understanding & recognizing different contracts, price not always the negotiating point
• Request to Remedy, negotiating the contract twice
• After successful negotiating of contract – forms and timelines, earnest money deposit
• Recommendation of professionals
• Grievance/Professional Standards
The Mentoring Sessions offer a great opportunity for both new
and seasoned REALTORS® to learn about and share ideas on
topics related to our careers.
There is no cost to attend and registration is appreciated, but
not required.
39
Tempo Bug and Issue updates
Following are a few of the known issues that are being
researched and corrected on Tempo at this time:
Autopopulation of Tax Data:
Homeowner name has been added to the autopop screen
so agents can verify owner of subject property when
autopopping tax data for new listings. The owner name will
not appear anywhere on the listing form, only on the
autopop screen prior to filling in the long edit form for a new
listing.
Mapping Accuracy:
It has been reported that Tempo maps are displaying property markers in the middle or end of the street instead of on
the housetop. This is being researched and the accuracy
will be improved. Agents can correct the map location of the
property when on the add/edit page. Listings can be
remapped to the correct location simply by going to add/edit
for the specific listing, clicking the “map property” button,
and click on the exact location of the property on the map,
then clicking “ok”.
Photo Remarks:
Photo remarks for older listings were shuffled when we converted to new Tempo. These photo remarks will not be
updated. Members must move the remarks to the correct
photo on a photo-by-photo basis. This has been corrected
for listings currently being added to Tempo. Only listings
prior to conversion were affected.
Photo Preview on Add/Edit:
The “red error message” on Add/Edit images is a display
error. It is being researched currently. This particular error
message generally does not mean the photo is not uploaded. It is a display error only on the Add/Edit screen. Agents
are encouraged to search for the listing by MLS number or
street address. If the photos appear correctly on the listing,
the agent does not need to re-upload the photo.
Photo Image Name Label:
The Image Name list for photos has been modified. The
previous label “Other” has been replaced with a blank label.
We are currently monitoring to verify that this change will
not have any negative affects. All photos previously labeled
“Other” will now display a blank space where the previous
label was located.
Tech Support
2008 Member
contacts
January 1,747
February 1,708
March 3,192
April 2,500
May 2,100
40
Agent to Agent Remarks notification:
A notification of Agent to Agent Remarks (A2A) availability
has been added to all agent reports on Tempo. We cannot
currently link directly to the report, so the agent will need to
open the A2A report in order to see the A2A remarks.
Auditor Links on Sidebar:
Auditor links for the individual county auditor websites appear on the sidebar.
Previously in old Tempo, they appeared on the “Public Records” menu at the top
of the screen in addition to the Realist login. They could not be added to that
window, and have been instead moved to the Sidebar under “CBR Auditor
Links”.
Tempo™ 5 Classes
Below is a grid of the classes scheduled for Tempo™ 5 training in July & August. These are the same Tempo 1, 2 and 3
classes we’ve been teaching for years now – but using the
Tempo™ 5 system, of course.
Archive:
The archive is missing values for some fields and some properties are not linking to the entire history of the property address. This is very high priority and we
are working on this issue daily. The “New Archive report” has been set as the
default report when view a history of a property on Tempo.
Searching Active and Expired at the Same Time:
Searching for multiple categories on Tempo currently causes some properties to
be excluded. This is due to a conflict in date searches when the list date, sold
date, expired date, etc. are chosen simultaneously. Currently, you can search
active, and sold listings using a sold date, but when using active and expired,
the expired date causes the active listings to be excluded. This is a very high priority. We do not currently have an estimated time for correction.
Prospect Auto Notification/ Account Status Issues
Currently with the Tempo 5 system, any change that takes an agent or office to
an inactive status will turn off Prospect Auto Notification for all agents affected.
This applies to agents individually or in instances where an office is set to an
inactive status. All the members of that office will have their Prospect Auto
Notification settings turned off.
Should you find that your account has been affected in this manner you will
need to manually turn Prospect Auto Notification back on for all prospects that
were previously active. Please be aware that there is no means to do this for all
prospects at the same time. You will need to manually make this change on
each prospect individually.
41
Ethics Q&A
By Bruce Aydt
Get it in writing. Without a contract,
you may not get paid.
Q
Q: I spent about 50 hours over a two- to
three-week period showing a buyer all
the available homes for sale within her
price range. When the buyer was ready
to submit an offer, she told me she had to
talk it over with her boyfriend and would
get back to me. That same day, another
real estate salesperson, who was a friend
of the buyer but who hadn’t been
involved in the transaction before, presented an offer on behalf of that buyer.
The offer, for one of the homes I’d
shown that buyer, effectively cut me out
of the transaction. I didn’t have a contract with the buyer, but isn’t it unethical
for the other salesperson to take credit
for all the work I’d done?
A
A: Article 16 of the Code of Ethics protects exclusive agreements between brokers and clients by providing that:
“REALTORS® shall not engage in any
practice or take any action inconsistent
with exclusive representation or exclusive brokerage relationship agreements
that other REALTORS® have with
clients.” Because you didn’t have an
exclusive buyer representation agreement
with the buyer, she had no obligation to
work with you, and the other salesperson
didn’t violate Article 16.
Although there may not have been an
ethics violation, you may have a claim to
any cooperative commission offered by
the listing broker. If the listing was in
your MLS and offered cooperative compensation and the other salesperson is
also a REALTOR®, you can request
mediation or file an arbitration claim
through your association of REAL-
TORS®. The arbitration guidelines in the
Code of Ethics and Arbitration Manual
explain the factors hearing panels use to
determine entitlement to cooperative
compensation in disputes.
I noticed a mistake in the counteroffer,
but I didn’t say anything. Now what?
Q
Q: I presented an offer to a listing agent
on behalf of my buyer clients. The offer
called for the sellers to pay closing costs.
Several hours later the listing agent called
to say she was bringing a counteroffer.
She described some of the counter provisions, including the fact that the sellers
weren’t willing to pay closing costs.
When I picked up the written counteroffer, however, I noticed that it still showed
closing costs being paid by the sellers. I
presented the counteroffer to my buyer
clients, and they accepted.
The next day, the listing agent called me
and said she’d made a mistake. The sellers had no intention of paying the closing costs. Should I have contacted the
listing agent before presenting the counteroffer to my client since I realized that
leaving in the provision was probably a
mistake? Isn’t my obligation first and
foremost to my client?
Because you had been told that the sellers weren’t willing to pay the closing
costs even though the written counteroffer failed to include that change, I
believe, based on Article 1, you should
have contacted the listing agent to clarify
the disparity.
Article 9 requires that “REALTORS®,
for the protection of all parties, shall
assure whenever possible that all agreements related to real estate transactions
. . . are in writing in clear and understandable language expressing the specific terms, conditions, obligations, and
commitments of the parties.” You knew
there was a difference between the written document and how the listing agent
had described specific terms of the counteroffer. Yet the sale contract you
received didn’t express the “specific
terms” intended by the sellers as you
understood them. A call to the other agent
might have resolved the discrepancy.
Bruce Aydt, ABR®, CRB, is senior vice
president and general counsel of
Prudential Alliance, REALTORS®, in St.
Louis, and a former chair of NAR’s
Professional Standards Committee.
A
A: Your situation involves concepts from
both Article 1 and Article 9 of the Code
of Ethics. Article 1 provides that “When
representing a buyer, seller, landlord,
tenant, or other client as an agent,
REALTORS® pledge themselves to protect and promote the interests of their
client. This obligation to the client is primary, but it does not relieve REALTORS® of their obligation to treat all
parties honestly.”
43
Committee Report
A little water on our yard
By Mike Troutman, Chair
Affiliate Liaison Committee
With the 2008 “The Grass is Greener” campaign in full swing
and the positive signs of those efforts everywhere, it’s time
again to think about what the role the Affiliate community of
the Columbus Board of REALTORS® has in all this.
The committee serves to improve professionalism in the
Central Ohio real estate industry by enhancing communication
among REALTORS®, lenders, title companies and sustaining
members, such as home inspectors, appraisers and insurance
agents. The goals of our committee for 2008 are to promote
those Affiliates that are active in the association, increase
Affiliate membership and participation in the Board, and plan
the annual Affiliate Appreciation Luncheon.
Included in those efforts to promote Affiliate members, we are
currently accepting applications for our newly created CBR
Affiliate/Sustaining Partner Program. This was created to recognize our Affiliates/Sustaining members for their years of
service and commitment to the CBR. The Affiliate/Sustaining
Member must apply to the Affiliate Liaison Committee, with
the proper criteria, which is five years in the real estate affiliated business, two consecutive years of individual membership in the CBR, two years of service on a CBR committee,
one year of an area association membership and three REALTOR® recommendations. The applications will be available
soon on the CBR web site.
To increase membership, the Committee will continue to scour
the landscape for Affiliates new to the business, as well as
within the ranks of current members by increasing the depth
of their membership’s participation. As always, your word of
mouth helps, so ask the partners with which you currently do
business “are you presently a member of our local Board?”
You’d be surprised what high regards Affiliates have for such
promotion and praise from REALTORS® and Affiliates alike.
Finally, the Affiliate Appreciation Luncheon has been scheduled for November 12, 2008, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the
Board. We will have door prizes galore and present new
awards to the deserving Affiliates. Please mark the date and
plan to attend!
Make a difference in your career, either as an Affiliate
Individual Member or a Sustaining Member, by joining the
Columbus Board of REALTORS®. It’s a great way to put a
little water on our yard while letting your efforts to the local
Board be rewarded.
Announcing Our New
Columbus Location
For over 150 years, the Wells Fargo name has stood for
reliability, integrity and pioneering innovations that help
people manage their money and grow their assets. As part of
the Wells Fargo & Company family, Wells Fargo Home
Mortgage can provide easy access to banking, insurance,
investment and consumer finance services to help our valued
customers achieve current goals and realize future dreams.
Our home mortgage consultants are available in more
than 2,300 locations doing business in all 50 states. Wells
Fargo Home Mortgage is a leading retail mortgage lender
and we are ready to meet your home financing needs.
Please stop by and see us at our new location (formerly
Homestead Mortgage Company)!
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
8001 Ravines Edge Court, Suite 302 • Columbus, OH 43235
614-885-6336 Phone • 614-436-2021 Fax
Information is accurate as of date of printing and is subject to
change without notice. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is a
division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. © 2008 Wells Fargo Bank,
N.A. All Rights Reserved. #55210 2/08-5/08.
45
Committee Report
Education key to commercial agent’s success
By John Chess, Chair
C/I Education Committee
Of all of the Columbus Board of REALTOR®’s Commercial/Industrial (C/I)
Committees, the C/I Continuing Education
Committee (C/I CE Com) has the greatest
impact on our members’ ability to grow and
prosper in their chosen fields of real estate.
Beside the obvious benefit of offering CE
credits to meet the state licensing requirements, it is our responsibility to offer classes that expand and further members’ education in their chosen segments of expertise.
The goal of the CI CE Committee is to offer
the most current and forward looking topics
in our industry and keep our members in
the forefront of the ever-changing real estate
landscape
It all starts with education. From the very
first decisions to enter the real estate industry to which area of expertise to specialize
in, education must always follow. There is
the saying “When a person stops learning,
he might as well be dead.” We must continue to learn, and in some cases, share our
wealth of knowledge.
office, retail and land. It is our responsibility to offer classes in each field to fully add
value to all of our members.
This year we are giving much consideration
to what we could do to add greater value,
increase interest, bring better classes, and
build a foundation for years to come for this
committee. One shortcoming that we
uncovered was a lack of performance
review for the committee.
One of the changes this year is that we are
setting benchmarks in several key areas to
track how we are performing in our duties
to the members. We are tracking more
closely the number of classes, CE credits
offered and revenues generated by these
classes. This will help in future years by
allowing us to set goals that can be broken
by future committee chairs. Competition is
a good thing and trying to be the best will
benefit all of us.
Upcoming classes &
luncheons with sponsoring
committee member:
Land Development: Wetlands, Surveys
& Development: Bernie Caplin
Investment Properties, Case Studies:
Donald Roberts
Arena District Update: Carlton
Dargusch
Warehouse & Industrial Properties:
Gary Szerszen
Streetcar Initiative: Kristy Daniel
Leasing & Tenant/Landlord
Relationships: Brian Lehner
The most successful REALTORS® owe it
to the industry to give back and mentor and
teach the next generation of their peers in
the industry. Giving financially is one way
to help, but to give back knowledge and
time is often much more rewarding. One
class we would like to make an annual tradition is the Top Producers Luncheon. In
this class, one or more of the Top Producers
from the previous year will share his or her
experience and pass along bits of information as to why he or she is so successful.
Giving back in this format will be easy and
tremendously helpful and inspirational to
new and sometimes struggling members.
We are dedicated to offer classes in each of
the five disciplines of commercial real
estate: industrial, multi-tenant residential,
47
Home sales continue to increase this spring
Low interest rates, high inventory and
competitive pricing continue to fuel the
housing market locally.
Home sales have increased each month
presenting a healthy picture of the central
Ohio housing market. The 2,064 homes
sold in May marked a 15.7 percent
increase over the number of sales the previous month.
There remains a large selection of homes
for sale in central Ohio. However, that
number continues to decline supporting
the anticipated correction in our housing
market. Last month, there were over
17,900 homes for sale which is a little
over five percent fewer than last year in
the month of May. There were 4,703
homes added to the market in May which
is eight percent lower than the 5,118
homes listed in May of last year.
The average list price of a home for sale
last month was $173,826 which is 3.8
percent lower than the average list price
of a home in May of 2007. Accordingly,
the average sale price ($168,345) was
almost four percent lower than the same
month last year.
Year to date sales of new and existing
homes (January through May) total 8,367,
14.1 percent behind the 9,737 sales
recorded during the first five months of
2007 but only about three percent behind
the market’s pre-boom period (prior to
2003).
(January through May.) The average sale
price of a home in Ohio is $135,336
which is 7.4 percent less than the average
sale price last year during the first five
months of the year.
Statewide, sales were down 18.1 percent
in May and 15.4 percent year to date
Nationally, May home sales were down
14.5 percent from last year and the medi-
48
an sales price of $206,700 is 6.8 percent
below a year ago.
Sales and sale prices in central Ohio are
not where we would like them to be. But
the following statistics support our assertion that “The Grass is Greener Here”.
MEMBER
Discounts / Services
Featured Vendors:
Sugardaddy’s Sumptuous Sweeties
Beth Rose, 614-888-4491
inquiries@sugardaddys.com
Sugardaddy’s Sumptuous Sweeties are hand-batched, hand-made
and hand packaged Brunette (chocolate) and Blond (non-chocolate)
brownies available in a delicious variety of flavors and textures. The
brownies are delivered in individual acrylic containers, which can be
embroidered with a logo or custom message and enclosed in a silk
bag tied with a colorful satin ribbon.
CBR members will receive a ten (10) percent discount on all orders
and free monogramming. There is, however, a one-time $75 set-up
charge. Tom Finney is co-founder and owner of Sugardaddy’s
Sumptuous Sweeties, which is located at 1347 Cameron Avenue,
Lewis Center, Ohio.
Rite Rug REALTOR® Direct
Bart Wilson, 614-778-2649
Steve Peck, 614-402-9666
Rite Rug REALTOR® Direct is a mobile showroom that will bring the
store to your clients. Rite Rug offers wholesale prices on a variety of
products and next-day installation on carpet, including basic installation and new pad.
In addition, your clients can get 12 months same-as-cash and competitive price matching on a variety of products at all levels, including
Hardwood, Ceramic, Laminate, carpet and Vinyl flooring.
The program features also include professional quality service that is
backed by Rite Rug’s guarantees.
To schedule the mobile showroom, call or email Bart Wilson, 614778-2649, bartwilson@riterug.com or Steve Peck, 614-402-9666,
stevepeck@riterug.com. (REALTOR® Direct special pricing is not
available in stores.)
1-800-GOT-JUNK? – Anthony
(614) 499-3460; fax (614) 2100244. North America's largest junk
removal service. Ten percent discount
for CBR members and their clients.
Blazer & Associates – (614) 4878601. Health insurance plans
including Anthem's two person
groups.
Brinks Home Security – James
Holland, (614) 679-4482. Free premium security system for members
and their clients. CBR members also
receive a $75 referral fee for each
client that signs up.
CBR Member Service Center –
Brandi Graves (614) 475-4000.
An array of Real Estate related materials for REALTOR® members.
CBR Printing Services – Nate
Huber (614) 475-4000. Low cost,
high quality design and printing for
members only. Color Copies $.65/copy ($.45/copy for 100+)
Cheryl's Cookies & Gifts – Carla
Moodipaugh, (614) 776-1546.
Discounts on tasty client gifts. (personalization and enclosures available.)
Cingular Wireless/Bell Haun
Systems – (614) 212-7900.
Digital Phone Program. Local and
National Plans. SBC-Ameritech
numeric and text paging service.
Columbus Virtual Tours – Cathal
Duffy (614) 437-1242. Cell: (386)
986-9726. 10% Discount on Virtual
Tours Ask About Our Referral
Program.
The Harrison Agency/MetLife
Auto and Home – Greg Harrison
(614) 539-5192
www.insureohio.metlife.com.
Competitive rates on home and
auto insurance.
Kemba Financial Credit
Union – (614) 729-1393. A full
range of financial products and services with great rates.
McCloy Financial – Thomas
Billman (614) 442-4569 or Jerry
Sigal (614) 442-4634. Long Term
Care Insurance
Merkel Financial Services –
Michelle Merkel, CFP (614) 4814455. Discounts up to 30% on
long-term Individual Disability
Insurance.
Office Depot – Jeanne Barrett
(614) 442-2228. 30-70% discounts
on office supply and technology
needs. Free next day delivery with no
minimums. Multiple office and home
office accounts available.
Professional Computer Forms –
1-800-955-6284. CBR standard
forms on-line with autofill capability.
Internet version - $70 per year;
Desktop version - $75 per year.
Pro-Source, Inc. – Rich Williams
(614) 751-8451. Discount on carpet (50%) and hard-floor covering
(30%).
Riterug – Steve Peck (614) 4029666. Wholesale prices on carpet/
flooring through their mobile showroom (not available at retail stores).
Call and they’ll come to you!
Sprint – Laurie Best, 614-3326641, laurie.best@sprint.com.
Special savings for new and existing
wireless customers and Smartphone
program.
Sugardaddy's – Beth Rose (614)
888-4491. 10% discount on all
orders. Hand baked sumptuous
sweeties in silk gift bags (monogramming available) with next day
delivery.
TNT Powerwash – Amy Van
Fossen (614) 444-8686. $30.00 off
regular price for clients and 25% discount for members.
Twin Horizons Travel – Susan or
Robin Schneider, (614) 793-8855.
Spa, resort, cruise, European tour,
skip trip, or family vacation, Twin
Horizons will create a getaway
exactly right for you.
UFAX – Brian Hoy (877) 3298329. Send and receive faxes online
or via your email! Signup at
ufax.net. Use promo code "CBR" to
get $9.99/month pricing!
Verizon Wireless/Tower
Wireless & HOT S.P.O.C.S. – Greg
Smith, 614-506-4224. Members
program for Smart Phones and Data
packages.
Vernon Sales Promotion –
David “O” Olivia, (614) 471-4602.
Reach clients and prospects with targeted advertising. Visit www.vernoncompany.com/davido. See special
REALTORS® link.
51
53
th
1908 - 2008
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS...
and Felix Pedon. Our associate trustee was
Jeff Brader.
Bill McMenamy
CBR President, 1989
I was honored in 1989 when the members
of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®
selected me to be their president and I’m
honored now in 2008 to have been selected by the 100th Anniversary Committee
to write one of the articles of celebration.
1989 was an historic year in which the
Berlin wall opened and the East German
Government resigned. In China, the
Tiananmen Square uprising took place
and in Alaska the supertanker Exxon
Valdez grounded on Bligh Reef in Prince
William Sound. In the U.S., the express
freeway collapsed during the 1989 San
Francisco Earthquake.
At the Columbus Board of REALTORS®,
we instituted the first two day leadership
training session for our officers, trustees
and committee chairs and focused on the
needs of our members.
The other 1989 officers were Nancy Sharp,
President Elect; Jack Myers, Vice
President; Pat Grabill, Secretary-Treasurer
and George Smith, Assistant SecretaryTreasurer.
Our returning trustees were Dick Alt, Sam
Calhoun, Bruce Massa, Doug McCloud,
Dean Potts, Pauline Tingley and Rick
Weber and our newly elected trustees were
Pat Kearns-Davis, Barbara Lach, Pat O’Neil
54
In addition to our officers, the five underlined trustees all served as president of the
Columbus Board of REALTORS® and
three also served as President of the Ohio
Association of REALTORS® as did two of
our officers. WOW! That’s impressive.
That leadership training obviously worked.
What also worked was Larry Metzger, our
wonderful executive officer, who has
become widely known for his political acumen and excellent lobbying skills. What a
friend we have in Larry. He has made
Board service so worthwhile and so much
fun for all of us. Larry is so skilled at his
craft he makes the conventions come alive
so that all participants can be their most
effective in representing our members and
guarding our collective best interests.
After the work day, relaxing at dinner at
one of his favorite restaurants, I found
myself so impressed with his judgement
that, when it was my turn to order, I
would look at the waitress and order the
exact same dinner that Larry had ordered.
Ray Boll and Barbara Lach were the 25
Million Dollar Sales Club winners; there
were 51 One Million Dollar Sales Club
winners and 25 Five Million Dollar Sales
Club winners.
Jeff Murray was President of the Northeast
Area Realty Association. Lynda Long was
President of the Westerville Area
Association, Steve Kahn was President of
IREM and past president Don Kelley was
named “Catholic Man of the Year”. Diane
Blackwood was MLS chairperson and, as
an aside, when my company later bought
the Coldwell Banker company in 1992 she
was the manager of our Westerville office.
In 1989 home sales in Columbus continued to boom after a record setting year in
1987. Building permits for single family
homes hit more than 4,000 keeping pace
with 1988. Vacation homes became a larger part of the market for residential specialists.
That year, we had 12,680 sales from
30,333 listings at an average sales price of
$90,215 per unit. Those figures are approximately one half of today’s market figures
in each category. Multi-family building permits were up to 700 over 1987, and it was
a good year for specialized multi-family
development, those developments that targeted a specific market.
Our downtown and suburban office vacancy rates were lower than the national aver-
McMenamy with Irving Levine and crew at
dinner meeting.
McMenamy at radio interview with Margie
Holzer.
McMenamy at President’s Ball.
McMenamy with Elvis on velvet.
age as well as many surrounding
Midwestern cites, and industrial vacancy
was on par with the national average.
Asbestos was the buzz word of concern for
our commercial industrial practitioners,
and we would all soon begin to feel the ill
effects of the retro-active 1986 Federal Tax
Act, which shut down the savings and loan
industry. Columbus was a shining star in
the Midwest, an island of hope and prosperity within the newly named “rustbelt”.
My 1989 year began with my induction
into the office of president by past president Marvin Yerke. Many of you remember what a humorous and funny man
Marvin could be and that night he was at
the top of his form. He set the stage for a
fun-filled year which I will never forget.
After my year was over I received a letter
from the then oldest living past president
of CBR, Leigh Koebel, who thanked me
for my service. Leigh was a true gentleman
who embodied great qualities each of us
respects and wants to emulate.
The induction was fun filled and very
public, the letter reading very private
and very touching. Both men very
unique, good friends of my parents and
very important to me. Marvin danced
with my mother at a dance club they all
belonged to. Leigh sold my mom and
dad the lot on South Stanwood Road in
Bexley where they built the home I grew
up in. All of us active in the Columbus
Board of REALTORS® have great stories of friendship we can tell. Leigh was
president in 1928, Marvin in 1964.
The friendships made through the
Columbus Board of REALTORS® are
very special and are forged from a time
commitment which is special and
unique among trade groups. Those relationships are very important to us personally, but give our group a special
power which only comes from combined
effort.
The members of the Columbus Board of
REALTORS® have been a catalyst for
actions that made our association one of
the absolute best in the country. Ponder
the effect John Galbreath had on the
skyline of Columbus. Consider the
impact he and Harley Rouda, Sr. had on
our industry while serving as presidents
of NAR. Consider the strength our organization gained when John Galbreath
and Dr. Bob Weiler donated successive
locations which allowed our former
Town Street and current Board facilities
to be state of the art at successive times
during our operating history. The
impact of the Columbus Board of
REALTORS® has been very widespread
and each of our many members should
take pride in and feel responsible for our
influence on our industry, our city, and
our country over these 100 years since
our founding.
Mayor Buck Rinehart and Columbus
Public Schools Superintendent, Ron
Etheridge, were special guests at our
February meeting. In March we greeted
NBC newsman Irving R. Levine, who did
more for the bow tie than anyone until
current OSU President Gordon Gee. Also
at that March meeting we presented a long
time friend of the board, Congressman
Chalmers Wylie, with the CBR Award of
Appreciation.
At the annual awards night meeting we
recognized Marge Drake, Salesperson of
the Year, Margie Coyle Holzer, REALTOR® of the Year, and Pete Edwards
CBR Citizen of the Year. CBR’s other
activities included support for the
Columbus Housing Partnership. We regularly interacted with executive director
Beth Hughs and were instrumental in the
success achieved by that very worthwhile
organization.
55
State Convention:
National Convention:
September 14-17
November 7-10
OAR Convention – “Get in the game”
NAR Convention – Destination Success
The key to winning in today’s challenging real estate marketplace is to
simply Get in the Game. From topnotch educational opportunities to
social gatherings to the always
insightful business function, the
98th Annual OAR Convention will
keep you in the game from dawn to
dusk. This year’s line-up of activities include…
A Heavy Hitter Opening Session –
featuring Comedian Greg Schwen,
who has appeared on stage with
Celine Dion and Jay Leno. OAR
President Brad Knapp will also honor
this year’s recipient of the Industry’s
REALTOR® of theYear and the recipient of the Excellence in Community
Service award.
12 Credit Hours of FREE Continuing
Education – including core law, civil
rights, ethics, marketing and technology taught by some of the
nation’s top instructors, such as
Terry Watson, Lynn Madison, Mark
Porter, Frank Mears, James Cannon,
Karel Murray, Jackie Leavenworth,
Sean Carpenter, Dana Smith and
Louis Caresani.
Three Big Nights of Fun &
Entertainment – starting with a tailgate party featuring a variety of
bands showcasing the homegrown
talents of fellow REALTORS®; a halftime party with Conspiracy Band
(sponsored by First American Title
and Wells Fargo); and a post-game
victory celebration with a DJ to get
you moving and a variety of Wii and
other video games to keep you entertained!
56
A “Sure Bet” Trade Show – featuring nearly 90 exhibitors displaying
the newest gizmos, gadgets and
products to help you make more
money and be more productive! Wi-Fi
access will also be available in the
expo area, allowing you to stay connected to your clients, customers
and office.
President’s Sales Club Dinner –
Recipients of the distinguished
President’s Sales Club award will
take the spotlight at a wonderful
dinner party held exclusively in their
honor.
If someone brings a REALTOR® who
has never attended before BOTH will
enjoy a $25.00 reduction in fees they would need to register at the
same time.
There will be give aways at most
events starting with Opening Session
and ending with the Victory Party everything from t-shirts to personal
coaching to Wii machines!
Don’t miss your opportunity to Get in
the Game. For registration, hotel
information and program details, go
to www.ohiorealtors.org.
Success DRIVEN
The 2008 REALTORS® Conference &
Expo is a MUST attend to SUCCEED in
any market:
four days of intensive training you
cannot find at any other real estate
event!
programs for brokers, sales agents,
commercial practioners, IT professionals, International specialists,
property managers, and more—200
programs in all!
latest ideas and techniques for selling in today’s challenging markets
sessions cover everything from short
sales to presentations that get the
listing
grow beyond your marketplace by
developing B2B relationships with
developers in the International 2nd
Home & Resort Pavilion
valuable insights on leadership and
marketing from Web marketing innovators, sports, loyalty and service
experts and creativity coaches from
this year’s Entrepreneurial Excellence
Series line up of seven extraordinary
sessions
renew your technology skills and
increase productivity with hands-on
training at the Technology Learning
Center (TLC).
Take a TEST DRIVE at Expo!
The REALTORS® Conference & Expo
presents infinite new ideas and pro-
ductivity tools to help REALTORS®
save time, work more efficiently, and
make more money:
unlimited opportunities to shop, compare, and save on the best productivity tools on the market.
700 exhibitors and the opportunity to
talk directly with product experts
learn about second home and resort
properties in the U.S. and around the
world from more than 100 exhibitors
in the International 2nd Home &
Resort Pavilion
win $1,000 in daily drawings or a
new Cadillac CTS!
MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW FOR
November 2008!
Mark your calendar for the 2008
REALTORS® Conference & Expo in
Orlando, Florida:
Orange County Convention Center,
Orlando, Florida
November 7-10, 2008
Registration opens to general membership May, 5, 2008
Excellent value — Registration for
all four days is just $300 before
August 15
Six hotels at $99 or less
Visit this site often in the coming
months for news of what’s in store for
you in Orlando!
Highlights
CORPAC Auction – May 22
Thank you to all our donors and our 400 attendees for helping make the 2008 CORPAC Auction a success! We raised over $36,000 with
our silent and live auctions!
Thank you to our sponsors!
Chase Home Mortgage
Countrywide Home Loans
Duffy Homes
Fifth Third Mortgage Company
Northwest Title Family of Companies
Southern Delaware County Area Realty
Association
Talon Title Agency
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
We hope to see you all on September 4th at Foxfire Golf Course for the annual CORPAC Golf Outing!
Bricks, Brats, Beers – June 19
The 1st annual Bricks, Brats, Beers Festival to benefit the REALTORS® Charitable Foundation Fund was a hit! The fund was able to raise over
$1900.00 in two hours! Over 80 people joined together to eat delicious Schmidt’s Brats and took part in bean-bag-toss games while the re-dedication of the Charitable Foundation Walk was celebrated.
100% of proceeds for the purchase of a paver or other donation to the REALTORS® Charitable Foundation Fund directly support real estate-related programs and qualified entities whose goals are to improve the overall real estate environment in Central Ohio.
57
A Partnership
That Pays.
With Wayne Homes,
It’s Win – Win For You
And Your Clients!
You won’t believe the perks of partnering
with Wayne Homes! We do the paper
work, schedule closings, and keep in
close contact with your clients so the
whole process is a breeze!
Not to mention what’s in it for you:
• 3% commission on first referral; 4% for second; 5% for third and above.
• Commission paid at time foundation is started (typically 45-60 days)
• Commission paid on base price PLUS options
• Opportunity to assist Wayne Homes’ clientele looking for land or
selling homes
• No referral fees!
You – and your clients – can’t afford not to join forces with Wayne Homes.
What are you waiting for? Call Wayne Homes today!
Graduated commission rate effective 2/1/07 - 2/1/08.
1 - 8 0 0 - W A Y N E
6 0
•
W a y n e H o m e s . c o m
SPOTLIGHT
on Community Service
AWARDS
2nd Quarter, 2008
Shari Carroll, RE/MAX Capital Centre, REALTORS®
Shari Carroll is actively involved in various community projects, currently serving as a Corresponding Secretary on the Board
of Charity Newsies, whose mission is that no child be kept out of school for lack of adequate clothing. Charity Newsies completes this mission by purchasing new apparel and distributing it free of charge to school children in Franklin County, Ohio.
Thanks to the support of the citizens of Franklin County for over 100 years, the Charity Newsies clothed over 14,000 school
children in the 2007 – 2008 School Year! Shari was also in the top 100 Pledge Raisers for the 2007 Columbus Susan Komen
Race for the Cure. She is committed to making donations to the Children’s Hospital Miracle Network from proceeds of closings and serves on the Executive Committee for the Clintonville Area Chamber of Commerce after serving two consecutive
years as the Chair of the Board. Shari says, “I was raised with the belief that we are all here to help one another and if it
has anything to do with children and putting a smile to their faces. . . . I’m there!!”
Anita Graves, RE/MAX Achievers
Anita Graves has been an active supporter of both St. Jude’s Children’s Miracle Network and the Susan G. Komen Breast
Cancer Foundation, which was founded on a promise between two sisters and is a cause without borders. It is the world’s
largest and most progressive grassroots network of breast cancer survivors. Children’s Miracle Network is the alliance of
170 premier children’s hospitals that, each year, treat 17 million children for every disease and injury imaginable. These hospitals help children of all races, ages, religions, ailments, and financial backgrounds. Anita is also involved scholarship
fundraising and charity dinner activities for the Hilliard Area Realty Association. Anita says, ““I choose to be involved in
these charities and activities because I feel they are extremely worthy causes. I enjoy giving back to my community whether
it is financially or through activities.”
Bonnie Nyikes, RE/MAX Premier Choice
Bonnie Nyikes is involved in a variety of community service projects in Hilliard, where she has served as a volunteer for several years and was the volunteer coordinator in 2007 for the Hilliard Area Chamber of Commerce Hollyfest Arts & Crafts
Show. The Arts & Craft Show is an annual event held in December, with booth participates selected by invitation only, and
proceeds benefiting The Hollyfest Scholarship Foundation. The Hollyfest Scholarship Foundation awards the largest local
scholarship presented to a graduating student of Hilliard High School. Bonnie is also a two time past President of the
Hilliard Area Realty Association, where she has participated in numerous Association outreach activities for nearly 15 years,
including raising funds for the annual Needy Families Christmas Gifts Project and fundraising efforts for scholarships given
annually to Hilliard graduating Seniors, and assisting a Hilliard area family who were house fire victims. Bonnie says, “One
of the great things about being your own boss is that your time can be very flexible. I truly enjoy the volunteer work I do
and I am blessed with the ability to make time to do it.”
Janet Thiede, Real Living HER
Janet Thiede is involved a variety of community and school projects and is most proud of her involvement with the creation of
the Arts Palace, which she co-founded with a friend, Jan Brown, and the Palace Theatre. Now in its tenth year, the Arts Palace
has grown into a full program of camps, classes, and workshops offering a wide variety of art medium to students of all ages,
from pre-school to adults. In its infancy, Janet and her co-founders gave this program its strong start – gathering people
together to visit art programs, scheduling teachers and classes, creating and distributing brochures, purchasing supplies. They
also developed scholarship guidelines and a small scholarship program (thanks to the Brown Foundation) to start it out. Janet
is also actively involved in numerous school projects, and currently serves as PTO vice president for both Pickerington North
High School and Fairfield Elementary and is co-chair of Pickerington High School’s Antique and Craft Show, which attracts 100
vendors and thousands of people, and serves as a fundraiser for both high schools. Janet says, “I’ve never been a person to just
sit back and watch. If something needs to be done and no one seems to be stepping up to do it, I volunteer. If I see someone
in desperate need of help, I ask what I can do. I’ve especially enjoyed helping with activities involving my children. It has
given me opportunities to meet and work with some very nice and talented people. It has given me a greater opportunity to
be a part of the lives of my children.”
59
CBR CALENDAR
JULY 2008
4
CBR Closed – Independence Day
7
Staff Meeting
8
8
AUGUST 2008
1
Mid-Year Retreat
8:30a
9:30a
4
Staff Meeting
9:30a
COCIE
9a
6
RS Education Committee
Member Services Committee
1p
7
CORPAC Fundraising Committee
8
Realtist
2p
11
BRAC Committee
8
RS Standard Forms Committee
2p
12
Member Services Committee
9
Tempo I
9a
12
RS Standard Forms Committee
2p
9
MLS Appeals
Nn
13
MLS Appeals Panel
Nn
9
MLS Committee
1p
13
MLS Meeting
10
NM Orientation
9a
13
Equal Opportunity Committee
1:30p
10
Foundation Fund Fundraising Committee
11:30a
14
Foundation Fund Fundraising
11:30a
10
CORPAC Fundraising Committee
1:30p
14
Sales advisory Committee
10
Sales Advisory Committee
2p
16-19
ASAE Annual Convention
11
Affiliate Liaison Committee
9a
19
COCIE Super Users
11
Affordable Housing Committee
10a
20
NM Orientation
11-13
Parking Lot Paving
1p
21-22
NAR Leadership Summit
14
BRAC Committee
10a
21
Mentoring Session – The Art of Negotiating, Conflict
15-16
OAR CSO/CEO Symposium
15
Land Development Seminar
9a
21
Foundation Fund Advisory Board
15
Palm OS Treo Basics
15
Tempo Wireless
15
COCIE Super Users
16
COCIE Committee
16
16
17
17
1p
1:30p
10a
1p
1p
2p
3p
5:30p
Avoidance & Resolution
9a
10a
9a
21
Grievance Committee
2p
11:30a
26
CBR Officers Meeting
8:30a
3p
26
CI Steering Committee
8:30a
26
CI Membership Committee
Nn
Short Sale Class
9a
26
Technology User Forum
1:30p
Tempo III
9a
27
CBR Directors Meeting
11:30a
Tempo II
9a
28
CI Education Committee
8:30a
Mentoring Session – Working the Investment Property Market
9a
17
Advance COCIE
1p
17
Grievance Committee
22
Tech User Forum
7:30a
22
CBR Officers Meeting
8:30a
22
Tech Day
23
Tempo I
23
CBR Directors Meeting
24
Tempo III
9a
29
Tempo II
9a
29
CI Steering Committee
29
CI Membership Committee
30
Tempo II
30
CI Luncheon – Working in Today’s Mortgage Environment
31
CI Education Committee
31
Tempo III
1:30p
2p
10a
9a
11:30a
Nn
1:30p
9a
• Programs/ Education classes approved for
or pending C.E. credit are indicated in BOLD
11:30a
8:30a
• Dates are subject to change
9a
ADVERTISER INDEX
ABC Gas Repair ................................................................. 31
ABC Gas Repair ................................................................. 46
Broadway Condominiums ................................................. 52
CBR Print Shop .................................................................. 55
Chicago Title ...................................................................... 47
Columbus Dispatch ............................................................ 50
Concord Mortgage Group .................................................. 42
Eagle Land Title ................................................................. 44
Epcon Communities ........................................................... 16
Equitable Mortgage Corporation ........................................ 27
Fischer Homes ..................................................................... 5
The Glass Guru ................................................................. 34
IBA ..................................................................................... 19
Lifestyle Communities ........................................................ 63
62
Maple Craft Custom Homes ............................................... 61
Maronda Homes ................................................................ 60
M/I Homes .......................................................................... 10
Northwest Title ................................................................... 38
Olentangy Eye & Laser Assocs .......................................... 38
Schumacher Homes .......................................................... 49
Stonehenge Company ......................................................... 2
Title First ............................................................................ 20
Truberry Group ................................................................... 64
Village Communities .......................................................... 12
Walt Morrow Builders ........................................................ 26
Wayne Homes .................................................................... 58
Wells Fargo ....................................................................... 45
World Inspection Network .................................................. 31
In Contract Magazine is a
great way to target 7,400
real estate professionals!
In Contract is published 10 times a
year. Advertisers who sign 10 or 5
time contracts receive discounts for
frequency.
In Contract has several ad sizes to
fit all advertising needs. To receive
an advertising rate card, contact
Marqué Bressler or Lynn Hackworth
at 614-475-4000.
It’s Personal
At Lifestyle Communities we don’t just build
homes – we provide the spark that promotes
unforgettable living experiences that cater to
the ﬁrst time home buyer.
As the #1 condominium developer in Central
Ohio, our 5 convenient locations offer townhome
condos and single-family homes priced from the
$90s to the low $200s.
At Lifestyle Communities we believe in a home
buying experience that goes beyond four walls
and revolves around your client and their style.
From the Techie to the Foodie to the Entertainer
– we have a list of custom amenities assembled
just for your client. Plasma televisions, gourmet
kitchen with quartz countertops, wet bars – even
cooking classes with the Adventure League.
The good life happens here.
Techie
Entertainer
Visit Lifestylecommunities.com
to ﬁnd a location and learn more about our
“It’s Personal” promotion.
Foodie
Blacklick • Canal Winchester
Dublin • Gahanna • New Albany
lifestylecommunities.com
IN CONTRACT Magazine
July/August 2008

Northwest Area Realty Association

Transcription

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