Summary of Actions Taken by the NAR Board of Directors at the Mid-Year Meeting - and what they mean to you...

REALTORS® Federal Credit Union Launches

Your credit union was formed as a world-class member benefit by the National Association of REALTORS® and is designed to accommodate REALTORS®’ busy professional and personal schedules.

We‘ve started one of the world's very few totally virtual financial institutions. This means it is open for you 24-hours a day, seven days a week, and accessible, easily, via the Internet or Member Care.Membership is open to all REALTORS® and their immediate family members, as well as members and employees of NAR’s institutes, societies and councils.

NAR staff and the staffs of State and Local REALTOR® associations and boards, and their families, are also eligible. Finally, Credit Union membership is also open to member-owned business.They offer a full menu of checking and savings accounts, lines of credit, consumer and mortgage loans which are friendly to REALTORS®.

REALTORS® FCU is a not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by its members and directed by an elected board of volunteers. It is a stand-alone entity, and is not owned nor operated by the National Association of REALTORS®.

What this means to YOU: You finally have a financial institution that understands who you are (independent contractor with an irregular paycheck) and has money to lend. Changes to Code of Ethics and Member Policy

Article 15 says that REALTORS® will not make “knowingly or recklessly” false or misleading statements. One Standard of Practice was amended and a new one was approved to strengthen members’ obligations to refrain from making false or misleading statements about competitors, including the use of social media tools.

The new amendment includes the duty to publish a clarification about, or to remove statements made by, others on electronic media the REALTOR® controls once the REALTOR® knows the statement is false or misleading. For example, if you’re publishing a blog and someone posts a false or misleading comment about a fellow REALTOR® on it, it’s your duty to remove the post or publish a clarification when you become aware of it.

What this means to YOU: One more social media obligation. Note that its only for “blogs” that you control. There is no obligation to correct someone else’s “knowingly or recklessly false post”...yet.

Article 11 requires that REALTORS not offer specialty services outside their area of competence. For instance, a residential specialist would not undertake to provide commercial brokerage services. The article contains a list of such services that members should refrain from offering without training. That list was expanded t include “land brokerage”.

What this means to YOU: If you want to be a “dirt merchant” you need to know what you’re doing. No content change.

Article 3 addresses cooperation between REALTORS. Standard of Practice 3-2 was amended to establish a clear definitional marker of the point in time at which a listing broker’s offer of cooperative compensation is accepted. Any change in the compensation offered must be communicated to the cooperating REALTOR® before the REALTOR® submits an offer to purchase or lease the property.

What this means to YOU: This should make arbitration cases a little easier to solve.

Standard of Practice 16-20 was amended to clarify that if a REALTOR®’s relationship with his or her brokerage is terminated, he or she can’t take any action to induce clients to cancel exclusive contractual agreements with the brokerage, regardless of who terminates the relationship.

What this means to YOU: No change from current policy.

Policies on Short Sales

Short sale commission reductions. The board gave MLSs the discretion of whether to permit participants to communicate to each other how any reduction in the gross commission established in the listing contract by the lender, as a condition of approving a short sale, will be apportioned between the listing and cooperating participants.

What this means to YOU: You need to read agent comments very carefully. Also…make certain your buyer-client knows what will trigger their participation in your compensation.

Short sale definition. The board added the following definition of a short sale to the Handbook on Multiple Listing Policy: "a transaction where title transfers, where the sale price is insufficient to pay the total of all liens and costs of sale and where the seller does not bring sufficient liquid assets to the closing to cure all deficiencies."

What this means to YOU: It matches Idaho law.

NAR Dues

The board voted to keep dues at $80 per year and to continue the $35 per member special assessment to fund the Public Awareness Campaign.

What this means to YOU: No dues increase from NAR for 2010!

2010 officers
The board elected the following slate to lead the association in 2010: President, Vicki Cox Golder, Tucson, Ariz. President-elect, Ronald Phipps, Warwick, R.I. Treasurer, James Helsel Jr., Lemoyne, Pa. First Vice President Maurice (“Moe”) Veissi, South Miami, Fla.

What this means to YOU: One more year without an Idahoan as NAR President!