RE/MAX Advantage Hump Day Report 9-29-2010

This report has hyperlinks to other or supporting information 

Quick Notes
Welcome!  Nneka Geter to our Summerlin office.  She is a former RE/MAX Experience agent who is focusing on short sales.  Shoot her an email and say hi!  nnekasg@yahoo.com

Victoria Mitchum joins our Anthem office from Prudential Americana.  She has spent extensive time in property management here and in Oklahoma.  Shoot Victoria an email and welcome her victoriamitchum@yahoo.com

****An appeal to all Advantage Agents.  We have increased inventory of REO properties in very good condition.  We need your referrals to hire a few more agents to use these for sales and new buyer opportunities.  Please send me your referrals – tim@timkuptz.com

#### Looking for a place to office?  Park yourself in a bank repo and meet some new people.  Check with Tom Rucci, Jim Eggers, Larry DeCoursey, Bob Little for opportunities.

Invest in Yourself
Designation Madness – this month at GLVAR!  It’s a perfect time to invest in yourself and earn some CE and designations.  Go to www.lasvegasrealtor.com for information.

Breaking News!
Revised Listing Agreement Now Available on zipForm®

GLVAR’s listing agreement has been updated with several clauses to address current legal issues and seller’s rights. The major changes include:

• The compensation section is broken out to clearly delineate commission earned in a sale or a lease, and to break out percentage commission and flat-fee commission. This change comports with a letter from HUD to NAR clarifying how brokerage fees are to be disclosed under RESPA.
• To assist agents in entering the listing, new spaces are provided for the seller to give information about the Common Interest Communities which may affect the property, the amount of the dues, and whether the dues are current.
• SID/LID information is requested in a new section which also provides the web address to look up the information.
• The seller opt-out provisions required by the Department of Justice since 2009 are now incorporated into the body of the agreement; no separate page or addendum is needed if using the GLVAR listing agreement. (Brokerages that use their own in-house form must still provide the seller with the opt-outs. The separate addendum will remain in the zipForm® library for this purpose.)
• A new section requires that the sellers disclose the status of their mortgage (if it’s in default or not) and requires them to alert the broker if the mortgage goes into default.
• Electronic/digital signatures are expressly agreed to and allowed.

These changes were made to the ER and EA listing agreements, as well as the unimproved land listing agreements (both ER and EA) as applicable. A redline version of the ER listing agreement and a podcast explaining the changes are available at www.lasvegasrealtor.com/formsupdate.

As REALTORS® continue to use and comment on the Short Sale Addendum, the Forms Committee will continue to revise and refine this form to keep it up-to-date and practical.

The most recent changes to the form include:

• A beefed-up explanation about the possible conditions that may be included in a lender approval;
• A reference to the lender approval form to facilitate the parties’ acceptance or rejection of the approval terms;
• A clarification of timelines, and that escrow is opened and earnest money is deposited as stated in the purchase agreement;
• The evisceration of the infamous “Paragraph 6″ which now merely states that the seller may accept other offers as backup offers.

A redline version of the revised Short Sale Addendum and a podcast explaining the changes are available at www.lasvegasrealtor.com/formsupdate

From the Technology Files
Looking for a very simple and FREE quick place to start a website/blog?  Try www.posterous.com  you can blog here, modify to look a website, and have it update your social media.  You can even post from your phone.  Or go to www.wordpress.com and build a website from their platforms for FREE.  Gone soon will be the days of fancy websites costing $100/month.  The evolution of  blogging platforms may make the website obsolete.

Reminder!  The company blog www.movetotheballoon.com has a neat feature to help you deliver relevant news to your friends on face book or to “retweet” to your followers on twitter.  Click on a story, then share it with your friends.  Follow us on twitter (www.twitter.com/vegasremax) and retweet timely and informative stories.