| In This Issue: Monday, May 9, 2005 | |||||
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INDUSTRY NEWS AND EVENTS |
2005 Commercial Membership Reference Guide to Mail in Late May |
| The 2005 REALTORS® Commercial Alliance Membership Reference Guide, specifically created for Commercial members, will mail in late May to members, rather than in February as it has in past years. The Guide details the benefits of the REALTORS® Commercial Alliance (RCA) and highlights issues of primary importance to Commercial members from legislative activity to Commercial organizations and resources. A separate REALTOR VIP® Member Benefits Program Directory, which provides easy access to discount and service information from major corporations, will be included with the Guide. In addition, each Commercial member will receive a personalized membership ID card with their Guide. For more info,Click Here |
A Guide to Commercial Events at NAR Midyear Meetings |
| The Midyear meetings are scheduled to get underway starting today. If you’re attending, visit NAR's booth #1020 and pick up a copy of the latest “RCA Report”. Be sure to attend all of the business meetings for the RCA. Download and print the brochure of commercial programs.Click Here |
Don’t Miss the Commercial Board Summit and Power Brokering Workshop at RealComm |
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RCA is proud to host the Commercial Board Summit at RealComm in Anaheim, CA. The theme of this year's Summit is "Cutting Edge Technology & Marketing Tools Every Practitioner Needs to Increase Productivity - Your Association at Work". The Summit will be held on Monday, June 27th from 2:30PM - 6:00PM.
NAR is working with Whit Peyton and Mark McLaughlin, two long-standing visionaries in the Commercial Brokerage industry, to develop and facilitate this cutting edge program. The Summit will deal with a number of timely issues including, Commercial Information Exchanges, telecommunications strategies, member technology tools, mobile worker strategies and much more. Another not to miss event at RealComm is "21st Century Power Brokering", a four hour workshop focusing on technology solutions that will streamline your operations and communications, and improve the overall efficiency of your business. Topics include; transaction software, contact management systems and innovations in wireless communications. This seminar has a fee of $100, see the website for options on pricing the event with your registration. Because the RCA is a Gold Sponsor of RealComm we can provide the opportunity to save money on conference fees by registering early.
Register from the Realcomm website: www.realcomm.com Use the Realcomm 2005 Commercial Board Summit Attendee Promotional Codes:
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Answers on Commercial Broker Lien Law and License Portability are a Click Away with Interactive Map |
| Not sure which states have passed broker lien laws? Wonder which states recognize your real estate license? Would you like to see if there is a local board in that area? Curious to see if you’re in the jurisdiction of an existing COB? All these questions can be answered in one place with the new interactive map developed by RCA and the Center for REALTOR Technology. Use the Interactive map link from this page Click Here Members can also access charts summarizing broker lien laws and license portability statutes in each state from the appropriate link on the same page. |
PUBLIC POLICY UPDATES |
Bankruptcy Bill Signed by President |
| In a victory for commercial real estate, President Bush has signed the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, which contains four NAR-supported real estate provisions: closing a loophole allowing bankrupt residential tenants to remain in their apartments if rents are not current when bankruptcy is declared; providing an automatic 90-day stay from creditors for all commercial properties, regardless of property value; offering protection for shopping center owners and tenants by clarifying the rights of bankrupt retailers to honor the terms of their leases; and protecting homeowner and condo association members by requiring owners in bankruptcy to pay their accrued fees. The provisions go into effect 180 days after enactment. To read more on the issue and its impact on your business. Click Here |
Call for Action: Health Care for NAR Members |
| Use the NAR Action Center to contact U.S. Senators to urge support of S. 406, the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2005. If the act becomes law, small businesses and self-employed workers would be able to band together through membership in a trade or professional association such as NAR and negotiate lower health insurance costs for participants. You will need to be registered to send the prewritten letter to senators. Have your NRDS number ready to register, don’t delay on this important issue. Click Here |
Congress Passes Budget Resolution, Benefits for Real Estate |
| Congress has passed its budget resolution for FY 2006, which sets revenue and spending targets for the upcoming fiscal year. The tax-writing committees have been authorized to cut taxes by $70 billion, which will permit Congress to extend expiring provisions including the 15-year life for leasehold improvements, the 15 percent capital-gains tax rate, and brownfields cleanup expensing. The tax cuts related to the budget resolution are to be sent to the full House and Senate no later than mid-September. Other tax bills outside the budget context are expected. Contact Linda Goold 202/383-1083. |
BRAC: Old Military Bases to House Oil Refineries? |
| The Bush Administration has indicated that it would recommend using old military sites to house oil refineries and will direct federal agencies to work with states and local communities on the matter. NAR is currently working with DOD's Office of Economic Adjustment on mitigating the impact of a closed, or realigned, base on surrounding communities. Clearly, if a base's land use requirements are modified to accommodate an oil refinery, the surrounding community would be impacted. NAR followed up with the Department of Defense's Office of Economic Adjustment indicating this concern. OEA indicated that the proposal was still fresh and was unclear on how it would work within the federal property disposition process. Read more about base closures and NAR’s involvement to ensure a role for Realtors in the land use planning process. Click Here |
Senate Banking Committee Holds Hearing on Terrorism Insurance |
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On April 14, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). TRIA is set to expire at the end of 2005, jeopardizing the continued availability of terrorism coverage into 2006.
Witnesses at the hearing made the following points:
In a statement submitted for the record NAR argued that TRIA has helped restore confidence in the economy since it was passed in 2002 and that it is a key component in the financing of commercial and multifamily developments. Some members have seen premiums skyrocket, or have had coverage dropped -- this trend will become more pronounced when policies are renewed at midyear. It is likely that the Senate banking committee will wait until at least June to take action on S. 467, the TRIA extension bill. By that time, Treasury will have released its report on the effectiveness of the program. For an issue summary of the Act , Click Here |
RESEARCH, RESOURCES |
Speak up and be Heard - New NAR Action Center for Commercial Interests |
| NAR needs your help urging Congress to pass legislation that benefits real estate professionals. The NAR Action Center run by NAR’s Government Affairs Staff and the RCA have created a special section for commercial interests. Keep up to date on key issues and their progress with the Commercial Issues Tracker. Register to be part of the Action Center for grassroots political activities, create your own action alerts and get the word out on what’s important to you. The Action Center makes it easy to communicate on issues that matter to your business and to our nation’s policymakers. To register Click Here. |
NAR Debuts Online Human Resources Toolkit |
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An online resource guide to create or clarify employee policies has been developed by NAR's human resources department and is now available to NAR members. The Human Resources Toolkit Click Here is designed to provide information and guidance on employee relations, recruiting and legal issues.
The toolkit is a comprehensive and practical overview of key aspects of people management. You will find a wealth of information on human resources topics including:
The guide has information for organizations of all sizes and stages of growth. Included are checklists and forms to help assess needs and assist in the evaluation of current practices. You will also find related links and further resource documents. |
Commercial News Briefs |
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Visit the commercial news section of REALTOR® Magazine Online every week for the latest commercial news. Here's a sample of recent headlines:
* REITs Outperformed Broader Market in April * Insurers Fight to Save Terrorism Safety Net * Cushman & Wakefield Outsources to India * Ariz.: Phoenix Ranks Low for Terrorism Risks * Mass.: Boston Cos. Spur Terror Insurance Spike * CB Richard Ellis Swings to 1Q 2005 Net Profit To access more commercial news, Click Here. |
Limited-Time Offer from ZipForm |
| Stop wasting time on paperwork. With the help of ZipForm, the official forms software of NAR, you can be more efficient. Information entered into a form auto-populates all forms within a transaction without re-keying the same data increasing productivity while decreasing the amount of time spent on paperwork. Only through May 30th, can NAR members receive one page of custom forms design FREE with the purchase of one page (maximum – five pages free, $825 value)! For more information call 888/318-2660, x263 or visit Zipform. Not all state and local form libraries are available. Check the website for availability. |
Still Time to ‘Double Your Discount’ with Dell in May |
| NAR members can take advantage of a special, limited-time offer from Dell through NAR’s REALTOR VIP® Alliance Program. For May only, NAR members save 12% on Dell Precision™ Workstations, Latitude™ Notebooks, OptiPlex™ Desktops, PowerEdge™ Servers and PowerVault™ Storage. Save 10% on Software and Peripherals including printers, monitors, digital cameras, handhelds, LCD TVs, projectors and digital music players. Save 6% on Dimension™ Desktops and Inspiron™ Notebooks! Take advantage your NAR REALTOR VIP® discount by shopping Dell now to customize the systems and printers you need to fuel your business. When you are ready to purchase call your dedicated sales representative at 1-877-648-3355 to place your order. (Mon. - Fri. 7am - 8pm CST or Sat. 8am - 5pm CST) Your sales representative will apply your NAR member discount to your order. NAR double discount cannot be combined with other Dell discounts or promotions. Offer expires May 31. |
AFFILIATE NEWS |
SIOR Forms Advisory Board |
| SIOR has formed an advisory board comprised of F. Joseph Moravec, Commissioner, Public Buildings Service, U.S. General Services Administration; Sean McCourt, President, Ford Land; Dirk P. D. Mosis III, Vice President, USAA Real Estate Company; Carl Panattoni, chief executive of Panattoni Development Company; John Englert, corporate real estate consultant and former Eastman Kodak executive. The board's objective is to provide advice on adding value to services for clients, expanding membership and increasing the value of belonging to SIOR. To read the full press release, Click Here |
Report compiled by Carolyn Schwaar, cschwaar@realtors.org, 312/329-8874. |
| QUESTIONS on this report? Visit the INS FAQ and online feedback area on REALTOR.org. CLICK HERE. |
