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Popcorn & Politics | Annual Chamber Legislative Reception on 11/29
Please join sponsor Embrace Homes Loans for this year’s Politics and Popcorn put on the by Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce! This event is your opportunity to meet and interact with the state delegation that represents our region. The panel of Legislators will answer questions that members submit in advance as well as take questions from the audience.
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
3:00pm to 5:00pm
Gari Melchers’ Belmont, Stafford County
$20 for Chamber Members
$30 for General Public
Register here: http://members.fredericksburgchamber.org/events/details/popcorn-politics-6487
Council of Residential Specialists Announces Name Change to Residential Real Estate Council
November 20, 2017, Chicago, IL—The Council of Residential Specialists announced today, effective immediately, that it is officially changing its name to the Residential Real Estate Council (RRC). The name was changed in an effort to minimize the confusion between the organization’s name and the CRS Designation which is not changing.
“We’ve grown significantly and our new name reflects our commitment to deliver the highest level of knowledge and professionalism in the industry,” said Lana Vukovljak, CEO, Residential Real Estate Council. “As an organization, we are committed to providing premier education and fostering innovation to the brightest and most successful leaders in real estate.”
The Council also announced that the renowned CRS Designation symbol has been updated with a more contemporary look and feel.
“The CRS Designation is the most recognized and prestigious one in the industry,” said Leigh Brown, President, RRC. “The new look reflects our 41-year history of training and empowering ethical, efficient and successful real estate professionals within a more contemporary context to better represent the top REALTORS® that achieve the Designation.”
“We will be transitioning these changes over the coming weeks and months to make it as easy as possible for all CRS Designees to adopt the new branding,” said Vukovljak.
The Council implemented a number of groundbreaking changes this past year including offering a new education pathway leading to CRS Designation, and maintenance requirements for its CRS Designation. It also added 22 new classroom and eLearning courses to its education curriculum and is offering 80 webinars by the end of 2017.
“The Council is supported by innovative industry leaders who invest their time, energy and ideas to help it thrive and find solutions that keep our members at the top of the industry, while staying true to its mission,” said Vukovljak.
For further information, contact the Residential Real Estate Council at 800-462-8841.
About the Residential Real Estate Council, formerly the Council of Residential Specialists
Residential Real Estate Council, formerly the Council of Residential Specialists, is the largest not-for-profit affiliate of the National Association of REALTORS® comprised of more than 33,000 members, supporting them with education, networking events, practitioner developed tools and mentoring. It awards the CRS Designation to experienced REALTORS who have completed advanced professional training and demonstrated outstanding professional achievement in residential real estate.
Confused by your ethics requirement? Read this!
Every two years, an agent is required to renew their license. Part of the requirement to renew includes 3 hours of ethics. DPOR, the state licensing board, does not require any specific ethics for an agent to renew their license. NAR and FAAR require the NAR code of ethics. It’s a specific ethics geared towards Realtors®. That is the difference when you are taking a class. Please check when selecting an ethics class that it includes the NAR code of ethics and when you get your certificate after completing the class, forward it to the association so that we can update our records.
Got more questions? Contact Membership Services Director, Lori Hillard-Wehr at lhillardwehr@faarmembers.com
Interested in serving as a FAAR Delegate to the state association?
FAAR is advertising for members to apply for the Delegate at-large position on the Virginia REALTORS® Delegate Body . The At- Large Delegate must attend the two meetings, the Virginia REALTORS® Legislative Conference in February in Richmond and the Convention in October in Norfolk. FAAR covers the event registration, hotel and mileage to each event. For more information contact Pat Breme, pbreme@faarmembers.com. Send Breme a brief resume and why you wish to represent FAAR at the state level by December 4.
Interested in serving on the NVAR Standard Forms Committee?
Standard Forms Committee (Open to NVAR members and those who have been in the business for at least 5 years)
The Committee is responsible for creating, reviewing and revising the standard forms developed by NVAR for its members. The committee also ensures that forms remain in compliance with federal, state and local laws. The committee meets the second Wednesday of every month beginning at 10:00 at our Fairfax Headquarters. Committee members should be prepared to commit themselves to attending at least nine meetings a year. Additionally, committee members are expected to complete subcommittee work in between meetings. For additional information on NVAR committee responsibilities contact Pat Breme, pbreme@faarmembers.com.
Going Global | Certified International Property Specialist Courses
FAAR member Sha Williams-Hinnant of 1st Choice Better Homes and Land, along with FAAR Professional Development Director Barbara Castillo, headed to NVAR October 23-27 to successfully complete the Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) courses. The CIPS course curriculum offers you hands-on experience with international real estate transactions, as well as five full days of study focusing on the critical aspects of currency and exchange rate issues, cross-cultural relationships, regional market conditions, investment performance, tax issues and more!
The Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) designation is the exclusive global designation of NAR®. This premier designation is awarded by NAR’s Commercial and Global Services department to designees who complete over 40 hours of coursework and meet practical experience criteria that demonstrate knowledge and familiarity with global clients and programs. Only 3500 REALTORS® and REALTOR® Staff members have been awarded this prestigious designation.
2017 Election Results
Virginia woke up to some surprising election results on Wednesday, November 8. No one predicted the ease with which Ralph Northam won the Governor’s seat and the near sweep of contested races won by challenging Democrats. The Democrats picked up at least 15 seats, maybe more, bringing the House of Delegates to a 51-49 Republican-Democrat split. There remain 4 other races that may be contested with a recount, one of them right here in the Fredericksburg region.
Republican Bob Thomas narrowly defeated Democrat Joshua Cole and stands with an 84 vote lead right now. This race is likely to head to a recount so an official winner won’t be certified for a while. The Realtor® organization will have lots of new faces to introduce themselves to over the next few months and FAAR will be hosting some events so members can get to know our new Delegate. We want to engage Delegate-elect Thomas on real estate issues in advance of the General Assembly session in January.
Bobby Orrock won reelection for his House of Delegates seat in the 54th District and Mark Cole won reelection in the 88th District. Delegates Orrock and Cole also received RPAC funds to support their races.
On the local front, every FAAR-endorsed candidate won their seat except one. FAAR applied for some extra help for candidates Kevin Marshall, Meg Bomke, and Sharon Foley, while providing RPAC support to Chris Yakabouski and Gary Skinner, and an endorsement of Cathy Binder.
- Kevin Marshall won his seat in the Berkeley District of Spotyslvania County with both RPAC funding and extra assistance with a mail piece from FAAR. We are excited to work with him and have a new face on the Board of Supervisors.
- Chris Yakabouski won his bid for reelection in the Battlefield District of Spotsylvania County with RPAC funding. We are looking forward to working with Chris on economic development and transportation issues.
- Gary Skinner won his bid for reelection in the Lee Hill District of Spotsylvania County with RPAC funding. Gary has been a long-time supporter of Realtor® -issues, working with us to expand VRE to the County in 2009.
- Cathy Binder won her seat in the Shiloh District of King George County with a FAAR endorsement. She is a new face on the Board and we are excited about building a relationship with her.
- Meg Bohmke won reelection in her seat in the Falmouth District of Stafford County with both RPAC funding and extra assistance with some digital media from FAAR. Meg has been a great supporter for her past four years and we are looking forward to continuing our good work.
- Sharon Foley ultimately did not win the Aquia District seat on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors but she ran a good campaign and we remain impressed with her concern for the County and eagerness to learn about issues. Cindy Shelton won the seat and we will work with her to provide any housing resources she may need.
In other local races, Gary Snellings won reelection in the Hartwood District and Mark Dudenhefer narrowly defeated Laura Sellers in the Garrisonville District for the Stafford County Board of Supervisors.
October Healthy for Local Real Estate Market
The weather and the real estate market remained warm in October with gains in total sold dollar volume and a large reduction in days on market compared to October of 2016. An increase in prices buoyed a slight reduction in units sold to keep the market hot well into the autumn. October of 2017 posted a more than 5% increase in sold dollar volume, coming in at $128,774,826. Median price was $285,000 for the month, a year-over-year increase of 7.5%. Units sold fell slightly with a .48% decrease, going from 421 in October of 2016 down to 419 in October of 2017.
Days on market, the amount of time it takes from when a listing enters the market until it has a ratified contract, decreased over 20%, going from 72 days in October of 2016 to 57 days in October of 2017. Inventory remains low, but there were nearly 17% more listings coming onto the market in October of 2017 than the same time last year. There were 715 new listings in October of 2017 compared to 613 in October of 2016. Active listings are down slightly with a 1.78% decrease, coming in at 1,652. A bright spot in October was the number of new listings coming onto to the market, which is badly needed at this time.
Of the 419 units sold in October, more than half were financed using either a conventional loan or a VA loan. Nearly 12% of sales were cash purchases, with another 22% FHA financing. “The market is experiencing a slowdown in homes priced over $300,000 in line with normal seasonal fluctuations heading into the winter months,” commented FAAR Board of Director Pam Kuper. “Homes priced under $300,000 are still flying off the shelves with our low levels of available inventory.”
How do I change my password and other data?
If you’ve logged in previously at faarmembers.com/myaccount and already set up a security question and answer, you may reset your password from the login screen. Click on the get started button to the right of the credentials entry. If you have not set up a security question and answer previously, you can email lhillardwehr@faarmembers.com or call 540-373-7711 to have your credentials sent to you or reset.
Once you’ve successfully logged in, you may update most of your data (such as email, address, directory display preferences, email subscriptions, etc) on file with us through the “Update Member Profile” button on the faarmembers.com/myaccount page. You will see this link in the blue box shown on the page.
If you are unable to change a piece of information in the portal (such as a change of last name), you will need to fill out a contact update form from the forms page.
Update on Tax Reform
NAR is OPPOSED to the tax reform legislation unveiled in the House last week. This bill is a direct threat to consumers, to homeowners and to our businesses. Not only will millions of homeowners not benefit from the proposal, many will get a tax increase. Additionally, homeowners could lose substantial equity from the more than 10% drop in home values likely to result if the bill is enacted.
What the Legislation Would Do:
Caps the mortgage interest deduction at $500K for new mortgages
Cap applies to new mortgage debt (but not refinancing) incurred after November 2, 2017.
Limit is not indexed to inflation causing its value to even further diminish over time.
Increases the standard deduction
Puts homeownership tax incentives beyond the reach of more than 90% of American families.
Limits the exemption on Capital Gains Tax from the sale of a primary residence
New rules would require homeowners to live in their home for 5 of 8 years before a sale to qualify for the exemption, versus just 2 of previous 5 years today. This will create a hardship to homeowners who have to move inside that five-year window.
Exemption phases out for single filers with incomes over $250K ($500K for joint returns).
Eliminates the deduction for state and local income or sales taxes.
Eliminates the Mortgage Interest Deduction for second homes.
Eliminates the deduction for moving expenses.
Eliminates the deduction on interest on student loans.
Eliminates the deduction for medical expenses, even for the elderly.
All this from a bill that is supposed to improve the current system. Not only is this legislation a clear and present danger to American homeownership, it will cost our children and grandchildren $1.5 trillion in new federal debt.
- Millions of middle class homeowners would see a tax hike under this plan.
- This plan attacks homeownership and sticks future generations with a $1.5 trillion price tag.
- America’s homeowners should not pay for corporate tax cuts.
- Hard-working homeowners will lose money when their home values fall, while corporations will get a huge tax break.
- Homeowners in all 50 states would be double-taxed on the money they pay for state/local taxes.
- If you buy a home and then have to move within 5 years, you could be hit with a big tax bill under this plan.
TAKE ACTION NOW
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