John Hall & Associates - Phoenix Real Estate Brokerage

This cycle affects all REALTORS® that got into the business before January 1, 2005.    For those that became REALTORS® more recent than 1/1/05, you have already taken the course.  (UPDATE: There are exceptions to the rule.  We recommend double-checking with your Association.)  New REALTORS® are given 60 day provisional license membership (thanks @dscherer) that requires they take the ethics class before receiving an active license.  Once they show their Association proof of attendance, their provisional license is automatically switched.  

If you are in the more seasoned group and haven’t met the requirement, NAR offers an online class.  For those that aren’t sure if you have taken a class or not, call your Association and they be able to tell you. 

If you are a member of the Phoenix Association of REALTORS®, you can check online.  Also, PAR members should be aware they plan on printing the names in their monthly publication of all the REALTORS® who have not met the requirement by July 1, 2008. 

We are happy to report the two recent sightings of John Hall agents in the news.  One for their knowledge of real estate and the other for…well…you’ll have to read the article. 

Irene Hammond, an associate out of the Scottsdale office, was contacted because of her social networking online.  Check out her quote in “Foreign Buyers Flocking to U.S. Housing Market“, an article you can find on SmartMoney.com.

Barry Seip, an associate from our Arrowhead office, is multi-talented.  Not only is he a REALTOR® with John Hall & Associates, and a teacher of continuing education classes, we learned in this article he is also a contract administrator for the local Clarendon Hotel.  He was quoted by the Arizona Republic in their recent article, “Toasting tequila“.  Of course it has to do with his contract administrator position, not his real estate job.  

Congratulations to both Irene Hammond and Barry Seip for the recent publicity!

After 10 years of charging members $156 per year, they are now raising their fees. Next year’s access to the MLS will cost $264. Since we are self-proclaimed stats people around here we’ll break it down a little further than Mr. Bemis did in his announcement email. The ARMLS fee is going from $13 to $22 a month, $3 to $5.08 a week, or from about 42 cents to 72 cents a day.

We can only hope the fees stay the same for the next 10 years. ;)

They have launched a call for action on the current RESPA proposed rule. This link takes you to the call for action page.

They are attempting to collect a maximum number of responses to present to HUD. As you may have read if you have been following this proposal, the current proposed rule has far reaching implications and goes way beyond what they were led to believe HUD would be focusing on, i.e. an improved Good Faith Estimate that matches up better to the HUD 1. The new proposal has a number of features that will negatively impact the industry including adding complications to the closing process, the interaction between real estate firms and other settlement service providers, restrictions on the ability to offer even the most minor incentives, and a more complicated GFE that does not match the HUD 1 and is confusing.

It is there hope that you will comment on the proposal as well as encourage others to offer comments as well.

This just in from NAR-

On May 27, 2008, NAR and the U.S. Department of Justice reached a favorable settlement, concluding a two-year DOJ investigation followed by two and a half years of litigation, regarding NAR’s multiple listing policy as it pertained to the display of listings from the MLS on brokers’ virtual office Web sites, or VOWs.

Read more on usdoj.gov…

4 Supra emergency eSyncs - Gone 5.28.08 (Well, cut down to 2 emergency esyncs in between the regular ones.)

Areas - Gone! 7.28.08

Automatic listing photos - Gone! 8.1.08

Printed Forms - Gone! 1.1.09

New Map Books will be printed and available for purchase at the end of May.

Subdivision Fields can now be either the legal name or the common name.

You can find more details about all these changes on newarmls.com and the welcome screen of the Tempo system.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to all the players, sponsors, and volunteers who helped make this years Annual John Hall & Associates MDA Golf Classic a success. On May 12, 2008, 124 golfers, 8 volunteers, and a number of sponsors gathered at Fire Rock Country Club in Fountain Hills, AZ to help raise money for the Arizona chapter of MDA.

Through this event we were able to raise $28,000 in funds to send children suffering from muscular dystrophy to summer camp, support groundbreaking research projects, and improve the quality of life for those suffering from neuromuscular diseases.

Thanks to the generosity of everyone involved, MDA is able to provide a long list of services to more than 2,800 Arizonans affected by more than 43 different neuromuscular disorders. Their involvement in the event will enable MDA to continue to make progress through the new millennium.

John Hall & Associates has been supporting MDA through the golf tournament for many years and have been able to donate over $800,000.

Together we are making a difference.

Thank you to the following sponsors:

Stewart Title - The Talon Group - Counsel Mortgage Group, LLC - Phoenix News Papers - SDI Inspections/Protection Termite Control - Paradise Valley Rotary @ El Chorro Wed. 12:10 pm - Wells Fargo Home Mortgage - InHouse Home Warranty - Suburban Mortgage - Superlative - Realty Sign Company - Desert Hills Bank - LandAmerica Transnation Title - Camelback Toyota - Wist Office Products - Andrew Hull Attorney at Law - Arizona Republic - Cobra Solutions - Thomas, Thomas & Markson, PC - Tolleson Family Mortgage, LLC - Empire Title Agency - OfficeMax - First Arizona Title

Congratulations to the following golf winners:

1st Place: Jim Clifford - Tom Argiropoulos Sr. - Tom Argiropoulos Jr. - Jim Stamos

2nd Place: Savino Tarantini - John Noel - Jack Stevens - Robert Kim -

3rd Place: Brian Hughes - Jim Sexton - Jerry Cally - Troy Jarvis

Congratulations to the following Opportunity Drawing winners:

Hawaii Vacation Certificate 6-day/5-night at Marriott’s Kauai Beach Club or Marriott’s Ko’Olina Beach Club. - Vince Roberts

Phillips 50″ Plasma HDTV - Jon Denney

GPS Portable System - Tracy Tolleson

$200 Dinner Gift Certificate at Wildfish Seafood Grille - Jim Clifford

I guess we can make that the official title now that the Phoenix Business Journal has posted an article announcing the agreement. We mentioned the merge in this post on the day the deal was finalized, but it was still rumored at that point. According to the article the new company is going to be called Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty.

Congratulations to Dennis Lyon, James Lyon, and John Vatistas.

Here is the latest version of AAR’s Risk Management Quarterly. In it you will find:

FAQ’s on Short Sales and Commissions

AAR’s new CEO - Tom Farley

AAR’s Podcasts

New Substantive Policy

Certified Risk Management Specialist (CRMS) Information

and more…

 If you weren’t at the NAR MidYear Meetings last week in DC, you missed a great session.

2008 NAR President-Elect Charles McMillan and Chief Economist Lawrence Yun provided Midyear Legislative Meetings and Trade Expo attendees with news on the housing market and when we can expect a recovery. Watch the Midyear Housing Market Update Video
Watch the video >

Barbara Freestone
Arizona Association of REALTORS®
VP Professional Development
602-248-7787