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| Excitement Abounds |
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What an
exciting time this is to be a REALTOR® in the greater Houston area.
And
nothing is more exciting than REALTOR® Expo, which will be held Thursday,
October 22 at the Reliant Center. This year's theme is "Stayin' Alive and Thriving in 2009"—and who
doesn't love disco? There will be
great speakers before the Expo begins and then cash giveaways and complimentary
hors d'oeuvres.
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| A Letter from HAR Recommended Candidate for Mayor Gene Locke |
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Dear HAR
Members,
I
wanted to take this opportunity to thank the Houston Association of Realtors®
for its recommendation of support of my candidacy to become the next Mayor of
Houston. This election is vital to
the progress of the City for the next six years—and perhaps even longer—as the
projects put in place during the next few years will have long-term impact on
our City and our region.
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| Seasonal Summer Home Shopping, First-Time Home Buyers Buoy Houston Real Estate Market in August |
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Single-family
home median price rises for the fourth straight month
The
Houston real estate market showed continued signs in August of attempting to
break free from the downward trend in property sales that first began in
September 2007.
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| You Can Make a Difference |
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Volunteer
for one of the many HAR advisory groups.
Sign up
online today!
Log on
to www.har.com/getinvolved (Deadline
is December 4, 2009)
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| Time Management - Taking Control of Your Day |
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Running a
real estate office has always been a challenge for any owner and/or manager;
and with increased technology, it is becoming more and more challenging to find
time to complete all the tasks at hand.
So how many
hours are in a 24-hour day? This
may seem like a ridiculous question. However, managers almost always try to
squeeze more activities in a 24-hour day than what can actually be
accomplished. They don’t
intentionally do this, it just happens with the nature of their office.
So how
do you take control of your 24-hour day?
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| The Eight Ps to Blogging Success |
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Plan, Pay Attention,
Post, Participate, Probe, Prepare, Please and Partner
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| Reconsidering Agent Ranking |
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The Last
Moments of a Golden Opportunity
We at
RECON Intelligence Services pride ourselves on the quality of our research, the
creativity of our thoughts and the innovative nature of the concepts we advocate. Accordingly, over the past several
years, we have attempted to make this column as original and thought provoking
as possible. This month, however,
we are going to deviate from that track for what we consider the common good.
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| MLS Rule Change Looks to Ease Foreclosure Frustrations |
Along with an increase in foreclosure activity in the
last few years, there has also been an increase in frustration on the part of
agents that represent buyers looking to purchase a foreclosure property and
listing agents that represent lenders selling a foreclosed property. One of the frustrations commonly
expressed is the inordinate amount of time that can be wasted trying to make an
appointment or submit an offer on a listing that already has a verbally
accepted contract but is still waiting on the lender’s signature before going
into Pending status. When it comes
to foreclosure transactions, this has created particular issues on both the
listing and selling side of the transaction. Foreclosure listing agents continue to receive requests on a
property that is no longer accepting offers and buyer’s agents have a difficult
time determining the availability of a foreclosure property.
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| Southwest Houston Development Tour presented by Commercial Gateway |
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Join us the
afternoon of Thursday, October 8, for a presentation featuring major commercial
developments in Southwest Houston.
Local
real estate brokers will present details on their featured properties at the
Southwest Houston Development Tour, sponsored by Commercial Gateway, from 3 to
5:30 p.m. at Lake Corporate Center, 14141 Southwest Freeway in Sugar Land, TX.
Some of the featured properties include:
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| Harris County Permits Map Information Service |
Flood
Insurance Rate Map Zone Information
Harris
County and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have updated all of the
Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) for Unincorporated Harris County. We have adopted the effective FIRMs
dated June 18, 2007.
As a
public service, Harris County Permits Group will provide you with the following
unofficial floodplain map information upon request:
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| Blogging - Winning the Hearts and Minds |
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The idea of
a hyper-local blog is to become the respected and oft read expert on a given
area for all things real estate related.
The blog writers who are
most successful do two things: they win the hearts and minds of their readers.
Winning
the minds is the easy part. Find
useful, intelligent, practical information and put it in your blog. Winning the minds should be the goal of
the factual information that is put into your posts; your job should be to
offer something analytical, informative and different from what your competitors
are offering.
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| Video Conferencing is live at HAR! |
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New this fall, HAR will offer the Green Designation
and the GRI 1 Finance course(s) utilizing our new remote video conference
service. Students will receive the
same interactivity and experience without the drive across town. For any questions or concerns related to
this new training method, please contact Rita Klein in the training department
at (713) 629-1900 ext. 263 or via e-mail at rita.klein@har.com.
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| The International Program at HAR |
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The HAR International Council’s mission is "To help
our HAR members increase their knowledge and activity in the International real
estate arena.” The council is made
up of more than 3,600 members that have entered a second language or culture
they specialize in into the member finder database. Currently, 85 languages are listed in the database.
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| Client Experience Rating Program |
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For more
details visit: http://members.har.com/Realtor-Rating-Program/default.cfm
Who will be
able to rate me?
Only
clients whom you have represented in a closed MLS transaction will be able to
rate you (sales and leases). You will receive an e-mail following a transaction
and be asked to provide your client's e-mail address. The system will then generate an e-mail invitation to the
client to take the survey.
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| Has HVCC Cost You and Your Clients Money? |
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Have you
had transactions delayed or fall apart because of inaccurate or out-of-the-area
appraisers?
Let us
know about your Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) experiences. U.S. Representative Al Green serves on
the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac. He has specifically asked for
stories about HVCC from HAR members that he may share with his committee
members when debating HVCC and H.R. 3044, which would impose an 18-month
moratorium on HVCC.
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| HAR Hosts HVCC Forum |
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HAR Chair Vicki Fullerton moderated the question
answer portion of the forum. HAR members had an opportunity to tell their story
of how the appraisal system has negatively affected their consumers and to ask
questions from speakers Jerry Nagy and Jamie Gregory.
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| HAR & TREPAC Go All In at the Bay Area Casino Night! |
HAR Bay Area Casino Night Committee Members Lana Sands (far left) and Diane Tyus (far right) enjoy time at the roulette table along with fellow guests at the Bay Area Casino Night on August 8th.
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Many thanks to the 250 HAR members who attended the
Bay Area Casino Night at Alex Rodriguez Mercedes Benz on August 8th. Attendees played the slot machines and
gaming tables, won door prizes, won liquor wagons and shopped at silent and
live auctions while listening to fabulous music and networking until late into
the night. More than $11,500 was
raised for TREPAC through this event.
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| 2009 TREPAC INVESTORS |
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**All Investments as of September 10, 2009.**
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| Greater Northwest Bowls a Strike for TREPAC!! |
The “Coldwell Bank Robbers” had fun with their team theme. The team included Jan Kopfler, Debbie Brazier, Carolyn Ornelas, Frank Ornelas and Joyce Dawson.
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On August 14th, 150 HAR members crowded into AMF
Willow Lanes off Highway 249 in the Greater Northwest Area for the annual
TREPAC Bowl-a-thon. The event,
hosted by Champions School of Real Estate, GMAC Real Estate-Houston Home Sales
Realty and HAR, is a member favorite.
This year about $6,300 was raised for TREPAC.
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| Around Town |
HAR members attended a campaign strategy meeting with Gene Locke and his campaign staff at his campaign headquarters near the intersection of the Southwest Freeway and Shepherd. Pictured are HAR recommended candidate Gene Locke (center), Rhonda Gilbo, Ed Wolff, Joel Reichek, Courtney Johnson Rose, A. David Schwarz III, Diana Ayers, Kenya Burrell, Jim Cockrill, Rita Young, Ward Arendt, Dana Kervin, Ray Holtzapple, Cameron Hill and Carlos Bujosa.
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Labor Day is the unofficial kickoff for the campaign
season. Your HAR Governmental Affairs Department, Political Affairs Advisory
Group (PAAG), Bay Area Political Affairs Advisory Leadership (PAAL) and Board
of Directors have been busy this summer preparing for candidate interviews and
are now involved in the Get Out the REALTOR® Vote efforts for the Tuesday,
November 3, Houston City Council and Mayoral Election.
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| FHA Changes Align Appraisal Rules Agency Tightening Standards to Stem Losses |
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The Federal Housing Administration will tighten credit
standards and implement new rules for appraisals on Jan. 1, saying a study to
be published in November is expected to show FHA's capital reserve ratio
slipping below mandated minimums.
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| HAR in the News |
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The Houston Association of Realtors® is making
headlines! Here’s a look at some of the media coverage our organization has
received over the past few weeks.
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| Where's Your R? |
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One of the proudest days in my business career was the
day back in 1977 when I became a member of the Greater Orlando Board of
REALTORS® and was presented my REALTOR® lapel pin after I took the pledge to
uphold the REALTOR® Code of Ethics.
Wearing that pin on my suit coat, sports jacket or (even) sport shirt lapel
showed everyone that I came in contact with that not only was I a real estate
agent, but one of the highest caliber, a REALTOR®.
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| Jane Block, Block Real Estate |
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Houston Mayor Bill White recently named HAR member
Jane Block, broker with Block Real Estate, City of Houston Parks Board Emeritus
after her 18 years of service on that panel. Former Mayor Kathy Whitmire
originally appointed Jane at the recommendation of Don Olson, then director of
the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. Jane has had the honor of serving
consecutively under Mayors Bill White (2004 to present), Lee P. Brown (1998 to
2004), Bob Lanier (1992 to 1998) and Kathy Whitmire (1982 to 1991).
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| Keller Williams Announces Auction Items for Viva Las Vegas Gala |
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Members of the Viva Las Vegas Gala organizing committee get set for the 4th annual Keller Williams Realty Northeast charity fundraiser.
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The stars will be out for the Keller Williams Realty
Northeast’s Viva Las Vegas Gala on Oct. 24 from 7 p.m. until midnight at the
Marriott Hotel at George Bush Intercontinetal Airport. The casino night
benefiting Including Kids, Inc. will feature auction items from well-known
entertainers.
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| Johnson Development’s Paula Moss Named Salesperson of the Year |
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Paula Moss, who handles custom sales in Riverstone and Sienna Plantation for the Johnson Development Group., has been named Salesperson of the Year/Developer by the Greater Houston Builder's Association.
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The Greater
Houston Builders Association named Paula Moss Salesperson of the Year/Developer
during the organization’s 2009 Houston’s Best Awards.
Formerly
known as PRISM, the awards honor the real estate industry’s finest sales and
marketing professionals in the Houston area.
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