By Peg Ritenour, Ohio REALTORS Vice President of Legal Services

Do you use Mike, Liz or J.R. to identify yourself in your advertising? If so, you are now required to register that name with the Ohio Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing.

As was reported earlier this year, the Ohio Real Estate Commission adopted amendments to several administrative rules that became effective on Feb. 10. Among these was a rule that addresses the name licensees can use in advertising or any form of marketing, including social media.

Under existing Ohio law, licensees are required to advertise in their name as it appears on their real estate license. This will generally be the licensee’s legal name. Previously, a Commission rule allowed licensees to use common nicknames, a middle name, or initials in their advertising. However, this rule has been amended to now only allow this if the licensee registers that nickname, middle name, etc., with the Division as a “preferred name."

This requirement to register a preferred name will include even common nicknames or derivatives such as Dave, Jim, Patty, Chris, Debbie, etc. It will also allow licensees to register initials (J.D., P.J.) or more unusual nicknames such as Buzz, Skip, Buffy, etc. In addition, a licensee who wishes to advertise in a maiden name can also register that name.

The form to register such names -- Application for Preferred Name Registration -- is now available. A $10 application fee is required. The Division has indicated that licensees will be given ample time to comply with this new registration process.

It should be noted that many years ago the Division did issue some licenses in a person’s nickname. If you are one of those licensees, it is not necessary for you to register that nickname because it is already your licensed name.

The bottom line is, if you want to use a name that is different than what is on your license, you have to register it. CLICK HERE to access the form.

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2019!

As 2019 begins I am happy to report that on December 28th, 2018, our final member finished their NAR Code of Ethics class for the past cycle. We were one of only a handful of Associations in the country to achieve 100% by the year-end. The next series begins now and runs until December 31, 2020. Final member dues payments were the 15th of January, and unfortunately, 15 members were suspended for nonpayment. Most are working to gather the cash.

Our new sales representative from Rapattoni Scott Quinn, met with leadership on December 18th to introduce himself and to not only demonstrate some new changes and improvements to our MLS, but to also see if there were needs of our Board. He took much information from the meeting and has been communicating with leadership and staff on the feedback.

I have been busy finalizing our end of year reporting to prepare for our Audit on January 22nd. All of our required reporting to both the IRS and the State of Ohio, have been submitted.

2018 was arecord year for RPAC in Ohio and below is a breakdown of other PAC related goals including Major Investor, President’s Circle and overall percent participation. As you can see, for the first time, Ohio REALTORS exceeded our percent participation goal ending the year at 38.57%.

In the categories of Major Investor and President’s Circle Members we were within striking distance of both goals, coming in only 6 shy of our MI goal and 1 shy of our PC goal. While we did not meet those goals last year, we did significantly tighten our loss when compared with 2017. I have full confidence that we will hit these goals in 2019.

Category 2018 Goal 2018 Total Difference

Total RPAC Dollars $921,000 $1,041,675.26 + $120,675.26

Major Investors 306 300 (NAR) 306 (OR)* -6 (NAR), 0 (OR)

President’s Circle Members 31 30 -1

Percent Participation 37% 38.57% +1.57%

*NAR does not count affiliate Major Investors - the discrepancy in totals is from that.

2018 was a year we should all be proud of and please share this great news with your fellow REALTORS.

My REALTOR Party training will be held Monday, February 11th at the Franklin Park Conservatory, Columbus. This training is geared toward the following member positions:

• RPAC Chair
• Legislative Chair
• 2019 President
• 2020 President
• AE

2018 was a busy year for Professional Standards and Grievance and already this year we have have had two complaints filed. Our annual training is scheduled for February 14 here at the Board Office. This year we have the training designed to give all attendees credit for Code of Ethics class for the next cycle that ends in 2020.

As always the first of the year is busy with planning for the coming year and we will be sharing event information as it is finalized. 

Respectfully submitted,

David W Freitag RCE, CEO