2017 Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo

April 2017 CEO Report

The Firelands Area was in the spotlight in April, as Governor Kasich held his annual State of the State Address in Sandusky. As part of this event, the many State agencies and Departments had their leadership team hold events in the surrounding communities. Superintendent Anne Pettit visited the area and held a meet and greet at RE Max Quality’s offices. She conducted a question and answered session and talked about the changes to the license law that went into effect April 6^th, 2017. 

In the afternoon I attended the State Directors Summit in Bellevue. State leaders will be discussing how they are working proactively to create a pro-growth business environment and will be taking questions from the audience.

The State Directors in attendance were Director Jackie Williams (Department of Commerce), Director Sarah Morrison (Bureau of Workers' Compensation), Commissioner Joe Testa (Department of Taxation), and Daryl Hennessy (Development Services Agency). Also in attendance was State Representative Bill Reineke.

The meeting was a general overview of the various changes that have been implemented to help make Ohio a business-friendly state. The focus is to reduce costs of doing business in Ohio.

We held our first Brokers meet if 2017 on April 6, 2017, and we had a good attendance. We discussed the changes to the license law and the increase of education required of new agents. We also discussed changes to our scholarship program.

The Legislative Committee held a meeting also on the 6^th, and we had newly elected State Representative Dick Stein as a speaker.

On the 12^th we had the quarterly MLS meeting. We had a presentation from Showing Time. This product works well with our MLS vendor and would allow single sign-on through the MLS. The pricing would be $1.45 per member monthly.

  The first quarter of the year is in the review mirror, and the staff has been busy with many things.

We are putting the finishing touches on the plans for OAR Spring Legislative meetings and dinner. Our annual legislative dinner is scheduled for Tuesday, April 25th at Tony's in Columbus. We are also finalizing our appointment schedule for our Washington, D.C. meetings.

We are also working with the Community Service Committee on the Cinco-de-Mayo event.

 Respectfully submitted,

David W Freitag RCE, CEO

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta

Join us in celebrating Cinco de Mayo on Friday, May 5, 2017, 5:30 PM at the Board Office.  For a $25 donation to the Firelands Association of REALTORS Charitable Foundation, you can enjoy a Mexican themed dinner, a themed drink contest, and a mystery pinata silent auction.

The Firelands Association of REALTORS Charitable Foundation is a charity that benefits the citizens of all five (5) counties of the Firelands Association of REALTORS.  All monies collected during this event will directly support this charity.

Call the Board Office at 419.625.5787 to reserve your seat today!  We look forward to seeing you!

February 2017 CEO Report

The first six weeks of 2017 have been busy with planning our year’s schedule, our Board planning workshop, OAR winter meetings, and finalizing the books for 2016.

On the national front the 115th Congress has begun and the newest Members of Congress have been sworn in and are getting familiarized with their new offices. What about Tax Reform? Here is what NAR has learned so far. The Trump administration along with the Republican Congressional leadership intends to use a legislative vehicle called Budget Reconciliation to move Tax Reform.  NAR is already engaged with key members of the tax-writing committees in the House and Senate, on both sides of the aisle, to outline our positions on Tax Reform.  NAR outlined our opposition to the tax reform proposal known as the “Blueprint” in a letter to the Speaker of the House and the Chairman of House Ways and Means Committee in December.  The focus of the letter was to oppose potential changes to the standard deduction and the elimination of most individual deductions.  This one-two punch would eliminate the tax advantages of homeownership.  The letter did not address the many other real estate tax provisions that may emerge as potential targets as the reform process moves forward.  NAR is committed to protecting real estate tax policies in their entirety, residential and commercial. Tax Reform Materials are available on NAR.org for you to review.

The OAR Winter meetings were held from January 14^th – 17^th. For 2017 I am serving as the MLS Forum Vice-Chair and as such I was as to be part of a discussion panel on MLS Consolidation. This is NAR’s new project to follow up Core Standards. The questions that were discussed are listed below;

1.  What do you think are the factors putting pressure on MLSs? (Zillow, copyright, etc)

2.  How can MLSs work to assist independent brokers and agents of small companies while not interfering with large broker services?

3. With projects like the Broker Portal and Upstream, how does the local MLS stay part of the conversation; Do we have any ideas how MLS rules will be maintained, and do you have any Brokers participating in any of the beta testing.

4. NAR's Danger Report suggests that the current MLS-centric era might be coming to an end. There is a strong likelihood that the MLS may lose its exclusive positioning as the principal source of real estate listings with the entry of a new player. Is it too late to save MLS as we know it? Will a single portal like Upstream work?

5. Does your MLS Committee or MLS Board have an appraiser or appraisers serving on the Committee? Do they vote? If so, have you seen that to be a positive addition?

6.  Is it the MLS's position to ensure that consumers are always receiving valuable and accurate information, or the Brokers?

7.  Looking into your crystal ball, where is the MLS going?

This was a good discussion and this will continue to be a NAR item at this year’s meetings.

Our Accounting firm was in the office on January 20^th and started our tax returns and our financial audit review. All accounts were in good order and all required documents were available for him. We ended the year with a small profit and our tax liability should be negligible.

The office received several calls and emails in regards to Broker items and I will be reading a letter from D.J. on this matter to the Directors. We also have had a complaint concerning advertising claims using MLS statistics.

I received a message from the President of the Hartland Board asking to attend a meeting with their personnel committee to discuss shared services. President Alex and I did travel to Findlay on the 14^th and they requested that we continue to explore this matter further.

The registration for the NAR Legislative meetings opens on February 15.

Respectfully submitted,

David W. Freitag, RCE CEO   

Status Definitions

Active - Active is an on-market status and is used when a valid listing agreement exists and no offers have been accepted.

Canceled - Cancelled is an off-market status to be used when the listing agreement has been canceled.  This status does not expire out.

Contingent - This means that an offer has been accepted on the property but the sale depends on home inspection, financing, etc..  It may still be possible to tour the property and/or submit an offer in case the current one falls through.

Held - Held is an off-market status when a listing agreement is in place but for various reasons such as repairs, illness, etc...the seller has requested that there be no showings on the property for a limited time not to exceed thirty (30) days.

Pending - The sale of the home is pending closing.

Sold - The house or property has sold.

Withdrawn - This means that the listing has been taken off the market but may be available again. The seller still has a listing contract with his/her broker but is not actively showing the home.  This status will change to expired on the date entered.