Firelands Association of REALTORS®

FAOR By-Law Revision

Below is the rationale for updating the FAOR By-Laws.  You can vote on this via Absentee ballots (when available) or at the Annual Membership & Election on October 8th.

Article XI – Officer and Directors
Section 3. Board of Directors Appendix (d)

Rational for changes:

Currently our By-Laws require at least one Director from each County to sit on the Board. The By-Laws state the Officers (President, President-Elect/VP, Secretary/Treasurer, and Past President) do not count as a Director from their County. This change will allow the President-Elect/VP, Secretary/Treasurer and Past President to be counted as a Director from their county and therefore may vote and ultimately serve in their capacity as a Director. Only the President cannot vote, other than breaking a tie vote. Another benefit is we will no longer have to appoint a Director from an Officers County. Under the current rule, we have had to appoint someone to a Director Seat, depending on who is elected to become the next Secretary/Treasurer. The original intent was to make sure all but the President has a vote.

ARTICLE XI — OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS

Section 3. Board of Directors.

(a) The governing body of the Board shall be a Board of Directors consisting of 3 or 4 elected officers depending on whether the Secretary and Treasurer position, the immediate pastpresident of the Board, and eight (8) elected REALTOR® members. The Affiliate Member who has been elected from within the Affiliate Committee to be chairperson shall serve as director during their term.

(b) The Board must be the primary board of each candidate seeking election as either an Officer or Director. Each candidate seeking election as either an Officer or Director must have a minimum one (1) year of experience as a licensed REALTOR®. (August 2014)

(c) Directors shall be elected to serve for terms of three years, except that at organization, one- third of the elected Directors shall be elected for terms of one, two, and three years, respectively, or for lesser terms as may be necessary to complete the first fiscal year. Thereafter, as many Director seats need to be filled during the same election cycle, the Directors may assign accordingly by the election at the meeting. (October 2014)

(d) At all times, there shall be at least one (1) Director on the Board of Directors from each of the counties within the territorial jurisdiction of the Board. The Officer positions President Position shall not serve to satisfy this requirement. In the event that any of the counties within the territorial jurisdiction of the Board have less than one (1) Director from the county, the Board of Directors shall appoint a Director for a one-year term from that county or counties, as necessary. Location of the appointee’s primary office at the time of appointment will determine the county that the individual is eligible to represent. (October 2014)

2019 REALTORS Conference & Expo

What’s the secret to earning more money in real estate? Attending the 2019 REALTORS® Conference & Expo, Nov. 8-11 in San Francisco, CA. Attendees make two times the average real estate income, so you’ll be networking with some of the most successful pros in the industry!

REALTOR Safety

FAOR is teaming up with RE/MAX Quality Realty to offer an informative REALTOR Safety Class by Perkins Police Chief Robb Parthemore on Thursday, September 12th, 9 AM at the Board Office that is open to everyone.

Light snacks will be provided and there is no cost to attend.

RSVP to Leslie at 419.625.5787 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

2020 FAOR Board of Director Candidates

Linda Armstrong, RE/MAX Quality Realty I’m privileged to have served for the past three years as a director for the Firelands association of Realtors and would be honored to be reelected. After serving on many committees and being involved in the community I’m confident I can be a valuable member to the Board. Committed to the highest of service I have been selling real estate for 33 years. I’ve received the following awards: The Ohio Realtors President’s Sales Club Award since 1992; REALTOR OF THE YEAR in 1996; Business Women of the year by the Erie County Chamber of Commerce in 2000; I was also inducted into the Firelands Association Hall of Fame in 2016. Most of all I love to help people with their efforts in finding their dream home, or selling their property so they can move into a new era in their lives, I absolutely love selling real estate. I’m grateful to have this career and my goal as a Director is to represent our membership with wisdom, professionalism and experience.

Phillip Bolte, Bolte Real Estate A fourth-generation Ohio REALTOR, Phillip earned his sales license in 1999 and his broker license in 2007. He is a 2001 graduate of Baldwin Wallace University with a BA in Business Administration. Phillip is past president of the Firelands Association and recipient of the Realtor of the Year Award as well as a member of the MLS and Forms Committee’s. Outside of Real Estate Phillip is a member of the Port Clinton Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Riverview Industries Board of Directors, member of the Port Clinton City Planning Commission and Commodore of the Port Clinton Yacht Club. In his free time, Phillip enjoys boating, golfing, anything Ohio State, the Browns, the Cavs, and spending time with his wife Jennifer and daughter Gianna

Janet Herzog , RE/MAX Unlimited Results Realty Janet Herzog is an Associate Broker with RE/MAX UnlimitedJanet Herzog is an Associate Broker with RE/MAX UnlimitedResults Realty in Tiffin. She is currently serving on the Fireland’sBoard of Directors in her third year, representing Seneca County.Running for another term, Janet hopes to serve as Secretary/Treasurer in the 2020 year.“I love being involved in the Board and networking with agents inother markets and brokerages. Meeting agents face to facealways helps transactions run smoother, and I feelcommunication is enhanced when you are able work with agentsyou see regularly.”“Active on the Golf Committee, and Professional StandardsCommittee, I feel it is so important to be involved in what is goingon in our industry community. I hope each agent will serve on atleast one committee during the coming years.”Licensed in mid 2012, Janet has earned the OAR President’sSale Club Award of Achievement from 2013-2017, and earnedthe Award of Distinction in 2018 and 2019.She has been married to Cary Herzog for 28 years, and they havetwo adult sons, Alex and Derek, two spoiled Morkies… Molly andShelby, and three granddogs, Pip, Oakley and Pepper!

Steve Mack, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Stadtmiller Realty Broker Associate at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Stadtmiller Realty. A Licensed Realtor since 2000 and have earned national designations and certifications including Certified Residential Specialist, Resort & Second Home Property Specialist, e-PRO, Certified Negotiation Expert and eCertified Marketing Specialist. Elected to the Firelands Association of Realtors Board of Directors in 2016 and have served on numerous committees including Community Service, Finance, Forms, Grievance, Legislative and Professional Standards.  Elected and served as the FAOR 2016 Secretary/Treasurer, 2017 President Elect, 2018 President and currently serving as Past President. Awarded “Realtor of the Year” for 2018 by the Firelands Association Board of Realtors.  Have attended all Ohio Realtors meetings and conventions since 2016.  Attended legislative conference/meetings in Washington DC in 2017 and 2018. Attended the National Association of Realtors Convention & Expo in Chicago in 2017 and in Boston in 2018. My professional experience beyond real estate includes business operations, personnel and human resources, customer service, contracting and high school and junior high swim coach. When I’m not working you can usually find me on Kelleys Island spending time with my wonderful family, my wife Julie and my kids Katelyn and Alex and our golden retriever Rylee.

Sara Riesen, Bolte Real Estate Sara Riesen is currently serving as our Ohio REALTORS District 2 Vice President and on the Executive Committee since 2017.  She has also served on Ohio REALTORS Communication Committee as Chairperson (2018).  She is currently serving as a State Political Coordinator for Bill Reineke. Sara has served as a Director on our Board for 2 previous terms and was our Board President in 2016.  She has served as our Chairperson of the MLS Broker Committee in 2018, and currently serving on the RPAC Committee, Professional Standards Committee, Legislative Committee for Seneca County and Finance Committee.  Sara has been a licensed REALTOR since 2002 and licensed Broker since 2010.  She has been married since 2001 and has tow boys, Braden and Jace.  She's currently battling her way through raising two teenagners and enjoys running, attending any of her kids baseball games, and is an avid Cleveland sports fan.

There are four (4) open Director seats beginning in January 2020.  You can vote for these deserving candiates at the Annual Membership & Awards on Tuesday, October 8th.

August 2018 CEO Report

Welcome back from our July break, hopfully you have been able to enjoy our summer weather. I will try to summarize what has happened since our last meeting in June.

June 27^th we held an Ethics hearing dealing with a complaint from a member of the public vs a REALTOR member. The conclusions of this case will be presented to the Directors today for approval.  

July 10th and 11^th we held our Put-in-Bay CE event with a good attendance. As always this is sponsored by First American Title and we thank them for this great event.

July 14^th thru 16^th President Elect Marcia and I attened the 2020 Ohio REALTORS leadership and planning meetings in Columbus. This meeting allows the new Presidents to meet their peers from the other Associations in the State, and share ideas.

July 17^th we had our change over to Cloud Magic from our server based system. We are still work out the bugs and hopefuly we will be completely trained by the end of August.

August 6^th we held the Bob Strayer Memoral Golf Clasic at Eagle Creek in Norwalk. We had a great turnout for this annual event. While the weather did not cooperate, we stil we able to enjoy some golf and a lot of networking after the event.

From August 11^th thru 13^th I attened with Marcia the 2020 NAR Leadership summit and Showingtime Executive Summit. We had great sessions and speakers. I will report on this information in my next report.

My final thing for this report is some news, the new Federal Housing Administration guidance on condo financing are expected to be released on August 15, 2019 by HUD and will go into effect in mid October.

New Federal Housing Administration guidance on condo financing will give affordability a boost. The rules, expected to be issued August 15^th, by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, will go into effect in mid-October.  Specifically, the new rules will:

1.       1.Extend FHA certifications on condo developments from two years to three years, reducing the compliance burden on condo boards.

2.       2. Allow for single-unit mortgage approvals—often known as spot approvals—that will enable FHA insurance of individual condo units, even if the property does not have FHA approval.

3.       3. Secure additional flexibility in the ratio of investors to owner-occupants allowed for FHA financing in a condo building

David W Freitag RCE, CEORespectfully submitted,