September 2014 General Membership Meeting

 The General Membership meeting held September 3, 2014 at the Sandusky Yacht club was well attended and featured the induction of former CEO Ruth DeHenning into the FAOR Hall of Fame. President Phillip Bolte opened  the meeting with the introduction of distinguished guests, Robert Fletcher, CEO of OAR, OAR Treasurer Sara Calo, and OAR District 2 VP Len Partin. The meeting began with the reading and approval of the minutes from the  June 18th 2014 meeting. Treasurer Sara Riesen presented an up-to-date report of the financial picture of the association to the membership. She detailed the account lines that had variances from budgeted amounts. The floor  was opened for questions; being none the motion to approve the report was made and seconded. Motion passed. President Bolte then reported on the work of the nominating committee. It was the recommendation of the  committee to nominate Sara Riesen for a second term as director. The floor was opened for nominations, being none a motion was made to close the nominations. The motion passed unanimously.

 It announced to the membership to sign up for 2015 committee's on the forms provided. Reminder was made to the membership on the upcoming OAR convention in Cleveland and our awards banquet to be held October 8th.

 CEO David Freitag then reported to the membership on the NAR core standards and the effect on our Board. We have to ensure that our by-laws are in compliance with NAR's requirements and because of this a by-laws  review has been conducted. It was noted that the one area that the committee is addressing is raising the limit of expenses that the Directors can approve from the current limit of $5000 to $15,000. A Broker's meeting has  been scheduled for September 23rd and also a by-laws meeting to follow.

 Robert Fletcher, CEO OAR was introduced to induct Ruth DeHenning, RCE into the FAOR Hall of Fame. Mr. Fletcher told of his long association with Ruth and her detailed some of her many accomplishments over her years of  service to all REALTORS in Ohio. Ruth then gave a short acceptance speech and thanked all of the members and staff for their help over the years.

Being no further business the meeting was adjourned.

July 2014 CEO Report

 My report this month will sound like a travel log as I have been away from the office for meetings for both NAR and OAR plus Golf outings for our Board plus the Howard Hanna Coo-Coo, Chow-Chow outing.

• On July 20th thru the 22nd I attended the OAR CEO Symposium in Columbus. This annual meeting is a planning meeting for local board Presidents and AE's to meet with their peers and OAR officers. The meeting started with a presentation from Coach Jackie Leavenworth on leadership skills for incoming presidents. The meeting allows time for the leaders from across the state to get to know each other and to have the OAR officers get to know local Board Presidents. We had a presentation from Gavin Blair, CEO of the Dayton Board on the upcoming NAR core standards. Gavin is a member of the PAG working on the standards. We had a legal briefing from OAR council Peg Ritenour

• The 24th thru 29th I took some time off
• 30th thru 4 in office
• 5th was the 2nd annual Bob Strayer Memorial Classic golf outing. We had a good turn out and our sponsorships were up this year.

• The evening of the 5th I traveled to Detroit to catch a flight to Atlanta for the NAR Broker Summit. The 2 day summit was well organized and set up to keep expenses to a minimum. This was the second annual event and covered many topics on issues facing Brokers and Associations / MLS in the marketplace of today. The event was sold out and the meeting agenda was filled with both speakers and breakout roundtable discussion groups. The exchange of information was good between both large and smaller size Associations and Brokers.
• I returned to the office on the 8th to catch up on issues.
• On the 11th I played in the Howard Hanna Cho- Cho, Chow-Chow along with Phillip, Frank, and D J. This event is well attended by both local and corporate Howard Hanna team members. Our team was the winner of the event.
• On the 13th we held a MLS class followed by a new member orientation class. The class went well and I think that we have made progress in this area of our training for new members.
• On Sunday the 17th I traveled with President-Elect Corder to the NAR Leadership Meeting in Chicago. This annual event one of the most important meeting of the year as it allows the incoming President to hear first-hand the agenda that NAR will be planning for the following year.

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SEPTEMBER is REALTOR Safety Month

While NAR works hard to remind REALTORS® about the importance of safety all year long, what about their clients?  Join NAR for:

 Safety Tips to Share with Sellers

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

2:00 pm EST

Sergeant Preston Taylor will offer advise on how home owners can safeguard their home, personal property and their personal information while opening their house to potential buyers.  He'll also discuss what a real estate agent is liable for during open houses and showings.  SPACE IS LIMITED

 Register today at REALTOR.org/safety

Our Website Has Changed!

 Here's How to Log into the MLS

On May 28, 2014, the www.firelandsmls.com and www.faor.com websites were redirected to the new Firelands Association of REALTORS® member website at firelandsmls.com. FAOR participants and subscribers with MLS access can login and access their FAOR MLS page, just like they would on the old site. To do so, simply by click on the Login button at the top, right-hand corner of this page.

 Members use their normal Agent ID and Password. Once logged in, members will see a number of buttons on the main page where it is possible to SSO into the FAORMLS, and other SSO destinations. You will also see buttons to pay your bill online and to update your member profile. Click the Read More button to see step-by-step instructions on how to login to theFAORMLS from the member website.

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Welcome To Your New FAOR Website

The Firelands Association of REALTORS is a professional trade association of over 500 licensed real estate agents.

Our members abide by a strict code of ethics and have access to a wide variety of business services that are not available to non-REALTORS. This gives them a competitive edge in the marketplace, enabling them to provide superior services to buyers and sellers of real property.

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