TheREALTYgram Blogger

Indianapolis Plans Vote To Protect Gay Rights

A vote is planned on a civil-rights proposal that would protect homosexuals in Indianapolis from work and housing discrimination.

If approved by the City-County Council, the measure would make it illegal to block gay or transgender applicants from purchasing or renting residential property. Additionally, businesses with at least six employees would be prohibited from firing, refusing to hire, or mistreating workers based on sexual orientation.

Similar measures already have been passed in other Indiana communities, including Bloomington and Lafayette. (United Press International)

North Dakota Doubles Education HoursMandated For Real Estate Licensees

North Dakota has increased the number of education hours required to be licensed as a real estate professional to 60 hours from 30 hours. The law brings the education requirements for new licensees into line with the requirements of adjacent states.

"We didn’t want to jeopardize our reciprocity agreements with our neighbors," says Claus Lembke, chief lobbyist for the North Dakota Association of REALTORS®. He explains that reciprocity agreements require that the cooperating states have similar educational requirements.

What it would take to increase that requirement to 1,000 hours?

Reflections On The Birth Of A Real Estate Blog;REALTOR® Group Attempts To Stifle Dissent Fail

As TheREALTYgram Blogger approaches its three-month-old birthday I am compelled to issue thanks to the people who inspired this blog. There would be no blog without the The Lehigh Valley Assn. of REALTORS®, where member censorship has become the byword in communications.

LVAR manages a member listserv that was designed to enable a free flow of information among members and the association. The listserv is a model of the national RealTalk listserv published by Internet Crusade. The RealTalk listserv has a subscriber list  of approximately 12,000 real estate professionals across the continent, and offers members' comments in an uncensored, unabridged format. The RealTalk listserv creates a virtual community that may serve as a model of listserv communication in any industry. It is a form of communication where members argue, brainstorm, and share useful information about current affairs, business models, technology, and a host of topics that has no limit. Its founding fathers are affectionately known to their subscribers as "The Crusaders."

The LVAR listserv has taken this communication technology to weave threads of self interest, and summarily dismisses posts that present positions contrary to its own. In late 2004 the association acquired a real estate homes publication. I wrote a listserv post that asked questions about the magazine's demographics and contained some observations about a design format that I described as a "typographical hodge podge." LVAR took two steps: (1) not publish the post;  (2) remove my name from the subscriber list at the direction of the president of the association. It was clear that I needed to find another venue to air my voice. TheREALTYgram Blogger was conceived at that time, and born shortly thereafter.

I continue to post at RealTalk, where I learn more from other members than I could possibly offer. I was reinstated as a local subscriber and continued to offer occasional posts to the LVAR listserv. I am inclined to resign as an active poster to that forum. I submitted a post last week about the pending legislation about association health care plans and the post was censored. The censorship angst that may have ignited in pre-blogger days is absent this time. I invite comments to all of my posts and I will publish those comments without hesitation. It is my policy to reject only those containing obscene, pornographic, or illegal matters or obvious spam . Happily, those type of posts have not presented. All comments offered to date have been posted "as-is". See you in the Blogosphere!

Texas Showdown On 'Limited Service' Delayed;NAR Says DOJ And FTC Shooting With Blanks

Texas real estate commissioners decided to postpone their decision about a rule change that would limit fee-for-brokerage business models after receiving a letter from the Department of Justice Antitrust Division urging them to reject the proposed regulation. The National Assn. of REALTORS®,  emboldened by the fact that the DOJ issued a letter rather than a lawsuit, said this week that the "warning" constitutes de facto lobbying for limited service brokers. Says Laurie Janik, counsel for NAR:

"So why would a powerful organization like the DOJ resort to lobbying instead of flat-out threatening the state commissions with a lawsuit? Because that's all they can do. If the state commission is clarifying a rule already passed by the state legislature, the DOJ has no power to sue.

"They absolutely can not, and if you read the letters to the commission, they are lobbying their opinions -- they can not sue the state. The limited service brokers are getting free lobbying at taxpayer's expense."

Will NAR's "double dare ya" approach work? Stay tuned.

FREE Tele-Seminar For Home SellersIncludes Open Invitation To For-Sale-By-Owners

Join me each Thursday evening at 8 PM EST  for a FREE Tele-Seminar for real estate home sellers. This is a perfect opportunity for you to phone in with your important questions about selling your home. For-Sale-By-Owners are welcome to attend the call. This is a FREE seminar and will last approximately 60  minutes.

Topic of discussion: Staging Your Home For a Successful Sale April 28, 2005. Special Guest: Sue Kittek, Home Stager and popular garden columnist for "The Morning Call" newspaper in Allentown, PA.

Future topics will feature:

• Qualifying The Buyer

• A Home Warranty Can Reduce A Seller's Liability

• The Seller Disclosure Law

• Internet Advertising From A Professional Point Of View

• Critical Mistakes Sellers Make and What You Can Do To Avoid Them

We will open the phone lines each week for listeners to ask their important questions.

If you would like to attend, email for information. You will receive an email reply confirming a toll-free telephone number and pin code. Also, if you have questions you would like to ask questions (but can't be on the call), simply email them to us and we will get back to you. Questions will be answered on first-come first serve basis and can be submitted prior to this event.

TheREALTYgram Blogger Makes National HeadlinesAs HUD Home Sales Scandal Continues To Unfold

EDITORIAL -- Officials in the Office of Asset Management of the U.S. Department and Housing and Urban Development appear to be asleep at the wheel. Inman News published a shocking article yesterday titled "Investor fraud grows in HUD real estate sales...More investor buyers pose as non-investors" by Glenn Roberts.   The information was based primarily upon a series of articles published in TheREALTYgram Blogger. 

Here is the most shocking quote gleaned from Roberts' piece:

"According to HUD statistics, there were 14 cases last year that were investigated as possible HUD Homes eligibility violations, and four sanctions issued. In 2003, there were 20 cases investigated and 13 sanctions issued, in 2002 there were 14 cases investigated and five sanctions issued, and in 2001 there were 12 cases investigated and five sanctions issued...While owner-occupant buyers are supposed to live in a property for a year after purchase, Laurie Maggiano, deputy director of the Office of Asset Management for HUD said it is a difficult rule to enforce. "We probably wouldn't even know about it," she said, if the owners resell the house within a year."

By its own admission, HUD cites a mere 27 sanctions for fraud nationally in four years! In the Lehigh Valley (PA) alone, there were more than 30 cases of investor fraud in the last year alone, according to investigative experts who have been in contact with us since TheREALTYgram Blogger broke the story in February, 2005. Those cases involve buyers of "multiple" HUD homes as well as real estate licensees. Sources close to the Lehigh Valley investigations report that complaints have been filed with HUD's asset managers for the region as well as with HUD.

None of the sanctions Maggiano references can be found in HUD's audit reports, which include disciplinary reports for all other types of HUD fraud. What are the nature of these "sanctions"? Language on the HUD Agreement of Sale warns of $250,000 fine and imprisonment for offenders. Did these sanctions include fines and/or imprisonment?

Maggiano's comments demonstrate an attitude at HUD that fosters, aids, and abets the continuing practice of fraud in the HUD Homes For Sale program. It's time to get the HUD Homes For Sale program back on track.

Dallas Fender Bender ReportOffers Humorous Aside On A Sunday

An operations manager for Jack in the Box was late for a meeting and called his boss to tell him he was running late. As he was leaving the voice mail message, he witnessed an accident and went on to provide "play by play" of the incident. This is the actual voice mail message. It was forwarded so many times within Jack in the Box, it crashed the company's  voice mail server. Turn your sound up. Click here for the scoop. (Thanks to Lynda King of RE/MAX at the Crossing, Indianapolis for sharing this gem on the RealTalk real estate listserv.)

Is HUD Taking 'Minimum Standard' Listing To New Lows?Are Vendors Rewriting The Rules For HUD Home Sales?

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is going the "minimum service" route on its listings and is taking the concept to new depths. In many areas of the country HUD is paying listing agents LESS THAN $100 a listing to enter a property into the MLS. Many agents are giving up those  listings. In one case, I am told that a listing agent was offered a chance to keep his HUD  listings if he would do them for $75. He refused.

In the Lehigh Valley (PA) real estate agents and consumers no longer have access to HUD information via the local MLS. That's not a problem for seasoned HUD veterans, but it certainly alienates many of the other agents who have come to rely on those listings. I'm guessing that HUD will have fewer bids as a result. The Lehigh Valley listings have been assigned to a broker in the Philadelphia area who enters them into a "foreign" MLS. The practice seems to run contrary to HUD's stated objective of listing all properties in the MLS. Their vendors seem to be running roughshod and writing their own rules.

Nationwide Sex Offender Registry

There is a new database that offers a sex offender search of numerous states by offender name or by zip code.

FTC And DOJ Strap On Consumer HolstersAs Monday Showdown Vote Looms

  The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice (DOJ) have issued a letter urging the Texas Real Estate Commission to reject a proposed regulation that would change current rules by imposing new restrictions on the ability of Texas real estate professionals to offer flexibility in brokerage services. The agencies expressed concern that the proposed regulation would not only cause Texas consumers to pay more for real estate services, but also would reduce consumer choice by restricting the ability of real estate brokers to provide services tailored to customer needs.

Currently, Texas real estate brokers can offer the level of service that a customer wants and needs. If the Commission accepts the proposed regulation, customers will be forced to purchase additional services that they may not want or need.

“The Commission is urging the Texas Real Estate Commission to reject the proposed rule, which would restrict the ability of limited-service real estate brokers to respond to the demands of Texas consumers,” said FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras. “The likely result would be higher prices and fewer options for the state’s consumers, with no offsetting benefits.”

“Limited-service brokers are growing rapidly in Texas and across the country because they provide greater choice and can save consumers thousands of dollars on a single home sale,” said R. Hewitt Pate, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division. “The proposed regulation would restrict the beneficial competition created by these limited-service brokers, and the Texas Real Estate Commission should reject it.”

In Texas, real estate services are offered by limited-service brokers and full-service brokers who compete against one another. Full-service brokers charge consumers a single price for a bundle of individual real estate services and limited-service brokers offer consumers the option to pick and choose from a menu of different real estate services according to each respective consumer’s individual needs. For example, a seller can decide just to purchase multi-list services from a broker and to represent himself or herself in negotiating with buyers.

Under the proposed new regulation, limited-service brokers would be required to bundle together certain of their service offerings into a mandatory package and would no longer be able to offer services separately. In this example, the seller would be required by the proposed regulation to purchase representation and negotiation services from the broker in addition to the multi-list service. As a result, customers would have fewer choices and pay more for their real estate needs if the regulation is passed.