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June 14, 2007
Got health insurance?
New law requires healthcare coverage by July 1
In less than three weeks, most Massachusetts residents will be required to
have health insurance. Those without coverage by July 1 will be fined by
the Commonwealth and will lose their personal exemption when filing a state
tax return for 2007. With the high cost of healthcare today, it’s not
surprising that nearly 350,000 REALTORS® do not have health insurance.
Affordable healthcare options do exist however, and will be the subject of
this month’s free regional member forums sponsored by the Greater Boston
Association of REALTORS®. At each hour-long forum a panel of speakers will
address:
* Requirements and implications of the new
health care law for agents and brokers;
* Options for insurance available under a new REALTOR® Healthcare program;
* Financial resources available to assist those seeking to obtain health
insurance.
Each GBAR forum will be held from 4:30-5:30
p.m. and be followed by a cocktail hour for members to meet and network. A
two-hour continuing education course will also precede three of the four forums, from 2-4
p.m. The dates and locations of the programs, with CE course topic in
parenthesis, are as follows:
*
June 18 - Marriott Residence Inn, 6
Cambridge Center, Cambridge
* June 21 - Doubletree Hotel, 44 Middlesex Turnpike, Bedford (Real Estate
Finance);
* June 25 - Marriott Courtyard, 35 Foxborough Blvd, Foxborough (1031
Exchange);
* June 28 – Marriott Courtyard, 342 Speen Street, Natick (1031 Exchange).
Advance registration is required to attend.
For more information or to register for a Member Forum and/or CE course,
visit gbar.org.
For questions, contact
Kristin Langone
at 617-423-7851.
Proposed Bylaw revisions subject of
special membership vote next month
On July 10, a series of proposed revisions to the Bylaws of the Greater
Boston Association of REALTORS® will be presented to the general membership
for a vote. The changes, if approved, will provide for a more open and
inclusive process for nominating and electing officers and directors of the
association, clarify the voting procedures for the election of officers and
directors, and create a new, elected officer position of vice president of
GBAR, beginning in 2008.
The proposed revisions, which also formalize
specific guidelines for electing officers and directors, have already been
approved by the GBAR Board of Directors. To be adopted however, all Bylaw
changes must receive the support of two-thirds of the members present at a
designated membership meeting. As a result, the
general membership vote on the revisions will take place during the awards
program scheduled as part of the GBAR Sunset Dinner Cruise aboard the
Spirit of Boston on the evening of July 10. Members who wish to attend this
program purely to participate in the vote on the Bylaws should contact
Christina Meehan at 617-399-7840 or by e-mail at
cmeehan@gbreb.com.
To view the proposed revisions to the GBAR
Bylaws, visit
www.gbar.org. To register for the GBAR Sunset Dinner Cruise &
Awards program, watch for your special invitation arriving in the mail
shortly, register online,
or call GBAR at 617-423-8700.
Study finds little improvement in
Boston area housing affordability
It may be a buyer's market, but a new study released by Harvard
University's Joint Center for Housing Studies shows that many first-time
homebuyers and working families still cannot afford to buy a home in the
greater Boston area.
The median price of a single-family home in
Greater Boston in 2006 was $402,200 – a decline of 3 percent from one year
earlier. Unfortunately, that price equates to 5.4 times the median
household income of $74,733 for the region, but the standard for
affordability is 3 to 3 ½ times the median household income, according to
the study.
To be at that level of affordability, house
prices in Boston would have to fall 35 to 44 percent to the $224,000 -
$262,000 range, which is where they were in the mid-90s.
While a price correction of that magnitude is
not likely to occur, Harvard researchers note that housing demand in
greater Boston should remain steady due to a rapidly growing immigrant
population in the region, which today accounts for nearly one in five (17%)
of all local homebuyers – more than the nation as a whole.
To help address the region’s housing
affordability crisis, the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, along with the
Massachusetts Association of REALTORS®, is championing several pieces of
legislation that are intended to promote the creation of more workforce
housing in the state. In addition, REALTORS® are working cooperatively with
several other industry groups to develop a new Starter Homes initiative -
legislation to be introduced later this year that will aim to provide for
the production of entry-level housing on lots of 1,700 square feet or less
that would be affordable to families earning $80,000-$130,000 annually.
Massachusetts AG imposes ban on
foreclosure "rescue schemes"
On June 8, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley placed a 90-day
ban on foreclosure "rescue" schemes to deter for-profit lenders from
burdening an already vulnerable population of consumers with poor credit or
limited household income.
Increasingly, these rescue schemes have been
used to target people who are having trouble making their mortgage payments
or who are facing foreclosure. The “rescue” comes when the for-profit
lender takes over the home’s deed. Although the schemes sound attractive to
those in such a vulnerable situation, the for-profit lender often strips
away any remaining equity from the home. Plus, there is no guarantee
homeowners will ever regain the equity or be able to stay in their home.
To date, the state AG’s office has brought
four lawsuits against firms that promote foreclosure rescue plans. The
state Legislature is also deciding whether to pass a law addressing
subprime loans and the state’s foreclosure crisis.
In 2006, foreclosure filings in Massachusetts
rose by 70 percent from the year before to a record 19,487. The Federal
Reserve Bank of Boston has attributed the sharp rise to subprime loans,
which made up more than two-thirds of the state’s foreclosure filings in
the third quarter of 2006.
Are you using the REALTOR® trademark
correctly? Take this quiz to find out.
One of the benefits of membership in the REALTOR® association is the
ability to use the REALTOR® term and logo in your personal promotion and
marketing materials. But are you using them correctly?
As federally-registered trademarks, the
REALTOR® marks carry strict usage guidelines and are reserved exclusively
for use by members of the National Association of REALTORS®. To gain a
better understanding of the trademark requirements, NAR has developed an
online
quiz and
pocket reference guide on the proper usage of the REALTOR® terms and
logo. Here are a few noteworthy examples:
-
Don’t use descriptive words to modify the
terms: for example, “Professional REALTORS®”; “Florida’s Biggest REALTOR®”;
“Twin City REALTORS®.”
-
Use the term REALTOR® or REALTORS® adjacent
to, rather than as part of, your firm name.
o Correct: John Doe, Inc., REALTORS®
o Incorrect: John Doe REALTORS®, Inc.
-
Punctuation should be used to separate your
name and firm name from the terms even when they appear on separate lines.
o For example – John Jones –
REALTOR®
-
The REALTOR® marks may not be used with
descriptive words or phrases (including geographical references) in website
domain names such as
www.professionalrealtor.com or
www.chicagorealtor.com
For in depth coverage, read NAR’s
trademark manual.
REALTOR® Day on the Hill draws near
record attendance
This year's REALTOR® Day on Beacon Hill was a huge success due in part to
the 60+ members from the Greater Boston Association of REALTORS® who
attended. GBAR members met with more than a half dozen state lawmakers to
discuss key issues on this year’s
REALTOR® public policy agenda, including the production of workforce
housing and the defeat of several initiatives seeking to impose property
transfer taxes on home buyers and sellers.
 The legislators from greater Boston with whom
GBAR members had appointments were Senators Cynthia Stone-Creem, Steven
Tolman, and Pamela Resor and Representatives Anthony Petruccelli, Michael
Rush, Frank Smizik and Pamela Richardson.
Notably, Region I had the largest showing of
REALTORS® from the association’s jurisdictional area with 21 members
attending. Each received lunch that day compliments of GBAR and will also
receive $25 gas cards. Congratulations and thank you to all those who
attended. We hope to see everyone at next year’s event. For photos click
here and
for a
news release detailing the event, click
here.
GBAR seeks candidates for 2008 elected
officer and director seats
Are you a born leader? Would you like to play a more active role in setting
the direction of the REALTOR® organization on the local or state level? Do
you believe in giving back to the profession you belong to? If you answered
“yes” to any of these questions, we invite you to submit a nomination to
become an officer or director of the Greater Boston Association of
REALTORS® or director from GBAR to the Massachusetts Association of
REALTORS®.
The nomination process for individuals who
would like to be considered candidates for a leadership position at GBAR or
as a MAR state director is currently open, with applications due to be
submitted to the GBAR Nominating Committee by July 15.
Nominations of all candidates meeting the
qualifications of the office or position they seek to hold in 2008 will be
carefully considered by the Nominating Committee later this summer, with a
formal slate to be noticed to the general membership in September and
subsequently presented to the GBAR Board of Directors for vote in October.
For more information or to download the GBAR Officer & Director Nomination
packet visit
www.gbar.org.
2007 NAR Membership Kits Hit Mailboxes
This Month
Keep an eye out for the 2007 National Association of REALTORS® Membership
Kit, which will be arriving in your mailbox this month. The kit contains a
personalized message from the Greater Boston Association of REALTORS® as
well as a personalized membership card, a REALTOR® Reference Guide and a
REALTOR® Benefits Program Resource Guide. You can also view a sample kit
online.
Get inspired with
REALTOR® Terry O'Connor
GBAR is hosting its second class of a three-part series of REALTOR®
personal development training sessions created by REALTOR® Terry O'Connor.
The session – "Engagement and Mindful Action" - will be held on Thursday,
June 21 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and again from 1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
at the Greater Boston Real Estate Board at 11 Beacon Street. Enrollment is
open to 8 REALTORS® per session and registration is free.
The course teaches what it
means to be fully engaged with your clients and how powerful the results
are when you take mindful action. For further details visit the Inspiring
REALTORS® website. For a
faxable registration form click
here or
register online. |
