NOTICES:
GTAR/NORES Members: Let’s Help Our REALTOR® Family in Moore
The GTAR and NORES Boards of Directors voted to contribute $5,000 to the GTAR Foundation for OAR’s Oklahoma Housing Foundation REALTOR® Disaster Relief Fund; monies from the fund will be distributed to REALTORS® in Moore and other impacted areas who lost their homes in last week’s tornado. Confirmed so far: 16 REALTOR® homes were completely demolished, at least 20 homes were majorly damaged (unlivable, but still standing in parts), and at least 12 REALTOR® family members have lost homes. The REALTOR® Disaster Relief Fund is administered by the Oklahoma Housing Foundation, which is a non-profit charitable fund administered by fifteen Trustees to provide financial assistance to REALTORS® whose personal residences or property has been destroyed or damaged by natural disasters.
You can help too! Through June 17, the Board of Directors will match donations made by members up to an additional $5,000. You can write a check, payable to the GTAR Foundation (please indicate Tornado Relief in the memo field), and either bring it by our office or mail it to P.O. Box 470603, Tulsa, OK 74147. Or, donate online by credit card: Go to tulsarealtors.com, and click on DONATE button on lower right side of home page. (All donations are tax deductible.)
Backpacks for Kids – We’re Almost to Our Goal
Thanks to you, we’re less
than $1,500 away from our goal of $10,000 for 200 backpacks! The deadline
to reach the goal is June 30. We are
grateful to you in advance for any donation you make to this effort—no donation
is too small, and all donations are tax deductible! You can now donate online
by credit card by simply going to www.BPJustForMe.com: Click Donations on the menu
then click Donate; or just Click Here.
EDUCATION &
EVENTS:
Upcoming CE Classes at GTAR
Don’t wait until
the end of your three-year licensing period to start working on your CE hours.
As CE classes are scheduled, information and registration will be available on
tulsarealtors.com; from the main Member
Services page, simply click the red Education
bar. If you are a Class Pass Holder, please register for Class Pass eligible
classes by emailing education@tulsarealtors.com or calling
918-663-7500.
June 13: REALTOR® Ethics, 1:00-4:00
p.m., Kathryn Jones; req. PSC CE; no cost (registration
required)
June 26: What RE Professionals Need to Know About Taxes
1:00-4:00 p.m.: This new
course is not designed to make a real estate agent a tax accountant, but
it is designed to make a real estate agent aware of the rules and documentation
requirements that are part of their everyday business and life as a real estate
agent. Bill Zumwalt, CPA, will show
agents how they must be in compliance with the IRS and the Oklahoma Tax
Commission or they could lose their license; how to treat hiring an
assistant—are they an independent contractor or an employee?; review what
constitutes an office in the home, and how to properly document this deduction;
explain options available with regard to vehicle expenses, and what is needed
to document business usage; meals and entertainment documentation and rules;
determine the best type of entity for their real estate business; keys to
reduce their tax liability, and much more! OREC Approved: 3 hours elective CE credit. (Class
Pass Eligible)
June
15
Credit
Clarity Saturday
Do you have a client that
needs their credit checked? What does your credit report
say about you? Come find out, June 15, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Hicks Community
Center (3443 S. Mingo). Presented by The Alliance for Economic Inclusion for
Northeastern Oklahoma, this community event is open to everyone. Free
one-on-one counseling, free credit reports can be pulled on site through www.annualcreditreport.com or you can bring your own
credit report that is less than 60 days old. Many exhibitors will be available
to help you meet your financial and/or home buying goals. (This is not a GTAR event.)
June
18-19
CRS 201:
Listing Strategies
Presented by OK CRS with instructor Jackie
Leavenworth, 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Quail Springs-North
Oklahoma City. Learn how to use your MLS to create pricing visuals that will
prepare the sellers to position their homes to sell quickly, and much more.
Please call Cindy Manchester with any questions or email TulsaHomeBuzz@gmail.com. Click Here for Info and
Registration Form (This is not a GTAR event.)
June 24-25
Land 101:
Fundamentals of Land Brokerage
Presented by the Oklahoma
Chapter of REALTORS® Land Institute: 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. in the GTAR
Training Center. This is a required course to earn credit for the prestigious
and highly coveted Accredited Land Consultants (ALC®) designation;
instructor is Kirk Goble. Cost is $295 through June 9 and $349 after that date.
Click Here for Course
Details.
Register online at www.OKRLI.com (This is
not a GTAR event.)
MLS NOTES:
Need
Help? Check Out Our Knowledgebase!
The GTAR Helpdesk
Knowledgebase is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—featuring in-depth
tutorials, answers to frequently asked questions, and more! Bookmark or add as
your favorite: http://gtarnores.desk.com today!
GOVERNMENT/LEGAL
ISSUES:
NAR Continues to Press for Bill on QM
Cap
The Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau (CFPB) has finalized exemptions to the CFPB's qualified
mortgage (QM) ability-to-repay rule for small creditors, community development
lenders, and housing stabilization programs. The amendments also revised rules
on how to calculate loan origination compensation, but didn't address some key
issues related to the 3 percent cap on points and fees such as whether loan
level price adjustments, affiliate title fees, and escrow for insurance are
counted against the 3-percent cap. NAR continues to seek enactment of The
Consumer Mortgage Choice Act (H.R. 1077 and S. 949), which would look at the
3-percent cap to help ensure consumers have the broadest access to credit and
services they need.
Agencies' 'Shadow Inventory' a Concern
The inspectors general of
HUD and the Federal Housing Finance Agency in a joint report say they're
concerned about "shadow inventory" in the portfolios held by Fannie
Mae, Freddie Mac, and especially FHA. The HUD IG also cited weakness in HUD's
oversight of contractors handling FHA properties.
NAR Reiterates Lender-Placed Ins.
Concern
Lender-placed insurance
premiums are detrimental to distressed borrowers, NAR says a in a letter to the Federal
Housing Finance Agency. It calls on FHFA to evaluate alternatives so borrowers
can get insurance at affordable premiums. Lender-placed insurance is insurance
placed by lenders on homes when the property owners' own insurance is
cancelled, has lapsed, or isn’t sufficient to cover possible losses.
Duties, Disclosures Top 2013 Legal Scan
Issues
Breach of fiduciary duty is
the most prominent issue in NAR's 2013 Legal Scan, which is the association’s
biennial research project on prominent and emerging trends in real estate risk
management issues. Other notable issues include short sale- and REO-related
disclosures, agency, and liability of third parties such as appraisers and
inspectors. State Internet advertising rules, social networking, privacy, and
anti-solicitation laws are identified as the most important technology training
needs. Property management issues are looked at separately in the Institute of
Real Estate Management IREM Scan.
Quiz Provides Test of REALTOR®
Trademark Knowledge
How much do you know about the correct use of the
REALTOR® logos and trademarks? Find out by taking a short quiz.
INFORMATION TO
USE:
Pending Sales Index at Three-Year High
NAR's forward-looking
pending home sales index for April rose 0.3 percent to 106.0 from the previous
month, the highest level in three years. "The housing market continues to
squeak out gains from already very positive conditions," NAR Chief Economist
Lawrence Yun says. "Pending contracts so far this year easily correspond
to higher closed home sales in 2013." Total existing-home sales are
expected to rise just over 7 percent to about 5 million this year. Press release and video.
Safety Article on Trusting One’s
Instincts
Safety expert Tracey
Hawkins (who taught GTAR’s Safety Seminar last September) writes about agents
trusting their intuition to protect themselves from harm in a short article
called "Put Your Gut in Your Safety
Toolbox."
Safety articles like this will be posted regularly until September, which is
REALTOR® Safety Month.
Free Consumer Content: Outdoor Living
Spaces
The latest free content for
your websites, blogs, social media pages, and print resources from HouseLogic's
REALTOR® Content Resource looks at free ideas on how to make the
most of outdoor living spaces.
COMMERCIAL RE:
Senators Seek Lease Accounting Analysis
A group of 13 senators in a May 14 letter say they're still waiting
for a cost-benefit analysis of proposed lease accounting rules from the
Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards
Board. NAR and other groups have concerns with the proposed lease accounting rules
because their capital standards and other requirements could hurt the
availability of financing for commercial real estate.
MEMBERSHIP
APPLICATION:
Comments on the following REALTOR®
applicants should be submitted by REALTOR® members to the Membership
Committee, c/o GTAR, PO Box 470603, Tulsa, OK 74147.
REALTOR®:
Glenda
Elder, Elder Real Estate (Second Publication)
James
“Nick” Fuller, The Fuller Agency, Inc. (Second Publication)
Dorothy
Jean Goad, Jean Goad Real Estate, LLC (Second Publication)
James
Huskey, Preferred Homes Realty (Second Publication)
Jack
N. Lauderdale, Jack Lauderdale Company (Second Publication)
Lake
Moore, IV, Lake Moore Real Estate, Inc. (Second Publication)
Steve
O. Moschak, Muskogee Real Estate (Second Publication)
Arma
“Toni” Redo, Red Oak Realty (Second Publication)
John
H. Reynolds, Jr., Fite & Reynolds Real Estate, Inc. (Second Publication)
Jerry
Sisco, Jerry Sisco Appraisals, (Second Publication)
Judith
A. Smith, Town & Country Realty (Second Publication)
Sarah B. Williams, associated with Henry Hinds Realty (Second
Publication)
Firm Affiliate:
PrimeLending, Designated Individual, Michael Gresh (First Publication)
MLS Waiver:
Richard S. Sudduth, First Commercial Real Estate (First Publication)
