September 2008 Archives

Your customers and clients should know about IRS guidance, information on taking advantage of the $7,500 homeownership tax credit. The IRS material, IR-2008-106, explains how individuals who use the credit will reflect it on their tax returns and receive the benefit from any refund. NAR has also created a summary of how the credit works.

For years you have expressed concerns over the dues payment coming due around the holiday season and during the slow real estate market.  The BOD is pleased to announce a new dues structure to help you with your payments.  Effective December 1, subject to a bylaw revision, your dues payment will now be divided into two payments.  In December you will pay your NAR and VAR dues, this year in the amount of $225 and 1/2 of your DAAR dues, bringing your payment to $393 due December 1.  Then in June you will be billed for 1 years DAAR dues.  Your total payment for 2009 will be a little higher, but this is just to get us into the offset cycle.  In the future your December billing will be NAR and VAR only and in June, DAAR only.  We hope this will make the chore of paying dues a little more pleasant. Please note this arrangement applies only to REALTOR® members, and does not effect Affiliate billing which will remain unchanged.

The Nominating Committee under the leadership of Gwen Pangle presents the following slate of nominees for the 2009 Board of Directors:

Tom Morrissey, Sperry Van Ness, Vaaler (Incumbent)

Tim Schutte, Long and Foster, (P) (Incumbent)

Pat Patino, Long and Foster, (A) (Incumbent)

Tania Gonda, Weichert, REALTORS (D)

Tony Arko, Market Advantage

Beckwith Bolle, Coldwell Banker Residential (L)

Rita Huggins-Halstead, Long and Foster (S)

Tom Donegan, RE/MAX Premier (F) (Incumbent)

Mary Krueger, SunTrust Mortgage (S) (Affiliate Representative)

When elected they will join the following Board Members with unexpired terms:

Linda Beck
Bradley Boland
Candice Bower
Edna Cross
Mary Kakouras
Brian Green
Brian Jarvis
Janeen Marconi
Sue Puleo
Melissa MacKimm
Jim Sonnhalter
Charles Fincher

You will be electing these new members to the Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting to be held at the DAAR Expo, 3:45 PM at National Conference Center on October 15th.

Any petitions for additional candidates must be submitted to Jeanette Newton, Corportate Secretary, no later than October 1, 2008 in accordance with the Bylaws.

Special thanks to our Board Members who will be retiring on 12/17/08: Annette Pizzimenti, Dan Freire, Simon Warner, Alecia Moroz, and Keith Reeve.  They retire after a most stressful year on the Board of Directors.  We can't thank them and all of the Board Members, enough for the time and energy they put in to making some very tough decisions this year.

Thanks to the Nominating Committee; Gwen Pangle, Chair; Janeen Marconi, Ray Rees, Gina Chatham, Sue Puleo, Mike Wagner and Barry Allbright.

Congratulations to Jay Thomas of Keller Williams/Leesburg on his admission into the 2009 Class of Leadership Loudoun.  This is a 8 month program of leadership development for Loudoun County.  Students experience County Legislative Bodies, Social Services and a host of county entities as well as the attributes of a true leaders. It is a great program.  Best Wishes Jay.

DAAR has made arrangements to have PWAR staff  present at the DAAR office for a day in January to sell you Sentrilock keys if you have the need for a duplicate key.  The fee is $165 for the key and there is a $25 Non-Member Fee which will be waived for the first year if you purchase your key at this time.  DAAR will also be attending the PWAR conversion and offering a similar program to the PWAR members so that we can also accommodate their need to show your properties.  More information will follow and it will be posted right here, so keep coming back to check out the latest information.

DAAR's Association Leadership Development Program  is off and running.  Over the last year DAAR in partnership with the Fredericksburg Area and Prince William Associations of REALTORS® has developed a Leadership Development Program to assist us with developing strong leaders for the future of the Associations.  Our first class hit the ground running last Thursday, Sept 11, 2008 with personality analysis and and a presentation on how to use those personality attributes toward successful leadership

Congratulations to the DAAR Class of '08/09 - Jackie Lawlor-Campiti (Jack Lawlor Realty Co.), Frank Schofield Summit Realtors), Raj Patel (IKON of Ashburn), Danilo Bogdanovic (Market Advantage Real Estate) and Michele Stash (Re-Max Premier).

On September 10th, the Dulles Area Association of REALTORS® (DAAR) Board of Directors (BoD) conducted a special meeting of the association's membership to solicit member input on whether the Association should switch to the Sentrilock lockbox system in mid-January 2009 along with several of DAAR's neighboring associations and others in the greater Washington DC area or stay with our current Supra contract. A presentation was given at the meeting, including an overview of how DAAR came to be faced with this issue, a timeline of the major developments, and a head-to-head product comparison.  

The meeting was attended by 165 DAAR members, each of whom was invited to complete a

survey at the conclusion of the meeting.   Based on the feedback received in the surveys in which 70.2% of respondents expressed a preference for staying with Supra, the BoD has subsequently voted to honor the remainder of our contract through its termination in 2011.  Of the 152 completed surveys that were returned, 104 voted in favor of staying with Supra, 44 voted in favor of switching to Sentrilock, and 4 were undecided or did not express a preference.  The BoD felt it was critical to notify the membership of its decision as soon as possible after the meeting.  Click here for a detailed breakdown of the survey responses.

Additionally the BoD voted to upgrade all members beginning in mid-November to the new Supra ActiveKey  All members will have the opportunity to exchange their D-Key and cradle for a new ActiveKey and a few minutes of easy training. For your information, an

overview of ActiveKey, information for new customers and videos detailing various aspects of ActiveKey are now available.

The DAAR BoD conducted an exhaustive analysis of this issue over the last several months.  Based on the issue's complexity and its potentially divisive nature, the BoD felt it was important to come to the membership meeting with its recommendation of what it felt was in the best interest of DAAR members and the association.  This recommendation was to stay with our current Supra contract through its term.  However, the BoD had specifically and intentionally NOT made a final decision of  which lockbox system to choose prior to the membership meeting.  Although the BoD was forced to schedule the meeting just one day prior to making its final decision on the matter to allow time to gather as much information as possible (e.g. financial data, costs for "key only" memberships to neighboring associations, etc.), it was always the Board's intent to solicit member input.  DAAR has made every attempt to communicate this issue to the members, beginning with the first notice given on June 18th, 2007.  Furthermore, the BoD recognizes that it is an elected body responsible for representing the will of the membership and, therefore, asked survey respondents to indicate their preference for either Sentrilock or Supra to ascertain that will.

As a recap and for the benefit of those members who were unable to attend the September 10th meeting, provided below are the major factors that led the BoD to recommend sticking with Supra:

• Waiting to consider adopting the Sentrilock solution in 2011 would allow DAAR members to switch to the new wireless-based platform that is planned for release in mid-2009 rather than the current lockbox.  Therefore, DAAR agents would not be required to purchase new lockboxes only two years after investing in the current Sentrilock technology as would happen if we went with Sentrilock in mid-January to be in lockstep with our neighboring associations that are making the switch.
• Switching to Sentrilock in mid-January would have required DAAR to buyout its current Supra contract at the cost of $200K; whereas, switching in 2011 (if then) would represent an additional cost of $78K stemming from the loss of consortium-based volume pricing.
• Buying out the existing Supra contract and making the initial equipment purchase required by the Sentrilock contract would have added $650K in debt to DAAR's balance sheet, even if that cost is ultimately paid for by monthly member assessments.
• The Supra system is a superior lockbox solution, both in terms of technical features and seller security.  It is the only platform that is UL-certified, tamper-proof, and offers instant showing notification to allow for more immediate feedback and market responsiveness, does not require electricity and phone or internet connection at the listing location to provide instant showing notification, integrates the safeMLS token functionality, and offers agent security features like a built-in flashlight and panic button functionality (currently under development).
• With the Supra ActiveKey, DAAR agents will be free from cradling or taking any step to update their key on a daily basis, since all updates are done wirelessly and automatically.
• The Supra system is used by 80% of real estate agents nationwide, and is developed by GE, a major manufacturer of security systems, that has been providing lockbox solutions for over 25 years.  The Sentrilock solution has only been available since 2004.  Honoring our contract with Supra will allow DAAR to monitor the Sentrilock rollout to our neighbors prior to deciding whether to switch systems in 2011.

Because of our geographic location, many DAAR members will need to carry two lockbox keys regardless of which system the BoD chose. Our neighboring associations to the east and south of DAAR are switching to Sentrilock, but the associations to the west are staying with Supra.  Since most DAAR agents show in property in both locations, they may need to carry two lockbox keys regardless of which key DAAR is using.  Additionally, the DAAR BoD recognizes that staying with Supra means members of neighboring associations that are switching to Sentrilock will need a way to access DAAR listings.  The BoD is committed to making it as easy as possible for members of neighboring associations to get a Supra key from DAAR at a fair and reasonable cost to ensure seamless showing capability across the region. 

At the same time, DAAR will work with our neighboring associations that are switching to Sentrilock to ensure DAAR members are able to easily obtain a Sentrilock key at a fair and reasonable cost.  At this juncture, DAAR has made arrangements with the Prince William Association of REALTORS (PWAR) to present at the DAAR office for one day in January to sell members Sentrilock keys if they need a duplicate key.  The fee is $165 for the key and there is a $25 non-member fee which will be waived for the first year if you purchase your key at this time.  DAAR will also be attending the PWAR conversion and offering a similar program to the PWAR members so that we can also accommodate their need to show your properties.  More information will follow and it will be posted right here, so keep coming back to check out the latest information.

In closing, the DAAR BoD would like to thank all of the members who took the time to attend the membership meeting on September 10th and who provided feedback, either verbally during the course of the meeting or through the completed surveys.  DAAR's goal is to be "The Association of Choice for Real Estate Professionals"TM.  We recognize that the only way to achieve this goal is to be mindful of and responsive to the will of the membership.  Your involvement in the membership meeting gave us the ability to do just that. 

As you may be aware, MRIS customers were informed in July that Clareity Security (MRIS's token provider) and Secure Computing (the token manufacturer) identified a manufacturing defect in the SAFEMLS tokens distributed to MRIS subscribers.  Secure Computing sent to MRIS subscribers newer model Alpine token replacements during the latter part of July and early August.

MRIS would like to thank all agents that have already switched to the newer model token.  However for those agents who have not switched yet, MRIS urges you to do so at the website set up specifically for this: http://switchtoken.mris.com .  If you have any questions or have a second ID, please contact Clareity Security at 1-866-221-9291, (Mon - Fri, 8AM-6PM) Option 3 for assistance. 

*IMPORTANT: Please note that effective October 1, 2008:
• Reported Lost tokens will incur a $35 replacement fee.
• Reported Broken Alpine Tokens (the newer model token) NOT returned to MRIS within two weeks in the provided Business Reply Envelope will incur a $35 replacement fee. 
• Switch to Alpine tokens should be no later than October 1, 2008.

Thank you for your help to transition all customers to the newer model Alpine token. 

 

DAAR member Danilo Bogdanovic of Market Advantage Real Estate in Reston has been selected to participate in the Virginia Association of REALTORS® Leadership Academy Class of 2009.  Through the program, VAR identifies emerging REALTOR® leaders in the state, encourages them with motivational activities, and assists in sharpening their leadership skills in the hope they will exert a strong positive influence on the future of the Association and real estate profession.

Bogdanovic, who serves on DAAR's Communications and Technology Committee, is one of twenty-two REALTOR® leaders selected from around the Commonwealth.  The participants will work together in a full-year training course that combines individual study, group sessions, and actual project experience in using leadership skills. Quarterly training sessions include identification of leadership skills, team-building exercises, and procedures for goal setting, personal profile analysis, network building, and improving communications skills. For more information, visit the VAR Leadership Academy site.