By Robert Freedman, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
Health insurance reform will surely be controversial for a long time to come but now that it’s in effect, what does it mean to REALTORS®?
Existing Coverage
First, if you buy your own coverage and have a policy you like, your coverage is grandfathered, so you’re set and need to do nothing.
If you’re a broker and already offer health insurance to your salaried workers, you may continue to offer your existing plan. It’s also grandfathered; you may continue to enroll new employees and terminate employees who leave your firm without jeopardizing your grandfathered status. Continue reading »
By Brian Summerfield, Online Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
It was Monday morning. I had just sat down at my desk and started to sip my morning coffee and sift through the first e-mails of the week when I got a message about it: NAR Scandal. A new Web site run by some fearless yet anonymous whistleblowers was threatening to expose all of our shadowy operations.
I immediately put down my coffee and ran for the secret elevator in NAR HQ that took me straight down to our war room — a steel-reinforced bunker 500 feet below downtown Chicago — where an emergency summit was already taking place. NAR CEO Dale Stinton was already there, as was 2010 President Vicki Cox Golder, along with assorted association mucky mucks. Also in attendance were covert NAR “assets,” which included U.S. Senator John Ensign, syndicated columnist George Will, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen, billionaire investor Warren Buffett, and basketball star LeBron James.
Stinton started the meeting: “NAR leaders, distinguished guests … We’re all here today because we face a grave threat from a mysterious outside organization that’s got the goods on us, and has advised us that they’re going public with this knowledge.” Continue reading »
By Stacey Moncrieff, Editor in Chief, REALTOR® Magazine
When we allow an error into the magazine, we hear from readers, and we had a doozy in the April issue — two actually. Subheads on page 28 that should have read “You’re at highest risk if . . .” and “You’re at less risk if . . .” both incorrectly used “Your” in place of “You’re.” Ouch. Responses from readers ranged from “Dudes, what were you thinking?” to “How could you?”
I’m not in the office right now — and don’t even have the technical clearance to syndicate a change to our article pages online — but I promise the online version will be fixed tomorrow (along with a headline that’s missing an apostrophe to indicate a possessive!) I’ll also look back at our paper record to see what happened. I’m guessing that, after the article was laid out in InDesign (our graphics program), one of us hurriedly and carelessly changed “Your risk is highest if . . .” to a wording that seemed more conversational. I can’t even bring myself to write the offending subheads here.
I know REALTORS® are dealing with issues today that are much weightier than your vs. you’re, but you have a right to expect a magazine that’s professionally edited. For those of you who wrote to us, thank you. We all share your desire to uphold the language, and we apologize for the errors.
By Mariwyn Evans, Commercial Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
These days, there’s no shortage of issues that can hamstring a deal. Have you had something happen recently that’s kept a transaction from closing? What steps are you taking to avoid those situations?
If you’d like to be interviewed and share your story with REALTOR® Magazine, please call Mariwyn Evans at 312-259-6350 or e-mail mevans@realtors.org by April 2. Also, be sure to participate in our poll.
By Stacey Moncrieff, Editor in Chief, REALTOR® Magazine
REALTOR® Magazine’s “30 Under 30″ feature has been going strong for a decade. We’ve recognized 300 young people – and we’re preparing to recognize another 30 in our June 2010 issue. Over the past 10 years, I’d say we’ve reviewed more than 4,000 applications.
We get more letters about this feature than anything else we regularly do. The question on many people’s minds is: What has become of our past “30 Under 30″ honorees? Did they have staying power? How many washed out of the business as a result of tough times? While there has been some fallout — a few of the young people we featured later had spectacular falls from grace — most of the “30s” (our shorthand) remain in the business.
In celebration of the 10-year anniversary of of “30 Under 30,” we’re not only following up with them, we’re trying to get as many of them to Chicago as we can. On April 16, they’ll be participating in an anniversary photo shoot at Chicago’s Union Station; from there, they’ll visit the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® offices on Michigan Ave. So far, more than 40 have confirmed their attendance—and they’re making the trip on their own dime.
I have the feeling it’s going to be an impressive group. In the 10 years we’ve run the feature, we’ve been lucky to get to know some of the “30s.” They’ve become friends of the magazine and leaders in our effort to establish a Young Professionals Network. Many have become association leaders at the local, state, or national level. In our June issue, we’ll revisit some of the past honorees.
If you were featured in “30 Under 30″ and didn’t receive an invitation to the April 16 photo shoot but would like to learn more, please contact Rob Reuter at rreuter@realtors.org.
We enjoyed your input on our April cover so much that we’re going back to the well! Our May cover story is built around interviews with people who recently bought and sold homes. What was the experience like for them? What would they do differently the next time?
We came up with more than a dozen ways to tee-up the story on the cover, and we narrowed those ideas down to six cover concepts (below).
Please tell us which cover would be most likely to draw you inside. VOTE HERE!
By Brian Summerfield, Online Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
Over the past few months, there has been a rising chorus of commentators calling attention to the rapid growth of real estate prices in China. Many of them have even invoked the dreaded “b” word to describe the rocketing residential values. But is China really on the verge of a bubble? Could we see a repeat of what happened here across the Pacific?
Shanghai's Pudong District
Maybe not. While there are some similarities between the U.S. bubble market of the last decade and China’s meteoric rise in real estate, there are enough distinctions to suggest that it could play out differently for the latter.
China’s real estate market has benefited from low interest rates and government attempts to boost growth — in the form of a $500 billion-plus stimulus program — just as housing in the United States did. But some of the key elements in the U.S. bubble, such as exotic mortgage financing and property flipping, are either uncommon or nonexistent in China. Continue reading »
By Brian Summerfield, Online Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
Another week, another great collection of promotional materials developed by the finalists in the REALTOR® Magazine/HP Marketing Makeover Challenge. This week, the REALTORS® created branded newsletters using HP tools and services to share property information with and generate interest from current and potential clients.
Along with de rigueur elements such as listing and contact info, the newsletters included some nice flourishes. One of them offered some home staging tips, another highlighted area communities, and another included a rundown of local real estate market statistics. And as far as design goes, they all looked very good.
We’ve got one week left in the Marketing Makeover Challenge, so make sure to get your votes in for your favorite finalists, and register for your chance to win a $100 credit for HP solutions. You can read about everything they’ve done so far — and cast your votes for the best entries — at the official contest blog.
By Robert Freedman, senior editor, REALTOR® Magazine
Watching the decline of a once vibrant neighborhood is always saddening but its particularly so when the decline is due to a rash of foreclosures that, with a little bit of foresight, could have been prevented. That’s why NAR’s new neighborhood stabilization project comes at an especially important time: it actually gives associations of REALTORS® some resources to help their members do something to restore a neighborhood facing decline before foreclosures turn it into a wasteland.
A couple of weeks ago I got a good look at how NAR’s program works when I spent the morning with Mabel Guzman, ABR, president-elect of the Chicago Association of REALTORS®, who showed me around two neighorhoods that are teetering between success and failure. The neighborhoods are among about two dozen in Chicago that have seen a rise in foreclosures and vacancies, so they’re seeing more homes getting boarded up and at risk of vandalism.
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