The Community Involvement Committee of GHAR received grant money from NAR in 2010 and did such a good job of running a series of Foreclosure Prevention Forums for the public that they gave us more money this year! Saturday, November 5th, 11am at GHAR will mark the 5th and perhaps final forum.
It's been hard work but also very rewarding. The committee has met some amazing volunteers and homeowners throughout the process. Overall, we've given free foreclosure and legal advice to over 55 people. How inspiring to meet those willing to do all they can to keep their dream of homeownership!
Just as inspiring has been the community of volunteers willing to give their time. We've created strong alliances with great people like attorney Jeff Gentes from the Connecticut Fair Housing Center who has given his time, knowledge and also supplies our handouts. Rose Holbrook from the CT Housing & Finance Authority voluntarily shares the programs available to struggling homeowners and we have had a few of the foreclosure mediators from the State Foreclosure Mediation Program willing to share the process that our state has set as an example for others.
We are also pleased to have Casey Healey from The Healey Law Firm LLC in Cheshire, who will join us for this last forum. This will be the second forum that Casey is volunteering to share her years of foreclosure and bankruptcy law experience.
The audience is not only made up of struggling homeowners looking for answers but REALTORS® like you are also encouraged to attend. Those that have atteneded, have been pleasantly surprised by how well the forum is organized and how much helpful information is distributed. So, please help us spread the word about November 5th at 11am so that we can make this last forum our very best forum.
Keara
Communications Director
Greater Hartford Association of REALTORS®
433 South Main St, Suite 106, West Hartford, CT 06110
t: 860.561.1800
http://www.gharonline.com/
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We'd like this to be a fun place for the GHAR membership to learn tips, notes, and summaries about the real estate industry and the association. Feedback and comments are always welcome - enjoy!!!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Emailing Attachments in MLS
We get MLS questions from agents all the time. Below is a question asked by a GHAR member just last week. It's also a question I think every agent has probably wondered about at some point.
Q. Can you make it so we as agents can send the listing attachments to the clients rather than us wasting paper? It is much more efficient and Eco friendly. If clients don't like what they see in the disclosures why waste their. Now I have to print, scan and email.
A. There are several ways you can get the attachments to your clients without having to print and rescan them.
If the listing agent has marked the attachments as "Public Access" then your clients will be able to access the attachments by clicking on the photo of a listing you email to them, and clicking on the Attachments tab.
MLXchange won't let you email attachments directly, but when you open the PDF attachment there is an email button above that screen that you can use to email each attachment separately. If there is more than one attachment that you want to email you can hit the File "save as" button and save each file to your computer hard drive and then email them as a group from there.
If you have any questions email me or call me at 860-561-1800.
Shelley L. LaPaugh
Director of MLS
Q. Can you make it so we as agents can send the listing attachments to the clients rather than us wasting paper? It is much more efficient and Eco friendly. If clients don't like what they see in the disclosures why waste their. Now I have to print, scan and email.
A. There are several ways you can get the attachments to your clients without having to print and rescan them.
If the listing agent has marked the attachments as "Public Access" then your clients will be able to access the attachments by clicking on the photo of a listing you email to them, and clicking on the Attachments tab.
MLXchange won't let you email attachments directly, but when you open the PDF attachment there is an email button above that screen that you can use to email each attachment separately. If there is more than one attachment that you want to email you can hit the File "save as" button and save each file to your computer hard drive and then email them as a group from there.
If you have any questions email me or call me at 860-561-1800.
Shelley L. LaPaugh
Director of MLS
Friday, September 2, 2011
Are we ethical?
It’s no surprise that once in awhile REALTORS® find themselves in an ethical dispute over misunderstandings, miscommunication, or lack of adequate communication. In the five years of my tenure at GHAR, however, I've noticed that the number of Ethics complaint and Arbitration filings is steadily going down. Anyone can file an ethics complaint and it costs nothing, so why aren't more complaints being filed? Do you really think ethical behavior has improved over the last five years? Do you understand the process? Please share your thoughts with us!
When another REALTOR® or member of the public calls me regarding an ethical issue with one of our members, I may ask if the Complainant has tried to work it out directly with the member or their firm’s principal broker (managing broker/owner). Open, constructive discussion often resolves questions or differences eliminating the need for further action, and an apology certainly goes a long way in these situations. A reminder about a specific Article in the Code of Ethics may also evoke the ethical conduct needed to bring about a successful transaction. However, if there is no resolution after discussing matters with the REALTOR®, Office Manager, or Principal broker, then filing a formal ethics complaint is the best option.
Please help me get a pulse on what is really going on in the field by completing this brief survey. Your thoughts and suggestions are important to improving our Professional Standards process at the local level. Thanks for all you do!
Susy Hurlbert
Director of Executive Services
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Please help! We’re looking for your input!
Our website is going to get a makeover and we want the content to be exactly what you need to help make your business successful. We've already gathered a panel of your peers and their feedback was priceless. So good, in fact, that maybe the rest of our membership would like to contribute some great ideas! What would you like to see on www.gharonline.com? What do you wish was there that's not?
We would love to hear your opinions for the new GHAR website and we want to know what is most important to you. Please fill out this brief survey and let us know what you would add/change/delete if you could:
http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e4i6ja3ogquyvys5/start
Thank you!
Christian Disbrow
Director of Information Technology
We would love to hear your opinions for the new GHAR website and we want to know what is most important to you. Please fill out this brief survey and let us know what you would add/change/delete if you could:
http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e4i6ja3ogquyvys5/start
Thank you!
Christian Disbrow
Director of Information Technology
Friday, July 29, 2011
It’s that time of year again
Hi Everyone,
It’s that time of year again! Time to look toward completing your Continuing Education requirements for Real Estate Licensing. The Real Estate Commission has made changes to the requirements by combining the two mandatory courses to one for the current cycle. The 12 hours of Continuing Education still applies, 3- hours are for the new mandatory course, “CT Real Estate Fiduciary duties and law Update” and 9 hours of elective courses. We are excited to be able to offer some great new courses and great, (maybe not so new) instructors this fall.
Amy Chorew will be offering some of her very timely tech courses to assist agents and their clients with communication in a virtual world. In addition, NAR instructor Rob Nahigian will be at GHAR in October to teach a 3-hour elective on liquidity and Commercial Real Estate: "Connecting The Dots Back To The Future".
Both of these courses and more will be offered by GHAR to assist REALTORS® in the current market. The knowledge services schedule resides on our home page http://www.gharonline.com/. We make updates to it often so be sure to visit the site to select the courses you need.
Just as a reminder, the following are CT State licensing educational requirements:
Brokers - If you passed the Connecticut Broker full licensing examination between 4/1/2010 and 3/31/2012, you do not need to take the continuing education courses. (The date used is not the issuance date of your first license, it is the exam date.)
Salespersons – If you passed the Connecticut Salesperson full licensing examination between 6/1/2010 and 5/31/2012, you do not need to take the continuing education courses. (The date used is not the issuance date of your first license, it is the exam date.)
As always please call or email your suggestions for classes or events and thank you for your continued support!
Sincerely,
Gina Micelotta
Director of Member Services
Phone 860-561-1800, Ext.227
Email: gmicelotta@gharonline.com
It’s that time of year again! Time to look toward completing your Continuing Education requirements for Real Estate Licensing. The Real Estate Commission has made changes to the requirements by combining the two mandatory courses to one for the current cycle. The 12 hours of Continuing Education still applies, 3- hours are for the new mandatory course, “CT Real Estate Fiduciary duties and law Update” and 9 hours of elective courses. We are excited to be able to offer some great new courses and great, (maybe not so new) instructors this fall.
Amy Chorew will be offering some of her very timely tech courses to assist agents and their clients with communication in a virtual world. In addition, NAR instructor Rob Nahigian will be at GHAR in October to teach a 3-hour elective on liquidity and Commercial Real Estate: "Connecting The Dots Back To The Future".
Both of these courses and more will be offered by GHAR to assist REALTORS® in the current market. The knowledge services schedule resides on our home page http://www.gharonline.com/. We make updates to it often so be sure to visit the site to select the courses you need.
Just as a reminder, the following are CT State licensing educational requirements:
Brokers - If you passed the Connecticut Broker full licensing examination between 4/1/2010 and 3/31/2012, you do not need to take the continuing education courses. (The date used is not the issuance date of your first license, it is the exam date.)
Salespersons – If you passed the Connecticut Salesperson full licensing examination between 6/1/2010 and 5/31/2012, you do not need to take the continuing education courses. (The date used is not the issuance date of your first license, it is the exam date.)
As always please call or email your suggestions for classes or events and thank you for your continued support!
Sincerely,
Gina Micelotta
Director of Member Services
Phone 860-561-1800, Ext.227
Email: gmicelotta@gharonline.com
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Key Upgrade
It’s time. Time for your Association to provide you with the very latest in lockbox key technology! While the Display Key has served our members well for the past eight years, the technology is dated. That’s why we went to work to bring you a better technology: the new Supra ActiveKEY.
Jeff Arakelian, RCE
President & CEO
The new ActiveKEY is the first wireless lockbox key designed by real estate professionals for real estate professionals. There are so many advantages to using the new key, we want you to know more about it:
- ActiveKEY keeps itself updated 24/7 through frequent cellular connections to the Supra network. Virtually no attention is required from you!
- When an ActiveKEY opens one of your iBoxes, you receive a real-time showing notification so you’ll know right away when someone has entered your listings!
- The Supra system can also be set to send you an email when someone opens one of your iBoxes or sends you showing feedback
- ActiveKEY is easy to use. It has lots of friendly features including a built-in flashlight and a brightly lit keypad and display window
- The ActiveKEY comes with a power cord, a mini-USB cable and even a clip-on pouch with a pocket to hold your business cards!
- An optional car charger is available for busy real estate professionals. Charge your ActiveKEY while on the way to your next showing.
Stay tuned! You’ll see more information about the new keys, services, and upgrade implementation in our upcoming communications.
Jeff Arakelian, RCE
President & CEO
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Sounds like you're ready for change!
You may remember the communications survey that was sent out a couple of months back. No? Well, there was one that just over 600 of our members filled out and we took notes. The feedback we received has been solid gold so without wasting any time, we want to start implementing your ideas right away!
The survey found that 95% of you prefer to be communicated with by email. That is a relief because about 95% of our communications are by email! We found that a majority of the survey applicants always read our Newsletter 45%, MLS login page 36%, and dedicated event emails 48%.
Frequency
Most of you (52%) would like to be emailed once per week. One member suggested: “Once a week. maybe news and bulletins could be combined into one weekly email, unless an important announcement or deadline came up.” Great idea! We heard this more than once - and we are listening!
Respondents suggested that emails sent on a Friday are often overlooked and that emails sent early to mid-week have the best chance of being seen. Also, a majority stated that the communications would be read more if they were shorter in length (47%) and contained a combination of information (news, info, deadlines, bulletins, etc). See what I mean about great ideas?
Topics
A majority of you are very interested information concerning CE classes (75%), 62% are somewhat interested in GHAR events and 51% are very interested in information about technology. One suggested that we provide more printable tools to share like facts, numbers and graphs. Most of you prefer to read summarized information because there just isn’t enough time in the day!
The Result
So, having read through hundreds of comments and suggestions, we are ready to heed your wishes. It appears you would like emails to be short, to the point, and once per week. This plan is already set in motion and will continue to evolve over time as we update our website to accommodate all of these changes. Our current Newsletter (REALsTORy) will be sent once per week, instead of both the eNews and newsletter. The June issue will be the last newsletter as you know it now. The new one will be a combination of everything you need to know - all in one place! Just imagine!
Our email design will ultimately reflect our new website design - easy to navigate and easy to read. Oh, and did we mention that we're working on a new logo, too? Lots of changes coming but from what I've read, you're ready! Do you like these ideas? Do you hate them? Please let me know! Keara Langston (klangston@gharonline.com or call 860.561.1800).
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