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

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

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

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.

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.

Want to read more about the Supra ActiveKEY? It is our hope that this new technology not only makes your life easier but also helps your business. We’ve worked hard at negotiating a fair price to make the monthly increase less than a gallon of gas! One more thing, the projected exchange of the keys will take place during the week of October 10^th. For more information about the upgrade and costs associated, click here: http://www.gharonline.com/pdf/Info_Lockbox_Key_Upgrade.pdf

Stay tuned! You’ll see more information about the new keys, services, and upgrade implementation in our upcoming communications.

Jeff Arakelian, RCE

President & CEO

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!

Email
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).

We’re looking for some good advice!

GHAR is redesigning its website from top to bottom. We’ll remove some content, add new content, and change the navigation to make it easier for you to find the information you need.

Here’s your chance to make GHARonline.com a better website for all of our members. Tell us what you would like to see on our new website.

Here’s how you can help us. Join our focus group. We’ll have a short meeting that’ll last about an hour or two to discuss the redesign. You don’t need any web design experience or technical knowledge to take part in our focus group. You even have a chance to win a $50 gas card for giving us your time!

To sign-up for our focus group, please call me (Christian) at 860-561-1800 ext. 232 or send me an email by May 20, 2011.

For the last nine years, the editors at REALTOR® Association Executive magazine have held an annual website contest for real estate associations - like GHAR. They recently announced the winners of the 2011 contest and the reasons behind their choices in the Spring 2011 edition of the magazine.

Following are the winners, one for each association size category:

• the Portage County Association of REALTORS, Ohio in the fewer than 300 members category;
• the Berkshire Association of REALTORS, Mass. in the 301-700 members category;
• the Dulles Area Association of REALTORS, Va. in the 701-2,000 members category;
• the REALTORS Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh in the 2,001-7,000 members category;
• the Houston Association of REALTORS in the more than 7,000 members category.

To put this in perspective, GHAR has approximately 3,500 members. If you look at the websites above, you’ll see how other associations try to disseminate information to their members. It worked for the judges; the 2011-2012 REALTOR AE magazine editorial board and NAR staff, but do these ideas work for you, our members?

Christian Disbrow
Director of Information Technology

Spread the Word About MLXwireless!

One of the fears I have about writing a BLOGGAR is that I’m preaching to the choir and reaching only the agents who are already tech savvy. So I’d like to ask a favor of all of you Blog fans. Please share the Blog with a friend, a colleague, or a new agent in your office.

Most agents think of the MLS only as a place to look up listings. You meet a buyer who wants a Colonial in Wethersfield, so you go in the MLS and look up Wethersfield Colonials. But our MLS offers more functionality than just a simple search, it offers tools to help you work smarter not harder, a fact I sometimes think is the best kept secret in Connecticut.

In the last orientation class here at GHAR, I asked, as I usually do, how many of the agents in the class had smart phones. About 10 out of the 30 or so attendees raised their hands. Then I asked how many of those people are using MLXwireless. I hoped that all ten would raise their hands, but as usual, it was about half. So, why are agents, who are already paying for their smart phones, not using wireless access?

• It can’t be the price. It’s FREE!
• It can’t be the time it takes to sign up because the MLX wireless registration is easily accessible under ‘Resources’ on the MLX home page, 24/7, and it’s only four questions long.
• It can’t be that they couldn’t use the convenience of being able to look up listing information from anywhere.

So, it must be that most of the agents out there just don’t know about MLXwireless. So, I’m spreading the word and asking Blog readers to share. Your next sale may depend on the ability to look up information while you are on the road. Why not register for MLX wireless today and make that sale a reality!?

Shelley LaPaugh
GHAR MLS Director