Elpasorealtor El Paso Realtor Magazine September .

September 2010 El Paso Realtor Magazineelpasorealtor.com 1

We’ll Help Put Your ClientsIn The Right Home. Right Away.When it comes to providing safe and sound mortgageloans for your clients, GECU is still going strong. Just likewe’ve been doing for more than 50 years.We’ll find the right mortgage loan that your clients canafford, and then walk them through the lending processwith fast,caring service. It not only makes your clientshappier, it makes your job easier, too.GECU offers your clients:GECU loans:Conventional, FHA and VASimplified mortgage loanpre-qualificationCompetitive, low interest ratesLower closing costsTo find out more aboutour services, call theMortgage Loan Departmentat 774.6081or log on to SmartBranchat www.gecu-ep.org.Subject to credit approval. Anyone living or working in El Paso County or Doña AnaCounty not more than 25 miles from our 1500 North Resler office is eligible forGECU membership.2 elpasorealtor.com1(left to right from back) Eddie Lopez, LorenzoLujan, JoseA. Avila, Jr., TerryVargas, Pamela Herron,ElReveles,PasoSandraRealtorMagazine September2010Araceli Aguilera, Monica Gonzalez, (front) Lettie Ramos

PRESIDENTS WELCOMED O U G H A M I LT O NVacant Building OrdinanceThese last several weeks, we spent a lot of timeworking on the proposed new city VacantBuilding Ordinance. We felt the initial proposalwas greatly overreaching, expensive to propertyowners and unfair to many citizens. Among the changes calledfor were: any building vacant for 180 days to be registered andG R E AT E RE L PA S OASSOCTIONO F R E A LT O R S inspected by the City for a fee, a 50% occupancy meant it wasconsidered “vacant”, it required a 1 hour response time fromthe owner 24/7/ 365, applied city wide for every buildingPRESIDENTresidential and commercial, required the names of all lien holders, often a minimum of 1 million insurance coverage, andsometimes retrofitting and the addition of sprinkler systems.The Governmental Affairs Committee discussed and worked onthe issue as did your leadership. I appointed a special Task Forceof property managers and commercial and residential memberswith Scott Kesner as Chairman to study and set our course ofThe Task Force began to determine what our position would be,what changes were the highest priority and what was feasible toget passed.The Task Force met every time the city changed their pro-action.posal. They met several times with just City Staff and also withAbout noon that first day, I spoke with Travis Kessler, the Presi-our position as well as to evaluate likely support. Then we spokedent and CEO of the Texas Association of Realtors telling himabout the city proposal and its potential harm to property owners. Within about 3 hours, we held a conference call with Travis, both lead TAR Governmental Affairs Directors Mark andDaniel, TAR lead attorney Tom Morgan and about five of ushere in El Paso. They inspired and energized us as they reactedto the proposal, agreeing that it was overwrought, egregious anddamaging to property owners! They also gave us several astutestrategic ideas including a suggestion we push for a “Dangerous Building” definition rather than a “Vacant Building” one.I feel we made some gains based on that thinking as we usuallyreferred to “dangerous” rather than “vacant” buildings.We had earlier sent TAR the City’s proposal and had alreadystarted collecting vacant building ordinances from cities aroundindividual members of City Council to be sure they understoodat the City Council meeting. Representative O’Rourk madethe key motion containing most of our priority changes. AndRepresentative Ortega mediated the discussion to arrive at an8-0 vote in favor.The final Ordinance included: it applied to only 4 smaller areas of El Paso plus any building already identified as “Boardedand Secured,” registration is required only after vacant fortwo years, one resident in a residential home means not vacant,60% vacant before being identified as “vacant,” no fee for theinspection, no owner “response time” mentioned and aMarch 1, 2011 implementation date. Congratulations andthanks to all involved.We must and will continue to monitor the progress and imple-the state. In studying the other ordinances we discoveredmentation of the new ordinance.our ordinance was almost an exact copy of a Dallas ordinancelimited to only the Dallas “Central Business District”!September 2010 El Paso Realtor Magazine- Doug Hamiltonelpasorealtor.com 1

IMPORTANT REMINDERS6400 GATEWAY EAST BLVDEL PASO, TX, 79905(915) 779-3521GEPAR QUARTERLY BILLING SCHEDULE4TH QUARTER BILLING 201010/01/201011/01/201012/01/2010ASSOCIATION OFFICERS Suspension and 50.00 reconnect fee Suspension of office if members are past duew/active license. Termination of office if members are past duew/active license.ASSOCIATION DIRECTORS- Frances Moran- Jim Howard- Elizabeth Golden- Yolie Stanton- Al Jurado1st QUARTER BILLING 201111/15/201011/30/2010 Notice will be e-mailed 1st quarter payments dueSTAY INFORMED & CONNECT ONLINE!FOLLOW US AT ///E L PA S O R E A LT O R . C O MvoteNOVEMBER2FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL ELECTIONSEARLY VOTINGOctober 18, 2010 - October 29, 2010Must register to vote by October 4, 2010 Register online: www.epcounty.com/elections/ Rgister in person at the Greater El Paso Association ofRealtors associations office.For further questions contact Armando Rodriguez:915.783.6070 or arodriguez@gepar.org2 elpasorealtor.com3- Doug Hamilton [ President ]- Linda Bastraw [ President- Elect]- Jennifer Stroh [Secretary/ Treasurer ]- Suzy Shewmaker Hicks [ Immediate Past President ]- Sharron Ramirez [ CEO ]ASSOCIATION DIRECTORS 2010-2011- Susan Craig- Caroline Camfield- Andrew Haggerty- Mackie Sue Gilchrist- Douglas Van NortwickMLS BOARD OF DIRECTORS- Patti Olivas [ President ]- Bill Stanton [ Vice President ]- Angel Ochoa [ Secretary/ Treasurer ]- Rick Snow- Robert Lozano- Dolores Guevara- Jesus Barraza- Andrew Gomez- Angelo AmorielloNAR DIRECTOR- Michael BrayTAR DIRECTORS- Sonja Van Nortwick- Linda BastrawTAR NOMINATING COMMITTEE- Elizabeth LealTAR REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT- R. Scott KesnerTAR TREPAC TRUSTEE- Karen PorterPOLITICAL INVOLVEMENT COMMITTEE- Jenifer StrohCOMMITTEE CHAIRMAN- Jenifer Stroh [ Budget & Finance ]- Alma Miller [ Education ]- Cheryl Williams [ Fair Housing/ Equal Opportunity ]- Yoli Chavez [ Governmental Affairs ]- Socorro Cochran [ TREPAC ]- Yolie Stanton [ REALTOR / Builder ]El Paso Realtor Magazine September 2010

Real Estate EthicsVariable rate commissionsWhen inputting listings, one of the boxes that needsto be answered either yes or no addresses the variablerate commission. I would guess that many timesthis box is checked no but in reality it should havebeen checked yes. The variable rate commission is acommission charged to the seller that deviates fromthe overall commission if you agree to charge a lessercommission if you or someone from your office sellsthe property. In terms of an actual scenario, let ussay you charge a seller a commission of 6 per centbut tell the seller you will reduce the commissionif you or someone from your office sells the listing.That is a variable rate commission and when it turnsinto a problem, if not accurately disclosed, is whentwo offers are presented and one of the offers is fromyou or your office. You would need to tell the otheragent there is a variable rate commission on theproperty and what the differential would be so thatthe cooperating broker’s client has an opportunity tomatch the differential to make the net effect identicalto the seller. I believe in the majority of cases, thelisting agent does not correctly disclose the existenceof a variable rate commission. Article 3 of NAR’sCode of Ethics, Standard of Practice 3-4 addressesthis issue. Also, I would believe by not disclosingthe existence of a variable rate commission an agentis also violating Article 1 of the Code of Ethics thatstates the REALTORS obligation to their client isprimary, but it does not relieve REALTORS of theirobligation to treat all parties honestly.Intermediary Relationship NoticeThis form, which is utilized on an in-house transaction, can only be used if the listing agent has awritten listing agreement (which they almost alwaysdo) and the buyer’s agent has a written buyer’s representation agreement (which they seldom do). Animportant provision of this notice (Paragraph F) isSeptember 2010 El Paso Realtor Magazinefrequently overlooked. This paragraph instructs theagents to “disclose material information related toBroker’s relationship to the parties, such as personalrelationships or prior or contemplated business relationships”. If you are selling a home to a friend thatpersonal relationship must be disclosed. The sale ofa property to a family member would be disclosedin the Special Provisions paragraph of the contract.Likewise, if your client is a past client, or you anticipate future business with them, that must also bedisclosed in the Intermediary Relationship Notice.TAR form for withdrawal of an offerI am sometimes asked whether TAR has a form in existence for the withdrawal of an offer and the answeris no, there is not. If you have submitted an offer ora counter, and your client wants to withdraw theiroffer or counter, the agent needs to send a fax to theother agent notifying them of the withdrawal. Faxesare best in this situation due to the fact that theygenerally provide a confirmation of its receipt; andI would follow it up with a phone call as commoncourtesy to the other agent.Top Ten Most Stressful Occupationsof 2010S T E V E C A R VA L H O , C R S EXPERT ADVISORSAre any of us really surprised, that in a study of 200occupations, ours placed number 10 on the list. Obviously, as markets take downward turns we have todeliver less than favorable news to many sellers, andwe have a smaller pool of buyers to work with. Thisstudy showed most real estate agents worked 9 to 10hours per day. We may want to let our clients knowthat we can empathize with them being that we workin one of the most stressful careers there is.I welcome your comments and questions toSteve@SteveCarvalho.com.G E PA RNEW MEMBERETHICSINSTRUCTORelpasorealtor.com 3

GEPAR & MLS Election Guide2011 ELECTION OF ASSOCIATION OFFICERSThe Nominating Committee announces the candidates running for GEPAR Officers and Directors. You will be voting forPresident-Elect & Secretary / Treasurer and for five (5) Directors. You may vote by proxy and mail it back on or before October1, 2010 or you may vote by ballot in person at the Association Office the week of September 27th through October 1st. Allvotes must be in b 5:00 p.m. on October 1st. 2011 PRESIDENT - LINDA BASTRAWRealty World-C. Starr RealtyPresident Elect 2010Secretary/Treasurer 2009GEPAR Director 2006-2007TAR Director 2008-2010Budget & Finance Committee 2003-presentGrievance Committee 2001-2005Governmental Affairs CommitteeTREPAC CommitteeProfessional Standards Committee 2006-2009 2011 PRESIDENT - ELECT - JENNIFER STROHCentury 21 The EdgeSecretary Treasurer 2010Region 16 Representative to the PoliticalInvolvement Committee at TAR 2009-2010Board of Directors 2007-2010Governmental Affairs Committee 2009-2010Education Committee 2007-2009Grievance Committee 2006-2007TREPAC Chair 2005TREPAC Committee 2004-presentSalesman of the Year 2005 2011 SECRETARY/ TREASURER ELECT - KENNY GROSSERA Priority One Real EstateMLS President 2008-2009MLS Board of Directors 2007-2009GEPAR Board of Directors 2001-2004REALTOR Commercial Alliance President 19914 elpasorealtor.com5El Paso Realtor Magazine September 2010