Picture this. You’re living on the Arctic tundra. You decide you’ve had enough! You want to live in sunny Florida. So you go online (do they have internet in the Arctic?) and find a great looking website, and through this site, find an awesome house right on the beach. Everything looks good, no buzz words to be wary of in the comments section. So you contact the agent. And find out from them that this property is being sold as a short sale. Why didn’t the website tell you this?

There are two possible answers to this question. One is that the website owner did not include the Sale Type field in the available listing data. It is available as a customer viewable field. But it’s a relatively new field (added within the past few years) and some agents haven’t made major renovations to the listing search on their site since then.

The other possibility is that the listing agent forgot, or didn’t know, to put Short Sale at the beginning of the Remarks field in their listing. The ECAR MLS rules require all short sales to be identified two ways. One is by choosing Short Sale in the Sale Type field, and the other is to add the words “Short Sale” to the beginning of the Remarks field.

By putting the phrase in the Remarks field, it will go out to any public access website that uses the comments in this field. Many public sites, including NAR’s Realtor.com and our own EmeraldCoastHomesOnline.com do.

This requirement allows the public to be made aware of the situation while they’re doing their initial online research. You know and we know that they search online before calling a professional. So we need to make sure that we provide as much information as we are allowed to give them.

If you have any short sale listings in the MLS, please check them to make sure that you have this phrase at the beginning of the Remarks field.

One of the plans we have for our new MLS system (still being decided on) is to have this phrase added automatically to any listing with Short Sale selected in the Sale Type field. So hopefully in the future you won’t have to worry about manually adding the wording.

Next week we’ll talk about a similar manual disclosure that’s required: a contract with a 72 hour or less first right of refusal clause.

Questions? Comment on this post, or email susan@ecaor.com.

Susan Beck, MLS Director
Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS
Fort Walton Beach, FL

Light breakfast offerings will be provided by a Sponsor at no cost to the attendee.

You are welcome to share printouts of your commercial listings with fellow agents.

Please come and join us.  Bring a friend; the networking with other commercial agents is great!

*Directions:  ST MARK UNITED METHODIST CHURCH is located at 2250 PJ Adams Pkwy.  Turning left off of PJ Adams, proceed past the first parking lot to the rear lot near the portables where you will find the entrance of Fellowship Hall.

Mission Statement

Provide the best service possible to our clients and customers by

§ Representing our industry with character, integrity and professionalism.

§ Being truthful and fair to all concerned.

§ Maintaining a high level of personal competence.

§ Contributing to the advanced training of our fellow members.

Develop and maintain a business environment that advances financial opportunity for all members.

Note:  this email has been sent to you because you are listed as a member of the Crestview Commercial Forum in ECAR.  If you are not interested in participating or receiving email notices from the Crestview Commercial Forum, help update it’s membership roster by emailing Kaylyn Byrd or Tina Maples:  kaylynbyrdrealtor@gmail.com ,  info@tinamaples.com .  Thanks.

For the past few years, ECAR promoted to members and the public the Great Emerald Coast Open House on the third Sunday of every month from 1pm to 3pm. While enthusiasm was high in the beginning, participation by Realtors® has dwindled over the past two years to a small fraction of the early days. Yet, open houses are held nearly every day of the week by Realtors® across the Emerald Coast.

With this in mind, the ECAR Board of Directors appointed a committee earlier this year to discuss options to change the Emerald Coast Open House program. The committee met and made recommendations to the Board of Directors. In May, the Board approved the following changes:

• The www.EmeraldCoastOpenHouse.com URL will still be active, but it will look and function a bit differently. It will now point to the Open House search function on the www.EmeraldCoastHomesOnline.com website.
• When you enter your open house in MLS, it will show up when someone goes to www.EmeraldCoastOpenHouse.com and performs an open house search. They must do a search with criteria that matches your open house in order to find it.
• ECAR will promote, to the public, the ability to find an open house any day of the week on the www.EmeraldCoastOpenHouse.com  website – eliminating the special 3^rd Sunday requirement. This allows for open houses that fit better in your schedule and buyers’ schedules.
• Promotion of the open house website (www.EmeraldCoastOpenHouse.com) will be included in all current ECAR advertising – radio ads, TV advertising, and online advertising. Press releases will go out to the local newspapers, radio stations, Chambers of Commerce, and other organizations that have helped us promote the Emerald Coast Open House in the past.
• Members can still use the green Emerald Coast Open House signs that you’ve purchased in the past – and you can continue to purchase those signs if you prefer to offer your open houses on Sunday.

Bottom line – if you have an open house, enter it in the MLS like you’ve always done. Your open house will be searchable on the website, and ECAR will promote the website. This gives you the freedom to offer your open houses when it’s convenient for you and your seller – and you get a little extra promotion for your open house.

The format will be two-person teams. There will be prizes for highest game, winning team, best outfit, AND a surprise award! Confirmations must be received no later than Tuesday, June 18 at 5:00 p.m. by email to: WCR Bowling Confirmation. The entry fee of $15 per person may be paid at the event.

Make sure to participate in the 2013 ECAR Education Survey beginning Thursday, June 13 and you can enter a drawing to win a free Education Pass! Check your email for this new survey!

Watch this video to learn more about the new enhancements for eSign: http://forms.floridarealtors.org/public/videos?video=14

Want training for Form Simplicity?

ECAR Live Training with Patti Ketcham – July 24 at 1:00 p.m. (More info coming soon)

Free webinars from Form Simplicity: https://forms.floridarealtors.org/index/signin

Form Simplicity Ultimate features include: Unlimited eSign, Unlimited Document Storage, Task Management, and Sharing and Negotiating with clients and third parties.

ECAR and the Building Industry Association (BIA) of Okaloosa and Walton Counties have partnered to offer Realtors® and builders a unique opportunity. You can hear directly from our state Senators and Representatives what passed (or didn’t) in the recent legislative session – and how it affects real estate.

Senators Don Gaetz and Greg Evers, as well as Representatives Matt Gaetz, Marti Coley, Jimmy Patronis, and Doug Broxson, will all attend the Legislative Wrap-Up.

The Legislative Wrap-Up is Wednesday, July 10 at the La Costa Leadership Institute at the Northwest Florida State College Niceville campus. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. Breakfast is at 8:00 a.m. The program starts at 8:30 a.m. Each legislator will speak for a few minutes and there will be time for questions from the audience at the end.

Admission is $15. BIA members will need to contact Jennifer at the BIA to register at 850-863-5107. ECAR members can register online or by contact ECAR at 850-243-6145.

Questions or comments? Contact Michaela Mitchell at michaela@ecaor.com or Paula Cook at paulac@ecaor.com.

Anderson says, “Until now, the Okaloosa County Health Department was the only local option where residents could obtain their Florida birth certificate.” He continues, “Because a certified birth certificate is required to obtain a Real ID compliant driver license and ID card, this program allows us to add yet another level of convenience for our customers.”

The Okaloosa County Tax Collector’s Office pilot program only allows for the issuance of most Florida birth certificates by an authorized individual. The cost is $10.00 per individual plus a $6.25 service fee.

If you list or sell commercial property, you’ll see something new starting today.

In the Commercial categories there are several ways to indicate square feet, all depending on what type of property is being listed. Retail will have a Building SqFt, and Unit SqFt while Offices will have Office SqFt and Unit SqFt. Industrial has all three.

The Commercial MLS committee decided earlier this year that the Unit SqFt field did not adequately describe what was being offered, in the Commercial Sale or Commercial Lease category.

So their decision, with the approval of the Board of Directors, was to change the field name from Unit SqFt to Available SqFt, and to make is a required entry for all commercial listing classes that included that field.

This is going to mean at least three things to watch for.

The search functions and reports are still set to the Unit SqFt field. Our MLS vendor is working on updating these to the new name.

If you have an existing active listing in one of the commercial classes that use this field, and you need to edit the listing using Change Listing Info, you may be required to complete the Available SqFt if you didn’t already have it filled in.

If you have a new commercial listing to enter, you’ll now be required to enter that field.

Questions? Call us at 850-244-2411, or email susan@ecaor.com.

Susan Beck, MLS Director
Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS
Fort Walton Beach, FL

NAR, working with Representatives Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Financial Services Ranking Member, Maxine Waters (D-CA) successfully attached an amendment to the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill that would delay changes to policies whose premium rates are currently “grandfathered” into a special rate pool for one year.  The amendment would not apply to all NFIP premiums.   Rep. Waters was one of the original sponsors of the Flood Insurance bill that passed in the 112th Congress.

In the United States Senate, Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) held up consideration of the Farm Bill in an attempt to amend that bill to include a three-year delay for the removal of the grandfathered rates.  While the Farm Bill effort was unsuccessful, NAR is working with Louisiana’s other Senator,  Senator David Vitter (R-LA) to interrogate the Federal Emergency Management Agency concerning the implementation of NFIP changes.    Additionally, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Tim Johnson (D-SD) announced that the committee will be holding a hearing regarding NFIP affordability concerns.  The hearing is expected to be conducted in July.  NAR will continue to work with our Congressional allies on the NFIP issue and will keep you informed of developments as necessary.

NAR has also produced a video http://www.realtor.org/videos/flood-insurance-subsidies-phasing-out that helps explain the changes to the NFIP and rate schedules.  NAR President Gary Thomas has created a Presidential Advisory Group to address the issues related to the recent changes to the NFIP.

Link to FEMA FAQ on NFIP