I’m reading this morning that the amendment was approved: The Senate has amended a bill to give homebuyers who were under contract on a home purchase by April 30 an additional three months to close the deal and claim the federal homebuyer tax credit. … I read this on the OpenCongress site – Dems Lose Big on Unemployment Insurance/Tax Extenders Vote After two weeks of solid debate — and two weeks of people having their unemployment insurance cut off because of congressional inaction — the Senate this morning took their first test vote on passing H.R. 4213 , the “American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010.” … As you know, Senator Reid has been supporting an amendment to H.R. 4213 that would extend the deadline for closing for the homebuyer tax credit from June 30 to September 30. … But also yesterday, earlier in the day before Senator Reid’s amendment, the Senate voted against a motion that would move closer to ending debate on the bill and passing it.
Posts tagged NAR
Realtor Alphabet Soup – Valuable?
GRI, ABR, CRS, EPRO, SRES, ALC, GAA, SIOR, RSPS … The above are some of the many designations Realtors can earn (with the accompanying annual fees) … the education provided by the courses can be valuable, but cluttering up a business card? Why? 
Consumers don’t care .
I’m an Associate Broker in Virginia. So What?
In Virginia the basic requirements to obtain a real estate license are 60 hours of education, don’t have a felony conviction and be at least 18 years of age. … (Colorado, North Carolina are broker-only states, and each state has wildly different licensing requirements) One of our core philosophies at Nest Realty Group is that we have high standards for our agents, so much so that we wrote this belief in Nest’s Core Philosophies – a Manifesto if you will (more to come about these beliefs over the course of 2010).
…A lot of people talk about raising the bar within the real estate industry; I have for many years: – Move Off The Blogs to Change NAR – If A Realtor is Unethical in the Woods – But, We’re ALL Ethical!
…Experience Verification Forms verifying that the applicant has been actively engaged as a real estate licensee for at least 40 hours per week during 36 of the 48 months immediately preceding the date of application.
Electronic Signatures – Not Groundbreaking but Great all the Same
Here’s what happened: Rather than drive around Charlottesville meeting one buyer at work on the south side of town, the other buyer on the north side of town or both of them together after work at another location, I simply emailed them the contract, they clicked the places they needed to sign and initial and they were done.
…Legal recognition of electronic records, electronic signatures, and electronic contracts. (a) A record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form. (b) A contract may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because an electronic record was used in its formation. (c) If a law requires a record to be in writing, an electronic record satisfies the law. (d) If a law requires a signature, or provides for certain consequences in the absence of a signature, an electronic signature satisfies the law. (2000, c.
…FHA does accept DocuSign today As the real estate industry’s leading provider of electronic contract execution, DocuSign has also sought to establish a clear distinction between an electronic mortgage – with process requirements and controls that must be in place at closing – and an electronically signed real estate contract, seeking appropriate treatment of electronically signed real estate contracts by lenders, the FHA, and other “downstream†recipients of these 100% valid and enforceable agreements. … Over the past five years, hundreds of thousands of real estate documents have been electronically signed by buyers and sellers using the DocuSign electronic contract execution platform, and not one of these transactions has failed for fraud or unenforceability arising from use of the electronic signature.
Electronic Signatures for Real Estate Transactions
I’ve been using electronic signatures for a few weeks now, and they have been tremendously helpful – saving gas, time and energy. Instead of faxing, emailing, printing, scanning … my buyer and seller clients have clicked to sign . … Now it appears that Docusign , thanks to an investment by the NAR’s Second City Ventures , is going to ramp up their development and will be spreading their reach through the Realtor world. … I expect Second City Ventures to have a better definition of “investment” than the US Treasury .
Speaking at National Association of Realtors Convention in San Diego
As with every conference I attend, I go with a couple goals: 1 – What can I learn that will help my clients ? … 3 – What can I learn that will position me ahead of my competition? – Note that my competition consists of more than Charlottesville Realtors – it’s consumers as well. Consumers are far more tuned in and in touch that ever before, and I have to work that much harder to stay ahead of them. … Here is a preview of my work-in-progress part of the panel: Update 14 November : This is the presentation I gave yesterday.
Big News in Real Estate – It’s About Time
It’s been pretty boring in real estate for a while. Not anymore. There was an announcement by the National Association of Realtors, in conjunction with Cyberhomes and RPR, LLC in the real estate world last…