Volume 1 • Issue 1 - September 2012From our President

F C B O R M o n t h l y N e w s l e t t e r

Gerry is the President ofThe Four Corners Board of

REALTORS® You can contact her at

970-565-8408

Message from our new President

I take over the reins as President for the Four Corners Board of REALTORS® on the 20th. I want to thank Leila Hanson for all that she has done for the Board over the past year. We have seen many new benefits for our members, most notably Centralized Services which has improved our day to day financial operations, a broader scope of educational opportunities and much improved tech sup-port.

We have put a new strategic plan that provides us with a clear direction for improved member ben-efits and more effective/efficient business operations for our Board.Our first tasks at hand are the upcoming CAR Convention in a few short weeks as well as our mem-bership campaign for 2013. The market is picking up however slowly and we have prospects for growth in our membership as well as affiliate participation.

I would like to welcome our new Directors/Officers Robin Rice, President Elect; Bob Toles, Secretary Treasurer and Brenda Bates, Director. I look for-ward to working with them as well as returning Directors Preston Dillon, and Jo Ann Cauley and Dawn Utrup and our CAR Director Carol Click.

We have an exciting year ahead of us and I invite you as Board members to get involved and join us in the fun.

Gerry Parker, President, Four Corners Board of REALTORS®

Important Updates and Reminders!

FCBOR Board

The Four Corners Board of REALTORS® has elected new officers and a Director for the 2012/2013 term.

• Gerry Parker of Century 21 West Slope has been named President. Gerry has been in the Real Estate business for more than 20 years and has served as President of the Board in 1987/88.

• President Elect is Robin Rice, also of C-21 West Slope.

• Secretary/Treasurer is Bob Toles of Colorado West.

• The new Director is Brenda Bates-Smith of Re/Max Mesa Verde Realty.

Also serving on the Board of Directors is Jo Ann Cauley of C-21, Dawn Utrup of Southwest Realty, Preston Dillon of Eagle Investments. Carol Click of Re/Max Mesa Verde Realty is the CAR Director and in 2014 will serve as Southwest District Director for CAR.

Gerry is looking for Committee Chairpersons. “It is going to be an exciting year. I think we will be seeing the market bouncing back both in sales and in home prices. Committee participation adds to the camaraderie within the Board and develops strong working relationships.”

Installation of new officers will be Sept. 16th at Shiloh’s Restaurant at noon. The Board sends out a “Big Thank” you to outgoing President Leila Hanson and Director (Past President) Mindy Rosenbaugh.

http://www.realtor.org/articles/us-house-pass-es-respa-home-warranty-clarification-act-

of-2011

3.8 The 3.8% Tax Real Estate Scenarios and Example

http://www.realtor.org/small_business_health_coverage.nsf/docfiles/government_af-fairs_invest_inc_tax_broch.pdf/$FILE/gov-ernment_affairs_invest_inc_tax_broch.pdfs

The 2012-2013 Four Corners Board of REALTORS Board of Directors:

President/ Gerry Parker / 565-8408 / gparker@fone.net President-Elect/ Robin Rice / 565-8408 / robinrice@fone.netPast President / Leila Hanson / 749-2789 / leila@fone.net

Secretary/Treasurer / Bob Toles / 946-1194 / BobToles@yahoo.comDirector/ Brenda Bates-Smith / 565-2000 / brendaksmith@remax.net

Director/ Jo Ann Cauley / 565-8408 / joannc21@fone.netDirector/ Preston Dillon / 560-9144 / psdillon@rmi.net

Director/ Dawn Utrup / 570-3110 / dawn.utrup@gmail.comCAR Director/ Carol Click / 565-2000 / carolclick@remax.net

Association Office StaffAssociation Executive / Howard Thomas / 565-0112/ fourcornersboard@gmail.com

FCBOR CALENDAR OF EVENTS

1 9/7/2012 3:42 PMstaff

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa1

2 3 4 5 6 7 89 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 2223 24 25 26 27 28 2930

September 2012Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa

1 2 3 4 5 67 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 2021 22 23 24 25 26 2728 29 30 31

October 2012

September 2012

8/26

- 3

1

Aug 26 27 28 29 30 31 Sep 1

9/2

- 7

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Labor Day deadline for REALTOR( Dean Hanson Memoria

9/9

- 14

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 AE out of town

9:00am 11:00am Parade of Lights Meeting (Board Office)

9/16

- 2

1

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 AE out of town 9:00am 11:00am Board

of Director's Meeting(Board Office)

12:00pm 1:00pm BoardLuncheon and Install

9/23

- 2

8

23 24 25 26 27 28 292:00pm 3:00pm ...

(Durango) - mjrosenbaugh@gmail.com

Affiliate Sponsored Wat

9/30

- 1

0/5

30 Oct 1 2 3 4 5 6

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Vacation homes are generally purchased by higher income households. In the past year, 44 percent of all vacation home buyers earned six-figure incomes. The purchases also had higher down payments, higher credit scores, and more collateral backing compared to other mortgages. Despite better underwriting and essentially low subprime lending for vacation homes, vacation and resort destinations have suffered disproportionally more than the overall housing market. Simply put, the collateral damage of the credit crunch from the subprime mess whacked the market that did not encounter subprime lending.

Home sales fell sharply in places like Steamboat Springs, Glenwood Springs, and Vail, Colorado, by 70 to 80 percent from peak 2006 levels. The good news is that a recovery is taking place in these resort desti-nations in 2012. The dollar volume of home sales activity has been running 10 to 30 percent higher this year versus last. But even with the increases so far, the dollar volume of business still remains at less than half the peak level activity of 5 to 6 years ago.

New home construction in particular has been hard hit in the Colorado Mountain areas. The chart below shows the year-to-date figures on housing permits. Because most of the permits eventually translate into housing starts, the chart is a good indication of new home construction activity in several resort com-munities in Colorado. Note that local peaks are always in December because it covers the full 12 month year-to-date. Also note the painful degree of collapse in the past 3 years versus what it had been.

Looking ahead, though, the existing home sales recovery that is already taking place will likely strength-en even more in 2013. The stock market wealth is one important driver of vacation home purchases and the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the NASDAQ index has essentially doubled from the cyclical low point in 2009. Though getting a mortgage for a vacation home is much tougher to get (due to the col-lateral damage fallout from the subprime lending mess) there will be an increasing number of vacation home sales from better conditions of all-cash deals from cashing in on the good stock market recovery. Falling existing home inventory will then mean a greater need for housing permits to be issued.Don’t miss his presentation at the CAR Convention Town Hall meeting on Monday, October 15 from 8:30am – 10:30am at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel.

Reprinted with permission from the National Association of REALTORS®.

Housing Starts Expected Increase in Colorado Resort Towns By Dr. Lawrence Yun, NAR Senior Economist

Have you noticed the new calendar on your website yet? Actually, have you noticed the new look of your website? We are working hard to give you easy access to the infor-mation you crave. I encourage you to utilize these new features and to keep an eye on your association site as we strive to put current and up-to-date content at your finger-tips.

Jo Ann JohnstonMLS & Communication

http://www.fourcornersboardofrealtors.com/events_308.html

ASSUMED IDENTITY Assumed Identity will be available soon in Paragon. What is assumed identity you ask? Assumed Identity allows a user to permit another person, such as an assistant or team member, to have access to his or her account. The process retains the integrity of all security safeguards by recording every person who logs onto an account and any work that is done on behalf of the account holder. Assume Identity functionality is a real highlight for Paragon users, especially for real estate teams or the assistant who needs to access an agent’s or broker’s account in order to expedite work. In preparation, CREN has changed their rules to allow non-licenesed assistance in the MLS. Once enacted, each user will be allowed only one login at a time. If you accidently close your browser and try to log back in, Paragon will automatically kick the old login off and log you back in to the system without any annoying pop-ups that state you have too many logins and to contact your board office to correct it. Please contact your board office for initial set-up questions.

User Preferences Overview 1

� CONFIDENTIAL – LPS Real Estate Group Client Use Only March 2, 2012

PreferencesPreferences is your tool in Paragon to add your picture and office logo and customize how Paragon will work for you specifically. There are three (3) Preferences Wizards in Paragon to help you set up your personal branding and function settings. They are Preference Wizard, Client Connect Wizard and Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) Wizard. This Quick Start Guide does not cover the wizards.

This Quick Start Guide covers the general User Preferences section of Paragon including the following areas:

User Preferences: Office Logo Image, Agent Image and Login MaintenanceSystem Preferences: Market Monitor, Search Options, Result Options and User InterfaceReport Views: Spreadsheets, Details, Multi-Ups, Tour/Open House and Specialty ViewsE-mail: Verification, Standard Message Body, E-card Options and Notify Agent by DefaultClient Connect: Agent Information, Home Page Message, Links, Office Information and Agent Notification Options (see Quick Start Guide for Client Connect and wizard for additional information)CMA: Presentation Setup, Page Layout, Adjustments and Report Setup (see Quick Start Guides for CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) and wizard for additional information)

To set up your personal branding and to customize how you want to use Paragon, click Preferencesand under the Preference column click User.

UPDATE ALERT

PARAGON Forced Password Change - OCTOBER 1st

When you log in to Paragon on October 1st and April 1st of every year, you will now be required to change your Paragon password. If you would like to have your browser remember the new password, delete both the user name and password then re-type the username and NEW password in the appropriate fields. Your browser should ask you if it should remem-ber the new password.

Consumer E-mail Campaign FAQIn July 2012, NAR is launching the first of a three-part campaign using e-mails and browser ads to make home owners aware of the value of home ownership and introduce them to NAR and HouseLogic as their allies in sup-port of home ownership. This page answers common questions about the campaign.

Q. What is the consumer e-mail campaign all about?A. The campaign is part of a broader consumer outreach strategy that the NAR Leadership Team approved as part of the association’s long-term strategic plan. In its consumer outreach strategy, NAR uses national TV and radio ads, its consumer-facing Real Estate Today radio program and HouseLogic website, social media, and free media through news stories to build a direct relationship with consumers on behalf of its members.NAR’s consumer outreach strategy is designed to help extend REALTORS®’ relationship with consumers to the life cycle of home ownership, increase the value of the REALTOR® brand, and enhance NAR’s lobbying efforts by establishing a marriage of common interest with home owners on federal housing-related public policy issues. This consumer outreach campaign, designed to help maintain current federal incentives for home ownership, is the first time NAR has marshaled all of its consumer-focused communications for a public advocacy cause.The consumer e-mail campaign is a direct-to-consumer media push to all approximately 75 million home owners in the U.S. and an additional 7 million or so renters who aspire to become home owners. The first e-mail and brows-er ads are scheduled for release in mid-July, and the e-mails are expected to take up to six weeks for full delivery to the roughly 82 million recipients.The goal of NAR’s initial messages to consumers is to build awareness of the existence of federal housing incen-tives and to raise their awareness that home ownership helps families and communities thrive. The first phase of the campaign will also introduce them to NAR and HouseLogic as sources of information on government’s historic support of home ownership.Release of the e-mails and new browser ads in the second and third stages of the campaign depends on actions by Congress and federal agencies that could put public support for home ownership at risk. The second stage of the campaign will build on the first by educating home owners about the public policies that have historically un-derwritten the country’s strong home ownership culture and describe how they’re at risk in today’s tough budget-ary climate. The third stage will ask home owners to take advocacy action on behalf of home ownership.The campaign’s three-step process for engaging consumers involves awareness, education, and action.

Q. Why is the consumer outreach strategy needed?A. The NAR Leadership team has determined, after extensive study, that REALTORS® and consumers share a natural alliance on the importance of home ownership in the United States. The consumer outreach strategy is a comprehensive, multi-year effort to cultivate this alliance, with the aim of multiplying the advocacy impact of both home owners and REALTORS® should the federal government, either through Congress or the executive branch, propose changes that would soften the government’s historic support for home ownership.Q. Why would the government even consider changes to its support for something as central to the American identity as home ownership?

User Preferences Overview 1

� CONFIDENTIAL – LPS Real Estate Group Client Use Only March 2, 2012

PreferencesPreferences is your tool in Paragon to add your picture and office logo and customize how Paragon will work for you specifically. There are three (3) Preferences Wizards in Paragon to help you set up your personal branding and function settings. They are Preference Wizard, Client Connect Wizard and Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) Wizard. This Quick Start Guide does not cover the wizards.

This Quick Start Guide covers the general User Preferences section of Paragon including the following areas:

User Preferences: Office Logo Image, Agent Image and Login MaintenanceSystem Preferences: Market Monitor, Search Options, Result Options and User InterfaceReport Views: Spreadsheets, Details, Multi-Ups, Tour/Open House and Specialty ViewsE-mail: Verification, Standard Message Body, E-card Options and Notify Agent by DefaultClient Connect: Agent Information, Home Page Message, Links, Office Information and Agent Notification Options (see Quick Start Guide for Client Connect and wizard for additional information)CMA: Presentation Setup, Page Layout, Adjustments and Report Setup (see Quick Start Guides for CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) and wizard for additional information)

To set up your personal branding and to customize how you want to use Paragon, click Preferencesand under the Preference column click User.

A. Federal budget deficit pressures. The country has outstanding federal debt of more than $15 trillion. That puts enormous pressure on Congress and the president to identify ways to reduce federal spending or bring in new in-come to the federal treasury. Any form of incentive for home ownership thus becomes a potential source of deficit reduction. And since the real estate sector in general comprises a large portion of the U.S. gross domestic product (about 15 percent), it represents a large and largely untapped pool for funds to close the budget gap.

Q. Why shouldn’t NAR support raising taxes to help the government balance its budget? After all, each segment of the country should do its part.A. Home owners already pay 90 percent of all federal income taxes today, so they are disproportionately shoul-dering the burden of the federal government. What’s more, because residential real estate comprises 15 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, or about $2.3 trillion annually in economic activity, it creates far more in wealth for the country than it receives in assistance from the government, so changes that would increase hurdles to the development and transfer of real estate would reduce the sector’s wealth-generating ability at a time when the country can ill afford that.More importantly, home ownership is a fundamental tenet of the United States as a society of free individuals who shape and act as stewards of their country. For that reason, the federal government has historically supported home ownership as a fundamental value of the country. To acquiesce to reductions in incentives would be to start down a road that could lead to the dismantling of this historic pact between the country and its citizens.

Q. How does the e-mail campaign fit into NAR’s broader consumer outreach initiative?A. The consumer outreach initiative is a comprehensive, integrated, and multiyear campaign that involves commu-nicating through every type of media channel available today. It involves NAR’s public advocacy campaign (former-ly known as the public awareness campaign), which generates 3 billion consumer impressions each year through 14,000 national broadcast and cable TV and radio ad spots on popular programs. It also involves NAR’s popular consumer-facing media channels, Houselogic.com and Real Estate Today radio, which together generate millions of consumer impressions annually (since 2009, 86 million impressions on HouseLogic and 3.2 million listeners of Real Estate Today). And it involves 2 billion impressions generated each year through “earned” news stories in newspapers, magazines, and on websites, blogs, radio, and TV shows, much of which is generated by NAR’s press releases and media outreach. Lastly, it involves the association’s growing social media presence, which accounts for 2.5 million impressions per month.The online e-mail and browser-ad campaign ties all of these efforts together by providing a single, concise mes-sage about the value of home ownership to all 75 million home owners and an additional 7 million renters who as-pire to be home owners. The e-mail and browser-ad messages invite home owners to visit HouseLogic and NAR’s other resources to learn more about the contribution of home ownership to the U.S. and its economy and to make them aware of the federal government’s historic support of home ownership.Combined, these efforts aim to create a narrative environment that’s conspicuous enough to break through today’s saturated communication channels and deliver a compelling message to busy, distracted consumers that some-thing about home ownership is happening that concerns them.

Q. Why are there three stages instead of just one?A. There might be just one e-mail and browser-ad stage. If the federal government ultimately takes no actions that could threaten home ownership, then the campaign will consist of just the one stage, during which e-mails to home owners and browser ads simply talk about the value of home ownership and invite home owners to learn more at HouseLogic.The second and third stages will be launched only as developments dictate. The second stage will launch if the government entertains proposals to scale back federal assistance to home ownership. The messages in those e-mails and browser ads will go a step further than those in the first stage to educate home owners about the country’s historic support for home ownership and the role of home ownership in building wealth and creating

COMMITTEE MEETINGS SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 2012

CommitteeBoard of Directors

stability in the country.The third stage will launch if the government begins to act on proposals harmful to home ownership, and the messages in those e-mails and browser ads will invite consumers to take action on their own behalf to let the government know they support maintaining the government’s support of home ownership.

Q. What if the government does nothing on home ownership. Has NAR reached out to consumers for nothing?A. No. Cultivating the natural alliance between home owners and REALTORS® is a long-term goal that by itself is crucial to the health of the real estate industry. Home owners and REALTORS® share common interests and that will not change regardless of what the federal government does in the near-term.

Q. What role in this campaign is envisioned for members and state and local association staff?A. Members can reinforce NAR’s communications by sharing with their customers and clients their thoughts on the importance of home ownership and the role of federal programs and assistance in making home ownership accessible to millions of households. They can leverage the consumer-focused resources on HouseLogic and the Real Estate Today radio program, positioning themselves as advocates and information resources on behalf of their customers and clients.State and local association staff can continue to use the public advocacy campaign spots and related resources, including web videos and graphics, and other resources on the importance of home ownership, on their web-sites and other media and at events. The public advocacy campaign ad generator allows them to customize and amplify the national message for greater reach and effectiveness. They can also share NAR resources with their members.

Reprinted with permission of NAR

What’s Happening With The Membership?

Welcome NeW members!RACHELLE WILLBURN - Re/Max Mesa Verde

COMMITTEE MEETINGS SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 2012

CommitteeBoard of Directors

Date/Time/LocationThursday, 9/20/12 - 9:00 - FCBOR

Contact InformationHoward - fourcornersboard@gmail.com

Goodbye to these offices!Mile High Dwellings

Good bye aNd Good luck!Neil Walton - Mile High Dwellings

Ethics Corner- By Steve StazelSteve Stazel is a senior ethics instructor for C.A.R. since 1979, teaching the Professional

Standards course here in Durango and across the state of Colorado. He has been a REALTOR since 1974 and is a member of N.A.R.’s Professional Standards Committee.

Steve is available to answer your ethics questions at303-773-3333 or email him at stazels@msn.com

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU SEE AN ETHICS VIOLATIONWhat do you do when you see an Ethics violation? Too many of us do not do anything. We “don’t want to get involved”, “don’t want to rock the boat” or use other excuses not to go further. If you have ever seen an Ethics violation and done nothing, this article is for you.

What follows are my thoughts on what you should do and WHY YOU SHOULD DO IT.

When you see someone doing something that you think is a violation of the Code of Ethics the first thing you should do is to contact the other broker. You make contact in a very non-threatening. Maybe you could say “Excuse me but what you are doing seems to me to be a violation of the Code of Ethics. Am I missing something?” This is a request for in-formation. You are not accusing anyone of anything at this point. Once you have asked this question the other b broker will likely give you one of three answers.

The first answer they may give is “Oh I see what you mean. I didn’t know. I will make changes im-mediately.” You have just solved the problem with a phone call.

The second type of response you may receive is “Oh I see what you mean, but let me tell you the entire situation” After the other broker tells you the new information, you see that it was not a vio-lation. NOW I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU. What would you have thought of the other REALTOR (for the rest of your real estate life) if you had not approached them.” Does the term “pond scum” come to mind? Now here is where it REALLY COMES HOME. What if someone saw YOU doing something that they thought was unethical? Wouldn’t you want them to come to you

so you could explain to them why it was not unethi-cal behavior on your part? What if the other broker did not approach you when they thought you were being unethical? What will that broker think of you for the rest of their real estate life? Does the term “pond scum” come to mind? They are WRONG, but since they never came to you, they will never know your actions were proper. Let’s communicate with each other. Let’s be sure we know what really happened.

The third answer to your inquiry could be “SO WHAT I’m going to keep doing it” Now you have a decision to make. That decision is “What kind of a board do you want to be a member of?” To me a board of REALTORS is very similar to an indi-vidual. That is …you get exactly what you deserve. If you don’t report that broker to the board you are going to get exactly the kind of board you deserve. If you do report that person to the board you are going to get exactly the kind of board you deserve. The question you have to answer is…..”What kind of board do you want to be a part of?”

Note to everyone….I try to make these articles have a little “zip” in them. Hopefully that will make them more interesting to the reader. .Because of that I have put the words “does the term pond scum come to mind” twice in this article. If you feel uncomfortable with that sentence please feel free to delete it. Steve