MSBR Newsletter August 29, 2023

September is a busy month with:

REALTOR SAFETY

General Membership meeting & County Council Presidents

Understanding Through Diversity Summit

and the Maryland REALTORS Conference

9th Down Payment Grant went to Thomas Arnold

Buyer Thomas Arnold and his veteran wife worked with Buyers agent Wes Russum of Coldwell Banker to purchase their 1st home in Cambridge. Thomas works in Cambridge as a Vocational Specialist with the Lower Shore Clinic.

Paula Kelly with Elite Lending Services handled the loan.

Lisa McCarthy with Liberty Title & Escrow handled the settlement.

MSBR still has available grant funds.

Plan to attend the MSBR

Understanding Through Diversity Summit

Saturday, Sept 30, 2023 at the Waterfowl Building in Easton

Free to exhibitors

Free to attend

MSBR 2023– 2024 Slate of Officers

Per MSBR Bylaws Section 6: Election of Officers and Directors

The report of the Nominating Committee shall be sent to each Member eligible to vote, at least 20 calendar days preceding the election. Additional candidates for the offices to be filled may be placed in nomination by petition signed by at least 10% of the REALTOR® members eligible to vote. The petition shall be filed with the Secretary, at least fourteen (14) calendar days before the election. The Secretary shall send notice of such additional nominations to all members eligible to vote at least seven (7) calendar days before the election.

All eligible members will be sent a ballot via e-mail. You can vote electronically or in person at the Board office starting on Sept. 12th or you can vote in person at the Sept. 26th General Membership Meeting.

~~Executive Committee~~

Not Up for Election

President: Shelby Roney/Associate Broker /Benson & Mangold/Talbot

Past President: Megan Rosendale/Agent/Rosendale Realty-Denton/Caroline

Treasurer: Trey Quinn/Affiliate/Fidelity First Mortgage

Up for Election

Pres.-Elect: Michelle Abplanalp/Assoc. Broker/Rosendale Realty- Chester/Queen Anne

Secretary: Shandell Green/Agent/Douglas Realty/Queen Anne

~~Board of Directors~~

Up for Election

2021-2024 *Randy Staats/Agent/Commercial/Benson & Mangold/Talbot

2023-2025 *Samantha Grimes/Associate Broker/Chesapeake Real Estate Associates/Queen Anne

2023-2026 Petra Quinn/Broker/Realty Navigator/Queen Anne

2023-2026 Jen Dudley/Affiliate/Title Excellence

Not Up for Election

2021-2024 Andy Beaven/Broker/Wright Real Estate/Caroline

2021-2024 Kathleen Brenton/Broker/Brenton Realty Group/Caroline

2022-2025 Mary Mabry/Associate Broker/Keller Williams Realty Delmarva North/Dorchester

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Michelle Abplanalp, if elected, will automatically become President for 2024-2025
Board of Directors are nominated for staggered three-year terms.
Treasurer is a 2-year term that will end Oct. 31, 2025

*Randy Staats to fill the remaining term of Darlene Wheatley

*Samantha Grimes to fill the remaining term of Shandell Green

REAL ESTATE COMMISSION UPDATE

Due to the overwhelming number of CE audits, the Real Estate Commissioners voted to not allow a licensee to renew unless all 15 hours of continuing education are showing in their licensing records. There will no longer be an option to certify completion of CE and proceed with renewing.

What does this mean?

A licensee that logs in and all 15 hours of continuing education are not showing will be met with an error message advising them they will not be allowed to renew because they have insufficient hours.
The system will list what class (es) are missing hours and instruct them to contact the education provider to have the Education Provided submit the data to MREC's system once the class or classes have been taken.
The Commission will not accept a copy of a certificate of completion from the licensee. All CE taken from a Maryland-approved provider must be electronically submitted by the education provider.
If the licensee holds a license in another state and wishes to use those hours towards their electives, instructions on how to submit that request can be found at https://www.labor.maryland.gov/license/mrec/mreceducreq.shtml

LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS AND SAVE THE DATE

MSBR will hold a Golf Tournament on May 14, 2024

Hog Neck Golf Course in Easton, MD

Need volunteers to help and golfers to play.

Proceeds go the the MSBR LOVE Down Payment Grant.

Kari Anderson and Leslie Stevenson will co-Chair

Interested e-mail info@msbrmd.com

or call the board office at 410-822-8767

Pictured above is the Maryland REALTORS

Foursome from 2022

Safety Webinar: Responding to Threats 9/13/2023

No cost to attend

REALTOR® and former law enforcement officer Geoff Fahringer will equip your members with the skills to recognize and respond to potentially dangerous situations during the webinar "Unmasking Threats: Strengthening Safety via Situational Awareness" on Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. EST. Register Here

BRIGHT Update on Cooperative Compensation Field

As you may have heard, Bright MLS has announced a change in their Listing Entry system that will allow its users to enter zero as an amount in a listing's cooperative compensation fields. Prior to this update, the cooperative compensation fields in Bright MLS required entry of at least one cent. Some of you have asked, so NAR wanted to let all of you know that this change is consistent with NAR's MLS Policy.

NAR's policies are designed to ensure information is efficiently distributed to facilitate the transaction of real estate to the benefit of buyers and sellers. So long as cooperating brokers are aware of the offers made by listing brokers, that purpose is achieved. NAR has long said listing brokers and their clients are the ones who determine the amount and makeup of the offer to cooperating brokers. Practically speaking, the difference between one penny and $0 is negligible, and regardless, those offers are always negotiable. These policies ensure brokers are efficiently sharing information they and their clients need through their local, independent broker marketplaces. Without these policies, brokerages would not know important information about listings and they would have to rely on piecemeal information collected in inefficient ways that could negatively affect their ability to serve their clients and ultimately the U.S. economy.

In sum, NAR's MLS policy requires participants to communicate an offer of compensation to other MLS participants and that offer can be any amount, including $0. And to be clear, NAR is not requiring nor encouraging MLSs to change their data fields to permit $0. We are simply advising that doing so would continue to comply with NAR's MLS policy. NAR has always believed that NAR's MLS guidelines and local broker marketplaces create highly competitive markets, empower small businesses and ensure equitable home ownership opportunities, superior customer service, and greater cost options for all buyers and sellers.

As always, you are welcome to contact me or the NAR MLS policy team narpolicyquestions@nar.realtor to discuss any of your MLS related questions or ideas.

Thanks, Katie Johnson

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BRIGHT TRAINING | STREAMING

Training opportunities for the Mid-Shore Board of REALTORS

https://brightmls.com/msbr

09-26-2023 Client Collaboration in Bright MLS Webinar 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Effectively collaborate with your clients! Join us to review the auto-email set-up process, unique tools like Concierge mode, how to manage current auto-emails, monitoring client activity and more. We will also review more efficient ways to schedule your showings!

09-26-2023 Time Saving Tips and Tricks Webinar 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

Get ready for a class that takes you all around the system providing helpful tips to aid in your success in utilizing the MLS for your business. We will review searching tips, customizing your Workspace, listing performance tools, market research and more!

Register here: MSBRTraining

Donna Roberts/Customer Success Coach/Direct: 301-838-7154
donna.roberts@brightmls.com

Maryland REALTORS Conference

CE, Exhibitors, Networking, Meals & Entertainment~

all on one place!

Tuesday, September 19th - Thursday, September 21st

Total CE offered: 9 hours

2024 Dues Raffle ~ Play to Win

Get Your MSBR dues waived. Buy a RPAC raffle ticket

RPAC Raffle for 2024 Local Dues

Buy online or at the Board Office

Drawing is Monday, October 2, 2023 at Noon

Raffle tickets are $25, the more you invest in RPAC the more chances you will have to win. Help MSBR protect property rights and support the issues that are important to you.

NAR Offering Virtual Accredited Buyer's Representative (ABR®) designation at a discounted price.

It's critical that REALTORS® articulate the value they bring to the transaction and the role REALTORS® play in guiding consumers through one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives. In addition to the longstanding practice of having listing agreements, every real estate agent should implement the use of buyer representation agreements into their practice.

The Accredited Buyer's Representative (ABR®) designation is the benchmark of excellence in buyer representation. The ABR® course educates REALTORS® how to convey their value to a buyer-client and conduct a successful buyer counseling session that educates the buyer-client, builds trust, and leads to a signed buyer representation agreement. The course includes a sample buyer agreement. You can find the full list of course objectives at https://learning.realtor/diweb/catalog/item?id=11764528.

Date: Thursday, October 5 - Friday October 6

Time: 10AM – 5PM (Central Time)

Cost: Early bird rate through August 31st $149 ($179 regular)

Registration cut-off: Wednesday, October 4

Note: Continuing Education (CE) credit is not available for this course.

September-October 2023 classes and events

Visit www.midshoreboardofrealtors.com

to see the full events calendar and to register on-line

Can't make the MSBR Classes? Take classes with the CE Shop.

There is a charge but the classes are available to you 24/7

This month's 30% off promo codes:
Continuing Education - SAFE
Pre-Licensing - MYJOURNEY
All Real Estate Product Promo - SEP30

https://msbrmd.theceshop.com

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Click this link to check what credits you need and what you have earned according to the Real Estate Commission

https://www.dllr.state.md.us/license/mrec/mreceduc.shtml

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With market conditions being what they are,

this Real Estate Negotiation Expert class can

boost your skill set.

October 11th and 12th 9am-5pm Board Office

To Register Use this Link

Easy App makes an Easy Way to sign up for

CE & Events & pay your dues

A free Mobile App is available for InfoHub, it is called MemberPlus Mobile App

With the MemberPlus Mobile App you will be able to:

View the member directory and contact members via that directory
View and pay invoices.
View and update your information.
Enhance your directory listing.
View the calendar and register for CE and events. Also view what you have registered for.

Download from the iTunes store here - MembersPlus iOS version. NOTE: iOS 10 (or higher) are supported.
Download from the Google Play store here - MemberPlus Android version

Login Instructions:

1. Enter Info Hub Username and Password (Your email MSBR has on file is your Username)

2. Click LOGIN

If Login fails, Click "Login via Email Address". This option allows you to login by only entering your email address

HOW IT WORKS:

A "magic sign-in" email will be sent to that email that includes a "magic link" to open the app

Contact Sue at the MSBR office with questions and/or issues

Our mailing address is:
Mid-Shore Board of REALTORS
8615 Commerce Drive, Suite 2

Easton, MD 21601
410-822-8767

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