NEWS
December, 2008 - Thanks for the Memories!
This year has been a historic one, not only for SIBOR, but also for our industry and the world we live in.
Together we celebrated our 93rd Anniversary, conducted and graduated our “Very First” BERE class, after 20 years in the making the New York State Legislature finally passed the Commission Escrow Act into law, Staten Island elected a new Congressman, a friend of the Realtors®, Michael McMahon and lastly our country elected a new President, the first African American, Barack Obama.
Unfortunately, as the year has drawn to a close, together we have experienced the uncertainty of historic changes in the world economy which have greatly affected the real estate industry as we knew it last year, specifically a recession, foreclosures and the GSE and FHA reforms.
As we build upon our past to address current and future challenges, SIBOR will continue to provide support in a variety of ways to its members, including agent roundtables, free continuing education and will continue to be the most trusted voice of the real estate for Staten Island.
Additionally, we are going GREEN! In the effort to conform to the overwhelming need throughout our country to be energy efficient, beginning in January 2009 our newsletter will available online only, we will no longer be publishing on paper, saving many trees in our environment. We will also be updating the website to accomplish this mission.
Now more than ever, our organization needs strong leaders to be the calm voice in the storm of recession, I know that your 2009 Board of Directors will be just that! I have had the privilege of working closely with President-Elect John Vernazza during 2008, he has my whole hearted support and I am confident that his ethical practices, leadership skills and attention to detail will help our organization overcome any bump in the road.
In closing, I would like to say thank you to the SIBOR members and staff for an extraordinarily incredible year. I am honored to have served as your 2008 Staten Island Board of Realtors® President. My experiences during this past year have transformed the way I think about our Realtor® organization, our industry and our world. I know that SIBOR, through its members, the ethics it stands for and its services, will continue to transform all of us and our profession as we begin another year. From my family to yours, have a peaceful and joyous holiday season. Thanks for the Memories!
September, 2008 - The summer is over and we are into what used to be called “Indian Summer”, that time in September when a heat wave moves in when you least expect it. Well times have changed and heat waves in September no longer surprise people.
In fact many beach people think September is the best time of the year, including the fact that most of the summer people have gone home. Don’t be one of those – take advantage of this beautiful time of year.So here we are just weeks away heat wave moves in when you least expect it. Well times have changed and heat waves in September no longer surprise people. In fact many beach people think September is the best time of the year, including the fact that most of the summer people have gone home.
Don’t be one of those – take advantage of this beautiful time of year.from a historic Presidential election, many important local elections and immediately after the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and waiting to hear what the real impact may be on our industry. Around the country we hear that the market is getting worse with prices continuing to plummet and foreclosures on the rise. While we have certainly seen some of that here in New York City we are clearly in better shape than many markets around the country. And barring a major economic problem locally, I think we will continue to fair relatively better than many locales. So things are tough, but I continue to view the glass as “half full”, rather than “half empty”.
With school back into session last week, it was time for the SIBOR “Pack to School” program to deliver backpacks and supplies to this year’s adopted school, PS 31. Over 500 students received our packs on September 4th and the program has become so popular that we have received numerous requests from other schools, and individual parents, who are in need of our small gifts. I want to thank everyone who contributed supplies, or money, or time to this very worthy cause. And congratulations to Linda Smith of the SIBOR staff for again coordinating this really worthwhile program.
With less than four months left as SIBOR President, I’m pleased to congratulate the Board’s selections for 2009 Officers. John Vernazza will be an extraordinary President. George S. Wonica will be an able assistant to Jon as President-elect and will also chair the MLS Board of Governors. And the newest member of the executive committee is Kathy O’Leary who will serve as Secretary/Treasurer. Kathy has been a director for many years and has been a tireless volunteer. I look forward to working with all of them as past president, and with Sandy Krueger, on the executive committee and the board of directors.
One of the very pleasant tasks of the incoming President is the job of selecting the non-Realtor director on the Board of Directors. Last year it was my pleasure to select Michael Behar of the Downtown Staten Island Association who has proven to be a real asset. John Vernazza has selected, for 2009, Larry Ambrosino, the Executive Director of the newly-formed SINY organization which has taken on the task of marketing Staten Island to the outside world. SIBOR is a contributor to SINY and we look forward to big things from it. Larry is well-known to many Staten Islanders having spent many years in the public school system. Most recently he was the Administrator of the Shrewsbury, NJ, school system.
John is also hard at work at putting together the committees for next year. If you haven’t already volunteered to work on a committee or community service event, please do so today. We need your expertise, your knowledge and your support.
Many of our directors are off this month to NYSAR meetings in Saratoga. Following that I look forward to seeing many of you at our annual Anniversary Dance on September 25th when we will honor Mel and Domenica Kling for their longtime service to our industry and Staten Island, and Fran Okeson for her efforts in support of the community.
Please join us.
August, 2008 - In booming markets it’s often hard to set aside the time and the effort to invest in your own professional development. When customers and clients are coming out of the “woodwork” and generating new business opportunities it’s easy to rest on your laurels and assume that this will go on forever. Well, we know that isn’t true. Boom markets sometimes settle into more normal markets and business becomes more challenging.
In 2008 the Board of Directors saw an opportunity to emphasize education during a time when sales were clearly going to be somewhat depressed. The directors felt that it was a good time to encourage SIBOR Realtors to take as much education as possible in order to get through the downturn and prepare for the next upturn. So in 2008 all SIBOR-provided education (i.e. Classroom Continuing Education, on-line Continuing Education, informational seminars, etc.) is being provided free to SIBOR members. And the program has been an outstanding success. The Richmond County Real Estate Institute (RCREI) has offered in the first six months of 2008 nearly as many courses as it did for all of 2007. And Realtors have attended in droves. We are very pleased with the results, but we want to get even better.
The Directors also authorized a Realtor Education Scholarship to help cover the cost of programs not covered above. It’s intended to offer help in paying for the cost of Realtor designation programs (i.e. GRI, ePro, ABR, etc.) This program has not met with a lot of success so far, but it should. Designation programs offer some of the best education available to Realtors.
The SIBOR-sponsored BERE (Board of Excellence in Real Estate) offers an outstanding course (including 22.5 hours of CE credit). The next opportunity to take the BERE course is in September and I would urge everyone to consider taking the course and applying for the BERE designation. The first group of BERE designees (John Vernazza, Claire Chesnoff, Diana Dolce, Mary Kae Higgins, Joe Pallotta, Arlene Trunzo, George S. Wonica and myself) will attest to the value of the course and the program.
What are you waiting for? There is no better time to advance your knowledge base, then right now!
Well it’s happened! After many years of trying to get legislation passed in Albany to protect Realtor commissions from sellers who chose to not pay them at closing, Governor Patterson signed the Commission Escrow Act into law on August 8th. For the many of us who have suffered without this law in the past, it’s a great relief to know that there is a remedy going forward. The Governor also signed a Realtor-backed bill that will ban sex offenders from obtaining a real estate license. I can’t tell you how important your RPAC contributions have been to getting these very important bills passed. SIBOR consistently meets its RPAC goals and we will strive to continue to do so in the future. While Commission Escrow has been the main goal for some time, there are many other important issues that need our attention going forward.
Please stay informed about Realtor issues and continue to make your RPAC contributions. This is a big election year and RPAC funds will be used to advance Realtor positions.
July, 2008 - By the time you read this issue of the SIBOR newsletter I will have celebrated my 20th anniversary in property management and real estate. I have had a wonderful career, and despite all the bleak news about the U.S. economy and the housing sector I look forward to continued success. And I hope you do as well.
The economy is so complex today that even the experts are at their wits end to try to predict where we are heading. But you and I know that in good markets and bad markets, homes need to be bought and sold. And in difficult times you and I are more important to the transaction than ever. In difficult times real professionals are worth their weight in gold to buyers and sellers.
U.S. News and World Report recently did an article entitled 6 Signs of a Crummy Real Estate Agent, By Luke Mullins. He talks about agents who are 1) not available to answer calls, 2) Don’t provide advice to their client, 3) insist on a particular lender or affiliated provider (implying potential kickbacks), 4) not totally dedicated to the real estate industry, 5) steer buyers to in house listings, and 6) who have had disciplinary actions taken against them related to their real estate practice. The article says that in this difficult economy that buyers and sellers need agents who will go the “extra mile.” We all need to be the agent that goes the extra mile.
No one knows how long this phase is going to run or how our market will ultimately fare. But this is certainly the time when we need to be the best we can be for the sake of our customers, our clients and ourselves. Many of you have never gone through a market like the current one. Our seasoned colleagues have. They got through previous ones by being smart, resourceful, hard working and dedicated to superior service.
Concentrate on the customer, not the financial rewards. Meeting the needs of the customer always comes first. Rewards will follow.
Work hard but don’t forget to keep balance in your life. Enjoy your friends, your family and the rest of the summer.
June, 2008 - Many times it has been possible to say that we are somewhat isolated from the surrounding economy because of the “island” nature of our market. However, in prolonged market variations even isolated environments become affected. And so as we look at the statistics for the current year versus a year ago, it’s clear that our market is not immune from the current slowdown. Year to year comparisons reveal that we are down between 27 and 33% from this time a year ago in units sold. Prices have also begun to recede more rapidly in 2008. Some continue to call this a housing bubble burst. We believe that the more realistic interpretation is that we are undergoing a credit bubble burst. The difference being that in a housing burst supply would exceed demand typically resulting in lower sales followed by falling prices. This is usually precipitated by rising interest rates and/or rising unemployment. In this credit burst there is still significant demand (although there are signs of employment issues to come), along with supply, but the ability to fund purchases has been curtailed due to the tightened mortgage market. So rather than chasing buyers, perhaps our job has transitioned to one of dealing with troubled sellers, matching buyers with appropriate lenders and lending products, and holding more tenuous deals together. We would argue that these are different problems then we had a year or two ago.
Some of our Realtors have indicated that they are extremely busy, although getting deals to the closing table is significantly more difficult than it has been in the recent past. Others are struggling. Regardless of which camp you fall into this may be a good time to invest in the future. It’s time to evaluate what’s working and what isn’t. It’s time to develop new skills and rework old ones to address this new market.
There are tremendous educational opportunities available to SIBOR members right now. Many people are taking advantage of them. Unfortunately many more are not. Those who aren’t sometimes tell me they are working harder than ever, and there is no time for education. To them I say it’s time to work smarter, as well as harder. If we don’t learn, we can’t grow. The best realtors know how to make a bad market work for them. If you don’t, you can’t afford to not take advantage of the educational opportunities that are available.
Here are a few of the options:
- Most of the educational programs including Continuing Education (CE), non-CE, and some online courses at SIBOR are free to SIBOR members. And there is no limit on how many free courses you can take. What are you waiting for?
- Advanced Designation courses such as GRI, ABR, etc. and the BERE certification course due have fees attached to them. Usually these involve bringing outside instructors long distances to our area. However, every SIBOR member has access to the SIBOR Educational Scholarship Fund which will provide up to $200 per course for these designation/certification offerings. Funds are not unlimited, but to date they have not been utilized in great numbers. So take advantage.
- Special programs like the SIBOR International Real Estate Conference on June 25th does have special outside speakers, but is also free to all SIBOR members.
- Every member is required to take a three (3) hour Ethics course by the end of 2008. Courses taken from January 1, 2005 till the end of the year qualify for this requirement. SIBOR gives free ethics classes as part of our new-member orientation. The class is open to all members. The ethics requirement can also be met on-line.
- SIBOR runs free monthly Agent Roundtables that provide a wealth of knowledge in many areas. Broker to broker meetings have also been initiated to provide a similar service to broker/owners and managers.
A small number of successful realtors are “naturals” with special gifts. But most successful realtors have honed their skills over time. Don’t give up, but don’t expect profits to fall from the sky.
And I would like to congratulate my fellow SIBOR BERE designees: Claire Chesnoff, Diana Dolce, Mary Kae Higgins, Joe Pallotta, Arlene Trunzo, John Vernazza and George S. Wonica. We have all worked very hard for this designation and we’re proud to where the BCREP pin.
May 2008 - This year’s leadership team is nearly halfway through our term and we are preparing to travel to Washington DC to attend the National Association of Realtors Midyear Meetings, May 13-16th. If you include the fact that we actually started preparing for our term at SIBOR’s Annual Leadership Conference in early November of 2007 in Upstate New York, I suppose we really are halfway through. It’s been a busy time and I’d like to bring you up to date on some of the highlights of our year.
Last year’s board of directors voted to make education at our Richmond County Real Estate Institute free and unlimited to all SIBOR members in 2008. Yes, there was a small increase in dues to cover costs, but anyone who takes at least one three hour course during the year has used up that small increase. The program has been an astounding success. Many Realtors have taken advantage of the program and most have received many times the value of their dues increase by taking advantage of multiple courses. I want to congratulate Debbie Lerner and Fay Koszta of the RCREI staff for coordinating an ever wider, and better, selection of courses for all of us to participate in. Thanks also to the cadre of professional trainers at the school.
We have had a continuing array of Agent Roundtable programs organized monthly by the Realtor Associates Committee and we have begun to offer monthly Broker Roundtables, as well.
A number of new services are about to launch.
At the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation’s annual SI Conference on April 29th we launched the Commercial Real Estate Exchange of Staten Island, CREXSI.com, in conjunction with the SIEDC. This local commercial information exchange will allow brokers to market commercial and industrial properties and exchange data in a way specifically suited to the commercial marketplace. The beta version of the system is available to all SIBOR members at no charge until July and then will be offered at a modest annual fee.
This month we will launch a new program to allow Affiliate Members (i.e., lenders, home inspectors, attorneys, etc.) to access the front page of the MLS system to better communicate with Realtors. Affiliates will be allowed to participate in ListIt Forums and create an online dialog with Realtors on their areas of expertise. There is no charge to Affiliates for this feature. They will also be able to purchase advertising space on the ListIt homepage.
The MLS Board of Governors and the directors have recently approved the syndication of listing data to Cyberhomes.com, and through them to Google.com, AOL.com and the Wall Street Journal website. As a result of this decision brokers will be offered software for their websites to allow the public to value properties online, like they can do at Zillow.com, Realtor.com and other sites. Earlier this year the governors and directors also approved the inclusion of addresses on listings which SIBOR places on the Internet (Sellers may opt out of this feature) to better meet the needs of buyers, sellers and Realtors.
The MLS Governors are investigating vendors to provide online forms for the MLS and other applications. Brokers will also be able to use the service to create their own online forms.
We have been very active in community service activities, communicating with public officials, and collaborating with community business organizations (i.e., SIEDC, SI Chamber of Commerce, SI Downtown Council, etc.). One program we are especially proud of is the new relationship we have developed with Wagner College. This spring a number of students in the business program interned with SIBOR Realtors as part of their semester learning activities. The program was a huge success and we look forward to expanding the program in the future.
There are lots of events coming up in the future that I hope you’ll participate in. SIBOR is again sponsoring the SINY Film Festival, June 5-8th. The SIBOR Golf Outing is June 20th at Silver Lake Golf Course and the SIBOR Family Picnic is July 26th from 1AM-6PM at Nansen’s Park. I hope to see you there.
March 2008 - The entire 2008 SIBOR Executive Committee (Christopher Stivanello, John Vernazza, Frank Reali, Sandy Krueger and myself), several SIBOR directors (Betty Pappas, George S. Wonica, George W. Wonica and his wife Valarie, Georgianna Diaz and her husband Mike), Realtor-associate of the Year Irene Paoli, Board Counsel Morty Jacobi and Faye Koszta of the SIBOR staff attended portions of the NYSAR winter business meetings February 2-7th, at the Desmond Hotel in Albany.
The meetings, attended by 400-500 Realtors from all over New York State, was a wonderful networking opportunity and a great learning experience. The first day and a half was a Leadership seminar for local and state officers given by Steve Hoover, a Realtor®, a past president of the Virginia Association of Realtors, and a member of the NAR Executive Committee. (Note: Steve was the facilitator at the SIBOR Leadership Retreat in November.)
“Hoova” as he is referred to by many of NAR’s upper classmen, discussed association leadership considerations in today’s rapidly changing and technology advanced real estate industry. He addressed fiduciary responsibilities that officers and directors of local boards have to their membership, the need to avoid anti-trust conversations and the requirement to disclosure any and all personal conflicts of interest that a director may have related to their board duties. Mr. Hoover stressed the need to understand the roles, responsibilities and differing job descriptions of officers, directors, committee chairs and paid staff (i.e. the association executive.) Further, Mr. Hoover described interesting concepts relating to dealing with personality clashes, avoiding the urge to micro manage, cultivating new leadership within the local board and delivering value for the members dollar.
The rest of the meetings during the week focused on two areas of importance this year: the July 1, 2008 Licensing and Continuing Education changes from DOS; and MLS Data Sharing amongst neighboring Multiple Listing Services.
The mandatory NYS Department of State changes go into effect on July 1st. The new statutes increase the salesperson’s pre-licensing education from 45 hours to 75 hours. They require all salespersons looking to acquire a broker’s license to attend an additional 30 hours of training bringing the total hours required to become a licensed broker to 120. Additionally, four (4) hours of Human Rights training will be required for all licensees every two years as part of the 22.5 hours of continuing education. The ability of brokers with more than 15 years in the business to avoid the CE requirements is eliminated (those already covered by the old policy are grandfathered). The new regulations also require office managers to have a broker’s license.
Data Sharing among MLS providers was the major topic of conversation at these meetings. Over a year ago the six (6) Realtor boards, known as the NYSAR Metro Region (Long Isand, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Bronx/Manhattan North, the Hamptons/North Fork and SIBOR) initiated meetings on this topic. They have agreed, in principle, to move forward and recently issued an RFP (Request For Proposal) to vendors to create a centralized data base that will; provide access to listing data to all members of those boards, including the offer of compensation; provide a common IDX data link to brokers and agents who wish to place searches on their web sites; and will create a common public website for those MLSs that choose to participate. Our Metro Region agreement was used as the example for the other 32 MLS’s in New York who are now just beginning the investigative process. SIBOR CEO Sandy Krueger gave presentations to a meeting open to the entire state leadership, and at a private meeting of one of the upstate regions, to describe our agreement and answer questions about how we got there.
SIBOR past president Frank Reali chairs the NYSAR New York City Issues Working Group which reviews and proposes legislation for the NYC City Council. Frank also serves on the NYSAR Legislative Steering Committee which proposes the legislative agenda that NYSAR pursues with the state legislature and regulatory bodies. One long-standing goal is a Commission Protection Act. This law, passed finally in 2007, but vetoed by outgoing Governor Pataki, if enacted, will require commissions to be placed in escrow in the event of a dispute between the broker and their client. The law has been resubmitted to the current legislature.
The Executive Committee met with the Staten Island state legislative caucus (State Senators Lanza and Savino and Assemblymen Cusick, Titone and Tobacco. Assemblywoman Hyer-Spencer was unavailable due to another meeting.) They listened to our concerns and are very supportive of most Realtor issues, including commission protection.
Participation in leadership is rewarding, and the access to the people and information is invaluable. I urge you to get involved.
I like to leave all of you this month with a quote from John Quincy Adams
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader”.
February 2008 - I am humbled and honored to become the 46th president of the Staten Island Board of Realtors®.
Management writer Peter Drucker said of leadership, "The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say 'I.' And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say 'I.' They don't think I. They think 'We.' They think 'Team.' They understand (that) their job (is) to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but 'We' gets the credit…. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done."
The "Team" of individuals who make up the SIBOR 2008 Board of Directors, contains exceptional people who volunteer their time, energy and skills to enable our organization to create an environment that allows SIBOR members to facilitate the real estate transactions of their customers and clients.
The Realtor® brand is recognized and accepted by consumers throughout the country and we're proud to call ourselves Realtors®. To retain that recognition we need, each and every day, to take that extra step to be the best we can be. Our SIBOR leadership team has committed itself to encouraging each member to take the extra step towards advanced real estate designations. Many SIBOR members hold designations such as GRI, CBR, CRB, CRS, SRES, CIPS, ARM, and "CPM" certified property manager, the designation closest to my heart. But we won't be happy until every SIBOR member is working towards a designation, including our own "BERE" certification.
To help our members reach the goal that we believe they need to reach, our Richmond County Real Estate Institute has inaugurated, in 2008, unlimited continuing education, at no cost, for all SIBOR members. And to help cover the cost of designation programs offered by other institutions, the directors have created and funded the SIBOR Education Scholarship Fund that is open to all SIBOR members.
But designations need to be recognized by the public and my goal for 2008 is to make sure the public knows, through our public relations efforts, the value of dealing with Realtors® who care about honing their skills.
In 2008 we are doing a joint program with Wagner College to team Wagner students in the business program with Realtor® mentors during an entire semester and ending with a presentation by each student on lessons learned about the industry.
I guess you can call us the education association. And we're proud of it.
The Staten Island Multiple Listing Service board of governors will be busy this year keeping the SIMLS at the forefront of technological change. We currently have plans to add online forms software, state of the art mapping and property valuation tools.
In the final meeting of 2007, the directors authorized joining with 5 other local Realtor® MLS's to create a metropolitan data sharing exchange that will allow Staten Island Realtors® access to listed properties in all five NYC boroughs and Long Island. It will also create the first web site to specifically consolidate listings from all over New York City for the use of the public. This is a huge project with huge benefits for our MLS subscribers.
We have also begun a cooperative project with the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation to launch a website to highlight the commercial real estate opportunities in our borough.
Our team will continue to work side by side with our state and national associations to be the voice of real estate in our communities. We look forward to working with our local, state and national public officials on issues important to our industry and to the quality of life in our community.
SIBOR has always supported the Staten Island community. That, of course, includes members of our Realtor® family. One of the perks, if you will, of being the SIBOR president is the ability to select some of the organizations or projects SIBOR will contribute to in our presidential year. At the SIBOR Installation I choose to exercise that option.
As most of you know, 2007 President Frank and Fran Reali's oldest son, Frankie, passed away suddenly last year on April 29th. Frankie was a Realtor®, a SIBOR Top Producer for several years and one of my CE students. Most importantly Frankie was a father of five children - Daniella 18, Joseph 17, the 9 year old twins Frank IV and Nicholas & four year old Nina.
Our Realtor® family stands together and takes care of each other in time of loss and in time of celebration. I am happy to announce that the net proceeds from the SIBOR installation will be donated to the college fund that has been created to assist Frankie's children.
"Professionalism, persistence and patience is needed as we move into the future. Do not be bogged down by the nay sayers of doom and gloom. Be proud to call yourself a Realtor
