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Important NAR Director Election Information

Periodically MAR policies are reviewed when changes at the National level necessitate modifications in our policy manual to accurately reflect those changes. At the April 19th Board of Directors meeting, an update was made to the MAR Policy Manual regarding NAR Director Elections.

To date, NAR Director Elections had been based upon membership counts determined and distributed by NAR in June. They now provide membership counts July 31st so, as current policy dictates, NAR Director Candidate Applications were actually due prior to our knowing what our allocations will actually be. Thus, proposed policy corrects this ambiguity and potential error and will read:

P. 3, under Candidate Presentation and Information--

Not less than five months prior to the election, all members shall be notified of the election date and deadline for submitting nominations and candidate information for a candidate report. The actual number of openings will be determined by the membership count given to MAR by NAR on July 31st. Members will be informed of the final number within a week following the receipt of membership counts.

Anyone wishing to run for NAR Director should contact Melissa Sterenberg, 517-372-8890 or email her at msterenberg@mirealtors.com for the application form. The deadline for filing is August 3rd.

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Tips for Fair Housing Advertising

In the spirit of fair housing month, here are few helpful tips that will aid you in following the fair housing laws when advertising.

• Do not target certain types of individuals in your advertising. Instead, talk about the property. For example: you can say the property is located on a quiet street but you cannot say its perfect for a young family.
  
• Be careful not to steer certain types of people to certain properties. If a client views an ad for a particular property and wants to be shown that property regardless if you believe it is a good fit for the client you must show that client that property. They should decide for themselves if the property is right for their needs.
  
• Be uniform in your marketing approach in all mediums you use. If you mention a nice view to one client and not another it could be seen as you are trying to discourage the later client from taking the property. It is great to diversify your advertising to broaden your client base, however, you should use the same language in an ethnic newspaper that you would use in a mainstream paper.

View more fair housing information on MAR's Web site.

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Work the Media

Using the press to get your message heard can be simple and cost effective. Often people have complained about working with the press or having a hard time figuring out how to reach the press. The best advice is – keep it simple.

Put together a brief press release that hits all of your important points, but leaves them wanting more information. The following are some pointers to make press releases simple and doable for your association.

• Keep it to one or two pages.
• Send your press release on official letterhead. If your association does not have official printed letterhead, an inexpensive way around that is to have it in an electronic format so you can print it as you need it.
• Always include a person’s contact information at the top of the page including email address where a reporter can find more information.
• Keep your sentences short and simple.
• Create your headline and lead paragraph with the most interesting news angle of your story without any background or introduction.
• Only use quotes that add interest and action to the subject. Do not add a quote just to add a quote. You can use quotes from public figures and civic leaders to add creditability to your press release, but make sure it adds to the story.
• Do not include a cover page or signature with your press release. All the contact information should be on the letterhead or at the top of the release.
  

MAR has examples of press releases at its Web site.