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The Michigan Association of REALTORS® Cash Rewards Visa Platinum card provides great benefits, including no annual fee and up to 1% cash back annually. In addition, a percentage of every purchase will benefit Michigan Association of REALTORS®. Click here to apply today or call 1-800-853-5576, ext. 6118. Hurry, this offer ends September 15, 2006! *Click here for terms and conditions The creditor and issuer of the Cash Rewards Visa Platinum card is the U.S. Bank National Association ND. MAR Leadership to Help Rebuild New Orleans “This is a tremendous opportunity for us to help those that are still rebuilding their lives,” said Cathy Sherman Bittrick, MAR President. “I encourage all Michigan REALTORS® that are planning on attending the NAR Conference to make time to help with the rebuilding process.” Activities will be available starting Tuesday, Nov. 7 through Tuesday, Nov. 14, except Sunday when no activities are planned. Sign up to help in the rebuild New Orleans here. Register for the NAR Conference here. Obtain CE Credits at MAR's Convention & Expo This year’s Convention & Expo being held in Grand Rapids September 25 – 27 is the focus of the latest Michigan REALTOR® magazine that will hit member’s mailboxes this week. Make sure you and your members look through this special issue for valuable convention information including a schedule of events, the hot speaker lineup and a hard copy registration form that can be faxed or mailed to MAR headquarters. This is the biggest REALTOR® event in Michigan. Members should not miss the opportunity to network, earn continuing education credits and have some fun. Several of the sessions being offered at Convention are currently being processed for continuing education status. The State has already approved seven hours of continuing education credits. Those sessions include 1031 Tax Deferred Strategies for Real Property (1 hour), Using Technology to Increase Your Efficiency (1 hour), Attract Today’s Internet Savvy Consumers with What they Want (1 hour), Agent 101 (2 hours) and Legal Update (2 hours). To register, either use the hard copy form in your August Michigan REALTOR®, or visit the MAR Web site.
Real estate markets are essentially local and competition within local markets is fierce, including competition among agents associated with the same firm, Pat Vredevoogd Combs, National Association of Realtors® president-elect, testified before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity at today’s hearing. Agents openly compete for local listings from potential sellers and for potential buyers on the basis of reputation, level of service and price. On a national basis, average commissions have significantly declined since 1991, said Vredevoogd Combs. “Commissions or the price for real estate services are independently established by each firm or broker, as are the commission splits with the affiliated agents. Many agents are permitted to set their own commission rates and have the ability to negotiate what services to provide to their clients within prescribed limits set by their broker,” said Vredevoogd Combs, broker-owner of AJS Realty, in the highly competitive market of Grand Rapids, Mich. There are approximately 2.6 million real estate licensees in the United States. Nearly 1.3 million of these are Realtors®. All Realtors® are members of NAR and subscribe to a strict code of ethics. There are a large number of firms competing in every market, and a growing number of largely independent contractor agents ensuring that the real estate industry remains fiercely competitive. “Firms and agents compete at the neighborhood level with each other for listings and sales. I would say this is a model of competition and a competitive industry,” she said following her testimony. Surprising Incentives Home Sellers Use to Close Deals By Howard Brinton As the real estate market cools, sellers are finding it increasingly necessary to pile on extra incentives for buyers in order to close a deal. Today's cost-conscious buyers are not only looking for a great price, they are also looking for added value benefits that the seller can bring to the table aside from a drop in their asking price. For Realtors, this means it is becoming more and more important to find the perfect "deal" rather than the perfect home and will require you to "think outside of the box" a bit to come up with enticing buyer incentives that will leverage the price of a home. With that in mind, there are several ways to sweeten a deal for buyers without necessarily dropping the asking price for your sellers. Subsequently, if a seller won't budge on their asking price, keep these ideas in your back pocket when thinking of alternative incentives that could ultimately save the deal.
MAR Calendar of Events
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Michigan 48901-7925 Copyright © 2005 Michigan Association of REALTORS® |
