At a Glance – 09/10/18
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As September has arrived, it is hard to believe that summer will soon turn to fall. Numerous achievements are being accomplished each day at the Association. Perhaps, the biggest achievement that happened during the year thus far was our transition to Bright MLS. If you have not already seen the Announcement regarding the Bright MLS Survey, please click the link below. I am hopeful that the survey will provide the respective parties at Bright MLS with valuable feedback that can improve the platform.
Please encourage other agents within your brokerages to complete the survey if they have not already done so as I will see this information is shared with the proper parties at Bright MLS.
It is a pleasure to serve as your President this year, and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Best regards,
*Christopher M. Lind | Managing Broker, REALTOR®*
*President, Sussex County Association of REALTORS**®*
Welcome to the SCAOR REALTOR® membership report! Here’s what’s happened on August 2018. We’ve added 18 new members:
8/1/18 | Christine Louise DeStefano | ||
8/2/18 | Charles R Hufford Jr | ||
8/7/18 | Brittney Keidel | ||
8/7/18 | Zoe Cummings | ||
8/7/18 | Angela Allen | ||
8/7/18 | Charles Waltjen | ||
8/7/18 | Patrick Nicholson | ||
8/14/18 | Cynthia D Souza | ||
8/14/18 | Hugh Fuller | ||
8/14/18 | Michael Shockley | ||
8/21/18 | Elyse Marie Collins | ||
8/21/18 | Lisamarie Doughten | ||
8/21/18 | Jami Harrigan-Ferro | ||
8/22/18 | Patricia Halliburton | ||
8/22/18 | Daniel Halliburton | ||
8/22/18 | Elizabeth Heid | ||
8/22/18 | Dennis Snavely | ||
8/28/18 | John Howard |
Welcome to the monthly snapshot of your Association.
After a busy summer season, I would like to update you several topics. First, the Election Ballot was emailed to you this week. Per the Bylaws, voting ends on October 1 at 12 noon. Please be sure to vote! Second, please consider attending the RPAC event at 16 Mile Brewery on September 18 from 5-9 pm. It is important to support RPAC. For more information on RPAC please click here. Next, the Lockbox Audit commences October 1. Brokers will be asked to tally lockboxes and return to SCAOR all lockboxes over 20% of listings. Please call me directly if you have questions. The goal is to store the unassigned lockboxes at SCAOR over the winter before the spring selling season. For those who have lost a lockbox, there is a penalty. Dues billing and committee recruitment also occur in October. It is a busy month. Lastly, the General Membership meeting is scheduled for October 1 starting at 11 am. Mark it on your calendar and be sure to attend. Election results will be reported at 12:15 pm.
In closing, I would like to thank the staff (Trish, Andrew, Mary and Kristy) for all of their hard work. The Association could not operate without a competent group of professionals. If you have questions or comments about any facet of your Association, please email me at merritt@scaor.com or call me at (302) 855-2300.
Sincerely,
Merritt Burke
CEO, Sussex County Association of REALTORS®
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From the desk of Ronnie, REALTOR®.
AGENT BONUS! I DON’T THINK SO!
How many times a week do we get flyers advertising $$$$$$$ Agent Bonus?
Are you aware you cannot pay a bonus to an agent? We need to go back to our Pre-Licensing class and remember the section on Brokerage. We are associated with a Brokerage, and that Brokerage owns all our listings and Buyer clients. When a listing gets sold, and the commission is paid, it is paid to the Brokerage, and the Brokerage then passes your share along to you. Likewise, if you were paid by a Buyer under some separate agreement with the Buyer, that commission would be paid to the Brokerage, and it would then pass through to you based on your commission split with your Company.
The same pass-through from the Broker to you applies also to Agent bonuses. A bonus cannot be paid to you; it must be paid to the Brokerage, and the Brokerage, through their Independent Contractor Agreement with you, passes along either the whole bonus or some portion of it, whatever your company policy dictates.
So let’s get those flyers right. The next time you’re offering a bonus, the flyer should read: $$$$$ Bonus to selling office (or selling broker) or $$$$ Agency Bonus or $$$$ Broker Bonus. When the bonus is paid at time of final settlement, the Broker, in accordance with your company policy, will either pass it in whole to you or share it with you.
And, oh, don’t forget. If you’re receiving a bonus, you need to disclose that to your client! Check out Article 1, SOP 1-13 of the Code of Ethics!
July 25, 2018 |
Breaking News |
Flood Insurance Passes House by Large Margin |
House lawmakers passed a four-month extension of the National Flood Insurance Programtoday in a bipartisan, 366-52 vote. Action now turns to the Senate. Once the Senate votes, the bill goes to President Trump for his signature. Program authorization expires July 31. About 105,000 REALTORS® sent letters to their members of Congress urging action under NAR’s Call for Action, which will end once the Senate votes. Thank you to REALTORS® for their advocacy on this issue, which affects real estate transactions in more than 20,000 communities across the United States.
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