REALTOR TIMES
Visit us online at www.MOMLS.com
®
of Monmouth/Ocean Counties
A PUBLICATION OF THE MONMOUTH COUNTY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
MCAR Elects Its Leaders for 2006 and Beyond
NOVEMBER 2005
VOL. 6, NO .11
From the Desk Of...
There Is No Bubble
The Sound You Hear Is The Hum Of The Real Estate Locomotive Pulling The Economic Train In Monmouth/Ocean Counties.
Education
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2006 Officers and Directors of the Monmouth County Association of REALTORS® elected last month at the September 23 annual general membership meeting. | They are (from l.): Jayne Camlin, Director 2008 term; Barry Kantrowitz, Director 2008 term; Christina “Tina” Banasiak, President; Al Veltri, Treasurer; Ellen Kale, Senior Vice President; Edward Thomas, Secretary; Joan Lorwey, Director 2008 term; Geraldine Wille, Director 2008 term; and Robert White, Director 2008 term.
Members of the Monmouth County Association of REALTORS® (MCAR), at the September 23 annual general membership meeting, elected the following REALTORS® to serve as 2006 Officers and Directors till 2008:
2006 Officers
President: Christina Banasiak Senior Vice President: Ellen Kale 1st VP: Glenn Mills 2nd VP: Dan Mancuso Treasurer: Al Veltri Secretary: Edward Thomas
2008 Directors
Director: Jayne Camlin Director: Barry Kantrowitz Director: Joan Lorwey Director: Robert White Director: Geraldine Wille
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Designations
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November Is REALTOR® Designations Month
The More You Learn, The More You Earn.
Education
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Monmouth County Association of REALTORS® Raise a Total of $10,000 For Two Local Charities
The Monmouth County Association of REALTORS® (MCAR) Affiliates Committee held a special check presentation ceremony at the Association’s September 23 annual meeting to present Jason’s Dreams for Kids in Red Bank and Community Services, Inc. in Lakewood with checks of $5,000. The money was raised at the Committee’s third annual charity golf event on July 11, 2005, at Jumping Brook Country Club in Neptune. AHM Mortgage of Iselin was the only Platinum Sponsor of the event. Other sponsors included: Gold: Countrywide Home Loans and Silver: Ivy Mortgage Corporation, Princeton; and the Asbury Park Press, Neptune. “This is our third year with Community Services and knowing that our funds have helped feed over 7,500 seniors is quite an honor and a thrill,” added Reid L. Waltzer, committee chairman from Ivy Mortgage. “With Jason’s Dreams, we are helping make a child’s dream come true and that is so powerful and special.”
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Brokerage Design
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It's Time For Zillow Talk
If Your Brokerage Is Not Working On These Competencies, Objectives And Skill Sets, You May Not Be Keeping Pace With Today's Real Estate Industry.
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Pictured above are (from l to r.): Douglas Hutchins, The Provident Bank; Jennifer Dufty, Asbury Park Press; Dennis McGinnis, Jason’s Dreams; Ray Lamberti, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage; Tina Banasiak, MCAR President; Sonny Webb, AHM Mortgage; Reid Waltzer, committee chairman, Ivy Mortgage; Darlene Zemkoski, Asbury Park Press; James G. Sigurdson, Community Services, and Kristy Manguno, Countrywide Home Loans .
“REALTOR® Designation Awareness Month” - see Page 4 For Details
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2005 OFFICERS
Christina “Tina” Banasiak - President Ellen Kale - President-Elect Glenn Mills - 1st Vice President Dan Mancuso - 2nd Vice President Al Veltri - Treasurer Gloria Woodward - Secretary Mindy North - Governor/Board Director
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From the Desk of MCAR President Christina "Tina" Banasiak
November 2005
The Sound You Hear is the “Hum” of the Real Estate Locomotive Pulling the Economic Train in Monmouth/Ocean Counties
Some recent news stories, particularly in the financial press, have raised the question as to whether or not there may be a bubble brewing in home prices. A housing bubble is loosely described as an unsustainable rise in home prices that could lead to a collapse in values. While such a scenario is unlikely, the real question is whether or not you can expect a profit when you sell your home, according to the Monmouth County Association of REALTORS® (MCAR). Christina “Tina” Banasiak, MCAR President, said it's important to examine the question from the perspective of homeprice performance over time. “Since record keeping began in 1968, the national median home price has risen every year,” explained Banasiak, Broker/Salesperson in the residential real estate division of Weichert, REALTORS® in Marlboro. “This isn’t to say it’s impossible for temporary price corrections to occur on a local basis, but the fact is that over time the typical home value rises at the general rate of inflation, plus one- to two-percentage points.” Even in areas where temporary price fluctuations have occurred, most of the peaks and valleys in home prices that deviate from a normal, gradual increase tend to smooth themselves out during the typical period of homeownership. “It’s important to note that most of the country has never experienced even a temporary downturn in home prices,” Banasiak added. Some reports have tried to link bubbles in the stock market with the boom in this year’s housing market. “It really isn’t valid to compare stocks with an investment in a home. After all, you can’t live in your stock,” she said. “For most people, housing is a solid investment that appreciates steadily over time, but first and foremost, it is shelter.” Banasiak noted that some financial press, which first ran housing bubble stories earlier this year, have had a poor track record in their housing advice. “Several years ago, some reporters and commentators in the financial press were recommending that we take equity out of our homes and invest it in the stock market where we’d ‘get a better return.’ How well off today are the people who followed such advice?” The fact is housing isn’t the kind of quick-in, quick-out investment that Wall Street is fond of. Most people typically need to stay in a home for three to five years to build up enough equity to trade up to a larger home, although many year, but the fundamentals of the market are sound. According to the National Association of Realtors®, the inventory of homes on the market has been extremely lean this year at the same time that sales have been at record levels, which has placed a lot of pressure on home prices. However, NAR is forecasting a more balanced market in 2006 with home sales at a relatively slower but still historically strong pace. The rate of increase in home prices is expected to slow to historic norms, although it may remain somewhat higher in some of the markets currently experiencing double-digit price increases. “The bottom line is that the population of the United States is growing faster than the supply of homes, which supports future home-price appreciation,” Banasiak said noting that the children of the baby boom generation are entering their prime years for buying a first home. Immigrants, who came to the U.S. in strong numbers during the last decade, have acquired the necessary resources and are buying into the American dream of homeownership. At the same time, minorities are increasing their rates of homeownership. Families are trading up to larger homes while some baby boomers are trading down to a condo and also using some of their equity to buy a second home, sometimes as a pre-retirement home.
DIRECTORS 2007 TERM
Peggy Bucchino Robert Dominick Steve Scheer Timothy Siciliano Kip Walker
DIRECTORS 2006 TERM
Jack Conover Jeff Fox Linda Kwolek Linda Munro Violet Vietoris
DIRECTORS 2005 TERM
Anthony Camassa Barry Kantrowitz Timothy Kwok Edward Thomas Carol Wernli
PAST PRESIDENTS
William Botwinick Jack Preston, Jr.
REALTOR®-ASSOCIATE REPRESENTATIVE TO THE BOARD
Robert White
EDITORIAL OFFICE
1 Hovchild Plaza 4000 Route 66 Tinton Falls, NJ 07753 732.918.1340 Communications Consultant, Peter L. Mosca BAKComms@aol.com 732.841.4778
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It really isn’t valid to compare stocks with an investment in a home. After all, you can’t live in your stock....
people stay in their homes for considerably longer. People who plan to be in an area for only a year or two are better off renting instead of buying. Another consideration is that buyers put down a small downpayment but enjoy the appreciation on the full value of their home. “For example, if you’re a first-time buyer and purchase a home with five percent down, and it rises in value by five percent during the first year, your rate of return is pretty good,” Banasiak noted. It is true that home prices have been rising rapidly in many areas this
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Kling Wins Palm One/SOFTWARE in RPAC Incentive Raffle
RPAC—The REALTORS® Political Action Committee—held a raffle for all those members who made a $100 donation between July 26 and August 26. The winner, Geraldine Kling of Diane Turton, REALTORS®, 1404 Grand Central Ave., Lavallette, won a PalmOne-Tungsten E2 with wireless capabilities and Bluetooth Technology. Also, included as a bonus, was the new Pocket Real Estate software. RPAC is your insurance policy. It helps protect your ability to earn a living in real estate and secures an environment for the buying, owning and selling of real property. To make a donation, go to www.MOMLS.com, click Members Only and use your Agent ID and Password.
MONMOUTH COUNTY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, INC
One Hovchild Plaza, 4000 ROUTE 66, Tinton Falls, NJ 07753 Phone 732-918-1340 Fax 732-918-1906
THE MCAR EDUCATION COMMITTEE IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE
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November 2005
REALTOR® Designation Awareness Month Encourages Success and Marketability
The Monmouth County Association of REALTORS® and the National Association of REALTORS® are pleased to announce the arrival of REALTOR® Designation Awareness Month. NAR established November as an important month in which to encourage its members to Keep It In The Family by starting, completing or continuing an official NAR-endorsed designation program through NAR or one of its affiliates. An industry that moves as fast as real estate demands continuing education throughout one’s career. Successful agents must keep current on issues, evolving technology, changing legalities, and many other central components of the business. NAR and its nine Institutes, Societies and Councils offer twenty advanced education designation and certification programs to help members remain upto-date in such a dynamic environment. Although other designations exist, only these twenty carry an official NAR endorsement. Today’s market expects the highest level of expertise from each REALTOR®. In both their heightened proficiency and increased marketability, REALTORS® who pursue professional designations have a distinct competitive edge. An NAR 2005 Member Survey shows that a REALTOR® without an NAR designation earned a median of $40,900, while those that indicated a designation earned a median of $82,900. NAR strongly encourages its members to increase their professional image, marketability, productivity, and income through the pursuance of a designation or certification program.
For a complete list of the official NAR family of designations and certifications, visit www.realtor.org/runivers.nsf/pages/DesignationAwarenessMonth
November 2005
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THE MCAR EDUCATION COMMITTEE IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE
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Please send the enrollment form below, along with a check for $10.00 made payable to MCAR. Mail to: MCAR, 1 Hovchild Plaza, 4000 Route 66, Tinton Falls, NJ 07753. Attention: MEDITATION EVENT Name Agent ID: Agency
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DATE: November 14, 2005 TIME: 8:00am-9:00am Registration and Continental Breakfast 9:00am - 12:00pm Presentation PRESENTER: Josephine Diagonale (Correspondent for the Asbury Park Press) PLACE: M.C.A.R. Headquarters 4000 Route 66, Floor 2 Tinton Falls, NJ COST: $10.00
Phone: Paying by Credit Card? 1) Fill out the information below and fax or mail to MCAR OR 2) Log on to www.momls.com. Click on Members Only. Use your Agent ID and Password. Click on Events Registration. Fill out credit card information for “Meditation Event”. Type of Card (check one): Master Card Number: Expiration Date:
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November 2005
November 2005
Brokerage Design
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by Jeremy Conaway
• The organization will comprise both internal and outsourced teams and will have a passion for making data-driven decisions to continually improve our overall customer experience. • The organization seeks to: Create a consistent customer experience across all touch points that becomes a key differentiator for Zillow.com. As such, you will be a key voice of the customer for our company. • The company will hire, develop, manage and retain a large and growing organization consisting of operations (Web, e-mail and phone support), QA, and Training. • The Company will develop, own and implement a datadriven customer service framework that relentlessly drives out costs while, at the same time, increases Zillow.com’s customer value proposition. • The Company will evaluate and implement strategic outsourcing and off-shoring initiatives for selected components of customer service while simultaneously increasing the effectiveness of the domestic inbound and support call center. • The Company will develop overall customer service model that will enable Zillow.com to rapidly scale as a profit rather than a cost center. • The Company will drive the implementation of new technologies (Interactive Voice Response systems, web-based customer solutions, etc.) for a global market. • The Company will define excellent training processes in the customer support operations in a rapidly expanding product base. • The Company will implement strategic initiatives in customer service delivery that can complement the pace of company’s new product offerings. It may well be that the polite thing to do is to ignore the conversation on the line, because you were not invited to participate. But you have heard too much to just forget all about it. The moral of this story: If your brokerage is not working on these same competencies, objectives and skill sets you are not keeping pace with today’s real estate industry. Use this article at your next management team or manager meeting, with the above points as an agenda. Discover where your team needs to improve. Don’t wait for new competition to take advantage of your shortcomings. [Editor’s Note: Jeremy Conaway is a keynote speaker, conference facilitator, and consultant to the Real Estate industry. He is President of RECON Intelligence Services, and can be reached at 231.938.7326, http://www.reconis.com or jeremy.conaway@reconis.com.]
It’s Time for Zillow Talk
No, it’s not a remake of that classic 1959 film starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day, though there are some marked similarities. As with the original script, there are two parties sharing a common line. Only this time, it is the Internet. Consider... The pre-release trailer for this story hints that a new mysterious real estate service has the potential of shifting the epicenter of the existing national service spectrum. One is moved to ask why this new service is viable in our environment, and what changes traditional real estate brokerages need to make in their business model to reduce their vulnerability to this and similar new service models. The real estate community is learning that these new models are healthy and growing where the traditional model is ailing. Rehabilitation is both necessary and appropriate. The talk on the back lot is that some in the traditional real estate industry have fallen into the unfortunate habit of treating each new service model with disdain and disinterest. While no single alternative service model has yet captured a significant market share, taken together alternative brokerage models are beginning to have a significant impact upon the marketplace. Back in the screening room, our story begins in Galveston, Texas on an August day in the current year, at a real estate industry leadership retreat. The participants include the leadership of the Houston Association of REALTORS® and leading real estate brokers from the Houston Area. The program features the comments of several national industry leaders including Tom Redding, CEO of realestate.com—an entity whose holdings include LendingTree.com. At one point Mr. Redding is asked to comment on how LendingTree.com has impacted the real estate industry. During his response he suggests that the question that should really be asked is what keeps him up at night. He went on to explain that in spite of the immense influence and resources of his organization, they are very concerned about the ultimate impact of a new entity called Zillow.com. He further suggests that Zillow.com’s impact on the traditional industry will far outweigh LendingTree or any other influence to date. As of this date Zillow.com remains a somewhat unknown commodity. What is known is that the organization will have a business model tuned to take advantage of a major gap in the current real estate service spectrum, and the resources to potentially make a significant impact on the American real estate market. Zillow.com is the creation of Expedia pioneer Richard Barton who serves as Zillow’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Expedia was started within Microsoft in 1994, and then spun off in 1999. While the Zillow team is still being formed it already includes some of the brightest minds in the Internet business community. Zillow’s business model remains somewhat mysterious. What is known, however, is that the company is developing a consumer centric business model that will focus on the “for sale by owner” market. Its current Web site, although mini-
“
The moral of this story:
If your brokerage is not
working on these same
competencies, objectives and skill sets, you are not
keeping pace with today’s real estate industry.
,,
mal, offers some fascinating insight into its probable direction. At the top of the site is the following message: Curious about Zillow.com? We aren’t saying much yet, but follow the news about us as we grow. One click into the site under the “jobs” heading, and the reader finds a listing of current Zillow.com job descriptions. A short scroll from the top discloses a position entitled Director of Customer Service. Here the reader encounters a number of thought provoking concepts that simply do not exist in the current real estate marketplace. By way of example consider the following: • Zillow.com is seeking an experienced leader to build a world class customer service organization.
NJAR Revising Residential Lease Form
Please be advised that Section 36 of the New Jersey Association of REALTORS® (NJAR) Standard Form of Residential Lease (Form #125), referring to WINDOW GUARD NOTIFICATION is currently being revised to comply with the recently amended state regulation now in effect. NJAR is in the process of revising the hard copy forms. If you are using the NJAR Residential Lease Form #125-7/04, please use the addendum which replaces Section 36 of the form. If you are using the NJAR Online Forms, please note Form #125 has already been revised and is available at http://www.njarforms.com.
Driving Tickets & Cell Phone Fines Increase
MCAR President Christina “Tina” Banasiak sent us this warning last month to share with the membership. Starting on August 15, the price of a ticket for violation of New Jersey Law39:3-29 (failure to show your driver's license, registration, or insurance card at the time you are stopped) is going from $44 to $173. Please make sure your vehicles have the proper documents in them. If you jump in the car to run to the store and forget your wallet with your license in it and you are stopped.... Oh well... you just spent $173. And the fine for not having all three documents is $519. And be careful, the fine for hand held cell phone use while driving will be going up to $180.
2006 “Housing for All”
The NJAR 2006 “Housing for All” calendars, featuring the artwork of 12 New Jersey students in grades three to six, are now available for $5 each including sales tax. Contact Maria Schlesier at (732) 494-4706 to place an order. Calendars will also be available for purchase at the NJAR booth at the Triple Play Trade Expo. All proceeds will benefit the NJAR Housing Opportunity Foundation, Inc. Two students from Monmouth County made it into the 2006 Calendar.
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Upcoming Special Sections in the
Asbury Park Press • Home News Tribune Ocean County Newspapers
Pub Date / Deadline Real Estate Monthly . . . Nov.13 Oct.31 Guide to Life in Manchester . . . Nov.11 Homes in Jersey Jersey Shore Homes Oct.18
SUN. MON. TUES. November WED. THURS. 2005
FRI.
8:00 am -12:00 4 Feng Shui For Real Estate Pros Holiday Inn 9:30 am Grievance Mtg
SAT.
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1:00 pm Seminars for Success
9:30 am Associates Mtg.
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9:00 am Education Comm Mtg 9:30 am Equal Opp. OFF-SITE
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CRS 210 Course 9 Leg & Pol Mtg Cancelled 5:00 pm Patriot's Alliance Cocktail Reception
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CRS 210 Course
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Veterans Day MCAR Office Closed
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Homes on the Jersey Shore . . . Nov.25
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Oct.17
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14 8:00 am -12:00 Learn mindfulness meditation for reducing stress,
9:00 am Education Com. Seminar
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9:00 am : MLS Mtg
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12:00 pm : CII Off Site
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Thanksgiving Day MCAR Office Closed
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Day After ThanksgivingMCAR Office Closed
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Guide to Fixing up Your Home. . Nov.30 Good Life Shopper . . . Dec.7
Nov.9 Nov.16
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9:30 am : Bylaws 3:00 pm : CII - Net- 9:00 am : Board of working Event Directors Comm
Hometown Life Lakewood . . . Dec.14 Dec.6
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Call your Asbury Park Press sales rep or Colette @ 732-643-3650 for more information or to reserve space.
Board Offices Closed on the Following Dates
All meeting dates are subject to change
Monday, Feb. 21st - President’s Day Friday, March 25th - Good Friday Monday, May 30th - Memorial Day Monday, Sept. 5th - Labor Day
Monday, Oct. 10th - Columbus Day Friday, Nov. 11th - Veterans Day Thursday, Nov. 24th - Thanksgiving Day Friday, Nov. 25th - Day After Thanksgiving