On Monday, January 31, 2011, Commissioner Lowe traveled to Tucson and delivered a presentation to update members on regulatory changes and new legislation affecting our industry. Commissioner Lowe shared lots of information including:

• New rules pertaining to education instructors and course approval
• Statistics on licensees in our industry
• Insights for completing the Broker Audit Declaration
• Short Sale & Third Party Negotiator Practices Affected by MARS

If you have not heard of MARS, you need to be aware of this important change in federal regulations. MARS stands for Mortgage Assistance Relief Services and is part of a new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Rule that bans providers of mortgage foreclosure rescue and loan modification services from collecting fees until homeowners have a written offer from their lender or servicer that they decide is acceptable.You can read more about the rule directly on the Federal Trade Commission website. THE FINAL PROVISIONS OF THE RULE BECAME EFFECTIVE JANUARY 31, 2011!

The rule has large ramifications for short sale listing agents who are assisting homeowners with loan modifications. Commissioner Lowe made it very clear that this rule in conjunction with the opinions of the Arizona Department of Real Estate (ADRE), the Arizona Department of Financial Services (DFI), and the Arizona Attorney General that:

1. Listing agents should not participate in loan modification with a lender on behalf of the homeowner unless the licensee has a loan originator license.

2. Licensees are precluded from collecting fees or charging additional amounts for loan modification services.

3. Entities acting as third party negotiators on short sale transactions must possess an Arizona Real Estate License.

The new FTC rule requires new disclosures and contains a number of prohibited claims which must be addressed in all advertising and marketing. Commissioner Lowe indicated that the Department of Real Estate is currently drafting some advisories and disclosures to help licensees deal with the new MARS provision. In the meantime, we encourage you to read the rule referenced above on the Federal Trade Commission website.

Some additional information regarding the impact of the Rule on real estate licensees can be found on the Real Solutions Network blog post.

Thank you Commissioner Lowe for the insight. We appreciate the attention and time you provided to update our industry regarding these important changes.

At a recent presentation of InstaTekkie, Course Creators two day social media certification course we taught for Beverly-Hanks agents in Asheville, North Carolina, we highlighted the online presence of Beverly-Hanks agent, Elisa Lamar.  We pointed to her as an example in class because she had a very prominent presence on social media sites such as Zillow and had over $4 million dollars of listings displayed on the site. Her properties came to the top of the list when we searched “homes for sale” in Asheville.  As a single agent she was controlling 40% of the first ten properties buyers found when they searched for homes in the Asheville area.

At Course Creators we often do this type of in depth research in markets where we teach this class so that we can help agents understand where they currently stand in social media in relationship to their peers and competition.  We applauded Elisa’s efforts.  Recognized the job she had done, even told her company’s owner that he should send her a note commending her efforts.  Elisa was not in our class.  Turns out she had a number of client appointments (Go figure!)

You can see the work Elisa has been doing and view her Zillow profile by clicking on her picture to the left!

Now for Rest of the Story

Elisa heard about our comments in class, and we had an opportunity to talk with her the next day. Here is a short transcript of our conversation:

Elisa “I’m sorry I could not be there, but I was busy working with clients.”

Course Creators “Well, you should know we were recognizing your efforts on sites such as Zillow and showing your fellow REALTORS® how they could get more business doing what you did!”

She proceeded to tell us that she attributed her presence and success with Zillow to our Social Media Keynote presentation that we did a few months before and to the training CD that we gave here for being a volunteer in our class!!

Elisa, our hat is off to you for being one of the students who Got IT! Used IT! and Became more successful because of IT! Thank you for verifying and validating all that we do and teach! We wish you continued success on your use of Zillow as you take your real estate business to the next level.

You can learn more about our video training CD’s by clicking on the Video Training CD to the right!

Course Creators is fortunate and grateful to have seen so much explosive growth and prosperity in just the first twelve months of our business. We have made our mark in the area of continued real estate education and are continually expanding outward across the United States and other businesses and professions.

We are pleased to announce that the Course Creators team has now reached double digits with the addition of three new fantastic instructors. We welcome to the team, Fawn Whitford, Mary Diaz and Kay Yokley. The amount of business and entrepreneurial knowledge of these three new instructors is absolutely amazing. They have much to share and you will learn a lot from all of them. You can read a bit more about them and see the rest of the Course Creators team on our website.

To Learn More About the Course Creators Team Click Here!

As we have said, all along. Buckle Up! We are all here to help you Get IT! Use IT! and Become More Successful Because of IT! Welcome to a whole new era of education in business growth and development. How can we help you!

The Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has recently revised two of the primary disclosure documents used under the Real Estate Settlement & Procedures Act. As of January 1, 2010 lenders are required to use the new Good Faith Estimate form. The form differs from the old version in that it requires the lender to:

• Make basic informational disclosures about the loan product and its terms
• Provide additional information about the items for which the borrower is charged
• Not increase charges between disclosure and settlement within certain tolerances set by law

Click Here to Download the NEW Good Faith Estimate

HUD has also released a new version of the HUD-1 Settlement Statement. The new HUD-1 is similar to the original version on pages 1 & 2, however there is a new page 3 which integrates the Good Faith Estimate and the Settlement Statement so that borrowers can easily see what their original estimates were and what they are now being charged. The charges are not allowed to differ by more than the permitted tolerances.

Click Here to Download the NEW HUD-1 Settlement Statement

Newly revised for 2010, HUD’s latest publication related to buying a home is titled, “Shopping for Your Home Loan: HUD’s Settlement Cost Booklet.” It is a must-read for anyone who will be buying a home in 2010 (or beyond).

In spite of the title, the booklet doesn’t just contain information on how to shop for a home loan using new forms and an explanation of the settlement costs involved in a real estate transaction. The guide also contains valuable information on a variety of other topics related to purchasing a home. (It’s a whopping 4 Megabyte download!)

Click Here to Download the new booklet “Shopping For Your Home Loan”

Wednesday September 9th from 5:00 to 6:00 Theresa Barnabei and Len Elder will be live

with Chuck Corriere of the Deal Maker Show on Jolt Radio, 1330 AM. We will be discussing

how social media is transforming the world of business today. You can post your comments here

prior to the show and we will address them or tune in live and blog along with us during the

show. We welcome your comments and input. Just click on “comment” below to join the discussion!

Sam Williams, a columnist with Inside Tucson Business, will be interviewing the owners of Course Creators, Len Elder and Theresa Barnabei, regarding Tips & Techniques for Selling. Len and Theresa are recognized as national speakers and trainers in the areas of business and professional development. They have amassed over 20,000 hours of live classroom instruction and speak at conferences and events across the country, including the upcoming National Association of Realtors Conference and Expo in San Diego. Their insights into what it takes to sell in the business world today can help you grow and expand your business. Look for the article from this interview in an upcoming issue of Inside Tucson Business.

Chuck Corriere of the Deal Maker Show!

On September 9th at 5:00 Chuck Corriere will be interviewing the owners of Course Creators, Len Elder and Theresa Barnabei. They will be discussing “How Social Media is Transforming the World of Business.” Len and Theresa have been teaching cutting edge business technology courses and have insight into new ways to grow and create business in a world that has been transformed by social media.

You can be part of the discussion, ask questions and learn what you need to do to take your business to the next level. Tune into Jolt 1330 at 5:00 PM on September the 9th and participate in the show. We look forward to sharing with you there!

Len Elder & Theresa Barnabei of Course Creators were recently interviewed by Inside Tucson Business regarding the power of Technology in Real Estate. Also quoted are CEO Rosey Koberlein of Long Realty and Michael Oliver with Tierra Antigua. The message – “Don’t get left behind as a real estate agent with new Technology” READ THE FULL ARTICLE!