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2009 Legislative Victories C.A.R.’s Government Affairs team successfully represents your interests before state government, preserving your ability to do business and protecting private property rights. This year C.A.R., with lots of help from grassroots REALTORS® successfully fought several potentially harmful proposals. Thank you to everyone who responded so quickly to the various Red Alerts this year. Your actions made a difference. Stopped 3% Independent Contractor Withholding Recently enacted Senate Bill 306 does not require lenders to review short sale requests from sellers and their agents within 21 days. The new California law, which addresses certain escrow procedures, has been mischaracterized by some practitioners as landmark legislation calling for a 21-day turnaround for short sale approvals. The new law inserts a short payoff amount request into the existing payoff demand law which generally requires a lender to respond to a request for a payoff demand statement within 21 days from when it is requested, typically by escrow. The new law essentially requires, after a short sale has already been approved, for the lender to respond to a request for a short-pay demand statement within 21 days. The lender’s response to escrow can be a short-pay demand statement or even, depending on the circumstances, a written statement electing not to proceed with the proposed transaction. Continue reading: No New 21 Day Turnaround Requirement for Short Sale Approvals Steve Ostrom talks about the many benefits of attending the C.A.R. Expo in San Jose. C.A.R. Expo takes place on October 6th to 8th. For more information and to register at car.org. [...] SAVING YOU TIME SAVING YOU MONEY The first year of the two year legislative cycle ended Friday. As a direct result of C.A.R.’s and members’ legislative efforts, we had several big, last-minute wins before the state legislature adjourned its regular session. The Legislature doesn’t come back until January, when bills that failed to pass this year can be brought up again for a vote. There are already rumors they will be called back into a special session to deal with water issues before then. The following updates reflect the most-recent news from the last few days of this legislative session: C.A.R. opposed AB 226 and AB 291, both of which relate to the powers of the California Coastal Commission. The Commission would like to extend its control over most of the population centers of California, and the bills would set dangerous precedents for state government agencies. With C.A.R.’s opposition, AB 226 and AB 291, did not have the votes necessary to pass and were placed on the Inactive File by their authors. These bills can be voted on next year. Dear C.A.R. Member: With Southern California wildfires in the news, now is an excellent time to review the legal implications of seasonal firestorms and how they might impact you and your clients. The Southern California wildfire season begins as early as mid-April in some regions, peaks in the fall months, and continues well into winter in many areas. We have recently updated our “Firestorms: Basic Real Estate Legal Issues Q&A” to make it easier for property owners and residents to prepare and find answers to important questions pertaining to wildfires and real estate. Whether you have suffered a loss, or have buyers who are in escrow, this information should prove helpful. You can access the Q&A here: http://www.car.org/legal/2009-qa/firestorms/. I also hope you are taking advantage of our Market Response Center, a one-stop shop for SMART (Strategic Market Assistance & Response Tools) materials designed with you in mind. We’ve specifically created these tools to help you navigate today’s market and it’s our goal to continue to make things easier for you by providing information that helps you right now. Recently, we’ve added the C.A.R. Financing Guide for California Home Buyers to help keep your clients informed on the variety of financing options available. I encourage you to share this valuable guide with your clients. Check back often for the newest resources available to you and your clients at http://www.car.org/tools/smart. Continue reading: September 2009 Message from C.A.R. President James Liptak Dear C.A.R. Member: As you may know, calREDDTM announced late yesterday that the Fresno Association of REALTORS® is putting its participation in the statewide Multiple Listing Service (MLS) on hold for now. Discussions with Fresno are ongoing, and our mutual goal is that disruptions to our members’ businesses are minimized. I wanted to take this opportunity to share some additional information and bring you up to date as we move forward. calREDDTM launched Aug. 17 in Fresno, Madera, and Merced. As with most conversions of this scale, it was a bumpy launch. It created additional challenges for members who had to simultaneously learn the new system while running their day-to-day businesses. Constructive member feedback was critical during this process, and helped guide our efforts to quickly iron out issues as they occurred. We were hearing more and more from members how they valued the enhancements and features of the calREDDTM software. We also heard from members who were less than satisfied. We responded in all instances as quickly as possible. By yesterday — more than two weeks into the launch — most of the significant issues were resolved and calls to the calREDDTM customer support center were on the wane. SAVING YOU TIME With our new My C.A.R. mobile application, the information you need is at your fingertips. The My C.A.R. mobile application is the first iPhone application for use by a REALTOR® association. Designed for the iPhone/iPod touch, with a companion version available for Blackberry® and other Web-enabled mobile devices, the My C.A.R. mobile application features: Inman News stories, market data for 21 California regions, current loan information, highlights from C.A.R.’s Market Matters newsletter, C.A.R. resources, license renewal and continuing education search functionalities, hot issue news alerts, and links to information that may be of interest to C.A.R. directors. Plus, it’s FREE for C.A.R. members to download directly from the Apple iTunes store. Click here for more information and download directions. Wishing you had instant access to Your Membership, Your Way content? Your Membership, Your Way is now available via RSS feed. Now you can have this important news and information delivered to your inbox in real time. The feed is available at: www.car.org/media/rss/ymyw.xml. Simply follow the link and click “subscribe to this feed.” Aug. 6, 2009 We hope you enjoyed the first edition of Your Membership, Your Way, sent to your inbox July 21. This new monthly communication was created to bring C.A.R. member benefits, news, resources, and information directly to you so you can quickly access the tools you need to successfully navigate today’s market and better manage your personal and professional lives. I know from my own experience that it’s often difficult to keep track of all the resources available to us from our Association. It is my hope that Your Membership, Your Way will make it easier for you. I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight a few timely discounts and programs that will help you in your business right now. As you know, regulations that recently went into effect require that a member’s DRE license number be on all first point-of-contact materials. I know many of us will have to reprint our business cards, property flyers, and other marketing materials to comply with the new requirements. That’s why we’ve partnered with PrintingForLess.com and negotiated a 25-percent discount to help defray your costs on marketing material reprints. This includes all business cards, stationery, advertising flyers, and other soliciting marketing materials that now must display your DRE license number. Members should visit http://www.printingforless.com/car and enter coupon code CAR25P at checkout. I hope you take advantage of this offer. Continue reading: Your Monthly Message From C.A.R. President James Liptak Governor Schwarzenegger signed a package of 27 bills today (July 28, 2009) instituting a new California State Budget. C.A.R. scored a big victory for REALTORS® across the state; the signed version did not include an additional withholding for independent contractors. During budget negotiations, a proposal surfaced that would require 3% withholding from independent contractors. If this proposal passed, when an agent closed a transaction, they are typically paid by their broker, the broker would need to withhold 3% of the commission and pay it to the Franchise Tax Board (FTB). Agents would still pay their normal quarterly estimated income tax payments to the FTB in addition to the amount withheld by the broker. When the agent filed their state income tax return the following April, they would deduct the withholdings along with the quarterly estimated tax payments from their tax liability, and in theory receive a refund for the 3% that was withheld. This would have allowed California to earn interest on your money. |
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Thursday, October 15th, 2009
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