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Fair Housing & Blueprint

Date: 
June 27, 2013 - 10:00am - 5:00pm
Location: 
Virginia Tech Foundation Building, 902 Prices Fork Road, Room 3100, Blacksburg, VA 24061

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Join us for this informative and interactive seminar taught by Mahalia “Mally” Dryden-Mason, Consumer Education Coordinator and Fair Housing Training Specialist. Mally is approved by the Real Estate Board and the Fair Housing Board as a course provider whose seminars meet the requirements for real estate continuing education and fair housing certification. Her enthusiastic presentation will cover everything you need to know about Fair Housing in Virginia.

Good news: DPOR updates its license transfer process

Posted by Andrew Kantor
May 9 2013 - 2:58pm

Earlier today, all Virginia brokers received the following notification:

DPOR License Transfer Information

Video Banner - Transfer Update

In early March 2013, the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) issued clarification about its real estate licensee transfer policy that created concern about when a transferring licensee is able to practice at his new firm. In response, VAR has been consistently working with DPOR staff and Virginia Real Estate Board members on a solution that will allow licensees to transfer seamlessly to a new firm.

Legal Hotline FAQs: Designated Agency & MLS Withdrawals

VAR's Blake Hegeman introduces the newly revised hotline FAQs brochure (free to download at www.VARealtor.com/LegalResources) and answers these common questions:

  • Can a firm practice designated agency if it holds only two licenses or has only two licensees?
  • What if my client asks me to withdraw their listing from the MLS?

CLICK HERE to download the newly revised 25 Legal Hotline FAQs Blake mentions in this video.

Study finds discrimination across Virginia

Posted by Andrew Kantor
May 1 2013 - 10:39am

Despite the law, Latinos are still receiving “adverse treatment” across Virginia — that’s the result of an investigation across Virginia by the Equal Rights Center and the law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath.

Essentially, they conducted “matched-pair” test inquiring about rental properties. That means they sent ‘equivalent’ whites and Latinos to ask about the same properties — ages, martial status, income, etc., were the same.

“In 55 percent of tests,” the report found, “the Latino tester received adverse, differential treatment as compared to the white tester, in at least one respect.”

Accessible Tech: What and where to disclose online

Posted by Andrew Kantor
Apr 25 2013 - 9:19am

This appeared in the April/May issue of Commonwealth magazine.

With more and more electronic communication being done in public — the “social” part of social media — you’ll find that you can never really remove your Realtor hat. That means you need to be extra careful when you’re writing an e-mail, crafting a blog post, or replying to a tweet.

And I don’t just mean “always be professional.” I mean that there are disclosure rules from both the Virginia Real Estate Board and the Realtor Code of Ethics that apply online whenever you engage in “advertising.”

And believe me, the definition of “advertising” is pretty broad.

Property Management Coalition Conference 2013

Date: 
October 23, 2013 - 9:00am - October 25, 2013 - 5:00pm
Location: 
Double Tree Hotel by Hilton, 990 Hilton Heights Road, Charlottesville, VA 22901
Register OnlineSPECIAL OFFER: $10 OFF REGISTRATION

Earnest money deposits: the full story

Posted by amanda@varealtor.com
Apr 16 2013 - 9:45am

One of the most important duties a REALTOR® has is holding a clients' funds for Earnest Money Deposits. VAR's Blake Hegeman updates viewers on EMDs by covering this info:
    •    Release of EMD funds
    •    Timeliness of releases
    •    Can the absence of an EMD prevent a contract from being ratified?

CLICK HERE to see what other videos are available in VAR's legal video library.

Here’s looking at … us

Posted by Andrew Kantor
Apr 15 2013 - 4:41pm

The following appears in the April/May issue of Commonwealth as “First Word.”

The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe that we are above-average drivers. -Dave Barry

I challenged a friend of mine once, as we were beginning a four-hour, multi-state drive, to obey every single law – obey it to the point that even the most desperate small-town cop couldn’t find fault.

Columnist warns about the return of sub-prime loans

Posted by Andrew Kantor
Apr 11 2013 - 11:35am

In case you don’t remember, the housing crisis we’re finally getting out of was caused by, at its core, people getting mortgages they couldn’t afford. Blame the borrowers, blame the lenders, whatever — that was the root of it all.

That was the sub-prime market: loans to people who didn’t have great (aka “prime”) credit. And that’s why we have all these new rules and regs and requirements: to prevent people — many of whom didn’t know any better — from borrowing more than they can afford. (Or at least shielding taxpayers from lenders willing to take the extra risk on those people.)