JANUARY 2016 TRAINING UPDATES.

Transcription

1 JANUARY 2016 TRAINING UPDATES. I SELL HOUSES REALTY "Virtually Everywhere" 6287 Iverson Terrace South Frederick, MD The LOGIN page is renamed to BACKOFFICE We have removed the password on what was previously the login page. We have replaced it with this page and it does not require a password. Please visit this page frequently to stay up to date with us. Newly revised 2016 Post Closing Worksheet Please download the newly revised 2016 Post Closing Worksheet from the page. Previous versions will no longer be accepted by the office. $295 Recruiting Credit Voucher For each new recruit that you bring to our firm, you will receive a signed credit voucher for $295. While we rely on your monthly fees for our ongoing operational expenses, you may utilize this credit voucher towards any future transaction fee or E&O insurance dues to the firm. s Income Desired Worksheet Looking to set an income goal for yourself? The "Income Desired Worksheet" located at will allow you to evaluate the effort required to reach your goals. s Page 1 of 9 - Copyright 2016, I SELL HOUSES REALTY

2 Free informative REALTOR MAGAZINE every two months As a REALTOR, you are entitled to your FREE copy of REALTOR magazine every two months via the National Association of Realtors (NAR). To start receiving your copy at home, please contact your local Maryland Association and tell them to update your mailing address to your home address. s No Property Management No affiliate with our firm may provide property management services to anyone for a fee. The only exception is if you want to manage a property that is personally owned by you AND you do not involve the company name in any rental leases. Policy on Wiring of Overage Funds Every now and then the security deposit we are holding for a sale may exceed the commission amount that is due to the firm. This is called an "overage" by the settlement company. Since brokers are not allowed to touch Escrow funds prior to a closing, our policy is to NOT wire these funds to the settlement company till AFTER the closing has taken place. This may be a minor inconvenience to the closing company and to you, being that it may delay you getting paid by a few days, however, that is the policy we have adopted to remain in strict compliance with Escrow Money Rules. Showing your own Listings Before you enter your own listing with a potential tenant or buyer, you MUST discuss the Agency Disclosure form with them. In the absence of a previously signed Buyer Agency Agreement, you will tell them that you REPRESENT THE SELLER OR LANDLORD and have them SIGN/DATE that disclosure you made. Only after you have done this, may you go inside your listing with them and discuss the property. To pull this off each and every time, it means that you must carry multiple copies of blank Agency Disclosures with you in your car at all times. Commission Rebates in Maryland are LEGAL if you do the following You as an affiliate may offer a commission rebate to your potential buyer. However, make sure that you do not DISCRIMINATE whom you offer this rebate to, paying close attention to the Fair Housing protected classes (County, State & Federal). ie. Buy a new house through me and I'll rebate you 1/2 my builder paid commission is perfectly OK. However, at your first meeting with your buyer you Page 2 of 9 - Copyright 2016, I SELL HOUSES REALTY

3 MUST have your buyer sign a Buyer Brokerage Agreement with you in which it spells out this rebate offer. New Maryland Sales Contract in October 2015 Make sure that the sales contract you use in Maryland is up to date. The new contract was updated in October Your Signature must look like this Your Name (in Bold) I SELL HOUSES REALTY Your Cell # Your address Your website (if any) Your efax # (if any) ** You can obtain one from Broker: You are NOT required to put the office address in your signature and in fact we suggest that you do NOT put the office address in your signature because we are "virtually everywhere". Conversely, you may NOT put your home address anywhere on your signature as that gives the impression of a branch office. s Date on Buyer Brokerage Agreements to PRECEDE the ratification date By law, your buyer brokerage agreement must be signed BEFORE you start to write a contract on behalf of a client. If the date your contract is ratified AND the date that your buyer brokerage retainer agreement are the same it may be overlooked one time. However, if this becomes a pattern and you are audited by DLLR, you will be found guilty of not following the required timeline. You CANNOT represent a client with FIRST having the buyer brokerage retainer agreement signed and dated by them and then proceed to write the offer for them and eventually getting it ratified. s Page 3 of 9 - Copyright 2016, I SELL HOUSES REALTY

4 Strict DLLR Advertising Rules Any advertising that you do in a real estate capacity, be it on Signs, Facebook, Twitter, Craigslist, Your Website, , Postcards, Letters anything!!!! Must contain the following, no exceptions (a) I SELL HOUSES REALTORS (b) Office: (c) Your Name (as it appears on your real estate license) (d) Your contact details (e) The Equal Housing and Realtor Logos (not wording written out but the LOGOS). The font size must be the same for the brokerage info and your info. s Suggested Book to Read about Business Development I highly suggest you buy and read this book "Little Black Book of Connections 6.5 Assets for Networking your way to RICH relationships", Author Jeffrey Gitomer, ISBN 13: Excerpt "Everyone wants to be rich. Although most people think being rich is about having money, rich is a description for everything but money. Rich relationships lead to much more than money. They lead to success, fulfillment, and wealth" Jeffrey Gitomer. s Understanding Whom Agents Represent Form (Maryland) Since the LAW requires that you disclose whom you represent at the first scheduled face to face meeting with a prospective client, at our firm, it is MANDATORY that you carry multiple copies of this form in the trunk of your car. ie. Someone drives past your listing and calls your cell phone number to have you show it to them. You meet them in front of your listing. You are REQUIRED to have this form in your hand BEFORE entering the property. Explain that you are representing the seller of that house and have the form signed BEFORE entering the property. Similarly, if you are holding an open house, have a copy of this form on display clearly informing visitors that you are representing the seller. After you have built up rapport with a potential buyer, consider having them sign an Exclusive Buyer Agency agreement with you along with an Agency Form that says you are now representing them as their Buyer Agent. Similar forms exist for DC and VA. Make sure you follow the required jurisdictional protocol. s Always insert an Appraisal Contingency In today's fluctuating real estate market, if you are representing a buyer, always insert an appraisal contingency in your offer. This way, you protect your buyer's earnest money deposit should an irate seller decide that the buyer must find a way to come up with the difference in appraised value. s Page 4 of 9 - Copyright 2016, I SELL HOUSES REALTY

5 Always insert a Rent Back for your Seller Clients In today's tough financing market, it is not uncommon for a closing to be delayed by a lender. Imagine that your seller client has moved out of a house in anticipation of a closing but things get delayed or even worse, cancelled. Put yourself in your seller clients shoes and ALWAYS insert a 7 14 day rent back clause into your agreements so that AFTER the closing has happened, your seller client can move out in peace. s Representing a Seller? Insert into your sales contract that closings take place within a 5 mile radius of the property being sold Imagine that your listing is in Gaithersburg. Now imagine that the buyer for your listing shows up from Baltimore and UNLESS you have put in wording to the contrary in your sales agreement, the buyer has every right to pick a closing company in Baltimore. This will force your sellers to drive all the way to Baltimore for the closing. Trust me, your sellers will not be happy at this. You can avoid this by simply adding this wording in a general addendum BEFORE the sales agreement is ratified "Per law, buyer has the right to select the closing/title/settlement agent for the sale of this contract. However, sellers and buyers agree that this closing will occur within a 5 mile radius of the property being sold". s Combination Lockboxes If you are using a combination lockbox on a listing, you MUST have wording in your listing agreement that allows you to do so (ie. Undersigned seller(s) allow I Sell Houses Realty and its agents to use a combination lockbox on this property). Failure to do so will NOT cover you by the E&O insurance policy should the seller(s) find that something of value is missing. s Chronological Detailed Log When times are tough, sellers and buyers of real estate look for all opportunities to make up their financial losses. This includes pointing fingers at you and the firm. Receiving a threatening letter from a law firm representing a former client can ruin a lot of things for you in a hurry. The only way you can defend yourself when things go sour, is to show all parties that you keep chronological and detailed records of everything that transpires (Chronological Notes Form can be found at s Page 5 of 9 - Copyright 2016, I SELL HOUSES REALTY

6 Saving all s with clients and customers in designated folders If anyone ever points an accusatory finger at you, a saved may very well save your day. You should start saving EVERY between yourself and a real estate seller or buyer in easy to find marked folders, ie. John Doe, 1 Main Street, City Name. Needless to say, backup your saved folders every so often onto a portable Hard Drive or a USB Thumb Drive which you can hang from your keychain. s No Shame in saying to a client or customer "I don't know, but I'll find out" In risk reduction classes, brokers often learn of agents who attempt to give advice they are not qualified to give. There is absolutely no shame in saying to a client "I don't know the answer to that but I'll find out and get back to you". Do NOT give legal advice, tax advice, financial advice to anyone. s Short Sale Bank negotiations ISHR policy is that unless you are a lawyer you must NOT attempt to negotiate a short sale with a bank as there are many loop holes that you might miss, causing future liability to yourself and ISHR. Advise your short sale seller client to budget for a lawyer to handle this. Most title companies have lawyers on staff who'll be happy to do this for you in return for you settling the sale through them. s Proof read your contracts to be 100% Lawyer Proof There is nothing more intimidating for a Realtor than to be faced with the threat of a legal law suit. Proof read your contracts to make sure that there are no missing initials, signatures, dates, ratification date, information required to be filled out in blanks, correct property address, correct seller and buyer names, correct Tax ID number etc of the property. If photocopied, your contracts should be CRISP, CLEARLY & NEATLY TYPED and LEGIBLE. No exceptions!!!!!! s Digitial Signatures by Docusign We now live in a digital world. Perhaps the best way for you to look professional to your sellers and buyers is to utilize "Digital Signatures" for your listing and selling contracts. Docusign is the best known firm for this. Visit them at They also have a wonderful APP that you can use via your wi fi enable ipad. It works like this, Step 1: Complete a contract on Zip Forms, 2: Upload it to Docusign, 3: Select areas that need initials, dates, signatures (repeat for each participant to the contract), 4: Docusign will the secure documents to Page 6 of 9 - Copyright 2016, I SELL HOUSES REALTY

7 your clients, keep track of who has and has not signed digitally, and you back the digitally signed contract. PRINT NO CONTRACTS EVER AGAIN. s Go Completely Paperless. Buy a FUJITSU Scanner. One of the best digital, high speed, desktop document scanner is made by FUJITSU. I've used their Scan Snap model for many years now and highly recommend it. They now even make a wireless version. PRINT NO CONTRACTS EVER AGAIN. s When is a contract considered ratified? A contract is considered ratified when the buyer and seller have agreed to all items. If you must send the contract for review to a bank, you are sending an already ratified contract for "third party review". Many agents erroneously think that the contract is not ratified unless approved by a bank this is NOT true. s Mandatory Contract Checklists It is your responsibility to ensure that you have packaged your contract per the checklists that we have provided at These checklists are updated every year and you MUST use them to ensure that your contracts are (a) Legible (b) All required forms and jurisdictional addendums are used (c) All pages are initialized/signed/dated where required (d) Your contract will stand up in a court of law under strict lawyer scrutiny. s Referring non licensed Handymen could cost you dearly Maryland LAW requires that all handymen be licensed through DLLR. Therefore, if you refer an unlicensed handyman for a job (however small) and if things go wrong, you carry that liability 100% on your shoulders and the E&O Insurance policy will not cover any claim made against your actions. Ideally, do not refer anyone to your clients. Simply ask them to go online, ie. AngiesList.com or other such online firms. However, if you must, it is YOUR responsibility to ensure that the person you refer is licensed through DLLR. s Filling out Disclosure / Disclaimer Forms An agent is to NEVER attempt to assist a seller to fill out a disclosure or disclaimer form. There are NO exceptions to this rule, even if the seller is disabled. Simply Page 7 of 9 - Copyright 2016, I SELL HOUSES REALTY

8 give them the forms and ask them to turn to a friend, relative, counsel to assist them and return the forms to you. Fair Housing Anytime you advertise your real estate listings, your real estate services you open yourself up to fair housing scrutiny. ONLY describe the property. Do NOT describe the neighborhood, the schools, the churches, the area or the type of people living there or could be living there etc. Do NOT use words that could get you into trouble. (Fair Housing Words Checklist can be found at Open Houses Only a licensed agent may hold an open house, no exceptions. At your open house, the LAW requires that you provide visitors with (a) Agency Disclosures (b) Property Condition Disclosures. These may be displayed on the kitchen center island and discussed with anyone entering the home PRIOR TO you discussing the property with them. Check Depositing Protocol Anytime you deposit a check into our General Account or Escrow Account, you must follow the strict guidelines at Step One: write your name on the deposit slip that the bank keeps. Step Two: write your name on the deposit receipt that the bank gives you, which you are then to fax to or to pepikhara@gmail.com or text to If you deposit your monthly fee without your name on the deposit slip, we don't know WHO made that deposit. To get credit, you must do both steps. s When are Escrow Checks to be deposited Maryland LAW requires that you deposit Escrow Checks immediately following contract ratification. If a buyer and seller have ratified a sales contract, you MUST deposit the Escrow Check immediately following that. Our company Escrow account at BB&T is s Page 8 of 9 - Copyright 2016, I SELL HOUSES REALTY

9 Escrow Account Update We are conducting a self audit of our Escrow Account right now. If you have a pending closing and IF we are holding a security deposit for your buyer in our Escrow account, you must pepikhara@gmail.com the following information within 24 hours (a) Client name b) Property address to which the Escrow belongs to (c) Escrow Amount Deposited (d) Date Deposited (e) Anticipated closing date Maryland Association of Realtors LEGAL HOTLINE Got a legal question? Did you know that you can call the MAR Legal Hotline for FREE to have your legal questions answered? Call: Operational Days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Operational Times: 10AM 12PM & 2PM 4PM. TRAINING RECEIVED RECEIPT As required by the Department of Labor & Licensing Regulation, I SELL HOUSES REALTY has furnished me with this training update. I, the undersigned, have read this training update and supporting document attachments. Printed Name: Signature Date MANDATORY: Initialize, print, sign, date as marked. Fax this entire packet (including attachments, if any) back to OR Scan this entire packet (including attachments, if any), rename your scanned file as " Your Name, January 2016 Training Receipt" send via PDF attachment to pepikhara@gmail.com Page 9 of 9 - Copyright 2016, I SELL HOUSES REALTY