Broker Blog

Realtor® Emeritus:  Our favorite, fabulous leader, Earl, has received well deserved recognition from the National Association of Realtors®.  The certificate that Earl recently received states the following:  “The National Association of Realtors® hereby honors and bestows upon Earl Shuttleworth the status of Realtor® Emeritus.  This status is awarded with deepest gratitude in recognition of forty cumulative years of membership in the National Association of Realtors® and in recognition of valuable and lasting contribution to the real estate profession in the Community”.

Earl certainly has made a valuable and lasting contribution to our firm and to all of those with whom he has come in contact over the years.  And, he really has 47 years of continuous NAR membership.  Wishing him many more successful years ahead.

Training:  We are happy to announce our first series of Wine Country Group trainings for the new year.  Joyce Davison is developing a course entitled:  “Taking a Listing When Competing with a Top Producer”.   This includes winning the listing and not reducing your commission!   A good thing all around.

The classes are scheduled as follows:  Tuesday, March 23 @ 9:00 am in the Sonoma office;  Tuesday, March 30 @ 10:00 am in our Napa office;  and, Tuesday, April 6 @ 9:00 am in our Healdsburg office.   Please plan to attend one of these trainings.

There is a revision to the CAR Residential Purchase Agreement coming out in April.  We will be holding trainings in each of our offices, but also keep an eye out for NorBAR trainings.

Winforms is becoming ZipForms and requires an upgrade if you are using WinForms on your own computer.  Please take a look at this link: http://www.car.org/tools/zipForm6/.  There is a series of webinars listed so that you can get accustomed to the new look and feel.

CAR Q & A’s:  Sometimes the questions that we are asked by our clients are covered in CAR Q & A’s.  I readily hand out Q&A’s on topics such as Prop. 60, tax consequences of a sale, etc.  A couple of useful newer ones are:  
    “Credit After Foreclosure, Bankruptcy, or Short Sale”  the link for this is:  http://www.car.org/legal/2009-qa/credit-aft-forecl-bankrup-short/

“Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure” the link is: http://www.car.org/legal/2008articles/deed-in-lieu-foreclosure/

“Homebuyer Tax Credit Update” the link is: http://www.car.org/legal/legal-questions-answers/2010-qa/homebuyer-tax-credit-update/

Nonrefundable Deposits:  There is also a Realegal update (http://www.car.org/legal/special-features/realegal-chart/2010-realegals/realegal-2-12-10/) dated February 12, 2010, entitled:  “Nonrefundable Deposit Deemed Invalid.”  It sites a recent court case.  The position of our legal counsel has always been that in residential 1-4 unit transactions there is “no such thing” as a nonrefundable deposit.  Even if the parties are willing to “create” a nonrefundable deposit, it may not be enforceable.  If you are asked to draft an agreement that contains clauses attempting to create a nonrefundable deposit, please call me or your manager before proceeding.

Closings:  The following agents enjoyed closings so far during February:  

Mari Johnson (Sonoma);  Lisa Albertson (Sonoma);  Linda Alioto (St. Helena);  Cherie Choolijian (Sonoma);  Corrie Sterbentz (Sonoma);  Ann Amtower (Healdsburg);  Diane Harris and Deke DeKay (Healdsburg);  Jana Jones (Healdsburg);  and Mike Caselli (Sonoma).

The following agents had two closings during this period: Felice Torri (Sonoma);  Jane and Ron Pavelka (Cloverdale);  Barbara Sommerville (Sonoma);  Doug Del Fava and Susan Parker (Kenwood);  and the Foss Creek Condominium team of Susan Montgomery and Amanda Stampley.

Daniel Casabonne (Sonoma) and David Barker (Napa) had three closings each.

And, Kendra Martin has had a good month so far with six closings.

Congratulations to all!