2008 Quarterly Membership Meetings

Here is the schedule of remaining Membership Meetings for 2008. This will be updated periodically as I get more information and decisions are made about locations and speakers:

SEPTEMBER 26 - General Membership Meeting

Election of 2009 Officers

Our BIG Fundraising Event for Habitat for Humanity

Temecula

NOVEMBER 21 - General Membership Meeting

& Installation of 2009 Officers

TBD

Follow-up on SoCal CRS Q2 2008 Membership Meeting in Santa Barbara

Southern California CRS Chapter Members:

If you could not make the meeting, or just would like to read a bit more about what happened at the meeting and some terrific learnings on investing in real estate,

• LOG IN to the Members Only Section of the Southern California CRS Chapter website.

• Go to the USER MENU (left Navigation Bar)

• click on SHOW YOUR BLOG at the very bottom to read the full report (just another of the benefits of being a Chapter member).

NOTE: IF YOU ARE A CHAPTER MEMBER but still need to obtain your logon ID and Password,

directions on how to do so can be found here.

Or you can watch a How To video.

Visit the Q2 2008 SoCal CRS Membership Meeting Virtually

For those of you who could not make the 2008 Second Quarterly Membership Meeting in Santa Barbara, you missed a good time, a great speaker, and lots of useful information.

I'm working on the the overview of the meeting which should be posted in the next day. In the meantime, here is a virtual tour of the meeting.

Meetings like this make it clear that being a member of the Southern California Chapter of CRS has many benefits.

Upcoming Q2 SoCal CRS Membership Meeting AND New Reduced Prices

Southern California CRS 2nd Quarter

General Membership Meeting

June 27, 2008 ~ Santa Barbara, CA

“How to Increase Your Income By Selling

Investment Properties”

An excellent seminar presented by Chris Bird.

This seminar is a "must attend" for REALTORS® who want to add the Investor as a lucrative part of their business, as well as providing insights on how to conduct investment seminars for potential clients. In this informative session, we will examine the five ways how to make money from real estate investments, and the current market trends in Southern California. The federal income tax laws impacting the ownership of investment real estate for the real estate professional as well as the casual investor will be examined. Don't miss this opportunity to increase your commission income by selling investment properties.

Date: Friday, June 27, 2008           Time: 8:30am – 2:00pm

Location:  Hotel Mar Monte, 1111 East Cabrillo Blvd, Santa Barbara, CA 93103   (805) 256-1228

Cost:  Early bird price SoCal CRS Members $35.00 & non-member $45.00.  

After June 20th—SoCal CRS Members $45.00 & non-members $55.00. 

Video of SDAR REALTOR Trade Show and So Cal CRS

SoCal CRS at the Pacific West Trade Show

Our Southern California Chapter of CRS made another splash at the Pacific West REALTOR Trade Show held last Friday May 2 at the Disneyland Hotel.

Thanks to Donna Sutton and Marlene Bridges, our booth was a huge success with many folks stopping by to learn more about the CRS designation and the benefits of having it. There was lots of interest also in our SoCal CRS Chapter.

We look forward to having many agents in our CRS classes this year and becoming members of our local Chapter.

SDAR REALTOR Trade Show is FRIDAY MAY 9

SoCal CRS at the Pacific West Trade Show May 2, 2008

Learnings from Bernice Ross at SoCal CRS Meeting

Bernice Ross, CEO and Founder of Real Estate Coach, never fails to deliver a lively, informative talk filled with practical advice on improving our real estate business.

Having seen her several times at the C.A.R. conventions, this latest meeting was, in my opinion, the best. And what a terrific value for Southern California Chapter members ($49 for the membership meeting, networking, the talk, and a full lunch - a bargain these days!).

Dr. Ross really has her hands on the pulse of the real estate market, the Internet, and buyer and seller issues, and her 30 insider secrets to success in a down market did not disappoint. I wrote a short post on my ActiveRain blog, but thought I would pass along a few other learnings here (not all, of course - you have to be a SoCal CRS Chapter member and have attended the session to get the whole enchilada).

So here are some winning things you can (and should) do:

Take advantage of the distressed properties market (short sales, foreclosures, REOs), become an expert, help investors find the best deals, and help troubled borrowers. You can assist your past clients obtain temporary property tax reductions based on declining assessments in some areas and show your value.

Truly understand the potential the cross-cultural market brings to your real estate business - more business with immigrants and minorities, working with those foreign nationals who are primed to buy here, and understanding the clues to their buying (i.e., how do you know someone is ready to purchase). Have a property over $1M (not too hard in our part of the world )? Market it on Unique Global Estates for free.

SoCal CRS 1st Quarterly Membership Meeting March 2008

GREAT NEWS - Membership Meeting Fees to be Reduced

• Members can sign up before the late date to attend the meeting and lunch for only $35 (formerly $49, more than a 25% savings); non-members will have the same option for only $45 (instead of $69).

• After the late date, the fees are $45 (instead of $59) for members and $55 (instead of $79) for non-members.

SoCalCRS to Attend 3 Area Trade Shows

The Southern California Chapter of CRS will be hosting a booth at each of the areas major REALTOR Trade Shows in May.

May 2 (Friday) - the Pacific West Association of REALTORS Trade Show, PWR CONNECT, will be held at the Disneyland Hotel.

May 2 (Friday) - the GREATER SOUTH BAY REALTOR TRADE FAIR, sponsored  by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Association of REALTORS, will be held at the Torrance Marriott.

May 8 (Friday) - the San Diego Association of REALTORS Trade Show, REAL ESTATE EXPO 2008, will take place at the San Diego Convention Center.

If you are attending any of these trade shows, please be sure to stop by the CRS booth. If you are not already a CRS you can learn more about the designation, the value of obtaining it, and learn how you can become a CRS.

If anyone is interested in helping to staff any of these booths for an hour or two, please contact me at (760) 840-1360 or by email at JDowler@remax.net. It's a great opportunity to share your enthusiasm about being a CRS and educate others who stop by for information.

Bernice Ross to Speak at Q1 2008 SoCalCRS Membership Meeting

1st Quarterly SoCalCRS Membership Meeting

Southern California CRS 1^st Quarter General Membership Meeting!

Costa Mesa, CA

March 14, 2008

 "INSIDER SECRETS FOR PROSPERING IN ANY MARKET!"

Bernice L. Ross, Ph.D. and CEO of RealEstateCoach will present.

Are You Up for a Down Market?  Insider Secrets for Prospering in ANY Market

Tired of struggling with all the bad news in the market? Want to know how to make more no matter what the market does? If so, join us for this fast paced, content rich session that will show you how to market your listings on over 40 different websites, how to persuade sellers to be realistic about their prices, and how to get reluctant buyers off the fence. You will also learn the secrets to writing ads that really work plus which of the old ways of doing business are still "tried and true" as opposed to "tired and repulsive."

 Sign up for the Southern California CRS 1^st Quarter General Membership Meeting.  Visit our website for more information and to register.

Quarterly Membership Meeting and Officer Installation

Our final SoCalCRS membership meeting of 2007 was held yesterday in Hawthorne (Los Angeles) and attended by about 35 folks.

BOBBIE NELSON taught us lots of good stuff on networking - "Networking is a Learned Tactic - It's Not Who You Know but Who Knows You." More details on her teachings in a later post.

I was very pleased to be able to present the 2007 Have a Heart fund raising checks totaling $5000 to Vickie Puterbaugh, who accepted the $2500 check for the Temecula Habitat for Humanity Chapter (they could not be there due to the heavy rains in Temecula). I will be presenting the other $2500 check to the San Diego Chapter sometime this week. Thank you all for your generosity. We also raised about $250 more at the meeting in our fund raising.

The installation of the new officers of the Board of Directors was also held: DEBORAH KNISS, as President; MARLENE BRIDGES, as President Elect; DEBBIE BROWNE, as Secretary, and JEFF DOWLER, as Treasurer. (I am working on getting the video we took uploaded).

The highlight, IMO, was seeing EMILY LINK, our out-going President, receive the award as CRS of the YEAR. Congratulations, Emily. You are such an inspiration to us all.

The Board also held its annual planning meeting and retreat the day before. Much was accomplished, and we are all very excited about the upcoming year. You can expect to see lots of changes. It seems each year just gets better and better.

As always, if any of you are interested in getting more involved in the Chapter, please let us know.

Get Ready for our Last Quarterly Membership Meeting of 2007

The last membership meeting of 2007 for the Southern California Chapter of the CRS is coming up fast. Are you ready?

This should be another great meeting. We will have the installation of the 2008 officers, plus two great speakers. And I'm pleased to announce that there will be a special presentation to Habitat for Humanity.

WHERE: - Ayres Hotel, 14400 Hindry Avenue in Hawthorne

WHEN: Friday November 30 from 8:30 until 2 PM

SPEAKERS:

• STEVEN SPILE and NICOLE BRIGGS will lead a "Discussion of the California Association of REALTORS Strategic Defense Program."
• BOBBIE NELSON, President of WCR and California CAR State Director will talk about "Networking is a Learned Tactic - It's Not Who You Know, It's Who Knows You."

Don't forget to Register!!

Q3 Membership Meeting in Temecula

The SoCalCRS meeting was held today in Temecula at the Embassy Suites with about 60 attendees. Featuring speaker, Judy McKee, it was a great time for networking, learning, and sharing stories. (sorry the photo quality is not my best - guess I had the wrong setting on my camera).

• 3 hour cruise - JUDY MCKEE
• Overnight Stay the Castle B & B with Grapeline tour - BETTY THOMAS
• Free registration for Sell-a-Bration - LYNDA EISENMANN
  
  

Have You Registered for the 3rd Quarterly Membership Meeting?

Time is running out for you to register for the 3rd quarter membership meeting in Temecula this coming Friday, October 5 at the Embassy Suites (29345 Rancho California Road).

This should be a fun, informative meeting:

• We will hear from Judy McKee on communication in the 21st Century
• We will elect the officers for 2008
• AND we will auction off 3 great prizes to raise funds for our annual charitable program - Habitat for Humanity.

So be prepared to spend some money to help this great cause AND take home a fun prize. We will even have a REAL AUCTIONEER there to run the show and help us raise lots of money.

Even if you are not a member of CRS or the Southern California Chapter of CRS you are welcome and we would love to see you. It's a great chance to learn more about the Chapter, meet some terrific folks, exchange referrals, learn some things about communication, and participate in our fund raising. AND we will feed you too!

I can email you the registration form OR contact KARI in the Chapter Office at 888-277-0818.

Don't forget - the NEW website address is www.SouthernCaliforniaCRS.com

3rd Quarterly Membership Meeting October 5

As you probably know, the 3rd quarterly membership meeting will be held in Temecula on Friday October 5 at the Embassy Suites Hotel - this should be another terrific opportunity to learn (come hear Judy McKee on communication), socialize, and network for referrals. But there are some other VERY IMPORTANT things that will take place as well.

• First, there will be the election of the Board officers for 2008. You already received your ballots and may have voted, but you can vote at the meeting as well, and the officers will be announced - installation will occur at the November meeting in Los Angeles.
• Second, we will have a fundraising event for Habitat for Humanity - a memo is coming out in the next day or so about this with all the details. But I wanted to alert you to the AUCTION we will be running with 3 great prizes. We will also do our popular 50/50 raffle where you buy tickets, and the winning ticket receives 50% of the total funds raised through the raffle with the balance donated to a local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

So plan to be there. It should be an exciting meeting, and if you can come the night before, there will be a no host social, and the opportunity for golfing and a  wine tour.

See you October 5!

JEFF

3rd Quarterly Coffee Chat in San Diego Follow-up

The 3rd COFFEE CHAT for San Diego CRS members was held today in La Jolla. Here's a brief summary of what was discussed. I will follow-up with an email to ALL SoCalCRS members since there was some great information that may interest everyone. Links are in RED.

OneCall Home Showings

"Simplify life. Make one call!"

Scott Isgitt, Director of Sales was there to tell us more about this new service being offered on the west coast (similar services are provided by other companies in the midwest, south and east coast with much success). Basically this is a home showing appointment scheduling service that also provides showing feedback, so you get two services for the price of one.

The focus is on saving listing agents time by coordinating all the phone calls for showings on their listings, in accordance with the specified showing instructions in the MLS. All callers are verified as being licensed agents. Appointments are verified with the home owners, and with the buyer agents requesting the showings, and all showing information (what is scheduled and what has occurred is accessible to listing agents via the Internet 24/7).

The service will also follow-up and obtain feedback on the showings from the agents on the buy side.

Listing Agent Benefits:

• More time to get listings and sell homes
• Easier reporting of showing activity (great for your sellers)
• More objective feedback
• Referrals from satisfied clients
• Competitive edge for listings

Benefits for Homeowners:

• Personal information not in MLS
• Objective feedback from showings
• No lost opportunities for home to be shown (e.g., when calls to agents are not returned)
• Showings are documented and validated

Benefits for Buyer/Showing Agents

• Faster showings and more showings
• Easy and complete confirmation of showing appointments
• Simple, non-intrusive method for providing candid feedback

Costs are approximately $30/month but contact SCOTT ISGITT for more details, contract information, and more at (619) 955-8288 (office) or (512) 576-6543 (cell). Email him at Scott.Isgitt@onecallshow.com. They will also arrange a group contract if your brokerage office has an interest in providing this for all agents.

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VM3 Environmental

Andy Konopacki, President and founder of VM3 Environmental, Inc. was there to share his MOLD INSPECTION SERVICES.While the actual number of transactions actually involves a mold inspection, there are many situations where either buyers and/or sellers have concerns, and a mold inspection can help determine if mold is present beyond acceptable levels, and what the sources of the mold might be.

Inspections can be invaluable where home inspectors have found possible mold and the buyer wishes further information. But it can also be a good pre-listing inspection to have done by sellers, especially if there are concerns or known problems, which have to be disclosed anyhow.

The inspections consist of:

• visual (to determine suspect conditions, such as mold in the bath, on the ceiling, etc.) and use of a moisture meter
• actual air testing with independent lab analysis, if needed, to determine if mold spores are actually present and at what levels.

A report is provide detailing the findings and recommendations within 48 hours. If remediation of mold is needed, independent mold remediation companies should be consulted to provide estimates and ultimately provide the work. VM3 Environmental does NOT do remediation in order to avoid conflicts of interest, but can provide a list of available companies with good service records.

A mold inspection costs $195 for up to 1000 SF, with $100 for each additional 100 SF. Inspections include the visual and moisture meter plus a full report.

Air testing costs $99 per sample (e.g., a bathroom sample).

For more information or to schedule a mold inspection, contact ANDY KONOPACKI at (866) 513-6653 or email him at Andy@vm3enviro.com.

3rd Quarter Board Meeting

The third quarter Board of Directors meeting for our Chapter will be held this Thursday, August 30 in Irvine.

If you have any issues that you would like me to raise, or have questions to be addressed, please feel free to post them here, or send me an email. We will be talking about the upcoming election of new officers (at the October 5 membership meeting in Temecula), the plans for the membership meeting and related topics.

Jeff