[I] just returned from San Franciscos N.A.R. convention, and a truly amazing event it was. The sense of camaraderie and collegiality among members truly warms the heart. There is a true sense of community, and a pervasive curiosity about how people do business in their respective markets. A number of people, particularly educators I hadn't seen for many years, came up to say hello and renew acquaintances!

In my capacity as a National Director, I attended the Large Firm Directors Meeting on Saturday. This is always an intensely interesting group discusssion. It is a closed session, to facilitate discussion among the largest 75 firms in the country.

 We heard great presentations by Laurie Janik, NAR General Counsel, and David Lereah, NARs Chief Economist.

Big on the agenda was the DOJ lawsuit concerning the VOW policies. In a nutshell, Laurie told us that NAR is represented by an A-Team law firm of the best and the brightest; that the venue (Chicago) is more promising than, say, D.C., and that the assigned Federal Judge is very scholarly. She expressed great confidence in the rightness of NARs policies, and thinks that the case may wind up (if it isnt settled) being decided on a Motion to Dismiss which NAR will be filing soon.

Monday the 31st was the NAR Board of Directors meeting, at the conclusion of the 2005 REALTORS® Conference & Expo. Heres a brief summary of the major actions of the Directors:

1. Waived 2006 national dues and the Public Awareness Campaign special assessment for hurricane-impacted members in the Gulf Coast. The waiver will apply to up to 4,000 members in Louisiana, 2,000 members in Mississippi, and 1,000 members in Alabama and Texas.

2. Approved the awarding of grants from NAR reserves to help state associations in the Gulf Coast recover from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The grantsup to $165,000 for Alabama, $400,000 for Louisiana, and $200,000 for Mississippiwill offset lost dues revenue.

Three Professional Standards Changes:

Standard of Practice 1-13 was amended to say, when REALTORS® are working with buyers or tenants, they should tell their clients that "sellers or sellers' representatives may not treat the existence, terms, or conditions of offers as confidential unless confidentiality is required by law, regulation, or agreement between the parties."

Standard of Practice 1-15 was amended to say, in response to inquiries from buyers or cooperating brokers, REALTORS® shall, with the sellers' approval, disclose the existence of other offers and also whether the offers came from the listing licensee, another licensee in that company, or a cooperating broker.

Standards of Practice under Article 10 were clarified to prohibit REALTORS® in a residential transaction from volunteering demographic information involving race, ethnicity, or religious composition of a neighborhood, while permitting them to volunteer other demographic information and to permit REALTORS® in a commercial transaction to volunteer all demographic information.

The Board also:

1) adopted a policy that prohibits MLSs from requiring that a listing be submitted to the MLS to put a lockbox on the property; 2) delayed until June 1, 2006, the effective date of a statement of multiple listing policy addressing ownership of listings and listing content; and 3) increased from $1,000 to $5,000 the fine that associations and MLSs can impose for a violation of lockbox rules.

BOD Opposes Tax Policy Proposals

In anticipation of a report by President Bush's Presidential Advisory Panel on Tax Reform, which will be released Tuesday, the BOD added policy language saying that NAR opposes changes to the mortgage interest deduction for both first and second homes, opposes tying MID to FHA loan limits, and opposes changes that would discourage long-term real estate investments. The BOD also approved initiating research on the economic impact the panel's proposals would have on homeownership.

Deceptive Lending Principles Adopted

The Board adopted a set of principles to support congressional efforts to protect consumers from deceptive lending practices. The principles spell out what information real estate practitioners can provide to assist in an appraisal and require lenders to get a physical inspection for properties on which higher risk loans are made.

Legal Battles Funded

NAR will spend $260,000 to assist in cases involving patent infringement for geographic search software, unlicensed brokerages, application of federal employment laws to independent contractors, and the definition of wetlands.

The BOD voted in favor of NAR working to make federal disaster insurance available and affordable.

Membership Growth Expected: The directors approved a budgeted membership for 2006 of 1,275,000 members.

THANKS!

Cordially,

Robert N. Bass, Esq.

President, Arizona Real Estate Educators Association

602.274.9452