Dear CAR Member,
California has experienced a series of devastating wildfires across the state this summer, and as I write this, there is a fire burning out of control in San Bernardino County. In the wake of disastrous wildfires in 2003, C.A.R. established the C.A.R Disaster Relief Fund to help members of the REALTOR® family – REALTORS®, their staff, and association members and their staff – who incurred substantial losses due to the wildfires and other disasters. Today, C.A.R. stands ready to assist REALTORS® who have suffered damages from these catastrophes by distributing grants of $1,000 to $10,000 from the fund. If you are a REALTOR® who has been affected by these recent wildfires, you may apply for a grant here.
C.A.R. has also compiled resources and other useful information for those affected by the wildfires, including current details about the fires, assistance center locations, what to do after a fire, information on insurance-related issues and legal advice, and fire preparedness resources. To help you and your clients who are dealing with some of the legal questions that may arise during a wildfire, C.A.R.’s Legal Department has prepared a Legal Q&A: “Firestorms: Basic Real Estate Legal Issues” to guide you.
If you’d like to make a tax-deductible donation to the C.A.R. Disaster Relief Fund, please make a check payable to the California Community Foundation and write “C.A.R. Disaster Relief Fund” on the “memo” line. Send checks to the California Community Foundation, 221 S. Figueroa St., Suite 400, Los Angeles, CA 90012, or make a contribution online here. C.A.R. thanks the many local Associations, brokers and individuals who have made previous donations.
Last month, the U.S. Senate passed H.R. 3700, the “Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act,” by unanimous consent. This legislation includes reforms to current Federal Housing Administration (FHA) restrictions on condominium financing, among other provisions, and was long supported by both C.A.R. and NAR. This new law will make FHA’s condo recertification process “substantially less burdensome,” while lowering FHA’s current owner-occupancy requirement from 50 percent to 35 percent. The bill also requires FHA to replace existing policy on transfer fees with the less-restrictive model already in place at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. C.A.R. would like to thank the 19,000-plus California REALTORS® who responded to NAR’s Call-for-Action and urged their senators to pass this legislation and offer relief to home buyers.
C.A.R. is always striving for new ways to keep its members up to date. With that in mind, C.A.R. and its institute the Center for California Real Estate (CCRE) are pleased to introduce Housing Matters Podcast, which gives a weekly analysis of the housing market, including the latest real estate research, economic trends, and housing news. C.A.R. experts, Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young, Senior Economist Oscar Wei, and Economist Jordan Levine, will give you their take on the week’s top real estate stories on the weekly podcast. The goal of the Housing Matters Podcast, and by extension CCRE, is to provide C.A.R.’s 185,000 members with ideas that help them become more knowledgeable, professional, and insightful in their work as practitioners and stakeholders in the future of real estate. Join the conversation and tune into the Housing Matters Podcast by subscribing through iTunes to hear the latest episode every Friday.
Lastly, I hope you will all be joining me next month at the WHO’S YOUR REALTOR®? EXPO, taking place Tuesday-Thursday, Sept. 27-29, at the Long Beach Convention Center. You won’t want to miss out on some of the main events including Tech Tuesday, a full day focused on technology for your business. Tech Tuesday offers hands-on, workshop-style sessions, user-generated segments, and a wide range of tech topics, leaving you with practical tools to implement into your business. Want to eat lunch with a tech expert, an astronaut, and an economist? You can at EXPO! Join us on Tuesday for lunch with David Pogue, founder of Yahoo Tech, as he discusses Disruptive Tech: The Unrecognizable New World of Tech and Culture. On Wednesday, Capt. Mark Kelly, Commander of Space Shuttle Endeavour’s final mission, will deliver a motivational keynote, Endeavour to Succeed, that will inspire us on leadership, determination, and courage in the face of adversity. And C.A.R. Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young will close out the lunches on Thursday with her can’t-miss 2017 Housing Market Forecast.
If you are a broker, you will want to attend the Broker Conference on Wednesday, featuring a unique one-on-one interview between Better Homes & Gardens CEO Sherry Chris and C.A.R.’s Leslie Appleton-Young. C.A.R. CEO Joel Singer will give a thought provoking keynote address that will not disappoint. C.A.R.’s Young Professionals Network is bringing back the Evolve Conference focusing on evolving “YO-self.” This half-day conference taking place on Wednesday is focused on how to evolve your video, branding, leadership, and business. Both conferences include networking receptions.
EXPO 2016 also offers over 30 free educational sessions across all three days, more than 200 exhibit booths where you can see all the new product solutions for your business, endless networking opportunities, and other free special events. Visit the EXPO website at expo.car.org to see everything happening at EXPO, and don’t forget to register. See you there next month!
Sincerely,
Pat “Ziggy” Zicarelli
2016 President
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®