Office meeting notes - 5/19

Remember what this weekend is about. It’s not just the hot dogs and hamburgers but it’s about the people who are in and have been in the Armed Services who protect our freedom. Take time to say thank you.
The Previews Digital magazine will be pulled from MLS on Wed. May 20, proofs will be sent to all associates with listings on May 29 and all changes need to be done by Tues. June 2. The issue will appear online on cbws.com on June 15.
The Relocation Dept. was moved to Chicago on Sat. May 16. Joanne Figge is still the Relo director for Cincinnati and Jo Lay will be the Chicago Regional Director. Georgia Ceinkus will handle the buyer’s assignments to the Ohio agents and Barbara Behrns will handle the broker to broker & affinity assignments to Ohio agents. The Corp. team will include Andrew Schneider who will manage pre-marketing, Wendy Colloton & Susie Gray will manage inventory homes.
We just finished week #7 in the baseball contest. Doc was the only agent with a 7% listing this week. We have our average up from 2.98% to 3.18% since the start of the contest. Keep up the good work.
New appraisal rules may deflate property values. New guidelines that became effective last Friday are causing controversy with the mortgage industry and protest have been launched by both mortgage brokers & appraisers calling for immediate amendments. Specifically only lenders can order appraisals thru the Appraisal Management Company which farms out the work, the borrower must pay with credit card preauthorization, brokers or loan officers cannot pay for or order appraisals, only the lender can communicate with the appraiser. The intent is to lower the incidence of fraud and largely inflated values that were a factor in the mortgage debacle. Concerns that the appraiser assigned will not be familiar with the particular neighborhood surrounding the property and the Appraisal Management Co. can charge for its services and the buyer may have to pay increased costs or the appraisers may make less money driving out the more skilled & experienced who may offer less accurate appraisals.
Another new rule is that Realtors don’t have to agree to lower commission on Fannie Mae short sales.
If you did not attend the Prorealtour CBolt class last week you can listen to it on the CBolt site. This is an easy process for creating virtual tours for all your listings.

Linda's schedule for Friday, 5/15

Good evening:

As many of you are aware, my son, Andrew is enlisting in the army. Unless his father can persuade him differently tonight, he will be sworn in tomorrow in Columbus. I will plan on attending his "swearing in" and will be in the office in the afternoon.

Prorealtour link and some info

http://www.prorealtour.com/

This is the link to access the "Pro real tour" system. Contact Claire, Carol or Linda for your password.

Everyone needs to log in ASAP and change your password and update your "profile".

The CBOLT link to view the training is: https://cbolt.webex.com/cbolt/k2/j.php?ED=108101622&UID=1009232472&rid=1

Topic: ProRealtour Host: Susan Trefilek Date: Thursday, May 14, 2009 Time: 10:00 am, Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00) Registration ID: 436589 Session Number: 554 574 554 Session Password: Coldwell2009

If you have any listing now or in the future, you must get up to speed on this new system to service your clients. Stop by the office after 5/19 to get sign toppers to replace the "One Place" toppers on your existing listings, as "One Place" is being turned off 6/15. The office staff does not maintain this new system.

Office meeting notes 5/12/09

Statistics show that 87% of buyers use the internet to search for a home. Virtual tours were viewed by 2/3 of all buyers. 80% of all cell phones sold in the past 2yrs have web edition. Linda rolled out the new ProRealTour. This web based virtual tour can use up to 30 photos and has school information and much more. The One Place program will be phased out by June 15. The ProRealTour works directly on all smart phones and goes out to over 150 different webs sites. Buyers have mobile accessibility and instant seller gratification. Agent benefits are its easy to create photo based virtual tours, real time feedback, easy to create property flyers. Each agent will be e-mailed their own log in and password. On Thurs. you will need to start loading your virtual tours so you are ready for the June 1 launch. Radio promotion ads will be heard on 107.1, 101.9, 98.5 and 94.9 and a press release will go out on June 1 announcing the new program. There will be a CBolt training class on Thurs. May 14 at 10AM to show you how to use the new program so please be here for training. The new sign riders should arrive here by May 19. This is just one more tool for use in getting those 7% listings.
Don’t forget to sign up for the “Power pricing, positioning & presentation” CE class to be held June 23 &24 at the Loveland Conference Center with Denise Riordon & Jay Schweppe. They will help you be able to answer 3 questions: 1. How are we different? 2. Do sellers see us as a value? 3. Are we worth what we charge? We need to feel good about going to work again and know what to do. They will help you get old listings priced right and how to keep deals together. They will help you learn to negotiate and how to learn when the market is going up or when it is going down. To register you must give Claire a check for $45. for both day classes and IF you attend both days for the entire day then your check will be returned. There will be a new easier payment method for the Legal Assistance Plan and no increase in cost this year. The new plan will allow the payment to be deducted in two equal payments ($175.) from the first and second commission checks that occur on or after June 15th or you may elect to just remit the entire payment via check or credit card before then. In the event that it is not paid by credit card, check or commission deductions then the entire amount is due on September 15. The Top Performers YTD thru April is on the board in work room. We now have 2 new Concierge people- Brian Tibaldo and Michael Noel who are in Minneapolis. The phone numbers have not changed. They are 800-248-9200 or 514-794-9464. Jim Conway was here and asked if you saved for yourself last year. If you have not he can then show you how. Tim Duncan is doing a lot better now but is still at Drake till Friday. If you have a few minutes, he would appreciate if you would stop by for a visit. He is doing therapy to build up his strength because he still needs surgery. He thought it be another 2 months before he was ready.

Tim Duncan update

Tim just called to check in and say that he is doing a lot better. He is still at Drake and would love to have some company. He still has to have surgery so please keep him in your prayers.

Rollout of new program Tuesday & Habitat work day

We will be rolling out a new and exciting program next Tuesday, so please plan on attending the meeting. There won’t be any individual updates….

Also, next Tuesday, May 12 we have been scheduled to work at Habitat house 12:00 to 2:15. We will leave from the office.

ADDI - loan information

Please check out the updated web-site for the downpayment assistance program from the City of Cincinnati. The income guidelines have increased.

What is key with this program is that the applicant has to apply and receive their approval letter before writing an offer on an home.

This is an excellent resource for a first-time homebuyer and someone going with FHA for their financing. The funds can be used for downpayment and/or closing costs.

I closed two of them recently and a third one hopefully this month. It takes some coordination and patience with the process, but the buyers seem to appreciate it in the long run.

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cdap/pages/-9500-/ Roy J. Hackworth, ADDI Program Manager Department of Community Development 805 Central Avenue, Suite 700 Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 e: roy.hackworth@cincinnati-oh.gov p: (513) 352-6119 f: (513) 352-6123

LUDWIG Jane (nee Eggleston) beloved wife of 68 years to John S. Ludwig

LUDWIG Jane (nee Eggleston) beloved wife of 68 years to John S. Ludwig, loving mother of Cynthia Lautenbach, Margaret Copfer, Linda Ball and Jeanne Schroer, dear grandmother of 10 and great-grandmother of 17. Longtime resident of College Hill and member of Clovernook Country Club since 1946. Saturday May 2, 2009 age 89. Friends may call at the Hodapp Funeral Home 6041 Hamilton Ave., College Hill Monday (TODAY) from 5-8 PM. Mass of Christian Burial at Little Flower Church, 5560 Kirby Ave., Mt. Airy, Tuesday at 10 AM. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to Roger Bacon or Seton High School.

Linda's schedule for week 5/4

I'm much better now. I will be teaching all day on Monday and Wednesday. So I will see you on Tuesday at the meeting. Please remember -- construction will begin early Monday morning -- so please be patient with the process.

We will not have Monday nite training -- will post a new schedule later this week.

John Ludwig's wife passed on Saturday (5/2)morning

John Ludwig's wife passed on Saturday morning. No other details were shared. Will update you as soon as possible.