The last month has a busy time at the Association with events, committee meetings and travel to both OAR, and NAR meetings.

On April the 26^th MLS chair Scott Myers, Connie and I meet with representatives from Zillow to bring us up-to-date on RETSLY which is in essence their version of ListHub. They are trying to get MLS’s to allow them a feed to establish their product. UPSTREEM, AMP, RETSLY, and TRESTLE are all topics that we will need to become more educated on in the next few months.

The Charitable Foundation held its first fundraising event on April 27 and they were able to collect over $6000 in donations. The entire event was a success with a larger than expected attendance. The inclusion of local chef’s to be the judges was well received. The foundation is on its way to making money for their endeavors.  

On May 3^rd thru 5^th I attended OAR’s Mediation Training Seminar along with Tammy Steinle held in Columbus. The instructor for this class was Bruce Aydt, who helped establish NAR’s program. This class fulfills NAR’s requirement to be able for local Boards to offer Mediation to its members.

From May 9th thru the 13^th I attended NAR’s Mid-Year and Legislative meetings in Washington, D.C. The week was filled with meetings, hill visits, and roundtable discussion groups. The meetings that I attended are as follows;

•      Congressional Impact and the 2016 Elections and Political forum
•      CMLS Brings it to the Table
•      Federal Priority Issues Briefing
•      The Race for the White House
•      Hill Visits with Bob Gibbs, Bob Latta, Jim Jordan
•      State of Ohio meeting with Senators Brown and Portman
•      MLS Policy & Listing Issues
•      FAOR meeting with Rapattoni
•      Supra Information meeting
•      Association Management Roundtable
•      Met with RPR to discuss data issues
•      The board kept NAR dues at $120 for 2017, and approved a three-year extension of the $35 special assessment that funds the consumer advertising campaign, and approved creation of a uniform communications platform for NAR's committees, advisory boards, and forums.
•      Engage in at least two activities per year that demonstrate how the association is the “Voice for Real Estate" in its market, and at
• least two activities demonstrating the association’s investment in the community.
•      Require six hours of professional development for volunteers who carry out responsibilities that would otherwise be handled by paid staff.
•      Offer, promote, or provide at least one professional development opportunity for members every year.
•      Annually certify that they have conducted an activity promoting REALTOR® safety.
•      Provide resources for or access to leadership development education or training for their elected REALTOR® leaders, and document those resources.
•      Include a voluntary political action committee or political advocacy fund contribution on their dues statements, unless prohibited by law.
•      The board decided to transition to a calendar-year compliance cycle for the standards. As a result, the next compliance cycle will last 18 months, from July 1, 2016, through Dec. 31, 2017. Watch for a complete list of updates at REALTOR.org’s Core Standards page.

The NAR policy changes that were passed are as follows;

Core Standards, among other changes, for the compliance cycle starting July 1, 2016, associations must do the following:

MLS policy

With concerns growing over copyright infringement, the board approved changes to the Handbook on Multiple Listing Policy to reflect the importance of MLS users granting the MLS the licenses necessary to store, reproduce, compile and distribute listing information. In addition, the board is taking steps to increase cooperation and information sharing between NAR and the Council of Multiple Listing Services, a professional trade organization for multiple listing services.

 Once again our leadership team did a great job of delivering our legislative concerns with our Federal Officials. We have many challenges ahead as the MLS data wars continue. I will continue to research and use our membership in CMLS to keep the Directors informed of the changes we will face for our MLS. 

Respectfully submitted,

David W Freitag RCE, CEO

Firelands Association of Realtors®

2710 Campbell Street ~  Sandusky, Ohio 44870

Phone 419.625.5787 | 419.625.3802 | Fax 419.625.3442

www.firelandsmls.com | www.faor.com

Sara Riesen, President 2016 David W. Freitag, RCE, CEO

As part of our MLS continued efforts to ensure the security and relevance of your listings information the Board of Directors voted to institute a new policy in regards to RETS/IDX feed set up and annual maintenance.  This change will be two fold; first we will require a charge of $50 for any new RETS/IDX feeds; Second there will be an annual maintenance and review of all your office feeds that for a total annual $100 total fee.  Any IDX feeds that go through the Listings Syndication Manager are at no charge to the office and will not be required to be reported on this form.

The Board felt strongly that the fee structure would be held to a minimum and the amount is an attempt to help absorb some of the actual cost required to set up and maintain these feeds.  When filling out your annual form, please take time to ensure that all outgoing feeds are still attached to an actual vendor that you are still doing business with.

Again, thank you for your understanding.  Our main goal is to ensure that the MLS provides relevant, fresh, clean and safe data.  As technology continues to evolve we are working hard to ensure that our data remains accurate and safe.  Your cooperation and membership is greatly appreciated.