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GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS On Tuesday of this week, the
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 (Alvarado, Gage, Kniss,
McHugh, Yeager voting yes) to approve the recommendation from the Finance and
Government Operations Committees directing that no more staff time be
used towards the repeal of Proposition 90. SILVAR President In June, as part of the
2007-2008 budget process, the SILVAR thanks Supervisors Liz Kniss, Pete McHugh and Ken Yeager for their leadership and support on this issue, since the recommendation was originally removed from the budget in June. In the end, a majority of the Supervisors understood the importance of preserving Prop 90 for During the entire process, REALTORS® were the
only organization advocating for the County to keep Prop 90. Research and arguments
raised by REALTORS® exposed flaws in the figures used by the County to
substantiate claims to repeal Prop 90.
For example, the County did not take into account any of the positive economic multipliers that occur during a real estate transaction and assumed that Prop 90 buyers would live in their homes until the end of time. Without our action, Prop 90 would have most definitely been repealed. In 1988, voters approved
Prop 90, which is modeled after Proposition 60 to induce greater turnover of
homes owned by senior citizens. The measure provides anyone over the age of
55 with relief from Proposition 13 (under Proposition 13, the value of a home
for property tax purposes is re-assessed to market level whenever a change in
ownership occurs) by allowing them to move from one county to another without
undergoing a change in their basic property taxes. This exemption can only be
used once and must only be used on a home purchase that is of equal or lesser
value of the home the seniors are leaving. Unlike Proposition 60, Prop 90 is a
"local-option" law, which means each county has the option of
participating. Proposition 60 was
never on the table for removal, nor could it be, because it is protected and
mandated by state law. If a county (like This is just one of many issues on which SILVAR is currently working to protect homeowners and your ability to be successful in We need your support to
continue our efforts on your behalf.
Political advocacy often involves going up against huge adversaries
such as trial lawyers and government agencies. We need EVERYONE to pitch in and
contribute to the REALTOR® Action Fund. For a contribution of $197 per year,
the “True Cost of Doing Business,” you could protect your
business interests at all levels of government. For $49 you could help make a
difference and ensure your voice is heard from town halls to the U.S.
Capitol. Please join the hundreds
of SILVAR Realtors who contribute the funds it takes each year to guarantee
that while YOU are out selling homes, YOUR ADVOCATES are in city hall, in
Sacramento, and on Capitol Hill. As an added incentive, all SILVAR contributors to the REALTOR® Action Fund through September 28, 2007, will be entered in a drawing for a 50-inch,1080P Plasma HDTV. |
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MEMBER NEWS 2008 SILVAR Board of Directors Slate SILVAR’s
Nominating Committee has presented the following slate for SILVAR’s
2008 Board of Directors: President-elect:
Directors at-large (2-year term): Jeff Barnett, Alicia Nuzzo, Director
at-large (1-year term): David Hunt District
Chairs: Cupertino/Sunnyvale
– Tom Cooper Los
Altos/Mountain View – Nick French Los
Gatos/Saratoga – Tim Alston Menlo
Park/Atherton – John Gerber Affiliates
– Brian Thornton The
SILVAR Board of Directors ratified the slate of candidates at its September
meeting. Any member may petition onto the slate as an additional candidate for
any of the positions by collecting the signatures of 226 REALTOR® members
(5% of the Realtor membership) and submitting them to the Executive Officer
by Friday, October 12. If there is a valid petition, the association will hold an election. Otherwise, the slate of candidates will be affirmed by the SILVAR Board at its October meeting. |
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Judy
Jarvis Ellis Named NAR Director SILVAR is proud to announce the selection of Judy Jarvis Ellis as SILVAR's 2nd Large Association NAR Director. Ellis, whose real estate career spans 23 years, is a Realtor with Alain Pinel Realtors in “SILVAR
is a great Association with a unique story to tell,” said Jarvis.
“I would like to help tell that story at NAR. As an Association we
bring to NAR technological expertise, regional MLS expertise, political
expertise, contract and forms expertise. This is a story that needs to be
told.” Jarvis added, "I am so excited and honored to be joining our great NAR team, which includes Jeff Barnett, David Barca, California sponsored NAR Directors, and Susan Tilling, SILVAR's Senior Association NAR Director, as well as the First Alternate on the California NAR Director sponsored list. SILVAR sends an extraordinary talented delegation to NAR." |
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Red Hawk Real
Estate was this year's Hole-In-One Sponsor. Lisa Keith (third from left),
owner of Red Hawk Real Estate, poses with her team, and SILVAR affiliates,
who manned the registration booth. |
SILVAR Members Golf for Charity, Pledge $40,000 SILVAR members
showed their support at the Ninth Silicon Valley REALTORS® Charitable
Foundation’s 2007 Charity Golf Tournament held Monday at the Palo Alto
Golf and Country Club by participating in the event and pledging $40,000 for
charity. Over 113 Realtors and affiliates took to the green and played a
round of golf, and then enjoyed cocktails and a buffet dinner, with 137
people in attendance. Dinner was
followed by awards, a raffle and live and silent auction. Red Hawk Real
Estate was the tournament’s Hole-in-One Sponsor. Dennis Young (RSM McGladrey) co-chaired the golf tournament with Jimmy Kang (Indymac Bank), Michael Morris (Morris Promotion & Graphics) and SILVAR Development Director Kelly Dadsetan. Young welcomed everybody and delivered the introductions. Cindy Luedtke, president of the Silicon Valley REALTORS® Charitable Foundation, thanked everyone for supporting the tournament, which is a major charity event of the Association. SILVAR President 2007 Charity Foundation Tournament winners were: Closest to the
Pin – Men: Chris Ray (6’10”); Women: Carrie Williams
(31’91/2”) Longest Drive
– Men: Tim Proschold, Women: Christine Kim Most Fun:
Kathy Yazalina, Kristina Molitar, Michele Rodriguez, Sylvia Sevfferlein SILVAR would
like to extend a special thanks to all the tournament sponsors and donors of
live and silent auction items. Thanks to their support and the participation
of members, the golf tournament was a big success. This year's Hole-In-One Sponsor is Red Hawk Real Estate (formerly Red Hawk Realty in Menlo Park), which is based in Portola Valley, and founded by SILVAR member, Lisa Keith. Other sponsors were: Wells Fargo Home
Mortgage, Birdie Sponsor; Indymac Bank, Prize Hole Sponsor; RSM McGladrey,
Putting Contest Sponsor; The Sereno Group, Corporate Sponsor. Tee and Hole
Sponsors were Alain Pinel Realtors-Los Gatos Office, Alliance Title, First
American Title, Old Republic Title, Palo Alto Affiliates, Princeton Capital,
Sand Hill Financial, State Farm Insurance and Washington Mutual. Program
Sponsors were Coldwell Banker- San Antonio and First American Exchange. Alliance Title, with its fun and
colorful Luau theme was selected the “Most Creative.” Funds raised
by the Silicon Valley REALTORS® Charitable Foundation go to numerous
beneficiaries, including scholarships, family and youth programs, housing
programs and various other community services in the different communities
SILVAR serves. |
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Alliance
Title Company with their Luau theme |
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SILVAR
President |
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Buy a
ticket and help keep people in their homes. |
Support
HIF Home for the Holidays, Oct. 18 Buy tickets,
donate items The pumpkins and Halloween decorations are out in the
stores, which usually signal fall and the beginning of holiday events. For
SILVAR members, it means it’s time for HIF Home for the Holidays,
SILVAR’s biggest charity fundraiser. This year’s 10th
annual Home for the Holidays will be held on Thursday, Oct. 18, from 5:30
p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at The Avalon in |
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SILVAR Realtors and
affiliates support the Housing Industry Foundation (HIF) through Home for the
Holidays. HIF is a non-profit charity which helps individuals and families in
“Sometimes
individuals or families are confronted with a crisis. Our goal is to help
them through their crisis so they don’t lose their housing,”
explained Debbie Wade, executive director of the Housing Industry Foundation.
"HIF's mission in keeping people in their homes goes right into the heart of our industry. This is a special event because the funds we raise from the event and through sponsorships go directly into HIF programs, stay in the local communities and go to very deserving people," according to SILVAR Realtors Robert Reid and Dale Anne Collings, who have co-chaired the event for many years. Last year, SILVAR
Realtors and affiliates raised over $75,000 for HIF. Even if you can’t
attend the event, you can still buy a $50 admission ticket, which entitles
you to three raffle tickets and a chance to win a trip for two to |
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Bay
Area MLS Consolidation Takes on New Name, New Board and More Members Jim Harrison, former president and CEO of REIL.com
is now president and CEO of NCREX – the Northern California Real Estate
Exchange, the non-profit organization leading the consolidation of regional Harrison reported days after NCREX acquired MLS providers RE
InfoLink (the MLS serving |
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California MLS Alliance provides a cross-MLS search
engine for the nearly three million active and off-market listings throughout
NCREX premiered on Sept. 12 with a new board
composed of brokers and managers of member associations, 23,000 subscribers
and a $20 million annual operating budget, making it one of the largest MLSs
in the country. The CA MLS Alliance represents listings from California MLSs
with a total of over 180,000 subscribers in the state. In addition to NCREX, the other MLSs participating
in the California MLSAlliance include the Bay Area Real Estate Information
Services, Inc. (BAREIS MLS®), Bay East Association of REALTORS®,
Combined L.A./Westside MLS (CLAW), Contra Costa Asociation of Realtors,
CRISNet Regional MLS, East Bay Regional Data (EBRD),Greater South Bay
Regional MLS, iTech MLS, MetroList Services, Multi-Regional MLS (MRMLS), San
Francisco Association of REALTORS®, and Southern California MLS. Expanding market areas,
cost, the difficulty of aggregating data across MLSs and the need for MLS to
provide improved services to their members are reasons that prompted the move
towards consolidation, explained "There are a lot of things changing in the horizon," said "We want to turn MLSlistings.com into a destination site, with a consumer portal which will generate more traffic to drive listings to the agents," said SILVAR is a shareholder and owns 19.88 percent of NCREX. Questions arise as these changes occur. If you have a question about the MLS consolidation, or have a problem with REIL.com, please e-mail SILVAR President |
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Market
is Cooling, but Silicon Valley Alive and Well " “There’s great
diversity of employment, this area is financially stable, and our economic
numbers look best in the nation,” Rodoni said. “We are the
gateway to the Pacific Rim for emerging markets like |
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Rodoni told Realtors to
expect a cooling housing picture and noted, price corrections will come, but
it is just part of the real estate process. “We are in a housing
correction, with a cooling market that will most likely continue through
2008,” said Rodoni. “It’s a normal real estate process. We’ve
seen real estate go up and down. This time, it will last longer because
we’ve seen a seller’s market, which normally lasts 18 months,
extend to over five years.” When the market was in a
frenzy, lenders became “too easy,” Rodoni said, which made it
easier to buy property rather than rent. As appreciation rose by double-digit
figures, Rodoni explained property values rose too quickly, but not at their
true value, and now, the market is due for a correction. For “The market is
cooling, but we are fortunate because this area’s share of subprime
lending is small,” she indicated. It’s a good time for
buyers, but buyers should be prepared to face more conservative mortgages
lenders, said Rodoni. “Some are demanding 700 to 800 FICA scores.
Forget the zero down - 10 to 25 percent down, maybe. Expect conservative
appraisals and lots of verification and documentation.” However, in the long-run,
the conservative demand of banks may be best for buyers. “You (the
buyer) are still in a safer area with your money in the deal now … Land
is a limited reservoir and we know actual value appreciates,” she said.
Sellers should, in turn,
be realistic and realize today is not yesterday’s market. Rodoni told
Realtors, “Get smart about how you price homes. Sellers love to live in
a rear view mirror. Tell sellers they need to associate pricing with
timing.” She said sellers also need
to be flexible, unless they want to face a variety of inspections, loan
contingencies and more concessions. In this type of market, if they choose to
wait it out, they need to assume that the price of their property will
decline. “Sellers need to
assume the price of their property will go down before they go up. They
can’t look at the past in a declining market. (As a seller) you need to
create an opportunity for your buyers,” according Rodoni. At least for the near future, Rodoni predicted the Valley will most likely have “a flat market that’s holding decent, with a lot of uncertainty. … It’s not a disaster. We will get through this because it’s God’s earth, and everyone wants to live here.” |
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Four of six candidates for
Cupertino City Council shared their vision for the city and answered
questions posed by SILVAR members at last Thursday’s
Cupertino/Sunnyvale District Tour Meeting. The candidates included Barry
Chang, Mark Santoro, Mayor Kris Wang and Gilbert Wong. Candidates Raj
Abhyanker and Albert Chu were not present at the meeting. Barry Chang has been a
resident of |
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Mark Santoro is an electrical engineer, who starting his own company in 1995 and sold it in 2000. In 2001, he built a home in Kris Wang currently serves as
Mayor of the City of Gilbert
Wong has a B.S. degree in Business
Administration from Questions posed to the
candidates focused on their vision for a downtown in |
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Wanted:
PRDS Forms Online and Winforms Users Are you a regular and
proficient user of PRDS Forms Online and/or Winforms? If so, PRDS is looking for
100 beta testers from SILVAR and SAMCAR to test a potential replacement
online forms platform over a 60-day period. As a beta tester of the
new forms platform you will be required to complete four short surveys during
the 60-day testing period. The new system will only
be tested as a forms platform. One of the attractions of this new
system is that there are capabilities available for many other features we
may wish to add in the future to meet the needs of our members and their
clients. If you are interested in
being a beta tester for this new system, please contact: Bob Johnson (650) 949-9115 or (408)
200-0100 or |
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NOW IN THE SILVAR STORE: 2008 ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS $25.00 each SILVAR Weekly Store Specials!: San Mateo County Barclay Locaide $38.00
(Normally $40.95)
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EDUCATION
AT SILVAR October 4-5, 2007:
SILVAR and CRS
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UPCOMING EVENT SCHEDULE Featured
Event: October 18: Housing Industry Foundation's "Home for the Holidays" Event The committee is looking for volunteers! Contact Dale Anne Collings at 408-861-8806. Call SILVAR at 408-200-0100 to or go
to http://ims.silvar.org
to sign up for events. |
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UPCOMING TOUR AND
DISTRICT MEETING SCHEDULE HERE © SILICON VALLEY
ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. |
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