Real Estate Zealot

Enhance your Listing Presentations with RPR

The Realtors Property Resource is a valuable real estate tool that gives you in-depth property knowledge to enhance your listing presentations. There is even a new mobile app to let you log-in from your smart phone!

Interviewer: Today we are talking with David Barber from Re/Max Unlimited, and the topic is RPR. First of all David, welcome to the show.

David Barber: Thank you Dan, it's nice to be here.

Interviewer: Lot of agents don't know what RPR is or what those initials stand for, so let's start there.

David Barber: Okay RPR is the Realtors Property Resource. This is an ambitious project started by the National Association of Realtors and their end goal is to catalog 157 million parcels of property in the United States. It's been in existence for a little over 24 months and is becoming alive in a lot of markets and being a very valuable tool.

Interviewer: And obviously they are partnering with your local MLS is which is where they are getting a lot of the data I assume.

David Barber: What they are doing is consolidating data in this area from Metrolist, and also from a lot of public records. So, in the past, when you used to spend a lot of time going to different public sites to gather information, their goal is to have it all in one location.

Interviewer: Yeah I think that's what I like best about it, when I've used it, I can see the data that's coming from your local MLS and then it gives me a side by side comparison about the data that's coming from the public records so you can see if it kind of jives.

David Barber: Exactly, and it is based on what's called the realtor evaluation model, where companies like Zillow and Trulia are using an automated evaluation model that are basically just granting public record data. This allows us as realtors to personalize the information we know about the market place whether that property backs to a busy street or has an enhancement that makes it a little more valuable.

Interviewer: Well as a realtor, if I don't know about it, what can I do on RPR that I can't do on say my local MLS?

David Barber: Well it's, if you think of it as a CMA on steroids. You've got a lot more detailed graphing, you have overlays or maps that you can do a lot more in-depth research. As a realtor, and this is a realtor-only benefit, you do need to have a NRDS number to log in and it gives you tools to enhance your listing presentation that a normal CMA doesn't offer.

Interviewer: Yeah, one of the cool things I thought was just the amount of data that they have on distressed properties. Obviously that's very big with consumers today, they want to know about foreclosure, short sales; people that may be in a distress situation and this is pretty well detailed and laid out there.

David Barber: Exactly, one of the other enhancements is that it gives you some visibility in what's going on in the world outside of our market. So if you have a relocation client, you can take a look at their property, see what they have and what it's worth in their market to kind of help them understand what it's going to be like in our market.

Interviewer: That's where, like the California buyer that comes out here, wants to know about the postage size.

David Barber: Absolutely.

Interviewer: Wow! It's right.

David Barber: Exactly.

Interviewer: All right, they are adding new tools to RPR all the time. You mentioned that they added some more two weeks ago, is that right?

David Barber: Yeah most recently, they've added some new mapping products, you can check flood zones, you can overlay price changes. They've also put in a mobile application, once you are set up and registered on the main RPR site you can log in from your smart phone.

Interviewer: I think I'll do that. David thanks great information.

David Barber: Thanks Dan.

RPR: An Agents Best Resource

In this Broker IPTV video, Rohn Goldstein of the South Metro Denvers Realtors Association, introduces RPR, the Realtors Property Resource, a comprehensive tool to gather information on all properties sold and for sale.

Interviewer: Today we are talking with Rohn Goldstein, CEO of the South Metro Denver Realtors Association, and Rohn welcome to the show.

Rohn Goldstein: Thank you

Interviewer: We are talking about a topic called the RPR and a lot of real estate agents don't know about this yet, so why don't you tell them what it is.

Rohn Goldstein: The National Association of Realtors has been kind enough to have a four-legged stool of technology, that is available to realtors. The first one that everybody knows about is realtor.com of course, and then the second one the people seem to know about a little bit is realtor.org which is an internal site that gives them tons of information about real estate. The third one which was announced a couple of years ago was called houselogic, it's a consumer site about how to care for your house, and then the fourth one, the one that we're so excited about called Realtors® Property Resource or RPR

Interviewer: Yeah. Now, when people ask me what it is, or other agents ask what it is, the best way I could describe it is that The National Association of Realtors has essentially put together a national database of homes that have been sold or are for sale correct.

Rohn Goldstein: That's correct, 147 million homes show up on RPR, and it derives data from all different kinds of sources, from multilists around the country, from public records around the country, from school districts across the country, from data sources, from the census... and pools all that information into one amazing report

Interviewer: Yeah! Well, give us a sample of what type of information is available on RPR.

Rohn Goldstein: Well, in just a couple of minutes I can pull up a specific address, get the mapping for the address, get all of the comparables or things that the County Assessor may be using, pull in data about the school districts, data about employment figures, data about whether this house is in foreclosure or some other stressed situation, give a range of value that RPR thinks that the house is worth, which, by the way, can be amended, if the realtor knows more information than the national database is pulling up, and all of that information and a 100 more items show up in the RPR survey.

Interviewer: I think the cool thing that they do here is they take information from your local MLS about what's being published about the property and then they take information from the public record and they cross-reference and marry the two, so you really have the best of both worlds.

Rohn Goldstein: You really do. You know, I used to have to pull information from multi list then go to public records, and then go to one mapping source, then go to a data source likes the census. All of that's in one thing.

Interviewer: Alright is it only available to realtors, or is it available to the consumer as well?

Rohn Goldstein: It's only available to realtors, it's part of what realtors pay for, when they pay for their membership, so consumers have no access, non-realtor agents have no access to it, lenders, appraisers, none of those have access to it. This is a realtor only service.

Interviewer: Alright, how do they access it?

Rohn Goldstein: I think, the easiest way is to go to Metrolist, as they always do, login and go to the tab across the top that says "search", when they pull down on the search button, they will see advanced, basic and different kinds of searches just like they always have if they look down the list. There will be one that says RPR, now the first time somebody goes to RPR they need to log on, and to do that they're going to need to know their national realtor database system number or NRDS number. They might have it on a card or they might have it on the back of one of the realtor magazines or if they don't have it in any of those other ways, they might just call their local association, who will be glad to give on that NRDS number, and they will be able to logon. If they have any issues at all, there is a 1-800 number for RPR, that'll help him through every step, really good people to work with.

Interviewer: Easier than that I use the live chat function on RPR. When I had a question I didn't even have to pick up the phone.

Rohn Goldstein: It's great, it just depends on whether you want to talk to somebody one way or the other, but either way they are there for you. I want realtors to take advantage of this.

Interviewer: Thanks Rohn. Good information.

Rohn Goldstein: Thanks.

Interviewer: Appreciate it.

The Value of a Realtor®

A Realtor® has the expertise, knowledge, training and support of local and national realtors associations to professionally assist you in buying or selling your home.

Interviewer: Today, we are talking with Rohn Goldstein, CEO of the South Metro Denver Realtors Association, and Rohn welcome to the show.

Rohn Goldstein: Thank you.

Interviewer: Hey, we're talking about what a Realtor® is, you know, it's a term that everybody uses and some people don't know that there is a difference between a realtor spelled with a little 'r' and realtor with a capital "R"

Rohn Goldstein: Actually there is not a difference, because there is no Realtor with a little 'r',

Interviewer: Yeah.

Rohn Goldstein: There are real estate agents and there are those people who are Realtors® which means they have joined The National Association of Realtors. It also means that they have joined the Colorado Association of Realtors and their local association of Realtors, as in mine: The South Metro Denver Realtor Association. So, whenever anybody joins, it's called the tri-party agreement, they agree that they are going to join on all three levels

Interviewer: What the consumer wants to know, what's the difference between a Realtor® and a real estate agent?

Rohn Goldstein: I think that's a great question. To me, I liken it to a doctor or a lawyer. Would you want somebody who says, you know, I will cut your head open, but I don't subscribe to any ethical behavior. Well effectively, when you're hiring a real estate agent who is not a Realtor®, that's exactly what you are doing. You are hiring somebody that does not subscribe to any code of ethics

Interviewer: Yeah. Why are organizations important to Realtors® and to the industry and consumers in general?

Rohn Goldstein: For a variety of reasons; Number one: those organizations work, not only like I said, to provide codes of ethics, rules that the people can abide by, rules that consumers can hold them accountable to, but Number two: those groups, like ours, become amazing advocates for the consumer, right now, just like in several times in the past few years Congress or people who work for a variety of government agencies have thought that the easiest way to get money is to eliminate the interest deduction for homes, quite frankly we fight like the Dickens, because we think that that's the number one advantage for most consumers, is their ability to take that one item off their taxes, but there's a lot of other items, as well, that happen all the time, and so that advocacy we think is incredibly important.

Interviewer: You know, there are a bunch of consumers out there that do regular searches on the Internet for properties, and they are very well educated. They know the neighborhoods, they know the price per square foot, they know homes, they know comparisons and comparables, and they say to themselves, you know, why should I use a real estate agent, let alone someone who is a Realtor®, your answer to that would be?

Rohn Goldstein: Well, I liken it, once more, to that medical situation, you know, I found it pretty easy to look up my diagnosis for all different kinds of physical ailments on the computer. And you know that it gives tons of information. And you know how many times it's been right? Almost none. You know, I think it's good to have second eyes looking at things. I think it's why lawyers say, you would be a fool to have yourself as a client. I think you ought to have other opinions, I think you ought to have knowledge, I think that you ought to have people who see things in a different way, and can give you information. Now the decision is still yours as a consumer,

Interviewer: Yeah.

Rohn Goldstein: But the more information you have and the more skills you have behind you, the better you are going to be.

Interviewer: Rohn thanks. I appreciated you being here.

Rohn Goldstein: Thank you.

See more videos about real estate at BrokerIPTV.com

Moving Ahead without the Tax Credit Incentives

Alison Brennan talks to us about how the tax credit effects home buying, as well as how the extensions affect sellers and buyers alike.  She also discusses opportunity that still exist and how to be creative without the government’s help.

 

 

METRO BROKERS INC. PROUDLY ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH COLORADO EAGLES HOCKY TEAM

Contact: Courtney Lis Voca

PR 970.581.6231

Courtney@vocapr.com

 

METRO BROKERS INC. PROUDLY ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH COLORADO EAGLES HOCKY TEAM

Relationship will facilitate Metro Brokers expansion and commitment to Northern Colorado

(Loveland, Colo.) - July X, 2010 – Metro Brokers, Inc. www.metrobrokersonline.com is proud to announce a joint partnership with the Colorado Eagles, Northern Colorado’s beloved hockey team based in Loveland, CO. Metro Brokers will be involved in a variety of marketing and sponsorship opportunities during the upcoming 2010/2011 hockey season at the Budweiser Events Center. Metro Brokers is dedicated to growing its membership and client base in and around Fort Collins and this relationship will help foster brand awareness for the growing real estate company in Northern Colorado.

“The Colorado Eagles have established an amazing fan base in Northern Colorado,” said Bob Luna, president, Metro Brokers, Inc. “This is a perfect venue for Metro Brokers to establish itself among the people in the community in a creative and unique manner and establish a strong identity by getting involved with such a noteworthy organization.”

As president of Metro Brokers, Bob Luna has been committed to growing its membership base into outlying areas along the front-range and this relationship illustrates their commitment to the people of Northern Colorado. A total of 9 Metro Brokers offices and 50 agents currently reside in the area.

“Metro Brokers is the ideal business model for those agents interested in controlling their own destiny,” said Doug Lindstrom, broker owner of the Metro Brokers Loveland office. “As a result, we have experienced substantial growth and success during the down market. We hope this partnership with the Eagles will prove our commitment to Northern Colorado, help us grow our businesses and foster a long relationship within our community.”

Metro Brokers Inc. provides real estate agents an independent framework to succeed through innovative technologies, brand awareness, continuing education courses and extensive multi-media mix marketing. Unlike other real estate companies, Metro Brokers Inc. is actually owned and operated by its brokers and prides itself on its strong team of agents.

“Just like the Metro Brokers organization, the Colorado Eagles are a hard working, high producing, and successful team, making this partnership a perfect fit for both sides,” said Lindstrom.

About Metro Brokers, Inc.

Metro Brokers, Inc. has been Colorado's leader in real estate, technology and services, for more than 30 years, providing the framework, structure, brand and freedom for real estate brokers to work professionally, efficiently and profitably. Our network of nearly 2,000 highly experienced real estate professionals specialize in residential, commercial and investment properties and have access to ground breaking technologies, continuing education courses, and innovative marketing that help buyers and sellers make the most of their real estate transactions. Unlike most other real estate companies Metro Brokers, Inc. is actually owned and operated by its brokers.

Metro Brokers Ted Bryant a shining example of a real estate professional

MetroBrokersTV :  Welcome to Metro Brokers TV.  We are with Ted Bryant today and Ted is the current National Director for the National Association for REALTORS®.  He is also a director for the Colorado Association of REALTORS® and he has also been a past chairman for the Real Estate Commission and welcome Ted.  Ted Bryant shining example of an real estate industry professional

Ted Bryant:  Thank you Mark.  It's an honor to be here. <watch video>

MetroBrokersTV :  Why don't you tell me a little bit about your company and maybe how long you have been with Metro Brokers and how long you have been in the business?

Ted Bryant:  I can't remember exactly when I joined Metro Brokers, but I started my company, my own name, Ted Bryant Inc. in 1969 and we have been in continuous operation since that time and we have gone through some transitions as you know I like to tell people I was in business before we had fax machines and fax machine was a really neat thing when it came along and now we hardly use them.  I have seen a lot of stuff change.  We had a Realty World franchise, a really good one.  We had the highest production of anybody in the franchise.  I was part of that, but then I had an opportunity to move on and sell that and I did.  I have an independent person since then and that is about the time I joined Metro Brokers and I believe it was '85, '86.

MetroBrokersTV :  So, tell me what do you like about being a Metro Broker?  What is the I think the biggest benefit that you see as being part of the organization?

Ted Bryant:  Well, I think for $80 dollars, it is just a steal.  You get a corporate identity, you get national advertising on the TV and in some print and it gives you the look of a large company and the support of a large company.  We have educational programs, license renewal programs, things like that through Metro Brokers, plus you can retain... you can keep your own company and be your own broker.  You are still a broker owner.  It gives you that possibility and then it gives you also the opportunity to associate with a lot of people who are in a similar situation to you; having other people that you can associate with and ask questions of is a great benefit.

MetroBrokersTV :  Have you been out there?  Have you operated without a brand name, just Ted Bryant Inc. all by yourself?

Ted Bryant:  I really haven't done that Mark.  I pretty much transitioned into Metro Brokers from... we had I think at the time 90 associates and three offices.

MetroBrokersTV :  Well, I can speak from experience that not having that Metro Broker behind you is... it is devastating out there competing with the other brand names.  It is amazing what you get... the clout you get for what you are saying $80 bucks a month.

Ted Bryant:  I think and also importantly we have an obligation each of us to try to make Metro Brokers better.  I think that to be courteous in our MLS, treatment to other brokers, to show professionalism in our responses to showings and to contracts and that kind of thing.  So, I hope everybody pulls together and that way we can truly be the professional organization that we would like it to be.

MetroBrokersTV :  Well, I personally think it's people like you that have made and our... what makes our organization so professional here volunteerism, etc. and I find the high level of volunteerism coming out of a lot of Metro Brokers whether it be on educational, CE or NAR or CAR etc.  I mean there is a lot of volunteer people coming from within Metro Brokers.

Ted Bryant:  Absolutely, there are, right.  I just... you know Kay Watson is a shining example and Karen Easton our past president is very active.  There are a lot of people that are active with CAR.  I am very proud of our group and proud of what they have done with our professional trade association.  I think that that says a lot as you've mentioned.

MetroBrokersTV :  Well, thank you once again for coming in today, Ted.

Ted Bryant:  Thanks Mark.

MetroBrokersTV :  It has been a pleasure.

Metro Brokers Kay Watson - NAR Protects Realtor Privileges

MetroBrokersTV : We are talking with Kay Watson today from Metro Brokers and Kay we love always talking with you. You have got so much going on in your involved with so many communities and boards and particularly you work with National Association of Realtors, so that where I would like the start. How does what happens politically with the National Association of Realtors benefit me on this tree? <read more>

Kay Watson: I think there are two things that first come to my mind. I am an independent contractor and thats one of the privileges as a realtor. We can work as an independent contractor that seems to be threatened on the hill over and over and if it was not for work the National Association of Realtors and their political activity in Washington DC, we stand a chance that, that could go away any day and I think that would the way we work and if we could not be independent contractors the whole structure would have to change, and I dont want that ever have to change. I think the other thing is mortgage interest deduction and we think of that affecting the consumer, yes. But it also affects me, myself as a realtor, because if that mortgage interest deduction goes away and then whats going to be the incentive for home ownership. Because that is the one tax deduction and any time, we have a deficit in the government. They always are looking for a way and thats one of the first places they always look.

MetroBrokersTV : You started in this business and your are selling homes in just like every other broker making your away, but at some point you got involved, I mean heavily involved, national level, local level committees, standards. Why is it that you when kind of above and beyond what the regular realtor would do?

Kay Watson: I have always had the philosophy that I needed to give back and when I realized the opportunity that being a realtor and being a member of the National Association of realtors, my local in-state associations, what that afforded me. I wanted to give back and the more I got involved the more, I wanted to get involved and I can tell you that I did my involvement has just been an incredible experience. I have gained so much more than I have ever given back and the benefit the bi-product of that is, when I need to send a referral to some one on the east coast, I have met enough people that I can either get a contact, so I can send a personal referral knowing that my clients are going to be handled the way I would want them to be handled and then the another bi-product is, I do get referrals. I never have gotten involved thinking about the bottom line in the business. Because my philosophy is, if you are looking at the dollar sign, when you wakeup in the morning, you need to get out of the business. Because it is a service business and we are here to serve our clients and to work as well as we can with our peers.

MetroBrokersTV : Kay, thanks so much, I love the philosophy, great meeting you, thanks for being a part of the program.

Kay Watson: Thank you.

Kevin Boer At Inman NYC 08 Is Proof-Your Blog Can Be Your Brand

Kevin Boer At Inman NYC 08 Proof-Your Blog Can Be Your Brand-It Can be Bigger than the Company you work for!

BrokerIPTV: I am with Kevin Boer, he is with three oceans real-estate blog and we just sat through the new technology seminar here at Inman Connect at New York city 2008. And Kevin just more curious, Brad Inman on the other day and his speech was taking about things in the past return about video, social networking, transparency and he was really talking about New York in 2008, kind of the market. I am curious from your perspective, whats the world according to Kevin?

Kevin Boer: The world according to Kevin oh dear, thats the very broad question, so since it is a real estate conference we will confine our lofty comments to the real estate world. So I think a couple of things are going to happen at.., let me just talk briefly about the market and then secondly let me talk about social media and blogging in real estate. So in terms of the market I am out in the bay area, thats where I operate and in our area it really is a question of which neighborhood you are in, so you read the media in its the media will tell you real estate prices are dropping by 10% every month in every neighborhood across the country and 10% of the homes are in foreclosure and if you dont sell your home right now, you are going to lose even more money. The reality in the bay area is its neighborhood by neighborhood, you go to one neighborhood, if it is got a good school district, chances are prices are doing well, Palo Alto is up 20%, -Menlo Park is up maybe 5-10% if you are in a poor school district you are hoarding, so its a real mixed bag in our area and so the way that I see it is the lower end of the market which has the poor the not so good school districts. I think they are going to start to recover along with the rest of the country with when the whole sub prime mortgage thing gets fixed up, the upper end I think its going to continue doing well for the first future in the valley simply because technology is doing so well, and technology is what drives the valley.

Now then I guess the other part of your question, I will just interject myself into that is thinking about blogging social media all that kind of thing, so I think whats going to happen specifically with blogging is going to become main stream... probably around mid 2009, its going to there is going to be a session on it, at the NAR-convention in 2011, thats going to be the first time NAR is going to hear about it, and I am happy having that on film, NAR does a lot of good things but they are not ahead of the curve on technology. But I think whats going to happen with blogging is very much like any other marketing form in real estate its going to be successful for the agents who do it consistently and persistently and its not going to successful for a lot of agents. So I think maybe 10% of agents are going find great success from blogging but I dont think blogging is necessarily for everybody and so thats kind of what I see going forward kind of a long answer to a what was a simple question actually.

BrokerIPTV: So we are sure talking about micro markets and areas which is true in most parts of the country that press fails to mention that secondly blogging is definitely about persistence, and really if we move let me talk about your blog, 3 oceans blog, didnt you work for a brand name company before?

Kevin Boer: Yeah. I did. I worked for a  Alain Pinel Realtors which is a very large, independently owned luxury brand out in the bay area and there going to a phenomenal job of branding themselves offline, everywhere you go in the bay area if you want to list your high end Alain Pinel was one of the first names you think off so I worked for them for I guess 3½ almost 4 years, and I started my blog about little over year before I left them, and what I found was that my brand was beginning to sort of split apart right I had an online brand called 3 oceans [Audio Break] And I had an offline brand called Alain Pinel and I decided that was trying for me to sort of move my online into an offline world and so I decided to go independent and so really ultimately it was my blog led me to the point where I could successfully launch my own independent brokerage that a ready sort of had a name for itself and out in the real world. So I think blogging has been very powerful from the branding point of view from my own business.

BrokerIPTV: yeah. I think just the most excellent example of how a persistent, well done blog can actually become its own brand in really perpetuate your business.

Kevin Boer: Exactly

BrokerIPTV: Great and I really appreciate your time Kevin, congrats.

Kevin Boer: All right thank you very much, all right thanks a lot.

Mark Lesswing - "Information Free Radicals" Theory at Inman Connect NYC 2008

Mark Lesswing and the "Information Free Radicals" Theory at Inman Connect NYC 2008

BrokerIPTV: I am with Mark Lesswing, he is the CTO for the National Association of Realtors, and we ar at Inman connect 2008, New York city, and I know Mark you are a speaker, I dont know if you on stage the other day when Brad inman was talking about some past subjects and ideas of day though, this year's it's about the market, I am just curious what the Chief Technology Officer for the National Association of Realtors is thinking in regards to 2008, where we are going with our technology there?

Mark Lesswing : Mark, thanks, the great question by the way. So if you look at where the technology is going and the impact on the market that we have had, all though the but connecting with the consumer here and the slow down is really with me so we don't erode confidence of the consumers. So less in engaged in this conversation it keep in the conversation as the market comes back. So technology have come forward such as a social media phenomenon of videos engaged the consumer. Even the main happy to buy right now or sell right now they are engaged, so the more we engage them, then we can weather the storm as a market turns around they are going to turn right back to the real estate professional.

BrokerIPTV: What are we doing at move.com or realtor.com as far as trying to put Realtors move in the transparent mode?

Mark Lesswing: I think you have seen in the last 6 months, more tools they are really engaged the consumer. You want to get engaged consumers they feel empowered. If you look at some of the great thinkers and the early partisans like  Marshall McLuhan and some basic marketing things of mediums of message and the users of context. You are seeing the [inaudible] move to the uses the context, they feel empowered of with new tools it, search techniques build a map communities skip it, then involve so the website about them so they uses the context, it is not about the listings that are there. The listings are the basis they with drawl, but you must engage the consumers.

BrokerIPTV: Right, exactly, I guess what you may be move, realtor.com and we have the out side third parties where are there be the Trulia's of the world the Zillow's, I think we see may be some out side third party pressure moving towards realtor.com to make it be the best, stay on top, do you find that out side pressure is making realtor.com have to be more competitive to stay up there.

Mark Lesswing : Oh, absolutely, it has be have a competitive market it is good for all the players, even the top player. So competition is good, when you don't have competition you get in the situation is no body pushing you. Okay, so a player will really start to connect with consumer that way who really good for realtor.com. So make sure that they are going to keep on the top edge.

BrokerIPTV : I think so a things were seeing out there at least my own feeling is lot the information on the trulia of the world and zillows of the world is not the all the information. It is not all the homes for sale, it is lots of the homes for sale that have been off the market, not on the market for 30, 60 days... is not policed as much, perhaps because it is fully not direct MLS feeds. So I think I that maybe we will turn to the subject of information free radicals, give us some of your thoughts on that concept.

Mark Lesswing: Sure conceptually information free radicals is information that itself erodes trust, just as free radicals pass by and cause cancer, you don't want to have cancer that infects the relationship and trust between the consumer and the real estate professionals. So as we have information out here that is not accurate, not timely, which you kind of doing is eroding the trust is to we had the get back and I call that concept on information free radicals.

BrokerIPTV: That is excellent concept that I think ultimately the consumers are going to make the choice regardless of what site it is who is putting it up in that very mode right there and as far as having all the information and relevant information, so very important. Well, thank you very much and I will let you get back to your interview up on stage here. Thanks Mark.

Mark Lesswing: Okay Mark.

Metro Broker's Kay Watson Defines "Visitability"

   

BrokersIPTV  : Today, we are talking with Metro Brokers Kay Watson and Kay thanks for being with us, nice to have you here. One of the reasons we want to talk with you is, you do a tremendous amount of voluntary work in various committees and organizations and so forth and that's appreciated more than you know and I wanted to talk about some of the big hard issues, for 2008 that you are involved in discussing on both the local and national level, so fire way.

Kay Watson: Ok, I think one thing that is kind of surfaced in our last meetings at the National Association of Realtors was Broker visitability [phonetic],  now that's a word that does not even spell check, but visitability is being able to have the ability to host a disabled person in your home and this was an legislation that was introduced at the end of the session last year in Washington DC and it was basically very new for the concern that NAR had was what does that do to affect affordability of housing.

BrokersIPTV  : So, you are saying as a home owner, I would have to make my house handicapped or specially it is accessible.

Kay Watson: If there was a mandate that was that could happen but I think that, that was big big picture and once it drills down there are some builders are already doing it. There are just it's market driven, the demographics call for because of the aging population, wanting to make sure that they are in a house where if there is a need for wheel chair, it can be accessible.

BrokersIPTV : Well that's an issue we will keep an eye on, it is all about disciplinary action. Now versus in the past, what's been happy in with that?

Kay Watson: I talked with the people at Colorado Association Of Realtors, just the kind of get up a [inaudible] on even though I am involved in professional standards and grievance committee and ethics committee, but basically there is not been a lot of change.

BrokersIPTV  : Oh, really.

Kay Watson: Now I think we are seeing more complaints because the market has slowed down a little bit, so realtors have more time to file those complaints, so I think that has some thing to do with it.

BrokersIPTV  : How about the realtor awareness ad campaign, what been the response?

Kay Watson: Fabulous.

BrokersIPTV : Really. Kay Watson: Very good, it is $30 a year, it is an assessment that's the share, now the Board of Directors at National meeting in Las Vegas voted, that it will increase to $35 next year for the next two years. The reason for the increase is just the cost and to make sure that we have prime time that we are still doing it the full year not just 8 months out of the year like we have done in the past.

BrokersIPTV  : Kay fantastic information, great meeting you, thanks so much for your service. Appreciate it. Kay Watson: Thank you.