The meeting was led by Ske Riggs. Our mortgage minutes were filled wth Bank of America's team of professionals, who also sponsored our refreshments. From the left, Molly Staplecamp, Lindsey Clark, Allison Camsey, Aimee Adams, Marian McAleer, Judy Lampton, and Gwen Eckman.  Did you know their local office has written 60 NEW mortgage purchase loans this quarter? Over $11 million in new mortgages in the first quarter, in our area. In all, Bank of America has lent $360 billion out since receiving TARP funds, which is 8 times the amount received. They want you to know, they are lending!

 Ron Largent reminded you all about the upcoming Realtor vs Affiliates softball epic. Looking for teammates... And Esther Auerbach reminded everyone that the active Affiliates are organizing a book drive for Juniper Academy.

The meeting was very well attended. Ske led an initiative to have each attendee meet somebody they didn't know. I met Susan David of Burney Valley Realty (530) 945 9511, who had driven in from Fall River Mills to attend. That's quite a ways to go to remain informed. You locals have it easy compared to that. Susan can take your high-country referrals. I'm glad I met her. She gave me a printed Real Estate guide they use up there called Northern California Traveler. It looks very well done, and is celebrating their 25th year of publication. Located in Cedarville, and published 10 times a year, they can be reached at (530) 279 2020. Well worth knowing. Thanks Susan!   

Alex Creel, senior vice president of government affairs for the California Association of Realtors  was our featured guest. An engaing speaker with a long history at CAR, he gave a fast paced and insightful presentation. You had to be there to get it all, and with all the nuance he brought to the subjects. Our lobbiests have acted in your interests over many years, and continue to work the halls of Sacramento on your behalf. Perhaps we can post his presentation here at some later date. I think you could write a book about his presentation alone, and the implications for our membership. A couple of quick notes: Apparently 82 of our members are signed up as Legislative Liasons. that gets you good information about laws that are coming that will affect your business. You can sign up HERE if you have not done so already. Highly recommended. Check out these short videos:

High bandwith:

http://www.storagecommand.com/CAR/CAR_512k.mov 

Low bandwidth:

http://www.storagecommand.com/CAR/CAR_256k.mov

 

Of course, one of the key matters at hand is this:

Bill to Abolish the DRE Voted on in Assembly Committee: AB 33 (Nava), which C.A.R. opposes, was approved yesterday in the Assembly Banking Committee. This bill would abolish the Department of Real Estate, the Department of Corporations, the Department of Financial Institutions, and the Office of Real Estate Appraisers. AB 33 proposes to transfer the powers, duties, purposes, jurisdiction and responsibilities those departments to the Department of Financial Services, which would be a newly created overarching department. C.A.R. opposes AB 33 because the function of a real estate licensee is not to provide financial services, but to list and show houses for sale, sell or manage investment properties and raw land, and manage and oversee residential rental properties. Real estate licensees, regulated by the DRE, should not be blended in with the banks, credit unions, consumer finance lenders, residential mortgage lenders and pawnbrokers because, unlike these other licensees, real estate licensees are individually licensed agents that have a fiduciary agency relationship with their clients.

 If you agree that keeping the DRE is a good thing for your profession, you may(will) be called upon for your support. Your support would be in the form of communicating your wishes to your local representatives. And making it clear to them. Very clear. Stay tuned for more as we receive it from our very able Legislative Committee.

 It was another extremely informative General MLS meeting. Tom and I had hoped to post the audio of the meeting as a Podcast, but as the meeting began, we were still working out the technical details. Stay tuned. We are trying many initiatives to keep you informed.

Next week Neil Kalin regarding Short Sale. Sure to be a sellout crowd. Be there!

Sign up as we are sure it will have a packed crowd, Place your name on the attendance list. 223-0410