KYREALTORSpring13 by Kentucky REALTORS

Kentucky

REALTOR ®

Spring 2013

A publication of the Kentucky Association of REALTORS ®

8 REASONS

your home isn’t selling and what to do about it

How the ACA will affect your real estate firm Are you on YouTube yet? If not now, when?

www.kar.com

Contents

Volume 6, Number 1, SPRING 2013

IN THIS ISSUE

10 ways to extend your 5 smartphone’s battery

A publication of the Kentucky Association of REALTORS® President John T. May Jr., SRA Greater Louisville Association President-Elect Ronald E. Hughes Paducah Board Treasurer Larry R. Gillette, GRI Hopkinsville Christian & Todd County Association Treasurer-Elect Gale Fulton Lexington Bluegrass Association

How the ACA will affect your 8 real estate firm 8 reasons your home isn’t selling and what to do about it 10

Are you on YouTube yet? 20 If not now, when? 2012 hotline review from KREC 28

Communications/Education Director Hunt Cooper hcooper@kar.com

REGULAR FEATURES

KAR News 4 Address letters and inquiries to: Kentucky REALTOR® 161 Prosperous Place, Suite 100 Lexington, KY 40509 TF 800.264.2185 T 859.263.7377 F 859.263.7565 www.kar.com email: hcooper@kar.com

KAR members should always send address changes to their local board/association first. Subscription rates: $10 per year (included in dues) for members, $25 per year for nonmembers.

All articles represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Kentucky REALTOR® or KAR and should not be construed as a recommendation for any course of action regarding financial, legal or accounting matters by KAR or Kentucky REALTOR® and its authors.

Tools You Can Use 6 Legislative Update

LeadershipKAR

Education

Local Association News

By the Numbers

Housing Stats

Community Profile

A Day in the Life of...

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KAR News Kentucky REALTOR® license plate Show your Kentucky REALTOR® pride and have a captive audience with a Kentucky Association of REALTORS® license plate. License plates can be purchased for all your vehicles as long as they are registered in Kentucky. For the plate to go to production, KAR needs to have 900 plates reserved. A portion of the registration funds will be used to provide disaster relief assistance throughout Kentucky when the need arises with additional funds being used to create and offer career development classes for Kentucky real estate professionals and to support a legal hotline if one is created by KAR. To apply for a plate, visit www.kar.com > Members > License Plate.

List of affiliate partners

Contact GEICO for a free quote on auto insurance to see how much you could be saving. Mention your KAR affiliation, you could qualify for an exclusive member savings opportunity on auto, homeowners, renters, motorcycle insurance and more!

Award nominating forms REALTOR® of the Year Award Deadline: Saturday, June 1, 2013 Distinguished Service Award Deadline: Friday, June 14, 2013

KAR members can save up to 30% on UPS shipping. Members currently enrolled in the UPS Savings Program must re-enroll to take advantage of this new exclusive offer.

Nat Sanders Educator Award Deadline: Thursday, August 15, 2013 REALTOR® Community Service Award Deadline: Thursday, August 15, 2013 If you want to nominate someone (even yourself) for these awards or just want to learn more, visit www.kar.com > Members > Awards.

Good Neighbor Awards come with $10,000 grant Nominations are now being accepted for the Good Neighbor Awards, which recognize REALTORS® who dedicate themselves to volunteer service and community improvement. NAR will select five winners to be announced in the November/December issue of REALTOR® Magazine. Each winner will be recognized at the 2013 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in San Francisco and will receive a $10,000 grant for his or her charity. Winners will also receive travel expenses to the conference and national and local media exposure for their cause. In addition to the winners, five honorable mentions will each receive a $2,500 grant. Entries must be received by May 20, 2013.

Get feedback on your listings, improve communication with your sellers, and set yourself apart from your competition with HomeFeedback®. Special rates available for KAR members for this great client tool.

Provided to you and your family & friends to help lower your prescription drug costs. Your FREE Prescription Drug Card can save you up to 75% (discounts average roughly 30%) at more than 54,000 national and regional pharmacies.

Through this special auto insurance program, you will save up to $500 with special rates on your auto policy even if you already have Nationwide as your carrier. In addition to auto insurance, Nationwide can also provide you with other products such as home/ renters, boat and RV insurance as well as identity theft protection.

KAR Blog Visit www.karblog.org to read the latest real estate headlines from local and national sources. Then, enter your email to receive daily updates automatically (please make sure you click on the confirmation email that is sent to you after entering your email) or you can subscribe directly to the RSS feed.

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To view all affiliate partner offers, visit www.kar.com > Members > Affiliate Partners.

Useful Tip

10 ways to extend your smartphone’s battery By Marc Saltzman

It really doesn’t matter what kind of smartphone you rely on for work or play - be it an iPhone, Android, Windows Phone or BlackBerry - the more these pocket-sized computers can do, the more pressure it can put on the battery. If you’re finding your smartphone is petering out before you’re ready to, consider some of these following tips to squeeze more battery life between charges. Dim the screen

Room temperature is best

Turn down the brightness of your smartphone screen a good deal as it will help preserve battery life. This can be found in the Options or Settings menu. You’ll get used to the dimmer screen after a short while. On a related note, also set your screen to turn off after a minute or so of inactivity.

If you can help it, don’t keep your phone in hot or cold temperatures, such as leaving it on your car’s dashboard on a sweltering summer day or frigid winter night – as both could prematurely drain your battery. Ideally, smartphones work best from, say, 32 degrees to 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

Turn off radios you don’t use

Software updates

Unless you need them, turn off as many of your phone’s wireless radios as you can, as it can also drain your battery. This includes GPS, Bluetooth, NFC and Wi-Fi. Or, in a pinch, turn off all radios, including cellular connectivity, by selecting the “airplane mode” – such as when you board a plane.

Be sure you download the latest software updates (sometimes referred to as “firmware”) as smartphone engineers are always trying out new ways to improve power management. This can be performed when the smartphone is attached to a computer via USB cable or over a Wi-Fi connection.

Turn off push notifications

Extra battery

If you can, turn off “push” services or reduce the frequency in which you ask your smartphone to receive new information - such as incoming email messages - as it needs to “ping” a server to send you the updated data each time. Instead, choose to pull down messages when you need to.

Many phones have fitted battery packs to extend battery life doubling it, in most cases - and they often serve as added protection, if banged around. Or you can carry around a portable lithium-ion battery boosts that plug into your smartphone via USB cable, if needed. Also, remember lithium-based batteries work best by keeping the electrons in it moving often, therefore try to charge up your smartphone and letting it run down completely at least once a month (often called a “full charge” cycle).

Wi-Fi better than cellular If you’d like to access online content, use Wi-Fi instead of cellular connectivity, if possible. This will require you to join a wireless network at home or at the office, or when you’re in a public hotspot, such as a café, hotel lobby or airport lounge. Wi-Fi has been proven to be less taxing on your battery than using 3G/4G service.

Originally published on Yahoo! Digital Crave. Used with permission.

Remember to lock it Always lock your smartphone when you aren’t using it as you’ll still be able to receive calls and texts, but you aren’t accidentally turning on the phone when it’s in your pocket or purse (because you hit a button or screen). After all, there’s nothing more embarrassing than calling someone by accident -- especially when it’s 2:00 a.m.

Applications matter The battery will drain faster if you’re using the phone for tasks that are more demanding on the system’s resources -- such as watching video or playing multi-player games -- than less taxing tasks, such as typing notes or reading an electronic book. Multitasking, such as listening to music while surfing the web, can also contribute to faster battery drain.

Make sure the app is closed Be sure to properly close apps when you’re not using it as they still might be running in the background and thus, using up power (and possibly data). With iPhone, for example, double-tap the Home button and you’ll see open apps at the bottom of the screen.

SPRING 2013 KENTUCKY REALTOR® 5

Tools You Can Use Marketing Minute The Growth of Video 1 Trillion That’s the number of video views on YouTube in 2011. That’s almost 140 views for every person on Earth.

So where are we today? Online video consumption, in the U.S. and across the world, continues to grow at rates so astronomical that current usage statistics and future projections seem like they’ve been made up. The reality is that consumers are viewing video content online at levels that are challenging the traditional video viewing landscape.

Consider these statistics: Over 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. That’s three days’ worth of video in 60 seconds. Globally, over 4 billion videos are viewed each day on YouTube. That’s 46,296 videos viewed each second. Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month. YouTube Mobile gets well over 400 million views a day. Twenty-five percent of global views come from mobile devices. More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month. That’s about 32 million unique users every day. 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US When you realize consumers upload about 103,680 hours of video each day to YouTube, you begin to understand how heavily invested people are in online video. And the trend continues to grow. Additionally, you should also begin to grasp the importance of how mobile is influencing online behavior, especially in the medium of video.

Smartphones: which one and what platform? In the U.S., 129.4 million people owned smartphones (55 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in January 2013, up 7 percent since October. Apple ranked at the top with 37.8 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers (up 3.5 percentage points from October). Samsung ranked second with 21.4 percent market share (up 1.9 percentage points), followed by HTC with 9.7 percent share, Motorola with 8.6 percent and LG with 7 percent (up 0.3 percentage points). Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 52.3 percent market share, while Apple’s share increased 3.5 percentage points to 37.8 percent. BlackBerry ranked third with 5.9 percent share, followed by Microsoft (3.1 percent) and Symbian (0.5 percent).

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Buzzwords in real estate Real estate agents love to use the buzzword “beautiful” to describe a home they’re listing for sale. It’s the highest-ranking keyword used to describe homes for sale, according to a new study by Point2Homes, which evaluated 300,000 property listings to determine the most popular words that agents use to market homes. Other popular buzzwords are “spacious” and words that describe a home’s features like “hardwood floors” or “stainless steel appliances,” according to the study.

Need a website solution? www.websitebox.com WebsiteBox has stepped into the gap between free sites, like Wordpress, and the more expensive outlets by offering options specifically for real estate professionals, brokers, and teams. For a onetime fee of $99, each of these customer groups can get a customizable, multitiered site tailored to its needs. The company provides SEOoptimized content which is customized geographically and gives the user choice of six different subject concentrations (commercial, neighborhood-centric, listings-focused, etc.) to provide a pretty unique experience without a great deal of customization. They’ve even partnered with around 120 multiple listing services to offer comprehensive property searches for visitors. Other features include some 500 images in a library for users to employ, self-configuring for mobile viewers and a content relationship management arm that syncs with analytics to show you where contacts are clicking, what kind of properties they’re looking at on your site, how many logins they’ve initiated, and more. If you are looking for a cheap, efficient solution without a catch, you may want to look into this option.

Twist app www.twist.com Twist is the easiest and most accurate way to let people know when you’re going to arrive. If you’re running late, Twist will text predetermined contacts and let them know (and provide continuous updates along the way). You’ll never have to text while driving to get somewhere again. You can also pre-set appointments and dates on your phone - even if you’re simply commuting home or meeting friends after work - and let your loved ones know when you’ll get there. Of course, it works the other way around, too - if you want to track your friends and they’re using Twist, you can find out when they’re going to arrive as well. One particularly nice thing about Twist is that other people don’t have to have it to be notified. If they do have the app, they can register their phone so alerts will come as push notifications instead of text messages. You can also save favorite locations to easily create new alerts (which the app calls twists), or pull locations from events you already have in your calendar. Currently you can only send Twists from an iPhone but the app is in the process of building the Android application (you can sign up to be notified when it’s ready), however, you can receive Twists on any SMS capable device now.

docTrackr www.doctrackr.com A new service, docTrackr, offers one way to make full use of the cloud with your transaction documents while addressing the security concern you may have about sharing files this way. Real estate deals are laden with sensitive information which makes some agents and brokers skittish about using more efficient cloud-based systems for storing and sharing documents. You want your clients to feel secure in knowing you handle their personal info with great care. docTrackr gives you full control over documents - even after you grant access. That means you can revoke access or destroy files anytime from any computer. docTrackr encrypts all files using the same standards used by the financial industry to secure transfers. docTrackr also has the ability to show you who’s read your document, and with whom they shared it and whether they printed it. Think due diligence (e.g., I know you, Mr. Client, didn’t read those disclosure documents!). The company recently partnered with Box to layer security encryption into that service. And they’ve partnered with Adobe and Microsoft to enable security features in systems already installed on most in-office computers. docTrackr is free to use with paid plans being introduced.

Scheduling Posts on Facebook Third-party apps like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck have always provided the ability to schedule posts in advance on your Facebook page. This past spring, Facebook gave page owners the ability to schedule posts directly through Facebook itself. And because there wasn’t much of a fuss about it at the time, you may have missed hearing about this new scheduling feature. You can schedule links, photos and status updates, but remember one important tip: you must post as the administrator of your page - not your personal profile - in order to schedule updates in advance. To schedule your post, just click on the small clock in the bottom left corner. You will have the option of scheduling for the date, time and minute you want your post to appear. If you need to review what you have scheduled, go to the “Admin Panel,” click “edit page,” then “use activity log.” I find this Facebook change to be a huge time-saver!

Taking your website mobile www.mdotapp.com One billion people across the globe now have smartphones. Man, was that was fast. So how does the individual agent without a budget create a mobile website to take advantage of this reality? Enter MDot, an iPhone app that enables you to build a mobile website using your phone. No kidding – in mere minutes you can have a fully functional, great-looking mobile website. Use the app to choose a template from a gallery and turn various features on or off, including photo galleries, a blog, an “About” page, contact information and more. You can also further customize by adding new pages, a logo and social sharing buttons. You’ll also have access to built-in analytics so you can monitor how many visitors you’re getting. MDot was acquired by GoDaddy so be on the lookout for some possible changes.

Bits and Bytes More than 1 billion served More than a billion people now log into Facebook to check up on old friends, tag photos of new ones and post about politics, religion, cats or what their kids are doing (hopefully not playing Farmville, but that’s a story for another day). That’s double the 500 million it hit in July 2010 – what now seems like a lifetime, but was less than three years ago. August 2008 marked another big juncture, 100 million users. The latest milestone also amounts to nearly half of the world’s roughly 2.5 billion Internet users, as measured by the International Telecommunications Union.

So who are these people? Most of them – 82 percent – live outside of the U.S. and Canada. Many of them log in on mobile devices rather than personal computers, and the company now has 680 million mobile users. The people joining now are young, with a median age of 22. It was 23 in 2010 and 26 in 2008 and 2007. The people who use Facebook the most at almost 30% of all users, however, fall between the ages of 25-34. Most of them are from Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico and the United States. They are unlikely to be from China (#99 out of the countries with the most users), the world’s most populous country and home to its largest Internet population. And millions of them are not actual people. Facebook acknowledged in August 2012 that 8.7 percent of its then-955 million users may be duplicate or false accounts. At that rate, as many as 87 million accounts are fake (but in the grand scheme of things, the question would be “does that even matter?”). As expected, the longer users are on Facebook, the more “friends” they have on the site. A user who signed up two years ago has an average of 305 friends. Someone who signed up in January 2006, when Facebook had 25 million users, now has nearly 600 friends, on average.

Did you find what you were looking for? Most buyers find the house they eventually buy first by searching on the Internet, according to buyer surveys. In fact, over 90% of consumers use online research in the home search process. So where do they turn most frequently for their information? According to the NAR 2012 Survey of Home Buyers and Sellers, the local multiple-listing service is the top destination for home buyers looking for homes. The following are the most popular sites used in the home search, according to the survey: 1. MLS Web site: 54 percent 2. Real estate agent Web site: 51 percent 3. Realtor.com: 47 percent 4. Real estate company Web site: 39 percent 5. Other listing Web sites: 27 percent 6. Search engines: 19 percent 7. Mobile or tablet apps: 13 percent 8. For-sale-by-owner sites: 13 percent SPRING 2013 KENTUCKY REALTOR® 7

Legal Update

How the ACA will affect your real estate firm By Doug Martin and Sarah Charles Wright

In recent years, the U.S. Congress has adopted a number of healthcare insurance reforms under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that will significantly impact Kentucky real estate firms. The ACA is one of the most complex pieces of legislation ever adopted by Congress, spanning 2,409 pages in length. But despite its complexity, some significant financial benefits are available to small businesses that comply with the new ACA rules. The first step toward compliance is to know whether the ACA treats your company as a “Large Employer” or “Small Employer.” Large Employers are companies that employ on average 51 or more full time workers in a given year, and this number rises to 101 or more employees in 2016. Small Employers are companies that employ on average 50 or fewer full time workers, again rising to 100 employees or less in 2016. As discussed later in this article, counting the number of ACA employees in a real estate firm will be extremely challenging. You may already be familiar with some of the ACA market reforms – prohibition on exclusion of pre-existing conditions of children of enrollees; prohibition on the cancellation of insurance coverage due to serious illness; elimination of lifetime caps on insurance coverage; raising to 26 the age limit for children covered on their parent’s policy; and requiring insurers to report medical loss ratios each year, and pay premium rebates to enrollees when the insurer spends more on its own overhead than on healthcare. While the ACA does not actually require any company to carry group health insurance coverage, employers with 50 or more employees face annual penalties of $2,000 per worker in excess of the first 30 workers if the company fails to offer “affordable or adequate” group health insurance coverage. Coverage is not “affordable” under the ACA if a worker must pay more than 9.5% of his or her household income toward insurance premiums. Coverage is not “adequate” under the ACA if the insurance does not cover on average at least 60% of a worker’s medical costs. Fortunately, employers with less than 50 employees are not generally penalized if they decide not to provide group health insurance for their employees. Instead, the ACA provides tax credit incentives to offset a portion of the contributions made by certain Small Employers for group health insurance premiums. To be eligible, a Small Employer must have less than 25 ‘full time equivalent’ workers (FTEs), pay average wages per FTE of less than $50,000 per year, and contribute at least 50% to their employee’s total group health insurance premiums. The lower the average annual wages paid and the fewer the workers, the bigger the tax credits available to the employer. Small Employers with 10 or fewer FTEs and average annual wages of less than $25,000 may qualify for tax credits of up to 35% through 2013. The credit increases to 50% in 2014, but eligibility phases out for Small Employers as their wages and number of FTEs increase. Eligible Small Employers can carry forward the ACA tax credits for up to 20 years, apply

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the tax credits to the previous year’s tax return, and deduct excess premiums as expenses. Of course, the devil is in the details for employers that want to understand potential penalties and their eligibility for ACA tax credits. For example, if a company offers health insurance coverage that meets the minimum requirements, but requires some employees to contribute more than 9.5 percent of their W-2 wages, and those employees obtain health insurance through the public exchange and they receive a subsidy for that coverage; then the employer will pay a penalty of $3,000 per employee receiving the subsidy. Real estate firms should consult their healthcare insurance advisors or attorneys for more information on whether they are eligible for the tax credit. The scheduled opening of Kentucky’s Individual and Small Business Health Options (SHOP) Exchanges in October 2013 is expected to provide a favorable financial benefit for Small Employers. The SHOP Exchange will give Small Employers more options for better group health insurance coverage at more competitive prices. The SHOP Exchange will provide different levels of insurance coverage. Within each level of coverage, employees can chose between qualified health plans (QHPs) offered by competing health insurers. Small Employers will only need to complete a single application for group coverage, regardless of the number of QHPs offered by insurers on the SHOP Exchange. Similarly, employees will only

need to complete one application to use the SHOP Exchange. The applications are designed to gather all of the information needed to process open and special enrollment, eligibility, and benefits determinations. Premium payments will be made through the SHOP Exchange, which will monitor the quality and cost of the coverage that each participating health insurer is providing.

and to provide that statutory non-employees under IRC Section 3508 are not subject to the common law standard and are thus not “employees” for purposes of the ACA. Complying with the common law employee / independent contractor rules will create huge uncertainty for real estate firms, and the IRS needs to rethink how “qualified real estate agents” will be treated under the ACA.

Companies must pay special attention to the ACA notice requirements. Whether your company is a Large Employer or Small Employer, you must notify your employees that they may purchase individual coverage through the Kentucky Individual Exchange instead of enrolling in your company’s group plan. If you pay less than 60% of the premium for your employees’ healthcare coverage, you must also inform your employees that they may be eligible for a premium tax credit, or lower co-pays or co-insurance if they purchase their insurance through the Kentucky Individual Exchange.

There is a steep learning curve for employers who want to understand how the ACA will affect their business and employees. Congress has provided significant financial rewards and tax credits to encourage Small Employers to provide health insurance group plans for their employees. But unless and until NAR is successful in obtaining ACA statutory non-employee treatment from the IRS, real estate firms will have to apply the common law independent contractor rules on a case by case basis to determine whether their agents and associates will counted as ACA employees, and whether their firm will be classified as a “Large Employer” or “Small Employer.”

One of the biggest issues real estate firms will face is whether the ACA will treat “qualified real estate agents” as statutory nonemployees (i.e., independent contractors) in the same manner as the IRS. In March, the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) submitted comments to the Internal Revenue Service in connection with proposed ACA regulations. The draft regulations utilize a common law standard for defining “employee” under the ACA, and do not recognize the fact that “qualified real estate agents” are treated as statutory non-employees (i.e., independent contractors) under Section 3508 of the Internal Revenue Code. NAR’s comment letter urges the IRS to modify the ACA regulations in their final form to recognize IRC Section 3508

Please consult your healthcare insurance or legal advisor to understand how your firm or small business will be impacted by the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Doug Martin and Sarah Charles Wright are partners with the Lexington law firm of Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney, PLLC, and Mr. Martin also serves as legal counsel to KAR. For more information about Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney, PLLC, please visit www.SturgillTurner.com. A previous version of this article appeared in Business Lexington. This discussion should not be viewed as legal advice. Please consult your attorney.

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Feature Article

REASONS

your home isn’t selling and what to do about it By Melinda Fulmer MSN Real Estate

Why do some homes linger on the market for months –or years – while others are snapped up in a matter of days? While much of it has to do with price and local inventory, a whole host of factors can conspire to make a home sit and stagnate on the multiple listing service without showings or offers. To find out what makes some listings such laggards, MSN Real Estate polled agents across the country and combed through properties from our partner Realtor.com looking for real-estate wallflowers and the issues plaguing them. Think of these examples as cautionary tales for sellers, with a bit of advice sprinkled in from agents who have seen it all before. “The longer a house sits on the market, the more it gets stigmatized,” says Deirdre Lohan Conway, of Schooner Properties near Cape Cod, Mass. People ask, “What’s wrong with that house?” and “Why hasn’t it sold?” If you don’t want your home to be the listing that won’t budge, read on for eight listing no-nos and four tips to help you sell lickety-split.

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1 A ‘what the heck are they thinking?’ price tag Price is usually the overriding factor in any home that doesn’t sell. Whatever its problem, it can usually be rectified by adjusting the price, says Kathy Opperman, broker-owner of Century 21 Alliance in Philadelphia. “It’s always price for condition or price for location,” Opperman says. “That’s one of the main reasons [homes] sit.” Why are some homes priced so far above the pack? While many nostalgic sellers have unrealistic ideas about what their home can fetch, others simply can’t afford to take less because they are underwater on their loan. That was the case with a grand estate on 6.7 acres just outside beautiful Asheville, N.C. With more than $3.5 million put into the property between the purchase and renovations, it was listed for $4.2 million in 2008 – right after the real-estate bubble burst. The five-bedroom manor house with stables and an au pair apartment over the garage lingered on the market. The listing price eventually was lowered to $1.8 million as a short sale. It now has an offer pending, according to the firm listing it. “You know you have hit the right price when you have interest and offers from multiple parties,” Opperman says.

2 Tacky or dated decor Everybody’s taste is different, so less is more when it comes to decor at sale time. Loud patterns and bold colors can be big distractions. In one of his recent upstate New York listings, Don Moore, an agent with Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate Tech Valley, says that wallpaper played a starring role in every room, as did colorful and dated window treatments and furniture. Even the foyer was baby blue with pink trim. The gaudy decoration obscured what was a gem of an energy-efficient house, complete with 37 acres of land. The home had been on and off the market since 2010; its price dropped from $879,900 to $549,000 before selling recently – good thing, because the buyer had to invest quite a bit of money to remove all that wallpaper. Other buyer turnoffs include time-capsule interior treatments such as mirrored walls, cheap wood paneling and 1970s kitchens.

3 Poor condition If a home looks as if it’s going to cost half as much to repair or renovate as it does to purchase, it’s going to take a long time to move, agents say. Indeed, today’s buyer is a lot more reluctant to take on a “project,” says Conway of Schooner Properties, especially if there are houses around it that don’t need as much work. Ditto for homes that have strong pet or mold smells. So fix it, or prepare to lop a large amount off the price, agents say.

4 Bad location A wonderful house can’t always overcome a bad location. Homes that are close to a power plant, waste-treatment facility or busy

freeway will often sit, unless the seller is willing to take a major hit on the price, Opperman says. She experienced this when a freeway moved into her backyard, forcing her to slash her home’s price. “We had to disclose that they were putting one of those [turnpike] barrier walls 10 feet into my property,” Opperman says. “We sold for $100,000 less than my neighbors across the street.” Moreover, when a neighborhood has disintegrated, pushing values down and crime up, it’s hard to find a buyer who wants to purchase there, and owners are forced to rent out the home, possibly under the federal government’s Section 8 housing program. Once renters are in, it’s also more difficult to show a property to potential buyers, agents say, because tenants don’t want to be disturbed – or uprooted.

5 Bad design With many homes, it’s an inefficient or strange floor plan or design that acts as a barrier to a sale. In some cases, it’s a matter of functional obsolescence, when a dated design no longer serves today’s population, such as older homes where you have to walk through one bedroom to get to a second bedroom. One particular home in Catskill, N.Y., was missing one important element – a driveway – says listing agent Ted Banta III of Premier Realty Services. Located on a steeply graded street that doesn’t encourage parking – and with no room on the lot to add a driveway – it has lingered on the market for more than four years.

Sure, the buckled linoleum and rough interior aren’t selling points either, but those could be overcome with the right price. Good thing it’s close to Main Street, since an eventual new owner may be doing a lot of walking.

6 A fancy hacienda among humble homes While it certainly feels nice to have the largest, most elegant home in the neighborhood, it won’t do you any favors when it comes time to sell, agents say. People are paying not only for the house but also for everything around it. If the homes around yours don’t mirror yours in size or polish, you might have a hard time getting a luxury price. Moore, who sells properties near Albany, N.Y., tells of one golfcourse property that has been on the market intermittently since July 2011 because its scale and amenities are so much richer than those around it. Originally listed at $799,900, it’s now priced at $579,000, a step closer to the ranch homes around it, which are selling in the low- to mid-$200,000 range. “This is the most expensive house on the street for blocks around,” Moore says.

7 Investor-owned condo projects Some condos can be a hard sell for banks, including those in largely investor-owned communities. A unit in an upscale, master-planned, student-housing development near Clemson University in South Carolina could be attractive for

SPRING 2013 KENTUCKY REALTOR® 11

Feature Article cont. parent investors – if they could get a loan on it, says agent Susie Kohout of Carolina Real Estate, who has the listing. In recent years, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have made it more difficult to get a loan on a condo in a heavily investor-owned complex, which most college condo complexes are. The property has been on the market for three years, according to Realtor.com. So, sure, the development with its game room, pool and lazy river looks great, but its pool of available buyers may be limited as few banks will fund it.

8 Frightening photos If a seller can’t be bothered to clean up before the sale, the agent probably shouldn’t include many interior photos. In horrifying photos of a Chicago-area home, which were posted on a realestate message board, dirty clothes, hoarding and clutter dominate the shots, giving would-be buyers pause about the hygiene and condition of the rest of the house. Where is the storage if people need to dump their belongings throughout the house? “As a buyer, would you even want to go look at something like this?” asked “blub blub blub,” who posted the photos. Yet, according to “blub,” this listing comes from a building in which units are selling briskly. Only a certain set of plucky buyers will see past the mess and cosmetic issues to realize that there’s a bargain to be had.

Four tips for selling that listing lickety-split 1. Be realistic about price “In my market, the only reason a property would stay on the market for longer than three months would be that the price is too high,” says Ron Redfern, an agent from Greeley, Colo. “Price will overcome any objection,” he says. Don’t listen to your neighbors or get stuck on what you think you should get. Look at comparable sales, paying special attention to those in similar condition.

2. Keep it neutral Everybody’s taste is different, so don’t stage your home as a showcase of your own bold or traditional style. Rather, buyers want a minimalist canvas on which to project their own tastes, agents and stagers say.

3. Be picky about the photos you upload to the MLS Less is more when it comes to images, Opperman says. While it is necessary to include photos of the home inside and out, it’s not necessary to document every single mediocre thing, such as that cabinet over the toilet or a large but messy closet. Photos should showcase the rooms or features that are true selling points. Buyers are making quick decisions about real estate online. Don’t give them a reason to say no. “If a buyer isn’t excited about a home after seeing it online, they won’t want to see it in person,” Opperman says.

4. Put your best foot forward right off the bat Your home should look as good as it can from the minute it hits the MLS, agents say. “Don’t think, ‘Well, maybe I will stage it if it doesn’t sell in six months,” says PollyAnna Snyder, a Bozeman, Mont., agent responding on a real-estate message board. It should be clean and decluttered from day one, agents say, to generate the most interest and offers. If sellers wait, they risk having their property thought of as a problem property. “Days on the market can have lingering and adverse effects on price,” Snyder says.

12 www.kar.com

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Legislative Update

National Legislation

H.R. 8, the “fiscal cliff” bill contains real estate provisions

Pease Limitations

On January 1, both the Senate and House passed H.R. 8, legislation to avert the “fiscal cliff.” The bill has since been signed into law by the President. The deal has many implications for real estate with most being dubbed victories for the industry. Here are some of the highlights: • The bill extends several real estate related tax provisions, most notably, a one year extension to the end of 2013 of the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act that exempts loan amounts forgiven by lenders in short sales and foreclosures from being included in taxable income. • The measure permanently extends current income tax and capital gains rates for all taxpayers with taxable income up to $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples. The capital gains rate stays at 15 percent for those in the top rate of $400,000 (individual) and $450,000 (joint) return. After that, any gains above those amounts will be taxed at 20 percent. • The $250,000/$500,000 exclusion for sale of principal residence remains in place. • Deduction for mortgage insurance premiums for filers making below $110,000 is extended through 2013 and made retroactive to cover 2012. • 15 year straight-line cost recovery for qualified leasehold improvements on commercial properties is extended through 2013 and made retroactive to cover 2012. • The 10% tax credit (up to $500) for homeowners for energy improvements to existing homes is extended through 2013 and made retroactive to cover 2012. • Finally, so called “Pease Limitations” that reduce the value of itemized deductions were permanently repealed for most taxpayers but will be reinstituted for individuals earning above $250,000 adjusted gross income and joint filers earning above $300,000. • The first $5 million dollars in individual estates and $10 million for family estates are now exempted from the estate tax. After that, the rate will be 40 percent, up from 35 percent. The exemption amounts are indexed for inflation. • The 10% tax credit (up to $500) for homeowners for energy efficiency improvements to existing homes is extended through 2013 and made retroactive to cover 2012. As the debt and other fiscal issues remain on the playing field, please keep on the lookout for Calls for Action from NAR, legislation updates and other ways to engage your legislators when the need arises.

What does this mean for the Mortgage Interest Deduction? The Mortgage Interest Deduction, along with the deduction for property taxes, is included in the list of itemized deductions limited by Pease. While this provision will only affect a small number of total homeowners, it is the first time Congress has affirmatively taken steps to limit itemized deductions in 20 years. For details, visit bit.ly/peaselimits.

New Qualified Mortgage (QM) Rule The rule is scheduled to be effective January 10, 2014. NAR has been actively involved in shaping the debate and structure of the Qualified Mortgage (QM) Rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).The QM rule will largely determine the underwriting standards that the majority of lenders will use to qualify prospective borrowers. NAR achieved a significant victory in obtaining a safe harbor in the QM rule for loans underwritten to the standards required by Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Authority, Veterans Administration and Rural Housing Service (within their respective loan limits) for up to seven years. NAR supported a safe harbor to ensure the wide availability of affordable mortgage credit for qualified borrowers. Borrowers will still be able to get a private loan as long as the loan does not have risky features and the borrower’s total debt to income (DTI) isn’t over 43%. This means that a borrower’s total debt expense (including total mortgage payment) does not exceed 43% of their gross income (before taxes are withheld). These loans will still receive the QM safe harbor protections. One of the key factors used to identify a Qualified Mortgage under the Dodd Frank Reform Act is a determination that the amount of points and fees charged does not exceed 3% of the mortgage value. NAR has expressed specific concerns about the treatment of affiliated and unaffiliated business structures under this provision and worked with several representatives to introduce H.R. 1077 “The Consumer Mortgage Choice Act” or the “3% Cap Bill” addressing these concerns. The QM rule does require numerous items to be considered in fees and points when determining for purposes of meeting the three percent cap. It establishes circumstances when all or part of appraisal fees will be included and there will be times when private mortgage insurance will be included (but not FHA and other government guarantee or insurance fees). H.R. 1077 seeks to change some of the elements tied to the rule such as seller financing and balloon loans in rural areas, among others. To learn more, visit www.realtor.org, and search for QM.

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Rural housing definition Extended to September 30, 2013

NAR, with other industry groups, sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging them to update the definition of “rural” in order to retain vital RHS housing programs in more than 900 rural communities. But in the meantime, to grandfather existing communities. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is required under federal law to revise the list of communities eligible for rural housing loans based on the 2010 census data. USDA originally was to have done this by Sept. 30,

2012; but as a result of the Continuing Resolution, extended the date to March 27, 2013. Now, through the Continuing Resolution, the date was once again extended to September 30, 2013. At that date, USDA will revert to using a definition not updated since 1974 which requires communities to: 1) be outside of a metropolitan statistical area (MSA), 2) be “rural in character”, 3) have a serious lack of mortgage credit, and 4) have a population under 20,000.

State Issues The Kentucky General Assembly’s 2013 regular session came to a close as legislators adjourned on March 26, 2013. Since the session’s start in January, KAR monitored over 40 pieces of real-estate and small business related legislation to make sure policymakers in Frankfort protected the accessibility and affordability of homeownership in Kentucky.

Pension Reform With Kentucky facing over $30 billion in unfunded obligations in the state’s public employee pension system, the KY General Assembly approved SB 2, sponsored by Senator Damon Thayer (R-Georgetown) which changes benefits for future hires starting January 1, 2014. These changes will place future state and local government employees as well as judges and state legislators in

a hybrid “cash balance” plan which is similar to a 401k, but guarantees a 4% return. Neither current employees nor teachers will be affected by this law. Estimates show the provisions of SB 2 will save Kentucky $10 billion over the next 20 years.

Tax Reform As the deal was being made on pension reform, negotiations were ongoing between the Governor and members of the legislature regarding the funding mechanism to help pay down the pension system’s debt. Various proposals were discussed including placing a cap on deductions (including the mortgage interest deduction) and extending the sales tax to a select group of services. Both of these proposals would have greatly damaged Kentucky’s housing industry and KAR advocated these concerns on your behalf. In the end, neither of these proposals was approved. The final funding bill – HB 440 – included various changes and clarifications to Kentucky’s tax code such as a reduction of the personal income tax credit to $10, enhanced revenue collection measures by the Department of Revenue, a trade-in credit for new cars and a cap on vendor compensation for sales tax collection. While the MID was protected during this legislative session, it should be noted that Kentucky’s financial status may require further tax reforms in the future. Because of that, KAR will continue to advocate the importance of the MID to policymakers across the Commonwealth and we encourage you to do so as well.

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SPRING 2013 KENTUCKY REALTOR® 15

Legislative Update cont. Sterling R’s Dennis Anderson Mike Becker Al Blevins Tony Clark* Jayne Cox Barbara Curtis Barbara Flannery Carolyn Edwards Elaine Hangis Susan Helm

Real Estate Appraisal Todd Hyatt Michael Inman Bill Leslie Brenda Loyal Ann McDonald Rue McFarland Louise Miller Guy Montgomery* Becky Murphy Charlie Murphy

Judie Parks Rip Phillips Betty Schutte Joe Simms Carl Tackett Harrell Tague Suzy Watkins Ken Warden John Weikel Melissa Winchell

*Hall of Fame Inductees for 2013, italics are current HOF members President Circle members in bold

Thoroughbred R’s Jerry McMahan Mary Anne Simmons Mike Gooch Lisa Stephenson

Linda Gibson Cecil Donna Ensminger Steve Cline Elizabeth Monarch Betty Musselman

Brad DeVries Jeff Smith Casey Weesner

Highest Membership Participation Henderson-Audubon Board of REALTORS® 80.77% Participation

Most Contributions Raised

Pacesetter Award (first to achieve goal) Hopkinsville Christian & Todd County Board of REALTORS® December 2011

Largest Percentage Over Goal Small Board: Hopkinsville Christian & Todd County Board of REALTORS® 153.13% Medium Board: Greater Owensboro REALTOR® Association 191.72%

16 www.kar.com

2013 RPAC GOAL 100%

$130,170

75%

50%

Other Legislation of Interest • SB 21 – Sponsored by Senator Jimmy Higdon (R-Lebanon), SB 21 expands eligibility for funding from the affordable housing trust fund at the KY Housing Corporation to include sponsors who meet certain requirements and work in connection with rental housing developments that receive low-income tax credits. SB 21 was signed by Governor Steve Beshear on March 19, 2013. • SB 66 – Supported by Rep. Steve Riggs (D-Louisville), this legislation includes technical corrections to the radon contractor certification laws and also removes the requirement for a radon measurement contractor to maintain $500,000 in E&O coverage at all times during the certification period. SB 66 was signed by Governor Steve Beshear on March 21, 2013. • SB 132 – Sponsored by Senator Tom Buford (R-Nicholasville), this bill sought to repeal a law that regulates how household goods carriers operate in Kentucky. Currently, the law requires a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity prior to operating a new moving business which proponents of the bill say can be a cumbersome process. SB 132 passed the Senate but did not receive a hearing in the House of Representatives.

RPAC Awards

(Overall) Greater Louisville Association of REALTORS® $41,300.50

Representative Susan Westrom (D-Lexington) was the key sponsor of HB 120, supported by the KY Association of Real Estate Appraisers. HB 120 established the appraisal management company education, research and recovery fund which will be administered through the KY Real Estate Appraisers Board. The purpose of the fund is to benefit Kentucky licensed or certified real property appraisers who have suffered a loss if the appraiser has received a final judgment from a court of jurisdiction within Kentucky. The bill also requires the fund shall not fall below $300,000. HB 120 was signed by Governor Steve Beshear on March 21, 2013.

$76,940 (59%)

25%

As of April 26, 2013

Independent Expenditure and Issues Mobilization Grants – plus REALTOR® Candidate Training Twice last fall, three REALTOR®-friendly candidates running to keep their seats in the Kentucky State House found happy surprises in their mailboxes: direct mail pieces endorsing them, but not paid for by their own campaigns. Thanks to Independent Expenditure grants from National Association of REALTORS®, KAR was able to boost the House candidacy of Rick Rand and Tommy Thompson, both REALTOR® Champions, as well as that of Robert Stivers to the state Senate. All three won their bids for re-election. This was KAR’s first experience with independent expenditure campaigns. “It wasn’t so much that they were hotly contested races,” explains Anetha Sanford, the 8,680-member association’s Director of Governmental Affairs, “but we knew that we had some tough tax-reform issues coming up this session. This was about supporting REALTOR® friendly legislators because they support the real estate industry and homeowners across the state.” Rand, a REALTOR®, chairs the Kentucky Appropriations and Revenue Committee. Thompson, a REALTOR® and home builder, is the House Majority Whip. Stivers is now President of the state Senate.

“NAR made it so easy, right from the grant application process,” says Sanford. “Then they produced all six pieces and even handled the mailings, once we’d signed off on them. Having access to these services was awesome, and allowed us to provide much more support than we could have with our own resources.” KAR had been braced for a tax-reform battle for several years, and had been in touch with NAR’s political consultants about how to handle various tax threats to property owners. Last year, when the governor appointed a Tax Reform Commission, KAR presented testimony at every one of its meetings. Among the Commission’s final recommendations, released at the end of the year, was a cap on itemized deductions – including Mortgage Interest Deductions. KAR sprang to action. An Issues Mobilization grant from NAR enabled the state association to tap further into REALTOR® Party resources. In January, its polling services gathered data on tax-payer response to the Commission’s report; not surprisingly, eliminating property related deductions is hugely unpopular, and voters also reject expanding state sales tax to select professional services. Then, during KAR’s Legislative and Business Committee meetings in February, NAR’s veteran political consultants provided intensive one-on-one counsel to members preparing for a ‘Hill Visit’ with their legislators, complete with talking points. The vision of KAR President John May maximized the meetings’ political focus: on February 12th, in the capitol rotunda, KAR held its first-ever Rally for Home Owners, attended by over 200 members. They made a big impression, sporting “big R” t-shirts, the sale of which netted $2,280 for RPAC. At May’s invitation, Rand and Thompson addressed the lively crowd of their fellow KAR members; Senator Stivers, unable to attend, had his Majority Floor Leader, Senator Damon Thayer, speak in his absence. “Our members loved it!” says Sanford. During the same week, a handful of members considering political candidacy

themselves, took advantage of the REALTOR® Training Academy offered by KAR; the consultants and materials for this specialized program are provided by NAR. The tax-reform issue has been tabled for now, but the Governor is expected to call a special session later this spring to re-visit it – and KAR will be ready. Notes Sanford, “Our members who met with the legislators were so impressed by the impact that NAR’s resources helped them to make. The feedback we got from them was that it was one of the most productive and successful Hill Visits, ever.”

NAR Midyear Meeting If you plan on attending the NAR Midyear Meeting in Washington, D.C., then join your fellow Kentucky REALTORS® for the Legislative Luncheon on Wednesday, May 15th from 11:30 am – 2:00 pm in the Congressional Meeting Room – South in the Capitol Visitors Center. Kentucky legislators will be attending to provide updates on federal actions as well as answering questions from the membership. Other events are planned and will be sent to all Kentucky REALTORS® who register for the meeting. Learn more at www.realtor.org/midyear.

Leadership

LeadershipKAR: Growing the Leaders of Tomorrow The LeadershipKAR class of 2013 kicked off earlier this year with an introductory meeting at the Legislative and Business Meeting in Frankfort. Participants learned more about each other and the structure for each upcoming session and meeting. At the first retreat held at Wooded Glen, considered by many graduates as the cream of the crop facility, the 12 participants took part in team building exercises, worked through individual personality profiles, heard about how demographics are affecting real estate in

Kentucky and had fun networking with others in the group. With the second retreat in May, KAR is looking forward to continuing on the journey with the class of 2013 and creating a network of real estate leaders for the association. To learn more about the LeadershipKAR program, visit www.kreef.org > LeadershipKAR or email hcooper@kar.com if you are interested in being considered for the program in 2015.

Cheryl Lary

Chris Fox

Chris Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Bryan

Jacob Mercier

Mike Inman

Paula Colvin

Connie Redmon

Don Cecil

Doug Myers

Robin Schneider

Ron Cummings

Sallie Davidson

18 www.kar.com

Education CORE Course Online www.kreef.org > CORE Course Online Licensees need to complete this course, which also provides six (6) hours of law continuing education credit, once every four (4) years. Don’t wait until the last minute and don’t get tied up in the classroom – have the flexibility to fit education into your schedule.

Congratulations to the following members who received the GRI designation in 2012: L. Jewell Bibelhauser, GLAR Oliver K. Brann Jr., GLAR

Appraisal courses now being offered online

Heather M. Brockman, Madison Co.

www.kreef.org > Appraisal Courses KREEF is now offering online appraisal courses through McKissock Online Education. These courses include the USPAP course as well as a selection of over 20 elective courses needed to complete the annual training requirements. The classes are approved by the Appraisal Qualifying Board (AQB) and also approved for Continuing Education by the Kentucky Real Estate Appraisers Board.

Charles M. Clark, Heart of KY

Online NAR designation/certification courses now count for KY CE www.kreefonline.org is the portal to the online courses under NAR’s official family of designations and certifications including ABR®, AHWD, BPOR, e-PRO®, CIPS, GREEN, RSPS, SFR and SRES®. REALTOR® University offers over 400 hours of online real estate and professional continuing education to help members build skills and earn designations and certifications. These courses not only count toward a designation and certification, but also as a GRI elective. Six of these courses, found under the “Kentucky Continuing Education” tab, also count for CE credit in Kentucky so earn your credits while starting down the path to a certification or designation.

Online CE: easy and convenient www.kreef.org > Online Education Courses are available to you 24/7 – all you need is a computer and internet access. It’s that simple. These courses can be taken at your pace. Finish the entire course in one sitting or you can pick up where you left off. Know the Code: Real Estate Ethics 6 hours (3 hours law credit & 3 hours elective credit) Foreclosures, Short Sales, REOs & Auctions 6 hours (3 hours law credit & 3 hours elective credit) Environmental Issues in Real Estate 6 hours (3 hours law credit & 3 hours elective credit) Fair Housing 3 hours (3 hours law credit& 3 hours elective credit ) Real Estate Finance Today 3 hours (3 hours elective credit)

Scholarships available for education KREEF has three types of scholarships available – GRI, college/ post-secondary education and REALTOR® University’s Master of Real Estate program. The deadline for submitting applications is Friday, June 14. To learn more about each of the scholarships, eligibility requirements or to download an application, visit www.kreef.org > Scholarships.

Barbara Heck, GLAR Michael T. Inman, LBAR Brenda Rowland, Murray April Smith, Heart of KY Amanda V. Stepp, Madison Co. Tammie L. Wilson, Madisonville

GRI Update www.kreef.org > GRI

Take your last class on us That’s right, if you complete your GRI designation by the end of 2014, no matter how many courses you have left to take, KREEF will reimburse you the cost of your last GRI course* (1 through 5). Even if you only have one course left to complete the program, you qualify. When you send in your completed GRI application, KREEF will send you a rebate on your last course. Call 800.264.2185 for details. *Rebate equal to the early-bird registration price for a core GRI course.

Audit discount for current GRI designees Also, if you currently hold the GRI designation, you can audit any of the GRI courses (1 through 5) for only $50. By auditing a course, you not only receive updated information to help in your business, you also receive the continuing education credit associated with the course. It’s a win-win!

Did you know? Each GRI course counts as 16 hours of GRI credit, 16 hours of credit towards your broker license and a specified number of CE credits. The GRI designation also counts as an elective toward the ABR designation..

GRI/CRS Elective Course Ninja Selling Monday, September 23 Galt House Hotel - Louisville, Kentucky 10am - 6:30pm EST Instructor: Michael Selvaggio Approved for CRS elective credit, GRI elective credit and pending CE credit. Group pricing available, check www.kreef.org > CRS for details.

SPRING 2013 KENTUCKY REALTOR® 19

Tech Tips

Are you on YouTube yet? If not now, when? By Juanita McDowell

Are you ready for some “get real” marketing advice? If video marketing is not part of your digital footprint in 2013 (dubbed the Year of Video), it’s time to rethink your marketing plan. More than any other social network, YouTube is the website consumers rely on to learn about products and services. The statistics* are mind-boggling: • More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month • Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube • YouTube is localized in 53 countries and across 61 languages Intrinsically we understand the value of YouTube. We know that 85% of Internet users watch online video (Source: Comscore. com). More often than not, if we search Google on a topic we are bound to see a YouTube video in our search results. Even knowing this most agents have not taken steps to engage in online video marketing. According to NAR, less than 15% of real estate agents use YouTube. I believe that one reason is the fact that most agent marketers mistakenly see YouTube as only a video sharing site. If you feel this way, you have underestimated YouTube’s power and reach. While there is some debate over its position as the #2 search engine, one fact stands firm - people around the globe heavily depend on YouTube videos for information, advice and expert guidance. By not leveraging the popularity of this platform as a search engine, you are failing to understand its potential and its ability to generate new leads for your real estate business. But I’m not ready yet. I’m waiting on the right time. I can hear the chorus of “buts” as I type these words. I’ve heard several reasons from students and business clients on why they refuse to embrace YouTube as a marketing tool. Let’s identify and address the most common reasons.

Hey, I maintain a blog. Isn’t that enough? When am I supposed to sell real estate? Blogging is indeed an important part of your marketing mix, but for most consumers video is easier to consume and digest than the printed word. If given the choice to read a blog post or watch a video on the same topic, most people would opt for the video. It’s also important to note that YouTube makes it easy for you to share links or embed your videos on your blog, as well as other social media websites. Now you have a clever content strategy in motion. You have a blog with a balanced combination of written and video content and you have extended your reach to the world. I may never find your blog post, but I might find your video while searching Google or YouTube.

20 www.kar.com

I need training and instruction on how to do this. Fair enough. Consider starting with YouTube’s Help Section. It provides excellent “How-to” instructions on getting started. Here you’ll find everything from how to create an account, how to upload and edit videos, and more. Link: bit.ly/XBX3Xh

Where do I start with creating video content? Take a hint from several top agents YouTubers. If you type in Summit, NJ you will find a video of REALTOR® Sue Adler giving a neighborhood tour. In fact, she has several tours on her channel with thousands of views. Sam Cooper from Columbus, Ohio has 761 views on a video testimony from happy customers in their kitchens speaking about how pleased they were with his services. Hillary Caston gives me a chuckle every time I watch her day-inthe life story of an agent that includes a mishap while out showing property. This video has received over 24,500 views; I imagine others feel the same way. Some agents use their channel to educate consumers on anything from short sales to the process of buying a home. Others interview their mortgage professional when a major change occurs that affects consumers. I advise you to mix it up. It’s hard to argue this fact video is a valuable and powerful tool for educating your prospects and existing clients about your services.

I feel a YouTube video represents my company. I refuse to post up a homemade video. I’d rather have a professional create and produce my videos. The culture of YouTube is anchored in “good” (not perfect) homemade videos. I agree that your video represents your company but like other YouTubers who are profiting from their “homemade” videos, you can produce a good video without hiring a professional. You should also focus on content as well as the quality of production.

I’m short on funds. What equipment will I need to get started? There’s no need to purchase expensive equipment to get started. You can use your Flip, Kodak zi8, Playtouch, or your smartphone. Begin by filming outdoors where sunlight is plentiful or use a well-lit room. Most smartphones also have reasonably priced camera kits that allow you to inexpensively add lenses and tripods so that your video quality is enhanced. There is also a free app called Luma Video which stabilizes your videos so there is no shaking while recording. Since

the key to good video is audio and lighting, you can later invest in a microphone and a lighting kit for more professional videos. If you have an iPhone, you may want to bookmark hdhat.com for a mobile movie studio, complete with video lights, wide angle lens, and more.

OK, I can create the video, but I know nothing about editing. You have a few options here. If you have no desire to learn video editing, consider visiting www.oDesk.com or www.elance.com and create a proposal for video editing. These sites allow you to receive bids from contractors across the world with varying levels of experience. Review their portfolios, ratings, and fees. If you want to keep the editing simple, try out a few apps for your smartphone: iMovie ($5) Camera Plus Pro ($2) Social Cam (FREE)

4 reasons to add video to your online marketing strategy

If you have a burning desire to learn how to edit videos, buckle up your seat belt and try Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere, or Final Cut Pro. There’s a learning curve on these but it’s worth the investment in time for a life-time of knowledge on this topic.

“Never put off tomorrow what you can do today,” said Thomas Jefferson. No truer words have ever been spoken if you aspire to lead and not follow in your marketplace. Don’t delay. Get your YouTube Channel up and running. Need a shot of motivation? Here are four quick reasons to get started today:

*YouTube Statistics - Reference: www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html

Make your phone a lockbox key. Android,™ iPhone,® Blackberry,® and more...

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Android™ is a trademark of Google, Inc. iPhone® is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. BlackBerry® is a registered trademark of Research in Motion (RIM) © United Technologies Corporation 2012. Supra is a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security. All rights reserved.

Juanita McDowell runs Juanita McDowell Seminars and is the owner of InMotion Real Estate Institute, a subsidiary of InMotion Consulting, LLC. Each year, her real estate school trains well over a thousand real estate agents and entrepreneurs in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee in the area of marketing, technology, credit, and mortgage education. She will be a featured speaker at the 2013 KAR Convention & Expo in Louisville on September 24-26. You can find her online at www.juanitamcdowell.com.

8/28/12 7:26 PM

YouTube Marketing considers the mobile client. Most people enjoy consuming video content on their smartphone or tablet. Did you know there will be 73.3 million mobile viewers in 2013, up 20% from 2012? (Source: eMarketer)

Video is an awesome way to humanize your real estate business. Video is a great substitute when face-to-face interaction is not possible.

The key to marketing is your ability to measure your success. YouTube has detailed analytics that let you know how much of our content is being consumed and by what demographic.

YouTube videos often rank at the top of the Google search results if properly tagged. This gives you a much larger audience.

Now it’s time for you to get ahead of the competition. Become an early adopter, start today and dominate your market.

Your Video Toolbox Fivver.com – surprised to find some customizable video clips for your channel for only $5. Soundbakery.com and Pond5 for royalty-free music Backgroundtube.com for free YouTube backgrounds Eyejot.com for quick video emails

SPRING 2013 KENTUCKY REALTOR® 21

Local Association News Madisonville-Hopkins County Board In December 2012, the Madisonville-Hopkins County Board built their first ever Christmas float and participated in the 2012 Christmas parade held in Madisonville. The title of the float was “Homes for the Holiday” as well as “REALTORS® Against Bullying.” The members worked really hard, had a lot of fun building the float and then participated in the parade by walking and throwing candy to everyone that lined the streets. The goal is to continue this effort every year.

Heart of Kentucky Association In February, more than 100 people attended a luncheon where Radcliff Mayor J.J. Duvall outlined a new community emphasis called Radcliff First. The keynote speaker at the luncheon was Toshie Murrell, president of the Heart of Kentucky Board and a Radcliff resident, who stressed the importance of home ownership to the area’s economic development. She cited statistics related to record low interest rates and the importance of maintaining state and federal tax deductions for mortgage interest. The gathering also introduced a planned “buy local campaign” exclusive to Radcliff and establishment of a Small Business Alliance to support local business efforts. Mayor Duvall opened the luncheon with a review of major initiatives of his administration regarding community pride, beautification and economic development. Among the highlights were establishment of 11 community festivals and events, expansion of Saunders Springs Nature Preserve, development of an amphitheater in City Park North, increasing the medical presence in the city, new community signs and streetscape improvements, including planned decorative street lights. In addition, Terry Shortt, a local REALTOR®, announced establishment of the Radcliff Small Business Alliance to provide a voice for the local retail community, including ethnic businesses that help define Radcliff’s diversity and its nature as a military town.

Madison County Board During the month of February, members of the Madison County Board collected donations to benefit the Humane Society Animal League for Life. Also in February, REALTORS® donated their time to the HSALL by cleaning cages, caring for animals and assisting with adoption day. Members collected food, much needed supplies and raised an additional $500.00 to benefit the organization. The event was a huge success, at the end of the day one of the board’s REALTORS® went home with a new “family member!” Members in attendance were Kim Gubler, Daphne Jewell, Amanda V. Stepp, Crit Cable and daughter Haleigh and Davida Baker.

Greater Louisville Association To better serve members, the Greater Louisville Association is updating their facilities. The current location of the REALTOR® Store will become an Internet Café for members to use as their office away from the office 22 www.kar.com

and the Store will move to another location in the building. The remodel should be completed by mid-summer. GLAR also launched a new consumer website to help promote the use of a REALTOR®. Visit starthere.louisvillerealtors.com to take a look. Buyers and sellers can find information on the real estate process as well as the value a REALTOR® brings to the transaction. They have also included info on local market conditions, buying and selling tips and the site connects to all their social media outlets. GLAR hosted a free informational event in March to inform members about the Healthcare Reform Act, what happens if you don’t have health insurance coverage, what subsidies are available to assist in covering costs and more.

REALTOR® Association of SKY RASKY will be hosting the Second Annual Hope for Homeless event on April 26-29, in Bowling Green, KY. They invite all members to BYOB(ox) and come live with us over the week-end. You won’t find greater fun and help more people anywhere else in the state! Last year, the Association took a new approach to community service where the committee, along with affiliates, lived in a “Shantytown” on the second busiest street in our city. Living in cardboard boxes and tents, members lived, slept and collected food 24 hours a day for 3 ½ days. RASKY collected over 4,000 pounds of canned and dried goods, along with $3,850 for HOTEL INC, a local charity that operates a food bank serving the homeless and people living in poverty. This year we will also be working with the resource centers in local schools, providing food and hygiene products for children in need.

Louisville named top city for young entrepreneurs Under30CEO named Louisville third in the large city category (population: 500,000 and over) for young entrepreneurs in 2013, ranking behind only San Francisco and Austin, Texas. Readers of Under30CEO were asked to vote on locations they thought were the best places for a new company based on local resources, culture, atmosphere and overall appeal to a young professional. The website publishes profiles of startups and provides advice and news for young entrepreneurs.

Greenville, KY named one of America’s coolest small towns for 2013 With a population of 4,312, Greenville, KY was named by Budget Travel as one of the coolest small towns in America for 2013. The magazine took in 96,605 votes and 2,415 comments in support of 924 towns when the list of contenders was trimmed to 15. To be considered, the town had to have a population under 10,000. It also needed that indescribable something: independent shops, a sense of energy, an epic backyard, culture, delicious coffee. Not necessarily quaint but towns with an edge and a heart. Here’s how Greenville was described: That particularly Southern combination of down-home charm and oldfashioned grandeur is old hat in Greenville. Founded in 1799 and settled by Revolutionary War veterans, it grew over the next century into the seat of one of the South’s most profitable coal-mining regions. That history is reflected in the enduring elegance of city landmarks such as the 105-yearold Beaux Arts courthouse and 111-year-old Palace Theater.

On Main Street, laid-back locals and mom-and-pop establishments evoke the guitar and harmonica twangs of folk songs. You might even hear John Prine’s “Paradise” as you stroll the streets –the renowned singer-songwriter penned some of his most famous lyrics about the coalmining history of Greenville and the surrounding area. The town’s musical legacy lives on at Rockford’s Place Café: part eatery, part jam session venue, it adds a little funk to the Greenville scene.

Best Place to Retire lists two KY cities CNNMoney named Louisville and Danville to their 2012 list of the 25 Best Places to Retire. Louisville was named under the “best if you’re looking for a big city” category and Danville under the “best if you’re looking for a small town.” Here is what was said about both. Louisville: The first Saturday in May, all eyes are on Louisville, home to the Kentucky Derby. Yet there’s also plenty else to do and see year-round. Residents can hear live bluegrass music, museum hop on West Main Street downtown, attend a concert or festival in the 85-acre Waterfront Park, and see local and Broadway shows in the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts. Keep in shape by biking or strolling the Louisville Loop, a pedestrian path that will eventually span more than 100 miles, connecting many of Louisville’s parks, neighborhoods, and attractions. Danville: You can’t stroll through this small town in horse country without feeling a strong connection to the past. In Danville’s Constitution Square, delegates assembled in 1792 to proclaim Kentucky the nation’s 15th state. The original log post office still stands, as do many antebellum buildings. Still, the town is hardly a backwater: There are plenty of microbreweries, restaurants, art galleries, and boutiques, not to mention the area’s regional medical center right in town. For those craving extra urban amenities, Lexington and Louisville are about 40 and 80 miles away, respectively.

Forbes names Lexington to Best Place to Retire list Lexington made the more current 2013 list of the 25 Best Places to Retire for Forbes. The list describes Lexington with the following facts on why it made the list: Fast fact: Home of University of Kentucky. Pros: College town ambiance, low cost of living, median home price $146,000, good state tax climate, moderate weather, high Milken Institute aging rank, high volunteering level. Con: Below average air quality.

Kentucky job growth in past year ranks second in the nation Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear announced Wednesday that the state ranked second in the nation for job growth over the past year, based on numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The latest Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary found that Kentucky’s net job growth from September 2011 to September 2012 was 2.6 percent, or 47,000 created jobs, behind only North Dakota’s 5.6 percent growth. In a news release, Beshear noted that Kentucky’s jobs growth was more than double

the Kentucky competitor state average of 1.1 percent. Kentucky’s competitor states are Indiana, Ohio, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Illinois, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi and West Virginia.

Louisville ranks 43rd in population MSA Population in the Louisville MSA rose to 1,251,351 in 2012 from 1,235,708 in 2010. It ranked as the 43rd largest metro area in both the 2012 and 2010 census ranking, joining 52 other metropolitan areas with populations of more than 1 million, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates issued recently. The Census Bureau issues annual population estimates for all metros, micros and counties across the country, based on its analysis of birth, death and immigration records.

Kentucky ranks high for new and expanded industry Site Selection magazine’s annual Governor’s Cup rankings have placed Kentucky 10th in the nation for new and expanded industry activity in 2012. Last year, Kentucky announced 354 location or expansion projects, resulting in 14,075 projected new full-time jobs and a capital investment estimated at nearly $2.7 billion. Kentucky has finished among the top 15 states in the nation for the last five years in a row. Qualified projects include those that meet at least one of three criteria: 1) involve a capital investment of at least $1 million; 2) create 50 or more jobs; or 3) add at least 20,000 square feet of new floor space. In addition, Kentucky ranked fifth in the nation for number of communities making the magazine’s Top Micropolitans list, with 10 communities making the cut. Those communities include: • • • • • • • • • •

Frankfort (tied for 23) Glasgow (tied for 23) Paducah (tied for 30) Richmond (tied for 30) Union City (Tenn./Ky.) (tied for 30) Campbellsville (tied for 45) Maysville (tied for 45) Somerset (tied for 45) Danville (tied for 86) Murray (tied for 86)

Louisville ranks No. 85 on list of best-performing cities The Louisville metropolitan statistical area ranks No. 85 out of 379 metro areas nationwide on the Milken Institute’s 2012 index of BestPerforming Cities (up from 116 last year). The index ranks metro areas on their job growth, wage/salary growth, relative high-tech gross domestic product growth and the number of high-tech industries they have. The Louisville area performed best – No. 12 – on its job growth from May 2011 to May 2012. It performed lowest – No. 160 – on the number of high-tech fields whose concentrations in the area were higher than the national average.

Local boards/associations are encouraged to submit information for this section. Pictures must be at least 300dpi. Send all association news to hcooper@kar.com.

SPRING 2013 KENTUCKY REALTOR® 23

By The Numbers

2011

Amount of time 45% of consumers, upon initial contact to a real estate agent, expect a response according to the 2012 Online Performance Study. 89% of consumers say that response time is very important, however, real estate professionals take 72 hours on average to respond to a consumer.

minutes

The year smartphone sales overtook PC sales according to several studies including one by Canalsys.

71% 50percent

In a recent survey by Forbes, it was found that over this percent of Internet leads are lost, marked dead or simply thrown out.

The percent of buyers who look to their real estate agent to help them find the right home to purchase, according to the 2012 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. 12 percent want help with both price negotiations and with the terms of sale negotiations.

89 % 98 %

According to a MEG, Inc. survey, the percent of Generation Y home buyers (20s to early 30s) who rely on social media before they contact a REALTOR®. For firsttime home buyers, it was 88%.

The percent of home buyers who search for homes online say property photos were among the most useful features available on a real estate Website, according to research from NAR. Listings that include photos get 61 percent more views than listings without photos, according to research conducted by Redfin.

90percent

The percent of consumers who did online research before they bought their last home according to Real Trends.

1billion

The number of Facebook users reported as of October 2012, up from 500 million in July 2010.

40 percent

% 253

65.5 percent

The percent of home buyers who found their real estate agent through a referral by a friend, neighbor or relative, according to the 2012 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Coming in second at 11 percent was through a website and 10 percent had used the agent in a previous transaction.

Percent of consumers who viewed online sources of product and service reviews as trustworthy. Another 80% have changed their minds about a purchase based solely on the negative reviews they read. In 2011, 85% of those surveyed said they’d be more likely to purchase if they could find additional recommendations online. How important are online reviews to you as a real estate professional?

one third

More than a third of Americans polled by Country Financial expect residential values to climb over the next five years. That 35 percent (out of 3,000 survey respondents) is about even with 36 percent who believe that home prices will hold steady at current levels. Some 19 percent of those queried predict price depreciation for the period, and 10 percent are unsure which direction prices will move

24 www.kar.com

Real estate related searches on Google have grown this percent over the past 4 years according to the study released by NAR and Google called the “Digital House Hunt.” (To view the entire report, visit http://bit.ly/digitalhousehunt)

The U.S. homeownership rate in mid-2012 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That percentage is nearly the same as it was in the second quarter of 2011 at 65.9 percent. The home ownership rate peaked at 69.2 percent in 2004. Home owners outnumber renters in nearly 100 percent of the nation’s 3,095 counties evaluated by the Census. The Census Bureau also reported that vacancy rates for housing were 2.1 percent and vacancy rates for renting were 8.6 percent in the second quarter of 2012.

A Nielsen study showed that Internet users spent this percent of their online time on social media sites, the largest chunk of time dedicated to any particular type of website (30% of their mobile web time was spent on social media sites and apps). One-third of 18 to 24 year-olds access social media sites from the bathroom.

Housing Stats

With everything being low, housing is on a high The spring real estate season is kicking and nationwide reports are that inventory levels are the lowest they have been in almost 13 years. That’s good news for sellers. On the other end of the spectrum, interest rates continue to be near record lows. Good news for buyers. So what does that mean for the housing market? For many, the expectation is that a turnaround has finally occurred and housing is making its comeback…to an extent. Nationally, the National Association of REALTORS® is saying, due to the most recent figures, that a healthy recovery is underway. Their reports through February show that sales have been above year-ago levels for 20 consecutive months, while prices show 12 consecutive months of year-over-year increases. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said in a recent press release that conditions for continued housing improvement are at play. “Job growth in the improving economy and pent-up demand are causing both home sales and rental leasing to rise. Though home prices are rising much faster than rents, historically low mortgage rates are still making home purchases affordable,” he said. “The only headwinds are limited housing inventory, which varies greatly around the country, and credit conditions that remain too restrictive.” On the state level through the end of 2012, homes sales experienced monthly year-over-year increases going back to July 2011, or 18 consecutive months. All but four of the months saw double digit increases. Year end for 2012, Kentucky saw homes sales up almost 14% over 2011. So far in 2013, reports on home sales are repeating that trend with double digit increases for the first two months. Looking at home prices throughout 2012, reports show almost monthly fluctuations. In the end, however, the median price held steady at $108,750 for the year, a 1.9% increase over 2011 when the median price was $106,750. With the national median home price north of $175,000, Kentucky remains a bargain for home owners. “In Kentucky, it’s great to see housing remaining stable and affordable as the economy improves,” stated John May, president of the Kentucky Association of REALTORS®. “Over the past several years, watching with uncertainty as to where the real estate industry was heading, it’s nice to see some positive steps forward. The hope now is that real estate continues its slow and steady climb and doesn’t get hit with any unnecessary roadblocks that would slow momentum.” Both state and federal governments are taking a look at ways to control spending and reduce expenses from current and future budgets. A lot of the talk revolves around eliminating tax deductions and, in Kentucky specifically, a complete tax overhaul. While not much has happened as of yet, the wheels of change will keep turning and REALTORS® will have to continue fighting. May continued, “We can’t sit back and wish for continued improvements in the real estate industry. REALTORS® will have to stay on the front lines and remain vocal to make sure the housing situation doesn’t change for the worse. Home buyers and sellers count on us as professionals to protect home ownership and as REALTORS®, if we want our industry to thrive, we have to take a vested interest in it.”

A bright note for Kentucky is the unemployment situation. To accompany all the positive lows experienced in real estate, the state saw the unemployment rate drop significantly to 8.2 percent in 2012 from 9.5 percent in 2011. To continue the good news, unemployment dropped to 7.9 percent in January and February, the first times in more than four years the rate was below 8 percent. OET economist Manoj Shanker said that preliminary February employment estimates showed a considerable improvement in Kentucky’s labor market. Shanker added that Kentucky’s nonfarm job levels have reached a post-recession recovery highpoint and that “we have made considerably more progress than the average state in gaining back lost jobs from the Great Recession.”

Year End 2012 vs Year End 2011 Housing Statistics BOARD/ASSOCIATION

SOLD SOLD SOLD MEDIAN MEDIAN MEDIAN 2012 2011 % PRICE 2012 PRICE 2011 %

REGION ONE Henderson-Audubon Board

332

267 24.34%

96500

108750

-11.26%

Hopkinsville-Christian Board

321

352 -8.81%

116250

99675

16.63%

Kentucky-Barkley Lakes Board

298

270 10.37%

101500

93825

8.18%

Madisonville-Hopkins Board

407

462 -11.90%

99850

82350

21.25%

Mayfield-Graves Board

332

323 2.79%

68750

73750

-6.78%

Murray Calloway County Board

277

241 14.94%

122575

119500

2.57%

Greater Owensboro Association

1260 1049 20.11%

104475

105250

-0.74%

Paducah Board

609

588 3.57%

128500

131625

-2.37%

Pennyrile Board

253

333 -24.02%

90500

89350

1.29%

REGION TWO Central Kentucky Association

617

592 4.22%

90000

92300

-2.49%

Heart of Kentucky Association

1679 1584 6.00%

125500

125000

0.40%

Old Kentucky Home Board

501

479 4.59%

106325

103500

2.73%

REALTOR® Association of SKY

1625 1355 19.93%

130250

120125

8.43%

Russellville-Logan Board

158

115 37.39%

86725

79450

9.16%

Shelbyville Board

513

410 25.12%

140125

138000

1.54%

South Central Kentucky Association

293

235 24.68%

89000

96750

-8.01%

REGION THREE Greater Louisville Association

12729 11063 15.06%

139250

130925

6.36%

REGION FOUR Lexington Bluegrass Association

8092 6759 19.72%

140375

134500

4.37%

REGION FIVE Northern Kentucky Association

4775 4195 13.83%

125875

128500

-2.04%

REGION SIX Ashland Area Board

694

637 8.95%

Cave Run Association

178

162 9.88%

Cumberland Valley Board

488

463 5.40%

Eastern Kentucky Association

368

375 -1.87%

Madison County Board

999

Pioneer Trace Board

177

Somerset-Lake Cumberland Board

676

Totals

95875

88500

8.33%

77500

80750

-4.02%

103250

103950

-0.67%

101875

115000

-11.41%

967 3.31%

130475

124250

5.01%

183 -3.28%

69575

73250

-5.02%

494 36.84%

90750

95000

-4.47%

38651 33953 13.84% 108750

106750

1.87%

SPRING 2013 KENTUCKY REALTOR® 25

Community Profile

A history lesson on Kentucky - and a few interesting facts (and fiction) For those of you who live in Kentucky, you might find this interesting. And for those of you who don’t, you might find this interesting, too. 1792 - Kentucky was the first state on the western frontier to join the Union (15th overall).

Stubblefield of Murray. It was three years before Marconi made his claim to the invention.

In the War of 1812 more than half of all Americans killed in action were Kentuckians.

1893 - ‘Happy Birthday to You,’ probably the most sung song in the world and definitely one of the most recognizable, was written by two Louisville sisters - Mildred and Patricia Hill.

1816 - Mammoth Cave was first promoted, with 336+ miles of mapped passages, is the world’s longest cave. It is 379 feet deep and contains at least 5 levels of passages. It’s second only to Niagara Falls as the oldest, and arguably one of the most popular, tourist attraction in the US. It became a National Park on July 1, 1941. 1856 - The first enamel bathtub was made in Louisville.

Late 19th century - Bibb lettuce was first cultivated by Jack Bibb in Frankfort, Kentucky. 1896 - The first known set of all male quintuplets was born in Paducah.

1883 - The first electric light bulb was shown in Louisville.

1934 - Cheeseburgers were first tasted at Kaelin’s Restaurant in Louisville.

Thomas Alva Edison introduced his invention to crowds at the Southern Exposition.

1937 - The first Wigwam Village Motel, with units in the shape of a ‘teepee,’ was built by Frank A. Redford in Cave City.

1887 - Mother’s Day was first observed in Henderson by teacher

The world’s largest baseball bat, a full one hundred twenty feet tall and weighing 68,000 pounds, can be seen at the Louisville Slugger Museum in Louisville.

Mary S. Wilson. It became a national holiday in 1916.

1892 - The radio was invented by a Kentuckian named Nathan B.

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9/10/12 1:30 PM

The first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant owned and operated by Colonel Sanders is located in Corbin.

Sturgis, hosts “Little Sturgis,” a mini version of Sturgis, South Dakota’s annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in July.

Kentucky-born Alben W. Barkley was the oldest United States Vice President when he assumed office in 1949. He was 71 years old.

Christian County is ‘wet’, while Bourbon County is ‘dry’ (for those not educated on this, ‘wet’ sells liquor; ‘dry’ does not).

Joe Bowen holds the world record for stilt walking endurance. He walked 3,008 miles on stilts between Bowen, Kentucky to Los Angeles, California.

Barren County has the most fertile land in the state.

Chevrolet Corvettes are manufactured only in Bowling Green. Covington, at St. Mary’s Cathedral-Basilica of the Assumption, is home to the world’s largest hand blown stained glass window in existence. It measures an astounding 24 feet by 67 feet and contains 117 different figures. The Kentucky Derby is the oldest continuously held horse race in the country. It is held at Churchill Downs in Louisville on the first Saturday in May. Speaking of horses, the great Man o’ War won all of his horse races except one which he lost to a horse named Upset.

Lake Cumberland, it has been said, has more miles of shoreline than the state of Florida and is one of the ten largest man-made lakes in the country. It is often referred to as the ‘House Boat Capital of the World.” Kentucky has more miles of running water (streams, rivers, etc.) than any other state except Alaska. Kentucky still leads the nation in burley tobacco production. If you have an interesting fact about Kentucky or someone famous left off the list, please visit the KAR Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ groups/kyrealtors and let us know. Please join the Facebook group if you haven’t already

Here is a list of celebrities who were born and/or raised in Kentucky: George Clooney (Sexiest Man Alive) Johnny Depp (Sexiest Man Alive) Tom Cruise (Sexiest Man Alive) Courtesy of churchilldowns.com

The world’s largest crucifix, standing at sixty feet tall, is in Bardstown. Fort Knox holds more than $6 billion worth of gold - the largest amount stored anywhere in the world. High Bridge, located near Nicholasville, is the highest railroad bridge over navigable water in the United States. The JIF plant in Lexington is the world’s largest peanut butter producing facility.

Jennifer Lawrence (Hunger Games) Ashley Judd (and all the other Judds) Nick Lachey (98 Degrees) Kevin Richardson (Backstreet Boy) Brian Litrell (Backstreet Boy) Billy Ray Cyrus (and his daughter, Miley) Most country singers and NASCAR drivers Don Everly (of The Everly Brothers) Nappy Roots (Hip-Hop group) My Morning Jacket (Rock band)

Kentucky has more resort parks than any other state in the nation.

Lee Majors

Middlesboro is the only United States city built inside a meteor crater. If you check it out on Google Earth, it appears to be about 4 ¼ miles across and 360 feet deep.

Muhammad Ali Annie Potts (Designing Women)

Newport is home to The World Peace Bell, the world’s largest freeswinging bell.

(singer/actor; Slingblade, Roswell, Panic Room)

Pike County is the world’s largest producer of coal. Pikeville annually leads the nation in consumption of Pepsi-Cola per capita. Post-It Notes are made exclusively in Cynthiana. Shaker Village (Pleasant Hill) is the largest historic community of its kind in the United States. Old Louisville is the largest historic preservation district in the United States featuring Victorian architecture and the third largest overall.

Dwight Yoakam Diane Sawyer John Carpenter (Director) Ned Beatty (Back to School, Deliverance, Life) Harry Dean Stanton (Molly Ringwald’s Dad in Pretty in Pink) Florence Henderson (Mrs. Brady) Chuck Woolery James Best (sheriff on Dukes of Hazard) Charles Napier (Rambo II)

SPRING 2013 KENTUCKY REALTOR® 27

Up to Code

2012 hotline review from KREC By: Y. Denise Payne Wade, KREC Staff Attorney

This article lists and briefly discusses frequent license law questions and consumer complaints that the Kentucky Real Estate Commission (KREC) received on the “hotline” in 2012. It also provides a list of license law violations for which the KREC imposed discipline in 2012. 1 Advertising requirments:

4 Limited referral office (“LFRO”):

Question: Must licensees include their mailing addresses and phone numbers in their print advertisements for listed properties?

Question: “What are the KREC requirements for becoming a License Referral Service? I would like to offer this service to agents wanting an alternative to escrow.”

Answer: No. Print advertisements for listed properties must include either the name of the real estate company where the licensee’s license is held or the name of the real estate company’s principal broker and the principal broker’s designation as such, pursuant to KRS 324.117 and 201 KAR 11:105.

2 Agency disclosure requirments for

prospective clients who are landlords or tenants:

Question: What may licensees do to satisfy agency disclosure requirements when they are dealing with customers or clients who are landlords or tenants? Answer: Licensees may use the KREC’s alternate agency forms, which are Form Nos. A109-A113, dated December 2011. They can be accessed from the KREC’s website at www.krec.ky.gov.

Answer: LFROs are real estate brokerage firms. So, they must have a firm name that is registered with the KREC, an escrow account, and a principal broker. Moreover, affiliated licensees of a LFRO must have an active license, carry E & O insurance coverage, and satisfy the annual continuing education requirement.

5 Listing contract changes: Question: When I read 201 KAR 11:250, it says to me that no matter what type of change you have on a listing agreement, that change must be signed by the seller. To me, this would include price reductions, extensions and all changes that may be made to the original contract since the original contract was signed. Can you tell me if I am interpreting this correctly? I am being told that e-mail messages can be accepted for these types of changes.

3 Change of brokerage firms:

Answer: All changes on a listing contract must be initialed, dated and timed.

Question: “I’m in the process of changing brokerages. What can I tell my clients about my change?”

6 Paying escrowed licensees:

Answer: Legally, the agent may only inform the principal broker’s clients that he or she is leaving. There should not be any discussions about how to cancel or withdraw the listings, as that could constitute contract interference.

Question: If an agent puts his or her license in escrow and has a transaction that is pending, can the agent still receive a commission payment when it closes? Answer: Yes, if the agent’s license was active when the commission was earned.

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7 Presenting offers:

9 Releasing earnest money deposits:

Question: If a licensee submits his or her client’s written offer at 5:00 p.m. on a Friday, may the listing broker refuse to present the offer to his or her seller-client until Monday morning at 9:00 a.m.?

Question: Does a purchase contract provision stating that “the earnest money will be returned if the buyer cannot obtain financing” authorize a principal broker’s release of the funds from his or her escrow account?

Answer: The KREC decides issues like this on a case-by-case basis, if a complaint is filed with the KREC.

8 Providing property managment services: Question: May a principal broker’s affiliated licensee provide property management services for others for a fee, compensation, or other valuable consideration, if the affiliated licensee has an ownership interest in the property management company, but his or her principal broker does not offer property management services?

Answer: No. A 2009 amendment to KRS 324.111(6) deleted from this statute the previously-held authority of a principal broker to “release the contract deposit as provided in the contract.”

10 Seller’s of property conditions form requirements: Question: Do property condition reports apply to multi-family duplexes?

Answer: No. To provide these services, a property management company must have a principal broker, who may have affiliated licensees. However, the licensees who are affiliated with a property management company may not be simultaneously affiliated with more than one real estate company or principal broker.

Answer: No. The seller’s disclosure of property conditions form requirements apply to sales and purchases involving single-family residential real estate dwellings only.

Top consumer complaints

Top 10 KREC disciplinary actions

In 2012, consumers filed complaints alleging that licensees have: 1) failed to act in accordance with fiduciary standards; 2) failed to deliver documents as required by law; 3) advertised in a false, deceptive and misleading manner; 4) misrepresented property conditions; 5) improperly handled earnest money or contract deposits; and 6) failed to disclose known property defects. The complaints include the following:

Here is the list of the most common license law violations for which the KREC imposed discipline in 2012 resulted from licensees:

• “A dual agent represented the seller better than he represented me. The agent was protecting the seller’s interests and didn’t seem to care about mine at all.” • “I relied upon the verbal promises and assurances that an agent apparently made just to ‘save’ the contract and get paid a commission. After the closing, the agent refused to follow through with the promises.” • “The amount of my offer was revealed to other people making offers on the property that I was trying to buy.” • “An agent pointed out and told me where the property’s boundary lines were; so, I decided not to have the property surveyed, which was a mistake. I didn’t find out until after the closing that the property lines were not where the agent said they were.” • “I can’t get my earnest money back and I’m entitled to it because my loan application was denied and my agent knew that I couldn’t buy the house if I couldn’t get the loan.” • “The agent’s advertisement about the property didn’t tell the truth about the systems in the house.”

1. Failing to satisfy agency disclosure requirements. 2. Failing to satisfy seller’s disclosure form requirements. 3. Failing to include a real estate company name or its principal broker’s name and designation as such in a print advertisement for listed property. 4. Failing to reduce or change the listing price of a seller-clients property in a proper manner. 5. Failing to obey the lawful instructions of a seller-client to provide certain documents and information to a prospective buyer-client. 6. Failing to take proper and timely action to eliminate the licensee’s uncertainty about a property’s heating system before making definitive statements about it in advertisements and to a prospective buyer. 7. Pleading guilty to a felony. 8. Providing property management services for others for a fee without the legal authority to do so. 9. Using a KREC-issued license number on a real estate appraisal report. 10. Violating the terms of settlement agreements with the KREC.

SPRING 2013 KENTUCKY REALTOR® 29

A Day in the Life of...

A day in the life of… a Home Inspector J.R. Bone, Member of the State Board of Home Inspectors, Madisonville, KY J.R. Bone

How many years have you been a home inspector? I have been inspecting homes for 15 years. I have been a member of the Kentucky Board of Home Inspectors since January 2009 and was chairman of the board from July 2010 to July 2011. I am also a member of the Kentucky Real Estate Inspectors Association (KREIA) where I have served as Treasurer for the last 5 years. How have recent legislative changes, either locally or nationally, affected the industry? State licensing of home inspectors began quite recently, starting in 2006. After seven years, the Board is still making necessary changes in the laws and regulations to help regulate the industry in a manner to better serve the public. Changes are currently in the works to improve the way the Board handles complaints What is the biggest complaint home inspectors receive from real estate agents, buyers and/or sellers? As inspectors, we never know the deal that is made between the buyer and seller and really never should. Our job is for the inspection to be based on the condition of the property and any problems that the inspector sees at the time of the inspection date. The report should reflect those conditions. I think one of the problems that exists is when our clients ask certain questions after the inspection. We are commonly asked by clients “Is this a good buy?”, “Would you buy this home?”, “Are these major issues?” and “How much would it cost to fix the problems you found?” In many cases, these are not questions that we can honestly answer. Home inspectors really should not give estimates even though our clients may expect us to. First, it’s too easy to underestimate actual costs. We conduct what is known as a noninvasive inspection. Any problem we see might be larger than what appears on the surface. Second, it’s best to leave the estimate of repairs to the contractors or licensed professionals who would be performing the actual work or repairs. However, home inspectors should be available to answer questions from buyers. The home inspector should always be available for his client. Additionally, home inspectors should offer clients a copy of the standards of practice from which they work. Some inspectors offer brochures that explain what they inspect and don’t inspect. Buyers and sellers should know, up front, what they are buying when they order a home inspection. Buyers and sellers purchasing a home inspection in Kentucky should always ask if the home inspector is licensed and for his or her license number. All Kentucky State Licensed Home Inspectors can be found on the Board website located at bhi.ky.gov

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What is the best and worst part about being a home inspector? The best part of being a home inspector is a satisfied client. The worst part is a wet and/or muddy crawlspace. What is the one thing that real estate agents should know that would make your job, or their job, easier? A real estate agent should help the seller understand what we will be doing when we come to inspect their home. Have the owner clear areas near access points like attics and crawlspaces. Let inspectors know if the power, water and/or natural gas will be on for the inspection. What is the craziest experience you have encountered while doing a home inspection? During a roof inspection for a client, a high wind blew my ladder to the ground. The owner and the real estate agent were present and I finally realized that I was at their mercy. After some banter back and forth about leaving me up there for the fire department to rescue, the agent finally relented and helped get the ladder back in place. She still kids me about this incident from time to time. However, I have not forgotten and always tie my ladder to the gutter, even when there is no wind. Outside of your career, what is your favorite pastime? I love to cook for friends and family. It would be great to be able to find time to fish this year. And catching fish would be even better. What is the best advice you have ever received? I’ve been given lots of good advice over the years, but none better than that of a grade school teacher many years ago. She would always say in a soft voice, “Listen carefully.” I’m still working on that.

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